#technically though I don’t really have a solid design for them
Text
I may be having a bit too much fun with this size comparison
#zlart#minecraft warden#tangotek#jimmy solidarity#technically though I don’t really have a solid design for them
33 notes
·
View notes
Text
I am crushing it at Christmas gifts this year. I think. I never know for sure until people report back several months later but apparently my oldest nephew (the funny smart kid who’s also a complete dumbass, turning 16 this year) ended up really liking the skincare kit I got him last year even though on Christmas Day he was like “I don’t need this, my skin is perfect, people always tell me that” so if the day of goes a little rough just know they might realize they love it down the line. My goth weeb nibling, who is his younger sibling, will like what I got them because I shopped as if for my younger self and the only real difference between us is that I didn’t get into anime. I bought designer purses on a great sale for my sisters in law, nice shoes (he made a comment about it last spring, “some nice Italian leather loafers,” and he might have been joking but hey it’s an idea) for my one good brother in law, a rocking camping chair for my worst brother in law, and nothing for my ex brother in law because if he shows up at Christmas he’s getting something from the Box of Generic Gifts (mostly plaid throw blankets from Five Below). I bought my mother in law a real cashmere sweater (not like 400 dollar nice but still nicer than the “this is technically cashmere” I always see in the mall) and a rose gold and pearl necklace (pearl pricing is stupid and insane, but a solid gold chain is worth something if she ever needs to sell it for cash). The hubs is working on a genuinely nice idea for a present for his dad. I’m going to get my mom jewelry again and my dad can suck eggs. Probably get him a box set of Why Racism Is Bad Actually books or something. I like passive aggressive presents, like the year I sent him a DVD set of documentaries on pre-colonial African civilizations. Mom made a genuine lemon face about that one. Maybe Dad needs to hear more about how the Europeans deliberately separated Africa into countries where the borders would actively create strife. I got my MA a bottle of perfume because she noted out loud how good one patient smelled and it’s an easy to find fragrance (Victor & Rolf, Flowerbomb).
I love shopping, I love Christmas, I love getting people presents. I just wish my worst brother in law would stop trying to ruin family Christmases like it’s his job. It’s been 15 long, long years of knowing him, and in that time I have never ONCE slipped him a sedative, and I deserve a martini and a medal for that. I could 100% poison that man and get away with it and I WON’T because MORALS.
58 notes
·
View notes
Note
When do you think it was that Dan contemplated moving out bc he was too happy/comfortable with Phil and needed to be lonely/sad to make content/be productive?
2012 could make sense. He’d basically lived at Phil’s own Manchester flat anyway and could have thought it best not to move in together (as they just watch tv/get takeaways like they mentioned in tell the truth video) so he thought this would happen more when officially getting a place together and wanted to be productive But this is around the time they moved to London and they already said it was expensive enough with 2 of them sharing a place so not sure. Unless he was planning to get a small cheap place for himself in London and still stay at whatever home Phil would get in London, most of the time.
2017 we know they moved so maybe then but again that’s when they were planning forever home and wanting to save up to buy. Seems a weird jump to go from maybe move out to forever home. Also, they technically did have 2 flats when they moved in 2017 work & life one, so if it was at this time Dan considered it, they could’ve had one flat each but they didn’t. One was just for filming.
2018 onwards I doubt it since they were in stages of designing/ buying their home even planning to move in 2018 during ii.
Unless it was sometime 2012-2017 during living in the first London flat he considered getting his own little place. Especially if they were financially stable enough at this point.
Although it’s a sad thought he considered it, it’s like for like the sweetest wholesome reason <3 but yeah when do you think it could’ve been? Can’t work it out
gosh i’ve been trying to think of a reply to this, thanks for your thoughts! all my thoughts under the cut 👇🏻
to me it wouldn’t make any sense he would’ve contemplated it after 2017. when they decided to buy the forever home, that’s like a solid, major life decision, that i don’t think dan would’ve made lightly at all. he wouldn’t want to hurt phil by agreeing to it and then maybe backing out later.
that being said, i do think it’s possible it was right before that, when he thought about what his life would be like if they lived separately. that was a time they seemed to be very happy together, but it had been years at that point of mostly “dan and phil-the duo” and not much of their individual projects. dan had also never lived on his own, so that must’ve played a part in it too. as we know, dan now really wants to have that individuality and a clear separation between what he does professionally as a solo entertainer, versus what he does with phil. so it would make sense he was worried, that being so happy with phil would lead him to betray his personal goals and aspirations, and kill his often melancholy fueled creativity.
so to sum that up, i’d guess 2016-early 2017. luckily it doesn’t really matter anymore, cause he was able to see past those fears. i totally understand why he considered it though, cause all his adult life he’s been with phil, lived with him, worked with him, all the time. and as much as you love someone, it’s always important to know who you are as an individual, not just who you are with them. respect to dan for being true to himself 🫶🏻
#very proud of dan for being so honest with himself and with phil#that can’t have been easy#answers#anon#long post
21 notes
·
View notes
Text
There’s one sense in which the bad batch had a little more control over their lives than clones sometimes had. They didn’t have a jedi general, they had their own ship, they were allowed special accommodations like their barracks and their armor, and they were given an enormous amount of leeway in how they fulfilled their missions.
In another sense, though, there’s a way in which they had a lot less. And just to be clear, I’m not trying to make an argument about who had it worse. None of the clones has ever had much agency in their lives. None of them were ever afforded the decency of being considered people. None of them really had the option to do anything but be soldiers conditioned to fight and die for a cause they didn’t choose, not without putting other clones in danger (like Slick) or risking court martial (like Cut). Things are bad for all of them. Mostly I’m looking at how the bad batch’s perception of their own experience could change depending on the angle at which they’re looking at it.
Because yes, they were given more leeway in certain ways, but in that other way? Not only were they not given the choice as to whether or not to be soldiers, they were not given the choice as to what kind of soldiers they wanted to be.
Wrecker, for example, is incredibly smart. Not just in the sense that he’s emotionally intelligent, but he’s also a skilled mechanic, weapons specialist, and demolitions expert. This is a guy who built a handheld laser canon out of scraps while getting shot at, and it took him, what—fifteen seconds? But due to the accident of the way he popped out and the way the Kaminoans took advantage of that, because he’s just so much bigger and stronger than everyone else, he was never given the option to be anything but the designated muscle. I think the weapons and demolitions stuff is something he picked up over time because he likes it, but he didn’t have the option to be the team’s technician the way that Tech is. And Tech—Tech is the second strongest guy on the team. He’s strong, extremely athletic, and he’s got a wild pain tolerance. But because of the accident of how he came out, he was never given the option of becoming the hand-to-hand specialist Hunter is, and certainly not the tank that Wrecker is. (I’m still forming my thoughts on Hunter and Echo, but there’s no way anyone else on the team besides the guy with magnified senses would be allowed to be the team tracker, and Echo’s situation is a little different. And before joining the batch and leaving Kamino, Omega never had any agency in her life at all.)
And then Crosshair. This is something we don’t talk about in the fandom all that much, but Crosshair’s a genius. He’s as stone cold brilliant as anyone else on the team, if not more so, in his own way. The thing that makes him such a good sniper isn’t just that he’s got good eyes and steady hands, it’s also his ability to do the math and calculate angles and timing to an incredible level of precision. And, based on what we see in “Reunion,” “Return to Kamino,” and even “The Solitary Clone,” he’s got a good head for strategy and some decently solid, on the ground, battlefield leadership skills (even if he wasn’t technically in charge during that last one). He could make a decently good field commander. But, again, because of the way he popped out of the tube, he wasn’t given the option to be the analyst guy or the leader, he was the sniper. And that’s it.
Every one of them has the capacity to be good at other things. Every one of them is good at other things. But at the start they roll out like your prototypical late 80’s/early 90’s action cartoon hero team because those are the roles they were forced into since getting decanted. But when they look at their experience as part of the GAR, I think they probably look at the other part of that experience where they were given some leeway that other clones didn’t always have, and it makes it difficult for them to see how completely controlled their lives have always been.
#the bad batch#Hunter bad batch#wrecker bad batch#tech bad batch#crosshair bad batch#echo bad batch#if you squint#I’m still formulating my thoughts on how this worked for him#because on the one hand he chose to join the batch#but on the other hand the need to make that choice was forced on him by the techno union
125 notes
·
View notes
Text
Chapter Twenty-Five (Part 2)
Life settles into a comfortable rhythm quickly once Jude is home. I go to work where I’ve spent the day usually not concentrating, and come home to find him on the steps of our apartment, we exchange a couple of words, ask about each other’s day, and then we rush to bed and spend the next several hours getting each other off until we’re hungry enough to stop. We’ll have eggs, maybe toast, cheese, or whatever else is in the fridge and then fall back into bed again.
Sometimes I get up to do my morning runs with Shane, conscious of the fact that time with him is running out, and yet usually, unless Jude comes with us I’ll find myself tangled up in the sheets with him for an extra hour, maybe two, making me late for work more times than I can count.
“I’m getting pissed off at you,” Simon tells me when I drag my exhausted body up the stairs at eleven in the morning and slump into my desk. “Like, I know I’m not paying you a salary but I’d like it if you actually showed up on time, it feels like, you know, a bit of a basic thing…” He rants on for a while while I gaze out the window, and then eventually he tells me that I’m in for a week of cleaning paper off the floor and organising the shelves. It’s fine, it’s hard to focus on being creative when most of my brain power is used up thinking about orgasms instead.
The investment firm in Sandyford rejects Jude’s application in mid June, and he is incensed. “Didn’t they even look at my portfolio?” He’s complaining as we skate around a roller rink in west Dublin. “My CV is solid, my work is good, I just think they don’t know what they’re missing.”
“Maybe it’s because your degree is irrelevant,” I point out, and he huffs with annoyance. “A degree shouldn’t matter, if a person is good then they’re good.”
I laugh at his pouty face, “You’re sounding like you’ve never been rejected before.”
“I have, of course I have,” But when I ask him when those rejections were he can’t seem to think of any, which proves my point. Mister five hundred points in the leaving cert, 1.1 fine arts degree is finally getting a taste of what it’s like to be just like the rest of us. I tell him that this fact is quite satisfying to me and he cracks a smile. “Well, I didn’t want to work in an investment firm anyway, so it’s not like I really care that much.”
He keeps the momentum up and applies for two other jobs, one as a content designer for a recruitment consultant, and the other as a runner for a soap opera. Both reject him fairly quickly. He gets the first email while we’re bowling with Claire and Shane, and the other while we’re visiting Jen at Michelle’s house. He is so devastated both times that we spend the night afterwards over analysing what he might have done to make them dislike him, as though there was some direct personal reason behind it all.
“I suppose that it’s just hard to break into a new career,” I say in an attempt to be soothing as he stares despondently at my bedroom ceiling. “Once you’re in and you have some experience then I assume it gets easier, but like, I don’t know. I’m just hoping that’ll be the case for me when I have Mezzotint on my CV.”
“It’s the recession,” He announces, although I’m not really sure that we’re technically still in one. “There’s just no creative jobs available except for these corporate nightmare ones.”
“The runner job wasn’t corporate.”
“But the pay was shit,” I can’t argue with this, so I say something vague about everything happening for a reason, and then I do a quick google search for creative jobs in Dublin and find almost nothing of relevance.
“There’s an opening for a… um, a technical design coordinator/manager?”
He throws his neck back onto the mattress in frustration and misery, “What the fuck does that mean?”
“I’ve no clue, but there’s also an instructional designer position for-”
“Look, it’s okay, Evie,” he puts his hand over my screen and pushes it away, “I think I’ll just wait and see. Something is bound to come up.”
But by late June nothing has, and he starts to feel tetchy again. We get away for the weekend to keep his mind off it, and while we sun ourselves on the beachside deck of our West Cork glamping cabin I feel inspired to ask him, “Have you considered widening your job search? Maybe there are jobs outside of Dublin that you could do.”
He considers this, “I suppose. Maybe if the commute wasn’t so bad, or if I could get a little flat somewhere, then I’d come visit you on the weekends.”
I’d prefer him to be close to me in Dublin, but at this point it really does feel like we’ll take what we can get. He gets out his phone and I look in as he opens to jobs within 500km. Dozens suddenly load up, and I’m briefly ecstatic before I quickly realise that the majority of them are in England.
“Oh,” I say, reading down the list, “London, London, London, Manchester, Bristol, London, London.”
“Useful for next year,” He mumbles, and hits the off button.
“I’m sorry, Jude,” I say, and he takes my hand to kiss it. “It’s going to be fine. Maybe it’s just because it’s summer, you know? People are on holiday, nothing much is happening. I’m sure that by September there’ll be more jobs. And anyway, I think it’d be nice for us to just spend time together and enjoy the weather.”
“Maybe you should just apply to a job in England,” I say defeatedly, “I think you’d be happier if you were working.”
He rubs his eyes, “Yeah, maybe, I don’t know. I just hate the uncertainty of it, you know, like everything in my life felt like it was laid out until now. I went to elementary school, then secondary school and college and it seemed obvious. Now it’s like… what do I do next?”
I tell him I don’t know what to say, because these thoughts frighten me too, but most adults seem to have figured something out. We sit in a bleak silence for a while contemplating our choices and our futures and then Jude gets a burst of manic energy and insists we go and get some chips from a takeaway so that we can be distracted from depressing things.
We make a rule then that we can’t talk about jobs. Applying to them, relocating for them, cover letters, CVs, these all become forbidden topics. As a result we have a perfect weekend. We swim in the Atlantic, we explore the Beara Peninsula and marvel over the views of the mountains across the bay and little colourful houses dotting the coast. It’s sheep and spongy seaside grasses, dramatic, ocean worn cliffs and other beautiful things that are so different from our slice of the country, and when the evening falls and we huddle back into our cabin, Jude figures out how to put the stove on and we sit on the rough, worn rug and watch as the stars rise over Bere Island.
Beginning // Prev // Next
10 notes
·
View notes
Note
Question- do companions get their wings clipped, or pinioned? Not to out myself as a bird nerd but while they're both very bad things to do to a bird, one is a LOT worse than the other.
Clipping a bird's wing means cutting back the primary flight feathers on one wing. Clipping only one wing prevents the bird from properly balancing in flight, meaning it'll swerve to one side and fall to the ground if it tries, so it won't be able to maintain flight. It's technically painless (though robbing a bird of its ability to fly is still Bad, they're designed almost entirely for wing-powered flight from the ground up. You should see what the avian respiratory system looks like), and is reversible.
After molting, the flight feathers will grow back, and the bird will be capable of flight unless its wings are re-clipped. However, clipping often starts before a bird can learn to fly, and even without that the wing muscles will atrophy over time due to disuse, meaning that a bird whose been getting wing-clipped every molt will still have a significant road to recovery after the clipping stops, and may need to be trained or re-trained on the basics of flight.
Pinioning is worse. Pinioning means amputating one wing just above the wrist joint (the second joint of the wing, further from the body. usually just past this, to leave the thumb/alula/"bastard wing" intact so its feathers cover the stump), usually while the bird is still so young that its bones haven't had time to harden, usually without painkillers of any sort. This has a similar effect to clipping, but A. it's fully permanent and B. it throws off the bird's balance even when on the ground, as that's a not-insignificant amount of weight removed from just one side (if both sides are clipped/pinioned, the lack of imbalance means the bird can re-learn how to fly even with shortened wings). Doesn't effect heavier birds like waterfowl too bad iirc, but those tend to keep both feet on solid ground (or just float on water).
A pinioned felfolk would likely have some trouble with delicate balancing, especially as instinct might tell them to use their wings to aid them in balancing- which only makes things worse, since one is, of course, pinioned. One with clipped wings might struggle a bit, but the weight difference would be a lot less drastic, and it's just a matter of waiting to molt & regrow those flight feathers (molts usually happen at least once a year for most species, sometimes more often but most will at least molt in late fall, so their feathers are in good condition to keep them warm during winter)
...Sorry for the unprompted nitpicky inbox essay, but both options have significantly different implications for dear Castel and I'm not good at keeping my mouth shut about bird stuff. Still, I hope this could be helpful to you in some way!
Okay first off: please don’t apologize!! Thank you sincerely for bringing this to my attention… I always love learning new things about animals, even if they’re heartbreaking like this.
Everybody say thank you to bird nerd anon!!
After reading through this a few times and really think about it, I’m gonna alter a few things now that I’m more informed:
(I’d also like to reiterate that what the Sunguard Guild does to their companions is barbaric and not the norm for Guilds and their companions. I do not support the practice of declawing, pinioning, or wing-clipping.)
The Sunguard Guild typically pinions their companions. They have this process done to prevent their companions from leaving the Guild, and typically the head of the primary companion family, or the overall oldest companion, is in charge of ensuring that the pinioning goes well and relatively smoothly.
So most of the current Sunguard companions have a pinioned wing.
#(also if you want to keep spamming my inbox about bird stuff-#I might not reply publicly but I shall file the info away v loyally for later 👀)#ailurocide#ask#anonymouse#spotty speaks#ailurocide: the companions#ailurocide: the sunguard guild#keyword: m o s t companions
13 notes
·
View notes
Note
honestly you are so right abt the descriptions of ROs in IF. some of them will LITERALLY go like "omg they look like a supermodel". i cannot express how boring that is. it doesn't tell me anything about the character and their idiosyncrasies. and it's hard to wrap my head around the mental image of a cast who is supposed be so much hotter than everyone else in the world. like, my suspension of disbelief is being spread thin rn.
i agree abt comments on the MC being conventionally attractive as well. some of my MCs are decidedly NOT, and then the game tries to dispute me on it. lol
i also think all of this is harmful on a wider level bc it reinforces that 1) beauty is a scale and 2) everyone has to fit into beauty standards to be worthy. but most ppl arent ready for THAT conversation.
thank you :-) hope you dont mind me using this ask to share some more of my thoughts; i complained a lot about what i dislike without really giving any alternatives or examples of what i do like. obviously this is personal opinion and i am Not a professional, i’m just a hobby writer and i don’t intend for any of this to be word of god or anything like that, and my writing is far from "perfect," but this is kind of the baseline i use for myself and what i strive for, and maybe someone will find it useful.
first, to explain the big issue i really have, it is exactly what you said in your last point, about beauty standards. if i wanted to be generous when reading the "supermodel hot" description, i would say that "supermodel" could mean anything - particularly now, the modeling industry is far more diverse than it was in the 90s/early 00s. i could read "supermodel" and just infer that clearly this person is just meant to be very attractive, and that's all it's telling me. but really what is usually and truly meant by "supermodel hot" is skinny and conventionally attractive (adhering to eurocentric beauty standards and gender roles). "supermodel hot" is just a way of implying that without really saying it, because if you said that out loud it's a bit…. 😬
and it's just really boring. when i hear "supermodel hot" i envision a line of identical barbie/ken dolls, indistinguishable and grossly perfect. where is the pizzazz? where is the personality?
to be fair, this is not me saying you cannot describe someone as "supermodel hot" - like i said, supermodel can technically mean anything. but if you're going to do that, you need to give me something else, too, that tells me exactly what you mean by "supermodel hot."
so how do you do that?
my first bit of advice is both my favorite and most controversial…. show, don't tell. obviously my writing style leans heavily into elaborate descriptions and building atmosphere, but not everyone writes the same. however, when it comes to character descriptions, i still think this advice is solid, even if you have a less flowery style, because it’s not really just about detailed descriptions, it's about character design. the original post already talks about it, but essentially: Show me why this person is attractive, as opposed to just Telling me.
specifically for IF, (though context matters so this varies) but i would actually completely avoid describing someone outright as attractive, handsome, beautiful, etc. especially upon first introductions. the player is going to be the one to decide if this person is attractive - you don't need to tell them that. it's also going to be assumed that the player is aware what kind of game they're playing - they know this is an RO, you don't need to shove it down their throats by emphasizing how hot and amazing they are.
when i write a straightforward physical description, there are only two things i absolutely need to get across in their introduction: hair and skin tone. i actually prefer less detailed introductions, and find it more natural when the player discovers things organically through the text. you're not going to notice every little thing about a person when you first meet them!
what you do notice: hair, skin tone, any distinguishing features.
Lea has the beauty marks beneath their eye, and long, dark hair. Merry has her bandana, red hair, and she also has a tooth gap, and since she's smiling when you meet her, the hunter notices. Clementine has obnoxious clothes and curly hair. Noel has the gold hunter eyes, xir eye makeup, and xir locs.
in tnp, i do actually have a bit more of detailed introduction for everyone, because i can get away with it - their intros are pretty spread out, with Clem's in the prologue, and Merry's and Noel's in ch1. you already know Lea, so their features are peppered in throughout the prologue and ch1 - i try to avoid direct descriptions for any characters that have a pre-established relationship with the mc, because the mc already knows what that character looks like. i like to work it in for the player as they read. i would not do my intros this way if you met everyone at the same time - you want to avoid overwhelming the reader or confusing them with too many people at once.
just give them the distinct features.
Merry is a tall woman, though not as tall as Lea, with long auburn hair and tanned, freckled skin. She has a bandana covering her right eye, and when she smiles, you notice a charming little gap between her two front teeth. Noel, standing at her side, is shorter and larger than her, with dark brown skin and short, locked hair swept back out of his face, the gold in his eyes flashing against his white eyeliner as he glances between you and Lea. Clementine, the little bard, stands behind the both of them, wringing their hands and hiding behind their short brown curls. The ruffles of their dress are a stark white against their olive skin, and you can't help but be assaulted by their loud jacket, both in color and volume, bells sewn haphazardly into the fabric that sound softly with each little movement, giving away their nerves as they shrink back even more behind Noel.
this is a short snappy introduction. it gives a straightforward physical description of everyone, a quick mention of unique features, and with Clementine we also get a bit of their mannerisms right away. as the story progresses, and you get to know them more, you'll also notice more. personally, in real life, i do not notice eye color right away, unless someone has a very distinct eye color - this is something that you could include in first introductions, or mention later, in a one-on-one scene with the character where the mc notices it for the first time. Clementine's freckles, Merry's tattoos and scars, Noel's jewelry - that kind of thing can be slowly fed to the player over time. i also like to save the "curve of their lips" kind of stuff for more flirty/intimate scenes. there's no reason to comment on that when you're first meeting, especially in a tense situation where that would be the last thing on the hunter's mind - like i said, the player knows these are potential ROs, you don't need to force it. i also like having certain distinct, consistent features i bring up in those one-on-one/intimate scenes - i said before i tend to focus on Lea's and Noel's eyes, while i typically mention Clementine's curls or Merry's red hair and freckles. the more you get to know them, the more attractive those distinct features will become.
and the other important thing to remember is that it doesn't all have to be a clinical physical description. there are plenty of games i've played that actually have very little physical description, but each character has a very distinct Vibe. are they broody? are they bubbly? are they excitable? are they mischievous? how do they carry themselves? i describe Merry as commanding when you first meet her. Noel is graceful when xe comes in to heal you.
what are their little quirks? Lea always has a furrowed brow, or they're fidgeting with their thumb ring. Merry likes to smirk and tease and cross her arms. Clementine wrings their hands and pulls on their curls. Noel smiles softly, messes with xir locs, and will duck inside xir hood just like the hunter. you give them mannerisms, you give them charm, and people will find them attractive without you having to call them supermodels and imply some impossible standard. it will also make your characters more genuine and likable, as well as unique - these are not cardboard cutout supermodels, and by giving them unique features and emphasizing/romanticizing those features it will make them attractive in a more memorable way. and if you're lucky, it will force players to challenge beauty standards elsewhere. i want to wax poetic about how sexy i think Noel's stomach looks in tight leather armor, and the player is going to read it - a romantic description like that may challenge preconceived ideas that person may have about fat stomachs. this is also why i like to emphasize Lea's black eyes so much as well.
when it comes to the mc, i try to avoid having any of the ROs directly comment about anything physical, unless it's something that is fully established in game - like their scars, or the fact that they're a bit muscular from combat training/their lifestyle. i already explained that i don't think a character calling someone hot actually implies "conventional attractiveness," since beauty/attraction is subjective, so i think it would be silly to completely avoid those kinds of compliments. i think what's important is how you execute them.
Merry is always trying to look into the hunter's hood, and if you go and see her in the evening, she'll say she "likes seeing your face." it doesn't imply anything about how that face looks, if that makes sense. Noel does call the hunter attractive, but it's about their scars, something that is typically "unconventional" and again doesn't really imply anything about how the hunter looks - just that Noel thinks their scars make them attractive.
we already talked about the "you're so hot when you're mad" type of comment, but an example of that kind of compliment done Well that always comes to mind for me is Alistair in dragon age: origins, when he suddenly calls the warden beautiful in a quiet moment with just the two of them - he really means it, and it clearly doesn't really have anything to do with how the warden actually looks, but how he's feeling in that moment. it's always felt really authentic to me, like he just couldn't contain himself and has to blurt it out - as opposed to a forced, quippy one liner, or a sudden, obscenely sexual remark that just makes me cringe. (not that some of those scenes in origins don't also make me cringe. but we can't all be perfect all of the time….)
and i'm not trying to say all flirty/suggestive compliments are off the table - Merry and Clementine are the two characters that make more overtly sexual comments, and if that's fitting for the character, then go for it - there are plenty of moments where a playful, spicy comment does hit right, but don't overdo it. Merry is clearly the "no strings attached" love interest, but she isn't constantly talking about how she wants to fuck the hunter in all of their interactions. honestly.... it's weird, and can verge on sexual harassment if you do it too often and at inappropriate moments. but there's nothing wrong with showing sexual interest, and again, attraction is subjective - people do not have to be "conventionally attractive" to be desirable, no matter what society tries to tell you. it's not that people are "ugly", it's that society's beauty standards for what is "beautiful" are too narrow, limiting and unrealistic. (read this article from the original post)
so just in general, with the mc, my advice is to be mindful. you don't want to "default" them (typically as thin and white) when the mc can be anyone - you want to avoid implying anything that could alienate potential players (blushing, hair, etc). though there are games with more pre-set mcs, including personality as well as potentially physical appearance, like with tnp the hunter is always going to have scars and have at least a little visible muscle, so that's something to also keep in mind while making your character as a reader.
all of that to say, character design is important, the little things are important. don't just settle for "supermodel hot." give them something to work with! you want to actually make a character, not a boring, pretty doll.
sorry for the long post, i hope this is helpful to somebody, or at least interesting to read about, if you can decipher the rambling. i tend to jump on the chance to talk about this kind of thing, so thanks for the ask, even though you didn't ask for this at all. lol ❤
and of course, context matters, so this may not all be applicable to every game/story ever, and i don't intend to imply that any of this is the only Correct way. if you're writing a fast pace, spicey romance, it will be different! different styles, different settings, different tones, different vibes, it will all be different, and that's fine. variety is the spice of life :-) this is just how i approach character design, and it's what i like to see as a reader, and what i try to achieve as a writer.
#anyways. you Literally did not ask#but i love to talk!#i don't get to talk about writing like at all ever so when i get the chance i physically cant stop. sorry#writing#ask#anonymous
90 notes
·
View notes
Text
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Why Season 3 Would Be A Bad Idea… Nerd Time.
First look at those nerds, those dweebs, those goofs. I love them and want to squeeze them. Okay onward!
I’m gonna get hate for this… and I accept that. But, please hear me out. For personal reasons first of all, I’m happy how it ended because if Venus was introduced as fans theorised I’d be disappointed because Venus is my LEAST favourite character. (Probably because I really disliked the Next Mutation.) Now my personal reasons are out of the way with, let’s get technical.
Have any of you watched a TMNT show where it was consistently good? And I mean, up until the last seasons? Because I haven’t.
The 1987 version was non-linear, much like Rise is, HOWEVER Rise has a beginning and ending. 1987 didn’t, but that was from the 80’s and it was bound to be silly. It was made to sell toys and the episodes were made around the toys, so obviously it wasn’t going to be linear. Then it was cancelled without an actual ending (no shock).
Okay, so! 2003! They actually had a good arc! Season 5 was meant to be the last season, but they were in demand and made Season 6 (Fast Forward) and Season 7 (Back to the Sewers) in which it became ridiculous, repetitive and just boring. The designs were less dark and rough, and more childish and bright. Not to mention even the future ideas were dumb. Like, you offed Shredder plenty of times you don’t need him back! (Thought Season 6 has a soft spot in my heart due to the Dark Turtles.) So it was cancelled without a solid ending.
How about 2012? A similar thing happened. Half way through Season 3 it was already getting a bit silly, I mean they were to space, then there was Dracula, and it was just… so much… like they turned emo at one point! It was insane! (Again, the space arc is special to me due to the Journey into the Centre of Mikey’s Mind.) So again, this was cancelled with a sad excuse of a final episode.
Even the 1990’s Movies! By the third movie, it is agreed upon that that movie is the worst. And The Next Mutation didn’t get a second season, but the again it is generally agreed upon that The Next Mutation is a poor TMNT adaptation. (2007 never got that sequel with the focus on Mikey due to layoffs and the director leaving, and Astro Boy bombed, thus causing the studio to go bankrupt.)
So, what would have happened with Rise? The same thing. By Season whatever, it would become ridiculous, and stupid, maybe repetitive and it would be cancelled without enough time to make a good, solid ending. Rise got Character Development (something 1987 and 2012 didn’t get), a plot with goofy episodes showing the bond in brotherhood (something 2012 didn’t get), a final where everything’s resolved (something none of the previous shows got), and a movie which had a solid story, character development and it didn’t feel like it was for nostalgia sake or even a cash grab. (Something 2012 didn’t get.)
Turtles Forever is a crossover movie with 1987 and 2003, but the marketing was handled poorly and was released for TV rather than a full length movie in the cinema and it was poor due to the style changes for the 2003 gang. Though it is considered to be non-canon, unlike the Rise Movie, and again, unlike the Rise Movie, it wasn’t given a theatrical release.
Now, could there have been more character development for the Rise Gang? Oh definitely! Leo could show his leadership skills developing, Mikey could show his skills developing, Donnie could develop his emotional skills and Raph could help Leo co-lead and develop his skills to relax. Casandra could be given more screen time and character development, as could Draxum and Big Mama. But don’t forget, you guys got a theatrical release movie (at least in China) and the movie never had problems with that release like Turtles Forever (such as ratio problems and cutting time down), you guys got an actual ending to the series, with decent character development and story arcs, and new characters and places. And don’t forget, the seasons always got ridiculous after the first few seasons…
That being said I would still watch Season 3-however many seasons they would do of Rise TMNT, because I like TMNT… I’m just being technical.
#nerd time#TMNT#2018 tmnt#rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles#teenage mutant ninja turtle 2003#teenage mutant ninja turtle 2012#teenage mutant ninja turtles#teenage mutant ninja turtles 1987#tmnt 2003#tmnt 2018#tmnt 2012#rise of the tmnt#2012 tmnt
17 notes
·
View notes
Text
Matt’s 2023 Visual Novel Tier List
Another year, another tier list/countdown of all the visual novels I read!
(two-thousand words of inconsistently distributed visual novel rambling below the cut)
Honorable Mentions:
I read a couple mobile game stories via youtube videos that are worth talking about but don't really belong on this list. Anyway, I’m slowly on-again off-again catching up to Arknights (almost halfway through it all the last time I checked), and it's been solid, my personal favorite story being Guide Ahead. But the real honor goes to FGO’s Lostbelt 6. A triumph from Kinoko Nasu and the folks over at Type-Moon. One of the best high fantasy epic novels I've ever read, hidden away three hundred hours into a gacha game for extra emphasis. A genuine highlight of the franchise, and if it was eligible for my own list where I make all the rules (hey, wait a minute...), it would be somewhere in S-Tier.
D-Tier
The Humbling of a Holy Maiden
Kicked off this year with some nukige. I’ve been meaning to check out more of the genre to have proper expectations and to know what I’m actually talking about if the subject ever came up (also checked out more of the genre for the obvious reason, but shush!). Frankly, not a good start.
Our tagline is basically, “What if the degrading corruption arc of the holy maiden archetype was consensual?” Nothing groundbreaking but still potentially enjoyable. Shame this game’s execution couldn’t muster even middling entertainment. Between erotic scenes, the game repeats the same meandering attempt at a philosophical conversation between the flatly written leads, who both never feel like even they can take what they’re saying seriously. It wouldn’t be too bad if it happened once or twice, but it’s *every* conversation. They did this a dozen times. Even in a visual novel as short as this, it was mind-numbing. Unfortunately, the erotic scenes aren’t much of a relief. I didn’t share the priorities/kinks of the creators, and even if I did, I would probably find the sex a samey and dull representation of them. This game was a chore to sit through. I don’t recommend.
Also, the heroine’s ‘slutty’ design looks like two clashing sets of lingerie worn on top of each other, and it’s wildly distracting.
Coffee Talk
I’m noticing an annual trend of me reading VNs that assume I have a far more positive connotation with coffee shops than I actually do.
So… I don’t want to make too many comparisons to a certain cyberpunk bartender simulator, especially when those opinions would be based on six-years-removed, nostalgically-charged fond memories of a game I desperately need to reexperience. I went into this Coffee Talk acknowledging it's a pastiche but willing to accept its own identity and terms so I could give it a fair shot and hopefully enjoy myself.
With that being said, I kinda hated this.
Its characters and drama range from enjoyable to mildly unfortunate, mostly nothing too interesting but nothing too egregious either--with Freya, the most frequently appearing character, being our infuriating exception.
The game touches on some mature themes and topics, but more often than not, Coffee Talk’s hokey one-for-one urban fantastical allegories are weighty in the same way that inflatable dumbbells are *technically* weights. The game is so obsessed with these close metaphors that the setting fails to feel remotely believable. And because real-life identities or struggles are recast with the likes of vampires and orcs, it falls into many of the common and frustrating insensitivities of the genre.
Shout out to the art team, though. The game’s presentation is top-notch.
C-Tier
Cute Demon Crashers [reread]
I read this like eight or so years back when it first came out and wanted to see if it held up, so I slapped it on one random night and went through it all again.
Didn’t really have a good time. I’m not the target audience for this. Comfy vanilla might as well be the name of the game, and it’s very, VERY, targeted to an audience looking specifically for that. Full power to them. I can’t complain because it’s literally free. I just didn’t expect to be so immediately bored by it, even if it’s not really doing anything wrong.
Who is the Red Queen?
A quick read with some good stuff, but it didn’t stick around in my head for long after reading it. It feels weird to complain about a free indie game created by people more skilled than myself, but a chunk of the art didn’t sell the Wonderland aesthetic for me. It was fine, but I might have preferred it if it was just a text game so my imagination would interpret the world as even more ethereal and dreamlike in a way generic fantasy backgrounds didn't reflect.
If you're specifically looking for a free-to-play Alice in Wonderland-themed Yuri visual novel, it's a good one. Maybe give it a try.
Coffee Talk Episode 2
Ever read the sequel just to be a more informed hater?
In all fairness, this was a big improvement on the first game. The sequel starts with some basic world-building. There's still obvious parallels in play, but there is a little work to paint this as a separate world this time where similar issues arose, something the first game barely even tried. It doesn’t always work, but it does try, which makes it less open for me to interpret uncharitably.
A second improvement is new mechanics. I don’t think the first game fully earned its last-minute twist, but Episode 2's additional gameplay verbs, plus more significant story deviations to incentivize replay and trial-and-error, does a better job at selling the fiction that the barista has an actual effect in the characters' lives.
Finally, the characters and drama were overall improvements. It's more interesting, less cliche, and there’s a stronger thematic core to tie the desperate arcs together. The highs are higher, and the lows aren’t as low.
That said, while the execution was improved, it never escaped the same foundational approaches as the first game. The urban fantasy allegories are better, but it's still hit or miss. There's still the ever-prevalent issue of halfway through a lovely scene with likable characters discussing their interesting drama, all characters involved will turn to the camera and start speaking in the unnatural cadence of a monologue in an afterschool special. Today's very important topic: Social media harassment! Garth Marenghi would be proud. However, even that element is much better handled than the first game which literally had a character smugly declaring all of this was a one-for-one allegory to our world, JUST IN CASE YOU DIDN'T GET IT.
After my distaste for the first game, I was pleasantly surprised by the sequel. It avoids the grating mistakes of Episode 1, but it's still too sanctimonious and I'll never vibe with its brand of gentrified twee.
Sweet Home ~H na Onee-san wa Suki Desu ka?~
Our final nukige of the list is Sweet Home. No, not the 1989 video game. No, not the movie that was based on. Not the webcomic either. (Gosh, there’s a lot of media sharing this title, huh?)
If bland 'self-insert'-kun moving back in with his stepmom and having braindead sexy times with her roommates (plus some stepcest thrown in for spice) sounds like something you’d enjoy, then this one’s pretty a’ight. Mileage will vary if smut intended for the heterosexual male audience is even palatable to you. The game’s a quantity-over-quality situation, so you'll get plenty of it in this package for better or for worse. It got on my radar 'cause I dig how its artist, Kiriyama Taichi, drew ladies. I like their product. Probably wouldn’t have liked the game if a worse artist had been in charge--just to give you a taste of how shallow my enjoyment was lol. Consider any other game they were the artist for somewhere down in my TBR somewhere.
Ironically, for a game that’s whole fantasy is fucking (slightly) older ladies, my favorite route was the same-aged tsundere, probably because ‘childhood friend who's been repressing feels’ has more angst to it than 'new roommate wanted to see my dick.' After three of those routes, a crumb of drama might as well be a whole cake.
I couldn’t recommend paying full price. I think the asking price is too steep for this. Wait for a sale like I did.
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog
I’m not a Sonic fan, so despite this being incredibly charming and well done, it didn't have any staying power in my mind. Still good fun, though. It’s rare for "joke" games to be quality, and even if I'm not the target audience, the passion was infectious enough to still enjoy it.
B-Tier
You and Me and Her
This was a solid and fun metafiction experience. Faux fourth wall breaking isn’t my preference (besides, it was already perfected in the 1971 seminal literary classic The Monster at the End of This Book), I respond better to the flavor of metafiction you’ll find in Umineko or Alan Wake, but for what You and Me and Her was going for, it's pretty well-executed. Spoilers, but having a spiteful rivalry with a fictional character is a blast.
While I had a good time, I thought You and Me and Her missed an opportunity to expand its commentary outside the scope of a fourth-wall-breaking “what-if.” Several times through my playthrough, the game felt like it was on the verge of using its premise to explore amatonormativity and heteronormatity, but it never really did, and I was left twiddling my thumbs, feeling like I was unfairly expecting too much.
On that note, however, about a month after playing this game, I read the manhwa Surviving Romance--a very different exploration of the romance genre via different mediums. But it gave me that subtle yet poignant commentary I felt was lacking from You and Me and Her, so I’m using this spot to recommend that comic. It’s super solid. Go track down and read it. It’d be up in A-Tier if I kept track of and ranked the comics I read.
It gets so lonely here
A really well-done yandere horror experience. It has pretty art, tightly written, and does some fun things with its narrative structure. If you want a solid, free-to-play, and spooky yuri VN, I highly recommend this one. Go download it.
I think this game might have ranked higher during a different year, but the cut-off between A-Tier and B-Tier had to go somewhere.
A-Tier
The Radio Wave Bureau
A short, super cool interactive fiction about fixing your computer. We’re at the point with some of these where I don’t have much to say other than “go read it,” but this game is short enough it’s hard to talk about in a way that doesn’t speak for itself. It's like twenty minutes long. I really dug it. Go play it.
Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk
A beautiful and melancholic expansion for the first game. A character piece that elevates Milk and Milk 2 to 'must read' status. It’s difficult to rank which one I prefer since both enhance each other via contrast. While I adore this game’s detailed introspection, if I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be the simplicity of--
Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk
It's another read that's only around twenty minutes long, but no other VNs have ever grabbed me by the throat with their premise alone. Both these games are incredible and vulnerable slice-of-life works. Put them on your TBR.
S-Tier
Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon-
I made like a hundred posts about it. What else can I say?
Arcueid’s route on its own was the best VN experience I had this year. List over. That goes at the top beyond the next two entries. Sorry, not sorry. It was a beautiful, perfected reboot of the story. I loved everything about it. It made me fall in love with Shiki and Arcueid all over again. If we count the false start back in college when I didn’t get halfway through the original VN, the two times I’ve read Tsukihime all the way through, plus the twice I’ve read the manga adaptation, this was the SIXTH time I experienced this particular story. And I cried at the end. It’s that good.
Now, if I love that route as much as I do, why, you may ask, is this entry only third place? ‘Cause Remake is only half of a remake, and it really does feel like it. Not only do we not have Far Side yet, but there’s also a whole Tsukihime-worth of new stuff, half of which hasn’t been paid off yet either, so there’s a pervasive incompleteness that isn’t really a flaw with the game, but will bug me until we get the next part. Also, I wasn’t as blown away by Ciel’s route as other fans were. It turns out it becomes more obvious that I don't relate to Shiki in Ciel’s route nearly as much as I did to him in Arcueid's once you take what was basically the last four hours of the original and expand it to an almost forty-hour new story. Still love it, btw, but it’s only a 'Really really good OMG go read it' story, instead of a modern magnum opus from Nasu (what a disappointment, am I right? lol)
Anyway, this game is a triumph that met my overhyped expectations. I can’t wait to see what Nasu and the gang have planned for in -The other side of red garden-.
The House in Fata Morgana
Welp, that’s just special, innit. Michel and Giselle have planted themselves among some of my favorite leads of all time. The entire cast is strong across all the incarnations of the house. While the first act is still good, once the narrative behind the anthology format is revealed and the whole context comes into play, it becomes a fantastic tragic romance and a beautiful rumination on evil. It almost gets a bit sanctimonious near the end, but it doesn't fall into obvious narrative pitfalls. Considering the premise of the final act, it's appropriate, so I'll give it a pass.
Yet another classic that meets the hype.
WE KNOW THE DEVIL [reread]
On a technicality, this was the best magical girl VN I read all year too.
The top three VNs were neck-and-neck for the ranking, but I gotta give it to this one. It's short, but I think on every level of intent and execution, this game's incredible. A beautiful aesthetic. A creative and haunting choice/route system. Vibes for days. There are no caveats to be found here. I can't think of anyone I wouldn't recommend this to. Read it. I'm not asking.
And that’s 2023! I’m going to try rereading Va-11 Hall-A in January now that Coffee Talk is fresh in my mind. Sometime after that, I’ll get back to 428--I feel really bad I left it hanging after the tutorial. As always, I hope to get through my downloaded backlog but I also plan on reading a few more Nitro+ games and my first AliceSoft title. Stay tuned!
5 notes
·
View notes
Text
Tales From The Backlog: Dredge
8/10
Dredge is a rare breed. It is a subtle Lovecraftian open world horror that one could almost dare say is a cozy game. I love it when genres come together and make beautiful weird things.
🎣 Horror fishing. What a weird mix! But at the same time, it’s not. There’s been stories throughout all of human history of mysterious watery horrors and fisherman. It’s one of the oldest kinds of story we have. And yet it’s pretty rare in gaming to see.
The only other game like it that I can even think of is Fishing Vacation. (Also on my backlog…)
I have a complicated relationship with horror games. I love horror movies but at the same time video games become too personal. I’ve gotten better as I got older but like… some titles are still too intense for me. I get too real life stressed out.
I normally play horror like PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo or Until Dawn. As they provide less intense experiences. I feel like characters are being attacked. Not me.
With all that being said I had reservations on picking up this horror title. Starting a new horror franchise is like doing a trust fall. As I fall I have to hope the experience isn’t too spicy for me. And ocean horror in particular can be the most TERRIFYING of the lot. There’s no ground or sky in the water. An enemy can occupy any portion of the space at any moment. The rules of movement are different on the ocean, especially when you don’t belong there.
I can’t play Subnautica with creature aggression on. I can’t.
Thankfully Dredge has a very subdued horror experience. It’s spooky not necessarily scary. Which is perfect.
Dredge has so many elements that make for a good spooky fishing story.
Mysterious ocean? ✅
Mutant fish? ✅
Old people who’ve seen everything? ✅
BIG FISH WITH BIG TEETH? ✅
People randomly going insane? ✅
It’s all here baby. And I love it.
You start the game having lost your old boat and washed up in the town of Greater Marrow. The mayor is kind enough to supply you with a new boat and you venture out onto the sea and encounter increasingly worse Lovecraftian horrors.
The fishing is simple, but really fun. Mutant fish are probably the most satisfying to catch. They sell for more money and have a low drop rate in comparison to their normal counterparts. Getting one is like getting an onion ring in your fries. 🍟 So good!
They’re designed well too. I love how some of them are cute and some are GROSS:
Like look at this precious boy. I actually think that’s very cute. The face and the hooked nose are adorable. It looks like a lock pick. Love it. (Too bad takings these out of the water instantly kills them!)
And then there’s this guy:
Now that’s just an old fashioned nasty boy! Love it.
Dredge as a whole is a really pretty game with a lot of diverse locations to visit. My favorite visual in the game is that no matter where you’re at on the open ocean you can always see the lighthouse in the middle of the map. Even at night. It’s eerie and comforting.
Dialogue can be hit or miss with these smaller titles, but in Dredge you are invested in the world and the people you talk to. The game is just plain interesting, people speak cryptically but are honest generally. You get the sense that things weren’t always like the way it is now. Weird or bad things happen to people and you’re not quite sure why. And you want to know! On top of the solid fishing that’s what keeps you going in Dredge.
Dredge is technically an open world experience. There are quests, people to visit, and straight out the gate you could go explore the high seas!
But it really is better to stay home and fish for a few days. The game is… decent at explaining itself. Most things were covered with exception for how sanity works. A little bit more flavor text would’ve been nice. I had to google sanity and what triggers it (other than just being out at night).
Though I suppose horror is also about learning these things on the fly. If it prepped you for the scares that’d be missing the point, huh?
There are… enemies. But running into one is more like, “God DAMNIT my boat! 😡 ” And less “HOLY SHIT WHAT IS THAT? 😱”
Not a complaint. Even the enemies ruining your boat isn’t that annoying. Most of the time, your boat being damaged is your fault for not being careful or managing your sanity. So when you lose fish from being damaged you go “Why did I do that?”. I like it when the game is built well enough for mistakes to be obviously the player’s fault. The boat controls well and it upgrades over time so you know when you’re venturing out a little too far from town to be safe.
Though the enemies can be dastardly. My favorite one I’m not going to tell you about. Because if you play Dredge I want it to catch you off guard like it did for me.
Also you get powers as you find relics for a collector. So that’s rad.
The one thing I don’t like, but I get it, is the paranoia rocks that show up when your sanity lowers. Especially when an enemy is going after you. That’s messed up man. But also hilarious.
But it’s only hilarious when it happens to you. Not me. 😂
The only spoiler I want to give away, because I was lucky enough to be told this early myself: Don’t talk to the hooded cultists until you are ready. They uh… die if you don’t do the missions on time and apparently have the best stat books in the game. The stat books are awesome in general. And it gives you an excuse to talk to everyone multiple times.
You can also find research parts to unlock new equipment for your boat. And of course the boat is upgradable with old shipwreck parts you can find around the area. The game is called Dredge after all, not Fishing. You are given a Dredge machine to fish up relics, treasures, and boat parts. Upgrading and getting new equipment is well spaced out and satisfying. Money is easy to obtain as long as you have the right equipment and know the right spots. But I don’t feel like I have money in too much excess either which is awesome. The upgrades requiring parts you have to dredge up really help pace the game.
Other than that, Dredge is a simple short experience. The story is mysterious, sad, and often bittersweet. Dredge is largely a story about overcoming tragedy and pushing forward to do the healthy thing for yourself (and others). To not allow the continued suffering.
I have a soft spot for titles like this. Dredge really is wildly unique in the sea of gaming. That’s not a knock against other games, but when I see something this different it makes me want to support it! You know?
#Dredge#Nintendo#Nintendo Switch#tales from the backlog#tftb#gaming#video games#indie game#Horror game#cozy game#cozy games#Steam#Black Salt Games#Team 17#PlayStation#Xbox#Xbox One#Playstation 4#Playstation 5#lovecraft#cthulhu#lovecraftian#cthulu#horror#fishing game#fishing horror
4 notes
·
View notes
Note
you can always tell me about them! don’t be afraid to send me a little dm <3
(i’d love to get to know them btw)
Thank :)
So, up first is Wendigo!Eddie (id use a different word if i had a better one tbh, it's actually more like a deer minotaur type monster and that's the closest word for it. he's not all that zombie-ish)
There's also technically two versions of him: "wild", where he was born as such and doesn't understand English and is much more fearful of people and "twisted", where he was turned into a monster at some point (no upside down shenanigans involved in this strange thing, though. lmao). twisted is also the version i have written bits of lore about over at @kassifieddocuments! You can also find the general design there hehe
Second is a ghosty-goat monster type guy that's purplish and smokey (think of the pokemon gastly) but the wounds he died with/from are a bit more solid looking but really just as... unsolid? as the rest of him. Like, the shapes are more defined but you could still stick your hand through if he isn't focusing on being all solid and reachable at the time. i still have him in the need to do more doodles before ive fully designed him (mostly with like. fur pattern and how dark a purple he is)
2 notes
·
View notes
Text
Some thoughts from my Classic Who watch, the second half of season 19.
I didn’t know much about The Visitation apart from the Sonic Screwdriver gets destroyed and the Doctor and co help start the Great Fire of London (which are surely two of the most referenced events in Doctor Who, if the Big Finish main range is to judge). So I was pleasantly surprised when the serial started with some solid emotional continuity and drama. The Doctor telling off Adric (”Poor Adric, always in trouble.” Not enough if you ask me), Tegan dealing with the Mara controlling her, then with preparing to leave, then with finding once again that the Tardis has failed her. Her fight with the Doctor is a great airing of grievances, and the actors are great. Oh, and there’s a decent reason given for Tegan wearing her outfit in this one too: once again she thinks that she’s going to arrive at her job.
Later, Tegan and Adric work together to escape the basement (and are also hilarious when they still can’t communicate too effectively) which is nice since their relationship is the most strained and shows some great team growth. It’s just a shame Nyssa still doesn’t seem to have as interesting a connection with any of the rest of the team. In this story she spends about an episode in the Tardis working on a sonic weapon. Though when she uses it against the android, she takes a minute to feel bad about destroying the robot, showing off how she’s probably the most similar of the companions to the Doctor. I guess the Doctor’s mild-mannered repressing and introspection is a lot more interesting when he has to deal with pressing responsibilities like piloting and promises and mentorship.
Adric also actually apologises for telling the baddies about the Tardis this time, which is nice. It’s hilarious that he decides to fly the Tardis into a locked house to help the Doctor, obviously just looking for a reason to take it for a spin, but it’s very impressive he pulls it off. It reminds me of how the Doctor assigned the team actual crew roles in Castrovalva, and how they’re actually a very technically competent. This Tardis team is almost the opposite to most others: extremely qualified but don’t really gel that well as people. Even after apologising at the start of this story and working together throughout, by the end they’re still snipping and irritating each other again. The Doctor seems really kind of pissed off in part 4, like repressing all his emotions is getting to him more than usual.
The villains in this story have fantastic designs. The android looks cool as hell as Death (less so without his skeleton mask) and the Terileptils are neat alien designs. But special mention to the Terileptil leader! Villainising physical abnormalities sucks, but also he looks rad with his scars, plus his good voice and cape later on. HUGE rip to him at the end though, I was shocked and a bit grossed out by the effects of his face bubbling in the fire. Was that the goriest death in TV Doctor Who??
Final points: Mace was fun. I heard recently that the writer hated how he was acted, but I can’t really imagine what else he could have been picturing the character. And rip the sonic screwdriver. It’s hilarious that they destroyed it because they thought it was being overused when you compare back then to the show today. I feel like the Thirteenth Doctor used that thing instead of her eyes most of the time, though I’m sure other recent Doctors did the same. It’s a shame they couldn’t get away with destroying it again, since the Doctor has like 50 of them and the Tardis can make another one at the drop of a hat.
A 1920s manor mystery with added mistaken identity feels like a set-up designed to appeal to me, but Black Orchid didn’t really grab me. Probably it was partly because of the awkward foreign helper trope (although I guess it’s nice that Latoni seems to be more of a altruistic stranger than a devoted manservant?), and partly because at the time Sarah Sutton didn’t really feel talented enough to pull off the double role (sorry. It was nice to see Nyssa with a little bit of a sense of humour though).
Random thoughts! Thank goodness the cricket game is a montage, those things are boring as heck. The Traken Union being called an Empire as interesting, and doesn’t do much for my opinion of Nyssa as the product of an entitled upper-class background. ‘The Unknown’ in the credits of part 1 is a very cool thing to be credited as. It’s extremely funny how the Doctor shows the police into his Tardis so he can get out of being arrested (It half feels like a cheat and half feels like something he should do all the time). Cutting between everyone dancing and having fun outside to the Doctor in a bathrobe stuck in the walls of the manor and back again is hilarious jlskdjflskj. And I hate to say this, but Adric is a big mood when he stays by the food table at the party.
I’m not really sure what my opinion is of Earthshock. In my head it’s like a sci-fi B-movie with lots of action, a plot that barely hangs together, and a melodramatic ending. Nothing too special. But I think I generally hear people in the fandom talk very highly of it. But maybe I’m being harsh, or it’s just not my thing. The drama works pretty well, with the Cybermen-related cliffhangers, and the Doctor attacking the Cyberleader so uncharacteristically aggresively.
And the story felt extra tragic to me this time now that I’m watching the whole show. I’d remembered from previous watches that Adric and the Doctor had a fight about Adric wanting to go home, but I’d forgotten that they patched it up quite successfully by halfway through the story. It was some of the most open and expressive the Fifth Doctor has been so far, and the most agreeable and content that Adric has been. At the end of The Visitation I was convinced this Tardis team could never quite click together, but between Tegan saying she actually wants to stay at the start of Black Orchid and the Doctor and Adric actually communicating in Earthshock, it felt like the team were finally properly getting along. Which felt like such a tragedy when I knew what state they’d all be in by the end of the series.
Tegan went full laser-blasting action hero against the Cybermen in this one. I’m glad there was echoes of that in The Power of the Doctor. And has anyone in the EU ever explained why the spaceship went back in time? It’s hilarious how that just has no reasonable explanation at all in the episode.
I went into Time-Flight thinking ‘I don’t remember much of this serial, is the Master’s disguise really as racist as people say?’ Oh god. It really, really is. And for what POSSIBLE reason does the Master even have for his whole set-up in the past?
This whole story feels like a mess to me honestly, and I know I’m not the first to say that. I mean what aesthetic were they going for? Concords on a featureless prehistoric Earth, with a smothering of orientalism. It just doesn’t feel coherent, not even in a way that Dr Who often does when it throws together elements from contrasting parts of history just for fun. This one just doesn’t grab me gang.
The Doctor does some hardcore repressing in this one after Adric dies. He tries so hard to move on so quickly. And he pretty much succeeds in convincing Nyssa and Tegan to do the same, because I don’t think Adric is mentioned the rest of the story except for when a psychic image of him appears for a minute. I’m so glad that Scott Handcock did an arc of audios about how Five does a lot of unhealthy repressing about Adric’s death, because he so needed some therapy about it.
Narratively, I do love that the Tardis takes the team to Heathrow now. Not only because of the irony of Tegan having just given up getting there (Her line “I never thought I'd say this, but let's get out of here!” made me laugh a lot), but also because it should force the team to make a conscious decision about what they do next- does Adric’s death mark the end of their time together or do they think their bonds could grow stronger by getting through the grief together? If the story was made today it would be emotional and have some very interesting introspection for the characters, and you can see a hint of that near the end with Tegan looking at the flight times and making her decision to stay with the Doctor. But it’s rather undercut by the Doctor leaving her behind for no discernible reason.
Once again, I have to ask what they were going for with that. We see the Doctor ask Nyssa where Tegan is, then in his next scene he and Nyssa duck into the Tardis and then it disappears. Did he forget about Tegan? Did he think she was onboard? Did he decide to make the decision for her to make it easier? Did he think she already had made her decision? Did he simply not want her back (he clearly isn’t happy about it at the end of the next story)? Did Nyssa get any say in this? Is it supposed to be ambiguous? I haven’t a clue. Looking it up on the Tardis wiki, apparently a Past Doctor Adventure novel is set right after Time-Flight. I really want to read that now, I’d be fascinated to see if it actually gives an answer to why the Doctor left, because as far as I know, no TV or audio story has attempted to address it.
So yeah, I’ve finally made up my mind on the s19 Tardis team, now I see them as a bit of a tragedy: a group who had the potential to become quite close, but didn’t get enough time for that. Maybe the drama of the season and the trauma of it ending made the Doctor jump at the chance to cut Tegan out, even if he could justify it to himself, because deep down he wanted a much simpler and ideal life: exploring the universe with the ward who’s most like him, scientifically curious and well-mannered. There’s potential for a good meaty story there, if the Doctor and his companions were forced to face that choice instead of ignoring it.
#my thoughts#Five#Tegan#Nyssa#Adric#Cybermen#Master#I can never predict which story I'm going to write the most about. In this case it's The Visitation.
15 notes
·
View notes
Text
Thoughts on “King’s Tide”
We’re finally here. The finale of season 2. Had to spend a few days re-watching this episode because there was so much to unpack and dissect. 🤯
We start off the episode expanding on the fact that King can hear the thoughts of the Collector from the previous episode.
This was such a cute scene.😊 It’s understandable that everyone is stressed after last episode. After all, you do get “Hangry if you are Hungry.”
Glad we finally get an explanation for where Amity’s nickname “Mittens” comes from. It’s cute.
“We shall wipe out all wild magic forever. Paradise awaits!”-I hate how the general public does not see this as an issue at all. Sometimes the people of the Boiling Isles surprise me. They make it too easy.
The character designs of all the other Coven Leaders are really cool. Especially the leader of Healing Coven.😲
Foreshadowing Point: The show reminds us that Eda can remove her hands in her conversation with Raine.
This scene makes me really sad. It really does display the significance of adolescence and the pains of growing up.
I really want to know how Belos found out about the plan with Raine and Eda. Is there a rat or was it intuition? Both?🤔
We hadn’t seen the key in a while, but I knew the Titan Blood wasn’t enough to set the Collector free. There was literally only one drop left lol
“But you said we were friends. We pinky swore.”-Even though I can see why the Collector was imprisoned, it’s still pretty low of Belos to drag the Collector for this long to betray them this way. I felt bad.
“Have you as my right hand? I’d sooner cut off my whole arm.” “Go find a hole to wither away in.”-OUCH😬. I don’t even like Kikimora like that, but that was brutal. I wish we knew more about Kikimore and Belos’ relationship because this stings. You can say what you want about Kiki, but she was loyal to Belos and did everything she could to make amends for her mistakes.
From a villian’s standpoint, it makes sense why Belos would not release the Collector. It’s been shown that the Collector is very naïve and would most likely give up his knowledge of magic to anyone they favor. Belos is just trying to protect himself.🤷🏾♀️ Still very messed up though.
“Why did I make those things so powerful?”-Yeah, Alador why did you?😑
Terra’s grudge on Eda and Raine for 30 years is so petty. I hate how this plan was found out. It was really solid too.
Lowkey glad we got to see the Coven Heads fight. It’s a shame we did not get an episode dedicated to all of them.
I’m glad we got to have a final stand-off with Luz and Phillip. They are technically both in the same situation, but have different perspectives due to their experiences in the Boiling Isles.
Good and quick thinking on Luz for using the “fish-out of water” idea on Phillip. Great way to make him think that he will be at a disadvantage in the Human world.👌🏾
Branding him was an excellent idea too
Phillip’s transformation is kind of cool, I can’t lie.
RAiNE, BeLoS Is GiViNg Us PaRaDiSe, RiGhT? 🙃🙃😐
If I was Raine, I wouldn’t have even responded lol
I really like it when the show was switching from King’s perspective to the general perspective of the show. The show could have easily went back to Amity, Willow, Gus and Hunter normally, but they wanted to show the severity of the situation from King’s eyes. Fantastic!!
It also hints at King’s impending transformation
I really appreciate how Luz was still pleading with Belos to stop the spell even though everything was going to hell. It was crunch time and she was still trying to compromise with a villain. A lot of people may find that annoying, but I find that quite admirable😊
The rest of team LAAWH (plus king) has arrived. I had to add Hunter in the team name somehow 🙃
“But I was always listening.”-Phillip should have done a better job of sound proofing his chambers lol. Maybe then Kikimora wouldn’t have been an asset to King.
“Hunter, why are you hurting me? I only wanted to help you.”-Again with the manipulation.😡Also, the fact that he’s doing this to an altered version of his dead brother makes this whole situation ten times worse and makes me sick. Screw you Belos.☝🏾
I wonder if we will learn more about how Flapjack is connected to Caleb in the next season. We really do need that backstory montage between Phillip and Caleb, even though we already know a decent amount of their story already.
“You look like that bully who put me in here.”-Welp this does not bode well for King. But shoutout to King’s dad for not only trapping the Collector, but making sure that if the Collector is found, that he would not be able to identify King. That’s a parent!
Eda’s skills of deception have really rubbed off on King in the past few years. Even though it wouldn’t be that hard to lie to the Collector😂
This scene was really well done. I loved the colors
Raine is such a good character. They are so honorable. Just let Raine and Eda be happy.
Also Eda lost a hand😓. First, she’s cursed, then she can’t perform magic and now she lost an appendage. EDA!!!😭
This show can be so real sometimes. It shows you that despite how talented the main group is, they are still not good enough to beat Belos. It doesn’t use “The Power of Friendship” message when the show gets really serious and I appreciate that. They are TEENAGES for goodness sakes! They still need more training.
The Collector’s physical introduction is perfect. From the character design, to the dialogue to even the OST. It’s like the writers took all the great things about the show and put into this one character and I love it.
Also this scene right here-10/10!👏🏾
The fact that we see the main crew’s reaction to the introduction of the closest thing considered a god in this series compared with the collector’s childlike nature is💯💯👌🏾👌🏾
Poor Hunter😭He can’t come up with a one-liner to say after a traumatic experience. I don’t blame him.
“Okay. Boop!”-And just like that the Day of Unity is over 😂😂
This is bad. This is very, very bad!
The Collector is very reason why the quote “Great Power, requires great responsibility” was created.-Oof 😓
Looks like Belos is still going to be a problem for Hunter next season because some of his residue got on Hunter 🤢
I really like how Hunter was the one to open the door to the Human Realm. Very symbolic for a lot of things👌🏾
“It’s human rain, it’s okay!”-Appreciate the hesitation of everyone before Gus says that because the Boiling Isles is highkey wild lol.
“Luz, I’m so happy, I had you as a big sister.” ＞﹏＜
This isn’t fair to King. But he has to take responsibility for his actions: Releasing a God. Even though he did this for the greater good, it ultimately lead to a more severe problem. I wish it didn’t have to be this way.😢
Nor is it fair to Luz. She doesn’t get the satisfaction of knowing that her new found family, Eda and King, are safe after this event. This show can be such a tragedy at times.
The chills I got from this frame alone.😣 The sense of despair from Gus, the shock radiating from on Luz’s expression and the looks of uncertainty on Amity, Hunter and Willow’s faces screams hopelessness. Combined with the fact they appear on Earth on a stormy night depicts the severity of the situation that they are in.
LOL at the shout out to Amphibia tho 😄
The last scene of the episode. Luz tearing up before the end of the episode just shows that she is one the verge of a breakdown. Our girl has been through a lot of trauma😭😭
Camila is going to have her hands full with not only one teenager, but other four other kids in the house (plus Vee). Titan have mercy on her soul. JK 😂😂. But with the next season, I expect a lot healing to occur for our characters or some healing to have already occurred before we see these characters again because this was a lot.
And there you have it. Season 2 is finally over and the dreadful hiatus begins again. *sigh* And mostly likely the last one we will be experiencing too *groan*
Expectations for Season 3 (next 3 1-hour specials): I anticipate a time-skip of some sort because starting off right of the bat might not give the characters enough time to unpack the situation. I expect to see Amity, Hunter, Willow and Gus getting used to the human world (very excited for this) and feeling like outsiders just like Luz did on the Boiling Isles. Finally, I hope for a satisfying ending. It does suck how this show had its wings clipped before it could truly soar and maintain massive succes, but I trust in Dana and everyone else working on the show that they will end this story off right. This is a captivating story with great characters.
This season has been a ride and I can’t wait to see what else is in store for these characters. Until then, see you guys at the beginning of season 3. It’s gonna be great!✌🏾
#the owl house#toh#king's tide#owl house#owl house commentary#luz noceda#amity blight#gus porter#willow park#toh hunter#edalyn clawthorne#toh king#lilith clawthorne#emperor belos#raine whispers#darius deamonne#alador blight#owl house season 2 finale
8 notes
·
View notes
Text
Ophilia, The Cleric: Chapter 2
WARNING! Spoilers ahead for Chapter 2 of Ophilia’s story in Octopath Traveler!
...Man, it has been a while. Sorry for the wait! If anyone’s still interested, I’ll make sure to update this series a lot more regularly!
I’m determined to finish this game this year! (۶•̀ᴗ•́)۶ So let’s get going!
Alright!
The second chapter reviews begin...NOW!
Starting with...Ophilia!
...
...Okay, I’m not gonna sugarcoat it: This chapter was semi-filler. Only semi because the plot did progress to lead into the next point, but besides the Kindling nothing really happened (in a main plot sense).
The Kindling really was cool to watch, though. The burst of fire was really pretty.
The story was solid, but it didn’t really tell us anything about Ophilia or have her work in an unfamiliar situation. We already know that she likes to help people and that she cares about her family; all this chapter did was reinforce that. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it really doesn’t add much.
Another thing: Just because someone bumps into you, it does not mean it’s their fault if you lose something. It is the result of an accident. Just saying.
The lesson about grieving was good though: It’s okay to be sad, but don’t forget you still have people who care about you. At some point, you have to acknowledge you still have people you love and love you back. That gets neglected to be mentioned sometimes.
Probably need more than a week, though. Also, Derryl’s a kid: kids do mean things. I do appreciate Ophilia’s way of handling things: Calm but firm and making sure they know all the sides to a situation.
Also, Nate’s a little brat. Just saying.
And if the forest is so dangerous, WHY DIDN’T ANYONE PUT UP A FENCE?! Does anyone actually go in there?! No one tried to stop Emil when he was clearly running through a populated town?! What’s up with this city?!
I wonder what happened to that dog...
Not much to say about Hróðvitnir. Literally just there to be a boss. Again, semi-filler chapter. Which really stinks because they have a really cool design, in a muscular-wolf kind of way. Maybe a beast from the legends of the Flame? Guardian of the woods whose land was stolen by the church, maybe giving Ophilia a conflict? There was potential, and all we got was a hungry wolf.
At least we found the brooch. And the apology was nice, Ophilia’s right: No one can hurt you like a friend.
Technically I saved your life Emil, Hróðvitnir was probably just about to eat you both, but okay...
Aww, the Flame reflects Ophilia’s heart! That’s a cute detail.
Simple story, unnecessary but satisfactory.
But oh boy...We got Travel Banter! I have been looking forward to this for SO LONG!
I adore party interactions, especially in RPGs. It’s a great way to flesh out the characters and help show what it’s like for the team when they’re on the road when we can’t see them. Especially in older games like Octopath is based on, party interactions were usually reserved for recruitment and plot progression. Understandable for the time, but I appreciate the development team allowing us to see how the party reacts to events as a whole instead of just the main character. My only wish is that they had full voice acting.
I’m gonna talk about how I feel about each one!
Cyrus: This one was just adorable. Cyrus was so excited and Ophilia actually had someone to talk to that knows why she’s traveling! And she wants him to see the rest, aw! Just sweet.
Alfyn: Poor guy. I can’t blame him, she’s such a cutie (Don’t think she’ll notice, though, seems to be a problem with this team). Nice to see her interested in his job, apothecarys are cool! I like learning about his process.
Primrose: Aww, we got to see Prim’s soft side. I like seeing that even if she’s a vengeance-obsessed femme fatale, she can still be genuinely friendly and supportive. And Phili, you’re not exactly one to talk about outfit practicality: you went sleeveless in the snow and you’re trekking through forests in white, girl.
Tressa: I can’t wait to see Tressa become a parent. Sorry Ophilia, sometimes you gotta be tough and maybe negotiate.
H’aanit: Not much to say, just dog stuff. And forest stuff. Eh. Knowledge?
Therion: If you don’t want to talk about it, WHY’D YOU BRING IT UP?! SHARE YOUR BACKSTORY! Props for being real, though, other people have it hard too.
Olberic: Team Dad! He’s so proud of his little guy. Ophilia agrees with me!
Saintsbridge gives a sleepy atmosphere. Not a bad thing, it’s a calm place, I just assumed a religious town would be more uptight and reserved. The church is lovely but not overwhelming, plaza’s cute, even the division between the upper and lower isn’t that big. The lighting is reminiscent of an early morning glow, and the running stream is gentle and soothing, complimenting the woodsy surroundings. Perfect place to take a nap or buy a treat from the bakery and watch the water...
So of course the dungeon is a horrifying dark forest of doom. ...Now I want black forest gâteau.
Murkwood’s a pretty standard evil forest: Dark, only candlelight, foggy; you get the picture. Not saying it looks bad, pretty much all the backgrounds in this game would make an amazing gallery show; just pretty stereotypical.
But there is one thing I can say.
WE FINALLY GOT A BREAK FROM SUMMON BOSSES!
I was getting, SO TIRED of those.
Honestly I was so happy I didn’t even pay that much attention to the actual fight. Okay, I’m not even gonna try to do fight commentary anymore, I’m not good with mechanics; just gonna stick with reviewing the story, setting and characters.
Now to Goldshore!
...Wait, Goldshore...Is the next chapter a beach episode?!
NO MORE SEMI-FILLER!
1 note
·
View note
Text
Cyberpunk 2077 Urban-explore blog #1
Hello there Choom! I’ve been exploring around in Cyberpunk 2077 recently, since I enjoy the world design and wanted to share some of the stuff I found. First off, I can be pretty critical of this game, but I do understand that others enjoy it. I do too! I just was very disappointed in the state of release of the game back in December of 2020. From the tons of bugs and technical issues to the massive amount of cut content. I do hope this game can improve and become something better.
Also apologies for the long post. I really don’t know how tumblr works, but I’m trying it out anyway. Also mild spoilers down below. Nothing major.
For exploring I don’t use cheats or console commands. For most of my exploring using the double jump cyber implant is enough to allow me to explore for my heart’s content. It’s honestly the only reason I keep playing the game. There’s just so much to explore!
Anyways, onto exploring. The first thing I did, was play some Roach Race. The new minigame where you can actually play an arcade game. In this game you play as Roach, the horse of Geralt from The Witcher series, running and avoiding obstacles. If you’ve ever played the dinosaur “no connection” google chrome game, then you’ve pretty much played this. Though interesting to note is that the game has a leader board, and after I played a game I got a message stating that if I got into the top 5, there would be awards. Which was pretty exciting. It doesn’t seem very hard, but after playing a bit I got 6th place, and called it for today. I’ll play again some other time.
After that I started to roam. I even found this Private Investigators office. I wonder if there’s any meaning behind the sign? I couldn’t tell.
After that I started to to climb. And oh boy did I found something great. Usually the rails in night city are blocked by huge amounts of collisions that actively push you away from them. I guess they really don’t players to roam on top of the empty rail ways? So I guess they forgot one cause:
If you can’t tell I am a lot closer to the rails than what should be allowed. So much so that I was able to actively get on the rails past the collisions and walk on top of it.
Something interesting to note is that these set of rails are special because they lie on top of a road. I don’t know why they are. It’s even marked on my mini-map as such with the green line being the road. But don’t worry I bet you’re curious what’s at the end of the rail right? Well fear not because I found it.
As you can see the end of this railway is nothing more than a slab of pure concrete. Guess the trams have the ability to go through solid material. And as you can see from the screenshot I got a special message for going too far. Ah yes the famous “Turn back. Nothing out there for you... just yet” message that appears when entering parts of the map the devs don’t want you to. Always something good to see to make sure I’m on the right track.
Though fun fact: the trams do work as moving objects and you can be hit by one. Which is so odd, since you’d have to go out of your way to get hit by one, like me. But sadly no, there is no way to ride these. I guess the fast travel system is meant to be using them? But I always wanted to be able to ride inside of them. Anyways.
I don’t think these rails are up to code... surprised they haven’t caused a derailment yet.
Now then, if that was one end of the track, where does the other end go? Well good question. It goes to a station presumably to be loaded with cargo. You can see a very rare look into the station here. It really is nothing more than just rails switching sides.
Sadly however, I can’t get any closer. There’s a gigantic collision box on all sides of this station. No matter what angle I tried this was the end of the rails journey. Sad :(. Though I did certainly try.
So I went exploring else where. Something I find a ton of is areas where you can tell assets were placed together. Such as the roofs of this building overlapping with one another.
Or how this barbed-wire is embedded in the roof behind the motel for BugBear’s quest.
I also don’t think that this placement of ventilation would get much air flow. No would that latter be much of use, seeing that it’s inside the ventilation machine.
But now for the final part of my exploration. I found something that eerily resembles some actual urban-ex stuff. I found an empty tunnel that used to lead from a parking garaged to a hotel. But the hotel is now run-down, except for that night club you can find during one side-quest. Here is the tunnel:
The otherside:
Both ends just end to walls. But the stairs lead down to the garage:
There’s no need for this tunnel or the garage to exist. But this is really cool to see. You can tell this hotel was once functioning, but has long fell to disrepair and negligent. This is some seriously cool environmental story telling that I think a lot of people would miss out on. Hence why I wanted to make this post.
But shortly after this my computer blue screened.
So I guess that’s all from cyberpunk today. Yeah, fixed game with no technical issues huh? I swear the latest 1.6.1 is just very unstable. I had less issues with 1.6 before this new update.
So anyways, I want to make more posts like this in the future but I don’t know how often I’ll do them. They’re mostly for me to reflect back on previous stuff I found. But until next time, have a good one!
1 note
·
View note
Text
Subject: RAPTOR
Nomu!Hawks x Reader (NSFW)
This GIANT is the lovechild of this amazing fanart and this ask:
I twisted the shizznit out of that ask, but the inspiration is still there. A thank you to anyone who makes it through this very long ride.
This fic does takes some liberties in the creation of nomu. Some factors will deviate from canon.
Words: 20k+
You can also read this long-ass story on AO3 if that’s more comfortable.
Heed these warnings: Blood and Death, Teratophilia/Monster-Fucking, Breeding, Mutant Genitalia, Unethical Experimentation, Mutilation, lots of handjobs and cum, LOTS of long tongue action and I’m ashamed, Brief Suicide Ideation, and Shitty Science
——–x——–
Fertile nomu were the greatest breakthrough that the villains could ever hope for. Breeding saves so much time and resources, as opposed to artificially creating each specimen from scratch. There were two major “programs”, as these sick bastards insist on calling them.
The Mating Program, where the nomu were paired together, one with male sexual organs and the other with those of a female, though there was also the occasional subject that managed to possess both. It was an unpredictable process; miscarriages were common, sometimes the offspring dies minutes after birth, or the fetus develops too rapidly inside the womb and the birth becomes a violent bursting out of the parent’s body. Weaker nomu, usually the ones incapable of rapid regeneration, have been killed from such incidents. “What a waste,” those bastards in lab coats would say.
And then there was the Milking Program, in which semen was collected to later be frozen or artificially inserted into ‘other creatures’. Yeah, they say it as if ninety percent of those creatures weren’t humans.
You were an unwilling member of the latter program, but the assholes sure did love making it sound like they were doing you a favor.
“This entire precinct is yours,” they said. “Your very own farm of all-powerful beasts!”
Gee, thanks. Just what you always wanted, to jerk off abominations and collect their cum. To be fair, it could be worse. At least you weren’t one of the unlucky ones being impregnated. Your possession of a quirk, albeit a mostly useless one, probably saved you from that fate. Those without a quirk had a higher chance of passing down all of the Nomu’s abilities. Just another addition to the long list of Why Being Quirkless Fucking Sucks.
The weaker and simpler nomu aren’t an issue. A sort of imprinting drives them to obey your every command. Hell, jerking them off isn’t even needed — you can literally just order them to ejaculate, and the damn things are spewing out their putrid seed before you can even prepare your containers.
The most troublesome part of your “job” was the High Ends. They are powerful, sentient, and God help you, have an actual sex drive. They were obedient to an extent, but you can’t hold complete control over something that was specifically designed for independent thinking. You were responsible for only five of these advanced nomu, and that was too many. The touchy bastards always wanted more than just a handjob, vocalizing their lust through distorted throats. The long, beastly groans of “inside” and “give pussy” echoed in your head throughout the day and into the night.
These things can literally pound you into mush, and the very thought of carrying their horrifying children makes your throat burn with rising bile. You don’t believe it’s worth risking your life just to please their monster dicks.
That was all before they introduced you to a new ‘pet’. You stood in the hallway of your assigned area of the old hospital and watched two approaching figures. Ugh, another damn High End to make things more difficult, but this one made your heart skip a beat.
Most of the creature’s body was a solid black, just like the rest within its tier. It was more slender than the others, upper body leaning forward with the support of long legs with joints that reminded you of a bird. Both its hands and feet were covered in scales and ended in large talons. A grand pair of ebony wings were folded behind its back, and a muscular feathered tail swayed with its movements. Overall, its appearance was a mixture of avian and reptilian.
The feathery wings were a huge hint, but absolute certainty struck you when you made eye contact, gold-filled eyes with a bird-like slant on a face that still managed to stay youthful after so many alterations to its body. You listened in on the villains’ conversations whenever they were around. With no access to any kind of media in this place, it was the only way to stay up-to-date with everything happening outside of these cursed labs. You remember hearing about their latest victory, how they managed to overpower and kill the number two hero of Japan, dreadful news that you refused to believe. But the beast that was eyeing you curiously gave you no choice but to accept the truth.
Hawks has become their newest nomu.
The doctor accompanying him smiled proudly, commanding the monster to take your side. You gulped and tried not to flinch in his presence; you were always extra tense around new additions that didn’t know you yet. “Hawks is dead,” the doctor said calmly. “Say hello to our latest work: Raptor.”
You think you’d rather stick with ‘Hawks’. The doctor doesn’t wait for a response before continuing. “We expect samples from this one daily.”
The shocking demand has you speaking before you can stop yourself. “Why?”
The man’s impassive eyes darkened and you shrink back, considering an apology but deciding that it was best to just keep your mouth shut. Prisoners like you followed a set of rules, the most important one being ‘No Questions’. They’ll feed you to the very beasts entrusted in your care without batting an eye.
Lucky for you, this man was willing to give you a pass. “Analysis, fertilization, storage for future plans…many matters that don’t concern you. Expect me every morning to take it in for testing. Until then, get it settled and collect the first sample.”
You shuddered, sneaking a glance at Hawks, who was busy looking up at the occasional flicker of the ceiling light. It was careless to underestimate how observant the High Ends were, but this is the first time you’ve seen one so openly curious. Normally they would just absently stare at nothing when left idle.
Only when the doctor turned to leave did you finally give the newcomer your full attention. “Hawks?”
He continued to watch the blinking bulbs with great interest.
“Um…Raptor?”
You nearly jumped from how quickly his entire body turned toward you, completely still and waiting for whatever instructions came next.
You scratched at your head nervously. “Right, I guess that really is your name now. Well, come with me.”
He followed you down the old hall and past the rooms where others of his kind rested, talons tapping against the tiles with each step.
x---x---x---x---x
Raptor’s exposed frontal lobe throbs.
He doesn’t remember anything before his awakening in that cold and wet chamber. Was there anything before? Had he just been born?
Perhaps…but it just didn’t feel right.
x---x---x---x---x
Like all the other nomu, Hawks’s private space was nothing more than an emptied patient room. Their loyalty was the only thing keeping them from breaking down the old doors or tearing through the worn walls. Every minute spent alone with these superhumans was a gamble with your life.
But again, the newcomers make you extra nervous.
You stood at the door while Hawks examined his new home. He sniffed and pawed at every nook and cranny like an animal in unfamiliar surroundings, straightening his flexible spine to touch the ceiling before lowering himself on all fours. He seemed just as comfortable crawling as he was with walking; you can only imagine how incredible his agility has become. The beloved wing hero was best known for his swiftness in defeating and subduing villains, and it looks like the mad scientists sought to maximize his talents. The average nomu was built to be an indestructible powerhouse. Hawks was built to be an even more efficient predator than he already was.
As much as you didn’t want to interrupt him, you had a job to do. “Raptor…”
His head whipped around to pin you with a sharp stare, molten yellow slits revealing the red irises that only appear when focused. You tensed, but he made no further movements.
You cleared your throat and took a deep breath. Nomu respond best to a confident and assertive voice. “Just relax and stay still. It’s time for me to collect some sperm, if you even know what that means.” You grab the jar that you had already prepared in the corner.
He shook his wings and soft mane of hair, leaving his head a poofy mess. Well that was…cute. You approached him before setting the container back down and reaching for the pathetic rags they called shorts. It’s beyond ridiculous how these sadistic doctors are willing to completely violate and alter a person’s corpse, yet they force the abominations to keep their junk covered as some form of decency.
A low rumble vibrated from his chest as you dropped to your knees and pulled down his only article of clothing, allowing the not quite human-looking cock to spring free — a thick base with a curved shaft decorated with scale-like ridges on the top and bottom, then tapering to an arrow-like head, twitching and growing each second. You’ve seen stranger dicks, but it still catches you by surprise. Was Hawks’s dick always like this?
Is that a distasteful question? He is technically dead.
The moment your hand made contact, a loud hiss rushed past his teeth and he stepped back, wings flapping as he backed away until he hit the wall.
“Calm down.” His reaction startled you, but your voice remained steady. He wasn’t showing any signs of aggression, his widened eyes and timid posture gave the impression that he was just caught off-guard. “Calm,” you repeated more softly.
A few seconds pass while his breaths slow and he stands straight again to give you access to his fully hardened cock.
You try to move more slowly, at first running just your fingertips along his length to ease him into the feeling. You smiled at the sight of his face relaxing; he was surprisingly expressive. “See? It’s not so bad, is it?”
His mouth opened to give you a glimpse of sharp teeth that could easily shred your flesh, but the only sounds that come out are several choked peeps. He winces and brings a clawed hand to his throat.
“Can’t talk yet, huh? Don’t worry, it usually takes a few days for you guys.” You closed your fingers around his shaft in a firm grip and began to stroke him.
The soft purrs must mean that he has fully given in. He thankfully hasn’t made any grabs at you yet; only staring down and watching you explore every inch of his pitch-black meat, taking his leaking pre-cum and smearing it all over for lubrication.
His wings shiver and his tail begins to swing wildly—you flinch at each loud thud whenever the powerful limb whacks the wall or slams into the floor. You briefly wonder if the feathers on his tail are capable of becoming sharp blades like the ones on his wings.
The purrs become low growls as he begins to bend over your kneeling form, muscular thighs quivering around you. His cock was twitching under your quickening pace, notifying you that it was time to grab the jar and get ready. “No need to hold back. Go ahead and cum.”
He obeyed with a high screech and two sets of talons seized your shoulders, tearing through cloth and digging into your skin. You yelped, but didn’t halt your milking of his cock, ensuring each spurt of cum landed inside the container. Blood can be felt trickling down your arms, his grip on the verge of crushing bone until he finally lets go after his final spasm. You release the breath you didn’t even know you were holding as you sealed the jar and stood up. “Good, now rest,” you said through clenched teeth and turned to leave.
A distorted chirp is heard behind you; you twisted your head to see Hawks rushing forward, and your heart jumps into your throat. Fuck, what did you do? Did turning your back excite him? Running wasn’t a smart option at this point. You held the fresh warm sample close to you as you shut your eyes and braced for whatever the nomu had planned.
But when he was close enough for you to feel his hot breath against your back, nothing happened. Then there were fingers, the same fingers that pierced your flesh with their hooked claws, lightly tracing over the bleeding wounds. It was a touch that was way too gentle for a monster created to kill.
You heard the choked sounds again, and you take a look at his face as he strains to form a word, eventually giving up and mouthing it instead. What you read from his lips was something that hasn’t been said to you during your entire time in this hellish hospital.
‘Sorry.’
He retreats to a corner and curls up his entire body like an animal sleeping in the cold.
You felt like the one unable to speak now, mouth opening and closing in search of a response. Eventually you were able to collect yourself. “It’s alright…I guess. Not the first time one of you has handled me roughly. First time one of you showed any regret, though…it’s honestly really freaking me out.” You giggle uncomfortably and decide that you need to hurry up and treat yourself before the scratches get infected. “Rest,” you make sure to command before rushing out of the door.
The restroom held a shabby but functional shower that will rid you of the blood, and the workers were at least generous enough to give you the bare minimum of first-aid along with extra gowns. A couple excruciating dabs of alcohol on the open wounds should clean them up just fine.
You’ll have to think about Hawks’s odd behavior later. You still had other nomu to tend to.
x---x---x---x---x
Subject: Raptor
Field Test
Quirk #1: Fierce Wings
Notes: As the host’s original quirk, we don’t expect Raptor to experience any difficulties with Fierce Wings. It should serve more as a refresher for his memory. With a brain more advanced than any other nomu so far, he should still be quick in attacking and reacting. His slightly enlarged wings will allow for greater endurance during flight, and of course, a bigger arsenal of feathers. The feathers on his tail are also to be tested.
The room that Raptor stood in the center of was filled with targets everywhere—some static, some moving in fixed patterns. The humans in coats were a safe distance away and watching him closely.
“Raptor, strike the targets with your feathers.”
He didn’t even have a chance to see which one gave the order before his body was already reacting. It took only seconds for him to pin the locations and time the movements of each target. In a flash, black sharpened feathers darted in multiple directions and pierced every mark in the room.
He didn’t care about impressing the Coats, but he still released a pleased hum after hearing his entire audience gasp. The whole situation felt familiar for some reason. Completing such a test felt so natural to him, he could probably do it blindfolded.
“Again, but this time use only the feathers from your tail.”
He obeyed. With his body lowered and tail raised, it only took two seconds longer to hit each mark.
Several more tests took place. He chopped objects of different materials and varying thickness, sliced apart a combat robot while using only his tail as a blade, and showed off his speed and aerial maneuvers during a small obstacle course.
His brain pulsed painfully. He doesn’t understand why taking so many commands was such a painful struggle.
He didn’t mind the tests much. At least he can actually do something in these test fields, as opposed to sitting in his empty room all day. After the very pleasant time spent with you, it was nothing but hours of pacing, scratching, and grooming out of boredom.
You mentioned there being others like him in those rooms. How do they handle having absolutely nothing to do for so long?
“Its mind tends to wander, doesn’t it?”
He turns to the source of the voice and finds a pair of Coats that stared at him like they were trying to probe his mind with just their eyes. The rest were scrambling about, discussing the excellence of his performance and scribbling notes.
But these two only seemed interested in watching him get lost in his thoughts. He stared back, waiting to see if they had any commands to give.
One of them only smirked as the loyal creature stood at full attention. “Yes, not very hostile, either. Not only is he capable of higher levels of thinking, he is the first High End that doesn’t host the body of some brutish villain. A more complex mind often comes with very human...quirks.”
Raptor blinks. They really enjoyed saying that particular word.
x---x---x---x---x
When you stepped into Hawks’s room for the second morning, you were ready to step right back out when you saw the state of it.
Claw marks everywhere, covering the walls and floor like webs embedded in the surface. Hawks was looking at you closely while stooped low to the floor, but his body appeared relaxed and not ready to lunge.
Not a single hair on you moved when you spoke. “Are you alright?”
He tilted his head at the question, releasing a puff of air through his nostrils before returning to whatever he was trying to do to the floor. He wasn’t violent with his movements. The talons scraped across wide curves, long lines, other patterns with seemingly no goal in mind. Looking around at the other claw marks, you realize that none of them are the angry slashes of a beast throwing a fit. They all looked to have been drawn in a calm matter, twisting and turning into random non-specific shapes.
“Raptor, are you…bored?”
He paused his carving to look at you again and releases a long and drawn-out groan, throat vibrating along with the vocals. Was that a whine?
All of the High Ends had traces of their original personality, but this was on another level. It wasn’t unwelcomed, however. “You know, when the other High Ends don’t have anything to do, they kinda just…I don’t know, it’s like they put their brains on a power-saver mode. You can’t do that?”
His brain responds with several strong pulses. Gross, you’re never going to get used to that pink-gray matter moving around. After what was apparently deep thought, Hawks gave a softer groan and shook his head.
You couldn’t help but laugh humorlessly at this entire situation. “Incredible. You’d think that these smartasses would know that making a creature of extraordinary intelligence—I bet that’s what they said—would mean that your big gross brain needs regular stimulation. Geniuses, my ass.”
Hawks gave a beastly snort. Seems like he agrees with you. You don’t mean to sound like those insane bastards, but it truly was incredible to see a High End that showed interest in casual conversation, not just commands or any opportunity to cause destruction.
Feeling confident that he won’t maul you out of boredom, you finally approach and kneel in front of him. “Sorry, there’s not much I can do about that,” you said with genuine sympathy. “Not like I have any entertainment of my own. My room sucks too. But—“ You held up your fresh new jar. “Maybe we can kill some time together again? God, that makes me sound like a sex worker for you guys.”
You don’t know if he has a sense of humor, but he clearly understands your hints and perks up. He stands so that your face is leveled with his groin, black scaly hands tugging at his shorts until a loud rip causes him to grunt in frustration. You giggle and decide to help tear the rest off. “They were just shitty rags, anyway,” you said.
He was already growing right in front of you. Your hand wraps around him for a second time, thankful that it doesn’t startle him again. He tenses for only a moment, but quickly relaxes when your stroking begins, a large pair of testes swinging freely now that there was no cloth to contain them.
“Wow,” you couldn’t help but gasp. “You’re not even built as big as the other nomu, but those are still impressive. I guess you’ve got plenty of samples to give, huh? Good, ‘cause I’ve gotta do this every damn day.”
You received a purr and a swish of his tail in response. It was a one-sided conversation, but it was still pretty refreshing. Milking the other High Ends was an uncomfortable task, one where you always had to be prepared with a loud and strong “No” or “Stop” whenever their excitement evolved into aggression. Every minute was tense, and despite your occasional wish for release from this shitty life, you didn’t want a violent end at the hands of these sex-hungry monstrosities.
His reactions weren’t too different from yesterday; he was being more vocal and less shy about physically expressing his pleasure. The massive black wings blew your hair back with each powerful beat, and his tail was thrashing about even more wildly.
His deep purrs weren’t unpleasant, slowly changing into higher mewls as he got closer. “Come on, just do what you did last time.”
And so he did, delivering another fresh sample straight into your container with a warped cry. His hands lingered right over you, clenched in tight fists that surely had those sharp talons digging into his rough palms. You couldn’t be sure, but it looked as if he was trying not to grab you this time. Would he really care about that without being told?
Hot, tired breaths blew into your hair as he recovered from his climax. Then, with his head reared back, he let out a yawn. You even heard a faint little whine similar to a dog escape him. It would have been pretty endearing if it weren’t for just how widely his mouth was opened, displaying the scary set of teeth within. Does he really use those in combat?
With his still-dripping member going flaccid, he returned to the spot he was scratching at, lazily tracing the markings that were already made. The thought of him doing this for another ten hours or so made you frown. They probably wouldn’t care if you stayed in this room a little longer than usual, would they?
Shrugging, you kneeled down again, this time resting beside him. Hawks stopped and looked at you curiously.
“Sharpen one of your feathers and give it to me,” you ordered.
Almost immediately a feather appears right in front of you. You grab it, taking care not to cut your fingers on the razor-like barbs. When’s the last time you’ve held a writing utensil? Shifting awkwardly next to the large nomu, you took the quill and began scratching lines into the floor. The hot heavy breaths and overall warmth from his close presence was hard to ignore. You’ve never been this close to a nomu for any reason that wasn’t jerking them off. He remained calm, watching your hand closely until you finished drawing a small grid.
“You know how to play tic tac toe?”
He blinked.
“…Okay, it’s pretty simple. You fill a space with either an ‘O’ or an ‘X’…”
Somehow, teaching a killer monster how to play a common children’s game was weirder than making him jizz. He caught on quickly, favoring X’s. You were winning each game at first, but once he figured out all of the possible patterns, every game was ending in a draw. You drew larger grids, sometimes having both of you move to a different spot for more room. Most matches were still draws, but he will sometimes catch you by surprise and scratch a row of three X’s that you didn’t notice in time, his tail swishing out of what may have been pride or enjoyment.
After a while you decided to show him other shapes. Maybe he can experiment with them more when you were gone. Who knows, soon he might be drawing more than random lines. He wasn’t bad company, to be honest. Then again, your standards have taken a nosedive ever since you winded up in this facility of unethical science. It was nice to spend time with anything that didn’t want to just tear you in half with a massive cock.
Only when you felt like you overstayed your welcome and stood back up did you realize how much of a mess you both made of the floor and walls.
“Oops, it looks like a bunch of kids got in here,” you said while looking at the collage of shapes and lines. Hopefully the doctors won’t find this too strange; he was pretty intelligent, after all. “Well, it’s about time I take my leave. You keep practicing your doodling skills, I guess.” With the jar of white fluid back in your arms, you headed on out, but a large hand grabs onto your arm.
Hawks’s yellow eyes were wider than usual, a scraping, guttural noise leaving his throat as he toyed with his voice.
“Sss…..aaayy…” Just like the other High Ends, his vocals were warped and all-around unsettling, but you could hear it, traces of the playful and smooth-talking hero that you used to watch during interviews and talk shows. It was barely there, but it was still there.
“St…aay.”
You couldn’t help the sad smile that graced your face. He was looking at you like a puppy. “Sorry, but I don’t know what they’d do if they notice me staying here for too long,” you explained.
He winced from the strain of his vocal chords. “Come…back?”
You shook your head. “There are cameras in the halls. I shouldn’t be going in and out of your room.” You tensed under his grip, afraid that refusing him like this will anger him. He has been very docile so far, but you don’t know what it takes to set him off.
Thankfully, he lets go of you and backs away with another one of those whines. For God’s sake, were you really feeling bad about leaving one of these...things?
To be fair, in the two days you’ve known him, Hawks was already much different from the others. Hell, he hasn’t even shown any true signs of aggression yet. The other High Ends are always expressing some desire to attack or break something. You thought it came naturally with all of the engineering. For something that was apparently supposed to be their finest specimen yet, Hawks’s behavior wasn’t fitting for his job at all. You just played tic tac fucking toe with him like two kids on a sidewalk.
That’s probably why you found yourself trying to reassure him. “We can play some more tomorrow. Don’t worry.”
An odd clicking noise was made—he sure had a variety of sounds reminiscent of birds—and he returned to his favorite corner, hooking his talons into an empty spot on the wall to begin yet another drawing.
The slightest hint of warmth could be felt in your chest as you left him to his creative tasks. This place sucks and has deprived you of everything good in life for…you’ve lost track of how long. You’ll take whatever you can get to make things more bearable around here.
And if that ‘whatever’ turns out to be a former top hero who was killed and resurrected into a horrid experiment, then so be it.
x---x---x---x---x
Subject: Raptor
Field Test
Quirk #2: Reptile
Notes: The Reptile quirk will make for a great upgrade to Raptor’s physical capabilities. He may possess wings, but the ability to climb almost any surface will be helpful in enclosed areas and improve his overall performances in stealth. A flexible spine allows him to comfortably be both bipedal and quadrupedal, the digitigrade legs granting him greater speed and jumps.
Also, someone needs to send in a request for a new pair of shorts for the damned thing.
There were many more instructions to follow this time. The Coats were bombarding him with one command after another.
“Climb up here.”
“Slash this with your talons.”
“Crush this with your hands. Try again with your feet.”
His head throbbed painfully as the voices took hold of his movements. They pushed his endurance to the limit when they made him run on a machine, first on his legs, then again on all fours. He was only running in place, but it was much more satisfying than pacing back and forth in that boring room.
It turns out that he can scale walls and ceilings with little effort thanks to the pads on his hands and feet. Maybe he can try drawing on the ceiling when he returns to his room. The only downside was that you wouldn’t be able to sit up there with him.
The Coats observed behind the (assumed) safety of a wall of thick glass. Each one possessed a small microphone so that their voice can still be heard clearly through the speaker on his side of the room.
They always watched him with cold and calculating eyes, and only spoke to him when telling him to do something. You feared him; his feathers easily sensed your tension, unsteady breaths, and quickening heartbeats, yet you still took the time to be friendly. And what you do with those hands…he wishes you’d make him feel that good all day. Yes, his room was small and boring, but it did have you.
“Raptor, to the opposite end of the room,” a Coat ordered. The sensation of being pulled by his entire head forced him to take his place at the wall, staring straight ahead at the door.
His wings twitched from a powerful approaching presence, feathers instinctively sharpening at the possible incoming threat. The door was opened by a small Coat to make way for a beast, a beast with a large powerful form and exposed brain just like him.
Vacant eyes stared straight ahead, looking right through him like it was dead on its feet.
“This is one of Cloner’s spawn, yes?” A female Coat spoke with her mouth close to the mic. He supposes that they don’t care if he hears them.
“Yes. His offspring always turn out even more unstable than him. This one can’t even produce a single proper clone, and no additional quirks were inherited. It’s useless.”
“Well, at least it’ll help us in its final moments.” The man leaned into his mic. “Raptor, kill the nomu. Do not use your wings.”
The woman followed up with her own order. “Nomu, kill Raptor.”
Blood was suddenly rushing through his body twice as fast, the reds of his eyes appearing and locking onto the target that was already charging at him with a horrifying wail.
Kill it.
He ducked under the bigger creature’s closing arms that would have likely trapped him into a crushing hug, causing his opponent to lose balance and fall forward. His hand shot up and dug his talons into thick flesh, slicing it from its chest all the way down to its stomach as he ran beneath. Rising from under the nomu’s legs, he turned to see his gruesome work.
Instead, he sees the blur of a fist right before it smashes into his face and sends him flying. His back colliding hard with the wall accompanied the shattering of his jaw. There was no time to wait for his vision to clear up, scrambling out of the path of the charging silhouette before it slams into the now-empty spot, the impact shaking the entire room.
The pain only intensified when his face and spine began to shift, mending itself back together while he tried his hardest to keep his eye on the much more violent beast. A ghoulish moan was heard as it straightened itself, and Raptor could see the large gash that should have easily disemboweled it already closing up.
Ah, so they can both heal.
It was already charging straight at him again. The thing was fast and powerful, but it was acting like it had a one-track mind, sticking to a simple strategy of running towards him and dealing whatever damage it could.
His wings twitched, but there was a barrier in his mind preventing them from moving. Damned Coats.
The fight became a game of evasion, darting and dashing around the bigger and stronger nomu’s swings and countering with deep slashes. Wearing it down was impossible with such rapid healing, every cut he brought upon its skin was quickly sewn shut.
His only chance was to attack its brain, but the nomu had enough sense to protect its one true vulnerable spot, nearly crushing Raptor’s arm into paste after an attempt to sink his talons into the soft matter.
So he kept dodging, and dodging, until something inside the creature just...snapped. Perhaps it was out of frustration in failing to land any hits, but its haunting moans and wails soon became full on screams. Tightly clenched fists pounded into the floor, the stone floor crumbling under the sudden tantrum. Raptor stood and watched, wings tensing from the burst of tortured emotions.
“Hm, you weren’t exaggerating about the meltdowns,” he heard one of the Coats say, her voice as dull as ever.
“What an embarrassment. Damn thing can’t even carry out a simple fight.”
Raptor looked behind the glass of spectators and saw faces of disappointment.
“A complete waste.”
“Cloner’s children are all wasted potential.”
“What a sad display.”
“Pathetic.”
He looked back at the creature that was now writhing and flailing, its skin oozing a blob that throbbed and squirmed, like it was trying its hardest to take a shape.
But the bubbly pulses stop and the dripping mass melts into a lifeless puddle. The nomu continues to scream after its failed attempt at using its quirk. Raptor’s gut twists with pity.
A sad display, indeed.
“Raptor! Did you forget your orders? Kill him!”
The sharp command smothers all feelings of sympathy, and before Raptor knew it, he was running toward the tormented creature, each feather on his tail sharpening with every step. Ducking under a blind swipe, the black spear thrusted forward and pierced its brain with a sickening shlunk.
The thrashing was reduced to short spasms as the nomu choked out its final groans, its terrified eyes glazing over when the last traces of life faded.
The tail was yanked out and shook off the blood and spongy brain matter to splatter on the ground. Raptor gave a soft whine of distress.
“Well, that was all rather underwhelming.”
“Yep, that didn’t exactly challenge Raptor at all.”
“I’m concerned about his lack of aggression. Did you all see him hesitate?”
“Most likely just confusion and caution after witnessing such a sudden breakdown.”
So many voices, so many comments; Raptor paid no attention to them. His mind was on the corpse that continued to bleed heavily from the large gash in its head. Raptor was the stronger nomu. He won.
Was he supposed to feel proud? Victorious?
“He’s a very smart one. Did you see the markings in his room? He and his harvester have been...bonding.” That voice...Raptor recognized it as the Coat that showed up every morning to retrieve him from his room to enter these test rooms. “I can’t decide if I like the idea of a friendly nomu.”
The woman dismissed his worries. “As long as he knows to kill when he’s told, his behavior shouldn’t matter. But it might benefit us to test his relationship with his owner after we’ve finished observing his quirks.”
His throat vibrates as a low growl passes through.
Raptor doesn’t like it here.
x---x---x---x---x
Maybe it’s just because Friday (you’re pretty sure it’s Friday on your self-made calendar) tends to be your busiest day of the week, or that your wrist is beginning to wear down from the many giant dicks you’ve been stroking. Or maybe it’s just one of those days when you remember just how shitty this life was. Whatever it was, you weren’t in one of your best moods today.
That’s why you felt just the smallest hint of excitement when you reached Hawks’s door. Yes, it’s weird, but he was the closest thing you had to a companion around here, alright?
The last thing you expected was to open the door to an empty room, at least it appeared that way until you saw the black creature resting on the ceiling.
“Aah!” You yelp and drop the jar out of fright, causing Hawks to jump from the sudden noise. You curse and quickly pick up the container and scan it for any cracks while he gracefully twists his body to drop on the floor with a thud. He was as graceful as a cat...a cat that can comfortably sit upside down.
Relieved to see the jar in one piece, you turned your attention back to the waiting High End. “I didn’t know you could climb like that.”
His wings fluttered at the comment and he raised his palms right in front of your face. Ah yes, a hand. Very lovely. But looking more closely, you could see a difference in texture on the rounded pads of his fingertips. “Ooh, little sticky hairs, huh?”
He gave a click of what you assumed to be approval, tail swinging behind him.
“So I guess you’re not just born knowing everything your body can do. Sounds troublesome.” There’s something you wanted to do, something you wouldn’t ever consider doing with the other nomu even in your dreams. “May I, uh, touch them?” You held up your own hands innocently.
Hawks cocked his head, a gesture that you’re always going to find kinda cute, before grunting and bringing his larger hands to yours. All ten of your fingers made contact, and the slightest shiver shot down your spine.
It’s the first time you’ve ever touched one of these monsters outside of jerking them to collect semen. Your curiosity was always there, but the disgust and fear you often felt when in their presence fueled the overpowering desire to hurry up, get the damn job done, and get away from them as quickly as possible.
You never imagined that you’d be standing face to face with a High End, feeling the surprisingly soft pads on his scaly hands, his breaths deep and hot against your face as those red irises watched your expressions. He was still very intimidating with his tall form, glowing glare, and the large imposing pair of wings. But those eyes—they contained too much intelligence and emotion in them.
Too human. It was as uncanny as it was fascinating.
Only when his eyes close and he begins to croon softly do you realize that one of your hands have moved up to touch his face. The black skin feels extra thick when you gently press his cheek, strong and leathery. He leans in and brings his head closer to give you better access, and you can’t help but reward the reaction with scratches against his jaw and chin.
“You know, you’ve been doing a shitty job of acting like the ultimate killer,” you said when he purrs happily.
The purr morphs into a disgruntled whine. “Don’t...like.”
Your hand pauses, hoping for him to elaborate as well as he could. “Don’t like…?” You encouraged him.
He was still struggling to work his vocal chords, but at least he seemed to be showing less pain. “Don’t like...k-killiiing.”
What?
“Raptor, that’s...you know...the very thing you were made for, and you don’t like doing it?” Not that you’re complaining about his gentle nature, but hearing a damn nomu say that he dislikes killing might be the most ludicrous thing you’ve heard here, even more so than the first time you were told to make an abomination cum.
His entire body stiffens, and you couldn’t help but tense up as well. “Maaade-” He makes a harsh hacking sound. “-to kill?”
Shit. You panic and attempt to backpedal. “Not to actually kill. You’re supposed to be, you know, the strongest creature that’s capable of killing whenever he wants...if you, uh, wanted to.” Yeah, that sounds good enough.
It appears to do the trick, his body relaxing again. “Don’t like,” he repeated more smoothly this time.
“I know, I know. Killing sucks. Just don’t tell the assholes in labcoats that, alright? Now calm down.” You return to your ministrations, this time using both hands to rub and scratch his face. His eyes drift shut again as your hands trail down to his slightly elongated neck, brushing past his steady pulse.
Reaching his collar and then his chest, you discover that he’s solid muscle everywhere. He may not be on the verge of bursting out of his own skin like the others, but he could no doubt snap you like a twig just as easily. You feel his chest heave from a deep breath, the strength emanating from his body making you shiver. You shush him when he jolts as your hands reach his pronounced abs, pushing against the hard muscle until you finally arrive at his groin.
You snorted at the new pair of shorts. “Another pair, huh? At least these look a little less ragged.”
You pulled his large member out for the third time. Why did you have to do this daily? What could they possibly be doing with so many jars of jizz? Making cakes?
Sighing, you brushed off the soreness of your arm and wrist and began to pump his ridged length. “Just do me a favor and try to cum quickly, alright?”
He made a rather sad groan at that, curling into himself so that his face was close to yours. His sharp breaths were loud in your ears.
You couldn’t help but smile even through the strain of your muscles. “What, you wanna make this last? Do you know how many dicks I’ve had to tend to today? Cut me some slack, we’re gonna be doing this everyday, anyway.”
Hawks purrs before that monstrous voice shakes your body, his hot breath warming the side of your face and neck. “Feel gooood.”
The primal lust dripping from him triggers a pulse of warmth inside you. You...can’t remember the last time you’ve felt that, and it’s just a tad strange that a nomu caused it. Were you really that starved for attention? “I-” You cleared your throat after an awkward voice crack. “I know, handjobs tend to feel good. But please be a good boy and help me out here.”
He gives a puff that blows your hair back, but he complies. The big sweaty face that buries itself in your neck is so distracting that you almost forget to get your jar ready and fill it with the incoming spurts of semen. There, the final sample of the day has been collected. Now, if you could just push the panting fiend off of you before he starts drooling on your shoulder.
Something warm and slimy touches your neck. It has you pulling back so quickly that you almost fall and spill the vile essence all over you before the jar could be properly sealed.
Hawks shrinks back and quickly withdraws the indigo tongue into his mouth, looking down in what appears to be shame. You touch the licked spot, the thick saliva coating your fingers.
“Sss-sorrry.” Regret can be heard clearly in his droning voice.
“No, it’s...it’s okay,” you stammer. The sensation lingers, and then ignites a spark somewhere inside you.
A sick, disgusting, and absolutely fucked up spark. The next thing you say should horrify you, but instead you feel nothing but a twisted form of anticipation. “You can...um...do that again, if you want.”
His tail slapped the floor in excitement before he slowly closed the distance again, cautiously looking into your eyes before his tongue slithers out and caresses the same wet space.
The smooth muscle is hot against you, extending to inhuman lengths to explore your neck. The slick sounds as it slid across your skin should have grossed you out—all of this should be grossing you out, so you don’t understand why you tilt your head back to give him more room. He licks up and down your throat slowly to savor your taste, breathing heavily and releasing a stale stench from his open maw. You imagined the breath of a previously dead man to smell a hundred times worse, frankly.
With your neck completely drenched in his cooling slobber, he ventures upward, purring louder than ever as he tastes the flesh of your jaw. The tapered end of his tongue begins to curiously flick at your earlobe before circling around the shell of your ear. He seems to take a liking to the flabby cartilage and laps at it playfully while giving the occasional nip and suck and god, it’s all heard so fucking clearly, every schlick and smack traveling right through your canal and setting off questionable reactions all over you. Your hands are clenched and held against your chest, but you don’t tell him to stop.
‘What the hell is wrong with me?’
The licking moves to your cheek, lapping at it shortly before moving to your pursed lips.
‘This is fucked up beyond words.’
You flinch when the clammy tongue brushes over your lips, at first smoothing over them lightly, possibly testing to see how you’d react. His face is so close, your noses almost touching. To allow a nomu this close to you, touching you like this…
When you make no move of resistance, he gets braver and laps at your mouth with controlled eagerness. Your eyes close to hide from the otherworldly gaze, but your lips feel even more sensitive to the weight that continues flicking and pressing at them, covering them in hot saliva. Several times does it briefly part your lips and graze your teeth, making you swallow at the thought of…
‘Don’t do that.’
Hawks pauses when you open up for him, but gives a gleeful chirp and snakes his way into your inviting mouth.
‘I’m really letting him do this.’
Clawed hands grab your arms a little too tightly and hold you in place. It hurts, yet all you can focus on is the flexible muscle exploring your mouth. It rubbed against the roof, pushed at the inside of your cheeks, and eventually stroked and curled around your own tongue.
‘You’re sick.’
But you’ve been sick ever since you got here, haven’t you?
When his grip loosens, you take the opportunity to place your hands around his head, digging your fingers into his...hair? Plumage? Was his hair always this feather-like?
A high-pitched sound of surprise leaves him when you try to pull him in closer. He quickly complies, closing the distance until his lips and mouth are covering yours.
It completely smothers your senses. You see his black wings expand to slowly encase both of you. You hear the wet friction of his tongue and the hungry growls that roll from his throat. You smell sweat and blood, briefly wondering just what exactly was he made to do during those ‘tests’. You taste the thick and flavorless saliva that makes you gag at first, but becomes easier to swallow as you take in more. And most of all, you feel him slowly moving in and out of your wide open mouth, the thrusting motion forcing your thighs to rub together in response to the growing heat threatening to consume you.
You snap out of it before that can happen.
Hawks pulls away when he hears your choked sounds of protest, your hands suddenly on his chest and pushing. Fresh oxygen rushes back into your lungs when his tongue leaves your mouth and retreats back into his. The warmth between your legs doesn’t fade away. Everything that just happened, everything you just allowed this monster to do fully sinks in.
And you fucking enjoyed it.
You back away from him as quickly as you can, ignoring his confused groans. A wave of nausea sweeps over you like a powerful gust that churns your stomach.
“Rest. I need to go.” It was all you said before you picked up the forgotten jar and fled the room, refusing to falter from the sorrowful whines behind you.
The urge to spew the little food you’ve been fed throughout the day all over the hallway floor is strong, but you manage to hold out until you reach the toilet in your room, quickly kneeling and hurling. It wasn’t much, but it still left you teary-eyed and with a burning throat.
What did you do? Just what the hell did you do that warranted getting kidnapped, having your nice comfortable life stolen from you, and the only way to cope was by making out with a horrid creature? You jolt from a painful mix of a sob and a hiccup. It’s been weeks since your last breakdown, but this new discovery was another hard blow to your sanity and pride. You let the tears flow as you flushed away your mess, moving over to your bed and collapsing onto the thin mattress. Fuck this facility. Fuck the scum that created all of this.
And fuck the throbbing wetness between your legs that still won’t go away.
Your sobs transform into humorless laughs. You’re going to have to get rid of the throbbing yourself, aren’t you? They won’t arrive to collect all of your samples for about another thirty minutes, so that should be enough time...
You pulled down the thin blue pants and rubbed your fingers over the slick that had gathered from what had transpired in Hawks’s room. It’s true, you’ve been doing nothing but sick shit since you’ve been tossed into this new life. Why do you even still hold on to feelings like shame and disgust? What good will they do you here?
So you try to drown out the voice of your conscience as you laid back, succumbing to the wonderfully twisted thoughts of a nomu’s tongue.
x---x---x---x---x
Subject: Raptor
Examination
Quirk #3: Regeneration
Quirk#4: Heat Resistance
Notes: Our most advanced specimens deserve the best healing quirks we have to offer. Raptor is no exception. It will also make up for his lack of weight and hard muscle, not that he should ever be mistaken as frail. Most importantly, this should accelerate the regrowth of his feathers and supply him with an endless arsenal. We do not want to risk his regeneration being hindered by burns. After all, it was fire that led to the host’s death. This is why we have added a quirk that should make it almost completely fireproof.
The only people that Raptor disliked more than the Coats, were the Masks. The Coats saw him as nothing more than an attack dog that is expected to obey every command. But the humans in masks...to them, he was just a fleshy object to be dissected and analyzed.
They were poking and cutting to their heart’s content. His mind screamed to get away from the assortment of blades and needles that hovered over him, sinking into his skin in various places while he could only writhe against the cuffs of the metal table he was strapped to. He doesn’t believe it’s their intention to test every ounce of his willpower, but that sure as hell is what they’re doing right now as he tries, really tries not to use his feathers out of desperation.
“Excellent. The cuts begin healing the moment they’re made,” one of them observes. “Try deeper incisions. Maybe I should try removing one of its eyes.”
Raptor’s heartbeat was booming in his ears after hearing those words.
A younger Mask has been flinching from every one of the nomu’s movements. “Shouldn’t we sedate it or something? What if it lashes out?”
“Stop panicking. A nomu won’t hurt anyone without orders, though his responses to pain are stronger than I expected. We may have to fix that.”
Raptor wouldn’t mind that at all. He hisses and howls as he’s taken apart and mended back together in a torturous loop. His brain is throbbing so strongly one would worry that it might burst. He fights to think through all of the agony.
He thinks of your touch. He thinks of your taste. Were you repulsed by what he did that morning?
Sharp pain shot through his wings when his feathers were being forcefully yanked out, his teeth on the verge of shattering from his tightly clenched jaws.
“Perfect! Look at that, they’re already growing back in.”
They were. He could feel the fresh plumes pushing through his skin. The regeneration did well in preventing any real damage, but it didn’t make the violent tearing of his feathers any easier to bear.
The cruel assault on his wings and tail eventually ended, black fluff littering the room’s floor. He remembers when you mentioned other nomu being capable of shutting down whenever they wanted. What he wouldn’t give to just turn off like a light switch right now.
“Alright, it’s time to move on to his heat resistance. Get the torch.”
The what? Raptor searched the fragments of his knowledge; most words were familiar to him, they just took a while to be remembered from...something. He doesn’t understand how he already knows so much, even though his subconsciousness needs time to dust everything off.
One of the Masks was holding a small object that ended in a tube. With a push of a button, a small blue flame appeared.
The glowing yellow eyes that were normally slits were suddenly wider than he thought possible, every part of him hyper focused on the small fire that was getting too close to his sore wings. His mind recovered a new piece of information:
Blue flames are to be feared.
He was thrashing the second the searing pain was felt, fighting to escape, to get away from the blue death that threatened to incinerate his wings again. He has felt this before. He doesn’t want to burn again.
Panic consumed him, unaware of how much his feathers have sharpened as he beats his wings and tail against the table. He can barely hear the Masks’ frantic voices over the ear-splitting screech, a screech that he realizes is coming from his own strained throat.
“–ptor, I SAID STOP!”
“–y arm! Fuck, my arm is bleeding bad–”
“–old you he’d attack! Why is he reacting so–”
“–atives! Into his neck! Hurry!”
Needles are being jammed into his neck, the chemicals working quickly in sapping away his strength, limbs becoming too heavy to move, and his thoughts were too cloudy to even continue panicking. The scorching heat was still present in his wing, but he can still feel the presence of all of his feathers. There was no foul smell of burnt plumage.
“Aaaugh, my arm...” In the corners of his vision, Raptor saw one of the Masks hunched over and clutching a blood-soaked arm. He didn’t mean to hurt any of them.
“Shut up and go patch yourself up.” An older man motioned the rest to come closer to the calmed nomu, which they cautiously obeyed. “Do you all see it? His feathers aren’t damaged at all. Perfect.”
“But why didn’t he stop resisting after you ordered him several times? And why was his reaction to pain so strong?”
The elder grimaced behind his mask and shook his head. “Its pain tolerance is laughable. There’s no use in a nomu having such sensitivity. We’ll need to perform an operation that will dull his nerves.”
They scrambled around the table, gathering new tools and focusing the creaky hanging light on Raptor’s face. He was too doped up to even react to the harsh brightness.
“And if he ignores us like that again, we may need to alter his brain and ensure his compliance in the future.”
The nomu tried to make a sound of protest, but in his dazed state he could give no more than a pathetic whimper. He was rather thankful of the drugs for making him unable to notice just how many needles were sinking into his brain, or the blades that opened up the rest of his head, keeping the tools in place to prevent his skull from instantly healing. It still hurt, a lot. But as they tweaked his pulsing organ, injecting unknown fluids inside, the pain began to dim. Raptor would have celebrated and attempted to wag his tail in relief.
But it wasn’t the only thing that was fading. The coldness of the metal at his back was becoming distant, the chill in the air of the room was suddenly so faint that it no longer made him shiver.
He wanted it all to hurt less, but he still wanted to feel.
He has no idea how much time had passed once they finally finished and allowed his bone and flesh to close up. The old Mask stared down at him, gloves drenched in thick crimson.
“That should do it. Going by your weaker reactions, the operation was a success and you now feel less sensation. Good.”
‘No. Not good.’ It’s what he was tempted to say, but Raptor didn’t want to utter a single word to anyone besides you, and the cruel man’s recent threat of robbing him of his free will ensured that he keeps his mouth shut.
Raptor hates it here.
x---x---x---x---x
There were fresh claw marks covering the walls of Hawks’s room, and this time they were angry. The drawings and games you made together were literally slashed out, with spots of blood spread out all over the floor.
He was curled up in a corner, wings concealing most of his shaking form.
“Raptor.” Firmly addressing him is usually all it takes to gain his full attention, just like any other nomu, High End or not.
Hawks doesn’t respond at all.
That’s new...and very unnerving.
You called him again. The mass of feathers didn’t budge. You swallowed a lump in your throat. He had clearly just thrown a violent tantrum, and you don’t know if he has fully calmed down yet. Approaching him is too risky, but the damn nomu won’t even acknowledge you. So you’ll have to get through him in a more natural way.
“Raptor, is everything alright? Do you, um, need some space? I can come back a little later...maybe another thirty minutes or so.” You offered, your body slightly twisting toward the door, ready to bolt if he decided to attack. You ignored the cold hard fact that the door and your legs would do little in protecting you from him.
His tail slowly uncurls like a timid snake, wings following suit and revealing his shrunken form. He was hugging himself tightly, talons peeling the skin off of his biceps. His head hung low, but you can see the spot of red in each eye looking right at you. He looked like an angry and frightened child, and his pitiful plea didn’t help matters.
“Don’t...go.”
His vulnerable state quelled your fears, but you still took caution. “Can I come closer?”
He looks down at the floor for a moment, seemingly pondering the question, before straightening his posture and nodding.
You follow the routine you’ve been getting used to with him, setting aside the jar and taking some time to talk. “Now tell me what’s wrong.”
It was supposed to compel him to instantly explain the issue, or at least attempt to with his awkward speech. You instead see him flinch and growl lowly, as if he didn’t appreciate you making demands. Just what is going on with him?
Your anxiety was probably visible since he quickly switched back to a less aggressive stance. You wince when he drags a claw through his flesh, blood leaking out for only a second before the wound instantly repairs itself. “Can’t feel.” He weeps with cracks in his unnatural voice. At least he’s dragging out his words less and sounds less like a moaning zombie.
“You can’t feel?” You repeated, edging closer and placing a hand over the healed spot. Another growl, louder this time, scares you into pulling away. But his bigger hand seizes yours and presses it hard onto the black skin. You feel the tremors that begin to wrack his body and try to stay calm in the wake of his growing distress.
His voice becomes only more broken. “Can’t feel it! Can’t feel you!”
You find yourself shushing him, holding your free hand up like you’re trying to calm a panicking animal. You cup the side of his face, but that seems to upset him even more. “You can’t feel my hand?”
He shuts his eyes and shakes his head, squeezing your hand tightly enough to cut off circulation. How freely he can emote still freaks you out a bit, face looking on the verge of shedding tears. Everything about him continues to be so surreal.
“Raptor, you’re a shitty nomu,” you told him with a small smile. “Not that I mind.”
And there goes that cute head tilt. The thought of him being released in a city to wreak havoc, just like the one that attacked Endeavor and...him, feels less possible after every meeting.
He was still powerful and potentially dangerous, if the state of the walls were anything to go by. You really shouldn’t be pushing your luck or his temper. On the other hand, you did decide yesterday that from now on, you are going to embrace the depraved dumbass within you. Hawks stiffens and starts to slowly pull back, but your hand makes its way to the back of his head. “It’s alright, it’s alright,” you soothed him. “I just want to see if you can feel any of this.”
With no more hesitation, you pressed your lips to his, feeling his shock through a surprised grunt. For a minute, you simply cover his rough lips with kisses while he stays completely still, eyes looking on the verge of bulging right out of their sockets. It looked downright silly. Why was he so shocked by a simple kiss anyway, after the way you let him ravage your mouth yesterday?
Your lips pause when you remember the distraught sounds he made that morning as he watched you rush out of the room. That’s right.
“Hey,” you murmur against him. “Sorry for taking off like that last time. Just...don’t worry about it, okay.” He released a hot breath onto your face. Your trapped hand is finally freed from his iron grip, numb and stiff, but you keep your attention on the motionless nomu. “We’re not exactly supposed to be doing this, but I want you t-mmf!”
He suddenly went forward and attacked your lips, aggressively mimicking your movements with enough force to bruise. You try to keep up and calm his pace, sighing into his mouth once his lips finally begin to slow down. He’s clumsy like you expected, but his intelligence shows when he tries to follow your lead and quickly learns the intimate dance of your mouths. The occasional swipe of that blasted tongue across your lip makes you gasp, and then you feel big strong arms wrapping around you and pulling you close, the beats of his excited wings, the throaty growls that rattle your entire being…
You can feel yourself heating up again already.
“Mmm, Raptor...wait,” you manage to say between kisses, your hands pushing against his chest. He gives a grating sound of annoyance, but pulls away like you wished. You were suddenly hyper aware of his size and strength – this monster that was holding you closely and taking care not to harm you. If any other nomu had you like this, they undoubtedly wouldn’t have stopped.
“So, did you feel any of that?” Your hand travels down to his groin and rubs at the bulge that still had a lot of growing to do. “Do you feel that?”
To your dismay, he shakes his head. “No,” he groans as his wings droop closer to the floor.
It has you stumped. How are you supposed to please him when his whole body is numb?
“But…” He licks his lips slowly. “Can still taste. Tastes so good.”
When you let him lap at your lips again, he twitches beneath the ragged cloth.
You put two and two together, and the realization makes you gulp. And ache.
Remember, shame is useless here.
He allows you to back away and create some distance. The sight before you is frightening on its own: The sharp stare of the raven-winged fiend while surrounded by the deep marks of its outburst would do well in intimidating any sane individual. Remembering what exactly he is makes you pause only for a second, your hands grabbing the bottom of your thin blue shirt and lifting it before your pesky conscience can even get a word in.
Hawks’s wings flare out slightly when your breasts are revealed to him, talons clicking against the floor as he shuffles about, at a loss of how to react. Relieved that you haven’t been pounced on immediately, you lean down to remove your pants next, ignoring the trembling in your hands as you pull the garment down and step out of them. They never supplied you with underwear, so with your two articles of clothing removed, you were completely nude in front of the dangerous nomu.
At first you both just stared at each other, until he finally came forward to scan your body more closely, mindful of how nervous you were. The tension made you almost choke and cough on your words.
“I-if you want to…taste more of me, go ahead.” You didn’t mean to squeak out those last two words. You blame it on the chilly air.
The hands that take hold of your hips feel extra hot, along with the breath that grazes your chest. The blue tongue slides past his lips and extends to press against the spot right over your pounding heart, then moving smoothly up the column of your neck and your cheek in one long swipe, the wet trail making you shudder. The mouth ventures close to your ear to utter the word that you remember repeating to him on the first day you got him off.
“Calm.”
It’s followed by a rolling purr that eases you into doing just that. The humming continues while he eyes your breasts, nipples already pert from being exposed to the air. Even in your more relaxed state, the sudden lick across your tit makes your breath hitch. He seems to enjoy your response and repeats the action, giving it several more laps before wrapping around the entirety of the soft globe like a tentacle, squeezing gently.
“Ah, Raptor,” you moan when the tip of the tongue flicks at your nipple, sending the tiniest of jolts through you. “Damn, where did you learn to do that?”
He answers with nothing more than a groan as he continues to show off his tongue’s flexibility. It coils and swirls around the skin until every inch of it is covered in his saliva, making you even more sensitive to the cold air. Satisfied with his work, he moves on to repeat the motions with your other breast.
The pleasure was soothing, like a massage…if the masseuse had sticky boneless limbs. You close your eyes and wrap your arms around him, letting yourself enjoy the vile act of a monster sampling your taste.
His mouth suddenly engulfs you, the damp heat adding to the ongoing feeling of his tongue dancing around your tit. The purrs abruptly become a powerful vibration that electrifies your skin and brings forth your moisture to drip and run down your thighs.
But Hawks suddenly pulls away and stares at you intensely, the glower snapping you out of your daze.
“What is it?” You were getting nervous again. Did one of your reactions irritate him?
He breathes in, again and again, sniffing at the air for something. The swaying tail hints that whatever he smells is exciting him. His head lowers in pursuit of the scent and stops at your womanly mound to take a long whiff at the spicy aroma emanating from your cunt.
With his breath now blowing right against your sex and increasing your arousal, your juices trickled freely onto the floor and for him to see. The clawed hands on your hips held you steady, preventing you from collapsing from the nerve-racking anticipation that had you shaking all over. At no point in your life have you ever felt this exposed, being ogled by a pair of eyes in which the irises were bigger than you’ve ever seen them, mesmerized by the source of the delicious smell.
The tongue slips between your thighs before you could even prepare yourself, stretching across the entirety of your lips, over your entrance, nearly reaching your ass before it pulls back toward his mouth, the rubbing of the silky muscle creating buzzes of pleasure. Looking down gives you the unpleasant view of his brain, but you also get to see him swallow and savor your taste, humming deeply in approval before salivating with the need to drink up more.
“Good.”
He doesn’t wait for your response – his face is already being shoved into you, and you’re suddenly bombarded with delightful hot sensations all over your pussy. The ravenous organ travels up and down your folds, collecting every drop of your sweet nectar while you could do nothing but spread your legs to give him more leeway – God you’re such a whore – and cover your mouth in the hope that no passerbys hear your moans in the room.
When your legs officially become jelly and can no longer support you, Hawks tires of holding you up and allows you to fall back a little too hard onto the floor, the impact making you wince. Any other time, he probably would have at least made a sound of apology, but your sopping wet pussy has stolen his attention. He wastes no time in lifting your hips up toward his waiting mouth, now utilizing his lips along with his tongue to loudly slurp up your essence.
His vicious hunger has you seeing stars. Wings open up and expand around both of you like black curtains that darken your vision, like a bird of prey mantling over a hard-earned meal. The only thing you can clearly see between your legs are the eerie glows of red and yellow; the glare of a demon that seeks to devour you from the inside. He starts to suck your folds dry, growling as he inspects every inch of the ravaged honeypot until his lips brush against your neglected clit.
A muffled “fuck!” passes between your fingers, both of your hands tightly clamped over your mouth. The reaction surprises him, and to his delight, it triggers more of your nectar to flow. The most efficient gag wouldn’t have been enough to suppress your scream when he sucked hard on your sensitive bud.
You couldn’t help it. Fighting past the paralyzing pleasure, your hands blindly grab at his head and accidentally bury your fingers into a soft squishy brain. The discomfort makes him shake his head and groan in irritation, raising his head and narrowing those menacing eyes at you as a silent warning.
“Hah...shit...I’m sor–AH! Fuck-oh my god....” He’s already attacking your clit again before you can finish your apology. All he cares about at the moment is your taste, and not even you were going to interrupt him. The surrounding wings occasionally twitch and shudder around you, vibrating along with your approaching climax. But the second you feel dangerously close, his lips leave the perky little pebble and move back down to lap at your fresh flow. It tears you away from an orgasmic finale and brings you back to that sensual middle ground. The audible licks were amazing, but you need to reach that edge. Your hand drifted down to your pussy, right over his tongue where you can give your clit the stimulation needed to cum…
“Hwrrrrrrr…”
You felt the terrifying snarl more than you heard it, shaking you to your very core. The other core, not the one on the verge of bursting. You immediately pull away and freeze, shivering and breathing quickly at the sight of his bared fangs. For a brief moment, the tent of feathers showed off a faint sheen, like they all suddenly sharpened. A quivering, fear-fueled gasp left you.
It felt like the staredown went on forever, but Hawks was eventually convinced that you weren’t going to distract him from his feast again and returned his gaze to the fragrant pussy before him. However, after a few more licks, he grunted in frustration. You weren’t secreting your precious juices fast enough; your body simply couldn’t keep up with his newfound greed.
The insatiable tongue keeps poking and prodding at your opening until it pushes in just enough to slightly stretch your walls. You struggle to stay relaxed and keep your hands to yourself. Hawks was currently as unpredictable as any other nomu, and you didn’t want to piss him off.
When the hot thick muscle is suddenly shoved into you, you don't even have time to cover your mouth and block the next scream that is ripped from your throat. There’s no time to adjust to the completely foreign sensation. It squirms inside of you like a living creature, massaging your pussy in ways you didn’t even know were possible, sometimes hitting that special soft spot.
Your molten center spreads its flames across every nerve. This is far beyond what you fantasized on the night you touched yourself. His tongue was able to fill you completely, all while moving around more freely than a cock or even fingers ever could. Too soon does it leave your pulsing walls and back into his mouth, where he swallows every drop he’s gathered before shooting his tongue back out and penetrating you again before you can even complain.
He was moving with more force, enough to create a visible swell in your stomach that moved along with his tongue. You can’t look away from it, even as he begins to push in and out at a steady rhythm, the pleasure building up to new heights while the bulge in your belly moves up and down. You’re tempted to ask him to move his wings to allow more light for a better view, but interrupting him now is probably a stupid idea.
He pants loudly from his open mouth as he fucks you thoroughly with nothing more than a long powerful tongue, his thrusts moving faster and deeper in search of more of your savory wetness.
Meanwhile, you were dizzy. It was uncomfortable at first. It’s been so long since you’ve been fully stretched, but it all quickly melds into pleasure you have long since forgotten – no – you hadn’t even known. Your interest in sex has greatly diminished during your stay here. Hell, you were certain that your libido was officially dead. But Hawks….
This abomination was going to be the death of you.
Your g-spot is suddenly struck again, and again. Most of your words were incoherent, and the ones that could be made out were nothing more than endless encouragement. “Gah-hnngh, fuck, Hawks, you want more, don’t you? Ah, I’m about to give you more. Keep going Hawks don’t fucking stop.”
Talons are biting into your skin from his tightened grip. With a low bellow of excitement, his mouth moves to cover your entire sex, prepared for the incoming downpour, and thrusts his tongue into your most sensitive spot repeatedly without mercy.
The pressure within explodes violently, completely overshadowing that laughable orgasm you gave yourself yesterday. Each contraction adds more white that flashes in your eyes, moving in from the corners of your vision until it becomes as blinding and unbearable as the bliss that washes over you. There are noisy gulps between your legs, the parched monster happily taking every rush of fluid directly into his mouth and down his throat until he finally has his fill.
Even through your spasms your walls try desperately to clamp around his tongue as it leaves, but to no avail. The looming wings finally move away and return to their usual resting spot behind his back while he sets your lower body down and licks his lips for any remaining traces of your slick. The talons never broke your skin, but they did leave some glaring marks on your hips and ass.
You still tingled all over from the waist down while your muscles make the greatest effort to respond to any of your commands. No use. You decide to lay there covered in the monster’s spit. The work of that amazing specimen of a tongue almost made you forget that this was being done to arouse him. You should probably check to see if he was hard. He may not be able to feel your hand anymore, but he still might be excited enough to cum from the act. Stupid science bastards, making your job more complicated.
“Hawks.”
The single word uttered from the nomu clears your mind instantly. Your weakened arms push you upright to properly face him. He was still crouching, scaly toes supporting the weight of his body like a gargoyle without a perch.
“You say Hawks. What...is Hawks?”
What? When did you…?
Oh. Shit. Your mouth was moving on its own while he was eating you out.
Your mind was zipping in several directions at once, hoping that he wouldn’t find anything odd about your eyes darting about, looking everywhere except at him. You settled on a simple and dismissive answer. “Oh...don’t worry about it. I was just babbling while you had me on cloud nine,” you said with a crooked smile.
Black lips twisted into a frown, accompanied by a quick beat of his wings and then...eww. His brain is pulsing way too much, so much that he shakes his head in agitation, which only adds to the disturbing visual as the organ jiggles slightly in his head. “Hawks...don’t know...I know…” His words jumbled over his inner turmoil. The long tail lifted and began to swing quickly.
You sat there, nude and bewildered. Every High-End still carried traces of who they once were, expressing some of the same behaviors and habits they presumably had before death.
This is the first time you’ve seen one with any sort of recollection of their past life, even if it’s something as minor as feeling a connection to their name. You have a feeling that’s not supposed to happen.
You shouldn’t tell him anything; nothing good will come out of it. He needs to shut up and start being a bloodthirsty killer before the doctors decide that he’s more trouble than he’s worth.
“Raptor,” your shaky legs move slowly, shifting until you’re resting on your knees, face to face with the nomu that still looks interested in your naked body even as his head throbs. “It’s not important. Stop thinking about it.”
The look he gives you is one of hurt and dammit, this is exactly his problem. “But...Hawks. Want to know what-”
“I said stop thinking!” Your volume shocks both of you, but Hawks actually recoils from the unexpected shout. You don’t care, all it does is confuse you more, anger you more. “Why the hell aren’t you listening to me anymore? That’s what you’re supposed to do! Do whatever we tell you! What, did you break?” A full-body chill reminds you of the state you’re in. You were seriously having an outburst while still completely naked with Hawks’s saliva glistening over your thighs. You groan and turn away from the troubled hybrid to grab your clothes and dress yourself, not giving a damn if you pissed him off and he decides to kill you right there. He’d be doing both of you a favor, really.
But it shouldn’t be a surprise when you see that he hasn’t budged from his spot, making no move to retaliate. “I like you, Raptor,” you admitted. “Somehow, you managed to be the only welcomed company in this fucked up hospital slash prison, but you shouldn’t be. What we just did...that shouldn’t have happened. Fuck, I – I should’ve been terrified, and I kinda was, but, I shouldn’t have felt that good!” Your doubts, your conscience, they both return with a vengeance. But this time it’s not you they’re worried about.
“If this is how you act around everyone else, you’re not going to last here.” You hold his face in your hands, a tender gesture that shouldn’t be possible with the likes of him. “These assholes are gonna get rid of you if you don’t do what they want, and they’re going to ask for horrible things. I know you don’t like killing, but if you keep up all of...this, you’re going to lose more than your sense of touch.”
He doesn’t make a sound, only staring at you before gritting his teeth and nodding in your gentle grasp. His compliance both relieves and hurts you.
“I’m sorry, but no more questions. Please? The less you know, the better.”
“No more…questions.” Dammit, you hate how clear the sorrow is in his eerie voice, like the mournful moans of a lost soul. “No more.”
You give him a smile of thanks, it’s the least you could give him. You try to bring the atmosphere back to its usual awkward yet friendly vibe. “Now, let me see if your, um, tasting did you any good.” You move to pull down his shorts. That is, until you notice the large damp spots and stains on the cheap material. Oh, he did not.
“Welp, it obviously worked. Now how am I gonna scrape this shit off?”
x---x---x---x---x
Hawks.
Flames.
Decay.
Death. Everywhere.
But, somehow, he knew it wasn’t his doing.
Maybe he did kill a few...he wasn’t sure. It’s all so blurry and nauseating.
Was he killing people? Was he…trying to save them? A monster like him, saving people?
“No more questions.”
Your voice echoes, bouncing across the shattered fragments of his mind. Raptor tries to obey. He doesn’t know what this Hawks is, or why it keeps plaguing him.
Whatever Hawks was, it’s gone. Raptor wants it to leave him alone.
x---x---x---x---x
Subject: Raptor
Field Test
Quirk #5: Camouflage
Notes: As you know by now, Raptor differs from other nomu in that he is designed for agility and stealth. An invisibility quirk will not only make Raptor into the perfect phantom, it can also assist in infiltration and spying. While the quirk may be called ‘camouflage’ mainly due to how it changes skin pigmentation, it does much more than match the colors of the environment. It hides the user’s entire form as perfectly as any true invisibility quirk. Raptor should be more than capable of destroying targets without ever being noticed.
You were right. It was strange how he doesn’t discover these ‘quirks’ on his own. It was an understatement to say that he was a little lost when a Coat ordered him to activate his Camouflage. Raptor was prepared to feel those words bind his limbs and move him against his will. Whenever his brain was under the Coats’ control, he was capable of doing whatever they asked, even when he himself didn’t understand what they were asking for.
So it was worrying when he felt nothing. He heard the order loud and clear, yet it didn’t wrap around his brain like it always does.
So it wasn’t just you. His mind no longer submitted to anyone’s commands. He would have chirped in celebration if he didn’t have an audience that was still waiting for him to follow through, giving looks and comments of impatience while he stood there.
He can’t let them notice that he was unaffected. The words of the Mask that stole his touch repeated in his head along with the memories of cutting and burning, every nerve seething from raw pain until all feeling began to fade.
“If he ignores us like that again, we may need to alter his brain and ensure his compliance in the future.”
Alter...change...he doesn’t want them to change him. So Raptor tried to pretend, another thing that felt natural to him.
The process of finding his new quirk was difficult to describe; it was more like willing himself to blend in until the rest of his body got the message. All of his muscles tightened, and he almost panicked when black skin began to disappear before his eyes. His wings, his tail, every part of him looked as if it was dissolving, but he can still move and feel the weight of each limb. Once his body relaxed, he was fully invisible. The Coats kept him pinned with their stares, however.
“Completely hidden. Very good,” one of them said, writing something down. They’re always watching, always taking notes on him, always judging. This all felt familiar as well. “Now, walk from that corner to there, and keep a hold on your quirk.”
There was no pull, no sudden fuzziness or loss of control. Nothing. It’s a strange feeling, following orders because he actually chooses to. It will take some getting used to, but it shouldn’t be too difficult.
Has a monster like him ever acted before? It sure feels like it.
He performed several different tasks: running, climbing, flying, and shooting feathers. All while unseen by the naked eye. The feat even earned him a round of applause from the Coats.
“I can picture it already. He could slice apart an entire group of targets, and they wouldn’t even understand their deaths. A flurry of invisible blades!” One of them exclaimed with a smile that was way too wide given the subject matter.
“Don’t worry, we’re going to get a taste of what this is capable of right now.”
Right on cue, the doors opened. Every feather on his wings and tail bristled instantly, ready to shred whatever possible threat that may enter. They wouldn’t be able to see him. It would be so easy, just like the Coats said.
But instead of another nomu that was simpler and more violent than him, a woman was shoved into the room hard enough to make her stumble forward and fall, the door slamming shut behind her. She was dressed like you, wearing only a thin blue shirt and pants. What did they bring someone like her in here for?
She was already back on her feet, scanning the area with wide eyes and shrunken pupils before moving her gaze to the humans that continued to observe from the other side. The fear in the air was so thick that Raptor could nearly taste it as she shook uncontrollably – he wondered if her knees would collapse from the trembling alone.
He was still camouflaged; she couldn’t see him at all. The urge to reveal himself is strong, but one: the Coats had yet to order him to deactivate his quirk, and two: knowing that she was in a room with a nomu will most definitely only terrify her more, so he stayed where he was, motionless and quiet.
For a suffocating minute, the only sound was her rapid breathing until one of the Coats finally spoke up.
“Kill her, Raptor.”
“What?” The woman’s voice was constricted by anxiety. She looked timidly at the man, who only stared back expectantly, waiting for something. “W-what?” She choked out again. She switched her attention to the door, still distressed and shaking. When no horrid beast entered the room like she expected, her panic increased even more, stuttering so badly that it was a challenge to discern what she was trying to say. “I-I-I w-I won’t...I’m s-so...p-p-please.”
Her head whipped upwards to a vent in the ceiling. Nothing happened. The confused woman was now spinning around looking for something, hysterical with the knowledge that her impending doom was coming, but not knowing where or when. The weight of her dread was making him anxious.
The same Coat, however, only sighed in annoyance at the sight of the trapped panicking animal. “Don’t dawdle, Nomu.” The final word dripped with venom. It reminded him of his place: a puppet that should have no will of its own. Raptor didn’t want to kill, but if he defies them, then they will dig into his brain again, and the woman will probably be violently killed by a more enthusiastic nomu. He’s afraid of what they might take from him next. He can’t let that happen.
The shrinking woman is still whipping her head around in every direction as her bare feet take a step backwards, then another, completely unaware of the larger creature that stood right behind her. He can’t guarantee a painless death, but he can make it as quick as possible for her.
Raptor added an edge to some of his feathers, but reconsidered. That would require pinpoint accuracy, not worth the risk with a target that was moving so erratically.
His tongue curiously ran over the points of his teeth, checking their sharpness. No, that would leave too much of a mess.
His hands clenched into fists, and that’s when he practically heard the ding in his head. A simple method, but it should work just fine.
He was originally going to wait until she backed all the way into him, but that would be rather cruel. Killing her before she even recognizes the danger is a greater mercy. His hand struck with the swiftness of a snake, grabbing the back of her neck. The delicate spine could be felt beneath.
Raptor was not as strong as other nomu. That didn’t mean he couldn’t crush a human’s bones with little effort.
He felt her jolt, but that’s all she had time to do before the sickening snap and crunch sounded throughout the room, then she went limp with nothing more than a few final twitches.
Some of the Coats audibly gasped, while others clapped excitedly at the kill they couldn’t even see coming. From their perspective, an unsuspecting woman’s neck was suddenly crushed by an invisible force like an aluminum can.
One of them didn’t look very impressed. “Eh, a bit anticlimactic, don’t you think?”
“We’re not watching a bloodsport,” another one snapped. “Raptor is designed to handle matters quickly. A cervical fracture is fast and effective.”
“She was so terrible at her job. I think she deserved a terrible death in return,” another said.
Their babbling continued while Raptor placed the body on the floor more gently than his audience would have liked. Her eyes were still wide open, frozen in that moment of realization just a millisecond before death. Still, things could have been much worse for her.
“I still think we should have used his harvester instead. She’s becoming a nuisance.”
Raptor has grown to really dislike that voice, the voice of the man that takes him away every morning. He always stares at him like an expensive possession that turned out to be a waste of money. It’s an effort to keep his lips from curling over his teeth whenever the bastard’s around.
An older lady spoke. “Her relationship with the nomu is unique and warrants its own set of experiments after we cover the basics here. We already told you that.”
“Yes yes, I know. But her sample this morning was pathetic. It’s like she’s forgotten her job, too busy turning our greatest achievement into a softie. Call me petty, but I’d get a good laugh out of watching her be devoured by the nomu that she’s decided to become friends with.”
Anger.
“You are petty, and short-sighted. Do you understand just how extraordinary this relationship is?”
Another Coat butted in. “Sure, but what use is sentiment to a nomu? This was supposed to be a cold lethal predator, not a child that likes to draw on walls. I agree that the bond with its harvester is holding it back. It would be better off without her.”
Raptor hates it. He doesn’t want any of them talking about you. To think that they’d consider something as twisted as offering you to him as a helpless prisoner to execute, just like the one whose spine he had just snapped.
How dare they.
The lady was suddenly staring right at him with a look of shock before her aged lips curled into a smirk. Actually, everyone was staring at him now, and they all showed varying levels of discomfort. That’s when he noticed that he can see his hands in front of him again, along with his feet, wings, and the rest of his body. His fury made him lose his hold on the Camouflage quirk. They had all just seen his face of hatred.
And yet the lady continued to smile. “I don’t believe he agrees with you two.”
She then whispered something, lips forming what looked like the word ‘magnificent’ while her eyes bore into him. Even his rage was nothing more than a fascinating process to be examined.
Raptor wants to get out of here.
x---x---x---x---x
You’re alright. You made it out. You were bruised, but you made it out.
That High-End nearly broke your fucking arm when it came. It was always a pretty rough one when you jerked it off but for god’s sake, why did it always have to squeeze you like a stress ball? Thankfully, your painful shriek of “STOP!” was enough to penetrate the horny shield over its brain and it released you.
It wasn’t your first injury, but it’s been a while since you’ve gotten such a scare. It could’ve been worse – it could always be much worse.
The fact that you feel elated when you reach Hawks’s room shows how close the two of you have gotten in less than a week. Two prisoners who agree that this place can go fuck itself; one was pumping cocks on the daily, the other failed miserably at being a ruthless monster. They ought to make a movie out of this.
You enter the room to see him resting in the center while several feathers carve into different areas of the walls and ceiling. His understanding of shapes was becoming more complex at a rapid rate, if the current drawings were anything to go by. They looked to be unintentionally abstract faces, varying greatly in size and structure, but one thing they all had in common was oversized eyes. Every face was furiously scratched in, the sound of chiseling surrounding you and adding to the ominous aura given off by the etchings that lacked skill but teemed with raw emotion.
The scattered claw marks from yesterday are still as visible as ever. Everyday, this place looks more disturbing even with the not-so-hostile creature that occupies it.
Something prompts his feathers to stop abruptly and return to him, followed by him quickly standing up and hissing. The badly-timed hostility makes you jump back. “Raptor? What is it?” You tried to stay calm as usual.
He drew closer, eyes narrowed and teeth bared at the purplish welts on the arm that held your gazillionth jar. Oh, of course. You waved with you uninjured one. “It’s alright. One of the High Ends was being a little heavy-handed. It stings, but it’ll get better.”
Hot air hits you when he releases a snort. While he studies the bruise, you continue to examine the newest artful additions. “So...what do all of these mean?” You ask.
He follows your traveling gaze and mutters. “Watching. They’re always watching.”
He said it so smoothly that it gave you chills. “You’re tripping up less on your words. That’s, uh, good.” When a grunt is his only response, you keep talking. “Are these the doctors?” He nodded. “Did you...have to kill again?”
A beat. Then he nods again, more slowly this time. “It was easier.”
You’re not sure what to say to that, deciding to instead rest a hand on his arm. For some reason, what he said didn’t scare you. It was you who asked him to act more like a nomu, anyway.
You both stayed like that for a few minutes, standing side-by-side in the middle of the room’s crude composition that illustrated his short life. Innocence, rage, and now a feeling of powerlessness. You can relate; your progress here was very similar except that the ‘innocence’ part can be replaced with ‘grief’, having lost contact with everything you were familiar with.
“You know, maybe I can add my own additions to this sometime, if you don’t mind. Make this place our own little mural.” You giggle when his tail swings at the proposal. “There’s no way they haven’t noticed how odd of a duo we are by now. I wonder how those assholes feel about all of this.”
You’re grabbed and pulled into him so quickly that the jar slips out of your grip, rolling away as you’re pushed into a hard black chest. The tight embrace squeezes your swollen arm painfully. “Shit, that hurts!”
He whines apologetically and loosens his hold. Pain and lack of oxygen aside, it’s oddly comforting. You haven’t been hugged in ages, and here you were being held by this. A song of soft coos calm you, but there is a noticeable sad tone to them. You look up at him, chin resting on his pecs. “Raptor, I know it sucks here, and I don’t really know what to say to make things better, but I’ll keep trying to hang out with you for as long as I can, alright?” You reassure him while rubbing his chest. “Remember, you’re kind of the best thing that ever happened to this place. Not that my standards in this shithole are very high – they’re actually lower than a regular nomu’s sex drive – but it’s still an achievement you should be proud of.”
Your words did their job, if his lighter hums are anything to go by. His comforting heat was gone too soon when he gently pushed you back, following up with a press of lips against yours.
There’s no more clumsiness in his movements. He switched from light brushes that had you craving more to deep smooches that took your breath away. There wasn’t much else you could do except follow his lead. The teasing licks against your lips never fail to get you going, and he probably knows that by now. Unfortunately, you had to break apart for a breather, allowing him to cradle you as he waited.
“Who the hell have you been kissing while I’m not around to learn so fast?” You joked.
You didn’t expect him to look away and hesitate to answer before uttering, “I...remembered.”
If he was expecting that to upset you, it didn’t. You can’t stop his brain from working, and he no longer automatically gives in to any demands. You still don’t know what’s up with that. “Right,” you sighed. “Are you remembering anything else?”
“No...same things. Hawks...fire...death...I want to forget.” He pulls you in again, this time taking care not to add too much pressure to your bruises. His strangled attempts at speech have become smoother over the days, but hearing the winged hero beneath the layers of grotesque sounds that create his voice is going to take a long time to get used to. “Can...you...make me forget?”
A twinge of sadness and pity. Are his final moments the only parts that keep playing in his head, in a cruel loop? You direct all of your strength into your voice and speak. “Forget about it. Forget about Hawks and all of those foggy memories.”
He sits there and blinks with no clear sign that your words had any effect.
Then he wilts and groans in defeat.
“No good, huh?” You shrug. You truly did wish you could help him. “There’s not much else I can do, sorry.” A pause. “Must feel like nightmares, I guess. I get plenty of those.” You rest in his hold while recalling some of the fears that manifest in your sleep. “Dreams about what they’ll do when they don’t need me anymore. I never had the guts to put myself out of my misery – don’t have many options to work with anyway. Maybe I can ask a nomu to chomp my head off.”
“No.” The word was growled out, felt all around you like a small quake. You quickly try to calm him by raising your uninjured arm to hold and caress his face. You know that he couldn’t exactly feel it anymore, but the memory of your touch is probably what still managed to soothe him. It was an intimate image, touching him so lovingly while in his arms.
“Don’t worry, I’ll stick around. We can make things easier for each other.” Without a second thought, you straighten up and begin pushing down your pants, Hawks already chirping in excitement and fumbling with your shirt, his talons ripping the cloth. You were naked in front of him once again, and the memories of yesterday already have your pussy lubricating itself in preparation. Samples...semen….you weren’t thinking about any of that. You just wanted him again.
“Let’s help each other forget.”
And just like that, you were devoured. His mouth was everywhere and you happily took it all. You were addicted to his touch as much as he was addicted to your flavor. The dark blue tongue moved gracefully across your face, the small grin and lidded eyes telling you that he quite enjoyed the sight of you covered in his saliva. You opened your mouth wide as an invitation that he gladly took, the strong muscle charging straight into your mouth and hitting the back of your throat. It makes you gag and has tears pricking at your eyes, yet you continue to throb between your legs.
He fucks your mouth so fast and roughly that you’re forced to only breathe through your nose. You’re clinging onto him as you gurgle around the ravaging muscle, your nails unable to pierce his tough hide no matter how hard you grip.
Something solid rubs right against your sex, grazing your clit and leaving you moaning into his mouth. His hips were bucking into the air with a very prominent tent that constricted his growing cock.
It’s the first time a nomu’s dick actually touches you there.
And it makes your walls clench.
You get closer for more friction, trying to grind against the massive erection while he finally removes his tongue from your mouth. That’s when he notices just how hard you’re trying to get off on his bulge.
Heat is rushing to your face at his puzzled expression. “You-” You gasp, still catching your breath after having him squirm down your throat for so long. “You feel pretty good.”
He simply watches you continue to rub against him – you don’t even notice that his hips are no longer moving, you just press closer to him and grind harder in desperation. His wings flutter and the rest of his body shakes lightly, his breaths coming out in short huffs.
He was laughing.
The look of amusement is so unexpected that it has your hips stopping out of embarrassment. And here you thought nothing else could leave you flustered at this point. “You don’t have to laugh. Trust me, you’ve looked way more desperate than I have,” You tease him.
He clicks his tongue, then with a yank and a loud rip, his shorts are in tatters and his cock springs free right onto your belly. Another short round of huffs are heard from him when you squeak in surprise. Just where did this attitude even come from?
Beads of precum ooze from his pointed head and drip onto your stomach. Maybe it’s your lust-tinted lenses, but his cock is looking much more attractive than usual. Its curved perfectly to hit all of the right spots, and those ridges probably feel amazing when moving inside you.
“Want more?”
The low-pitched voice right in your ear has you shaking, like it was a question from the Devil himself. Thirst aside, you don’t know what you should say. You trust that he won’t fuck you to shreds like the other High Ends would, but the biggest issue…
“I don’t know if I should risk that,” you murmur, a hand reaching to rub the textured flesh. “As tempting as it is right now.”
His confidence is replaced with disappointment. That is, until he immediately perks back up and grabs your hips.
“Wait what are yoooo-whoa!” You’re being lifted off the floor, legs dangling uselessly as he holds you easily, your body hovering right over his twitching dick.
Panic begins to set in. “No! Nononono I said-”
“I won’t.” He says softly. As softly as he can with such a voice, at least. “Calm.”
Instead of penetrating like you feared, he lowers you until your flushed lips are resting on the length of his scaly shaft.
And then, slowly, his hips push forward.
The bumps and creases slide against you in all of the right ways. “Oooh fuck.” You adjust yourself to ensure that he rubs your clit as well. The sensation has you shuddering in his hands as the pressure inside you builds quickly. Your slick makes his dick smoother after each thrust, and when Hawks sees that you’re comfortable and lost in the rhythm, he begins to speed up.
Your legs are swinging madly at a complete loss on how to handle the electrifying friction, but the nomu grunts and takes hold of your thighs. They close around his cock, greatly increasing the pressure as he continued to fuck past your thighs. “Stay there.” The vibration from his deep raspy voice only arouses you more. His hips collide with yours after each buck.
As amazing as it feels, your hazy mind recalls that Hawks shouldn’t be able to properly revel in this outercourse. “I-I thought...you couldn’t feel this.” You say shakily.
Hawks is eyeing your bouncing form with great interest, his hips not missing a beat as he answered. “Can’t. Just watching.”
He presses down on you more, slowing down his pace with his eyes still locked on your face. His tongue quickly swipes across your forehead to taste the sweat that has mixed with his saliva. “You look good.”
Goddamn him.
You felt close, so close, but even as your limbs tingle from the pleasure, your orgasm remained out of reach. The most severe ache that had yet to be sated, to be given any attention, was inside you. You have never throbbed this much in your life, you didn’t even know that your muscles down there could even contract this tightly. The dragging of his cock against your drenched lips isn't enough. You don’t care about risk anymore. Not after feeling what he has to offer.
There’s no voice telling you how stupid you’re being right now. It already gave up on you.
Good.
“Haw–shit–Raptor, inside. I need you inside.” You beg between your moans. He stills completely, which has you whining and squirming even more.
“Inside?”
Hearing him say it sobers you up a bit, but not enough to kill your desire. “Just pull out before you cum, alright? Think you can do that?” You ask.
He nods eagerly, wings and tail moving with glee as he lifts you off of his dick that was already lubed up by your natural fluids. He angles himself until the head is pressing at your twitching entrance.
You can’t tell if you’re trembling from excitement or fear. Probably both.
The fine tip already has you being stretched wide, burning and stinging in spite of your pussy’s preparation. It makes you wince and want to close your eyes – to create some distance between you and the pain – but your curiosity has you looking down to watch him enter you, inch by inch. You can once again see your stomach distend as it attempts to accommodate the large intrusion, much bigger than the slithery tongue that previously invaded it.
But it’s exactly what you craved, the unique texture feeling even more delicious when inside of you. Your toes curl and legs quiver from his girth; not as meaty as the other dicks that you’ve treated, just enough extra thickness to give you a stretch that you’ve never experienced, without causing serious harm.
He reaches the end of your cavern with a few more inches to spare, and the drawn out moan slipping past his lips surprises both of you. You try to relax around him while he fights the urge to move. Black shaky wings expand behind him.
“Feel…” He gasped and choked, one would think that he was trying to learn speech all over again. “Can feel...squeezing. So gooood.” The last word came out as a strong rasp against your face.
The new discovery has you smiling, one of your hands rubbing at a much larger one around your waist. “You can feel it? You feel how tight I am, Raptor? How badly I want you to stay inside me and never leave?” He may not be able to feel your heat or your dampness, but it looks like he can’t escape the pressure from a cunt’s death grip.
He twitches inside, making you jolt. Oh, how quickly the tables have turned.
You scratch under his chin. Numb as he is, he still tilts his head like a pet dying for affection. “Then I want you to fuck me. Stop thinking, and just move...” You bring your face close to his, pulling off a seductive look and tone even when impaled on him. “...Just like a good nomu.”
Perhaps Hawks had a submissive kink when he was alive. It would explain why that riled him up so much that he was already slamming into you with absolutely no warning.
It hurts. It hurts so fucking good. Every thrust tears a helpless cry out of your body. The scales grind against every nerve around your hole, while the ones deeper inside nudge your velvety walls as they move in and out, in and out.
You couldn’t talk between your screams, not with how violently he was pounding you. Your arms and legs wrapped around him and hung on for dear life with your face buried in the crook of his neck. His own muscular arms wrap around you in a deceptively loving embrace, pumping into you with a rhythmic smack smack smack. All you can do is reap what you sow and take it.
This wasn’t just for you, this was for Hawks as well. You gave him something that he could feel again. What began as whiny gasps for air soon became rolling growls that vocalize a need for more.
Your orgasm barely sticks out of the continuous blinding pleasure as he plows harder through your spasms, your contracting muscles wrestling with the merciless cock to hold it inside.
His tone is dark. Vicious. “Tight. So tight!”
It makes your greedy body want even more. “Oh, good job, Raptor. Such a good boy.” You praise him, feeling the brief falter in his movements. He really does like that. “Go ahead and take it all, as much as you need-ah. Don’t worry about me. Fuck me until I can’t think.”
The violent sex stops and you’re being ripped away from that wondrous cock in the blink of an eye. Before you can even question what’s happening, your world begins to spin until you’re suddenly on the floor. You’re getting adjusted onto your hands and knees right before being pierced again with a force that shoves you forward.
Your thoughts struggle to keep up with the lightning-fast sequence of events, hindered even more by the warmth of the body hovering right over you. Hawks too was on all fours, though he looked much more comfortable and natural, wings fully spread out in a proud and dominant display as he throbbed inside of you.
His hips snap forward, already at a rapid pace that rocks you with each hard impact and soon has you howling again. The floor was filled with uneven cracks and scratches that scraped your knees, not that the discomfort was easy to notice while you were being drilled into. As you latched onto one of his arms for support, you noticed right in front of you, was your first game of tic tac toe.
Drool dripped down from the snarling jaws above you and onto the innocent group of lines and shapes.
The mounting beast humped you with every ounce of energy he had. Your aching pussy couldn’t take it. Too hard...too big... you’re cumming again around his pistoning cock, moans melting into defeated sobs. The huge pair of swinging balls occasionally smacked right into your oversensitive clit. You were losing the will to hold yourself up, gripping his supportive arm more tightly while your thighs quivered. Even if you had the strength to, you had no plans to ask the feral savage to stop.
He currently wasn’t anything like the gentle experiment you’ve befriended in just a few days. Right now, with his head thrashing around and flinging spittle everywhere as he barked, and wings beating hard against the floor, he was terrifying. Powerful, hungry, and single-minded.
So this is what it’s like to give in to a nomu.
It’s scary.
It’s thrilling.
Every fast agonizing stroke right against your cervix takes your breath away, your mouth eventually just hanging open in an attempt to capture whatever oxygen it could into your lungs. Hawks curls into himself so that he can crane his neck and look at you, saliva flowing freely down his chin. Each breath came out as a throaty growl wafting against your sweaty face. He takes one look at your parted lips, and stuffs you with his tongue.
If your thoughts were more coherent at the moment, you’d wonder how the hell the muscle was strong enough to be able to move into your throat as hard as the dick that continued to wreck your insides. His hips assisted in gagging you even more with each thrust. The threat of asphyxiation only brought you closer to your next orgasm.
Your mind was empty, save for the immoral thoughts that have long since driven off their more honorable competition.
Just use me.
Your entire body was on fire, getting pummeled from both ends.
Just use me however the fuck you want.
Hawks is suddenly bombarding your cunt with short and speedy ruts of his hips, and that does it. Your limbs give out and leave you to plop onto the floor as your pleasure blooms all over. But his long tongue follows you, still pushing into your whimpering mouth to deprive you of much-needed air. He simply lowers himself and proceeds to fuck you hard into the ground, pressing your skin into his many carvings.
His tongue leaves...your eyes rolling back….
Hawks releases a horrid cry that sounds like both a roar and a bird-like shriek.
Exhaustion…
Hawks is too lost in the surprising sensations, dull but still intense, to realize that he’s shooting his thick load into your womb
Warmth...full...sleep.
x---x---x---x---x
“Get up.”
The voice is muffled as you slowly come to. Whatever you’re resting on doesn’t feel like your bed.
“I know you’re awake. Hurry and get up.”
You’re surrounded by warmth, by something breathing. Pain shoots through your back and legs when you stir. When you open your eyes, you see the golden eyes of a High End.
The fear does well in masking your aches as you scramble out of the arms of what turned out to be Hawks, who was lounging on his side like a giant cat.
And standing at the door, was the damned doctor that you had the privilege of seeing every day.
His stare looked even more judgmental than it usually did. Full-on disgusted, actually. Realizing that you’re still naked, you grab one of Hawks’s wings that were splayed out on the floor to shield yourself.
He simply shakes his head. “I’ve already seen enough. And heard enough.”
Oh shit.
Oh shit.
“I-I…” you stammer, panic rising in your chest as you’re unable to come up with any sort of explanation. You even turn to Hawks, like he’d somehow provide you with the answer.
“I normally don’t care what deplorable methods you people use to collect your samples, but going by the filth between your legs...” That prompts you to look down, and the second you do, you already feel a dense fluid oozing out of you and running down your legs that were stained with white. “...you actually allowed Raptor to inseminate you.”
His words, along with your accelerating heartbeat, thunders in your ears. Hawks is watching his seed leak from your raw pussy. He remains still and quiet, uncertain of how to act in the presence of a doctor.
“To think that someone would deliberately let a nomu breed them. I know that the two of you have gotten close,” His eyes skimmed past the many images and markings in the room. “But just how depraved do you have to be to go this far with a nomu?”
If this was before the days you allowed Hawks to touch you, you would have felt embarrassed. You are scared. Not only did he cum inside you, you’ve also been caught right after the act.
But any sort of shame?
You had the nerve to huff, still hiding your body from him not out of shyness, but because the asshole didn’t deserve the view. “I guess we’re all sick fucks around here,” you retort.
The glare on his glasses add to the intimidation factor of his glower. He takes a step forward and gives a quick tilt of his head. “Get dressed. You’re coming with me.”
Both you and Hawks are taken back. “For what?”
He scowls even harder. “Still asking questions? You’re lucky that you’re valuable right now. You have most likely been impregnated. This is an unexpected opportunity to observe one of Raptor’s offspring. We’ll be watching over you until the birth.”
You don’t move, still soaking in every word. This most definitely was a mistake. Not only are you going to be taken away from Hawks to be cooped up in a room with constant surveillance, you’re going to have a...fuck.
You feel the wing in your grasp vibrate softly, Hawks sensing your distress and attempting to silently reassure you.
“I said get dressed,” the doctor ordered impatiently. “Or are you still basking in the afterglow?” He snickered at his own joke before walking forward, ready to take you by force.
That’s when the nomu in the room finally stood up to step right in front of you, standing tall in all of his naked glory and easily towering over the man.
You had to give the guy credit for not looking phased by the very dangerous creature blocking his path. Then again, maybe he was just so sure that Hawks wouldn’t harm him in any way.
“Out of the way, Raptor.” Strong and firm. It’s the tone that ensures a nomu’s obedience, but you know by now that Hawks’s mind has grown beyond that.
As expected, Hawks doesn’t budge, still looking down with eyes of liquid gold.
The doctor only looks more annoyed, not afraid. “I knew you were defective,” he sneered. “Always hesitating during tests. Such wasted potential, yet the others insist on keeping you around. To do what? Decorate rooms? The idiots should have altered your brain by now.”
What?
Hawks still didn’t move. The lack of reaction was beginning to get to the man’s nerves, his hands balling into fists as he contemplated what action to take next. You stayed mostly hidden behind Hawks, anxiously looking past his wings.
When he accepted that the nomu wasn’t going to move, and forcing his way past him was too dangerous of an option, he smirked. “Fine, then. You’re only making yourself look worse. I’m certain I can convince them to move forward with that operation after they see how defiant you’re being right now.”
No! You feel so damn useless. The bastard wanted to change him into something more compliant. How much would that change Hawks himself? You don’t know if there’s anything you can do that won’t just end with you being thrown into the lion’s den.
The doctor placed two fingers to his temple. Fuck, his quirk.
“Backup needed in South Hall, room five o’ ni-”
He stopped. Pure shock took over his face, words replaced with the faintest choked sounds. You truly considered asking if he was feeling alright.
Until a thin line of red appeared at his throat, blood oozing out, the bleeding getting heavier by the second.
“What. The. Fuck?” Your breaths were becoming too short as you watched him crumple, the liquid crimson quickly pooling around him. “What the fuck is going on?”
The confusion and fear was making you delirious. God, you were going to pass out again, this is too fucking much, this asshole was about to take you away because you have a monster growing inside you and then he was going to turn Hawks into a regular High End but now he’s dead but who the fuck killed him and what’s about to happen to you-
“Calm.”
A large hand on your shoulder grounds you, steadying your breathing and expanding your tunnel vision. Hawks is in front of you, releasing soft coos.
“Wha–how–wha…” Your shaky lips are unable to form words, but he seems to understand. Something materializes right in front of you. Small, black, and sharp. It’s a feather, floating between the both of you. “What?” You finally spit out.
“Camouflage,” that’s all he says, as if that explains everything. Since when was he able t-
Whatever. There’s too much shit happening right now.
Still shaking, you look to see the doctor still bleeding, some of the blood flowing into the engravings and painting them red.
“Y-you killed him?” You whisper.
He nods, staring apathetically at the body.
“But, I thought you didn’t…” You trailed off, too stunned by everything that has happened to finish.
He turned his attention back to you, red irises – as red as the blood that continued flow – staring into your frightened eyes. “It gets easier.”
Once again, you’re not sure what to say to that.
He looks to the door. “More coming soon.”
Right, whoever the doctor was contacting must be wondering why his telepathy was suddenly cut off.
“I want to leave.”
“Leave? Like, you want to escape?” Another nod. “That’s...I don’t know if that’s possible. There are villains around here. Strong villains. Shit, they might release some of the nomu on us!”
“You want to stay?”
Your mouth opens, then closes.
“I’m strong, and fast.” His wings unfurl and sharpen every feather, his tail curling around you so that you can see the knifelike plumes on it. “Can heal very fast and blend in. Can do a lot.”
The display and simple explanation reminds you that you haven’t seen any of his combative skills firsthand. This is what they made him for.
Well then…
“Right, then how about we give them a final test?” Just when you were finally calming down, adrenaline is already being pumped back into your veins. “Let’s show them how unstoppable their latest work is.”
His little peep of agreement nearly ruined the moment, but it reminds you why you’ve grown so fond of him.
He turns around and crouches, motioning you to climb onto his back and wrap your arms around his neck. It was awkward, mostly due to the wings that you were squishing under you, but when you voiced your worries he just gave you an “It’s fine.” He warned you to hang on extra tightly whenever he gets low to the ground. He’s a much faster runner on all fours.
Stepping over the corpse that has bled dry, he stopped at the door and braced himself.
“Ready?”
Your arms and legs were secured around him. You breathed in through your nose then out through your mouth.
Breath in. Breathe out.
A lot of death and destruction is probably about to come your way.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
It would be great if you never had to fill another jar ever again.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Your clammy skin hasn’t felt sunlight in fucking forever. Are the heroes even still alive out there?
Breathe in. Breathe out.
You try not to think about what’s happening in your womb.
“I’m ready.”
The door is pushed open.
x---x---x---x---x
Targets first spotted at 12:50
The old surveillance cameras flicker and lag. It makes noticing the running black figure all the more difficult. On most screens, you’ll see nothing more than a blur. There will be the occasional confrontation with villains, sometimes accompanied by researchers with incapacitation quirks. More often than not, the escapees easily outmaneuver them, crawling and leaping on every surface and zooming past their potential captors before they can even follow.
Some of the stronger villains and nomu slow the duo down only briefly before they collapse from an unseen force. The recovered bodies possessed deep cuts across major arteries or accurate punctures in their major organs.
Some footage shows the two sometimes climbing into vents, temporarily escaping the cameras.
The woman on the High End’s back was injured during the fatal showdown at the hospital’s exit, enraging it to the point where it swiftly killed everyone in its vicinity, including fleeing researchers that were only caught in the crossfire.
Targets escaped facility at 13:09
x---x---x---x---x
Subject: Raptor
SUBJECT HAS ESCAPED.
NOMU IS HIGHLY DANGEROUS. TAKE EVERY PRECAUTION IN RETRIEVING IT.
Some things are too good to be true. It turned out that Raptor’s brain has, shall we say, faulty wiring. Several observations have noted him hesitating upon certain commands. This should not be a constant problem with any High End. I don’t understand why they did not immediately work on this issue. It’s possible that they feared irreversible changes to his unique mind.
I personally believe that many of these flaws are the result of a compassionate host. The hero Hawks was unmistakably a gifted combatant, probably the most gifted individual the facility has gotten their hands on, but his attitude did not translate well into the role of a nomu. On the bright side, I never thought I’d ever see nomu, let alone a High End, show such genuine fondness over a human. I believe it’s worth another try in the future.
But for now, we should stick to what works. There are more than enough lowly criminals to go around.
#Hawks#smut#nomu#noumu#terato#monster fucking#hawks x reader#shh the doctors don't know about shirakumo#happy october?#tw blood#tw death
4K notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
brutalgamer
Brutal Gamer
purahs
hehe
setrashtian
setrashtian
shirafuchi
白囦
seafoodshome
Seafoods Home