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listen-to-the-inner-walrus · 10 months

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so theres a lot of posts going round about the titanic wreck and the missing submarines; all of them that ive seen have made very good points about how shoddy the submersible seemed to be and how the company decided to wait eight hours before reporting it, and how this is a play stupid games, win stupid prizes for the ultra-wealthy who paid like 250grand a ticket for this thing.

but what i havent seen any posts about is how the titanic wreck is a gravesite and this tourism is disturbing the graves of over 1500 people.

sometimes its kinda hard to remember that those on the titanic were real people; it was over a century ago, the story has been romanticised in so many ways (like the movie), theres conspiracies theories galore that cloud everything with misinformation, but at the end of the day, those who died were real people.

do you want their names? heres a list of them; its a long read. and for fun, heres another site where you can see photos of the children and babies who died aboard.

their bodies are long gone and their lives long forgotten. all we have to remember them and honour them is the wreck itself. its all we have of them and it is their gravesite. its their tombstone.

caitlin doughty/ask a morticians video on the great lakes discusses the topic well, and why we should leave these shipwrecks alone because again, they are the gravesites of all the souls who died aboard those ships. we rarely have bodies to recover so we really are left just with the wreck.

and what really upsets me about titanic tourism is how the majority of those who died that night were not the ultra-wealthy rich folks you might picture when you think of ocean liners.

61% of the first class passengers survived

42% of the second class passengers survived

24% of the third class passengers survived

24% of the crew survived **

the majority of those who died that night were regular folk; not to be cliche, but they were just like us. titanics wreck is not only a gravesite for over 1500 people, its also a majority working class gravesite.

and look at us now. look at what were doing. the ultra-wealthy can pay the equivalent of peanuts to them to disturb a mass gravesite of the exact kind of people they exploit today to hold onto all their wealth.

its easy to point and laugh at these dumb idiots in their playstation controller submarine, seemingly held together with super glue and duct tape, but its also important to remember that what they were doing was simply disturbing a gravesite for fun. though the company does research, these guys werent down there to conduct research, they were there so they could brag about it to their friends. its like “climbing mount everest” while your sherpa does all the work.

if you cant tell, i have a lot of feelings about this. shipwrecks and ocean liners are one of my special interests and im currently building a (beginner’s) model of the titanic, for fucks sake. but i would never go down to see that wreck because its a fucking gravesite and we should not be disturbing their final resting place.

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sayruq · 3 days

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Immediate international action must be taken to investigate the hundreds of mass and random graves in the Gaza Strip containing the bodies of thousands of Palestinian victims since the start of Israel’s genocide, ongoing since 7 October 2023. Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor field teams have closely observed the recovery of hundreds of dead bodies from these mass graves, some of which were found in the courtyards of different Gaza Strip hospitals. The significant number of graves and bodies is concerning and calls for rapid international action, which should include the immediate creation of an independent international investigation committee to look into the circumstances surrounding the creation of these graves and the deaths of the victims buried in them. This is especially important given that a large number of the victims were directly subjected to premeditated murder and arbitrary and extrajudicial executions while handcuffed. A technical committee of experts is needed to investigate the burial circumstances and determine the cause of death of the victims that have been recovered. Additionally, a system for future identification ofdeceased victims’ identities must be developed.

The Euro-Med Monitor field teams previously documented the recovery of dozens of bodies from the mass graves in Al-Shifa Medical Complex’s courtyards, belonging to handcuffed victims, otherindividuals who were wounded but not provided withmedical care, and those who were executed despite their health conditions. The victims’ decomposing bodies were found in several places, with some having been run over by Israeli bulldozers which left their bodies torn into pieces. The presence of urinary catheters or splints, whichwere found to be still attached to some of the dead patients’ bodies during the exhumation process, as well as medical files that were buried with them in Al-Shifa Medical Complex, confirm the execution of ill and injured people. Due to the extended period of time in which the bodies were left in the mass graves—as Israeli forces had impeded their recovery for the past few months—most of the bodies were in a state of decomposition when recovered. Some of the corpses had also evidently been mauled by cats and dogs. Dr Moatasem Saeed Salah, a member of the Ministry of Health’s emergency committee, told Euro-MedMonitor that after the withdrawal of Israeli forces, 30 bodies were found to have been buried in two makeshift cemeteries in Al-Shifa Medical Complexduring the Israeli siege of the medical facility. One of these cemeteries was in front of the reception and emergency department, and the second was in front of the industrial department. Salah said that only 14 of the victims had been successfully identified, with the rest being patients or injured individuals who had been receiving treatment in the hospital.

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phoenixyfriend · 6 months

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There's a mass grave in Wash Square Park?

Oh yeah, most parks in NYC were built on some kind of graveyard, but Washington Square Park is particularly infamous for it. It was built directly over a potter's field, as were Madison Square Park and Bryant Park. These days, Bryant Park's history is colored more by the reservoir, especially since, while there were thousands of bodies, they were moved in 1840. Meanwhile, Madison was only a graveyard from 1794-1797, mostly for those dead of yellow fever, and there are "only" a few hundred bodies there.

The land that would become Washington Square Park was a potter's field from 1797 to 1826, coming into use as Madison was phased out. At that point, the area became a military parade ground.

There are some 20,000 bodies under the park. Some excavations have identified gravestones from 1799. The bodies are still there, and there are thousands of them.

(Other parks have other horror stories, like the destruction of Seneca Village making way for Central Park, but like I said, Washington Square Park is infamous for it due to the sheer number and concentration of the dead.)

#Phoenix answers asks #new york city #nyc #Washington Square Park #potters fields #mass graves #death tw #history

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18thcenturythirsttrap · 6 days

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Bisan reports: mass graves being uncovered at Nasser Medical Complex, Khan Younis

TW FOR GRAPHIC CONTENT INCLUDING DEAD BODIES, EVIDENCE OF MASS MURDER

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Bisan Owda (@wizard_bisan1)

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STAND WITH PALESTINE

#palestine #gaza #khan younis #nasser medical complex #bisan owda #bisan gaza #wizard bisan #palestinian genocide #tw genocide #tw dead body #tw mass murder #tw mass grave #Instagram

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tundrakatiebeanart · 7 months

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This was an incredibly gory and disturbing dream, if you couldn't pick up that vibe from the art. For most of the dreams on this project I've written a little two line or so poem to sum up the dream. Sometimes I write that on the art, sometimes I don't. This is what I wrote for this one:

I stand over a pit filled with corpses. My hands are red from butchering. They are all me.

The dream involved me dragging the dead, older versions of myself into a mass grave. Sometimes chopping them up so they'd fit better. Sometimes keeping a little memento before I kicked a version of what I could have been in the pit to join the others.

It's no secret I've had a rough few years. I've kept my head up and kept trucking, but sometimes things come to a head and you realize just how many pieces of yourself you've had to chop off to survive, to try and keep certain people in your life placated, how many growing tendrils of self have been hastily chopped off by people around you or society at large. There's an inherent violence in having to survive a world you were never meant to thrive in and sometimes we buy into it and are violent to ourselves, trying to make ourselves fit into a box that can never actually contain the human experience. I think completing this piece has made me realize how important it is to not be complicit in my own destruction. Which seems like a very fitting bookend to this project as I move on to different artistic goals and feel more settled into myself because of the dream journals I've made over the past two years.

The original art will be available in my Ko-fi shop for $115 if none of my patrons claim it first and there will me prints available on my inprnt.

If you’re interested in seeing behind the scenes progress pictures, gaining access to my new work a week early, or are interested in getting to claim new art pieces before everyone else, consider becoming a patron by searching TundraKatieBean on Patreon or following the link in my biolink!

#artists on tumblr #dream journal #visual dream journal #blood #blood tw #mass grave #mass grave tw #watercolor

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gamerbot-22 · 2 years

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How I Think the Red Plague Works and Presents Itself

DNI

So I mentioned in that HC request that I was going to make basically a fake research paper on the Red Plague and it's effects because there's genuinely like. Little to no information about the symptoms aside from the red eyes and hands in canon. So this is that paper!

CW: Discussion of both irl and fictional pandemics, concept art of the Red Plague, death in general. Also spoilers! For like all of the routes!!!

Overview

So going off of the knowledge we have (came from bugs, the name, the mask Julian wears as a doctor, etc.) the Red Plague is pretty clearly based on the Black Death/Bubonic Plague which ravaged most of Europe in the 1300's (and still exists in other areas of the world but let's not dwell on that part.)

If you want the history of the Black Death in Medieval Europe I would actually recommend Watcher's "Life During the Black Death Pandemic" video which can be found here, but to sum up, the Black Death is a bacterial condition that comes in four different varieties (only three could be diagnosed during the pandemic in the 1300's,) with the most common and survivable type being the titular bubonic variety.

Transmission

So the Black Death has three ways of spreading: Bites from infected fleas (i.e. fleas carrying the bacteria Yersinia pestis,) contact with infected fluid/tissue (the example the CDC gives on their page on Black Death ecology is skinning and eating an infected rabbit,) and contact with infectious droplets caused by the pneumonic variant.

The only two transmission types we see in Arcana canon is bites from the red beetles and contact with the dye that is made from those same beetles. Personally I think that use or exposure to the beetle dye is similar enough to that infected fluid/tissue way of transmission. Like inhalation of the dye itself or wearing fabric that was dyed with it while there's an open wound on the body or using it to rub your face is enough to cause an infection.

Symptoms

Symptoms of the Black Death include:

fever

headache

chills

weakness

painful lymph nodes (buboes) near the infection site

abdominal pain

shock

possible bleeding into the skin and other organs

appendages like fingers, toes, and nose turning septic and dying

cough

bloody/water mucous

and looking at the symptoms of the Red Plague we can start to see even more similarities:

art source: The Arcana fandom wiki page "Red Plague"

As we can see in this image drawn by the developers, similar changes in the physique occur. Instead of septic fingers and puss-filled buboes, we have red pigmentation around joints (fingers, knees, shoulders,) orbital socket, lips and within the sclera. The only thing we know about this pigmentation is that it begins in the eyes and spreads outwards, so seemingly there's no change regarding infection type or method. There's also no explanation as to what the pigmentation is. It can't be blood, as that would just result in extensive bruising which appears black under the skin, not red. There also seems to be no evidence of the eyes being irritated or vision being impaired so it’s probably not a direct eye infection either. This can probably just be chalked up to the fact that this is a ✨magic plague.✨

The infection also seems to ravage any stores of fat or muscle on the patient, causing even a warrior like Lucio to become gaunt and frail. A deep cough is also a symptom Lucio exhibits, but it's unknown if he had that symptom due to his prolonged infection (Lucio had the Red Plague for several months while others died of the plague within days or weeks,) but given the spread of the Red Plague throughout Vesuvia I'm willing to bet that most patients developed a cough.

Doctors

The doctors of the time wore plague masks resembling birds, and these masks have basically become the symbol of the Black Death ever since.

image source: Wikipedia article "Plague doctor costume"

You might remember that Julian Devorak wears a similar mask:

Image source: The Arcana: A Mystic Romance App

This style of dress was thought to be effective in keeping doctors safe from the plague but I couldn't find any evidence to back that up for irl cases. My guess is it was just the covering of almost every inch of the body that kept the infection from spreading, as there was no easy way for a doctor to consume infectious fluids or make direct contact with infected patients. In the game this seemed to be an effective enough style, probably for the same reason.

Both masks are stuffed with a mix of different materials called Theriac (and I highly recommend you look here for a list of all the crazy shit that made up Theriac,) but in-game Julian only mentions that his mask is filled with herbs without listing any specific items. The reason for the Theriac was because of the popular "miasma" theory of the time, which suggested that it was bad air that caused the plague, and not the bite of a flea or eating infected meat.

Although Julian is the only plague doctor we see in his uniform, I think it stands to reason that most of if not all doctors employed by Lucio wore uniforms similar to what Julian wears.

Quaestor Valdemar is also seen wearing a more modern style mask around their nose and mouth. This less extravagant mask makes sense as Valdemar seems much more interested in doing autopsies than actually curing and interacting with a living infected patient that might cough infected droplets on them.

Image credit: The Arcana fandom wiki page "Valdemar" Treatment for the Black Death irl varies wildly, but by far the most popular way to try to cure the plague was a process called bloodletting, which was done by a doctor either cutting a specific part of the body and letting the blood run out or by attaching leaches to buboes and just letting them go at it. We can see references to leeches in The Arcana, as Julian is openly interested in them and often suggest using leeches as a way to tend to infection.

Death and Graves

During the Black Death Pandemic between 1347-51, an estimated total of between 75 to 200 million people died of the infection. It's unknown how many people died of the Red Plague in The Arcana but it clearly was enough as there are several mentions to people just dying in the street before they can make it to quarantine on the Lazaret.

The aforementioned Lazaret is an island in the ocean right outside of Vesuvia that was used specifically as a quarantine hospital, although that was short lived and the place basically turned into one big mass grave where the bodies of the infected were burned and the ashes were spread on the beaches.

In real life, bodies were disposed of in mass graves. Harrowing text from the time describes how no priests or services were provided for these mass graves, and if an entire family was killed by the plague it was extremely difficult to find someone willing to go bring the bodies outside the city for burial.

In Conclusion

So I guess my point here is that the Red Plague in the Arcana behaves very similarly to the Black Death irl, albeit with a few differences in origin, transmission, and symptoms.

I guess this entire post was kind of redundant but the Arcana brainrot is strong and this was the only way I could get rid of it. And it's nice for me to have a recourse to refer back to whenever I end up having to write characters infected with the Red Plague.

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nordfjording · 2 years

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reports (and pictures) of ukrainian soldiers finding evidence that russian forces executed their own injured in order to move faster as they where pushed back from kharkiv is the sort of thing that does ping my propaganda/misinformation radar because that would be v straightforward to stage rn. but i also have no problem believing it, because russian forces include several battalions of kadyrovites and fucking wagner, and the only reason i don't think it's them is that it wasn't filmed and passed around on telegram.

#i don't even know how to tag this #murder tw?#terrorism tw?#war crimes #though i wouldn't recommend following this through twitter rn because theyre exhuming mass graves in izium #and the algorithm is NOT doing a great job of censorship

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lettherebemonsters · 1 year

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What a way to start the new year. Yet another shooting here in the Golden state. Absolutely despicable. And knowing the name of the guy who did it now raises more questions.

Just.....it's ridiculous. So damn ridiculous. I can only pray for the families targeted.

#rave to the grave ( out of character)#tw mass shooting #tw mass murder

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vreliskriri · 10 months

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I am a bit perturbed by some of the more gleeful commentary about that submarine. It is morbidly funny it was being piloted with a logitech controller, but beyond that point it is just morbid.

If the rescue efforts fail, one obscenely rich man has taken four human lives along with his own, because he could afford, on a whim, to forego the safety measures he could have just as easily afforded to install. The optimistic scenario is we have five people trapped inside a metal tube, due to run out of breathable air in a matter of days - optimistic as long as they can be rescued in time. If not, this is the nightmare scenario, where four people have been buried alive with their killer.

#sure. fuck the billionaire who chose to forego safety measures #fuck rich idiots wanting to gawk at a mass grave #but I will not laugh until they all make it out alive #and all the rich idiot customers collectively sue the billionaire to oblivion #death tw #and I do mean that warning

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listen-to-the-inner-walrus · 10 months

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since theres a lot of discussions about shipwrecks and deep sea submersibles happening right now, im just gonna quickly recommend this video which details how caladan oceanic found the samuel b roberts.

the samuel b roberts was a destroyer escort sank during the battle off samar during ww2. the wreck was found last year and is 22,621 feet/6885 metres deep which is almost 10,000 feet or 3000 metres deeper than the titanic and is currently the deepest wreck ever found.

in the video, you see a deep sea submersible (which can go down to 36,000 feet/10,973 metres) that isnt a tin can finished up with duct tape, super glue and glittery gel pens. it is piloted by an expert and they swap out pilots every day to avoid exertion or fatigue, and they have a very complex sonar system for finding wrecks. the longest they can go down is 16 hours and they keep in contact with their ship above and have to get clearance just for half an hour more.

when they find the wreck, they look around it to ensure they can identify it and map it out as well as they can, and then head back up to shore. they then hold a funeral service for those who died and leave a wreath on the ocean surface above where the wreck lays.

while im somewhat sketched out by the founder victor vescovo, the company does important work in terms of furthering our understanding of the ocean and finding wrecks which are the gravesites of those who passed. and they are not disrespectful to those whose graves lay 22,000 feet/6700 metres down on the seabed.

and what i would like to point out is how the samuel b roberts is protected against unauthorised disturbance by the sunken military craft act. you would need a permit from the naval history and heritage command (and a submarine that can withstand all the pressure) to go see it.

which, as ive said many times in the last two days, is something that the titanic should also have protection against. there should be laws in place that do not allow people to treat a mass fucking gravesite as a tourist spot.

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sayruq · 4 days

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[X] TW if you click the link

Mass graves are still being discovered in Al Shifa Hospital

#yemen #jerusalem #tel aviv #current events #palestine #free palestine #gaza #free gaza #news on gaza #palestine news #news update #war news #war on gaza #al shifa hospital #nasser hospital #nasser medical complex #khan younis #gaza genocide #genocide

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shadows-over-sunn · 1 year

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📹 lemme get this straight

📼 unlikely for you

📹 now is not the time for quips. You saw the shadow beast, run like a human on all fours but NOT crawling, hunt anything, stand up like a person, scream turning the sky red, and kill a pregn-

📼 yes! Also sorry for bleeding on you and yeeting you and your laptop

📹 I'm more worried about you bled! This is so much info what the hell.

📼 yeah it's nutty- oh shit we forgot to record what the time it was

📹 that doesn't matter. This thing isn't killing JUST dogs...what if some of the viscera wasn't just dogs...or animals-

📼 screw that I'm gonna hurl

📹 right right. You know for future mortician you have a weak stomach

📼 I'm not exactly used to MASS GRAVES AND MONSTER MURDER! Oh god what have we gotten ourselves into

📹 do you think we can stop?

📼 no this thing knows us...we can't stop now.

📹 what if we buy a bunker?

📼 no....tempting... no!

📹 rats...end recording 9:07 am

#the beast begins #tw dog death mention #tw mass grave mention #tw blood #tw puke #tw murder #tw uncanny

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whee38 · 1 year

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News articles are also reporting mass graves and torture facilities. I know that this isn’t the most pleasant topic but it’s important to know why Ukraine needs support of any kind. Just fucking Hell. The sins of the past have returned. We should have done more

multiple news reports:

https://www.newsweek.com/mass-graves-torture-chambers-discovered-liberated-mykolaiv-officials-1759182

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/8/ukraine-governor-says-mass-grave-found-in-liberated-eastern-town

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewelinaochab/2022/09/22/new-mass-graves-found-in-ukraine-as-putins-atrocities-continue/?sh=1212e5ed58ba

https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraine-completes-exhumation-soldiers-lyman-mass-grave-2022-10-14/

https://nypost.com/2022/09/16/hundreds-found-in-mass-grave-after-russians-leave-ukraine-city/

#mass graves #torture #TW war crimes

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novasdarling · 1 year

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Ok this will probably sound like a weird request, but maybe Mahito as some type of dark fey/fairy that likes to deceive and hurt humans, and he ends up capturing a very naive reader? Sorry if it's too much specific, either way I just love how you write him

It doesn't sound weird at all! I sorta dialled it down(I kept rewriting this ask and idky), so I just kinda leaned in more with forest monster being able to handle this one human(reader) and hating others.

Though I will say your request now makes me wanna write for other characters and him as fairy/elves creatures... Hmmm

Forest Creature

TW: Monster. Kidnapping, Drugging(with a plant), Female Reader.

The woods could get dark and dangerous when you ventured too far. Predators, unclear paths, the threats you were cautioned about growing up. The warning words of your parents vanished as you embarked further. It would be fine, it always was. You always tended to make your way back home, no matter how far you went. Coming back with a full basket of berries, roots, and herbs. After the first few times, people would question your ability less and less when they saw you emerge from the woods with a full basket. Many assumed you just had an innate skill for foraging and navigating the woods. It was best to let them think that, rather than revealing the truth. That it wasn't you, that you had no real skills in the woods. Rather it was all thanks to Mahito. A strange man-creature who seemed to take pity on you the day when you were lost in the woods all those weeks ago.

Mahito was a tall slender man. Taller than any man you had ever met. Most of the time you found him leaning towards you when you spoke. Bending down so his face was now aligned with yours. He made you feel so small, yet by the looks of him. It appeared you had more weight to yourself than him. So tall yet so slim. One of the features that captured your attention during the first encounter. There was no helping the stares when you first spotted him. He seemed so terrifying, yet at the same time. You couldn't peel your eyes away. You watched him move around the trees. Picking plants and mushrooms. Stuffing his pockets filled with various plants and twigs.

Mahito's clothes were another peculiar part of him. They were none you had seen. Or at least, none that were styled properly. Sometimes his clothes appeared more human-like, but the first time you met him. His clothes looked made out of natural material. Moss detailed his pants and shirt. Climbing into his hair. You were sure if he stood still enough, he would blend in with some of the plants and trees around him.

He seemed so awkward that day, bending under branches. Letting his arms reach further than they should have. It was marvelling and uneasy watching him. Especially when the sun had peaked through the treetops. Shining down on the grass and him. That was when you noticed his skin. It wasn't any colour you had seen on a living being before. Rather it reminded you of the bodies of those who died from the great sickness years ago. You were just a child, but those images were burnt into your mind. The way the bodies lay in the mass grave. Too many dying to hold individual funerals. Their bodies lay cold and pale in the grave. Some in makeshift coffins, others loose in the ground. Some had died so long ago their skin had turned a cold pale grey and began peeling. While others had only been dead a few hours. Still appearing to have some life to them. Mahito looked like a cross between the two. Skin pale with a hint of grey, but still flushed and holding life. It appeared like he was toying with the line between life and death.

That day, he had caught you staring behind a tree. Lurking towards you before you figured out he knew you were there. Fear had coursed through your veins when he stared at you, hastily moving towards you. Your feet wouldn't run, but then what use would that be. He was so fast and his limbs were longer than yours. He would have no problem with retrieving you. However, when he did. He didn't harm you, he didn't curse you. No, he was kind and sweet in such an unnatural way, but it was still welcomed. Since then, you had met him almost every day to gather alongside him. He was your trick for foraging. Your walking, talking being of knowledge.

Today was like the others. Making your way through the dark woods. Trying to get to your usual meeting spot. It was the same location you had met him all that time ago. A nice area with plenty of plants to search through. Following the path, Mahito had shown you, avoiding every raised root or rock. It was a miracle that the first few times you went this way, you hadn't gotten seriously hurt. Though as you made your way through, you couldn't help, but get what you had heard earlier out of your head. Your neighbours had warned you today before you left. Not the usual warning of being careful in the woods. No, this was more. They had warned you about the missing people from other villages who shared the same woods. It would seem there had been a few people who had gone missing in the last few months. News only reaching your home now. You would need to warn Mahito about it. Fearing some bear or wolf had gone hungry and was now hunting anything it could find.

It wasn't long until you arrived, only to already see Mahito already there, sitting on a rock. Gazing at something in his hand. He always had some odd trinkets to show and give you. Some had been hair pins, and bracelets, while others you had never seen before. Beautiful little novelties Mahito would show and tell you about. Though always vague about how he had gotten it. Unclear on how he had come to collect some human items.

"Mahito" You waved as you walked towards him.

Mahito looked up, giving you a toothy smile as he watched you walk toward him. Had his teeth always been so, pointed? Sometimes you felt like no matter how many times you looked at him, there would always be something new.

"You're back?" He had stood up, pocketing what was in his hands and making his way to you. "Good, it's been too long."

Mahito had wrapped his arms around you. Bending himself over you in order to pull you close. Wrapping you completely in his embrace. He had to bend over almost completely in order to embrace. Though, he always did more than needed. Always engulfed you more than what was required for a hug from friends. It oddly felt more intimate than you cared for, but then again. He clearly wasn't fully human, chalking it up to him not knowing better.

"I missed you, my dear." He was pushing his face into your hair. Inhaling your scent.

"Hmmm, yeah? I missed you too." You let out an awkward laugh, trying to push him off of you to no avail. "Can we sit? I need to tell you something?"

Mahito let go reluctantly. Though his hand never left your body as he brought you to a log nearby. Taking a seat, only for him to pull you close down beside him. The way Mahito looked at you always made you anxious in some bizarre way. It was filled with an intensity like he was trying to see every thought you had with just a look. Yet, there was also another side to it. Curiosity, such intrigue with every word you said. With every move you made. It seemed like he wanted nothing more than to watch it all. You wouldn't admit it, but it was nice to be admired. Even if it was from him.

"Mahito, my family and friends are becoming nervous about me entering the woods now." Mahito narrowed his eyes at you, already knowing he wouldn't like where this was going. "You see, umm, there have been some people going missing in neighbouring villages."

You missed the change in Mahito's expression as you rambled on. Trying to explain your and other's concern. How you would need to limit your trips to him, or if there were more reports in the next few weeks. Perhaps you would need to stop completely for a while.

"There is nothing to fear." Mahito sounded so confident. "No one from your village has been hurt or has gone, right?" You nodded. "Then there's no worry. You are safe with me."

Staring at Mahito, knowing there was no arguing with him. He was always set in his ways. Hopefully, he would understand the severity of the reports. Understand that you aren't like him. You are at the mercy of the woods and every being living within it. A reality you never thought he would understand, but he did. He truly grasped your vulnerability, but would never let you know.

Mahito dropped the topic. Instead, leading you through the day's actions, showing you new plants he had found, and telling you their uses. Helping you fill your bag with food and herbs for medication. You marvelled at his ability. Looking at him like he was a god among men. A look he loved and would do anything to gain and keep.

Hours had passed. The sky was beginning to get darker. Indicating you would need to get home before you couldn't see your way anymore. Parting with Mahito was a difficult process. He would drag out the goodbye, insisting there was still more to collect and look for. It was better to start before you actually needed to go.

"Mahito, it's getting dark."

"Oh," Mahito looked at the sky. "You're right."

This was strange. Any other time when you mentioned the sky or the nearing of darkness. He would always insist you were wrong, that there was more. More time or more things to do, yet here he was. Agreeing with you for the first time.

"Before you go. Here."

Mahito opened your palm, placing something in it before closing your hand. Wrapping both of his around yours. Opening your hand, taking a look at what he had given you. It was a plant of some sort. A green stem connected to a small pale blue flower. The shapes of the petals were different. You'd never seen a flower like this before. They appeared pointed at the end before twirling in on themselves. It was extremely beautiful. Before you could ask anything about it, Mahito spoke.

"Eat it."

"What?"

"Eat it. Eat it."

Mahito lifted your hand with the flower to your mouth for you. There was no real-time or a chance to not do as he wanted. The flower was shoved in your mouth. For a moment you stood like that. His hand wrapped around your wrist. Flower in your mouth, simply sitting on your tongue. Unsure of what to do. Did he really want you to eat it?

"Chew and swallow."

It looked like he really did.

For a moment you just stared. The longer Mahito looked at you, the more you were convinced to follow his orders. You knew it would be best to just do as he says. It was most likely one of his herbs that would help you stay healthy during illness season. He tended to know when an illness would strike before anyone in your village did. Taking in your assumption, you chewed and swallowed the flower.

"Good girl." Mahito brushed his knuckles against your cheek.

You questioned what it was. Wondering if you were right. However, you weren't met with an answer. Not a real one, not one you wanted. Rather, he just gazed at you. Smiling down at you while his touch didn't leave. Finally, words left his lips.

"It's something from where I'm from. Something that makes you belong."

Before you could question him, your head felt heavy. It felt like you weren't able to hold it up anymore. It was quick and sudden. You weren't prepared for it.

"Ma-Mahito, I-I"

"What is it? You don't look so well."

You were so concentrated on staying upright that you missed the look on his face. The way he smiled, it wasn't filled with softness like it usually was with you. No, it was loaded with malice and delight now. Like he was the happiest he had ever been with you. Delighted by your willingness, by the way you trusted him so. How you simply did what he said with little hesitation. It was a breath of fresh air. Humans could be so stubborn and cruel, but you weren't. You were something else, something different. Not like those other humans who had crossed his path. They had been cruel, taking from the earth without caring, without giving back. They deserved what occurred to them. It was a shame his work was posing a threat of keeping you away from him, but not anymore. No, you were his.

As you began to give into the plant, falling into his arms. Shutting your eyes, it was easier than trying to stay awake, than staying upright. Your trust in this strange creature would be your end. It would be how you become the first in your village to go missing. To fall victim to the woods. However, unlike the rest. You would survive. After all, if he thought you were like the rest, you would have been dead long before you saw him that day. He had shown and given you so much. This would your way of saying thank you. Of giving back and he knows you'd agree with it when you wake later. After all, he had taught you the importance of giving. Of making sure you replace what you take. You had taken him, made him love you. Now, he was taking you. His dear little human.

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