Rowena is a captive at Voscland Human Research Facility (VHRF), and is one of their most defiant lab rats. Rudy is her handler, who's job is to try and keep her in line. (lab whump, lady whump, magic)
The Contortionist and the Bodyguard
Olive is an underpaid contortionist at Madame Tatania's Circus of Delights, or at least she was. At auction she meets Leon, a security guard who was kidnapped and now waits to be sold to the highest bidder. (captivity whump, non-boxboy pet whump, lady whump)
i really wish people could make characters with scars and just be normal about it. scars are just a feature, like brown hair or freckles, all it means is that you got an injury in the past. Scars are not gross or ugly or tragic or intimidating or scary or gorey or body horror, they are just a normal trait that a lot of people have.
if i’m allowed to be picky, i also wish people could be more thoughtful/realistic when deciding on scars. like do some research and think ‘how did this injury happen’. if someone got attacked by wolves, how does that give them a straight cut scar across their face?
and where are the other effects of these injuries? nerve damage, contractures, amputations, brain damage, PTSD, chronic pain, speech issues, sun sensitivity, blindness, etc? and please do research on these too, its good, its not that difficult.
i want to see characters have scars, and still be able to be normal, and cute/pretty/beautiful/sexy, and loved, and happy. this includes people with extensive burn scars, with skin grafts, with tons of reconstructive surgeries, who are missing eyes or noses or ears or limbs. this includes people with keloid scars, who don’t look normal, who have “gross” symptoms from their injuries. this includes people who have scars from elective or cosmetic surgeries, and surgeries that were botched. this includes people who have scars from self harm or suicide attempts.
please give more characters scars, and be normal about it. i am (politely) begging you.
(sorry if this comes off as aggressive/accusatory, i struggle with tone)
i want to see writers being normal about their character's scars. i want to see other characters being normal about the character's scars. i want to see the character being normal about their own scars.
so many fics i see with scarred characters revolve around the scar in such a way that is definitely realistic for some, but is not realistic for all. i have so many scars that i just straight up forget about until someone has been staring for a tad too long and it finally clicks like "oh shit, yeah those exist".
even if the scar came from something super traumatic, it's not necessarily going to be on the character's mind 24/7. (not saying it can't be, but i'd like to see a little more variety in the way characters feel about their scars).
living weapon whumpee getting tortured because even if she has no spirit to break, there's only so much a sword can withstand until it's beyond use or repair
I adore this 😍
My favorite thing in living weapon whump is when the whump actively makes the living weapon whumpee worse at their intended job/purpose. Like congrations your super soldier curls into a ball and sobs whenever she hears loud noises and is somehow both claustrophobic and agoraphobic at the same time. She will be so good in battle.
Especially love if the torture motivates them to defect 👀 and join the opposing side 👀 who are maybe nicer. Or maybe not :)
"Shhh, it's alright," he murmured, his voice a low, soothing rumble. "It's alright to cry. It's alright to feel pain. Pain is how we learn, how we grow. And you, my beautiful pet, have a lot of fucking growing to do."
not every mutual fits neatly into an archetypal medievalism but there are some mutuals that im like yeah addressing you as “my liege” would come strangely naturally
Requested for anyone by @keeper-of-all-the-random-things
Red is for posted, white is for requested/planned/written, feel free to send requests!
Marcus and Jake are finally safe from AMTEC - although their escape nearly cost them both their lives. Now they are free to heal and discover what they might be to each other - and they learn that AMTEC’s influence leaves not a single person in their lives untouched.
AO3
Masterlist
This is a sequel series to Beneath Gunmetal Skies. Start here, continued from here.
Contents: hypervigilance, miscommunication, PTSD, past noncon
~
Regardless of how nice a place Lars said it was, when they arrived to the clinic, Marcus didn’t head straight inside with Lars and Jake. Instead, he carefully patrolled the outer perimeter of the parking lot, taking note of every car parked there. Then, he stalked around the outside of the building, checking every window and door. They were all locked, and he couldn’t see into any of them. The blinds were drawn, and black construction paper had been carefully taped over every gap where a keen-eyed spy might be able to peer in. He found the graffiti Lars had mentioned: the words fuck the system, hastily scrawled. Marcus blinked at that. It seemed… astonishingly vague.
Lars was good to their word about the cameras, too; he didn’t see a single one – not hanging from the eaves, not mounted on the poles in the parking lot, and not anywhere else he could see, either. Finally, when he was satisfied, he went to the front door and strode in.
There were two people sitting in the waiting room who turned to look at Marcus with naked fear in their eyes. A harried-looking woman glared at him from the front desk. Marcus recognized her. He remembered how she’d kept reasonably decent composure when he’d met her several days ago – considering she thought he was an AMTEC officer, sent here specifically to find Lars.
Celene? Serenity?
“You’re scaring the shit out of all our patients,” she said in a shaking voice. Jake glanced at her, already seated in the waiting room among the other patients, mouth twisting into an embarrassed half-smile.
Celeste.
Marcus swallowed hard. “Sorry,” he said. “Sorry, I… I just… wanted to make sure—”
“That the place is secure, yeah, Lars mentioned,” she said. She folded her arms over her chest. “But our patients think there’s a—”
“Yeah. Sorry.”
One of the patients – a small teenage boy with roughly chopped hair that mostly covered his eyes – stood and hurried to the door.
“He’s not AMTEC, Ezekiel,” Celeste said in a rush. “Hard to believe, with the fucking cop haircut. He’s… I promise he’s not.”
The boy stopped at the door. He threw a dubious glance at Marcus, then Jake. He seemed like he was waiting for some other explanation – something that would explain the haircut, the arm, the way Marcus’s eyes were fixed on him like a pointer with a bird.
Jake cleared his throat. “We’re… friends of Lars,” he said gently. “We’d like to help out here. At least… we’re going to help out here as much as we can, while I’m… recovering.”
The boy swallowed hard. His eyes flicked to Jake. “Wh-what are you recovering from?” he said softly. “Surgery?”
Jake’s throat bobbed. He looked at Marcus, looked back at the boy, and drew in a long, deep breath. “AMTEC,” he said simply.
Ezekiel’s eyes went wide. “Oh,” he breathed. “Oh, shit.”
A chill passed over Marcus’s shoulders. The scar at his throat itched. His eyes zeroed in on Jake’s; it hadn’t healed yet. It was still visible, if you knew what to look for.
So far, no one had known what to look for. No one but Lars. Then again, only two people besides Lars had gotten close enough to see, and a 33% discovery rate was far, far too high.
Ezekiel hovered in the doorway of the clinic, eyes darting between Celeste, Marcus, and Jake.
The door to the back opened. Lars walked through. “Oh,” they snarled, looking angrier than Marcus had ever seen them. “He’s done doing his little patrol, is he?” Their cheeks were red, and their nostrils flared as they glared at him.
Marcus swallowed hard. “I’m… I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “I… probably should have said I was going to—”
“I’ve got a patient and two providers who think we need to go into lockdown,” they bit out. “One’s already got his gas mask on. Yeah, you could have said something.”
“It was just a miscommunication,” Jake said, rising and going to Lars’s side. Marcus watched as he wobbled on his feet. He felt every muscle in his body strain forward – I should be helping Jake, Jake shouldn’t be up, he shouldn’t even be out of the damn house – but he stayed in place. He kept his gaze on the floor, his chin tucked, showing deference.
Beneath the deference, though, was boiling resentment. Would it make you feel better if I wore a fucking muzzle, Lars?
Sir?
He ground his teeth, nearly vibrating with strain as he fought the need to guide Jake back to a chair. He felt the eyes of every person in the room on him, and quailed under the scrutiny.
Ezekiel shuffled his feet. The sudden movement made Marcus jump. The kid sheepishly returned to his chair, though his huge eyes never left Marcus as he sat down.
Marcus licked his lips. Jake let out an easy laugh, breaking the tension in the room. “Well, this is going great,” he said.
Lars took a long, shuddering breath and pinched the bridge of their nose. “It’s… it’s fine,” they said. “It’s fine. Nobody’s dying, it’s fine. I can, um… I can get you both settled. I’ll get you sitting down for sure. Get you in… a room, or—”
Celeste sat back down with a huff and muttered, “yeah, find a room for the ex-AMTEC—”
“No,” Marcus snarled.
Celeste froze. So did everyone else in the waiting room. Jake’s eyes fixed on Marcus, wide and uncertain. There was a warning there.
Just let it go, the look said. We can deal with this.
And maybe Jake could deal with it. Marcus could, too, if the implication rested only on him. But he couldn’t stand the thought that these people might think they – might think Jake – was just like the people Marcus had just wrested him from.
Shut the fuck up! screamed a voice in the back of Marcus’s head. Better that, than have them know the truth…
And it was. That was better. But the thought was there in Marcus’s head, and he couldn’t do anything to stop it from growing like a cancer now: these people looking at Jake, and seeing a soldier. Seeing an officer.
Seeing a rapist.
He felt himself trembling. He felt the rage that was causing it. He could feel nothing else. He didn’t look at anyone as the words felt ripped from his mouth: “don’t… ever… say that about him again.”
They could look at him and see that. That was fine. After the things he’d done, the doors he’d busted down, the people he’d killed, all as an obedient fucking tool for AMTEC, he’d probably earned it. He was more AMTEC than anyone here realized. He probably deserved the title.
But not Jake. Not his Jake.
Lars swallowed loudly. “I’ll… bring you up to speed, Celeste,” they said gently. “But… not AMTEC. Not ex-AMTEC, either.”
“Great,” she said. “Just… strong vibes, then.”
Marcus had to hand it to her, she had more nerve than most of the officers who’d ever pushed him around. When he raised his gaze, she was staring right at him.
Lars sighed. “Okay. This has royally thrown off my entire flow for the day. Marcus, Jake, will you please come with me. Celeste, you’re good with the front desk?”
“Yeah,” she said, finally looking away from Marcus and glancing at the others in the waiting room. “Yeah, I’m good.”
“Alright.” They turned to head to the back once more, swiping an ID card at the door as they went. They held the door open for Jake and Marcus and let it fall shut behind them. Then, they led them to the back, to their office. Marcus recognized the hallway. It felt like it had been months since he’d been here. It hadn’t even been two weeks. As they went, Lars poked their head into one of the patient rooms. “Everything’s fine, like I said, it’s… The guy I brought just wanted to… anyway. Everything’s fine.”
As they passed, Marcus caught sight of a frightened face, obscured by a mask. He ran a hand through his hair to muss it as best he could.
“Sorry about Celeste,” Lars said as they opened their office and waved to the chair for Jake to sit. It had been cleared of papers now. Jake sank into it and leaned on Marcus as he stepped close. Marcus angled himself so that he could see both Lars and the door at the same time.
“It’s fine,” Marcus said flatly. “I know that I, uh… freaked her out. When I first came here.”
“Oh, it’s not just that,” Lars said with a shrug. They dug through some papers on their desk. “You remind her of her dad.”
Marcus bristled. “Oh?”
“Yeah. AMTEC asshole. Sorry, it’s the haircut.”
Marcus’s throat tightened. He hadn’t cut his hair in weeks and weeks – not since he’d stolen an electric razor and buzzed it short so he wouldn’t have to keep trying to find ways to wash it while on the run. He’d never given a single thought to how his hair was cut – but then again, he’d never once had a choice in the matter. AMTEC had always seen to it that his hair was cut every four weeks on the dot, except for when he was on long missions or simulations. And even then, he was expected to keep it looking neat and well-groomed, as is becoming of a representative of AMTEC… whatever the fuck that meant.
That rage was still there. It was… bad that it was there. Marcus wasn’t supposed to be angry anymore, not now that he was out, not now that Jake was out. He was free. He had Jake. Everything should be fine. He was supposed to be fine.
He couldn’t explain why he wasn’t fine.
He allowed his eyes to skip around the room, searching for cameras, searching for weapons, searching for threats, while he mulled over why he wasn’t fine. No answer revealed itself. When Jake’s hand slid into his, he squeezed.
“I’m not sure what I can do about my hair,” was all he could think to say.
Lars let out a choked laugh. “Don’t worry about it, man. Sorry. I didn’t mean to make it sound like you need to do something about it. We’re all, ah… getting used to this shit, okay? And you’re in the building with a lot of traumatized people. We’re all gonna react… weirdly… to each other. It’s all good.”
Not if they react badly to Jake, Marcus thought darkly. He just kept his mouth shut and nodded.
“Honestly, this is going better than I thought it would,” Jake said with a laugh.
Marcus blinked. “It is? How did you think this was gonna go?”
He nudged his head against Marcus’s hip. “Not sure. I was worried I’d, um… get overwhelmed or something. Or pass out. It’s going well so far.”
“Night’s still young,” Lars said darkly. They glanced up and caught Marcus’s glare. “Sorry. Anyway. Let me know what you guys want to do. If you want to hang out here, that’s totally fine. If you absolutely need something to do… I’ve got an entire back room that needs to be reorganized. You don’t have to, but—” They cut themself off, and a smile ghosted over their face. They met Marcus’s eyes.
He hadn’t even noticed that he’d started to lean forward. “I… could probably do that,” he said softly.
Lars grinned. “Yeah, man, I bet you probably could.”
If you want to be on the taglist (including for the spicy chapters,) let me know! I only tag people in 18+ chapters if I know they are adults through conversations or if their age/age range is in their bio.
Me who lives in southern Arizona where it’ll be at least 96 degrees on average until the end of October with only 3 major rain storms in between: Damn it’s nice out today, little cloudy so I’ll take a sweater for later, just in case.
