When is a monster not a monster? (oh, when you love it.)

[wrongs]

the monster & the maiden fair meme There's a long precedent in folklore and myth of beautiful young people - both men and women - being kidnapped by monsters: dragons, beasts, goblins, demons, elves, vampires, wolves, or even evil humans. In the end, however, these prisoners are almost always rescued and brought back to civilization to live a normal and happy life. But what if they didn't want to leave their jailor? They've seen behind the surface and have begun to sympathize with this "monster;" no, more than that, they've fallen for them. Will this story have a happy ending? Will the monster believe that anyone could love them? Most importantly, though, can the two of them be left alone without any attempts at a "rescue?" how to play Comment with your character, your preference, and what role they'll play. Feel free to AU characters to your desire role. Reply to others. Thread anything that could remotely fit under the umbrella theme. Was the kidnapping just that, or did both parties know (and care) for each other before, making it a collaborative, mutual effort? Perhaps you'd prefer to play the actual Beauty and The Beast-style getting to know each other or seeing behind the grizzly facade. What about an attempted "rescue?" Or maybe you could thread out a scene where the prisoner runs away from the society they were forced back into and returns to their beloved beast! It's all up to you. You could even do smut if you wanted to, but this isn't a smut meme.

Comments

alex benedetto » gangsta. » ota

[ex_usignolo141]

( best suited to play the maiden fair, i think. canon/cross-canon welcome! if you're interested, we can hash out a plot via PM. )

[carryon_crow]

[I'm canonblind but i love this prompt. that okay?]

lioriley | original | ota

[invigorates]

( maiden fair. )

caesar | ozmafia!!

[blooddrop]

[ the monster role, though i can 'swing' the other way if you want. ]

[alcuin_delaunay]

[I'm canon-blind, but your character seemed interesting so... here's a thing.]

Alcuin didn't know what had happened.

He knew, dimly, that he'd been taken. There had been a moment of confusion, of fear, and then he had awoken here, in a beautiful white bed, in a room he had never seen before. Someone had brought him here, kidnapped him, though he didn't know why, and he didn't know who.

He climbed from the bed, finding himself still dressed in his own soft clothing, and he began to explore the room, heart pounding with confused fear. "Hello?"

[oneirism]

[OOC: So this is super late, but if you're still interested in doing this meme, is an OC okay?]

Farah Oersted | Tales of Eternia | OTA

[straw_girl]

[the fair maiden]

Ishida Mitsunari | Sengoku Basara | OTA

[upadly_aniol]

[either the fair maiden or the monster, both roles are alright for him]

Frank Castle | The Punisher | ota

[prepareforwar]

[The monster]

Terpsichora Ll'wen | original | ota

[punchwitch]

[Either or, really. She loves the unusual so wouldn't take much convincing, or I can au her into something a little more beastly (and probably crystal-riddled).]

Koishi Komeiji | Touhou Project

[koishi_komeiji]

[ Have a tiny green cuddlebest! No AU needed, if that's okay with you. ]

Flynn Scifo | Tales of Vesperia | OTA

[divine_streak]

[The maiden fair. As a knight I would LOVE for him to be sent to slay a monster but wind up being captured and kept as a guest/pet instead, and him falling in love with the beast.]

[battlewornbard]

[Did someone say 'beast'? I was curious if you remembered our thread from ages ago... If not, I'm certainly willing to start something new with Gabrielle or Bridget. Completely ignoring the fact that I have seven thousand other threads with those two already...]

koujaku | DRAMAtical murder | ota

[ornated]

[ the monster. ]

[evenpawed]

[ yooo. a monster koujaku is an amazing idea. are you open to cross-canon? i can offer up this beauty-obsessed kitsune. ]

legolas, lord of the rings

[orcsurfing]

( "maiden" of a sort, though in the right circumstances could be the monster too, but that's up for discussion first. canon / cross-canon welcome! m/m pref for shipping. )

Matt Murdock || Daredevil

[blindstrike]

[AUed as the monster]

sol badguy | guilty gear | ota

[dragon_install]

[ The Monster. ]

[evenpawed]

[ Sol as a monster is a pretty great idea. you open to cross-canon? Kaden here is kind of easygoing and simple, but he thinks he's beautiful and tends to go with the flow so he'd make a pretty good maiden. even if he's a fox guy. details. ]

kaden | fire emblem | m/m

[evenpawed]

[ still voicetesting!!! but he's definitely the beauty, even if he's a Kitsune ]

Natsumi Hikari - Kamen Rider Decade - Open to Anyone

[summerorange]

((Maiden, most certainly, though she's the type to not put up with someone pulling crap once she gets to actually know them a bit.))

Ergo Proxy // Ergo Proxy // OTA

[theworldunwinds]

[ooc: Monster without a doubt. PM me with any questions or to discuss plot.]

Kiriko Shijima - Kamen Rider Drive - Open to Anyone

[drivesshotgun]

((Maiden, but could also be an attempted rescuer if needed))

Right - Ressha Sentai ToQger - Open to Anyone

[lunchleader]

((The 'maiden' in this case, but can also be an attempted rescuer upon request.))

bucky barnes, mcu.

[uxo]

[ monster. ]

Madoka Takatori | Shounen Maid | OTA

[furifuri]

[ most likely the maiden fair. ]

Closed to: corporatewolf

[nepharious]

The aftermath goes like this:

Bodies of all shapes, sizes and configurations, some human but many…not…spilling out into the night. Here and there a uniformed guard, identical to all the rest and therefor obvious in the churning mob of weird swings, or shoots, or screams. Like a game of Ring Around The Rosey, they all fall down. So do bullets, hailing from rooftop security stations and guards in upper floor windows, and there are too many escapees for them to miss. But the numbers work in the prisoners’ favor, too, ensuring some survive the dash toward the fence, toward the millions of lights gleaming in windows and streetlamps beyond it.

There’s nobody to take particular notice of the way bullets bell out around one escapee in particular, zinging away from her and the enormous figure limping along at her side. They make a strange multi-limbed creature in the dark, hunched and misshapen and only halfassedly ambulatory.

The aftermath goes like:

They make for a parking lot. The facility that kept them was mostly underground, topped off by a four-story office building surrounded by other, similar structures. It’s late, but there’re still cars parked outside a few, and Neph doesn’t need a key to wrench the door open so Ashley can collapse in the backseat. He barely fits, too much muscle and all that fur, claws shredding upholstery as he drags himself further into the car.

He makes a series of garbled grunts that might be Can you even drive? but Neph ignores him as she slings herself into the driver’s seat. Sure she can. There’re, like, two pedals and a wheel. How hard can it be?

The aftermath goes:

By a stroke of dumb luck, there’s a gym bag in the car. The workout clothes inside are enough to hide Ashley’s nakedness as his body squishes and crunches back to a human-seeming. Neph can’t help looking over her shoulder, chin jerking spasmodically as she swerves down the road. They’ll be lucky if she doesn’t get them pulled over. They’ll be lucky if Ashley doesn’t bleed out. She counted at least seven bullets, but it was so dark out. And then there’d been those—those grappling chains, or whatever they were. If she chews herself up wondering whether the guards had time to go for silver rounds, she doesn’t have to think about the graze to her calf or the burning slash down her arm and side. Ashley's new clothes will be as much a mess as her prison scrubs soon, if they don't do anything about the bleeding.

She tries to tell herself she's seen him worse. That the burst of violence that got them free is nothing like the hours of prolonged torture he's already survived. She finds herself less than convincing.

The aftermath:

There’s a motel, somewhere deep in the city, ugly cinderblock and spent neon. Neph drags on a jacket from the gym bag and negotiates a room with money she doesn’t have. By tomorrow, she will. With her help, Ashley manages to crawl from the back seat and makes the twenty feet between parking space and room. She leaves him in the bathroom and locks the door behind her.

Like this:

Neph takes the car for a serpentine wander and Pushes it off a bridge with the last of the metal in her gut. It leaves a tang at the back of her throat, a sour taint that says this was not the right alloy, you’re gonna pay for that later, but it’s a small price to pay for the stink of urban air. After weeks of that recycled bullshit, her skin opens up under its humid press.

It takes her an hour, more, to limp back to the motel, and no sooner has she locked the door behind her than her final nerve just. Snaps.

Neph crumples to the carpet (thin and sticky and kind of crunchy but she doesn’t care so long as it’s not white, not laminated, not sterile) and shakes. She doesn’t realize she’s stopped breathing until her vision greys out, and then her gulps for air pull at the cut along her ribs. “Fuck,” she laughs? Cries? Trembles? Her head thumps back against the door and she presses her grimy hands, with their bruised knuckles and blood-lined palms, to her face. “Oh fuck, I c-can’t—it worked it worked it—“

YAY!

[professionalriot]

The world around him is a blur. It spins and shakes, trying to take him under the surface if he dares to close his eyes. Pain is all he really knows. Every step hurts. Every breath makes him want to stop trying to breathe. His body sinks into the car only knowing what it is from the familiar way the floorboards vibrate under his bare feet.

In the car he doesn't have to run. He doesn't have to use his mass to deflect bullets. Or swing wild clawed fists to stop the bodies chasing them. The pain only gets worse when his body becomes human looking again. At least now he can really focus on soaking the pain. Ashley wants to make her pull over so he can check her wounds and make sure she's okay, but he can barely keep his up and his eyes keep trying to close.

----

In the shower he kneels on the floor, letting the spray hit the middle of his back. From what he can tell the bullets were just regular bullets. They are starting to heal. Those hooks on the other hand...

He was going to need stitches and a nap. For now he could work with what he had. Towels.

Taking a little more than an hour he was able to rip two of the bath towels into strips and wrap up the wounds that were still bleeding. The gun shot wounds were closed off but not pretty. Looking like maybe they had just barely been sewn shut. He wraps a towel around his waist and makes a slow exit out of the bathroom.

"Hey," His voice is tired and rough when he speaks. "Left you some hot water." He sits on the edge of the bed. The mattress squeaking as his weight sinks down.

"Gonna need those tiny hands again if you're up for the job." His tired blue eyes drift in her direction.

Kureha ▸ Kuon

[lifethroughdeath]

[ monster. 100% monster. ]