Bastion Genuinely Cant Handle Prey That Want To Be Eaten, Not In Like A I Dont Like This Sort Of Way

Bastion genuinely can’t handle prey that want to be eaten, not in like a “I don’t like this” sort of way more in a “child who has been deprived sweets their whole life gets told they can take one” kind of way. He’s like “Really!? F-for me? You mean it?”

So when Ida finally gives in and says he can have her. This man is basically rizzed within an inch of his life. He might not precisely understand firsthand what it means to be human but he comprehends that becoming food for another entity isn’t something that humans typically enjoy or want to happen. So the fact she’s willing to sacrifice herself for him, feels like one giant declaration of love and affection to him. Which it is, but I’ve seen lots of stories of Preds who don’t necessarily get that or take it for granted. Bastion gets that and is completely blown away by it.

Thinking about how hard Bastion and Ida are to get right. Then wondering if I should actually do some of those little questionnaire’s people make for OCs to practice. Might be a good idea.

So because I’ve been posting some things that are anti-censorship/kink shaming I’ve been looking up what other people have been saying about it and I’ve been seeing this term “proship” but I haven’t got a clear answer on what it means. Does it stand for problematic shipping? Or is it pro as in I am pro X thing? As in I am for this thing? And what sort of shipping is considered pro-shipping? Does the fact I’m into Fatal Romantic Vore count as “proshipping”? Or does the fact I’m generally using my own characters mean it can’t count cause it’s not “shipping” in the traditional fanfiction sense? Or is the fact that Soft Vore is physically impossible a disqualification? I’m guessing cannibalism would be considered proship as would dub-con or BDSM since it’s illegal to even practice in some places and it often simulates slavery which is itself illegal. I also saw age disputes so I’m thinking shipping kids even innocently is probably right out…Owl House and Gravity Falls fans are in trouble. Or is it just shipping older folk with the underage? I saw one age gap where they were only a decade apart and both adults get called a proship which isn’t illegal as far as I’m aware, It’s a pretty vague term even if I use the definition of “any ship that’s illegal” especially cause the root words used make it sound like something more benign you think it’d be call Illegal Ship or Crime Ship though the latter sounds like Bonnie and Clyde. Anyway I’m not going to stop killing my characters off in the name of a fetish. So the actual definition doesn’t really matter to me cause even if it applied to me I wouldn’t be changing my ways or adopting the term as mine. Cause it’s linguistically ambiguous and feels like a buzzword. Not to mention if you depicted an abusive relationship as a bad thing would that still count towards this buzzword? Who decides what’s a fetishised unhealthy fictional relationship and what’s a unhealthy unhealthy fictional relationship? Again I’m not turning over a new leaf anytime soon. But as someone with a vore fetish I can tell you right now that not every instance of Predatory or Cannibalistic behaviour I write is meant to get me or the audience off. Sometimes a spade is just a spade even if the person writing it romanticises the thing in fiction that does not mean they don’t recognise the real thing as an aberration or even that they can’t see it that way in other fiction or write it that way in their own work. Naturally it depends on the person and the fiction. But fetishes are very rarely so strong as to desensitise the fetishist to the real world consequences. There are people who are that desensitised but those people generally try to recreate their fetish in reality rather than playing around in works of fiction. So if you’re judging what’s a proship based on who has a fetish that’s a flawed method of reasoning. And you shouldn’t be just forbidding the depiction of abusive or unhealthy relationships wholesale. Because that way lies not having an antagonist because you think someone might mimic them over the hero.

Ida: “You know, you’ve never actually outright said that hunger is the only thing you feel.” Bastion: “Have I not?” Ida: “Nope”

Bastion: “Are you certain of this?”

Ida: “Pretty, certain yeah.”

Bastion: “Does it truly matter that I have never said so in quite so many words?”

Ida: “I don’t know, does it? You’re the one lying by omission, so you tell me.” Bastion: “What makes you so sure it is a lie?”

Ida: “The fact you never elaborate, it’s all “as you say” and “I would not think to correct you” and then you turn around and you risk yourself for my sake!”

Bastion: “I have already explained! You are my guest, my prey, it would do me no good to lose you in another’s jaws. I was defending my territory.”

Ida: “And just that?”

Bastion: “As you say.”

Ida: “Bastion.”

Bastion: “Yes Ida?”

Ida: “And just that?”

Bastion: “I would not dispute you.”

Ida: “But could you dispute me?”

Bastion: “…”

The Occult Containment Experts

They’re kinda based on the SCP foundation, except take all the logistical bullshit that the Foundation gets away with and bin it.

I.E. they do not have infinite human resources to throw at their problems. They don’t have the budget to go around containing every individual with weird eyes or vaguely supernatural mutations they see and they’re generally powerless to keep something on Bastion’s level from luring unsuspecting victims in for dinner. Because the Fae location will actively mess with their tech and senses or else manifest spiriting away properties on a completely different forested road to the one they have blocked off.

They also tend to recruit people that have experience with the supernatural rather than erasing their memories because again, they do not have the Human Resources or budget to turn away skilled help. They’re baffled by Ida’s continued survival but despite the rescue and retrieval rate still being pretty low she actually has a better chance of rescuing “guests” than they do. At least once they’re already in the Manor. They’re considerably more convincing about the whole “you shouldn’t be here it’s off limits routine” on account of being armed and in uniform.

They aren’t actually guarding the same road Ida used to get to the Manor because non-Euclidean shenanigan's. She does let them know there’s more than one entrance and operatives do get assigned to Ida’s area later on. Only to be completely swamped with work because they’re right next to a small town with a dark secret type situation. Bastion genuinely had nothing to do with that, he just likes the local vibes. Magic calls to magic and all that.

Ida’s Guide To Flustering and Frustrating Bastion

Being an escape artist, ain’t nothing more frustrating or flustering to a spider than escaping the traps they’ve laid.

Know your riddles and puzzles not only will it frustrate and fluster the spider when you disarm his traps. It’s also good for the brain and it makes you feel clever!

Read the room, Fae literally have to play fair so there’s typically a way out of everything, they might try to obfuscate it but if you know what to look for ain’t nothing they can do to stop you.

Know your folklore don’t eat the Fae’s food, don’t make promises you don’t intend to keep, don’t agree to anything you don’t know the fine print of, follow warnings if they are given, but generally mistrust any information that is not verbally airtight. Establish your own loopholes and interpretations where possible.

Knife! Iron! Good for stabbing and throwing.

Small Fae can be bribed with chocolate and sweets even the spider ones.

Large Fae creatures can be stabbed and outrun. Also bribed though more rarely.

If it’s scary or disorienting you’re probably being herded.

There are places that aren’t dangerous, typically monsters can’t get in and the Host frequents these places. Also there might be symbolic signs of protection or sanctuary around.

Fluster host persona by treating him like a person and being nice to him. Also swear! he makes a face it’s funny.

Folk remedies and small rituals of safety, not all of them work but many do.

Be good at running, climbing, jumping and other athleticism.

Don’t open blue door, that’s the parlour door, it will get you eaten. If someone else opens the door don’t try to help them. If somehow the door opens on its own. Knife the spider he’s not used to people doing that.

Don’t kill other guests, if other guests are hostile and you are at risk of dying before they get eaten for breaking the rules. Lure them into traps, monsters or the parlour. You can’t kill other guests but the Manor can.

If at any point Bastion tries to tease or taunt you tease back he can’t handle it. Especially if it’s about his appetite. Man is so used to being a big bad predator he becomes putty at the slightest hint of reciprocation. Not really a survival strategy, but he’s cute when he’s flustered!