#the consumption

Like, for example, I keep coming back to this concept of being hunted or slaughtered for meat by an entity who doesn't understand what they're doing is wrong. It's just what they know. It never seems to fit neatly into the hunt, the flesh, or the slaughter. It could very well be any of them.

Edit: Also, it can present internally as a lack of control over one's violent instincts while still maintaining control over their actions, or as a blurring/ignorance of moral lines

I usually consider it The Slaughter, because that fear of "senseless" violence is there, but it's only senseless if you don't consider the perspective of the killer.

If you do consider it, it could be interpreted as The Hunt until you remember that the killer takes no perverse joy in the pursuit, just doing what it needs to in order to survive.

But then you get to thinking that the real heart of it all is the fear that maybe we're all just meat to be fed to the mouths of whatever stakes its claim on us. Then it would be The Flesh.

Thus, I propose a new fear. The Consumption/The Devourer, The One Who Devours, It Knows Nothing But to Feed.

But then again, you only reach that conclusion once you stop and think about it. In the moment, if you were being chased, you'd be more afraid of what's pursuing you than the existential dread of being meat. Which brings it back to Hunt or Slaughter. It's all a matter of perspective.

Edit: Can present metaphorically as the indirect consequences of one's innocuous actions happening immediately and within the victim's vicinity. (Ex. You use genai and the water you were just about to drink abruptly evaporates. You buy something online from an unethical company and someone drops dead in front of you.)

Every action that the modern world has placed unavoidable consequences on now makes those consequences unignorable.

Additionally, if someone else is causing the harm, it directly hurts you but the perpetrator is coincidentally unable to perceive each consequence due to an outside force. (They toss a knife at a wall, it ricochets, hits you. They were too busy looking at their phone. They look up; "Why did you stab yourself?")

@bunny-withacrossbow is definitely an avatar/construct of The Consumption and I'll be adding that to their details and hopefully expanding on it in rp.

Dancers turn and sway with the rhythm of song. Let their flowing sleeves cover the sharp teeth that smile at you with predatory intention.

I am there, in the corner

Watching, learning.

The ribbons around my neck choke me. Deprived of oxygen, the pressure on my neck cuts deep.

Karma.

My voice still craves to make a melody. The dreary monotone my throat is forced into makes freedom feel like a cage.

It's better this way

I'm happier this way

I can't hurt anyone this way

Flowing sleeves are traded out for restrictive polyester, rolled at my forearms so as not to get in my way.

I'm one of you now.

(No I'm not. A pretender. Wolf in sheep's clothing. Starving dog on a fraying lead.)

This is my home now. The ground is grey and burns. Sand is nowhere to be seen. The grass is beheaded on routine.

A cruel kind of irony. (I should join the blades of grass.)

The water is gone. What little is there is poisoned. What isn't is still tainted by plastic.

(Plastic, plastic, always plastic. I can taste it on my tongue.) Better the taste of plastic than the taste of blood.

I need a giant metal cage on wheels just to see the ocean again. I miss my home.

This is my home now.

I miss my mothers.

I miss their smiles.

I miss my mothers.

Their teeth were blood-stained.

I miss my mothers.

I miss their home-cooked meals.

I miss my mothers.

I gag at the taste of blood. And then I start to drool.

I must keep my distance.

I must not let them see.

I must not bare my teeth.

I must keep my voice a farce.

I must not take more than I need.

I must ignore the hunger pains.

I must repent.

I must repent.