Careful not to give your favors

To your lonesome, fucked up neighbors.

A photo of all six ninja on a car. Kai is in the center, looking to the right. Jay is to his left, also looking in the same direction. His gaze is stronger. Nya is on the far right, looking to the right. Cole is on the far left, looking at the viewer, while Lloyd sits behind all of them, facing away. Only Zane's hair is visible as he sits out of frame at the bottom of the photo.

This fic is heavily inspired by and is my own personal love letter to kel and lise's flesh mechanic: not an au. A fic that broke my brain and my heart, one that hasn't left my brain since I read it LAST YEAR.

There was a time where I'd written out an intro for this fic, far too early in the process, where I'd written that this wouldn't get as dark as flesh mechanic,, but I’m not quite sure now. It’s nowhere near as horrifying, but please do be forewarned.

This fic contains death, implied body horror, copying of a twenty-three year old fanfic, no happy endings for any of these ships except for maybe lostshipping, implied cult activity, and

Now, here's my long list of thank-you's because I feel like I have to. (And I want to.)

To Cherry, Jal, Elios, the plasma server, those who know the story and have heard my snippets of insanity. Thank you for your nudges and tips, I'm horrible at making choices. And, thank you for listening! This fic means a lot to me, and aaaa!!!!!

This fic wouldn't be quite as amazing if not for Jal, (other users), who created all of the art for this fic, and for that, I am so very grateful. It would not have that specific touch without it. Thank you so much. (Specific credits can be found here, so you can find what piece is by what person! Possible spoilers abound.)

And to Leaf. The one who has listened to me babble for HOURS about both this fic and the original flesh mechanic. Who has seen the trajectory of this fic change about a million times. Who could probably see into all of the ninja's heads in this messed up little world as well as I can now. Now that this monster is done, we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming, yes?

THE Playlist

Flesh Mechanic - Placebo / Shake It - JC Chasez / Digital Silence - Peter McPoland / Drowning by Numbers - Placebo / Lie to Me - Depeche Mode / Sleeping with Ghosts - Placebo / Cry Me a River - Justin Timberlake / Run For Your Life - Jarvis Church / Bigmouth Strikes Again - The Smiths / Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode / Like I Love You - Justin Timberlake / Battle for the Sun - Placebo

(If you can find it, the big twist lies somewhere within these songs. But why would I tell you that?)

I had one who sent me her heart in a Tupperware container.