#of the Golden Order is great. VERY excited to see it delved into more and i'm going to tear everything apart to understand it all

[carriagelamp]

Art of Aardman

I found myself a cheap copy of the Shaun the Sheep movie, so I was rewatching a bunch of Aardman films earlier this month and decided to hunt down some books too. For anyone that doesn’t know, Aardman is a British stop-motion studio that does fantastic work like Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Chicken Run, Early Man… tons of cool stuff. They’re always quirky and funny and warm-hearted. This was just a very nice art book for anyone that’s a fan of Aardman stop motion and wants to see a bit extra; it shows some cool concept art and blows up the neat details in Aardman work, especially in their intricate stuff like The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!

Asterix and the Picts (Asterix and the Chariot Race, and How Obelix Fell Into The Magic Potion)

I decided to try a couple of the new Asterix comics that were done by the new team, just to see if they stand up to the old ones (that and How Obelix Fell Into The Magic Potion cause I’d never read that one before). They were pretty decent! Asterix and the Picts was my favourite of the two though I wouldn’t say either are going to contest for my favourite Asterix comic... but still! The art looks good and the stories felt like what I would expect, they made for a pleasant couple evenings of reading especially since it’s been so long since I’ve read a new Asterix comic. If you’ve never read Asterix it’s one of the biggest name French comic series in North America, as far as I know and very worth the read. It’s about a single Gaulish village that’s holding out against the invading Romans through sheer force of will, slapstick hijinks, and a magical super-strength potion brewed by their druid. Lots of fantastic visuals and cute wordplay, even in the English translations.

Bear

I found out about this bastion of Canadian literature via tumblr post that was losing its collective mind over the fact that some bizarre bear-based erotica novella somehow won the most prestigious literary prize available in Canada. Since I too found this hilarious and unspeakably bizarre I had to give it a read, obviously. And yes, the flat surface level summary is... a librarian moves out into rural Ontario and falls in love with a literal for-real not-supernatural-not-a-joke bear. And I have to say… it is actually worthy of an award, which I was not expecting given that I was there for a laugh. It has beautiful writing, and the subtextual story is pretty interesting… it kind of makes me think of The Haunting of Hill House actually in terms of themes. (Womanhood, personhood, independence, autonomy partially achieved through escaping the male gaze by claiming non-human lovers... listen if I were still in university I would right a paper comparing the two novels).

I dunno man, it’s fucking weird. Actually a well-written book, but sure is about a woman falling in love with a literal bear. Give it a read if you want something bonkers but like… high-brow bonkers.

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites

Best book I have read in like… a while. A long while. I am not a fast reader, and I consumed 90% of this book over a weekend. It’s not at all like Terry Pratchett, but at the same time it scratched an itch for me that I haven’t had satisfied since Pratchett’s death. A very clever, hilariously funny poly romance between a disabled werewolf, an anxious vampire lord, and an incredibly powerful woman, with heaps of social satire, political commentary, and sinister undertones. The whole thing reads a bit like fanfiction and I say that in the most flattering way possible -- it is so easy to jump right in and be immediately taken over by the characters and the world and the plot, you never feel like you’re fighting to engage even though the world-building is fascinating and expansive. It welcomes you in right away, it was the book equivalent of a quilt and a hug which is something I sorely needed with all this pandemic bullshit. If you read any of the books on this list, go read that one while I sit here in pain waiting for the sequel.

Kid Paddle

I watched the cartoon of Kid Paddle as a kid and was thinking about it recently, so I decided to hunt down some of the original comics online. They’re fun and weird, with a cute art style and fantastic monsters designs. (My favourites are always about Kid either daydreaming or playing games that involve Midam’s weird warty troll creatures. It’s like a cross between Calvin and Hobbes and Foxtrot with the fun sort of quirks that I love in Belgian comics. Unfortunately, unlike Asterix, I’ve only come across these ones in French, but if you can read French it’s totally worth popping over to The Internet Archive and reading the ones they have available.

The Last Firehawk: The Golden Temple

The lastest Firehawk book. Despite being written for quite young readers, I did enjoy the early books in this series quite a bit. They’re about a young owl and squirrel who found an egg for a magical species that was believed to be extinct. With the newly hatched firehawk, the three of them head off on a mission to find an ancient firehawk magic that could save the entire forest. Very basic adventure story but a good intro to the tropes for children. Unfortunately the quality really feels like it drops with each subsequent book; this will probably be the last one I bother reading.

Lumberjanes: The Moon Is Up

I honestly think I enjoy these Lumberjanes novels even more than the comics just because it really gives time to delve into each story and examine how the camper are really thinking and feeling about everything. (Also I’m always weak for novelizations of anything.) The Moon Is Up is a book that focuses more on Jo, and takes place during the camp’s much anticipated Galaxy Wars, a competition between cabins that goes over several days. While the campers prepare for these challenges though, they also run into a strange little creature with a penchant for cheese and theft. Roanoke cabin needs to keep ahead in Galaxy Wars and somehow deal with the fearsome Moon Pirates that a closing in...

Lumberjanes v4 (Out Of Time)

One of the Lumberjanes comics, a cool, girl-focused, queer comic series. Honestly, this is just a fun series that I never got as into as I should have. My advice is honestly to skip book one because it gets better as it continues, and I’ve really been enjoying the later books now that I’ve given it another go. It follows five campers at Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types (Jo, April, Molly, Mal, and Ripley) as they handle all sorts of challenges, from friendship to crushes, camp activities to supernatural horrors, getting badges to not being brutally killed. Great if you liked the vibe of Gravity Falls but want it to be queer-er.

Mooncakes

Another queer graphic novel, but unfortunately not a very good one. It really looked appealing and I had high hopes, but the book itself really didn’t hold up… I actually couldn’t even finish it, the plot was just too… non-existent. The art is fairly mediocre once you actually look at it, especially backgrounds, and it feels very… placid. Not much conflict or excitement or even a very compelling reason to keep reading. If you just want a soft queer supernatural you may get more mileage out of it than me, but it didn’t really do it for me. There’s better queer graphic novels out there.

New Boy In Town

One of the worst books I have ever read. My girlfriend had ordered a very different book online but through a frankly stupendous error was sent this 1980s pulp romance instead. Absolutely nauseating on levels I couldn’t even begin to enumerate here. Naturally we read the whole thing out loud. Probably took us 10 times longer to finish than it warranted because I had to stop every two sentences to lose my mind. If you like bad decisions, baffling hetero courting rituals, built-in cultural Christianity without actually calling it that, and gold panning then boy howdy is this the book for you.

(seriously, you better have patience for gold-panning if you attempt this one, because I sure learn that I don’t)

Piggies

This was a picture book I enjoyed as a kid and had a reason to reread recently. Honestly it’s just very cute and simple, and the art is completely mesmerizing. Wonderful if you know a young child that would enjoy a simple goofy boardbook.

Shaun the Sheep: Tales From Mossy Bottom

Related to my Aardman fascination earlier this month. I tried reading a varieties of Shaun the Sheep books — most of which are mediocre at best — but the Tales From Mossy Bottom Farm series is genuinely good. Just chapter books, of course, but the illustrations match the series’ concept art and each story feels like it could have jumped directly out of an episode. They’re just cute and feel-good! Kinda like Footrot Flats but more for kids, and from the sheep’s perspective moreso than the dog’s.

[teawaffles]

There’s No Business Like Show Business: Chapter 5, Part 1

T/N: This is one super-long chapter ( ; ω ; ) so it has been split into 2 parts.

One week later. This was the night Maya’s company had been invited to perform.

The West End of London, stretching from Soho to Covent Garden, was renowned for its large theatre district, crowded with historic names such as the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Haymarket Theatre, and St James’s Theatre, in addition to newer entrants. [1]

Right in the centre of the district was Piccadilly Circus. At this time in history, the “Eros” fountain had yet to be built [2]. Here was the intersection of numerous thoroughfares, with pedestrians and horse-drawn carriages coming and going, day and night — the busiest spot in London.

It was here that a certain elderly noblewoman drove past in a carriage. But the next moment, she saw a strange sight in the middle of the square, and ordered her coachman to stop the carriage.

“……My word, what could that be?”

The words fell from her lips.

In the centre of the square was a simple stage about ten metres wide, composed of wooden boxes placed together and covered with boards. Passers-by had stopped to look out of curiosity, and a small crowd began to form.

After a short while, a lone woman appeared on stage.

She wore a sky-blue dress and a long, blonde wig. The crowd stared blankly as she gave a reverent bow.

“——Ladies and gentlemen, good evening. We are a small theatre company hailing from the East End. I am Maya, its chairperson.”

She raised her head, and gazed upon the whole of Piccadilly Circus.

“You may be feeling confused as to why a stage has suddenly occupied the Circus, but first, let me express our deepest gratitude that we, a theatre company of humble origins, have been able to meet you in this miraculous way.”

Her dignified voice resounded across the square, causing a stir among the onlookers. As more people noticed what was happening and gathered in droves, the crowd encircling the stage gradually expanded.

“Without further ado, let us bring you a little dream in a fantastic world.”

Maya ended her introduction with a graceful bow. Then, a man appeared on stage. Facing the crowd, he began to speak in a sonorous voice.

“It was a radiant afternoon filled with golden sunshine. A boat cruised leisurely down the river. Small, young hands gripped the oars. They seemed to lack strength: rising nimbly, then falling left and right as if to guide the oars’ movements.”

“……Hmm?”

The crowd listened intently as he narrated, with accompanying hand gestures.

“Oh, how terrible: what a cruel fate this is, to meet three girls! I’m all warm and sleepy. But still you wish to talk to me! You move my feathers, and do not breathe. But I’m all alone. I’m no match for the three of you.”

“This— Could it be……?” someone in the audience murmured.

With his monologue complete, the man took his leave. Then, another woman appeared at a corner of the stage. Holding a book in one hand, she began to read fluently from it.

“Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank——”

In tandem with the narrator’s words, the blonde-haired Maya gave a small yawn. It was as if she had swapped places with a young girl herself. Without realising it, the audience held their breath.

Then from the side of the stage, a person appeared wearing a vest and rabbit’s ears, with a pocket-watch in one hand.

By this time, the crowd encircling the stage had become fully spellbound.

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

“——All the world’s a stage. And the men and women merely players.” [3]

An actor delivered his lines from the stage of a gorgeous West End theatre, as its owner, a nobleman, looked on from the box seats.

The actor himself knew the height of his fame, and hence his actions were somewhat egotistical. Nevertheless, these were the acting skills of a true professional: his clear, bright voice resounded in every corner of the intricately decorated theatre, delving into the ears of his audience, and producing an indescribable feeling in their chests.

His salary was eye-wateringly high, but evidently, it had been an excellent decision to hire this actor. Still, despite his self-satisfaction, the nobleman had a pained expression.

The reason for it was clear. This was a renowned theatre company famous for its acting talent. Even though it was their opening night — a momentous occasion, the stalls were unusually empty.

He’d made sure to advertise the play well in advance, so this was unexpected. As he admired the actors, who were not bothered in the least by the empty seats in the audience, the nobleman stood up and headed to the entrance.

“Hey, you. Haven’t there been any more visitors?”

He directed his question to the young man behind the ticket window.

“About that— Just a while ago, it seems a show’s begun at Piccadilly Circus.”

“A show?”

“Yeah, though I heard about it from someone else. A stage suddenly appeared in the middle of the square, and it looks like there’s a play being held. It’s about…… that; the one where a girl chases a rabbit and falls down a hole, uh……”

Those keywords alone led the nobleman to the answer.

“——Do you mean, ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’?”

The young man clapped his hands in appreciation.

“Oh, that’s right. Yeah, that.” He sighed wistfully. “Ahh, it brings me back: I read it when I was a child. And as I recall…… was it ‘Maya’? It seems that’s the chairwoman’s name.”

“Wha……!”

Upon hearing that name, the nobleman recoiled in shock.

“That theatre company from the slums?”

A play held on a stage that appeared out of nowhere. The young man saw it as a mere street performance, but to the nobleman, this was something different. As soon as the image of the perpetrators surfaced in his mind, his face turned red with anger.

An extraordinary turn of events, happening right on the opening night of an important production — as if it had been carefully planned to do so. In other words, Maya and her company had intended to sabotage his production out of spite, by putting up a play out of the blue, and not even in a proper theatre. That was what the nobleman concluded.

To add insult to injury, they had chosen to perform “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. To stand up to a classic with a piece of children’s literature. To pit Lewis Carroll against Shakespeare.

Although it was a ridiculous idea worthy of scorn, the fact remained that they had stolen his precious audience.

He posed a question to the young ticket seller.

“Well if that’s the case, wouldn’t there be a huge commotion? The Yard should be on to them any moment now.”

“That’s the thing…… It seems they’re already gone.”

Hearing that, the nobleman threw his head back in laughter.

“I told you so. It’s all because they’re out of their depth. They can recite their lines in jail for all I care.”

However, the young man made a troubled expression.

“Uh…… Sorry. I didn’t make myself clear. Actually it seems that after finishing one scene, they specified a different location, packed up their sets quickly and left.”

“……What?”

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

“You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Alice; a great girl like you, to go on crying in this way! Stop this moment, I tell you!”

Behind the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, in Trafalgar Square, Maya and her company acted out the scene in which Alice shrank and grew larger, panicking all the while. The front of the stage had been covered with a white cloth, and a light shone on it from the back, allowing them to show the changes in Alice’s size in the manner of shadow puppets. As Alice grew until her head struck the roof, the audience buzzed in excitement.

Watching from the wings of the stage, Bond could see that everything was proceeding smoothly.

His plan to demonstrate the true abilities of this company, was a moving theatre that roamed all around the city of London—— a “guerrilla theatre”.

They would perform in busy areas to attract people’s attention, then quickly cut off their act and leave before the authorities arrived to stop them. After which, they would continue the performance at another location. One could say this method was the exact opposite of performing in an officially-recognised theatre.

There was a reason why they had changed the contents of their play. As their original performance comprised three short stories, there was a concern that the audience would grow bored after watching just one scene. However, staging a full-length play across various locations would keep up their interest for the next scene.

In addition, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” took place in a nonsensical, chaotic world, with no apparent connection between its acts. As a well-known story in itself, anyone joining in halfway would still be able to enjoy their performance — a perfect work to be presented in this manner.

The main issue was the acting, but that was helped by their practice in performing on a big stage.

As part of this plan, the play they would put up was not of the type that drew the audience’s attention to the stage right from the start, but rather one that was performed outdoors to people passing by. Hence they would have to project their voices and exaggerate their actions, but this was simply an extension of the two weeks’ practice they had done before.

Moreover, Maya and her company had extensive experience in performing children’s literature, with a focus on ease of understanding, so much so that they had almost learned the entire tale by heart. Memorising their lines had been no trouble at all.

Furthermore, the preparations at each of the locations they moved to — the very heart of the operation — were borne by the East End residents, who appreciated their performances.

The plan inevitably required manpower, but there would be no point in Bond providing it. However, with the trust of their fellow residents, Maya and her company had managed to recruit the stage crew by themselves. This achievement was their own.

As the company performed in one location, the stage crew would set up the temporary stages in the other locations across the city. They had accepted the company’s request with pleasure, and Bond couldn’t thank them enough for the depth of their kindness.

As he looked upon the crowd, all standing with eyes locked upon the stage, Bond chuckled.

——Even without a theatre, there would always be a place for acting.

It had been a wild idea to turn the city of London into their stage. But the East End residents lent them their support. And Maya and her company were putting up an excellent performance.

In a manner of speaking, this play was an all-out challenge from the people from the East End, to the gilded theatres of the West End.

Ten minutes till showtime. The players announced the location of their next act, then quickly descended from the stage.

“I’ll be leaving the cleanup to you then,” Bond addressed the remaining crew at the square. Then he directed the actors to board the carriages he had prepared. Taking the reins of one himself, he urged the horses forward in a gallop.

“Um, we owe it to you that our audience has enjoyed our play thus far, but…… I’m not sure if we can continue to do so,” Maya asked with a worried look.

Hearing that, the other actors in the carriage, who’d been going over their lines, turned solemn.

Although things had been going well so far, if their acts attracted too large a commotion, it stood to reason that Scotland Yard would put its full attention into stopping the play. Moreover, bad actors may also seek to take advantage of the hubbub. As far as possible, they wished to avoid their audience falling victim to crime.

Bond fully understood their apprehension. Because of that, he kept calm as he reassured them.

“Not to worry. I have some dependable colleagues.”

Saying that, he gazed in the direction the carriage was going, and smiled.

“It’s a popular saying, isn’t it? The show must go on.”

The curtains had been raised. Now all that was left, was to play their roles to the end.

Footnotes:

[1] This district is known as Theatreland (Wikipedia). The first two theatres listed are still standing, with St James’s Theatre having been demolished in 1957.

[2] If you were to go to Piccadilly Circus now, you would see a very prominent bronze fountain with a statue of a winged angel on top. Actually, the statue isn’t of the Greek god Eros at all. (Wikipedia)

[3] A line from Shakespeare’s As You Like It (Wikipedia).

Translator’s notes:

Quotes from Alice in Wonderland All dialogues from the East Enders’ production have been heavily referenced from the Project Gutenberg version of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll.

Thinking about what year the series was set in In this chapter, we learn that the “Eros” fountain hasn’t been built yet — it was unveiled only in June 1893. But we know some events of the Phantom of Whitechapel arc, such as when the people of Whitechapel formed a militia, did take place in history — these were broadly in the autumn of 1888. So this actually works out, and gives us a sense of when the events of the manga unfolded.

Edit: The manga seems to be canonically taking place between 1879-1882 latest — you can read my analysis here!

Piccadilly Circus in 1868 This is entirely for fun — here’s a screenshot from the game Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate (set in London 1868), with Evie standing at Piccadilly Circus:

I couldn’t find any pictures of the Circus from before the “Eros” fountain was built, but in Yuumori’s time, it would’ve still had the circular shape shown here. When Shaftesbury Avenue was built in 1886, it transformed Piccadilly Circus from a circle into the sort-of trapezoid crossroads layout it has retained today (British History Online).

[harlot-of-oblivion]

Prowling For Pleasure

You treat Vergil to a night of indulgent luxury and forbidden pleasures.

Rated Explicit for: Dubcon, Vampiric Manipulation, Voyeurism, Exhibitionism, Femdom, and the usual Vampire Activities. 

Part Two: Decadence & Depravity 

Tonight is the night of your promised hunt, and you can honestly say that you’ve never felt this excited in all your undead life! Everything is almost ready for your date…all you need to do is finish getting dressed, which is easier said than done with the ever-growing knot in the pit of your stomach. You’ve grown accustomed to spending your solitude with only a few trusted confidants, but the thought of stepping out for a night on the town with Vergil is exhilarating!

You can’t stand all the pent-up nervousness and excitement raging inside you any longer. Your eyes dart over to a black velvet bag sitting on a nearby shelf as you apply the finishing touches to your makeup. You reach over and grab it before taking out a deck of tarot cards at Vergil’s desk. Their musty scent wafts through the air as you shuffle the cards a few times, envisioning your question before splitting the deck into three smaller stacks. Then, you gather them all back up in a different order and spread the top four cards out on the desk in the form of a cross.

Time to see how our date will play out.

You turn over the first card to reveal the image of a nude woman pouring two vessels of water, one over land and the other into a calm river. Your lips curve into a fond smile at the familiar card, The Star, which has popped up in a lot of your readings ever since Vergil started calling you by the sweet endearment. So, it makes sense why this card represents you and your feelings in the matter at hand: you hope to grow even closer with your fierce fella after tonight.

Your brow quirks at the next card in the spread, which depicts a man in full armor riding atop a valiant steed with a large wand. Huh…how curious, you muse, tilting your head at the Knight of Wands as you ponder its meaning. It usually denotes a popular person prone to grand gestures crossing your way…this person may also be full of themselves and impetuous, leading them to make rushed and foolish decisions. You’re not exactly sure what this means for your date tonight, but you get the feeling that it won’t be favorable.  

The next card has you blinking a couple times before leaning in just to make sure your eyes aren’t deceiving you. But the scene of three young women dancing in a circle with their golden chalices held high in a joyful toast remains the same. Curiouser and curiouser, you thought while tapping your nails on the desk, wondering if the proposed outcome of success is too good to be true. Drawing the Three of Cups is all around a good omen though, so you press onto the very last card of the spread.

A shiver runs up your spine at the sight of a man and a woman embracing each other in paradise. The consequences of tonight’s date will lead to what you’ve always wanted in your previous life…and what you desire now more than ever despite your cursed existence. Now I know it’s too good to be true, you consider sullenly, warning yourself to not get your hopes up as you begin clearing the desk. But a peculiar notion pops into your head when you touch The Lovers card again; it doesn’t seem like your usual stray thoughts at all…it feels like a sudden prediction of moments yet come…    

Two souls shall converge in a moment of destiny.

“I didn’t take you for a fortune teller.”

Your head whips around at the sound of your lover’s voice. His soft lips curl into a smirk as you check out his delectable attire for tonight. The paisley pattern of the midnight blue jacket looks absolutely regal buttoned around his waist. A black and blue handkerchief pokes out of his jacket’s pocket, bringing your attention to the silky black lapels framing his broad chest. The matching black dress shirt and pants starkly contrasts with his silvery white hair while the Yamato hanging on his hip completes his elegant wardrobe.

“I don’t dabble in tarot much,” you explain while storing the cards back inside the small velvet bag. “But I thought a little insight might help us with our date tonight,” you admit, softly nipping your lower lip with a single fang as you get up from his desk.

Vergil hums in understanding as you stow the bag back on the appropriate shelf. “And where, exactly, shall this date take place?” he inquires, slicking back his perfectly styled hair while watching you with a curious gleam in his eyes.

Your hands become a blur as you quickly wrap your hair into a low bun before pinning it in place. “There’s this posh jazz lounge downtown,” you reveal while grabbing a starry headpiece with two chain swags. “It has an excellent bar, great music…” you pause for a moment as you carefully stick the headpiece right above your bun. “And some private sitting rooms for exclusive members,” you finish, clipping the two chains on either side of your head.

Vergil tilts his head. “Sounds like you’ve hunted there before.”

You chortle at his keen deduction as you swiftly fasten an elaborate shoulder necklace around your neck. “It was my usual haunt on those nights whenever I needed a break from blood packs,” you recall with an impish smirk while adjusting the hanging strings of pearls on your arms. “But I haven’t had to go back since you feed me so well, my love,” you point out with a playful purr before showing off your strapless black dress.

The sparkling diamonds and iridescent pearls twinkle like stars as you spin around with a slow and sensual twirl. His husky growl sends pleasant tingles below your belly as the skirt flares out, revealing your bare legs and black stiletto heels. You run a finger down your cleavage with a flirty grin, relishing the spark of desire in his silver blue eyes as your knee pokes out of the scandalously long slit of your dress.

“Well?” you prompt with a pleased smile. “What do you think?”

Vergil slowly stalks over to you. “Now I know why mortals can’t stay away when you’re on the prowl,” he softly declares while taking your hand. “You’re irresistible…” he trails off, turning your hand so that he may place a gentle kiss upon your wrist. “And utterly magnificent,” he murmurs with a reverent smile as he tips your chin up into his amorous kiss.    

You grasp the lapels of his jacket as both of your lips slowly smack against each other for a moment before withdrawing with delighted hums. He offers his arm and you gladly accept by wrapping both of your hands around his elbow. His wicked smirk stirs that ever-present hunger deep inside you as he leads you out of his room, effectively distracting you from sharing one more crucial detail of the date.

“There’s one last thing I’d like to do before we leave,” you reveal nervously as both of you descend the stairs. “It’s been a long time since I’ve done this with anyone but…”

Vergil looks down at you inquisitively as you close your eyes and focus on reaching out with your mind. His eyes widen in shock as your quiet thoughts brush against his consciousness. “It’ll help us keep track of each other tonight,” you reassure, patiently waiting for him to let down his guard. You can feel him contemplating for a few moments before your mind is suddenly flooded with another presence. It feels familiar and little apprehensive, so you decide to test the connection with a simple thought.

Can you hear me, my love?  

Vergil stares at your unmoving lips in wonder as your words pass through his mind. Then, he gives you an affectionate smile while his response slips past your barrier.        

You continue to surprise me, my Evening Star.

“Shall we?” he asks aloud while opening the door.

Your soft giggle fills his mind as both of you leave the shop. He slashes open a portal with the Yamato and takes your arm before leading you to the other side. Then, you explain your powers and abilities in more detail as you both walk through the more upscale part of the city towards your destination. It doesn’t take long for both of you to arrive at The Nightingale, a high-end jazz lounge and your hunting ground for the night.

Vergil asks if a reservation is needed to enjoy this swanky club as you approach the entrance. You nod and admit that you’re not on the list but that can be rectified with just a few words. He quirks his brow at you as he opens the door, letting you enter first before following right behind you.

A young lady greets you in the entryway. “Hi! Welcome to The Nightingale! Your name, please?” she inquires with a friendly smile.

You give her some random name and as she looks down to check the list, you let a tiny bit of the magnetizing presence hidden within you slip out. “Hmm…I don’t see you…” she trails off with a soft gasp as her head snaps up to meet your gaze. “Gosh, you’re so pretty,” she admits with a dreamy sigh before blinking with surprise. “Oh! I’m so sorry, miss! I dunno what’s gotten into me,” she hastily apologizes with a shake of her head.

“Think nothing of it, darling,” you reassure with a tilt of your head as you stare into her awestruck eyes.

Your vampiric charm pulls her in deeper as you delve into her mind, sifting through a few recent memories before reshaping one for your intended purpose. “Perhaps you should check the list again,” you kindly suggest while receding from her mind. “We don’t want any trouble over a simple misunderstanding,” you add with a patient smirk as you glance over at Vergil, who looks just as confused and fascinated as the hostess.

“Yes, of course,” she replies before checking the list again. “Oh! There you are!” she exclaims while marking the exact name she now remembers you saying to begin with. “Must’ve misheard you…so sorry about that!” she apologizes again with a sheepish grin as she points down a nearby hall with huge double doors. You thank her with a smile before heading in that direction, silently amused at her quiet muttering about making a fool of herself in front of a beautiful stranger.

Vergil observes you from the corner of his eye before speaking softly. “It all makes sense now…how you’re so good at gathering information,” he muses with an amazed smirk as both of you come to a halt in the hallway.

“Oh, that’s nothing compared to what I’m about to do, my love,” you boast, noting the two doormen just outside the main venue as you stare up at him with a smug smile. His arms wrap around you as he chuckles at your boldness, bringing you in close to bestow a soft kiss above your brow.

“Happy hunting, my dear.”

And with that, he teleports away in a blink of an eye, leaving you to deal with the spooked doormen. Damnable devil, you thought while rolling your eyes with an annoyed huff. But you’re able to calm them down easily by assuming a peaceful aura within your vampiric presence. They both go back to their positions by the double doors and swing them open as you approach the loud and lively venue.

The smooth sounds of jazz along with the excited chatter of the crowd brings back memories of a past long forgotten. You pause just outside the door to capture this moment before a magnificent storm while nostalgia sweeps you away to a bygone age. Then, you slowly release the full majesty of your presence, letting it unfurl like a blooming flower as you stride into the main floor with your head held high.

All eyes are instantly upon you as the entirety of the club notices your grand entrance. Even the music slows down as your presence hits the musicians, but they quickly recover and find the rhythm again. You can’t help but to smirk at their awed stares and gaping faces as you pass by multiple tables. Several waiters completely ignore their current customers to assist you with your every need. Your soft laughter makes all their hearts beat faster, stirring your hunger as you request a secluded table on the second floor. Their heavenly sighs fill the air when they behold your gracious smile before rushing off to do their task.

You search for Vergil with your mind as you head up to the second floor, questioning if he successfully made it inside the venue unnoticed. His impressed hum brushing against your consciousness lets you know that he’s not only there but close by. Your eyes dart from side to side as you wonder where he could be hiding…but the mystery of his whereabouts has you shivering with anticipation. The thrill of being watched from the shadows runs through you as you’re seated on a plush couch by a table with a fantastic view of the stage.  

That’s when your hunt truly begins.

Most of your kind usually like to roam around looking for their prey and play pretend as they chat up some gullible mortals. Then, they lure them to a private place where the ignorant human will experience the bliss of the Dark Kiss while their new acquaintance indulges in their blood. It’s typical of all vampires to hunt this way…but some predators wait for their prey to come to them.

And oh, do they come…like a swarm of moths to a dangerous flame.

Quite a few people approach you with various requests over the next hour. Some ask if they can join your table while others just want to buy you a drink. You accept some patrons at your table and refuse others, steadily surrounding yourself with potential prey while listening to excellent jazz. Your keen sense of hearing picks up their whispered conversation, learning a little about these mortals as you judge the potency of their blood. All of them show promise but their constant gawking and shallow compliments are boring you to death…again!

Your eyes begin to wander as the band starts playing a slow and smoky tune, totally changing the atmosphere of the club to something more intimate. And that’s when you spy a young woman standing by the bar, trying her hardest to not get caught staring as she peeks over at your table. How adorable, you muse while admiring her curves and pretty dress. You tilt your head with interest when her body quivers under your alluring gaze, which only whets your appetite even more…that is until the sudden appearance of a young man distracts her.

You manage to hold back the irritable growl crawling up your throat at this unfortunate interruption. But you continue to watch closely as they start talking, noting that they must know each other very well going by their friendly demeanor. The woman must have mentioned you since the man glances your way and his body instantly reacts much like his lady friend. Your brow quirks as they lean in close, sharing a few more hushed whispers before turning around to face you together.

Oh my…what an adventurous couple, you surmise, softly laughing to yourself as you dismiss your entourage with a mere flick of your hand. They all follow your silent command without question, leaving you alone with a couple bottles of unopened champagne. You pat the now empty couch with your hand as you lure them over with an inviting grin.

The daring couple immediately join you and introduce themselves while sitting on either side of you on the couch. You take one of the bottles of champagne and pop the cork, smiling at their eager faces as you kindly offer to pour them a drink. They each grab a glass and propose a toast about seizing opportunities for new experiences before taking a sip as you steer the conversation towards themselves.

It doesn’t take much cajoling to learn that they’re not only a couple but engaged, and you just so happen to catch them the night before their wedding! You ask why they’ve chosen to spend their time with you rather than enjoying each other’s company and they both give a vague answer…but curiosity gets the better of you. So, you simply urge them to be honest with your captivating presence, holding them even tighter within your seductive sway as they spill all their dirty little secrets.  

Oh, this is just too delicious! you gush when they reveal one in particular fantasy about having a threesome with a gorgeous stranger. You lean in real close to each of them and whisper your own craving for something new and exciting, tempting both of them with the promise of exquisite pleasure as you nibble on their ear. Your hunger intertwines with lust as you eye both of their necks, reveling in the aroused blood running through their veins.

You’re absolutely ravenous by the time they finish off one bottle of champagne, and you dare say that your venturesome couple is ready for more…but the sudden announcement of a song request draws your attention. You look down at the stage to see the bandleader pointing up in your direction.

“This next song is for the star up above.”

The band begins playing some mediocre number that barely manages to be tolerable. Your brow furrows at the awful request while your lovely couple remains totally oblivious to your confusion. The insidious whispers of paranoia invade your thoughts, but you push them aside as you mentally reach out to Vergil.

Did you…?

His reply is swift with a hint of cold anger.

No. It was him.

You scan the room and instantly spot the man that has provoked the ire of your fierce fella. It’s not hard to pick him out with that shameless leer on his face as he struts towards you. As he gets closer, you feel this distinctive shift in the air around him while the potency of his blood sets you on edge. You can sense his influence seeping through the mortals around him, bending their will in a show of dominance as he finally makes it to your table.  

There’s no mistaking it.

You’re in the presence of another vampire.  

“Hey there, sugar,” he greets, making your skin crawl as his lips curve into an oily smile. “Mind if I join you?”

You give him a quick once over before looking back up with an unimpressed frown. “Would if I could but I’m quite busy at the moment,” you decline coolly, wrapping an arm around the woman as you tousle the man’s hair.

“Aww, c’mon now…can’t a couple of night owls share a drink?” he persists as his eyes flicker over your adventurous couple.

Your eyes squint into an icy glare. “Go get your own and leave me be.”

The meddling mosquito laughs in your face. “Listen, I don’t appreciate you moving in on my turf without the proper courtesy that’s expected of one so young,” he discloses while that oily smile turns more sinister with every word. “But I’m willing to put this lil’ transgression behind us.”

You roll your eyes as he moves in closer, encroaching on your personal space while staring you down. His lecherous gaze makes your blood boil as a foreign presence slams against consciousness. “All you have to do is-” he abruptly gets cut off as his eyes meet with your furious stare.

KNEEL!

Your harsh command assaults his mind with overwhelming force. His knees buckle under the weight of your superior power as he falls to the ground. He looks back up at you in shock, mouth agape and eyes wide as he begins to grovel at your feet. “I’m deeply sorry, mistress…I didn’t realize-”

SILENCE!

The pathetic little tick instantly shuts his gaping mouth. “I know for a fact this is not your turf,” you reveal, slowly raising his chin up with your foot before shoving the tip of your stiletto heel between his lips. “In fact, no one has claim over this place…until tonight.”

His eyes widen in terror as you pierce his filthy damned soul with your scornful gaze. You mentally nudge the young woman beside you to grab the bottle of champagne off of the table. She complies and pops the cork before handing it over with a sweet smile, not even acknowledging the cowering vampire kneeling before you.

“It’s all mine now.”  

Your overpowering dominance keeps him from standing up or speaking out as you pour every last drop of champagne atop of his head. An amused chuckle flits through your mind as the sparkling bubbly dribbles down his mortified face. You wedge the tip of your heel deeper between his teeth, letting the slope of your foot guide a good amount of champagne into his mouth. He gags and tries to spit it out, but you command him to swallow every fizzy drop, knowing that he’ll have to suffer through the unpleasant process of purging it from his body once you’re done with him.  

You order him to clean your foot as soon as the champagne stops flowing, carefully instructing him to only lick the bottom since your stiletto heels are way too expensive for his vile tongue. Your lips curl into a cruel smirk as he laps up all the dirt and grime with a disgusted frown on his face. You take pleasure in his humiliation while handing the empty bottle over to the young man sitting calmly beside you. And when you tire of his submissive cleaning, you decide to give this worthless tick one last word of warning before setting him free.

“I highly suggest you never darken my domain again,” you threaten while molding his will like wet clay, “unless you want to suffer a fate worse than Final Death.”

And with that final command, you release him with a dismissive wave of your hand. He quickly stands up and tries to speak, but something behind you catches him off guard. You see a flicker of blue reflect in his horrified eyes, visibly shaking with unbridled fear as he slowly backs away before making a hasty departure.

You follow his speedy retreat until he’s no longer in sight. “Now, where were we?” you murmur while cupping the lady’s cheek as your foot rubs up and down the young man’s leg. “Ah yes…I remember now.” Your hungry gaze flickers between your adventurous couple before looking at one of the private sitting rooms. Their bodies shiver in delight as you finally close in on your prey with one final question:

“Care to join me somewhere more private?”      

🌹🦇🌹 (Vergil’s POV) 🌹🦇🌹

Vergil knew he was in for an intriguing experience when he agreed to this lascivious date. So far, it’s played out exactly as he expected: you’ve ensnared everyone in the club with your enthralling presence and caught some prey within your alluring web. The detestable appearance of another vampire nearly made him come out of hiding to cut him down. But he stayed his hand and watched as his Evening Star bent the miscreant to her will before ordering him to leave immediately.

Remarkable, he muses, impatiently wringing the collar of his dress shirt while intense yearning flushes through his body. His keen ears pick up your sensual whisper as you ask the enamored young couple to follow you somewhere else. They nod their heads eagerly before wrapping themselves around each of your arms. He hears your voice ringing through his mind like a delicate breeze as you stand up and glance at a vacant room guarded by a doorman.

Better hurry, my love…the show’s about to begin.

Vergil smirks at your playful tone as you glide across the floor with refined grace. He follows close behind, trying his best to remain unseen while waiting for an opening to sneak into the room. Your captivating gaze falls upon the doorman, staring at him with intense focus while muttering under your breath. His eyes glaze over as he stands stock still for a few seconds before snapping out his momentary daze. Then, the doorman smiles politely at your approach and opens the door for you, giving Vergil the opportunity to slink in after you when he walks away.

He quietly shuts the door behind him and creeps among the shadows of the room, checking for any sign of the couple being aware of an uninvited guest. But you have them wrapped around your finger, completely infatuated and fawning over your every move as you lead them to a large couch in the corner. He leans against the opposite wall as you guide the woman to sit down and halt the young man from following suit by gently placing your hand on his chest.        

“Ladies first.”

The young man shivers and nods his head in understanding. He moves to stand by the young woman while you sit beside her, giving Vergil a perfect view as the climax of your hunt begins. You cup her face and bring her in close, only stopping a hair’s breadth from her lips as your hands slide down her neck. She whimpers and tries to lean in for a kiss, but you gently push her to lie down on the couch and continue to caress the curves of her body.

Vergil remains motionless as you lift the young woman’s dress up, spreading her legs to reveal her soaking wet panties. His cock twitches as you settle between her thighs, nipping at her skin while moving lower and lower…then, the woman gasps and her face contorts in pain for only a second before slacking in pleasure as your fangs sink into the prominent vein near her clothed sex.    

“Holy shit,” the young man grunts, palming his bulging crotch as he watches you partake of his lover.

Vergil finds himself mirroring the action, cupping his aching cock while taking in every detail of this depraved moment. The euphoric moans of the young woman as she writhes in pleasure on the couch has him itching to loosen his pants. But he resists the urge to touch himself and just continues to witness the power his Evening Star welds over these mortals.

You withdraw from the woman after drinking a couple more mouthfuls and pin the young man down with your lustful gaze. His eyes widen as you smack your red lips, letting out a pleased hum while drops of blood dribble down your chin. “What the fuck?!” he gasps with realization as you bend down and close the wounds on his lover’s thigh with a swipe of your tongue.

Vergil senses his fear and summons the Yamato at the ready for a quick getaway if needed. But you simply rush over to him in a mere second and place a single finger on his trembling lips. “Shh,” you coo, staring deeply into his eyes as you ease him to a state of total relaxation. His lips curve into a dopey smile as you circle around and wrap your arms around his shoulders.

“Isn’t she beautiful?” you whisper while staring down at the blissed-out woman still laying on the couch.

“Y-yes!” he gasps as your fangs graze his ear. “I love her so much,” he tacks on with genuine fondness, making your lips quirk into an amused smirk while prompting him to look at you once more.

“Be a good boy and feed your mistress.”

The young man turns around and bares his neck for you. He seems to melt in your embrace as you scrape your fangs against the pulsating vein. You peer over his shoulder before biting down, seemingly staring right where Vergil is standing in shadows. The young man grunts in pain as your fangs sink into his flesh, but then he moans as his body quakes in pleasure.

Vergil’s grip on the Yamato tightens as his other hand moves on its own accord, unbuckling his belt and unzipping his pants while you enjoy your second drink of the night. He quietly hisses as his cock springs free from its tight confines, already engorged and weeping white droplets at the tip. His blatant gaze never wavers from your mesmerizing stare as he finally succumbs to his deepest desire and begins pleasuring himself. He grits his teeth with every pump of his hand, consciously holding back any grunts and growls that try to escape his throat. The intense yearning from earlier overtakes his mind, hardening his cock even more with the thought of you handling mortals like mere playthings.

After a few more moments of silently watching each other, you release the young man’s neck with a pleased hiss. Your tongue closes his wounds with a quick lick before relinquishing him from your grasp. You softly gasp and cover your delighted smirk with a dainty hand as you examine the huge wet spot on the front of his pants.

“Looks like somebody got too excited!” you playfully note while directing him to sit next to his lover on the couch. “But that’s alright,” you sigh as the young man just smiles happily, totally oblivious to coming undone by your sensual bite alone. “I know exactly what you need for round two,” you divulge with a wicked gleam in your eye as you take a seat between them.

Vergil pauses at your mysterious words and quirks his eyebrow when you prick your middle finger with one of your fangs. “Both of you have pleased your mistress greatly,” you gush while holding your hand over to the young woman. “So as a reward…” you murmur as a few droplets of your blood drips between her parted lips.

The young woman lets out an ecstatic cry as your thick and redolent nectar touches her tongue. You let her suckle on your finger for a moment before giving the young man his fair share of his prize. He also cries out at the taste of your blood, eagerly lapping every drop off your finger. The front of his pants grow tight with his reinvigorated arousal while his lover rubs her cunt through her drenched panties.

You get up from the couch and stare at the hedonistic couple with a satisfied smile. “I suggest you fuck each other hard and rough,” you coax with a provocative purr. “Oh! And one more thing,” you quickly add while cupping both of their enraptured faces. “After you both come…” you trail off as they meet your entrancing gaze, remaining still and silent until he hears you whispering your final command.

FORGET.

Vergil sees the light in their eyes glaze over as you slowly retreat from the couch. He swiftly puts his cock away and waits until you’re close enough to pounce on you. His arm encircles your waist before dragging you back into the shadows.  

“You shine so brightly, my Evening Star,” he whispers fondly, earning a quiet giggle and soft whimper from you as he nibbles your ear.

Your head tilts to the side as you look up at him from the corner of your eye. “Enjoy the show, my love?” you inquire with a naughty grin while grinding against his crotch.  

“Immensely.”

“Mmm…I’ll say!” you quietly exclaim with glee while eyeing his straining cock.

You suddenly become a blur of motion before his eyes, completely taking him off guard as he leans back against the wall. His head snaps down to see his pants by his knees and you licking the underside of his cock, pulling a surprised grunt from him while the sound of passionate sex fills the air. You gesture with your head towards the swooning couple, subtly prodding him to watch as they fulfill your request.

Vergil beholds the scene of pure debauchery just a few feet in front of him: torn clothes strewn across the floor surround the couple vigorously making love on the couch. He focuses on the lady bouncing up and down in the young man’s lap, admiring her swaying breasts as she struggles to keep up with her lover’s fast pace. His curious gaze lingers down to where they’re connected, so wet and slippery as they slap against each other over and over. He feels your mouth sink all the way down his cock as both of their cries of shared ecstasy stoke the flames of his desire.  

You waste no time with your usual teasing and start sucking him off with the fervor of a wanton harlot, eagerly bobbing your head in time with the couple’s raunchy pace. Their litany of shameless moans drown out his approving growl as he cups the back of your head and thrusts his hips to meet every downstroke of your mouth. He can feel his cock growing more taut against your tongue while the tightening sensation of imminent release pools below his belly. The hand clenching the Yamato starts to shake as he pursues that blessed peak of pleasure, approaching fast and getting closer and closer and closer…  

The private room’s door abruptly bursts open, startling both him and the randy couple but not you in the slightest. A strange sensation swathes him with a spine-tingling chill as a doorman hurries inside and begins asking the couple to get dressed. Your lips curl into knowing smirk around his cock, still sucking with gusto as his heart begins to pound with the thrill of getting caught.

The doormen turns his head towards your hiding spot in the shadowy corner. Vergil takes the Yamato in both hands and presses its sheath against the back of your head, effectively barring you from making any more movement. But that doesn’t stop your tongue from lavishing his shaft…nor your hands from caressing his innermost thighs. He purses his lips and glares down at you in warning while attempting to remain silently composed.

You look up at his scowling face as your fangs elongate in defiance, grazing the silky skin around the base of his cock. The lone doorman comes closer, peering at the darkened corner as you stroke and squeeze his balls. The preserve thought of coming undone in front of a total stranger makes his pleasure soar sky high, climbing higher and higher until his impending release starts to curl and crest…and despite his best efforts to stubbornly resist, he comes crashing down with a restrained roar at the back of this throat.

Vergil watches as the doorman scratches his head in confusion, seemingly unaware of a devilish intruder emptying his load into your mouth. He doesn’t dare to move with the doorman standing so close, resigning to just enjoy the decadence of such carnal delights as the last tremors of his orgasm leaves him breathless. But the doorman eventually departs with the perplexed couple in tow, finally giving both of you respite from the utterly tense yet highly arousing situation. He glances down at you through half-lidded eyes, noting the white streaks of his seed leaking down your pretty chin with a gratified hum.    

Your lips curve into a pleased grin as you pull his spent cock out of your mouth. He knows that you can’t partake of his seed, but the thought of you spitting it out seems like a waste. So, he sweeps you up into his arms before you find a trash bin and captures your lips with a hungry kiss. You throw your arms around his neck as he pries your mouth open, softly moaning while thick white cum trickles down on his waiting tongue. He swings you around and presses your back against the wall, eagerly drinking every last drop before tearing away from your lush lips with a low growl.

“I have half a mind to punish you for your disobedience,” he scolds with an irritable snarl.    

“Even though you liked it?” you point out with an amused giggle. “You shouldn’t have let me taste you again if you really wanted to berate me for fulfilling your voyeuristic fantasies,” you point out while licking your lips with a satisfied hum. His brow twitches at your response but he doesn’t deny that he enjoyed the rush of adrenaline when the doorman unknowingly looked straight at him. You smile knowingly as he lowers you down to the ground with an indignant huff.

“And don’t worry, my love,” you coo softly as he makes himself presentable again. “I cloaked us both in the shadows of their mind, so we weren’t in any real danger of being caught.”

Vergil pauses as he remembers the strange sensation that overtook him when the doorman showed up. “You’ve failed to mention that you can extend that deceptive power to me,” he mutters with a suspicious squint while zipping up his pants and buckling his belt.

“It must’ve slipped my mind,” you note with a nonchalant shrug and cheeky grin.

A rumbling growl emanates from his throat as he crowds you against the wall with his looming height. “Such insolence will not go unpunished, my dear.”

You nip your lower lip with a single fang as his hand slides up along the slit of your dress before slipping between your legs. He softly growls while stroking you over the flimsy fabric of your panties, utterly pleased by slick essence of your sex dripping down his long fingers. You whimper as he shows off just how wet you are by bringing his hand up close to his face before licking a finger clean. Then, he presses another glistening finger against your lips, silently demanding you to open your mouth while gazing down at you with dark promise in his eyes. You hum indulgently while sucking his finger clean before titillating him with your brazen response to his enticing threat.          

“I can’t wait to see what you have in store for me, my love.”    

I’d like to thank @bettybattaglia for her galaxy brain idea of champagne guzzling and heel licking! And I gotta give a shout to all my fellow judgement sluts in the discord server for encouraging this filth! 😂🙈

Tagging: @drusoona @exsultry @tehrevving @varen-neoraven @shiranyaaww

[addierose444]

Spring 2021: One Month Update

We are now just over a month into the spring semester. This is a bit strange as mid-march normally coincides with spring break. Well, normal just isn’t the norm right now and hasn’t been for a while. Like seriously, it has been a whole year since Smith sent us home last spring. Here is a blog post from a year ago about my final week on campus. That was a stressful time, but I was also so naïve about what was to come. In some ways, it’s hard to believe that a whole year has passed; at the same time, it has felt like an eternity. This post is primarily about my current courses and other life updates, but it also felt incomplete without acknowledging the passage of time. Last semester, I wrote a few update posts. I started them because I literally didn’t know what else to write about. However, I found them to be an effective post style that is worthwhile to continue using. 

There does finally seem to be a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. Namely, I have received my first dose of the Moderna COVID vaccine! I was eligible thanks to my job in ResLife. I will be getting the second dose in two-weeks time. I feel very fortunate to be getting vaccinated so early. I’ll also be honest in saying that it was really stressful taking the bus to UMass and navigating through the vaccination center. Another exciting update is that I have secured a summer internship at Microsoft! You can read about my application process here. 

I am currently living on-campus in Parsons House. We are fortunately still operating in Green Mode which is our least restrictive operating mode. This still includes masks, social distancing, and testing three times a week. We are also still ordering most meals on the Grubhub app. However, there is now some limited seating in the dining halls and we have transitioned to using some reusable food containers. Furthermore, Chuckett (our name for Chase and Duckett) is open for true grab and go. The best part about going to Chuckett is that they have yogurt, ice cream, and snacks. Classes and house events continue to be primarily over Zoom so that we can practice social distancing and include those not living on campus. 

As for my classes, it’s been a very busy semester. I am in class less than in past semesters but have had more work outside of class. With that said, this is in part because one of my classes is asynchronous with synchronous labs. To check out all of my past courses, click here. 

PHY 210 has been more interesting than I expected. It’s not an easy class, but it hasn’t been the nightmare I was worried it would be. The class has so-called pre-class check-ins (PCCIs) which are short exercises due at the start of each class (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). We still have a full homework set due each Wednesday, but I enjoy having the PCCIs as it’s more similar to the high school homework model (short more frequent assignments that don’t have to be 100% perfect). I now have a much better understanding of complex numbers and why they are useful. Other topics we have studied thus far include differential equations and the Taylor series (both topics were briefly introduced in past calculus classes). We have also been learning the basics of Mathematica and are currently studying integrals in two or more dimensions. Last semester in MTH 212, all of the exams could be taken over multiple days (unlimited time) so it’s not the easiest transition back to timed math exams. 

PHI 220 is a great complement to my four STEM classes. Specifically, it’s reading and discussion-based and doesn’t have problem sets! While there is absolutely value in courses unrelated to my majors, I really love learning concepts that come up in computer science but from a different perspective. Over the course of the semester, we have been working our way through Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid. We have been learning about formal systems and been gaining an understanding of Gödel's incompleteness theorems. Later in the course, we will be delving into the study of Turing machines. Each class starts with five minutes of breathing and stretching. The first day I thought it was really weird, but have now gained an appreciation for it.  

EGR 220 has been my most time-consuming class, but I have also really enjoyed the course content. I am glad that I took PHY 118 last spring as it gave me a good primer for some of the circuit theories. This is particularly useful as circuits is a fast-paced course. Labs have been frustrating at times due to technical difficulties, but having a hands-on component definitely helps my understanding and makes things more engaging. As long as we stay in Green Mode, we will have a few small-group in-person labs! We have also had and will continue to have occasional full class in-person outdoor demonstrations. (All of my other classes have been and will continue to be fully remote). In terms of course content, we have learned about passive components like resistors, capacitors, and inductors and circuit analysis techniques like nodal analysis and mesh analysis.

CSC 250 has generally been enjoyable as I have an awesome professor. I don’t dislike the course material, but I definitely prefer programming and systems to theory. Also, theoretical computer science requires writing lots of proofs which is not my favorite. I am glad that I took discrete math (MTH 153) last semester as it introduced me to proof writing. MTH 153 an unenforced prerequisite of CSC 250, which I was originally going to take concurrently due to schedule conflicts. In the course, we have been learning about regular expressions, finite automata, context-free grammars, push-down automata, and most recently Turing machines. (See what I mean about the overlap with PHI 220!)

COMPSCI 230 is my UMass computer systems class. You can read more about Five College registration here. The course is asynchronous which has its advantages and disadvantages. It’s nice being able to self-schedule my coursework, but it’s strange not really interacting with my classmates. As the UMass semester started two weeks before Smith’s, I am just about halfway through the course which is honestly sort of crazy. In the course, we have learned about data representation, von Neumann Architecture, caches, and virtual memory. 

I am not taking guitar this semester and unfortunately have hardly played my guitar. Last year I had set a daily practice goal that I did a really good job of sticking to. That said, I regret having set that goal as it made playing feel more like a chore. The issue is that when the year ended I was justified in taking a few days off from playing. However, as I was really busying during Interterm it was just too easy to dive into my coursework and other responsibilities. Playing guitar is something that I love, so I am trying to incorporate it back into my life in the right way. You can read about my musical history here. Another music update, that’s really just for me to look back on is that my current favorite song is The Story (written by Phil Hanseroth and performed by Brandi Carlile). I have been listening to a lot of Brandi Carlile’s music over the past few days and absolutely love it. As for 2020 goals, like many people, mine weren’t the biggest success. I originally set out to write four original songs but only wrote two (one of which I had started in August of 2019). I was successful in my reading goal so that was at least one win. You can read about my 2020 in books here. 

[dansnaturepictures]

05/09/2021-Blog 1 of 2: Wonderful waders, Wheatears and more at Lymington and home: My first Curlew Sandpiper of the year and more

On a very sunny and warm day I enjoyed Woodpigeon in the garden, bee coming in my room briefly and loved seeing lots of Small White butterflies in the back garden especially one I got close to when walking through to go out this afternoon which I took the second picture in this photoset of where I also enjoyed the flowers in the garden again especially hebe and sedum starting to come into flower and noticing some fleabane in the garden one of the flowers I am most fond of seeing outside for the first time seeing this lovely yellow one in the garden so another big garden flower highlight for me this year. I also took the third picture in this photoset of a red flower and on the way back through the garden with it still very sunny when back home I took the final two pictures in this photoset of flowers in the garden enjoying the alyssum and chrysanthemum again too.

We then came to Lymington in pursuit of Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stint that had been around as always key September bird targets for us. Fitting for the day #WildflowerHour occurs on Twitter as is so often the case I had a strong botanical start to the walk as I noticed more lovely sea aster on the fringes of Eight Acre pond at Salterns Sailing Club where we parked near a flower I noticed within this reserve but further along at Pennington for the first time this year last weekend and then I saw it’s purple and yellow lookalike some stunning Michaelmas daisies glowing in the sunshine as we got onto the path including the one in the fourth picture in this photoset I took today. I first ever saw these here and they are one of my favourite flowers to look for in late summer and early autumn at such areas. Also one I knew before my big delve into flowers. So it was lovely to see them today. I also saw the key for the area rock samphire my first of the year of these too beautiful quirky shaped green flowers and as the walk went on ragwort, bindweed, yarrow, carrot and the first broad-leaved clover I’d seen in a while looked great.

Walking on towards Normandy lagoon where the two wader targets of ours were reported at and I saw my first of a long stream of glorious Wheatears this afternoon. It was exceptional to see this exotic and striking species flying around and settled on the ground and on posts, including the path and the bits of land on the lagoon. I very much enjoyed seeing some of the most I ever had of them in one day for this migrant that is passing back through areas like these on the way back to Africa currently that I have seen so much of this year quite notable for a bird I was seeming to see a little less of the past couple of years perhaps so this is really encouraging. I got the sixth picture in this photoset of one among others I tweeted on Dans_Pictures tonight. We saw another colourful delight around this area when a smashing Kingfisher darted around over the lagoon and channel beside it the first I’d seen for a little while and key bird here so this was great. I also saw my first of a strong amount of Curlews today at this point probably my most at once this year which again is very encouraging for this species who’s decline and struggles have been well documented with them flying around a lot and seen still. I took the fifth picture in this photoset of one. 

Then we had the moment of the day when on Normandy lagoon we spotted the almost snow white plumage of the juvenile Curlew Sandpiper on Normandy lagoon as it was illuminated by the bright sun. It was special to make out its splendid patterned back too. We got one of our best ever views of this species building brilliantly on last year’s some of my best ever views at Farlington Marshes in September. I took the first and seventh pictures in this photoset of this bird. It was extraordinary to watch this wonderful bird sparkle as it waded in the shallows of the lagoon and rested on the shingle  nicely too with Dunlin and Ringed Plover around nicely for comparisons particularly of size with the Curlew Sandpiper considerably bigger. I was in my element watching this species some amazing views of one of my birds of the year and my first of the species in 2021. Fittingly for a bird that was involved here in at the time my 2014 year list overtaking my 2013 one to become my then highest year list, it took my 2021 year list to 177 levelling my 2014 total to make it my joint sixth highest ever year list with my totals in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2020 and 2016 higher than this with the final totals in that order. Another amazing moment with my year list this year and something I am so pleased to get to. And I feel so very lucky and humbled to be able to say that it means its another month that I have now definitely got at least one bird year tick in, my chain of getting at least one year tick in every month since November 2015 goes on. It was great to see both Curlew and Curlew Sandpiper well today not something I’d noticed happening a lot before I may have seen Curlews on the same day as Curlew Sandpipers as it’s always the right habitat but it hasn’t stuck in my mind before.

It’s remarkable over the years how many times on the same day as seeing my first Curlew Sandpiper of the year I see my first Little Stint of the year too or it’s the next year tick after it or the one before they are both around at the same time of year after all and are a real due for me. We then walked around the rest of the lagoon getting quite near to Lymington town to see if we could see the Little Stints that had been around too but we didn’t manage it today. We did see some more incredible waders though. With very big numbers of Ringed Plover and Redshank throughout the afternoon and some Redshanks on the mudflats with the tide out mostly were making a racket which was so delightful to hear with their high-pitched call and it was noticeable to some other people walking which was interesting, the former one of my birds of the weekend after seeing them yesterday at Hill Head too. There were also loads and loads of slick looking Greenshank today, as there quite often is at this time of year. It was fantastic to see them with memorable views of three together on the lagoon and one flying on the mudflats the other side of the sea wall from the lagoon too which I hadn’t often seen before and I photographed as tweeted tonight I have had a top few weeks for these as one of my stars of Rutland Water when we went last month and had a good year for them. Spotted Redshank were on the lagoon too. On the shore with some Redshanks and then later behind the fence of the lagoon quite close to us with a Lapwing was a shiny golden Bar-tailed Godwit with its upturned beak and name providing marking on its tail feathers. A wonderful bird to see another of my birds of the year which it was thrilling to see again in 2021 and I felt so lucky. I took the eighth picture in this photoset of one. 

Wildlife Sightings Summary: My first Curlew Sandpiper of the year, two of my favourite birds the Little Egret and Kingfisher, Redshank, Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, great views of Grey Herons I took a picture of one with my bridge camera which starred today rather I took all but two of my many bird photos today with it which reminded me of the first picture I ever produced with the bridge camera I believe in this month three years ago of a Grey Heron at Titchfield Haven I don’t think I envisaged at that stage how important this second camera would become for me with all the help for birds further away and with ID so its exciting to celebrate the three years for me, Cormorant, Black-headed Gull, lots of Herring Gulls including many young, Mallard, Tufted Duck with a shine in its eye, Wheatear, great views of Stonechat and Reed Bunting too, Whitethroat, Feral Pigeon, strong view of a large Raven, a Swallow nicely fairly late on at the place I saw my first of the year on Easter Sunday which seems an age ago now, Small White, Brimstone, Small Heath out late as they often are at this type of habitat, another butterfly I couldn’t quite see what either Peacock or Red Admiral and dragonflies I couldn’t quite see which as they were flying fast.

My next post has some landscape pictures I took today and more reflections on the day.    

[blackcloverdatabase]

English Translation of Novel 3: Chapter 1 – Gold & Black - (Part 1 of 2)

Here’s the first half of chapter 1 from Book of Yuno! If the manga is killing you right now (it’s certainly killing me), please enjoy Yuno, Klaus, and Mimosa being very nervous and awkward as they collect information on a dangerous magic tool, the ‘Original Sin’. William also makes an appearance… and he’s also awkward. Honestly, the Golden Dawn is too much.

And on the ‘Black’ side, we have Yami and Asta, the exact antithesis of nervous and awkward. One could argue that they’re downright shameless.

--- Gold & Black: Part 1 ---

“……At last, it has begun.”

Klaus Lunettes, member of the Golden Dawn, said anxiously as he pushed up his glasses, his hand shaking with nervousness. Another member of the Golden Dawn, Mimosa Vermillion, took a deep breath. Her facial expression was uncharacteristically meek.

“Okay. I’m…… ready now……!”

Next to Mimosa flew Bell, a small spirit in the shape of a young girl, no larger than the width of a human hand. Their nervousness caused her to shudder.

“W-wait!? What are you so afraid of!? This isn’t such a big deal! If Yuno and I combine our powers, we can trounce any foe, no matter how strong they are!”

She was acting tough, but her voice somehow seemed smaller than usual. Even one of the Four Great Spirits, the wind spirit known as Sylph, was hesitating.

“……Bell, I told you to get in my breast pocket.”

The one who quietly said this to Bell was the boy she had chosen, Yuno. He held a four-leaf grimoire, not unlike the grimoire the first Wizard King was said to possess, and in just one year after joining the Golden Dawn, he has become one of the squad’s most celebrated knights. In short, he was a mage of prodigal talent. He slowly opened his eyes, quietly walking toward Klaus and Mimosa until he stood before them.

“You two should get ready, too…... they’re coming.”

The Golden Dawn - even within the Order of the Magic Knights, a group directly under the Wizard King’s supervision, it was considered to be an elite squad, where only the best of the best were allowed to belong. Their duties were incredibly diverse, but they were always rigorous to the extreme. The mission Yuno, Klaus, and Mimosa were just given promised to be quite rigorous as well. At worst, it could even make them lose their sanity. Though Yuno and the others have reached the verge of death many times now, their current assignment was so perilous, and, above all, special, that their minds were filled with anxiety. This mission was…...

“Um, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for gathering here today. I am the head of this estate, Ryde Virule.”

When a young man named Ryde used magic to augment his voice as he greeted the crowd, Yuno and the others stiffened. The venue for the party they were now attending was about twice as large the place where the conferment ceremony for the Magic Knights was held. The venue was teeming with women in dresses and men in suits. As he stood behind the podium on the upper floor of the venue, Ryde continued his greeting.

“Now then, the time has arrived, so let the party begin!”

That’s right. Yuno and his friends have infiltrated a party organized by a certain nobleman. However, this was no ordinary party……

“Everyone, I hope from the bottom of my heart that you will meet your destined partner here, tied together by the red string of fate!”

This was a matchmaking party. They were told to infiltrate this party and gather information from the nobles in attendance. Such is the task that was imposed on Yuno and the others. To do so, they must deepen their relationships with the other people here, at least, to some extent. In other words, they must spend their time talking about hobbies and work, the latest fashions, and even love stories with nobles and aristocrats they were completely unacquainted with, and they have to look like they’re having fun while doing so.

They were all excellent knights, but that doesn’t mean they excel at that kind of communication. Of course, none of them had any experience with matchmaking parties. In the first place, they don’t even have any experience talking to the opposite sex for that sort of thing. In other words, they were all so nervous that they wanted to throw up.

“……E-eek!? They all started moving!”

The men and women at the venue began to shuffle around, causing Mimosa to visibly tremble.

‘U-uh, what was it you’re supposed to do first? First… a-are we supposed to talk to the other person about their appearance, like their good points and their bad points!?’

Klaus was lost in his thoughts. Then, a girl whose cuteness reminded him of Mimosa suddenly spoke to him.

“Hey, you look nervous. You’ll go bald if you let yourself get too stressed out.”

‘This isn’t good. We’re only three seconds in and my heart is already pounding,’ Klaus thought.

“Calm down, Mimosa! Apparently, it’s perfectly acceptable to be a little rude here, too! F-first of all, delve into the occupation and hobbies of your partner, and find something that might be related to the thing we’re looking for!”

With that, Bell peeked out of Yuno’s chest pocket and joined the discussion with a whisper.

“But Klaus, what are you going to do if someone asks you the same thing!? Your hobby is architectural appreciation, right!? Are there really going to be any girls here interested in that!?”

“G-gh! T-that’s…!”

Stabbed by her words, Klaus grinded his teeth in frustration at his weak point on this mission – his niche hobbies. This caused Mimosa’s confusion to grow even further, making nervous noises as she sputtered,

“Aah, what do we do, what do we do……? T-then, what if we ask our partners what their annual income is!?”

“Don’t say that like you just had a good idea! That’s the last thing you should bring up the first time you meet someone!”

The discussion continued without progress. Glancing away from everyone else, Yuno sighed.

‘This doesn’t suit my character, and yet…...’

Though that was what Yuno was thinking, he refrained from saying it out loud.  They were assigned this task a few hours ago, and they only arrived at the venue a few minutes ago. This means they arrived here without formulating a strategy.

‘We’ll need to take some time to talk it through.’

Yuno turned toward his chaotically confused comrades and admonished them.

“……Please calm down. First, let’s go over the details of our mission.”

If you don’t know where you should go, it’s important to first trace back to where you started. This is the same routine Yuno has been doing since he was a child. Whenever he was lost, experiencing hardships, or feeling sad, if he thought about the oath he made as a child, he would feel as though those thoughts were pushing at his back, directing him to where he should go.

……Well, every time he thought about that oath, that guy’s optimistic smile came to mind, which would invariably cause Yuno to smile, too, so Yuno had to be careful.

That aside, Yuno thought back to when the four of them were assigned their current mission.

 --- A few hours ago, at the base of the Golden Dawn ---

 Yuno and the others stood side by side, having just been urgently summoned into the office. Klaus stood in front of them, repeating what their captain had told them.

“There are nobles trading away illegal magic tools…?”

Their captain, William Vangeance, who sat at his desk across from Klaus and the others, quietly tilted his head downward and replied,

“Yes, this has become apparent after an investigation done by your peers.”

He had his usual elegant smile, but the tone of his voice was a little more serious than usual.

“Well, it’s certainly not unusual for nobles to have secret dealings with each other. I wouldn’t go so far as saying that those secret dealings aren’t a problem, but it’s also usually not something the Magic Knights need to be dispatched to handle.”

“…But, this time, these ‘illegal magic tools’ are a problem?”

In response to Klaus’s question, Vangeance nodded his head as he continued,

“We’re still investigating for more details, but this magic tool, called the ‘Original Sin’, is shaped in the form of a grimoire. It explosively boosts its owner’s magical power, but it also makes them violent, before finally making their magical power spin out of control. Ultimately, it sounds like a dangerous tool.”

“Such a dangerous tool is…!?”

Klaus started thinking as he answered - To what extent does it increase the owner’s magical power? How long does it last? Once induced into violence, how much does the affected person’s personality change, and how do you turn them back to normal? There were many uncertainties, but one thing that was certain was that if such a thing were to fall into the wrong hands, it would become a significant threat. That was something they must prevent from happening.

Moreover, the annual festival for Magic Knights, the Star Festival, was fast approaching. If they make a huge achievement here, then they will earn themselves a large helping of stars. In other words, he’ll be able to show his loyalty to the captain. Feeling a greater sense of responsibility than usual while also hiding the sliver of excitement welling up in his chest, Klaus asked,

“So, Captain Vangeance, what is it that we should do?”

“Right. I’m sorry for springing this on you so suddenly, but, starting now, I would like you to infiltrate a party hosted by a certain nobleman.”

Saying this, Vangeance opened a cloth bag on his desk. Inside, it contained one lovely dress and two well-tailored tailcoat suits. It seemed that they were expected to wear these and infiltrate the party. Klaus took the bag and said,

“I see. So, the owner of this magic tool… the ‘Original Sin’, will be among the nobles attending this party. Or, is it that a transaction involving this tool will take place at the party?”

“You catch on quickly. That’s correct. I want you to investigate with both possibilities in mind.”

Vangeance reached into the drawer of his desk and pulled out a bundle of parchment.

“This contains a brief summary of the party, its sponsor, and its participants. This was only compiled recently, so I haven’t yet read the details, but please look at this on your way……. hm?”

With one glance at the data, Vangeance’s expression stiffened by just a little bit. It was a facial expression he didn’t normally show, causing Klaus to call out without delay,

“What’s wrong, Captain Vangeance?”

“Umm……. no, it’s fine. I just found out, but……”

It seemed as if he was being very careful with his words, which was incredibly unusual for him.

“The purpose behind this party is a little unique……. it’s a party where people with the same goal in mind gather together, or, how should I put it? This goal is rather specific…… Well, you’ll understand once you read the document.”

“Then, there’s no problem. We will look over it on our way there.”

“……Okay. I see. Then, there’s no problem.”

Vangeance said awkwardly as he handed the documents over to Klaus. Taking note of how uncomfortable he looked, Klaus sandwiched the documents under his arm and did a 3-leaf salute with his other hand.

“Well then, we’ll be on our way, Captain Vangeance! We’ll round up every single one of those ‘Original Sin’ tools, as well as every evil noble who’s distributing them!”

“Y-yes. I’m counting on you……”

“Yes sir!! We absolutely, positively won’t let you down!”

After such a formal(?) exchange of words, Vangeance, as if he were coming to terms with feelings of guilt, said so quietly that he was barely audible,

“……Um, if I find any Magic Knights who are free, then I’ll send them as reinforcements…… so, I hope you can forgive me.”

With those parting words, Klaus and the others left the office.

 --- And now, in the present ---

 “…………”

Klaus turned toward Yuno, whose eyes were closed in recollection, and said mild-mannerly,

“……How is it, Yuno? Were you able to make a breakthrough?”

Yuno slowly opened his eyes and stared at Klaus with an exceedingly calm expression as he said,

“Yes, I have reconfirmed that you, Klaus-senpai, in your rush for success, accepted this mission without properly confirming its contents. In other words, we are in this mess because of your mismanagement.”

“That’s no breakthrough, but I cannot deny the validity of your claim! I’m sorry! I didn’t think things would turn out like this!”

“Also, when you replied to Captain Vangeance at the end, I find it odd that you yelled ‘Yes sir!!’. A simple ‘yes’ would have been fine, so why did you raise your voice like that?”

“There’s nothing wrong with that! I was just brimming with fighting spirit! If you’re going to make me explain myself, then there’s your explanation!”

With that, Bell and Mimosa raised their hands at the same time, joining the conversation while Klaus pouted.

“While we’re on the subject, I thought it was odd when you said “absolutely, positively”! Why did you add “positively” to that!?”

“Also, this has been bothering me for a while, Klaus-san, but why are you only growing out the bangs on your left side! It’s so long that it flutters smoothly in the wind, but why!?”

“Don’t join in with Yuno! Plus, stop that! You’re making me embarrassed for all sorts of reasons!”  

Yuno smiled a little when they began their exchange with each other. With this, they’ve become a little less nervous. He left the bullying at that and started talking about his breakthrough. Well, it wasn’t so groundbreaking that it could be called a breakthrough, though.

“First of all, we should act as we usually do, just as you were doing just now. We’ll look out of place if we act that nervous, and if we get swallowed up by the atmosphere of this place, we won’t be able to fulfill our goal.”

“……You’re… right. Sorry. It seems that I misunderstood what our goal should be.”

Klaus scratched his head awkwardly as he continued,

“Our goal is to retrieve the ‘Original Sin’ and capture the culprit who has it. Getting close to someone and collecting information from them is just a means to an end. Getting nervous about a means to an end is like putting the cart before the horse.”

With Klaus’s words, Mimosa breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness. I was seriously thinking that we would have to participate in this matchmaking party and get close to someone.”

‘If you were serious about this, you wouldn’t suddenly ask them what their annual income is…,’ Yuno thought as he said,

“That would be the best way to obtain information, but it’s not absolutely necessary. If it makes you that nervous, then you shouldn’t even bother. This document has all the information we need. Instead, I think we should watch for any suspicious figures.”

“That’s my Yuno! You said everything I wanted to say!!”

Bell said with smug face before suddenly pointing her finger at Klaus and Mimosa.

“Listen up, you two! For the time being, you should be inconspicuous while you keep your eyes peeled for any dangerous looking people! Got it? I repeat, you should be inconspi-Oomf!”

Before Bell could finish what she was saying, Yuno pushed Bell back into his pocket with his index finger. ‘You’re the one who stands out the most’, he thought.

Staying hidden as they watch the enemy… he was bothered by such a passive strategy, but there were too many uncertainties in this mission, such as the identity of the enemy and the true abilities of the ‘Original Sin’. With what little information they have, they should tread cautiously.

“……Hm?”

While he was looking around the venue, he noticed that one section of it had become very noisy. It seemed that someone was at the center table, where the food and alcohol were all lined up.

“UWOOOOOH! I’VE NEVER SEEN SOME OF THIS FOOD BEFORE!! IS IT ALRIGHT IF I EAT ALL OF THIS!? I MEAN, WHY HASN’T ANYONE ELSE EATEN THIS YET!? WHY!?”  

“Huh, you serious? This is Ryuuzencagula wine. I can drink as much of this rare shit as I want?”

The owners of those voices were a teenage boy and a large man. They seemed to be excited about the high quality of the food and alcohol. The nobles around them were staring at them while they either giggled and chuckled or backed away to put some distance between them.

“Hey lady, can I get a to-go box!? It doesn’t look like anyone else is gonna eat this, so I’ll bring the rest of this home!  Ha ha, it tastes so good that it’d be a shame to waste it~!”

“Can you bring as much of this wine as you have? What, you have a whole barrel? Hey~, you serious? What do you plan to do if I get drunk? This matchmaking party sure is sexy~”

Unbothered by all the eyes that were on them, the two of them continued to act in high spirits. In inverse proportion, Klaus and Yuno became increasingly pale. The owners of those voices were two people they were very familiar with. In other words, they sounded an awful lot like the captain of the worst squad in the Magic Knights, the Black Bulls, A.K.A. the God of Destruction, Yami Sukehiro, and Asta, an optimistic member of the same squad. For the second time that day, Klaus looked as if he was about to vomit.

“…..W-what? Yuno, when the captain said he would send us reinforcements……don’t tell me he…”

“It’s just our imagination. They must be someone else, and they just happen to resemble them. There must be nobles like that, too. Talk about shocking.”

Yuno spoke quickly. There was just no way. This was a mission where they weren’t supposed to stand out, so why were the two guys who stand out the most in the Magic Knights dispatched? No, if those two were the only knights available, then it’s possible, but…

“……Anyway, let’s not get involved with them. Even among the Black Bulls…… Captain Yami and Asta are the worst possible combination.”

“You’ve already admitted to knowing their names out loud, though!”

No, even Klaus was already aware. They’ll have to join Asta and Yami at some point, but right now is absolutely not the right time for that. They haven’t even found anything yet, so there was no way they could start working together with those guys.

“Let’s leave this area for now. There’s other rooms, so let’s split up and…… hm?”

Klaus looked around, realizing that Mimosa was gone. He had a bad feeling, so he turned toward the direction where Asta and Yami were making a ruckus, and,

“Huh~! It’s Asta-san and Captain Yami! I’m so glad! Being surrounded by all these people I didn’t know was making me feel so discouraged!”

Her smile was practically sparkling as she spoke with them.

‘HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!’

Klaus looked as if he was about to scream in anger, but it was already too late. Asta and Yami, who were dressed in tailcoat suits, had noticed her, and they were now talking to her.

“Oh, it’s Mimosa! You should try this meat! It’s delicious!”

“Ah, now that I think about it, you guys came here before us. So, who else is with ya?”

“Yuno-san and Klaus-san are over there! Let’s go talk to them together!”

“……..”

Yuno and Klaus silently exchanged glances with each other, both of them thinking the exact same thing. For now, it’s going to be impossible for them not to stand out.  

 “The enemy might be here, and yet you’re acting so stupid…... Just what are you thinking?”

Klaus said to Asta, pressing his temples as if he had just developed a migraine. They stood at a corner in the room where several tables and chairs were placed. They were too conspicuous in the main hall, so they relocated to this room, where Klaus explained their strategy to Asta and Yami in an attempt to rebuild it. Yami leaned back on his chair, speaking as if the whole thing had nothing to do with him,

“My bad, strait-laced glasses. But, it’s not like we meant any harm, so let it slide.”

“No way, you were making a racket with Asta, were you not!? While Asta was acting like that, you…...”

“……I was what, exactly?”

“……Ah, no, um……. sorry.”

Feeling threatened by Yami, Klaus reflexively apologized. It was power harassment from a superior. As a middle manager who also has had to deal with workplace harassment from his juniors… such troubles were something that Klaus became very well-acquainted with this year. Unaware of Klaus’s thoughts, the man who had just harassed him drank some wine as he said,

“Well, don’t worry, I’ll make sure not to stand out more than I already have. You all continue with that strategy of yours.”

Noting that Yami was once again acting as if it were someone else’s problem, Yuno leaned forward as he asked,

“Aren’t you going to take the lead, captain?”

“Nope. This time around, I don’t plan on movin’ all that much. If the higher-ups are always buttin’ in, that doesn’t leave any chance for newbies to grow. I’m sure Vangeance was thinkin’ the same thing.”

“…Is that so?”

Despite his casual reply, Yuno’s respect for Yami went up a bit. He doesn’t usually act like it, but a captain is still a captain. Yami, too, was thinking about how he can cultivate newcomers. While Yuno was admiring him in secret, Yami slowly stood up, carrying the wine he had just received from the waiter over his shoulder.  

“And so, I’m gonna go get drunk off my ass and take a walk through the garden or somethin’. Call me if anythin’ comes up. Ah, but don’t wake me up if I’m nappin’. I’ll send ya flyin’ if you do.”

With that, Yuno’s respect for Yami dropped back to where it was before. Actually, it dropped a little lower. Yami patted Asta’s head and started walking toward the exit.

“Well, see ya. Do your best while you’re rehabilitating, kid.”

“Yes sir! Be careful out there, Captain Yami!”

With that exchange of words, Klaus sighed heavily at the figure that so quickly left them behind.

“Goodness. Why did he even bother coming here, that man……?”

“Well, still, he’ll come help us if something happens. He’s always like that! More importantly……”

Asta slapped Yuno’s back with a wide smile on his face.

“It’s been awhile, Yuno! You’re acting as cool as usual, ya jerk!”

With a slight smile on his face, Yuno retorted,

“Shut up. That hurt. We saw each other at Kiten, so it hasn’t been that long. I see you’re still short.”

“Rejected right away!? Also, my height has nothing to do with this!”

“Come to think of it, Captain Yami mentioned something about you rehabilitating. Are you unwell? Is it your head?”

“What makes you say that!? It’s my arms! My arms! They were all bandaged up when we met at Kiten, remember!? They’re all healed now, but they were both totally messed up!”

“If only they could cure the rest of you.”

“Shut up! What’s will all the verbal abuse!?”

Klaus couldn’t help but laugh as he watched the two quarrel so happily. Mimosa also couldn’t help feeling warm and fuzzy inside as she mumbled “Asta-kun’s so sweet, so tiny…...”. It was a scene that Klaus should bring to a halt, but it had truly been a long time since the two of them were able to talk at their leisure. Klaus knew they were rivals, but, before that, they were practically like twin brothers to each other.  Nobody would blame him if he let them play around a bit more, he thought, but then something started fidgeting about in Yuno’s breast pocket.

‘……. That’s right. I forgot. There’s one person here who couldn’t read the atmosphere around her to save her life, even though she’s a wind spirit.’

“Wait a minute! Why are you chatting things up with my Yuno while completely ignoring me!”

Just as Klaus was expecting, Bell poked her face out of Yuno’s breast pocket and yelled at Asta, causing Asta to step back in surprise.

“Woah!? What the heck, wind spirit! I didn’t know you were here, too!”

“Of course I am! Yuno and I are always together! Isn’t that the first thing they teach you at school!? What kind of life have you been living if you don’t even know that!”

“Don’t say that as if its common knowledge! I’ve been enjoying a completely normal life!”

“……Bell, house. What will you do if someone sees you?”

This time, it was Yuno who stopped the war of words that was unfolding. Just after he stopped their argument with a sigh,

“……Yuno-san, aren’t those people over there acting strange?”

Mimosa gently tugged on Yuno’s sleeve and pointed to a corner of the room with her other hand. When he looked to where she was pointing, he could see about ten men trying to woo five young women. It wasn’t a particularly rare spectacle to see at a matchmaking party, but……

……No.

The rest of the men were being led by one rather rotund individual. Yuno could hear the exchange between him and the five young women.

“Considering that you’re all nobles from the backwoods, you lot have some nerve refusing an invitation from me, the next head of the Burlington family!”

“……Ah, no, um…… it’s not that we were… refusing you, but, um……”

“Then accept my invitation to my estate! I’m telling you that I’ll let you all visit my private room!”

Despite the fact his invitation was clearly in deviation of proper manners, the other partygoers around them pretended not see anything, and the waiters and waitresses hurriedly continued their duties without stopping them. The Burlington household. It was a name Yuno had never even heard of before, but it must be a name that holds some weight around here. Considering the circumstances surrounding their mission, it wouldn’t be good to stand out more than they already have, but……

Yuno asked Klaus as if the answer was already obvious,

“Klaus-senpai, I can go help them, right?”

“No way…… even if I were to say that, you would still go anyway, right? Asta’s here, too……”

Klaus sighed, but smiled in the next instant and said,

“Well, I don’t intend to turn a blind eye, either. However, please wait for a bit. We should think of a way to resolve things quiet-“

Before Klaus could finish, Asta rushed into fray with blazing speed.

“HEEEEY! You bastards! Those girls clearly don’t like you, so stop that!”

“Can’t you listen to what other people are saying before acting out!”

Asta managed to weave his way through the crowd. The fat man who lead the group shouted aggressively,

“What the hell, you bastard! Don’t you know you’re speaking to Zable Burlington!”

“I don’t care if your name is Zable or Cable! No matter who you are, trying to force a girl to go out with you when she doesn’t want to is wrong!”

“Oh? These girls don’t want to go out with me? So, they rejected me? I see! Then, it’s fair for me to say that they committed a heinous act of disrespect toward me, right!?”

Not understanding what was going on, Asta turned to look at the girls, only to see them shake their heads in denial, looking as if they were about to cry. He didn’t know anything about the circumstances of nobility, but he did understand that, right now, those girls’ circumstances were terrible.

Watching Asta fall silent, Zable’s mood became cheerful as he sneered,  

“So, which household are you from? You’ll have to atone for your rash remarks toward me…. Huh? Who are you, you bastard!?”

Klaus had arrived at the scene, coughing once to catch Zable’s attention before speaking,

“I apologize for my companion’s rude behavior. However, please leave it at that. This spectacle is starting to bother everyone here.”

Klaus chose his words carefully, trying to discourage his opponent without sounding contemptuous. As a result, Zable dialed back his arrogant attitude a little before responding,

“W-what’s with you? Are you trying to lecture me!? Tell me which household you’re from! Your household!”

“For reasons I cannot divulge here, I cannot tell you. However, it’s a household with quite a bit of status.”

‘I-I should say something, too!’ Thinking this, Mimosa stepped forward and said,

“T-that’s right! That’s right! Umm…… t-that’s right!”

“Mimosa, please, just stop. You don’t have to say anything,” Klaus said.

Yuno slowly lowered his gaze toward Mimosa. In truth, her household name probably easily surpasses Zable’s in terms of power, but there would be a big fuss if they revealed her name, which would impact their mission. He probably wouldn’t believe her, anyway.

Zable was a little bit frightened by Klaus’s firm attitude, but he scoffed in an attempt to hide that fact.

“Ha, ha ha! I bet your household isn’t all that big a deal, right!? That’s why you’re keeping your mouth shut, right!?”

With that, Yuno stepped forward with cold eyes.

“We can tell you once the party is over, but…. would you really be okay with that?”

Yuno made his bluff with a lowered voice and sharp eyes. When it came to applying silent pressure, Yuno was better than Klaus.

“The world of nobility is a vertically structured one. I’m sure you can figure out what happens…… when one with lower status attempts to snarl at those above him.”

“……Tch.”

Zable finally fell silent, making Yuno and Klaus confident in their victory. They were ready to say something like, “For now, let’s all pretend that none of this ever happened,” and leave things be, but…

“……What the hell? What the hell is up with you!? Why are you getting in my way again!!?”

“……Huh?”

“Why did bastards like you show up again!? I’m, I’m……!”

Yuno’s and Klaus’s mouths hung open at Zable’s incoherent words. His eyes became bloodshot, and he clenched his teeth so tightly that blood began to ooze from his mouth. There was no reason for him to be this agitated.

‘What’s wrong with this guy? Something weird is going on…...’

Sensing the strange atmosphere around him, one of Zable’s followers purposefully yelled loud enough for the rest of the venue to hear him,

“Z-Zable-sama! You were invited to play a game in the garden by a very important nobleman earlier, right? We have plenty of time, so why not check it out?”

“……Y-you’re right. You’re absolutely right. I have no time to waste on this lot!”

It appeared that Zable returned to normal. He turned around to leave, and, as he passed by Asta, said with a low voice,

“Hmph. That face of yours lacks character. I can tell that you, at least, are a nobleman of low status…… I won’t forget about your earlier rant.”

With those biting parting remarks, he took his followers and left the vicinity. Though he left behind such inflammatory words, Asta let him leave in peace. Seeing this, Klaus put his hand on his chest in relief, and Yuno karate chopped Asta’s head.

“Ouch! What are you doing!?”

“Don’t give me that. You shouldn’t just rush in without thinking.”

“I mean, I couldn’t just ignore what I was seeing! Still, you guys really helped me out! Thanks!”

“What’s with the mixed reaction? Are you angry or are you grateful? Pick one.”

“……Just leave it at that, you two. We’re already standing out, badly.”

Thinking that they’ve already stood out enough as is, Klaus decided to intervene. After seeing their exchange with Zable, the other party-goers have started avoiding Yuno and the others. It’s only natural. Nobody would willingly associate themselves with people who have earned the resentment of a noble with considerable political power. With this, it’s going to be difficult to collect information.

……. Well, that was bound happen. It was clear to Klaus when they joined with Asta that if he saw someone acting so blatantly terribly, Asta would be unable to ignore it and cause a fuss.

“Uh…… um, t-thank you very much!”

“Hm? Ah, you are…”

While Klaus was feeling dejected, the girls they saved came forward. A blonde girl stood in front, and, with flushed cheeks, said to Yuno,

“Apologies for the late introduction, but I’m Dina of the Habelot household. What’s your name?”

“Ah, I’m Yuno. Umm, my last name is……”

Yuno scratched his head, trying to decide on an alias. In that instant, something in his breast pocket began squirming about.

“Hey, don’t look at my Yuno with such amorous eyes!”

Bell leaped out of his pocket.

“H-hey! Bell!”

Seemingly unable to hear Yuno’s attempts to restrain her, Bell zipped around Dina, who stood dumbfounded.

“What’s with you, anyway!? Wearing a V-neck just because your boobs are kinda big! Plus, you’re wearing a pushup bra to give yourself more cleavage, aren’t you!? I have you all figured out, so……… Gasp!”

After going off for some time, she suddenly returned to her senses and stopped what she was saying. Then, with a stiff smile, she sputtered awkwardly,

“N-nice to meet you. I’m Bell…… I-I was on a diet to get ready for today’s party, and I went a little too far with it, so…… I became this tiny. Eh he he.”

‘What kind of excuse is that!?’ Everyone thought, realizing that their mission was done for. Of course, Dina, the girls behind her, and even the other nobles in the vicinity froze in complete and utter shock, thinking, ‘What the heck is that!?’. Everyone could feel that it was only a matter of time before their shock would turn into an uproar. Yuno alone remained calm. Looking at Bell like a parent looking at their child in disappointment, he picked her up by the nape of her neck and said,

“I’m sorry for startling you. This is my magic tool. Isn’t it amazing? It even talks.”

“M-magic tool!? Who’re you call-OOF!”

Yuno pinched a little harder with his fingertips, and Bell started moving her mouth like a toy.

“……Y-yes, that’s right. I am a magic tool. Yuno’s magic tool. A cute magic tool,” she said obediently.

“Y-yeah……”

The rest of Yuno’s group looked at each other’s faces in doubt, not finding his explanation particularly believable, but they knew that this was their only way out. After all, Bell’s true identity was just as unbelievable. Yuno took advantage of the situation and asked,

“I like collecting unusual magic tools like the one you see here. Do you know if there’s anyone at today’s party who’s knowledgeable about that sort of thing? If there is, I would like to talk to them."

Dina looked uncomfortable as she answered,

“There is, but…… this person is rather difficult to talk to.”

“……How so?”

“Stop putting on airs and answer his question already! You’re one of those types, right? You think that a man will be yours if you show off a little collarbone and expose your wrists and ankles? That kind of shallow thinking is-GAH!”

Yuno pinched a little harder again, impressed by how quickly this chatterbox spirit could talk. Watching the two of them, Dina couldn’t help but laugh before answering,

“One of the participants of today’s event is a famous collector of magic tools…… his name is Zable.”

“Zable? You mean that guy from earlier who was acting all self-important?”

Dina nodded in response to Asta’s question. Once again, she looked disgusted as she continued,

“Yes. Just recently, he was boasting about how he just obtained another rare magic tool.”

“…………….!”

Hearing this, Yuno and the others frowned as they exchanged glances. Now that she mentioned it, during the quarrel they had earlier, his words had become incoherent, and he suddenly started acting violent. Those were both symptoms of one who holds the ‘Original Sin’. It’s too quick to say for certain, but if a guy like that has the ‘Original Sin’, then there’s going to be trouble.

“What should we do? I’d love to go ask him about it, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to talk to us,” Asta said to Klaus.

“And guess whose fault that is! Anyway…… if you end up talking to Zable again, don’t say anything that might irritate him. We don’t know what could trigger him.”

Realizing just how dangerous their earlier exchange with Zable actually was, Klaus’s blood ran cold.

“Yeah, you have a point there……,” Asta agreed.

“We need someone to talk to him and get the details, someone he hasn’t met already……”

In other words……

“Ah…. I know! We can ask Captain Yami to talk to him!”

Mimosa piped up as if she just had a wonderful idea. Of course, Klaus had thought of this as well, but if they ask that guy to do it, then he’ll end up torturing the poor fellow rather than interrogating him…… However, they had no other options, so they’ll just have to prepare for the worst. Klaus sighed deeply before turning toward everyone to say,

“……Let’s search for Captain Yami. Though this makes me uneasy, we’ll have to ask the captain to listen to what Zable has to say.”

 “Shit……Shit…… to think I’d let people like that make a fool out of me……!!”

Zable stood in a garden on the east side of the mansion, cursing as he played his game. There were a variety of easy to use tools prepared for the game. Currently, Zable was playing a game called “Child’s Play”, a peacefully simple game where players manipulate life-sized wooden puppets with magic and have them compete in foot races and arm-wrestling contests. However, Zable was using his wooden figure to smash his opponent’s figure to pieces, so he wasn’t exactly playing the game by the book.

Incidentally, his opponents were a man and a woman who had been walking through the garden. They had a good atmosphere going on between them earlier, so Zable forced them to be his opponents and beat them down. He found it hysterical that the man looked as if he was about to cry. Even so, this wasn’t enough to dispel his melancholy.

“……..-ble-sama, Zable-sama.”

“…….Yeah?”

Zable noticed that one of his followers was calling out to him. Apparently, he had been calling his name many times now, but he never noticed. He sounded frightened, looking at the wooden puppet as he spoke,

“Um……I think you might be overdoing things, just a little…….”

“………..”

Looking at his opponent’s doll, he noted that its head was smashed, and both his doll’s and his opponent’s doll’s fists were crushed.

“……Ah, my bad, my bad. These dolls are just too weak, so I broke them. Let’s go.”

He waved his hand at his opponent, who hurriedly took the hand of the woman he was with and left. As he watched them leave, Zable put his hand on his chest. Right now…… there was a magic tool in the shape of grimoire inside him. Ever since he obtained this tool, he has become much more aggressive. Lately, he has felt as if the tool has been spurring him on.

Well, now he has much more magical power flowing through him thanks to this tool, so such trivial details are hardly a problem.

‘Besides, if I didn’t have this power, then I would once again be……’

“……Now then, let’s look for another opponent.”

Zable shook his head lightly as if to dispel his thoughts and looked around the garden. Doing so, he spotted a man sleeping on a bench not too far away. He was large man, about 30 years old, with an unshaven face. Noting the bottle of wine the man was holding under his arms as he slept, Zable figured that the matchmaking party must not have gone well for him, and the man was trying to sleep off his disappointment.

“……Perfect. Let’s take a short break, then we’ll make that old man our opponent.”

 — To be continued in Part 2—

As usual, I’ll post the second half of this chapter next week. The Golden Dawn is such a cute squad. They’re all so shy, and William felt so bad for sending them to a matchmaking party…..

I feel bad for Klaus, though, having his hobbies dissed like that. And then he was getting bullied by not only Yuno, but also Bell and Mimosa, and later, Yami. He and Marx need a support group.

[fandom-collective-writers]

Reader x Mitsuhide {IkeSen} - Shibari with the Kitsune

Title: Shibari with the Kitsune Fandom: Ikemen Sengoku Character: Mitsuhide Akechi Genre: i only come back to write smut Warnings: kinky time  Kinks: dom!fem, silk bondage, face sitting (oral), riding, milkd dirty talk, etc Intended Gender Audience: Female Audience  Word Count: 1723 words POV: second person Requested by: @alerialumina (”You heard me. Take. It. Off.”)  Written by: @mythiica Other comments: i gave up with the title after about a minute  :D

When you had asked Mitsuhide if he was alright with the notion of allowing you, his little mouse, to take lead of the night’s adventures, he raised a white eyebrow. His golden eyes narrowed accordingly, like he was looking for your smile to waver out of embarrassment. When Mitsuhide cannot find it, he smiles, with teeth. “Alright then, you’ve gotten my attention. You wish to control me? I welcome it–” 

          Mitsuhide the Masochist, you like to call him (in the privates of your own mind, for if he knew that you named him that, he would tease you without end) because of his interesting fascination with bondage. Not only did tying a delicate rope or silken thread around your curves make him painfully excited, but it has nearly the same effect when inflicted on himself. You assume it has something to do with his part time occupation as the designated interrogator-torturer– would you ever learn? Likely not. 

         Regardless of this, you take to preparing everything with great care. Mitsuhide enjoys himself, indulging in the occasional sip of sake as you scramble around the room, trying to arrange everything. 

         “At this rate, I’ll have to cancel my meetings for tomorrow–” 

         Grumbling in response, you stick your tongue out at Mitsuhide and continue. The kitsune would not get inside your head, not this time. 

         And then, when you pull out a beautiful, royal purple silk rope, his eyes seem to light up. It might have been the flicker of the candle light reflecting in that piercing gaze of his, but you become far too distracted because Mitsuhide begins undressing himself. A viscous motion there, and then another, equally smooth slip of his shoulders– and suddenly he is sporting absolutely nothing. 

         “Where do you want me, little mouse?” 

         “Y’know, it doesn’t help that you still call me that–” 

         He pads forward, carrying no shame in the slightest, and pushes your hair back enough to kiss your pulse. “Pray tell, what should I call you? Mistress? My lady…?” 

         Your heart flutters at this– the fact that Mitsuhide is so willing to submit himself to your will. He’s versatile in nearly everything he does, and you curse him for it, because that is usually how he ends up on top by the end of every night. However, today will be different, you tell yourself, dragging your fingernails up his torso. Your touch is as light as possible, and it raises goosebumps to the surface of his skin before a shiver echoes down his arms. 

         “Hm?” 

         “My lady works well…” you reply with confidence, taking his wrists together to wrap them with one pass of the silk. “But I won’t call you pet.. or mouse, or anything like that.” 

         “Whyever not~?” he hums in response, lacing his fingers together for you. 

         You start to pace around Mitsuhide, bringing the rest of rope around his torso. Making sure his nipples stay exposed, you pull on it sharply, so that the fabric is taught against his skin. “Because I know you like the sound of your name on my lips–” 

         Mitsuhide groans at this. One of his few vices, and you’ve found it so easily. “Say it then.” 

         “Not yet!” 

         Heat radiates from his muscles, and you take pleasure in tracing the curve of his waist and then the dip down to his hips… You push Mitsuhide down so that his knees land on the plush futon. The last thing to do is restrain his legs. (And a good thing too, because you are nearly out of ribbon length. You didn’t realize how broad his chest is– you used most of it going around his breast and waist.) 

         Your present is perfectly wrapped and sits almost too obediently in front of you, awaiting orders. 

         He’s started to get hard, you can see the veins tensing every other moment until Mitsuhide clicks his tongue. “My lady… what shall you do to me… or have me do to you?” 

         Confidence bubbles in your lungs, and you untie your obi, letting it drop to the ground with a dull thud. Next comes the outermost layer of your kimono, but you leave the underslip and simply part it further along the leg slit. 

         Taking a handful of Mitsuhide’s hair, you pull his head back enough that you can sit yourself comfortably on his face. He knows what to do without having to be told– Mitsuhide’s tongue, usually sharp with words, delves into your core, swirling around without a moment’s hesitation. Taking a mouthful of your cunt, Mitsuhide relishes in the taste of your essence, sparing no expense to roll his hips and grind against the bindings, trying to find a sliver of relief himself. 

         “Nuh-uh–” you groan, tugging on his hair. Mitsuhide goes still, save for his lips that work your clit in every direction possible. He pulls all of his tricks and goes as far as to bite your outermost folds, trying to surprise you. 

         Pulling on his silvery locks would only urge him on more, you know this, so you instead step back. His chin, wet with slick, glistens in the light and makes you flush the slightest bit. Had you really gotten so wet from such little play? 

         “Behave or else–” 

         Mitsuhide licks his lips. “I do apologize, my lady. I got carried away. You taste divine…” If he were not restrained, Mitsuhide would have licked his fingers and wiped his chin. Instead, he tips his head upwards, as if asking for more. 

         This time, you rest your leg on his desk, opening yourself to him. Mitsuhide scoots forward, but not enough, so he has to lean forward and tense his abdominal muscles to reach you. He takes a single, languid lap every moment, torturing himself more than you. 

         You think you hear a whimper sound from his throat, and you push his face against you. While you hold him there, you grind against his wet tongue and moan. For a moment, you forget that he’s bound and nearly ask him to finger you. 

         However, Mitsuhide would be able to make you cum without needing for fingering. There’s a certain skill in his tongue that allows him to know exactly how to pleasure you. Indeed, before long, the knot builds up in your stomach and you are ready to explode. Mitsuhide reduces his motions though, however, you won’t let him get away with it– you push against his tongue, not letting him escape so quickly. He isn’t in control, and you want that to be clear. 

         “Hm… Mitsuhide– you’re behaving very well.” 

         He twitches at this, his whole body does, and you giggle because of it. His moans vibrate your clit enough to push you over the said edge. The warm rush bursts through you, drowning Mitsuhide. He doesn’t dare lean back though. 

         In fact, your lover continues to lap at you even through your orgasm. You have to step away from him and regain your bearings. “Mitsuhide…” 

         Smiling at you, he licks his lips. “Yes, my lady?” 

         Not replying right away, you guide Mitsuhide over to the futon once more. He sits on his knees, waiting patiently for you. By the look on his face, he seemingly expects you to take pleasure in his tongue once more, but instead, you sit on his lap. 

         Letting the fabric of your skirt fan out, you sit with your soaked pussy against his now throbbing cock. 

         “Hm… is it my turn to be rewarded?” 

         “If you want..” 

         “Oh, I do.” Mitsuhide presses his chest against yours, hard nipples grinding over your own. “Will you indulge me?” 

         There’s no need to fetch extra lubricant – the wetness from your folds and the precum from his cock are enough to allow him to simply slide inside. His tip rubs against your walls, reminding you of all the other wonderful times you shared with Mitsuhide. 

         You failed to tie the silk tight enough, and it starts to fall of his shoulders and loosen from his legs, allowing him enough movement to buck up into you. Mitsuhide lets his mouth hang open to moan for you, singing out his praises for your wonderful display of authority. 

         Riding him, he takes every liberty of showing off. Chest protruding, Mitsuhide laps at your neck and jaw, leaving small bites in his wake to mark you still– you do the same for him, knowing that the window of his kimono will be low enough to reveal the beautiful bruises. 

         Mitsuhide’s cock tenses against your walls. (You can’t really believe that he’s already this close to cumming. Usually he likes to show off that he can last ages without release just because he wants to focus on you. Now, it seems to be the opposite. 

         You have so much energy, and you pour it into bouncing up and down at a constant speed– enough to keep him drooling and moaning and utterly sinful. So wicked that you want to do this again and again. Being the one in control is so much fun, and you see why Mitsuhide likes it. 

         “I know what you’re thinking. This is a single treat for a single day!” 

         “Mitsuhide…” you mewl, tracing his face with a finger. “Then I’ll stop right here. And leave you bound.” 

         His eyes go wide at this, but then he smiles. “You’ve learned a thing or two from me, haven’t you?” 

         “Yes…” You throw your arms over his shoulders and kiss him everywhere, careful to keep your rhythm constant. “Now, don’t you want to cum?” Your smile grows ever devious, just like his when he edges you. 

         “Hm… I’ll give you the satisfaction you seek. Yes, I do~” 

         The ropes have fallen almost completely off at this point, and Mitsuhide nips your lips. 

         “Take. It Off.” 

         “My lady?” 

         “You heard me. Take it off– I know you can. You’ve been acting this entire time.” 

         Mitsuhide swallows hard and his gaze softens. “So I have.” With that, he shrugs his shoulders and the silk falls away, giving him his full range of motion back. His hands take their rightful place on your hips, and he pushes you all the way down. “But I’ll do what you ask me to do,” the kitsune adds with a whisper. 

         “Good… then I’ll ask you only one thing.” 

         “Do tell me, my lady.” 

         “Make me cum.”

[inorganicone2230]

Divine Intervention (Part 6) Yandere!Erasermic x Fem!Reader

Part 5 Part 7/Finale

Summary: Sometimes a little divine intervention is necessary to take back the ones we love… weather they want it or not.

Warnings: NON-CON AHEAD!!!, mentions of suicide, kidnapping, forced poly relationship, emotional and mental manipulation, possible trigger warnings, see tags below for more…

Side Note: I do not and never will condone the actions committed in this and future chapters, please be mindful and respectful of the fact that all of this is purely fiction.

⚠️THERE IS NON-CON AHEAD!!! READ AHEAD AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION!!!⚠️

Shouta flashed you a dirty smile, “Our worst huh?” He reached out to run his knuckles along your cheek, he saw in your eyes how badly you wished to be able to turn away from him and some part of him was deeply satisfied that you could not, that he had this level of control over you. You were their lovely obedient little doll and he couldn't wait for them to ruin you. “I rather think we are going to be giving you our best. Is that not right, Zashi?”

Your breath hitched as long slim fingers began to caress your thighs inching closer and closer to your center while Hizashi hummed his agreement into your sensitive ear. “Our very best.”

“Would you like to know what I had in mind for earlier, why I went and got her little accessory for her? I just know we are all going to enjoy it.”

“I highly fucking doubt that.” You spat. They ignored you.

The words caused waves of excitement to roll off of the blond however as his breathing picked up a notch and he pressed his aching cock into your lower back. “Of course I do! You have kept me on the edge all this time, now tell me Shouta. Don't make me beg.”

A deep chuckle left the dark haired man's lips at hearing the eagerness in his lover's voice, but he figured that he should be kind and not draw out his suffering any longer. “Didn't you say earlier that you were dying to have a taste of her?”

“Please tell me this is going where I think it is Shou?” He sounded so desperate and needy.

Shouta’s eyes flashed red again, though this time in lust rather than frustration. “If you are so eager to find out, then lay down with your head near the edge of the bed.”

You were surprised that the blond didn't fumble in his haste. Moving from behind you to lay as he was told, his long golden hair fanned out around him like a halo. You realize how ironic that comparison is, considering that the two are more monster than angel, their apparent divinity notwithstanding.

Shouta’s nimble fingers began to untie his trousers and let them drop. He took great pleasure in the way your eyes zeroed in and widened upon seeing  his cock as it sprung free. “How about it Zashi? You taste her, while she tastes me.”

You froze, another memory from the past reminding you that, while the two of them enjoyed fucking you mercilessly, what they really loved was all the foreplay that came beforehand. Weather it was giving it or reviving it. And the thought of taking The Death Gods massive girth into your unwilling mouth was positively revolting when you recall how he would make you swallow his finish.

Hizashi meanwhile seemed more than amicable to what his counterpart was suggesting. “Do you even have to ask.” Just the thought of delving his tongue into your tight warm cunt was enough to make his mouth water, but to include being able to look up and watch Shouta fuck your sweet little mouth while he did the same to you, that alone almost made him cum right than and there.

You knew what was coming before the words had even left Shouta’s lips and you wished more than anything that you could block out the sound of their voices. “Climb over him and sit on his face (Y/N), show us that pretty pussy of yours so he can get you ready for us. We promised you pleasure, and we fully intend on delivering.”

Your body moves of its own accord, it's a strange sensation, to feel yourself move like normal but with no control over the movements. Your knees slide across the smooth silk of the sheets as you inch your way over to Hizashi’s form, lifting one leg to climb and settle yourself over his smug face. Without warning, his nose immediately burying itself in your still clothed sex and groans, “You smell so good babe, I am going to fucking eat you alive.” You cringe at his use of this new nickname and you silently wonder if you could suffocate him by dropping all your weight onto his face. The fucker would probably die with that cocky smile still in place.

Your train of thought is interrupted however, when you suddenly feel your panties being torn away, cool air hitting your newly exposed skin. Your eyes shooting up to glare daggers at a smirking Shouta who twirls the torn fabric around his finger before tossing them away. “Don't look at me like that Kitten, it's not as if you needed them anymore.” He said, stepping closer to the bed. “I know I said I you could voice your protests, but for now we are going to need you to keep them to yourself, at least until we are done with this. After all, those lips of yours are going to be rather busy in a moment.” He reached out and gripped the back of your head, bringing your face closer to his twitching cock and rubbing the swollen head against your lips, coating them with pre-cum, “Now suck. And do be mindful of your teeth.” He ordered.

You felt nauseous as your lips parted and he slowly pushed his way into your warm wet mouth. He threw back his head at the exquisite feeling of your tongue gliding along the underside of his cock. It was not an easy thing and your jaw was already straining, tears welling up in your eyes. He wasn't as long as Hizashi, but he was extremely thick. So thick in fact that you remembered even Hizashi’s long fingered hands were just barely able to wrap all the way around him.

Speaking of your other tormentor, apparently he decided that he had been ignored long enough when he gave your pussy an experimental lick that had your hips bucking. He swore his eyes nearly rolled back into his head at the heavenly taste. “I knew you would taste just as good as you look. It's such a pretty pussy (Y/N), all pink and your clit is even swollen, like it's begging for me to suck it.” He wasted no more time as he enthusiastically began sucking and licking at your quickly dampening cunt,swirling his tongue around your clit.

The blonds actions below you had you moaning as your mind went blank for a moment. The sound causing a pleasant vibration to run up Shouta’s cock as he started to thrust just a little deeper into your waiting throat. “O-oh fuck, she is certainly enjoying whatever you are doing to her down there Zashi, don't-don’t stop.”

Hizashi chuckled against your dripping entrance, “I wasn't planning on it. She's far too sweet to let even one drop go to waste. It's like eating fucking candy.” He did take a moment to pause and look up at you both. The sight had his cock throbbing in anticipation. Shouta’s head was thrown back in bliss as his hands fisted in your hair, tugging you back and forth across the portion of his huge dick that could fit in your mouth. You were even better in his eyes, your plump lips wrapped around his thrusting cock as drool dribbled down your chin and neck, little trails of it running through the valley of your breasts. The movements caused your tits to shake in time with your bobbing head and he couldn't resist sliding his hands up from your thighs in order to pinch and fondle the bouncing treats while his lips and tongue sought out your clit again.

The whimpers and moans were involuntary, you knew that, but still hated it all the same. You hated feeling anything even remotely pleasant during this, no matter if it was just reactionary. You couldn't deny that, while you were thoroughly disgusted by the abuse your mouth was taking, The God of Life really did know how to use his. His kept moving his tongue back and forth, one minute fucking your hole with the long flexible muscle, and the next swirling it around your clit. You were nearing the edge and you prayed to any other Deity that might be listening  that neither of them would notice. If they made you cum so soon, it was only going to fuel their drive to make it happen more and more.

Shouta was already so very close, the feel of your warm wet lips stretching over his cock and the subtle vibrations that your moaning caused were quickly driving him straight into his first release of the night. It wouldn't be long now, but before that happened, there was one more thing he wanted from you. Forcing his eyes open, he looked down at you and nearly cam right then and there. You were breathtaking, head bobbing on his cock, tears and saliva running down your cheeks and chin, glimpses of Hizashi eating your sweet cunt like it was his last meal. But he only needed one thing to make the image perfect.

“Look up at me.” You did, unwillingly, but you did. And you tried to convey how much you you were sickened by him while doing so. Shouta found it endearing how you tried to look so disgruntled while sucking him off. “Now don't look at me like that Kitten, I just want to see your full expression when you swallow my seed and Zashi makes you cum.” He said it like it was the most natural thing in the world. “Do you think you can get her off soon Zashi?”

The golden haired god smirked against your dripping folds, “I think I can manage that. She's already tensing up. She will be screaming for us in no time.” He said, dropping his hands back down to grip your inner thighs before resuming his pleasurable task. He felt you clenching down on his tongue every time he swirled it deep inside you and he couldn't stop imagining what it would be like to finally fill you with his cock. To feel your soft tight insides wrap around him while he fucked you into endless oblivion and pumped you full of cum. You were so wet for them right now that he had no doubt about how easily he could slip himself inside you. The thoughts had him pulling you harder against his face in a mad effort to finish you off as quickly as possible, because as much as he wanted to feel you cum on his face, he wanted you to cum on his cock even more.

You screamed around Shouta’s cock when you felt Hizashi’s tongue press even deeper into your hole, the sensations spreading like a wildfire through you as your traitorous body began to buck even harder against his face. Your mind hated the feelings they were forcing on you, but your body was unconsciously seeking gratification, striving to have that coil deep in your belly unwind. And if he kept going at this pace, it wouldn't be much longer.

Shouta’s grip on your hair tightened as he felt the telltale tightening of his sack, indicating his oncoming release and he began to thrust even harder into your mouth. “You're such a good girl letting me fuck your face like this, you're doing so well, I am going to cum soon.”

It was all too much, between the choking pace Shouta was setting in your mouth, Hizashi working his mouth over your drenched cunt and the filthy words they spoke, it was all you could take as you felt your orgasm wash over you. Spine bending, you would have thrown your head back to cry out if it wasn't for Shouta’s hold on your hair pushing you even further down his cock as you felt his hot seed hit the back of your throat.

You were breathtaking, moaning so sweetly around him, eyes wide open and still watching his face, back arched, hips still moving erratically over the blonds face as he worked you down from your high, and the best part was feeling the head of his cock hit the back of your throat. He could see the way your throat contracted as you swallowed it. “That's it sweetheart,” He coaxed, petting your hair with one hand while the other stroked your cheek. “drink it all. You're going to down every last drop.” He slowly pulled out of your mouth only once he was sure you had drank it all. You sputtered and coughed, sucking air back into your greedy lungs. His hand continued to gently stroke your cheek as he smiled down on you with affection. “You took your punishment so well Kitten, I think a performance like that deserves a reward, don't you?”

Now that your mouth was free, you could feel whatever control the collar had over your voice fading. “You should drop dead is what I think.” You wheezed, your voice sounding dry and horse, not nearly as angry and confident as you wanted it to.

Reaching down, The God of Death hoisted you up by your thighs so Hizashi could sit up, before gently laying you back down on the bed. “Just keep your eyes on us.” That was all he said as he turned to grab Hizashi by the back of the neck to bring him in for a deep kiss. You watched their lips and tongues slide together in an effortless dance as Shouta began to remove the blonds trousers and give his long length a few pumps. Even without the memories or dreams, you would have been hard pressed to try and deny the obvious love the two had for one another. Every touch and caress they laid on each other, weather gentle or rough, was filled with care. You only wished they could have left you out of it.

“Can you taste her on me Shou? Isn't she delicious?” Hizashi asks, his voice husky as Shouta takes his time licking the remnants of your juices off his partners face. “She really does. I’ll have to try it straight from the source later on.” He turned a devilish smirk your way, “It's the least I can do after she sucked my cock so well.”

“But first, it's my turn. I have been patient and waited long enough to have her Shou. You just sit back and enjoy the show, join us when your ready to go again.” Hizashi kissed him once more before turning back to you. 

The closer he got, the more your panic began to set in. You knew you were truly about to lose your virginity to them once again when he brought two fingers to your opening and pushed them in. You gasped at the sudden intrusion as he began to thrust and scissor them inside you, stretching you in preparation for his cock. “Please! Please stop!” You screamed, even as he brought you to orgasm a second time before removing the digits and sucking them off. 

You were spent and in one final last ditch attempt to end this madness you whispered a begging plea. “Please don't Hizashi, I don't want to do this. I’ll do anything, just please stop. Don't take this any further.” Tears fell down your cheeks as he ignored your words and settled himself between your legs, pulling you by your hips till your entrance was lined up with his cock.

He was practically vibrating as he brought you closer and closer to his throbbing dick. But he did take notice when you began to cry, big fat crocodile tears running down your cheeks as you begged him to stop. Deep down, some long buried part of him knew that this was wrong, that he should have ended it the moment you told them to. But a much larger part, the part that loved you, the part that was irrevocably and undeniably obsessed with you, told him that this was just a one time thing. That after tonight you would be sharing their bed with them willingly, that they would never again have to forcefully tie you down to make love to you. That was the part of himself he chose to listen to when he sets his eyes on you, a bittersweet smile adorning his handsome face as he brushes away your tears.

“That's not going to happen Sweetling. I really wish this first time could be different, but your just too stubborn to see the truth. Just lay back and enjoy it, I know I will be.” He presses the head against your tight entrance and in one go slides in all the way to his base before bottoming out. “Ah fuck!” He cries out at the feel of you squeezing down on him so well already. “We made sure the medicine we gave you earlier would erase the pain for you. You won't feel any discomfort.” He gasps into your ear and presses his chest against yours.You don't respond, too shocked by the feel of him filling you up and stretching you so well and the sheer overwhelming pleasure that comes with it.

He uses that as a distraction to kiss you, shoving his tongue in your mouth and swallowing your cries for the next few moments before pulling back to grab your hips and slam into you, forcing your body to meet him thrust for thrust. “You feel so good and wet wrapped around me. Like my own personal cock-sleeve.” He feels a twisted kind of satisfaction watching you come undone like this. Bright green eyes taking in the way your breasts bounce with every thrust, the way your mouth hangs open while you moan and pant, your flushed skin covered in a thin layer of sweat, and best of all is watching his dick slide in and out of your sopping wet cunt.

Meanwhile, Shouta was getting hard again. From his position at the end of the bed, he could see the way Hizashi’s dick pounded into your dripping wet cunt. And the way you were moaning and crying, out of your mind from the near instant overload of pleasure, it was like music to his ears. He couldn't wait anymore! He got on the bed and touched Hizashi’s back. “May I join in?”

The other man never broke his demanding pace as he turned to face the second love of his life. “Took you long enough. You must have really spent yourself that first go round.” He teasingly mocked his better half. “What can I say, it felt like she sucked out a piece of my soul. What man wouldn't need a bit of a rest after that.” Shouta shot back.

You register that they are speaking, but the words go over your head. You were drowning, never before -not even in the past- had you experienced these levels of intense arousal. The throbbing ache between your legs was only getting stronger the longer the blonde pounded into you. It was like something was keeping you right on the edge but not letting you topple over the precipice. More than once you almost caved and would consider giving in, begging them to let you cum again… but you forced that urge down. You would not give in.

You were so wrapped up in trying to control your raging desire and keep yourself in check that you almost didn't notice when Hizashi suddenly rolled over onto his back, bringing you with him. And with your arms still tied behind your back, you could do nothing more then lay there on top of him as he fucked you tirelessly from this new angle that hit your g-spot and -unfortunately- has you screaming out in ecstasy.

“That's right, sing for us Baby. Let us hear those pretty notes.” The blonde praises, rewarding you by hitting that spot several more times as he plants his feet on the bed and thrusts upward with even more force than before, while his hand finds its way between your bodies to seek out your clit, rubbing it furiously. “Cum for me (Y/N)! I want you to squeeze down on my cock so hard that you never forget who it is that your tight little pussy belongs to! It's ours, only ours!”

This third orgasm hits you fast and hard, it leaves you as nothing more than a gasping, quivering mess as you do exactly what he order and clench down on him so hard that your mildly amazed you didn't snap the appendage right off. But, as tired and exhausted as you are, you know he's not done, neither of them are. He’s still hard inside you and you know that means your in for far more.

“My sweet darling girl. I hope you're not too tired, I still need to finish. And Shou still needs to have a chance after all.” He gives a soft a soft kiss to your shoulder. “Good thing we can have a go at the same time.”

You don't like the sound of that. “Wait w-what does that m-mean?”

Your question is answered when Hizashi runs his hands down your back to your ass. He takes a soft cheek in each hand and gives them both a firm squeeze before spreading them apart. “Instead of telling you, how about we just let him show you.”

It doesn't take a genius to figure out what he is implying and your eyes widen when it dawns on you. “NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT!” Your scream is deafening and you fight with every ounce of strength oh have to try and get away, but all you can do is lay there, their orders from earlier still locking you in place.

You felt Shouta’s presence behind you right before his broad back was pressed against your own and his breath was hot against ear. “Don't fret Kitten, I'll make sure that this is one of the best experiences of your life. I promise there will be no pain.” 

However lethargic you were still feeling from the multiple orgasms, it was pushed to the back of your mind in favor of panicking. “You two are fucking sick, you know that?! You claim to love me, yet here I am begging you to not use me like some sex toy, and your still going through with it anyway! You're just proving my point more and more with every violation.” You truly wished that you could do more than lay there like a limp rag doll. “Admit it! Neither of you really loves me. You just wanted someone else to fuck and you use the excuse of loving me as a way to make yourselves feel better about it!” You all lay there in silence for a moment and you think maybe they are just ignoring you like always. A sharp pain tells you otherwise when Shouta pulls your head back by your hair and angry words are spat at you.

“Say whatever you want tonight (Y/N), but do not ever accuse us of not loving you. If all we wanted was someone else to fuck we would have simply found a whore to use and then throw away.” You tense up at the feel of Shouta smearing something slimy and wet between your cheeks. “We are going to give you a reason to never doubt that again, we are going to fucking ruin you. And you are going to love every second of it, you are going to be so thoroughly fucked by the end of this that you won't even remember your own name.” He finishes his declaration by slowly beginning to insert one of his thick fingers into your puckered hole while Hizashi begins to once again thrust into your still sensitive pussy. It doesn't take long for either of them to build your pleasure back up again and you soon find your mind going blank once more as the onslaught of desire crashes down on you.

Little by little he pushes it it just a tad bit deeper until he's in all the way to the knuckle. You realize that he was right, there is a strange pressure to be sure, but it's not painful. In a way, you wish that it was. That would make it easier to stay focused.

Shouta is moving his finger now, trying to stretch you out as much as possible. He knows that fitting his huge size inside this tight little hole is going to be no easy task. But it was one he was more than willing to take on, he thinks with a smirk, feeling the way his cock throbs every time you clench around his finger. Soon enough though, he's taken all he can of fingering your second hole, and while he knows that he could do a bit more to prepare you, his desire to be inside you is simply to strong. Besides, he thinks, smearing some more of the lube onto his dick for good measure, the lubricant acted in much the same way as your medicine did and would drown out any pain from his penetration. You may feel an immensely heavy pressure considering his size, but that was the extent of it.

You felt Shouta climb up behind you, sweeping your hair over your shoulder as he begins to lay gentle kisses to the back of your head, your neck, and your shoulders right before you feel him take hold of your hips. He rubs himself between your cheeks, squeezing the pump flesh of your ass against his girth and moaning at the feeling. Fear grips you hard when you realize just how big he is. Stretching your mouth around him had been hard enough, but this… this would tear you apart, your body would never be the same after this. You begin to shake your head. “Please no… you're not going to fit… t-there's no way it will go in. Stop! Stop! STO-” Your shrill screams are cut short when he starts to slowly push his way inside, the breath all but gone from your lungs and a choked gasp is torn from your lips.

“So… fucking… tight…” It takes all his will power not to blow his load right then and there once he begins to lightly thrust his hips in time with Hizashi, sliding deeper inside with every movement. He has been inside Hizashi countless times but even that can't compare to the way you feel wrapped around him. You're just so perfect!

Hizashi is a fucking sex addict and even he almost blows it when he feels Shouta finally settle all the way inside of you. There is only a thin wall of flesh separating their dicks inside you and to Hizashi, it's one of the best damn things he has ever felt. “Shit! I didn't think she could get any tighter… but fucking hell Shou…” His eyes are blown wide and his thrusts have a noticeable tremble as he loses his rhythm for a moment before picking it back up.

The both of them smirked at each other, reveling in pleasure every time you tremble or clench around their cocks. The sweet noises they force from you spur them to move faster and harder inside your body and they can do nothing more then sing your praises.

“The way you feel around my cock is amazing! It's like you were made for it!”

“You're being such a good girl, it makes me want to fuck you even more.”

“You're so good and wet baby, I can't wait to cum inside you, watch it leak out. Maybe Shouta will be nice and clean you up with his mouth afterwards. Wouldn't that be a sight?”

“Your ass, your cunt, your belly, your body. You're going to be filled with and drenched in our cum by the end of the night!”

You can't think of anything beyond what is happening right at that moment. Three sets of moaning voices, skin slapping against skin, two huge cocks vigorously pumping inside your dripping holes, and the absolute mind numbing pleasure it brings with it. It's more than the human mind should be able to handle you think as you lay limply between them. “P-please, no-no more… I can't t-take anymore… just finish already… I’m beg-begging you… it's too much…”

Shouta pulls you by your bound arms till your sitting up, back against his chest as he wraps one arm around your shoulders and keeps the other on your hip. “We could spend hours more inside your wonderfully wet body, fucking you mercilessly. So if you want us to finish, you're going to have to make it worth our while.” He breathes into your ear before moving down litter your neck and shoulders with hickeys.

“H-how!? Please just tell me! I'll do a-anything, just make it stop already!” You cry out at this new angle, every thrust and movement they make is hitting you in all the right places and you can feel yourself on the edge of yet another orgasm as they show no sign of stopping until you give in.

“It's not that hard (Y/N).” Hizashi picks up where Shouta left off, reaching his hands up to squeeze your tits in his greedy hands as he imagines what it would feel like to have these soft mounds rubbing up and down on his cock while you suck on the head. “All you have to do is beg. Beg for us to make you cum, beg for us to fuck you harder, beg for us to pump your beautiful body full with our seed. That's all it will take to finish this.”

You feel so conflicted. On the one hand, you wanted to stick to your guns and not give in to their demands; but on the other, you wanted them to end this torture… you needed them to end it. You knew that they weren't bluffing, they really could keep going for hours more if they wanted to. You almost weep at the thought, your body's senses were already overstimulated beyond belief and you were scared that anymore and you would break. They were going to break you, the only question was whether your mind could withstand it or not.

You've been quiet for too long, the only sounds reverberating in the room are your moans and pants. And while the two of them love hearing those sounds, what they really want to hear is the sound of your breathless voice saying all the things they've been dreaming of. Perhaps you just need a bit of encouragement, a little incentive to let those words roll off that pretty little tongue of yours.

Simultaneously, both Shouta and Hizashi slow their thrusts to something less intense. Pulling out oh so slowly and then driving back home with one sharp snap of their hips, making sure that you would feel every single inch of their movements inside you. It's just as agonizing for them as it is for you, but if it gets them what they want then so be it.

You hate yourself for what you are about to do, and you hate them even more for forcing you into this situation. You tell yourself that you have no choice, that you're only doing this out of self preservation. If you don't, it will take even longer to stop, and in the end, breaking your vow to not give in is more preferable than letting them break your spirit entirely. After all, you tell yourself, it's not like this will change anything, you still despise. And when they realize how little things have changed come morning, you hope that the looks on their faces will be worth this.

Squeezing your eyes shut tight as tears brought on by both shame and sexual frustration fall down your cheeks, you manage to speak. “P-Please… please fuck me harder, m-make me cum… I-I want you both to fill me up w-with your cum and paint my insides white… J-just do whatever you want… End this already! Please! Please! Please!”

They're only whispers, each phrase leaves your lips combined with a broken sob, but they echo in the ears of the two deities and it leaves them vibrating. The sound of your soft pleading voice begging them to ravish you breaks what little self control they have as they roar in victory, pistoning their hips even harder than before, making you scream and thrash in wild abandon.

Shouta releases your arms in favor of holding your hips in a near bruising grip, pounding into your ass with inhuman strength and speed while he looks down on you with possessive red eyes. “Now was that so hard Kitten? All you had to do was ask.” He can't contain his own emotions at hearing you say these things. And while he knows that they basically forced you to speak them this time, he also believes that you'll be saying them on your own by the end. “And since you're behaving so well now, we are going to give you exactly what you are asking for.”

Hizashi wraps his arms around your back, holding you close to his chest as he fucks up into your dripping wet cunt. He is feeling much the same as his counterpart as he thinks, finally, they have made some progress with you! “That's my good girl, your pussy is clenching down on me like a fucking vice, can't wait to hear you scream our names.” He babbles, his speech much less controlled than Shouta’s.

Their cocks are hitting deeper inside your welcoming body with every thrust, pushing you closer and closer towards your fourth orgasm of the night as an endless crescendo of incoherent sounds are forced out of you. You know that this is wrong, that you shouldn't be enjoying this in any way, shape or form. But now that you've started, you just can't stop begging for it. “Please! Let-Let me cum already! I'll do anything, wh-whatever you want!” Even with your release quickly approaching, you're willing to say whatever they want if it means an end to this torment.

“How could we ever deny you when you're asking oh so nicely.” Shouta replies, pulling you back up against his chest so Hizashi can have better access to your clit. Hizashi wears a dirty grin when he hears the sounds you make as he starts to lightly flick your clit, not enough to send you hurtling over the edge, but just enough to make the ache all the more prominent. If you're going to do what he says, he needs you to be so out of your god-damn mind that you won't even realize what's happening until it's too late. “You said you'd do anything to end this right?” Your not even hearing the words, you just know that he spoke and you nod your head without thinking, simply agreeing with everything they say and hoping it's the responses they were looking for.

The two smile at each other knowing that they finally have you right at the point of no return and it's time to go in for the kill. With the blonde adding just a little more pressure to your overstimulated clit, Shouta roars in your ear, “Then scream for us! Scream our names when you cum and we fill you up! Tell us that you love us, how you can't live without us!” He punctuates each demand with a hard thrust of his hips and it takes some serious effort on his part to make sure that the collar doesn't react to his voice. He could easily make you say these things with its influence, but where's the fun in that, he thinks.

His words ring loudly in your mind causing you to hesitate for just a moment and Hizashi is having none of that as he removes his thumb from you nub, “It's fine if you don't say it, I personally wouldn't mind spending a few more hours like this with you and I think Shouta agrees with me.”

That's what does it, the prospect of putting up with this for hours longer and the loss of stimulation to your clit sends you into a fit of pleasure induced madness and in your current mindless state you give in, “I love you! I love you both! Shouta, Hizashi, please let me cum already! I-l need you to cum inside me!” The pressure is immediately returned to your clit, harder than before, their thrusts becoming sloppy and you cum hard, screaming out both their names as ounce after ounce of hot white cum pumps into your clenching body when they too cry out at their release. The sensations hitting you so fast and hard that you fear you may pass out as your entire body locks up.

You're pressed into Hizashi’s heaving chest as the blonde rubs his hands over your back in soothing motions, kissing you wherever he could and whispering in your ear about how amazing that was, how well you did taking both their cocks, how much he loves you. He’s just so happy to finally have you back in their arms, to know that nothing can ever take you from them again.

Shouta has enough sense to untie your arms, letting them fall uselessly to your sides, before reluctantly removing his limp dick from your warm, wet ass. He smiles and feels an animalistic sense of pride when he curiously spreads your cheeks to watch his seed leak out of your still clenching hole and dribble down to mingle with Hizashi’s. It's a sight he plans to see quite often.

Your senses are starting to come back and you can feel all the shame washing over you as silent tears fall from your eyes. You wish more than anything that you could blame the collar for what you had said, but there was no denying that it was all you. You're the one that couldn't hold out and withstand them, you're the one that caved into them, you're the one that begged them to fuck you like a whore. YOU! And that realization kills something inside of you.

You're quickly losing conscience, too tired and spent to really care when you feel them shift you around so that they can cuddle up on either side of you. But you do hear them -you're not sure which one though- when they speak.

“You should try to get some rest before we continue.” Gentle lips kiss your forehead.

You have to force your heavy eyes to open, “W-What… but we-we just… h-how…” You choke out at the implication of those words. There was no way you could do that again. “P-Please… no more… if I have to g-go through that again… I'll-I’ll die.”

The two of them chuckle in a way that leaves you shivering despite how warm you feel. “You didn't seriously think that was all we had planned for you tonight, did you Darling Girl? No, we have so much more in store for you. The night has only just begun. We have so much lost time to make up for after all.”

Fear clings to you as you drift off into slumber. You have no doubt that they will follow you into your dreams as they tell you all the things that plan on doing to you throughout the night. You know that they have every intention of doing whatever it takes to break you and your only hope is that your mind will still be intact come morning.

Not gonna lie, this chapter was even harder to write than the last one and I’m not too sure if it came out making sense in a cohesive narrative. If you have the time, please let me know what you thought!

Please Enjoy!

As always, thank you again to @jadepillar18 for the inspiration on this story and I hope you all enjoy the chapter!

And a special thanks to @lemursqueaks for putting up with my nonsense! lol

[vexy-sins]

Kinktober 2018: BONUS #3 (Day Thirty-One Continuation)

Pairing: Dream x Nightmare (Dreamcest)

Featured Kinks: Breeding, Cunnilingus

Additional Notes: Fontcest/Dreamcest, noncon mention, character development, redemption, requested continuation of day thirty-one

Read Day Thirty-One: On Tumblr | On AO3

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Nightmare, as he so often seemed to do nowadays, stared at his brother, Dream, while he slept, contemplating thoughts that troubled his mind with moral dilemmas, something he hadn’t had a problem with since he’d eaten all of the apples from the tree that he and his brother once guarded so long ago. Insidious ideas swirled and frothed like waves of doubt crashing against the shores of his skull, and like any being who dared to challenge Nature, he found himself helpless to stop them.

Tonight he wondered about Dream’s… feelings. Sure, his golden brother moaned and screamed his name, begging for more every time they fucked- which was often- but for the very first time since Nightmare sought to breed him, he actually considered whether Dream truly enjoyed their couplings. Nightmare  knew the sessions were pleasurable for him. Just the thought of stuffing his brother’s cunt and asshole with tentacles stirred his magic with gleeful anticipation.

In fact, just a few hours earlier, Dream had hung, suspended by his wrists from two of the dripping tentacles while Nightmare’s many other appendages pounded him raw, filling his holes beyond their limit and making Dream’s stomach bulge. Nightmare never obstructed Dream’s beautiful mouth though; the harder and rougher he fucked his brother, the more delicious melodies of delirious praise and desperate desire poured from Dream’s throat.

When Nightmare came, he’d had to keep a thick, oozing tentacle inside of his brother’s constricting pussy to keep it from gaping too widely and spilling out his precious seed. Dream had fallen unconscious into his arms shortly afterwards, and Nightmare had cleaned him up and settled him into their shared bed with his overstimulated pussy walls still squeezing away at the sensitive tentacle, milking as much cum from Nightmare as he could produce. Now, Dream slept peacefully beside his brother, who laid awake with his tempestuous thoughts.

Peeking under the blankets, Nightmare watched in awe as the deep purple of his cum swirled within the translucent gold of Dream’s ecto-body, mingling with his brother’s magic and slowly being absorbed. Dream shifted slightly in his sleep, and Nightmare replaced the blanket quickly, not wanting to disturb the other skeleton’s rest, something he never would’ve considered before, much less allowed to occupy the forefront of his mind.

Without the vivid memories of breeding his brother distracting him, Nightmare’s thoughts returned to the subject at hand. Did Dream truly enjoy the sex, or was he simply giving in to what made his brother happy? Did Dream only ask for this in order to reestablish any semblance of the relationship that once existed between them, no matter how one-sided or tainted it may be? Did he even want Nightmare?

The questions burned in his mind. Why did it suddenly matter so much? Nightmare had hunted Dream across the Multiverse to destroy him. He’d laid waste to countless lives without so much as a second thought. He never cared who he hurt, who he killed, and least of all who he left behind to pick up the pieces. He embodied all of the evil and negativity of the Multiverse, and he cared about nothing!

Until now.

About Dream.

Nightmare realized that mending his relationship with his brother involved both of them, not just himself and his wishes. His satisfaction no longer eclipsed everything else. Dream mattered too. Dream’s emotions mattered, and allowing those things to take up space inside his skull left less and less room for his narcissism and more and more room for doors to slowly come open, revealing truths long buried, clawing their way to the surface. 

If he allowed himself to care about Dream, it meant allowing the possibility for good within himself, the possibility to reclaim what he’d lost. It also meant facing the consequences of his actions and taking a good look at who he had become, and that frightened him like nothing else. He shivered, caught on the precipice of change, too afraid to step back and not yet courageous enough to move forward.

Dream rolled over in his sleep, wiggling closer to Nightmare, both seeking the security of physical touch and offering it. Nightmare rather enjoyed it when Dream cuddled up to him, watching a slightly furrowed brow and a moue of dissatisfaction melt away into a relaxed expression. However pressing the questions were, they could wait for a more opportune time. Pulling Dream tightly against his body, Nightmare finally succumbed to sleep, a sleep blissfully devoid of his namesake.

The ooze of negativity that coated Nightmare’s entire body dripped thicker than usual the next morning as he wandered through his castle. Before he brought his brother here, Nightmare used this castle for plotting and recruiting minions to hunt for his brother. Now the halls stood empty and silent except for the drafts that somehow managed to find their way in despite the thick stone walls and sparse windows. Flames danced in the wall sconces, their eerie light teasing shadows in the corners. Nightmare couldn’t help comparing the orange tones of firelight to the bright gold that his brother radiated. He’d never thought of his castle as poorly lit before, but now he felt as if he walked through a never-ending shroud.

His meandering soon led him to the courtyard. Only scarred, barren ground hinted at the existence of the tree that once stood in the center, a haunted memory now for those who survived to remember it. Nothing dared to grow here under Nightmare’s wicked gaze, yet now he craved a hint of green or the delicate scent of flowers. Plants did not do well when nourished on dark emotions, but maybe Dream’s presence could at least coax a decent carpet of grass to take up residence. It would be... nice to sit outside, warmed by the sun, especially for Dream who must surely hate the gloomy stone corridors of Nightmare’s home, the home they now shared.

Nightmare sighed heavily. He brought Dream here to mend their broken relationship, start a family, be as close as they once were, but the more he saw his surroundings for what they truly were- the lair of a monster steeped in negativity- the more he felt that he may have wronged his brother again. This time, guilt stung him sharply. Shame gnawed away at the darkness inside of him, an emotional stranger making a sudden and very unwelcome appearance at the doorstep of his psyche, unwilling to be ignored, unable to be faced. He needed to escape it.

As he turned to seek out his brother and bury his tentacles and his emotions in a tight, wet pussy, Nightmare noticed a trail of black sludge footprints showing clearly where he’d recently walked. Strange. He would have to find someone to clean that up… later. For now, he had more important business to attend to.

Nightmare found his brother gazing out of a tower window at the desolate landscape that characterized his kingdom. The castle had not always perched upon such a dreary roost; once, the land surrounding the great stone structure burst with lush greenery and vivacious inhabitants. Nothing survives long with only negativity to nurture it though. Not life, not land, and certainly not relationships.

Nightmare pushed the thoughts aside. Watching his brother from the threshold of the tower room, desire uncurled inside of him, mirrored by the tentacles springing from his back, dripping thick black globs of negative emotion onto the floor. This desire burned hotter than normal, a desire not for his own pleasurable release but to see his brother writhing and moaning as he came undone, drunk on the heady pleasure that Nightmare promised with a curt but breathy command.

“Bend over,” rasped Nightmare, already pressing himself against Dream and clawing at his clothing. Dream obeyed, leaning over the windowsill and tilting his hips to give Nightmare access to every part of his body. Nightmare’s new resolve weakened but held. He could control himself… for his brother’s sake.

Dream braced himself, expecting immediate, rough penetration. That was Nightmare’s style after all. This time, Nightmare decided to try something different. The oozing skeleton’s eyelights fixed on Dream’s magic, pooled so delicately in his pelvis. Had he ever really stopped to appreciate it before? Of course not. He had only thought about what he could get out of it. Selfish. Foolish.

Easily remedied.

Nightmare rested his hands on either side of Dream’s round ass, gently kneading the soft golden ecto-flesh beneath his phalanges. Using his thumbs, he spread the asscheeks apart to reveal the glorious treasure between them. Dream’s asshole spasmed in anticipation of his brother’s tentacles, but Nightmare just ran the very end of his sharp thumb phalange around the rim, not entering, not yet.

Lowering his hands, Nightmare used his thumbs to part the plump pussy lips that hid Dream’s tight little fuckhole. The inner folds were glistening and silky with arousal, and as Nightmare delved between them to tease at his brother’s quivering opening, the sticky juices dribbled down to stain Dream’s femurs. The delectable scent of his brother’s excitement stirred Nightmare’s magic again. He needed a taste of that sweet, intoxicating nectar, a taste right from the source.

Nightmare knelt on the hard stone floor, bringing his face in close.

“Brother, what are you-” Dream never got a chance to finish his question because Nightmare spread his pussy wide open and dipped his tongue inside, swirling and curling it to reach every sensitive spot. Dream’s eyelights rolled back when Nightmare splayed his tongue across his pussy entrance and sucked, drinking in the arousal that now flowed as freely as his moans.

Dream’s usual screams and pleas fell drastically short of the siren-like allure of these new sounds that poured from him. Every whimper and low moan spurred Nightmare to even greater efforts until Dream clutched the windowsill like he might not be able to remain standing without it, and with the way his legs trembled, it was a definite possibility.

“Fuck… oh, fuck…” gasped Nightmare, tongue buried in his brother. He couldn’t wait any longer. He stood up and stepped back in one fluid motion, licking Dream’s tangy juices from his mouth with a greedy tongue.

Nightmare spun Dream around to face him, pushing his brother up against the wall and lifting his legs to settle him onto his pelvis. “Be as loud as you want, brother. I want the whole world to know you’re mine and to hear what I’m doing to you,” Nightmare growled against Dream’s cheek, releasing the smooth purple magic of his erection from his pants and rubbing it between Dream’s pussy lips. His cock slipped in with surprising ease, and it felt absolutely incredible to sink into that tight, wet heat at his brother’s core.

As per his brother’s request, Dream didn’t hold back. Instead of his typical screaming and shrill begging, he gasped, moaned, mewled, and sang Nightmare’s praises to a kingdom laid waste below them. If there had been anyone left to hear them, the lewd noises may have quickened their steps on the journey home for a steamy tryst of their own.

With one hand pressed to the wall to cushion the impact of their movements and prevent the stones from bruising his brother and the other digging into his brother’s ass cheek, Nightmare huffed and panted, thrusting with wild abandon, losing himself to the passion. Dream’s pale bone hands scrabbled at the sludge that coated Nightmare’s clothing and bones, finally gaining purchase on his ribcage through the thin fabric of his shirt. Holding on tightly, Dream rocked his hips into every thrust, and it drove Nightmare wild.

Unable to contain himself, his entire being demanding more, more, more, Nightmare leaned forward and found Dream’s mouth. With a whisper-soft cry, Dream opened his mouth, and Nightmare kissed him, hungry and demanding. Dream’s arms and legs locked around his brother as Nightmare swallowed his moans, moving their mouths as if they could never get enough of each other. Their tongues met, touching tentatively at first, then stroking each other in tandem with the movements of their hips.

“S-so close,” hissed Nightmare, breaking the kiss to gulp air. His body shook with the impending orgasm. Nothing had ever felt this good in his entire life.

Dream could only gasp a single syllable, a name that his brother hadn’t heard since he’d become bitter and jaded so long ago and changed his name into the bristling armor that it was today. “Night.” Just Night, not Nightmare. The moniker sent him careening over the edge into glorious euphoria.

Nightmare laid awake in bed with a drowsy Dream laying across his chest. More mess than usual had been left in the tower room, excessive amounts of black sludge residue in addition to the mingled sex magic from himself and his brother. That would be a worry for another time. Now he wanted to address the question that prevented him from dozing off with Dream.

“Dream,” he murmured tentatively, unsure if his brother was even lucid enough to answer with the mixture of orgasm afterglow and sleepy contentedness. Dream made a sound of encouragement for Nightmare to continue.

“Do you… enjoy it… when we have sex?” Nightmare actually struggled to get the words out. He felt Dream tense up in his arms, then immediately relax.

“Today was amazing,” Dream replied, nuzzling his face against his brother’s ribcage despite the layer of negativity that coated it.

A wry smile briefly crossed Nightmare’s face. Of course Dream had enjoyed the sex today. Amazing didn’t even begin to describe what they’d shared. “I meant before. Before today,” Nightmare amended.

Dream hesitated, and that hesitation cut like a knife. “I love being close to you again,” Dream hedged, neatly sidestepping the actual question. A mountain of unspoken words rose in the silence that followed. 

The nonanswer provided its own answer. He’d fucked up and hurt his brother under the guise of rebuilding their relationship, and they both knew it. Dream was just too kindhearted to say it outright. Nightmare didn’t sleep at all that night, mulling over his transgressions until the sun peeked over the horizon.

When Nightmare finally got out of bed, he noticed an alarming amount of negativity left behind on the sheets and pillows, though none of it dared to smudge Dream’s gleaming bones or nightclothes. The malignant monarch toyed with the idea that this continuous exposure to his brother’s eternal positivity could be depleting his life force, but if the price of restoring their once-close relationship was his very existence, well, it would not be unjustified. The concept of justification and accountability brought his mind back to more pressing matters that weighed heavily on his newfound conscience- his minions.

His minions had been forced into his service after he’d destroyed their homes, their families, their lives. Twisted by desperation and hopelessness, they believed that they had no choice but to toil forever under the slime-coated boots of their unforgiving and unfeeling tyrant without any future to look forward to except for servitude unto death. He’d stolen their choices from them… just like he had done to his brother. He had so much to make amends for, and the time to get started was long overdue.

Right and wrong are principles that only exist in the minds of those who seek out the former and wish to avoid the latter. Those who commit acts of evil rarely care in what light their actions are described. This realization gave Nightmare something to mull over, lurking in the shadows while Dream spoke with his former minions, encouraging them to rebuild their town and inundating them with hope for a brighter future. Dream truly shone in his position as savior, something Nightmare found himself admiring as his perception of the world slowly shifted for the better.

Change did not come easily, but it did come, and once it began, there was no stopping it. Nightmare laid awake many nights reliving mistakes that he hadn’t even considered to be mistakes at the time, but each day more light found its way into the castle and the once frigid drafts warmed into fresh summer breezes.

Under Dream’s positive influence, the overall ambiance in the castle continued to improve, but Nightmare himself seemed to be melting at an alarming rate as the days passed. He tried to hide the sludge piles from Dream. If Dream’s sunny personality was killing him, he didn’t want his brother to know it. Dream, for his part, didn’t comment on the messes, but his expression grew more concerned each time he saw how much of the dripping negativity Nightmare left in his wake.

Soon, pale fabric and paler bone peeked through the fine sheen of darkness, and Dream could no longer hold back his emotions. “Brother, you look terrible! What’s happening to you?” he asked, voice trembling.

“I always look terrible. Being the embodiment of negativity does that to a guy,” Nightmare attempted to joke. When Dream refused to take the bait, he tried lying. “It’s nothing. I’m fine.” His answer was as unsatisfactory as his brother’s had been when he asked his own very serious question, and that towering mountain of avoided communication loomed between them once more.

Hurt and disappointed, Dream slept on his own side of the bed with his back to his brother, a silent protest that reverberated through the room with more intensity that any shouted words. A fitful sleep was Nightmare’s only escape, and he accepted it readily.

Dream shook his brother from slumber the next morning, babbling frantically. “Night! Night, your face! Look at your face!”

“Can’t look at my own face,” grumbled Nightmare tiredly, though Dream’s tone and his use of the cast aside name roused him from their bed. He stumbled across the floor to the bathroom mirror… and stared in wordless wonder at the face that stared back at him. 

Nightmare reached out tentatively with a shaking hand to touch the reflective surface that held the image of a face unmarred by the perpetual ooze of negativity- round cheekbones and an open, honest smile that he barely recognized, but the sight of his hand startled him even more. The bones were clean and white with no dark patina of corruption left to drip from them. He still felt the negativity pulsing inside of him, but it no longer consumed him, no longer defined him. He had been liberated.

Nightmare cast aside his clothing, still stained with remnants of the muck and his old bitter life and turned on the shower, inhaling the steam as the water heated before stepping in to make sure no traces of goop remained. Scrubbed clean, he emerged back into the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his waist to see Dream standing there, smiling and holding out… his old uniform.

The high collared silk shirt with its ornate buckles and the matching pants brought back memories of dappled sunlight, sitting under the tree with his brother while the apples swayed in the breeze that sent scattered cotton puff clouds chasing after their shadows far below. The entire ensemble was crisp and clean with not a wrinkle or a dust particle to be seen, clearly Dream’s handiwork.

“I found this tucked away in a trunk, and I thought you might want to wear it again one day. Now seems like a good time,” said Dream softly.

Nightmare took the clothes, rubbing the silk between his phalanges, Despite all the changes he’d made recently, he still clung to the mantle of Nightmare. Maybe it was time to place that personification into a chest to be tucked away and forgotten in some unused room within the castle. Maybe it was time to become simply Night again. He dressed himself, marveling at how well the clothing still fit him. A lifetime of changes had changed very little at all.

Dream moved behind him, and Nightmare felt a once familiar weight settle atop his head. His crown. He knew Dream didn’t find the crown in the castle; he’d discarded the unnecessary finery when he became Nightmare and hadn’t seen it since. Dream must have kept it for all these years. Now his brother returned it to its rightful place, completing the transformation of Nightmare back to Night.

“You’re quite handsome when you’re cleaned up,” giggled Dream, admiring his handiwork.

Night couldn’t force his mouth into a scowl with the compliment echoing around the room, but not even genuine praise managed to subdue his snark. “We were formed from the same energy source. We’re practically twins,” he pointed out.

“I know, silly,” Dream shot back, kissing Night’s pristine cheekbone. Silly. Nobody had addressed Night with such flippant endearments before. He liked it. Silly. Perhaps someday he would try it out, this being silly he stood so wrongly accused of. Dream didn’t point out the adorable purple blush creeping across Night’s cheekbones. He’d teased his brother enough for tonight… but tomorrow was a new day.

----------

“This is where our tree used to be?” Dream asked softly. Night nodded, carefully avoiding his brother’s eyelights. Dream touched the parched, cracked earth. “It’s so-”

“Desolate,” suggested Night emotionlessly, trying to force a judgement from his brother. Dream refused to play along.

“I was going to say full of potential.” Night blinked. Of course Dream would put a positive spin on a barren patch of dirt. “There’s so much life waiting just beneath the surface for a little encouragement and care to help it to grow. Even when things look bleak and hopeless, there’s always a possibility for something better.”

Dream’s words touched his brother deeply. They would restore life and beauty to the courtyard. They would bring growth to dormancy and breathe the breath of life into emptiness. The transformation in the garden would reflect the transformation in Night himself. Work progressed quickly once the decision was made.

Dream’s radiant positivity coaxed multitudes of bright green shoots from the soil, and they uncurled to face the sunshine as if awakening from a long slumber. Dream darted from one section of the garden to the next like a joyful bee enjoying the bounty of spring. Night watched him from an archway that connected the courtyard to the castle, wearing the shadows like he’d once worn his seeping negativity. He didn’t dare to enter the courtyard. Plants wilted beneath the heavy burden of negative emotion, and Night hated the idea of destroying what his brother had newly curated.

Time passed, and the garden expanded and flourished, filling the entire courtyard… except for one area that remained conspicuously empty. Nothing grew in the very center of the courtyard, the space that their tree once occupied. Night didn’t comment on it. If plants weren’t able to grow there at the site of so much heartache and upheaval, he didn’t want Dream to feel bad about it, and if it was a conscious decision on Dream’s part to leave that area as a monument to what had once been, Night had no complaints about that either. In fact, Night had very little to complain about lately.

During the day, Dream tended to the courtyard garden under Night’s watchful eyelights or proposed decor changes to the stark castle walls and floors. It surprised Night how much the warm tones that Dream chose managed to create such a welcoming atmosphere while still maintaining the somber formality of castle living. Dream frequently invited Night to join him on shopping excursions into the town, but Night preferred to stay away from the townspeople, reluctant to remind them of his tyranny.

Dream would not be denied. He coaxed and encouraged Night just like one of his small seedlings, finally convincing him to venture from the castle grounds down into the town where he hadn’t set foot since he’d utterly decimated it. At first the townspeople hid from him, just as he suspected, but little by little, they came to recognize the brothers as a source of business and prosperity, even offering Night samples of baked goods when the two skeleton monsters ventured to the market for supplies. Their acceptance was so much more rewarding than their fear.

By day, Night worked on himself, but when the velvety curtain of nighttime fell, Night worked on his personal hobby- pleasuring his brother. Night discovered that if he licked, sucked, and stroked Dream’s pussy and clit just right, he could curl Dream’s toes, arch his spine, make his eyelights roll back and his pussy gush with sweet arousal. He drank the explosion of juices and drove Dream to new heights of orgasm every night. The breeding still hadn’t taken yet, but it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying.

Thoughts of delving between his brother’s thighs occupied Night’s mind while Dream bent over in the courtyard garden, inspecting the heavy buds on the flowers he’d nurtured. Night expected them to have bloomed by now, opening their petals to drink the early morning dew as flower blossoms generally did, but he lacked the horticultural knowledge to be sure. If anyone could awaken a riot of colors on the once drab grounds, though, it would be his brother.

Dream straightened. “The flowers are ready,” he declared, interrupting Night’s salacious reverie.

“Ready for what?” Night asked, perplexed. Were they going to bloom right now? He craned his neck, but the buds looked the same as they had a few minutes ago, the same as they had looked yesterday and the day before that. How could Dream even tell they were ready?

“For tonight.”

“Tonight?” echoed Night, feeling extremely silly even without Dream using the term of endearment. Dream just smiled at him and nodded without elaborating. Night thanked the stars that he wasn’t a cat or curiousity would’ve come in for a swift and brutal assassination right then and there. Instead, he resigned himself to wait. He trusted his brother.

Dream gently pushed Night away when he burrowed under the covers for his bedtime snack. “Later,” Dream promised with a musical laugh when Night pouted and grumbled. To his credit, the disappointed skeleton moved away, accepting the rejection, something he wouldn’t have done when Dream first moved to the castle with him. 

Night wanted to be better, but change was hard… as hard as he was, going to sleep with his mind filled with images of railing his brother senseless without the benefit of actually doing so. The disappointment softened and gave way to contentment, however, when Dream curled up next to him. Sometimes pleasure came from putting his brother’s desires first, even if they countermanded his own.

Dream roused his brother a few hours after midnight, holding up a picnic basket and a blanket invitingly. Night yawned and stretched, pulling on his clothing and following dutifully behind his brother who seemed so out of place creeping through the castle corridors under cover of darkness, his golden aura shimmering like a fiery torch to ward off the chill and tendrils of shadows that crawled along the floor just outside of the sphere of illumination. 

When the two skeletons arrived in the courtyard, Night couldn’t contain his gasp of wonder. The full moon angled perfectly over the inner walls of the castle to kiss the garden with enchantment, and the flowers held their blossoms wide open for the attention. Under the moon’s pale glow, Night picked out lovely shades of white, yellow, pink, and even deep, rich blues and purples, and the scents filled the air, delicate and mysterious. Smiling smugly, Dream spread the picnic blanket on a patch of lush grass and set the basket on top of it.

“I only planted night-blooming flowers,” he explained unnecessarily. “I wanted you to see the beauty that thrives in the darkness.” He patted the blanket, and Night sat down next to him.

“Darkness sure, but nothing can survive in negativity,” Night argued weakly. His eyelights darted from plant to plant, painstakingly chosen and lovingly tended to provide this gift for him. He didn’t deserve it. He was still the embodiment of negativity even if he wasn’t actively wielding it like a shield and sword.

Dream sighed wistfully, and Night regretted his characteristically negative comments. He should be thanking his brother, not arguing with him. Dream’s next words surprised him.

“You’re wrong.” Night just stared at his brother. “Adversity promotes growth. It encourages people to strive and overcome, to find the strength to move forward, and to appreciate their achievements in spite of it. Positivity breeds stagnation and complacency.” Night tried to argue the point, but Dream held up a hand to silence him. “Without negativity to give people goals to work towards, positivity is meaningless. Without the hope for a positive outcome, negativity destroys. Positivity and negativity need each other, like we need each other.”

Tears gathered in Dream’s sockets, and Night reached over to wipe them away. Dream sniffled but continued his speech as Night wordlessly wrapped his arms around his brother. “People loved me for my positivity. They basked in my light, and I let them. It felt good to be admired, to be valued, but they only wanted the positivity for themselves and nothing else. They didn’t know me or want to know me, yet I let them lure me away from the one person who truly understood me. I let their attention blind me to your suffering until you felt you had no other choice but to consume the apples and kill the tree. You didn’t cause what happened here, Night. We both did.”

“I-” Night sputtered, but Dream pushed him down onto the blanket and straddled him, tears quelled and eyelights hazy with desire.

“I want to make it up to you,” Dream whispered against his skull in a husky voice before running his hand down the front of his brother’s pants and stroking the magic into a throbbing erection. Night could only groan in anticipation.

Dream shimmied out of his pants, then tugged Night’s pants off as well, tossing them carelessly away into the silver-dappled darkness. He lowered himself, locking eyelights with Night and letting his golden tongue dart out to catch a drop of pre-cum on his cock. Stroking the length of the purple shaft almost reverently, Dream lapped at it until it glistened with his saliva. Lifting himself up, he guided it between his pussy lips. Night actually thought he might faint at the initial hitch of entry. He’d never experienced such intense pleasure in his life, and Dream was only getting started.

Dream lowered himself with agonizing slowness, letting Night feel the tight grip of his pussy sliding all the way down the length of his cock, squeezing and fluttering around it as it filled him up and spread his plump pussy lips wide. Night panted and moaned beneath his brother as Dream gradually quickened his pace, lifting and lowering himself, tilting his hips to get the perfect angle. Night held on to his brother’s pelvis, lifting his own to thrust in tandem with his brother. 

Their heads tipped back and their tongues protruded from their gasping mouths as they worked together towards a powerful orgasm. It built swiftly, like thunderheads darkening the sky just prior to opening up and letting the deluge of blinding pleasure roll over the two skeletons.

“B-breed me, Night, Fill me up,” wailed Dream plaintively.

“So close… almost… ahh!” Night cried, arching his back and slamming into Dream one final time, holding him in place as cum poured into his eager pussy. Dazed and drunk on the sweet bliss of orgasm afterglow, Dream laid his head on Night’s chest, closed his sockets, and dozed off. Night fell asleep underneath his brother, still inside of him, and for once, completely satisfied with the world.

“Night! Night wake up! You have to see this!” Dream’s excited voice shattered Night’s sleep, and after the disorientation of waking up outside, pantsless in the courtyard solidified into memories of last night, Night shot bolt upright. Dream faced away from him. Could he be…?

Night rushed to his side, ready to ask Dream if there was a soulling growing inside of him when he saw it. A rapidly growing sapling occupied the site where their tree once stood. In a matter of minutes, the new tree had matured enough to bear small fruits, and Dream and Night both reached out to touch one.

The fruits of the new tree bore only a small resemblance to their predecessors. The apples on this new tree were smooth and gold… and shot through with shimmering darkness that possessed a blue-purple iridescence similar to Night’s magic. The appearance of the fruit was a riddle easily solved. These apples were light and darkness. These apples were positivity and negativity. These apples were balance. These apples were theirs, and this time they would protect them.

Together.

INDEX | READ ON AO3

[kylermalloy]

This Is Not a Panic Attack

Fandom: Teen Wolf

Pairing: Stiles Stilinski/Lydia Martin

Summary: Newly turned into a werewolf, Stiles struggles to find control through his memories—and what's happening right in front of him. Canon divergent AU in which Stiles must turn into a werewolf to defeat the nogitsune. The fox might be gone, but now Stiles is a wolf. And it might be harder than he thought. AO3.

A/N: This fic was written for @unspokenconnection24 for @stydiasecretsanta 2018. Merry Christmas, Sarah! I had a lot of fun writing this, and I hope you enjoy it!

Stiles took a deep breath. Closed his eyes. Being calm was never something he'd been very good at. Find a memory. A good memory.

He had plenty, but they weren't his strongest ones.

The pain was too much. It made him too heavy. Each step he took dragged his feet along the ground, like his shoes weighed a thousand pounds each. When he sat at his desk, it was too much work to keep his head up. He buried his face in his forearms and tried not to think.

It was probably the stillest he'd ever been in school.

He could hear voices surrounding him, feel hands touching, tapping him. Was that his name? Who was calling his name? He didn't care.

Just leave me alone, he thought.

One voice cut through the rest. Higher. Sharper. "Leave him alone."

The babble surrounding him quieted.

"Just get away from him. Can't you see he wants to be left alone?"

Stiles lifted his head the tiniest bit, peeking over his folded arms to see who had come to defend him.

The waves of golden reddish hair, the pert, attentive posture gave it away.

"When my grandmother died," Lydia Martin continued—speaking to the group of gathered third graders at large, but glancing back to meet Stiles's eyes—"I wanted to be left alone too. Grief is a hard process."

As the crowd began to dissipate, Stiles felt warmth flood through his body, lifting the crushing weight of sadness from his limbs.

Just those few sentences. That's all it took.

"Stiles? Stiles, focus."

Hearing his name in the present snapped him out of his memories. As he blinked, shook his head, he realized that fangs had sprouted in his mouth without his permission.

"Crap," he mumbled through a mouthful of sharp, oversized teeth.

"It's not that big a deal. Get over yourself," that same high, sharp voice teased him.

"I—can't," Stiles growled through gritted teeth. A convulsion rippled through his body, and he felt claws tear through his fingernails like tissue paper.

He could barely remember how it happened. One day he'd been losing sleep, discovering a coded kill message in his handwriting, going to see Scott's mom at the hospital—

Then he'd woken up surrounded by his friends, with Lydia Martin clinging to his hand. A bandage was covering his shoulder, dressing the wound Scott had made with his teeth.

He'd lost so much time, he soon learned. It had been only a few days after Halloween—now suddenly November was almost over, and Stiles was a werewolf. A slave to the lunar cycle.

The next few weeks leading up to the December full moon had been a blur of anxiety, panic attacks punctuated by claws, and Zen lessons with Scott.

Now it was here, and Stiles hadn't even had time to get excited about Christmas yet.

"Look at me, Stiles. You can do this." Lydia Martin held his gaze, earnest and trusting. She knelt opposite him on the floor, tilting her head to meet his eyes. "You have to find your anchor."

Find your anchor. Every calming thought he'd run though his mind had failed, every memory with his dad or Scott or...or his mom. Nothing was working like that memory of Lydia. And not even that could really stave off his bloodlust.

"I'm trying, but..." He trailed off, clenching his teeth as another spasm wracked his body.

Scott had never mentioned how freaking painful turning into a wolf was. His body strained against it, against the primal urge to use his new teeth, sink them into the prey, sitting compliant right in front of him...

No.

He delved back into memories. Searched for more of her.

I can't hurt her. I can't.

"Dad, I think I'm in love."

"Really!" His dad, a little less gray-haired, face with fewer lines, lifted his eyebrows in surprise. "With who?"

"Lydia. Lydia Martin. She was nice to me today."

Dad's mouth twitches upward. Not quite a smile, but close. An almost-smile. "That's...good. I'm glad, son."

Little Stiles hops up on a stool, rocking back and forth on two legs. "What do I do? Should I kiss her?"

"Well..." his dad hesitates. "Not at first. You need to respect her. Right now, you like her, but you have to be sure she likes you, too."

"How will I know?"

"Oh, she'll let you know. It may take a while, and you might have to be patient, but you'll know. Trust me, you'll know."

Will I, Dad?

It had been almost ten years now. As Lydia crouched in front of him, murmuring soothing words of comfort and encouragement, he had no idea what she was feeling.

He knew what he was feeling—an intense hunger. Not to eat, but a hunger for violence. To rip, claw, maim.

Werewolves were wild creatures. They couldn't be domesticated.

What was Lydia thinking, staying here with him? Why was Scott out somewhere else, coaching Malia? How had Scott done this?

"Lydia, you need to get away from me," he gasped. "I can't hurt you."

"You can't hurt me?" she echoed, an incredulous shadow falling over her face. "Then should I just take these off?" She reached for the manacles that encircled his wrists, chaining him to the floor.

Adrenaline spiked through his veins, an extra shoot of pain into his already-wracked body. "No! Don't—Lydia, I can't hurt you."

He breathed deep. Reached deep. "I can't hurt you...like...Scott couldn't hurt Allison."

She cocked an eyebrow. Her eyes, already huge and doe-like, grew even rounder. Listening, rapt.

"Y'know, he was terrified of it. Because he...he loves her."

Her fingers had frozen on his wrist. Her lips parted. She whispered. "They're not together anymore."

"But they were, okay? Their first date, that night at the party, that was his first..."

Stiles trailed off. He stared Lydia dead on. His eyes burned, itched, and he knew they were glowing.

Lydia finished his sentence. "His first change." Her voice was so soft, it might not have been audible if not for Stiles's fancy new wolf hearing.

He nodded. "On their first date." He remembered spending the evening in a blur of panic. Thinking he might have to tell the new family in town that his best friend had killed their daughter.

As he said that, the spell seemed to break. Lydia blinked and narrowed her eyes. "Are you trying to insinuate that this—" she indicated the dank basement, the chains clapped around his wrists— "this is our first date?"

Oh crap. "What? No! No, no, I—"

"Because this...is a really crappy date." A tiny, smug smirk crept over her face.

He closed his eyes and shook his head, fighting the chant in his mind kill kill kill and trying to get his thoughts in order. "Look, Lydia—"

"If you're going to say something, just say it."

Stiles hugged a humorless laugh. Like pretty much everything else in his life, this wasn't going to work out. "I was trying to say something epic."

"Then. Say. It."

The three words were so cold and demanding that any resistance he had left, any more posturing he'd been thinking of trying, was broken, smashed into nothing.

"I love you. I love you, Lydia, okay? I can't hurt you because...because I love you."

He stopped there, panting, sweating, as another wave of pain rippled up through his head. Hair ripped through the underdeveloped follicles on his face, giving him mutton chops that Elvis himself would be jealous of.

Well, that was great. It would be best if he looked just ridiculous while giving the speech of his life.

Lydia's expression was...more calculating than shocked. "Again with the 'you...can't hurt me.'"

She had to be messing with him. How could he explain this to someone so smart? "No, I...can, but I...can't."

That wasn't right. "I mean, I physically can hurt you, I have the ability to..."

Very cool and non-threatening, perfect. "But I can't...mentally...begin to process how I could...what I would do..."

It just wasn't working. His tongue was in knots. The wolf did it. Wolf-tongue-tied. That was a thing, right?

He hung his head as Lydia spoke again.

"Something epic, huh?"

Stiles couldn't even manage to meet her eyes. "Yeah, well, sometimes things don't turn out the way you want."

Then he felt her hand on his jaw. His furry, misshapen jaw. Her fingers tilted his chin up, up, until he stared into her face.

A low growl rumbled in his throat as the wolf inside him begged, drooled, to be let out.

No. This was Lydia, and her perfect lips were opening again, saying something.

"How about we just skip to the part...where I tell you to shut up?"

With her hand locking his jaw in place, she leaned in, pressing her lips against his.

Unafraid. Uncautious of the sharp teeth behind his lips, waiting to bite, to spill blood inside his mouth and hers—

No, wait. They were gone. His wolf teeth had retracted, and his very human mouth—with his very human breath, he was sure—was moving with Lydia's.

She tasted...good. Not in a yum-human-flesh-because-I'm-a-wolf way—but the way she tasted that day in the locker room. When she'd silenced his blaring mind without words, without anything but a shock. This kiss tasted even better than the last one.

He couldn't tell how long they stayed that way, lips moving in synchronization, both her hands cupping his furry face, no sound except their gasping breaths.

When they finally broke apart, Stiles couldn't do anything except stare at Lydia. Her perfect hair, only mussed the tiniest bit by their...makeout session? Holy crap. The thought froze Stiles's mind completely. He'd just made out with Lydia Martin.

"You kissed me," he breathed in disbelief.

She nodded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I know. I was there."

"Why'd you do that?" he asked stupidly.

Lydia didn't reply right away. Her gaze dropped, lips curling inward in a shy smile. One hand went to tuck her hair behind her ear—a nervous tic of hers, he knew. With his new eyes, Stiles could tell, even in the dim light, she was blushing.

He'd made Lydia Martin blush.

"Lydia..." Stiles could feel a grin budding on his face. Not only had he done the thing he'd been waiting for since the third freaking grade, he could feel the wolfy hair on his cheeks retracting. His control was returning. And his confidence was blooming. "If you have something to say..."

Lydia wet her lips. She cast a timid glance up toward the basement window, where falling snow was just barely visible.

"Merry Christmas?" she tried.

Stiles snorted.

Whatever memory he'd been searching for was obsolete now. He had an anchor, and her name was Lydia Martin. The feeling of her lips against his, for no other reason than to kiss him, bested any other thing he could remember.

This wolf thing was going to be a lot easier than he'd thought.

[trashassassin]

How to Smut 101: Getting Over the Hump (heh) and Just Doing It

Hello friends! This little guide comes to you from someone who has literally been creating original stories in some form or another since before they could hold a pencil. So well over a decade. And yet, I’ve only really delved into the land of smut writing in the past few years. This was a genre that I, and many creators I’m sure, were scared to touch. It was too difficult, too embarrassing, too easy to get wrong.

And yet, I believe I’ve gotten a pretty good handle not only on writing it effectively but also dissolving the embarrassment surrounding the subject, at least in my own mind. Obviously everyone’s methods for writing are different, so this will be less of a guide and more of an outline full of things to help you prepare for your jump into the world of smut for the first (or maybe twentieth after a bunch of scrapped attempts if you’re like me) time.

The first thing that really helped me was changing how I thought about smut.

Sex scenes always had this mystical, untouchable quality to them whenever I thought about writing them. They were set apart from the rest of the story, placed on a sort of pedestal, a pedestal that had my thought processes heading places like “alright, now it’s time for the Sex Scene™”. Sometimes I would just throw random sex scenes into a story because I felt as thought they had to be there. Which brings me to my first real point.

Sex scenes must have a reason to exist!

Unless you’re writing a plot-what-plot situation, a sex scene must be in your story for a reason! This applies more to published novels or longer fics, which is why I’m posting it first as this one in particular won’t apply to many of the people who clicked on this post.

Imagine this a bit differently. What if your story was progressing along normally when, all of a sudden, you threw in a random, pointless scene about your characters stopping to get coffee? Nothing plot-relevant happens; no important characters interactions happen; there are no special items hidden in the coffee shop. Your characters just decided that they needed a pick-me-up and sit around quietly sipping coffee for 1,000 or so words. This would be really boring, right?

Well, an unnecessary sex scene is the same way. I’m not naming any names here, but there is an exceptionally popular series of erotic novels out there that makes this mistake all the time! If you have pointless sex scenes sprinkled into your story every chapter, it’s going to become boring and grating in a hurry.

Sex scenes must be consistent with the tone of the story, happen naturally over the course of the plot, and/or teach us something important about the characters involved in order to have a true place. If these things are not present, I find it’s best to reconsider if it’s really best to have a sex scene during this point in the story or in the story at all.

Sex scenes are just like any other scene!

Going back to the whole stopping for coffee analogy, a sex scene is just another scene in your story. Now you might be thinking to yourself, “well, duh!”, but this realization was actually a big turning point for me.

I realized the main responsibility we have in writing is to take mundane, everyday activities and present them in a new or interesting way. Think of an adventure story. A group of characters going on an adventure to find the Golden Sword of Wisdom is the exciting version of you and your friends driving down to your local Walmart to obtain Golden Magnum Ice Cream Bars.

Or, consider the Harry Potter series. It takes going to school, something every person within its targeted age group is required to do, and turns it into a fresh and, dare I say, magical experience.

Instead of simply providing a blow-by-blow (pun intended), textbook-style retelling of a sexual encounter, it’s important to put your own unique spin on it.

Play with your readers’ senses.

A huge part of what makes any scene great is the ability of the reader to immerse themselves into it. And you as the author can make this much easier for them by describing it to them in as much detail as possible, how everything contained within it looks, feels, smells, and tastes.

And sexual scenes are certainly no exception to this. In fact, I’d say creating an enjoyable sensory experience is of the utmost importance.

Consider things like how does your character’s partner smell? How do their surroundings smell? Are there any candles burning, a window through which fresh, or perhaps not-so-fresh, air is streaming? Have their clothes or sheets just been washed and smell of a particular scent of detergent?

Also consider how things feel. Is your character in a cold or warm place? Perhaps you could describe a feeling of goosebumps rising on the skin or of sweat dripping down their back. How do the sheets feel beneath their fingertips? How does the brick wall feel at their back? What is it like to be pressed up against a window pane?

What sounds are present, besides the obvious ones? Is there music playing? A fan going? Cars outside? Perhaps the sound of footsteps are present as they desperately try to keep quiet in a crowded place.

Also consider your characters’ own personalities, as well as how much experience they have in sexual situations. How do they feel about their partner? Are they excited or apprehensive? Are they overwhelmed with love or simply looking to get their rocks off? All of these are important things to consider when creating a well-rounded scene.

Your scene does not have to be vulgar, but it can be!

You may think that every sex scene must be contain levels of vulgarity reserved for professional porn movies, but this is simply not the case. As I said before, take into account the personality of the characters involved. A shy character would not likely use words like “cock” and “pussy”, where as a more bold or experienced character very well may.

And if you’re not comfortable with using such words in your writing, well, now is the time to step outside of your comfort zone! As long as it is appropriate for the characters involved, of course.

But regardless of boldness or levels of experience, some are simply just not into super vulgar dirty talk. This post by Smut 101 is a perfect example of dirty talk of a more romantic sort for the more hopeless romantic types that may appear in your stories.

Keep things accurate but not necessarily realistic.

You always see people criticizing sex in books and movies for not being realistic enough, for not involving vagina-having characters taking a piss afterward to prevent UTIs, for a lack of condoms, for both characters reaching orgasm at the same time. You know what I say to that? I say that sexual scenes are meant as an escape, as a fantasy, and that such realistic touches would ruin the illusion of the perfect scenario the reader is looking for.

That being said, if everything is sunshine and rainbows all the time, you’ll once again find yourself with a boring scene on your hands. It’s alright to include moments where your characters knock their heads together or say something so ridiculous it makes the other person laugh. Sex can and should be fun and, when the moment calls for it, a bit goofy.

Something that you cannot compromise on, however, is accuracy. If you’re delving into a particular fetish or act you’re not familiar with, it’s best to do your research beforehand, something else that the author of the aforementioned exceptionally popular series of erotic novels seems to have neglected. Watching videos, reading articles, and browsing forums can all be useful in familiarizing yourself with the subject.

Even if you’re a virgin, this does not bar you from writing well-written sex scenes, I assure you! If someone was required to experience something in order to write about it, the vast majority of authors would be up shit creek without a paddle.

As with any genre, it never hurts to familiarize yourself with it before you start writing it. Reading highly praised romance novels and other peoples’ erotic fics is a good place to start if you’re looking for inspiration or guidance.

Don’t be afraid to draw from your own experiences.

If you have had a bit of sexual experience, it’s not a bad idea to draw inspiration from this. Remembering specific sensory experiences you’ve had and applying them to your writing can help enhance the realism of a scene.

It’s also not forbidden to include your own personal fantasies in your stories. Just be careful that all of your erotic stories don’t turn out exactly the same. While we all have our own individual tastes and preferences, it’s good to step outside of that to keep your stories fresh.

Some general tips for you as a writer.

Writing smut is going to feel awkward if you’re not used to it. And even if you are used to it, feelings of embarrassment may still come up on occasion. This is normal. Do not let it dissuade you from pursuing your creative endeavors. Even if the embarrassment over writing lewd scenes never fully goes away, it will get easier with time. I promise.

Whenever I’m writing any kind of scene whether it be exciting, emotional, or, yes, lewd, I always like to select some music to set the tone in my mind. Spotify and YouTube are my go-to sources. If you’re settling down to write a smut scene, find yourself a sexy playlist to get your brain in the zone.

Your mood is important as well. Obviously you don’t have to be dripping with lust to write this sort of scene, but being upset, tired, or ill can definitely put a damper on your ability to get into the proper mindset.

Never try to force writing of any sort if you’re not feeling inspired. As that old saying goes, writing is like a fart: if you have to force it, it’s probably shit. The original quote pertains to relationships, but I think it’s pretty fitting here as well. Should this happen, don’t scrap the project entirely. Simply take a break, play or watch the property involving the character(s) you’re writing about, read some of your favorite authors or fic writers, read some guides like this one. And then come back when you feel suitably inspired.

In conclusion...

As I said before, this is less of a guide and more of an outline. Everyone has different methods for putting out their best content. Perhaps listening to music distracts you or the writing of others sticks in your head and hampers your ability to create original work.

And that’s completely fine.

That being said, I hope that you guys found this useful in instilling you with the confidence you need to finally begin writing smut! There can never be too many smut writers in the world. If there’s something in particular that you’d like advice on, leave a comment and I’ll try to address it as soon as I can. Thanks for reading, everyone! Now, go forth with the faith that you can finally do the thing !!!

[gaycrystalfemme]

Ch 1 • Ch 2 • Ch 3 • Ch 4** 》 AO3

Earth Customs

Chapter 3: Date

"Blue, uh.. It.. it's me. H-how are.. your Peridots from 7GT? Have they emerged yet? Let me know if you need any help." Beep.

"Blue, I'm heading to the ringed giant, Pygmalion-XH9, for inspection. Would you like to join me?" Beep.

"Blue, I remember. You wanted to talk about the plans for your colony?" Beep.

"B-blue, I.." Beep.

"PEARL, WHY ISN'T SHE RESPONDING?!?! AAAAAAAHHH!!!"

BZZZZZZTTTT! BOOOMM!!

Yellow's Pearl was inches away from getting poofed. Yellow was in a frenzy, furious that Blue hadn't responded to any of her voice messages or calls. Her computer took the full blast of her thunderous rage. A full shock of her lightning bolt.

"M-m-my D-d-diam-m-mond," Yellow's Pearl was trembling, fearful to be poofed or shattered. She chose her words very carefully, "P-perhaps-s i-it'd b-be w-wise i-if w-we-"

"Pearl," Yellow released a heavy exhale. Her fury slowly diffusing. Stubborn as she is, she disregarded what ever her frightened assistant was about to suggest. "Drop me off to Earth. And have this fixed," she pointed at the smashed master computer.

"A-absolutely, m-my Diamond!" Yellow Pearl immediately left the main control room and went to a different room. Somewhere in Yellow's ship was an emergency control room. Yellow had one built in case scenarios like these were to ever occur. Which, knowing herself, was highly likely.

Yellow knew the reason why Blue had been ignoring her. She had rejected Blue's advances. But Yellow only did what she knew as the appropriate response. Engaging in such Earthly acts was irrational. They were Diamonds after all, so there was no purpose for them to act humanly.

◇ ◇ ◇

Yellow's spaceship landed on the usual place by the beach. It had been four years since her last visit to Earth. Luckily, Steven stayed on the same beach house. Two gems were having a conversation outside. Steven and Pearl. Yellow's arrival interrupted their discussion.

"Yellow Diamond! I-it's nice for you to come visit me today!" Steven was always happy when either matriarch came to talk to him.

"Pink, h-how have you been?" Yellow did not know how to unpack what she wanted to say.

"Weeeeell, I've been doing great!" He was always full of energy and today was a particularly good mood for him, more so since Yellow came to visit. Teasingly, he asked, "Soooo, how are you and your 'g-girlfriend'?" He remembers Blue's last visit. He assumed they were all lovey-dovey now. He particularly remembered how Blue blushed when she revealed the kiss with Yellow. It had been years anyway. In that timespan, they should've already bonded enough. He thought everything was going great between the two.

"Girlfrie- what?! What did Blue tell you, Pink?!" Yellow's temper was slowly resurfacing. Girlfriend. The kiss. Blue.

"Well, Blue Diamond said I can't tell anyone, so.."

"What?! TELL ME!" Yellow demanded with a raised voice. Anger was evident in her tone. Mixed with a heavy dose of frustration, her temper was waiting to explode.

"Oh, Steven," Pearl got worried. She didn't want to fight but she was prepared to if the need arises. "If it's about Yellow too, well, it's probably best if you tell her what she needs to know." Pearl calmly convinced Steven, hoping an impending chaos from Yellow's fury would be avoided.

"Well okay. Wo-would you leave us alone for a minute, Pearl? Please? Thi-this is top secret Diamond information, so.. Sorry."

"It's fine," Pearl understood this well. She had served Diamonds before. White, then Pink. She knew Diamonds had their secrets. Pearl moved far from them, enough so she couldn't hear their voices but enough to keep Steven in sight. With her protective nature towards Steven, she just wanted to make sure Yellow wouldn't hurt him.

Steven climbed the tall Yellow. He aimed for her shoulders and whispered to her everything that had transpired last time Blue visited. The movie-thon, how awesome it had been for him. Blue's interest in human interactions, specifically in romantic gestures. The conversation they had about love. And the revelation of the kiss.

"I asked if you were her girlfriend. She said you kissed but only once."

"Oh, Blue." Yellow was surprisingly not angered. Instead, she felt a deep sense of longing. With Blue coldly ignoring her and learning about Blue's attempts at delving into human behavior, Yellow felt like she should've opened herself a bit more. "Pink, you see.. Blue and I.. have not spoken for a while."

"Really?! But why? She seemed so happy and excited when she left."

"It's.. I made a miscalculation!" Yellow hated admitting to her failings and shortcomings. But she was growing desperate. The more she spoke with Steven, the more she wanted to talk with Blue.

"Well.." Steven was devising ways for them to patch their conflict. "You can just give her a gift, then she'll forgive you."

"A gift? But she already has her Pearl! Hmm.." A gift, in homeworld's standards, was something of use to the expansion of the colony. "Perhaps I can give her an entire fleet of Peridots. Or Agates? Maybe even Sapphires. But.. I could never compete with her Sapphires!" Blue's Sapphires were impressively better made than Yellow's.

"Uh, well," Steven did not particularly like the idea of gifting gems. He viewed them as living sentient beings. "Why not give her.. a moon? Or a.. star?" Steven could barely understand interstellar conquest since he, and even his late mother, had little desire in engaging in intergalactic domination.

"It'd be impossible to endow anything if she doesn't even wish to speak with me!"

"Yeah, you're probably right. Buuuutt.. What if, I were to talk to her?"

"Well, that just might work out! Do you have a communicator? You can't call her in my ship, I've already sent it for repair. And even so, she will think it is I who's calling her."

"We can call her.. at the moonbase!"

"Oh, yes. Of course! Good thinking, Pink. Let's go!"

"Wait. Lemme just think of what to say.." Steven pondered a bit. A few ideas later, he was thrilled to tell Yellow, "I'm going to set you up on a date! It'd be on the moon, it'll be so wonderful. And romantic!"

"Set a what?"

"A date! It's like a meeting but only for two, specifically lovers. And since you're girlfriends, then it'd be a date!"

"Hmm.. I might need to learn about Earth myself.."

"Okay. But right now we should focus on your date!"

"By the way, how are we going to the moon, Pink?!"

"Don't worry, Steven the Great has a mighty steed!" He pertained to his magical Lion.

◇ ◇ ◇

With the help of Peridot and Pearl, a giant table was set up in the moonbase and the Diamond communicator was fixed. After the set-up, Peridot, Pearl, and Lion waited by the main entrance with the Diamond murals. Steven decided to call Blue while Yellow hid by the observation orb just below. She was able to hear their conversation.

"Blue Diamond! Hi!" Blue answered the call. Yellow was tempted to peek but knew it'd be best to restrain herself. Her arms crossed, she was pacing impatiently by the observation orb as Blue and Steven had their conversation.

"Pink! It's so nice of you to call!" A hint of melancholy in her greeting.

"Are you o.. H-how are you?" Steven almost lost his guard. "Would you happen to have time to come visit me? I'm at Earth's moon, though."

"That explains why you can call me," Blue was pertaining to the direct Diamond communicator. "Sure. I'll be right there." She hung up.

Yellow emerged from the room below, "She's coming! Where is she?!" She went ahead to the computer to check on Blue's current coordinates. "It'd take a few days before she arrives."

"Will you be okay here alone, Yellow?"

"Of course. You should build a communication device on your abode, Pink, so we can contact you directly."

Steven agreed and went back to Earth with Pearl, Peridot, and Lion. Yellow was left at the moon. A couple of days was nothing to a timeless being. Yellow decided to call her ship using the direct channel. Her Pearl answered the call and immediately she asked, "Where are you, how is the ship?"

"My Diamond, I have just landed at the nearest repair center and I am about to speak with the manager."

"Hmm. I reckon that's going to take a while. Well, send the PXH9 files here at the Earth moonbase. I'll be staying here for the time being. And update me regarding the progress of the repair. Oh, also, send me a copy of the Action folder."

"Yes, my Diamond." The obedient Pearl did whatever her Diamond had asked of her. The PXH9 files would keep her company while waiting for Blue. Yellow figured she could also indulge in a few movies while waiting.

◇ ◇ ◇

Outside the moonbase, Blue's arm ship was visibly landing. In the screen, Blue's coordinates were beeping red signifying her arrival at the moonbase. Yellow's chest was throbbing. She stood up and paced. It kept her from having a panic attack. The door of the moonbase opened with a loud swish. Soft footsteps became louder as it approached. A veiled lady emerged from the massive staircase below. She uncloaked her veil and was stunned at the golden sight before her.

"Ye-Yellow?! What is the meaning of this?! Where is Pink?"

"I-it's so nice for you to be here, Blue."

"Such a waste of resources! Pearl, let's go!"

"No, wait!" Yellow bolted to Blue and softly held her wrist to halt her. "Wait, Blue, please."

Seeing Yellow in the flesh softened her up. Blue had heard the dozens of voice messages. She was also very well aware of Yellow's multiple missed calls. Fortunately for the both of them, Blue listens to her emotions. "Pearl, wait in the ship." Blue's Pearl bowed in submission and proceeded to Blue's ship. Blue faced Yellow. Yellow's hand still on Blue's wrist.

Succumbing to her feelings was something she rarely did. Yellow had always followed the rationale of the order. But order and eternity made no sense if Blue weren't around. She wanted to talk. She wanted to be close. She wanted to enact the silly romantic gestures Blue had been initiating with her, the things she had seen in the movies.

"Blue, I.. I had been mistaken the last time."

"What last time?"

"Last time when we.. At your moonbase.."

"No, Yellow. You were right. Such foolishness it was of me, of us, to engage in those acts. I'm.. I'm sorry. It was unbecoming of a Diamond. Fret not, it shall never happen again."

No.. No.. NO!

"Blue, I want to be.. Let me be your girlfriend." She may have rejected Blue's previous advances out of fear of disrupting order, but being unable to interact with Blue for a while gave her time to contemplate. It made her realize, aside from Blue, how much she missed acting her feelings out. How much she wanted to. It also occured to her the possibility that love may not be limited to human beings alone but rather, it might have been omnipresent in the galaxy. She is a Diamond and, though she tried to contain it most of the time, she is capable of feeling. She concluded that, perhaps, love is universal.

"Yellow, what's gotten into you? You're being silly!" Blue was blushing furiously.

"Blue, listen.. I admit, I made an error in my previous judgement. It seems plausible for.. for us to engage in such.. In such nonsense!" It was difficult for Yellow to surrender to her feelings. "I feel things.. Things I feel for only you. And what ever we had done, human foolishness or not, it feels right! I.. I want to do them with you, Blue. And if we're going to be around for all time, then I want to be-"

She couldn't finish her sentence. From Blue's wrist, Yellow's hand slipped to interlock hers and Blue's hands. She pulled her fellow Diamond close. One hand interlocked with Blue's. Her free hand, she wrapped around Blue's back, and rested at the side of Blue's rib.

"Yellow, what are you trying to-"

Yellow pulled her close and locked their lips. Her kiss revealed how much she missed Blue, how much she longed for Blue, and how much she wanted Blue.

Blue tried to be a proper Diamond and attempted to reject Yellow's display of affection. But her feelings were getting the best of her. And with Yellow's lips locking over hers, she was powerless. She wanted this, she wanted it bad. She kissed back.

"Yellow, I believe you told me this does not make any sense.."

"How many times do I have to repeat myself, I have made a miscalculation. This perfectly makes sense, Blue. Our.. our feelings, they.. They require to be expressed."

"But this, aren't these.. silly things only humans do?"

"I.. I wouldn't mind to act ridiculous with you."

"Ye-Yellow.. Come, kiss me ple-"

Yellow wrapped Blue in a tight embrace. But with all the excitement in expressing her repressed feelings, Yellow unintentionally pushed them both to the floor of the moonbase enough to produce a loud thud, but not to wreck the structure. The fall was painless, they were Diamonds. Yellow was now taking initiative in showering Blue with affection, and Blue couldn't be any happier with that.

On the floor, their eyes met. And both ladies almost radiating a diffirent hue with all the blushing. Pleasurable tension was overwhelming the room. Yellow, with a strong sense of aggression, lunged her face towards Blue's. Her eyes closed, she aimed for Blue's luscious lips. One kiss followed by another, and another. They found themselves heavily making out on the floor. Their hands moved with every impatient kiss. It was the first time they touched certain corners of each other, and it was electrifying for both of them. They were already too close but they wanted to get closer. Yellow incidentally stroked the gem at Blue's chest. The passing touch gave Blue a pleasurable shock, she moaned abruptly. The sound made Yellow's heart race. Her Diamond-shaped irises dilated. She gently held Blue's wrist and slowly Yellow pulled it closer to the gem in her chest, attempting for Blue's fingertips to make contact with her diamond. Blue's Diamond-shaped irises also dilating, excitement was building with the gestu-

Ring! Ringg!

"OH MY STAARSS!!" Both Diamonds gasped and sprung out of their awkward, perhaps forbidden, form and stood up. The ring relinquished the intensity of their activity. Startled, they quickly tidied themselves before Yellow answered the call.

"My Diamond, I am glad to repo-"

"Don't call me until I call you." Call ended. Yellow released a heavy exasperated breath. Apparently, her Pearl was actually excited to report that the ship had been fixed masterfully and quickly. But she was cut off too soon.

"That was a bit harsh, darling."

"She shouldn't be calling me when I am busy!" Anger easily clouding Yellow's thinking process. "Wait, what is darling?"

Blue couldn't help but giggle at the irate Yellow. She found it oddly adorable. "I have seen a few movies myself. Anyway, let's go home, Yellow."

"Hmm.. Would you rather inspect PXH9? The planet seems promising, I've read the reports before you arrived."

"Really? Let's go then." Blue let out a soft smile, content with what they've done. She became confident they'd be expressing their feelings towards each other from now on. Blue held Yellow's hand as they walked to the blue arm.

◇ ◇ ◇

** Ch 4 = AO3 exclusive WIP

[jamesginortonblog]

It's nearly unheard of that a television series inspires a nationwide law that targets international corruption, money laundering and organized crime.

But that's what happened in the UK as a result of the James Norton-fronted drama McMafia, an eight-part series currently airing in the U.S. on AMC after completing its British run in mid-February.

McMafia delves into the incredibly profitable underworld of criminal activity including sex trafficking, drug dealing and money laundering and how the tempting tentacles of corruption reach into the highest levels of finance and government through the machinations of global organized crime.

Norton plays the British-raised, Ivy League-educated Alex Godman, the scion of a connected Russian family who moved to England to legitimize themselves after some shady dealings in the old country. He runs a London-based hedge fund, is engaged to his girlfriend, played by Juliet Rylance, is a model son to his parents and a loving brother to a troubled sister. In other words, the perfect hero, until he gets drawn into a series of scary scenarios that see him evolve from proverbial choirboy to criminal.

McMafia's tales of intrigue kick into high gear with the murder of Godman's uncle Boris, who, unlike the rest of the family, is still actively involved in the Russian mob.

To avenge the killing, Godman teams up with a powerful Russian-born Israeli businessman and politician, Semiyon Kleiman (David Strathairn) to battle the crime boss behind the killing, a brutal kingpin known as Vadim. Kleiman and Godman, first introduced by Uncle Boris and after overcoming their initial suspicions of each other, develop a sort of father-son relationship and conspire to take territories, including ports in India and Croatia, where Vadim has a "free pass" to ply his illegal commerce—and thus, take him down.

Some have compared the character of Alex Godman to that of The Godfather's Michael Corleone, the once-legitimate businessman who becomes the powerful head of a massive criminal enterprise.

But unlike The Godfather films, which were based on Mario Puzo's best-selling novel, McMafia is inspired by investigative journalism. The series is based on the 2008 nonfiction book McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld by Misha Glenny, who also serves as an executive producer.

The crime drama was created by Hossein Amini and James Watkins and is a coproduction of the BBC, AMC and Cuba Pictures. The series premiered in the United Kingdom on January 1 and created a huge amount of buzz, including the aforementioned "McMafia Law," more formally known as the Unexplained Wealth Order.

It requires that rich people who come to Great Britain from elsewhere must prove the legitimacy of their wealth. If found to be acquired from illegal activity, their assets can be seized and liquidated, with the money going to law enforcement. Great Britain's National Crime Agency estimates that £90 billion a year (about $126.5 billion) is now being laundered in the UK, twice the amount of the nation's entire defense budget.

The problem is so severe that UK security minister Ben Wallace recently wrote an op-ed in The Sunnewspaper which stated, "McMafia has brought home to millions of viewers the nature of serious and organized crime in the 21st Century. Sharp suited people swan around the nation's capital while all along they head up networks that trade on the back of the misery and suffering of others. It is time the flashy McMafia mob felt the long arm of the law."

Already, two £11 million London mansions, believed to be bought with "dirty money," were seized by court order in February.

Norton's Godman is in almost every scene of McMafia, whose story unfolds in multiple picturesque international locations including Belize, Istanbul, Belgrade, London, Prague, Zagreb, Cairo, Qatar, Russia and Israel.

"Alex Godman is not necessarily always likeable, but James brought such a sense of humanity, especially in scenes with his family, that counterbalanced the coldness of the character," says Watkins, who directed all eight episodes.

"James was very brave in committing to such a withheld character. In creating the antiheroic Alex Godman, we wanted to maintain a deliberate ambiguity as to his motivations. Is he acting out of revenge or out of survival? Or, somewhere within him, seen in occasional glimpses, is there a will to power at work, a seduction by the dark side?

"James is a very attuned actor and worked forensically at finding those little micro-details. One of the wonderful things about James's performance is the very subtle way in which he lets emotion leak through the mask, especially in the last episodes as events spiral out of control."

The 32-year-old Norton is well-known in the UK after leading roles in numerous prestige productions including War & Peace, Grantchester and Happy Valley. He also co-starred in last year's reboot of the feature film Flatliners.

Norton will appear again on the big screen toplining director Agnieszka Holland's Gareth Jones as the title character, a Welsh journalist who exposed genocide in the Stalinist Soviet Union, secured access to Hitler and Goebbels and was murdered in 1935.

We caught up with Norton by phone on location for the film in Ukraine where he said he was shivering in -15°C (5°F ) weather. The conversation was anything but chilly as we explored facets of his career and the echoes of McMafia in real life.

Tell us about the evolution of your character Alex Godman on McMafia.

It was a most exciting part to play with. During 150 days, we shot out of sequence and it was a huge challenge. Most of the conversations about Alex revolved around where we were in his arc- from clean-living man and golden boy to his fiancé Rebecca, and then how he becomes a linchpin in shady deals with Mafias.

James [Watkins] and I would try to understand his motives. We wanted to leave a lot of it open, to leave muddy his motives. You can claim to understand them but there are a myriad of reasons.

We were clear about protecting his family and then making a choice as he began moving away from fortuitous, virtuous reasons to avarice. While the creators- and audiences- are realizing Alex was being sucked in, Alex didn't realize it soon enough. Suddenly he surprised himself, and he's loving it, and it's incredibly sexy and seductive.

It was a layered role. His headspace doesn't ever stop giving you revelations about his relationship with his father and fiancé, and the associated Russians with inherent criminality. But there were a lot of commentators quick to make the connection about him running away [from organized crime] and then being seduced. It was a joy to play, right until the end of the last hour.

Many of your scenes are with David Strathairn. Let's talk about his character's magnetism, and how you are drawn into his nefarious agenda and the plot to destroy Vadim.

David's a master, and the journey Alex is on is incredibly defined by his relationship with Semiyon. He becomes almost like Alex's moral compass, kind of like Rebecca. Semiyon sort of sets it up that if he wants to protect his family, he has to take on Vadim. He became a dark, sinister individual but also becomes a paternal figure. To have a relationship with Vadim—they're so different, and corrupt, but they have their allies, children, lovers and they're not stock villains.

David played it beautifully, a real character, a likeable one if not more sinister. He's a politician we all recognize, progressive and yet he's subversive and deals in human trafficking. He brought home how close these politicians are to corruption.

Off set, David was wonderful. We went walking and swimming along the Croatian coastline. He's a lover of life and I loved hanging out with him.

That sounds fun, but what are some of the most challenging and memorable scenes that you have shot in the series?

We shot in Croatia, Serbia and London in very glamorous locations but I didn't get to Mumbai. One location was a beautifully landscaped villa with a beautiful mosaic ceiling – just unbelievably extravagant in the South of France, yet nearby was extraordinary poverty. Some of the scenes, particularly with David, felt like mini pieces of theater. James gave us time to mine those scenes.

The scenes with the parents were wonderful to play, so subtle and with the human subject so rich. With Vadim, when we crossed paths in the airport lounge, it was like punctuation marks on our respective journeys. All the other storylines were leading to this. The scene's very charged, halfway through the shoot, crackling and informed.

It was wonderful, and the reason you do this, when the story and situation take on a life on their own and memories and experiences inform it. It's like a mini explosion.

With Rebecca, the first thing we shot was the apartment stuff between them in the first week. It was incredibly emotionally charged material, when she moves out after she confronts him about travel. It was a sad day, and it was harder because we didn't have the backstory. On Alex's journey, she represents where he comes from, and you suddenly remember where he was with her. The tragedy is he does set out to protect her and it's gone way too far.

The family elements are especially resonant within McMafia - and Alex is always right in the middle of everything.

The family element allows us to explore the man, seduced by the subversive and the dark side. The family is a way of seeing that component. He ends up as a gangster, but he's ultimately a family man, a good son and brother. In one of the most tragic, heartbreaking scenes he's asked to cut loose his dad, Dmitri – it's almost self-sacrifice. I have a close relationship with my own father, and that day Alex was willing to sabotage his family was difficult.

Faye Marsay, Aleksey Serebryakov, Mariya Shukshina-- we become a real family. There was a concentrated, really fun sense of unity. All of us were so invested in the warmth and affection both and off camera, and they are all such great actors. Aleksey came in with different versions, using the Stanislavski method. We Brits were far too polite.

Aleksey would come in and say, "No, we do it like this." When Dmitri says goodbye to his brother in the morgue, he paced around and genuinely threw up in the sink. It was extraordinary.

You have had key roles in a number of series including Grantchester, Happy Valley and War & Peace. What have you learned from these experiences? Is there a throughline amongst these characters?

You learn through every role, with different headspaces, time periods and genders, you get to learn and have an emotional connection. I would hate to be typecast. If there is a throughline, the characters are very switched on and inquisitive - kind of trying to work it all out or not take life for granted. They're on some quest to understand it. Maybe I am completely confused, but they're all thinking and in existential angst.

Can you tell us a little bit about your upcoming starring role in Gareth Jones with Agnieszka Holland?

Gareth knew his place, and he's on an incredible journey but also on a mission. It's a true story about a young journalist, one of the first to interview Hitler in 1932 just at the emergence of Nazi-ism. He describes being on a plane with Goebbels, and then back home to the UK where he tells the British government about the emergence of totalitarianism. They dismiss this and of course we know what happens later.

Then he takes on a mission to Stalin's USSR. He was beginning to have doubts about Communism. He decided to check out the numbers and how they're paying for planes, etc. He was on a tour, went rogue and discovered Stalin's extortion at the expense of millions of lives. At home, they accused him of lying, "fake news" and being inflammatory.

It's terrifying in 1933 when they had so much less access to communications. In Ukraine, Stalin was able to get away it and millions died [as a result of famine]. Now we are using the same language. It's a very relevant story, what is truth and what is agenda. We feel a responsibility to respect his story. It's exciting, and I'm really enjoying it.

As McMafia unfolds, what do you hope viewers take away from it?

You want the work to be entertaining as we're in the business of entertaining people. But with the last few years of Brexit, Trump and populist right-wing governments coming to power, and corporations being so powerful, corruption is no long self-contained. It's straddling everything, and we're in unknown territory.

I know in the UK they want to know what that corruption looks like. In the days of The Sopranos and The Godfather, organized crime contained an element of romanticism but did not really affect us. For a show to provide understanding of financial corruption is important, to see how a hedge fund manager facilitates a drug deal. Aside from the human-driven drama, it is also about corruption and transparency, and will hopefully bring some clarity.

With the UK McMafia Law, suddenly we are part of a much larger conversation, more pertinent and crucial. I hope for those people in the audience who are fully engaged and hungry for clarify that this is a perfect show.

[corinthbayrpg]

NAME. Hudson Redgrave AGE & BIRTH DATE. 43 & September 14th, 1978 GENDER & PRONOUNS. Male & He/Him SPECIES. Genasi ( Spirit ) OCCUPATION. Head Museum Curator &  Lead Archaeologist FACE CLAIM. Justin Hartley

BIOGRAPHY

( tw: mass murder ) Five years. For five whole years, Hudson was the only child of the Redgrave family, born into a world filled with more questions and wonder than he could ever quite wrap his mind around. Ever the child dazed in the brightness of it all, he clung to every word his parents and grandparents ever told him, every museum that he could step foot in, each and every facet of the coven life bewildered him beyond comprehension, bright eyed and barely on his feet he was constantly fixated on things well out of his reach, never quite being satisfied with everything he could grasp comfortably. It came as no real surprise that when the day came that he was followed by his siblings, Hudson was dragging them through every door and passage of the countless museums their family was affiliated with, telling them stories, myths and legends that surrounded their world in particular, explaining every detail as if he’d read it from a book. In many ways, he took over the role of parent in every waking moment that their own parents couldn’t be there. His struggles became his own and while this didn’t bother Hudson in the slightest, he knew that he did nothing to help himself in the face of his siblings and choosing their worries over his own.

Throughout his years in college, it came as somewhat of a shock to find that Hudson distanced himself from his family and the spotlight of the coven itself. Finding that in order to set himself on the right path that he needed to understand life as everyone else saw it. Those years he spent living in crowded, loud and messy dorm rooms, Hudson disconnected himself completely from magic and every ounce of power his bloodline held, swearing off even the slightest use of it in some bid to appreciate what he had as more than simply a birthright. What he could do, the power that flowed through his veins was a gift and nothing short of that. It was here, however, that his addictive personality began to form. He is, and by no means has ever been addicted to anything at all, but he has and always will strive for something more. Something bigger — a more exciting high than the last. As formidable a force as any other might have been, with the famous Redgrave  name etched to his every choice, Hudson walked the slippery slope of drugs and alcohol until he found himself on a whole new path. One that he had never really been looked down upon, for he believed the skill in both light and dark magic created the balance that allowed their coven to survive after centuries, however, the further he delved, the more that of the light slipped through his fingers until he could no longer see the sky above as anything other than painted black and scintillated in a burning red flame that licked at every inch of his flesh it could reach.

Two long years left Hudson estranged from his family, his own refusal to return to them for a lack of understanding, a lack of wanting to be understood as he traversed the world on excavations and searches for items of worth that pertained to his new found brand of magic in particular. Cursed objects, relics, talismans, tombs of those long gone that could offer him a further insight, a further foothold into everything that plagued the world through the readings of darkness. It was this plight that very nearly took his life, at the transition of moons on his 29th Birthday, Hudson Redgrave committed the most unholy act of any witch. A blood sacrifice and was almost consumed wholly by the power at his fingertips once every ounce of his connection with Hecate became severed. Wiping out the entirety of a thirty mile radius of a South American village, the slippery slope he’d so easily fallen down soon became a fight to keep the gift he was once so thankful for, no matter how cautious he might have been to ever use again.

Clung to the precipice of his own death, elders of his coven sought him out, unknowing of the near act of treason he’d committed, drawing him back into the fold of the coven in the hopes rehabilitation from his misgivings would have Hudson see his own wrongs. Only, there was far too much to forgive and more still, that they’d yet to learn. Years passed and beneath the watchful eye of his elders, Hudson found it difficult to be in a room with the people he’d once shared everything with, dipping his toes in the darkness more than any witch within the Redgrave coven would do so openly, the effort to maintain everything that he can to fixate his near addictive personality on something else wore thin. With an eidetic memory, he flourished in his field landing himself as lead curator of the Museum of Natural History and buried himself in transcripts and artifacts, his interest in the new and alluring something he could never seem to shake. With the disconnect looming over his relationship with his family, there was far too much he didn’t know, and even more still that he wanted to find, the power at his fingertips not nearly enough. The premise of family, of their coven being his strong suit, a saving grace while so many are unaware of exactly how much so, Hudson spent what remained of his time ensuring that those within the coven; those in his family felt as comfortable as possible with who they are, that they understood boundaries save himself watching one of them pushing a tipping point they wouldn’t be able to come back from. Hypocritical as it were, he understood the grave choice he’d made and held little regret for it. Painting himself as something he wasn’t, for the sake off what his family might lose in ever finding out what Hudson had severed so easily. With the rising supernatural war of New York pitching the precipice and spilling out into the streets there were far too many things done behind closed doors for Hudson to ignore what he hid from everyone else. Allies created through the circumstance of the power he wielded grew out of nothing but none so withstanding as one with a vampire with a curse hanging over his head. Truly, it’d shown itself as nothing more than a grab for the power that resided with the curse. The black magic that rested within the veins of the undead all he could think about when he vanquished the spell that’d sought control over Nixon for so long and yet, what he found in the man beneath the curse was far more than he’d ever bargained for. A man with a heart that ceased within his chest that could so easily accept that his, live, beating heart could be just as hollow and cold was one he simply couldn’t look past. It was with the imminent implosion of power within the city that Hudson made the same decision he’d made once before. Leaving to satiate his own sanity and find something beyond anything he’d gained by severing his last connection with the world he grew up in. What he had simply wasn’t enough – not while knowing he’d lose it soon enough. Memories of pages filled with writings of a shifting balance that tore everything from those with magic within their veins and what that kind of power could offer him fell to the forefront of his mind as he swept his husband up in a search for a new brand of immortality. Following a trail that didn’t exist, it was only when Hudson acknowledged his husband’s imminent draw to Greece that he noted the dark and ominous power that surrounded the city of Corinth Bay. Questionable as it were, his uncertainty far too difficult to swallow, it was something he hadn’t felt rattle his bones in far too long - and something like that, might have been exactly what he was looking for. 

Several years among the impending ruination of the supernatural world unturned a great many things for Hudson. His connection to Thanatos and the gift of eidolons cured a momentary pause within his resolve. Curiosity gave way to a volatile nature that he’d held onto for so long. The Genasi’s penchant for chaos and destruction challenged by the war over the veil and the new knowledge that immortality would cost him everything. Crossing paths with Valkyrie, although his connection with hecate was long gone, severed something more within Hudson. The desire for ultimate power and a life longer than the one he was already granted pulled the genasi from the streets of Corinth and back to those of New York and a confrontation with a family that could neither look him in the eyes nor see him as the golden child they’d perceived him to be his whole life. Severance of sanity burnt beneath heated words and though the pieces of him that swore to always protect his family, the words of Valkyrie continued to burn in the back of his mind. Two bodies left behind, a tangled mess of limbs and a mistake that carved a blackened mark against his soul, Hudson knew instantly the mistake he’d made. Neither his younger brother nor his mother lived as the person he’d loved the most, and yet the energy he’d taken from them burned brightly enough to satisfy until the guilt pooled in his gut.

Where once he stood as one known for his collected nature, anger and impatience overcame him. The decision to keep so much of his life secret from his family for this very reason was long forgotten. The path he tore through the city, through his former coven, a blip in his memory as the instability he’d held close to him flew from his fingertips to gather whatever power remained. Hues that fixed themselves instead, to his husband perhaps a little less warm, the acceptance that in order to have what he wanted, the death of the man he’d sworn himself to lingered. A man already undead left him with no loophole to worm his way through. And though their return to Corinth Bay was shadowed by death, Hudson felt uneasy. Uneasy in that, the weight of death he could feel had not yet come to fruition and the only questions left, was when and who would pay such a price. 

PERSONALITY

+ protective, understanding, meticulous - unpredictable, unstable, cunning

PLAYED BY BECA. AEST. She/Her.

[imrainai]

I’m going to try to answer people directly, but first, I am going to explain what The Stargazer’s Companion is, because it occurs to me that most people are probably not familiar with it (especially people who live outside of Voa)!

The Stargazer’s Companion is the magazine put out by Dar Publishing, a small publishing company mostly known for distributing speculative fiction aimed at children and young people. This isn’t all they do, but the primary mission of Dar is to make scientific concepts accessible to everyone, and to get young people of every caste interested in the space program, since “reaching the stars will take effort from all of us.”

The Stargazer’s Companion actually predates Dar; its editors created the publishing company in order to be able to release longer, standalone works. Dar was founded in 3413, while the magazine has been in circulation since early 3411. There’s no non-Voan version, and it’s fairly obscure even here; I didn’t learn about it until last year, because the libraries in my old city didn’t have it.

TSC is supposed to be what the title suggests it is--a magazine to take with you if you’re going to go out stargazing. It’s always been an eclectic collection of nonfiction articles, constellation charts, fiction, puzzles, and poetry. I don’t think its circulation numbers have ever been very high (perhaps because of the lack of focus), but it’s always been aimed at people (particularly young people) who want to expand their horizons and play with ideas they haven’t encountered before. 

It has never been a solely green magazine. When TSC began circulation in 3411, it was a collaboration between grad students at Garen University (which primarily trains yellows, and is best-known for its editing department, although a majority of the students are secretary-track) and a collection of local teachers who wanted something to inspire their students with. It’s always accepted green writing, particularly fiction, but its early issues are also full of math puzzles designed by the yellow programmers, articles and features written by its orange creators, and (notably) a series of poems written by a grey astronaut. Its editors and owners are yellow (not green), but they have both greens and oranges on staff.

More recent issues are a little greener, but here’s a breakdown of the issue I was published in:

Pages 1-2, advertisements. No idea who designed these. 

Pages 3-4, table of contents.

Pages 7-20, a chapter of an ongoing comic series called Near Planet. It is written and illustrated by Camazar (green, comic artist--not a real name, the magazine doesn’t require legal names) and colored by Melnade be-Endre (purple, house painter). Camazar also writes a webcomic, Birthright, which you can read here.

Pages 21-28, an article about supernovas and the life cycles of stars titled “When a Star Dies”. (Ves really liked this one.) It was written by Sanda be-Marin (green, textbook writer), and it made me want to check out the textbooks she’s contributed to (which are, interestingly, mostly about the ocean). It also contains pictures which are credited to the VCSEO, so obviously those were taken by greens, though I have no idea who was manning the telescope at the time.

Pages 29-45, a story titled “At the End of All Things”. It was written by Zanathor be-Enkaza (green, mathematics student). It’s the first time she’s published fiction, but I think it’s the strongest piece of writing in the issue.

Pages 46-53, a story titled “In the Shadow of the Moons”. It was written by Moran be-Elzet (green, fiction writer). Moran has been published in TSC before, and primarily writes comedies; this is the first time he’s written something comparatively more serious, though it still made me chuckle at the beginning.

Page 54, a poem titled “Candles Under Darkness”. It was written by Semavet, who gives no real name (again, the magazine doesn’t require one), but it does include the address of her blog, where she identifies herself as a security guard and combat veteran (and also posts more poetry).

Pages 55-80, the usual collection of star charts and calendars.

Pages 81-83, a series of mathematical puzzles. They’re credited to Lenore be-Delve (purple, mechanic) and Bera be-Mardan (orange, math teacher).

Pages 84-92, a story titled “The Golden Castle”. I wrote this one, so I guess (purple, pest control)?

Pages 93-132, a story titled “Without a Sound”. This is certainly the most unique piece of writing in the issue--it was written collaboratively by Elan be-Tayar (gray, former lunar colony worker) and Imi be-Kada (yellow, former journalist and currently a programmer). It alternates between a fictional horror story (written by Imi) and nonfiction explanations of the various dangers faced by astronauts (written by Elan), which are relevant to the story and very interesting in their own right. I think Zanathor’s story is still the best in the issue, but I’d love to see more from both of these writers.

Pages 133-137, more puzzles. I still haven’t solved the ciphering page. They were designed by Mas be-Janari (orange, nurse), Bere Kael (green, comic artist), Lutan be-Evka (green, linguist), Bar be-Sambav (yellow, programmer), and Mihan be-Pari (orange, writing teacher).

Pages 138-152, “Making it Go”, an article about the process of testing new engines and other devices at VCSEO. This is actually really exciting for TSC; the writer is Maten be-Kal, a professional journalist. TSC doesn’t normally have this sort of quality journalism work in it--the nonfiction articles are usually more like very well-written and exciting textbook excerpts--so it was really cool to see it in this issue.

Pages 153-160, “Ask an Astronaut”, aka the best part of every issue, a feature where Luze be-Ketzel (gray, former astronaut for Vartech) and Tarin be-Makre (green, VCSEO astronomer) team up to answer reader questions about space (although they seem super biased towards answering the questions of two and three-year-olds, which everyone is mostly fine with).

Pages 161-164. More ads.

Pages 165-174, “The Kidnapping of Professor San” a puzzle-story (an extended narrative problem in which players solve puzzles to decode the story) by Vana be-Ren (orange, math teacher). 

Pages 175-177, “Star Reviews”. These are written by Kala be-Malkar, the head editor, who also reviews stars. They’re funny, if a bit hard to explain.

Pages 178-186, “The Asteroid Hunt”, by Malen be-Pala (grey, three-year-old). TSC hosts a contest twice a season where three-year-olds from around Voa can write space-themed stories from their classrooms. As long as their teacher pays the registration fee, they are guaranteed feedback, and one of them will be published. They aren’t good stories compared to what adults write--you have to practice, if you want to become good at what you do--but they are very different, and it’s a really cool way of motivating young people to hone their writing skills.

Pages 187-204, “Drawing Pictures In the Sky”, an article about the history and development of the well-known constellations, as well as others that are now no longer widely known. It was written by Linara be-Pade (green, actress and historian).

Pages 205-206, a map of Voa by light pollution, so you know where to go to stargaze.

My point in saying all this is that I did not specifically go to a greens-only, fiction-only magazine in order to intentionally Prove That I’m Better Than Greens (I’m not) or take opportunities away from green writers (I have no interest in doing this). Maybe I did end up taking an opportunity away! Maybe without me, they would have published another green in this issue. Maybe TSC shouldn’t exist at all, because maybe it’s taking market share away from more specialized green magazines. But the fact remains that it does exist, and that it has always explicitly welcomed submissions from people of every caste (with the tradeoff that the pay is Not That Great).

So I’m fine with people criticizing me for publishing, especially if that criticism comes from greens who feel that I’m taking away their livelihoods. I might disagree, but that doesn’t mean I’m definitely right, and I have no desire to be protected from people’s thoughts just because those thoughts are different than mine. But I think it’s important to note that not every fiction writer in the entire world is green, and that some of them are hobbyists who submit to obscure magazines that specifically try to be as varied and eclectic as possible, while still maintaining a basic focus on space.

If you don’t think that The Stargazer’s Companion should exist in its current form, again, that’s fine, but that’s what it means to say that only greens should submit to it.

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 16 October 2017

This was a really busy week with some really great comics, endings, beginnings, middles, that resulted in four comics vying for a favourite spot. Doctor Strange #26 by John Barber and Niko Henrichon, Kid Lobotomy #1 by Peter Milligan and Tess Fowler, Maestros #1 by Steve Skroce, and Sherlock Frankenstein & The Legion of Evil #1 by Jeff Lemire and David Rubín. Published by Marvel, IDW/Black Crown, Image, and Dark Horse respectively.

Doctor Strange #26 is technically the second of two self-contained fill-in issues written by John Barber before the new regular team comes aboard, but both last issue with art by Kevin Nowlan and this issue, the last illustrated by Niko Henrichon, have been wonderful. This issue in particular makes me wonder what Barber and Henrichon could have done together for a longer period of time.

John Barber gives us a story that is essentially a dungeon delve, Strange and his assistant, Zelma, travel through abandoned NYC subway tunnels in search of lost relics. As they do so, they stumble upon a team of adventurers who were trapped eons ago driven somewhat mad, and possessed, by the evil that lurked in the temple. Dungeon crawlers are one of my favourite types of RPGs and invariably I love when they show up in fiction as well. Barber does a great job presenting the genre and, since magic is still a scarcity, relevant to the current Strange status quo. There are also some wonderful character moments, building upon the almost humility that Strange has had since Jason Aaron’s run and the humorous interaction between master and student.

It also helps that Niko Henrichon’s artwork is perfectly suited for this kind of mix of horror and fantasy. His designs for the adventurers, especially after they’ve essentially become revenants, is wonderful.

Kid Lobotomy #1 is the launch issue for IDW’s Black Crown imprint curated by former Vertigo editor, Shelly Bond, written by Peter Milligan and illustrated by Tess Fowler, and it is pure, unadulterated glorious madness. To me, this feels like those early heady days of the Vertigo imprint back in the early to mid-’90s, when it seemed like everything was brilliant and beautifully strange, with weird and wonderful ideas flowing. This first issue captures that spirit, the essence, and creates something new.

The setting, characters, and narrative set out from Peter Milligan is suitably bizarre. On its top level, this is a bit of sibling rivalry over property as Kid and Rosebud fight over the hotel, the Suites, that their father, Big Daddy, has left to Kid to run. Of course, Kid and Rosebud have an odd incestuous relationship, or at least seem to have had when they were children, whereas now it’s unclear when something is still going on or if everything now is just Kid’s hallucinations and nightmares. There’s also the hotel itself, populated with strange guests and stranger staff-- ghost children cleaning service and a shape-changing maid who doubles as the bartender and might be Franz Kafka’s youngest sister (who died in 1943 if you’re wondering)--and a “turn down service” of giving New Lobotomy procedures to help excise particularly nasty memories.

That’s the other bit, Kid, has been suffering rock star malaise for some time, tried to kill himself, so Big Daddy invested into curing him, coming eventually to the “cut up” technique of New Lobotomy and Kid has become the resident practitioner of the hotel. It makes me wonder if Milligan’s also playing with our conception of what’s truly happening here, whether some of Kid’s memories are real or not, or if maybe he thinks he was a member of a band because he ate the excised portions of the brain of a man obsessed with the band’s lyrics. There’s nothing to necessarily hint at that, but there are enough presentations of things not being as they seem that it’s a possibility.

And then there’s Tess Fowler’s art. It too has hints of some of the memory of Vertigo stalwarts, a bit of Richard Case, some Luca Rossi, a little Philip Bond, and a taste of Mark Buckingham, resulting in some wonderful artwork that perfectly suits the story. The character designs are great, and as per the reveal of the main lobby at the hotel (as above), they make me wonder about the story of these guests just based on look alone. I want to know more about the girl with wings and a tail, the woman who looks like The Crypt Keeper in an ornate gown, what exactly is attached to the tentacles, and, of course, the normal looking guy with the briefcase.

This is a great first issue and a great launch for Black Crown. I’ve very excited to see what’s to come both from this series and from the future publications.

Maestros #1 is the latest return to comics by Steve Skroce, this time both as writer and artist on this new series. Maestros taps in to some of the same irreverent fantasy as Curse Words, but does so in a familial way. 

The first issue introduces us to Will, the last surviving son of the Kahzar bloodline, the magicians or “maestros” that shape and control the known multiverse. His entire family has been decimated by a mad wizard, Mardok, and his army of weird slug and venus fly trappy-type things and now Mardok’s attention has turned to Will in order to finish the job. In comes Will’s mother, Margaret, armed with a trusty talking sword to save him. Cue flashback to Will’s adolescence and awkward moments with family as he learns that he’s got magical blood.

Skroce’s story is indeed the traditional sad boy finds out that he’s special a la Harry Potter, it’s even reference in text, but it’s turned a bit on its ear partially because of the dark humour that’s peppered throughout the story, as well as the fact that the magicians really are pompous dicks that you don’t really feel bad about all of them being slaughtered. You are made to care about Will and his mother, but it’s interesting to see our mundane Earth made special and more pure, as well as its residents, through our lack of magic that runs through the rest of the multiverse.

As usual, Skroce’s art is gorgeous. After the relative normalcy of We Stand on Guard, it’s nice that he’s cutting loose again with some weird fantasy. Like many, I first saw his art on Ectokid for Clive Barker’s Razorline from Marvel and it’s pleasant to see him go back to something raw, strange, and magical.

It’s also fun to see that on Earth this occurring in the lower mainland of British Columbia. Skroce throws in some references like Mugs n Jugs and Abraham’s Books that are sure to amuse BC buds.

Sherlock Frankenstein and the Legion of Evil #1 spins out of Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston’s Black Hammer series, following on particularly from #12, with Black Hammer’s daughter, Lucy, investigating his disappearance following the confrontation with Anti-God. The series is written by Lemire, with art by David  Rubín who had also illustrated the two issues of Black Hammer that focused more completely on this story arc (#9&12). You needn’t necessarily have read any of Black Hammer before, though, as this arc takes place before the mothership and can largely be read on its own.

First, I need to reiterate that David Rubín’s art is absolutely amazing. His character designs are whimsical, intricate, and immensely interesting, perfectly fitting the oddity of the Black Hammer world. His depiction of Sherlock Frankenstein galumphing around in a giant mechanical robostrocity looks like the kind of madness I’m used to seeing leap off the page from Guy Davis’ tenure on BPRD. His page layouts and panel transitions, as well, are incredibly inventive. Just above there’s a spread in a spiral, leading to the central chamber, complete with snapshots of the various villains housed in this facility. Not only is it visually interesting, it manages to convey a fair amount of information about the inhabitants in one go. Great synergy between art and writing.

Second, Lemire is firing on all cylinders here. Perfectly mixing the sense of oddity, family, and nostalgia for old school superheroes that permeates the main Black Hammer series, but also bringing the mystery back to the forefront here. This first issue sees Lucy decide that trying to find the heroes has yielded nothing substantial, so she’s going to investigate their villains, particularly the guy at the top, Sherlock Frankenstein. She visits Spiral Asylum to find clues, especially from one of Frankenstein top henchmen, Mectoplasm. Lemire does a great job of making us feel for the guy, who turns out to be a child dragged from the afterlife and forced into a life of crime in a giant containment suit . It’s weird, but it fits.

Overall, I’m interested to see how this fills in some more of the backstory. I also wonder if it’s going to lead more to the relationship between Frankenstein and Golden Gail, although there’s no hint of it here.

Quick Bits:

All-New Guardians of the Galaxy #12 acts a kind of prelude to the Guardians’ upcoming Infinity Stones quest, as they swing by Earth to see if any of Marvel’s cognoscenti might have come across any of them. They also pick up a new member. This is also a fairly decent jumping on point, before the series adopts its Legacy numbering and starts a new arc. The art from Rod Reis is also phenomenal.

| Published by Marvel

Animosity #10 continues the investigation of the missing bees, with Jesse stumbling upon a somewhat strange farming community, and a familiar face in Mittens. Marguerite Bennett also gives us some more backstory on Jesse’s parents before The Wake. I’m interested in where this is going.

| Published by AfterShock

Animosity: Evolution #1 continues on from The Rise limited series, but still manages to stand on its own fairly well introducing, or re-introducing, us to the characters and the situation of the growing animal society in San Francisco. It’s nice to see this expansion into another side of the Animosity world. The politics and intrigue of the story certainly give off more of an Animal Farm vibe than the mothership, but it’s a welcome difference.

| Published by AfterShock

Critical Role: Vox Machina - Origins #2 ropes in Scanlan and Grog into the story through the raid and looting of a temple, wherein they find a vial tying back into the curse introduced in the first issue. It’s not quite as funny as the real thing, but Matthew Colville again does a great job of capturing the characters’ voices and provides an amusing addition to the story.

| Published by Dark Horse

Deadpool vs. Old Man Logan #1 is a great first issue, especially considering that Mike Henderson’s is truly wonderful. Declan Shalvey’s story is as humorous and over the top as you would expect from a battle between Deadpool and Logan and overall this is just outright fun.

| Published by Marvel

Faith & The Future Force #4 is probably not the ending that you’re suspecting. After throwing wave after repeating wave of heroes at the time-travelling genocidal robot, the finale tries a different tack in recruiting Faith’s arch-nemesis, Chris Chriswell, to combat the evil. It’s fairly inventive and a rather satisfying conclusion.

| Published by Valiant

Generation Gone #4 is pretty fucked up. The artwork by André Lima Araújo is gorgeous, but this is still one seriously messed up story.

| Published by Image

The Infinite Loop: Nothing but the Truth #2 is going to mess with you. Nothing I write can really prepare you without spoiling a lot of stuff. Just read it, it’s good. Plus, there’s a nifty Blade Runner reference.

| Published by IDW

Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Star Wars: Captain Phasma #4 concludes this limited series bridging The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi and, wow, it really shows off how single-minded, cold-hearted, and ruthless Phasma can be in her devotion to herself. Kelly Thompson has done a great job of making us care about the Pilot and the people of Luprora and...wow. I also have to reiterate that Marco Checchetto and Andres Mossa have made this the best looking Star Wars book from Marvel to date. I highly recommend this series.

| Published by Marvel 

Kill or Be Killed #13 further explores the demon that has been central to the series from the beginning, but as per the rest of this arc, in a very different way. Ed Brubaker took a sharp left turn in the context of the story and it’s fascinating to see how it has changed dramatically, adding more depth and pathos, and giving a different understanding to what’s going on with Dylan. As usual, Sean Phillips’ art is stunning. Seriously, I think Brubaker and Phillips can do no wrong.

| Published by Image

Kong: Gods of Skull Island #1 is a decent one off story from Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Chad Lewis. The plot is the oft-repeated one of invading white explorers stumbling upon an existing culture to deleterious effect, but it’s largely immaterial since it’s well told.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Made Men #2 is every bit as good as the first issue, possibly even better, as it gets into more detail about Jutte’s team and their purpose. Paul Tobin does a great job here particularly with the dialogue, really hitting up some of the police tropes in a believable and entertaining fashion. And, again, Arjuna Susini’s art just really puts it over the top. This is a great book.

| Published by Oni Press

Magnus #5 concludes what was another great entry into the current Sovereigns reinterpretation of the Gold Key characters. The artwork by Jorge Fornés has been particularly impressive. He’s got a style that reminds me of Klaus Janson and the layouts and design of the pages have been amazing.

| Published by Dynamite  

The Realm #2 lives up to the promise of the first issue fairly well. The setting, somewhere between Shadowrun and Shannara, is still compelling in itself, but Seth Peck and Jeremy Haun do a great job of making us interested in finding out more about our fairly enigmatic cast of characters as well. It also helps that Haun’s art is gorgeous.

| Published by Image

ROM vs. Transformers: Shining Armor #4 makes me think that this is more of what Revolution probably should have been. Sure, it’s still filled with all out action in the battle between the two factions, Dire Wraiths/Decepticons vs. Space Knights/Autobots, but there’s a lot more cohesion here, better focus on the characters, and a fairly compelling plot. It’s not particularly complicated, but it doesn’t need to be, it’s entertaining, very well-illustrated, and the characters are engaging. John Barber, Christos Gage, and Alex Milne are doing a great job here.

| Published by IDW

Saban’s Go Go Power Rangers #4 again has some of the best art in comics today. Dan Mora is just incredible with his layouts, action, and storytelling that even if the writing from Ryan Parrott wasn’t good (and it is), this would still be a highly entertaining series.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Secret Warriors #7 is fairly inventive as it works its way to providing a reason for why the team should still exist. Matthew Rosenberg again utilizes humour to great effect to show some of the oddity of the heroes and their situation.

| Published by Marvel

Spy Seal #3 gets to some of the meat of the mystery as this penultimate issue ups the stakes and action. This has been very fun, at the height of many of the Tintin adventures and standing out among the best of Rich Tommaso’s works.

| Published by Image

Star Wars: Poe Dameron #20 kicks off a new arc, taking a brief break back at headquarters to deal with some personal stuff, before diving headlong back into the action and intrigue. It also puts voice to one of the funnier questions we all likely had during The Force Awakens.

| Published by Marvel

Transformers: Lost Light #10 takes us back to the Lost Light and, well, as expected it isn’t pretty. I’m quite interested to see where James Roberts is going to take us as Getaway’s mutiny is certainly one of the darker political angles the series has seen recently and likely the most horrific. You’re certainly left wondering why some of the more upstanding members of the crew still aboard know about what Getaway is doing and how complicit they are in some of the more heinous actions.

| Published by IDW

They’re Not Like Us #16 continues to tear apart the status quo set previously and throw our cast into new and deadly situations. As usual, the artwork from Simon Gane is incredible.

| Published by Image

Vampirella #7, despite being Paul Cornell’s last on the series, feels a lot like the series’ take on Moore’s “Anatomy Lesson”, redefining the character and her universe. New writer Jeremy Whitley co-writes this one, so there’s definitely some bit of the new direction he’s going to take, but, overall, it’s an interesting presentation of how this new series fits into Vampirella’s overall publishing history and how this new version of the character will be going forward. Also, the art by Andy Belanger is fabulous.

| Published by Dynamite

War Mother #3 ramps up the stakes for Ana’s tribe, while at the same time giving us a further revelation of the nature of the tribe’s personal affairs, thus advancing Max’s own machinations. Devious little kid. Fred Van Lente also gives us some welcome humour in FLACO’s little tantrum.

| Published by Valiant

Other Highlights: Cable #150, Champions #13, Curse Words #9, Dept. H #19, Descender #25, Genius: Cartel #3, Ghost Station Zero #3, Half-Past Danger 2 #2, Heartthrob Season 2 #4, Horizon #15, Incredible Hulk #709, Invincible Iron Man #593, Kill the Minotaur #5, Luke Cage #166, Lumberjanes #43, Mage: The Hero Denied #3, The Mighty Thor #700, Misfit City #6, Mister Higgins Comes Home, Monsters Unleashed #7, Optimus Prime: First Strike #1, Rashomon, Riverdale #7, ROM: First Strike #1, Shirtless Bear-Fighter #5, Spider-Gwen #25, Star Wars Adventures #3, TMNT Universe #15, Venom #156, X-Men Gold #14

Recommended Collections: Black Panther & The Crew: We Are the Streets, Cutter, Darkness Visible - Volume One, Deviations Beta, Giant Days - Volume Four, I Hate Fairyland - Volume Three: Good Girl, Jean Grey - Volume One: Nightmare Fuel, Low - Deluxe Hardcover Volume One, Plastic, Spider-Gwen - Volume Four: Predators, Star Wars Adventures - Volume One

d. emerson eddy does not seem to have an invisible touch. He can’t reach in and grab right hold of your heart. His hand just kind of hits your chest and it’s all kinds of awkward and he apologizes.