#I blame Crow

[gremlinscomics]

Y'all ever wanna' see Casey Jones Junior get emotionally attached to a toaster? Well, look no further-

[imlii]

*run over*

*throw the art*

*run away*

[nicknelosn]

"Matthias was dreaming again. Dreaming of her. [...] She was welcoming and perfect in his arms. He kissed her, buried his face in the sweet hollow of her neck. Her curls brushed his cheeks, and he felt that if he could just hold her a little longer, every wound, every hurt, every bad thing would melt away. “Matthias,” she would whisper, his name so soft on her lips. These were the worst dreams, and when he woke, he hated himself almost as much as he hated her. To know that he could betray himself, betray his country again even in sleep, to know that – after everything she’d done – some sick part of him still hungered after her … it was too much."  — Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo

[screamingcrows]

It looks easy enough on the picture

Note: Part of @ficsforgaza's kinktober event! Ehm. This is different from what I usually do. If you follow me, this probably isn't for you lmao. Thank you Juni for suggesting this very fun angle and to a lot of my mutuals for bearing with me as I struggled through this. Word count: 1k Tags: Xiao x afab reader, reader is Zhongli's partner (not cheating), voyeurism, exhibitionism, overstimulation, they have a safeword it just isn't discussed here, unprotected sex, orgasm denial, fingering (fem receiving), oral (fem receiving)

Zhongli had presented the book, and subsequently his desire, with steady hands and a smooth voice, tapping the colorful illustrations of bodies bending to merge together in ways that had want pooling in your gut. He'd merely chuckled and brushed his knuckles along your cheek when you'd pouted at his pitiful excuse.

Surely a god would be above common back pain?

Before your lover's gentle lips had fully shaped the word, a whirl of teal and shadow was already parting around his vigilant yaksha. Heat rushed to your cheeks, fingers nervously tugging the golden laze that lay across your skin, feeling the weight equally glimmering eyes drinking you, in as they often did, while Xiao spared no glance for anyone but his lord.

Though Xiao had been reluctant to touch you at first, a few coaxing words from the Lord of Geo had, as always, been enough to see him bow his head and approach. As a lingering morning fog banished by sunlight, so too had Xiao's initial reservation evaporated at the first squeeze of his hands around the meat of your hips. Zhongli had taken care to make you fall apart on his fingers while showing off every little tell of your body to the yaksha before he withdrew to a chair by the edge of the bed.

Already, your chest was heaving in desperate attempts to alleviate the growing haze, fingers rubbing at your insides and sending little sparks of pleasure through your body. Xiao hovered between your legs, hair disheveled and clinging to his forehead, the flush that stretched across his soft skin speaking volumes of his own predicament. Despite the subtle movement of his hips grinding down onto the mattress, he continued to work diligently, amber eyes that bordered on being hauntingly familiar committing every reaction to memory and using it to fan the flames of your arousal.

A choked sob left your lips as he suckled on your bundle of nerves, two deceptively soft fingers curling to press firmly against a spot that had you arching eagerly into the touch. Whether the soft groan came from him or your lover was impossible to discern, perhaps them both? Your thighs tightened around Xiao's face, the scorching heat of his breath against your entrance serving to tip you over the edge.

Even as you panted and squirmed, feeling yourself tighten around the fingers that continued to mercilessly prod against that same spot while your fingers tangled in his teal hair, he didn't let up. Wet sounds filled the silence between Xiao's quiet grunts and the loud thud of your heart, mind already hazy enough that the stretch in your muscles came in secondary as the yaksha dutifully pushed one of your legs further up in preparation.

"W-wait just-.. just a moment.." Every breath had your muscles quivering as you tried to push Xiao's head away, your eyes widening in utter disbelief when he straightened up and licked his glistening lips. The sight of your own juices coating his chin had an almost embarrassing effect, and you were more than a little grateful when he turned his head towards your partner.

"Do I-"

"No," Zhongli's rumbling chuckle didn't exactly help as you tried to breathe through the feeling of Xiao absently curling the fingers that remained buried in your heat. "Keep going, this is far from enough preparation."

Any thought of truly protesting was replaced with an overwhelming emptiness once Xiao removed his fingers. Clenching around nothing, you took a shaky breath and looked away, unable to meet his intense stare when he pushed your other leg against your chest as well, fully baring you to the eyes of both men.

It was a brief respite, a low command spoken just soft enough to be nothing but a murmur was the only warning before Xiao moved forward, hissing when he breached your opening. The sheets crumpled beneath your hands, tears welling up in your eyes at the feeling. Though far from as thick as Zhongli, it curved upwards to still provide the most delicious friction.

His hands tightened as though feeling the give of your body, the determined look in his eyes making you flutter around his tip.

No time was wasted in building a steady rhythm, Xiao moving with the precision and ease of one who honed their body as an artisan would their tools. Lean muscle rippled beneath your fingertips with every firm thrust of his hips, every nerve in your body burning as tension built too swiftly. Your body writhed as little huffs left your lips, body still tingling from the release just minutes prior as the drag against your puffy walls began bordering on painful.

Much to your regret, Xiao took your frantic tugging at his hair and clawing at his back as a request to lean down and lick along your chest. The debauched shriek that was pulled from your lips had every part of the yaksha go rigid before his restraint was shattered, a faint thrum of power enveloping his body as he snapped his hips forward. Another orgasm was ripped from your body, tears spilling from your eyes as he increased his pace despite the way you clenched around him like a vice.

If Zhongli hadn't been there the sight above you would've been frightening, the strained expression on Xiao's face combined with small black tendrils of smoke that coiled from his tattoos had something at the back of your mind reeling. But as it was, your biggest concern was the all-consuming pleasure that pulled you into its embrace.

"Careful now, you shouldn't lose yourself prematurely," Zhongli chided while doing nothing to hide the amusement over the predicament of both Xiao and yourself. Even through the almost painful waves of euphoria, you swore you could see his eyes glittering when he tapped a slender finger to a page in the book. "Take a breath and get into position."

[variousfandomthoughts]

Inej: Sometimes all anyone needs to feel better is to hear “I love you.”

Kaz: I need 4 million kruge.

[ejga-ostja]

Jesper and Inej but they are bunnies in love

[incorrect-soc]

Colm Fahey reuniting with his son, Jesper Fahey, after finding out he dropped out of college, wasted all his money in gambling dens and joined a literal gang [colorized]:

[shit-people-probably-didnt-say]

Kaz: I get my news from the only reliable source, cryptic symbolism in my dreams…

Kaz: Also these council papers I stole from Wylan

[forlorn-crows]

𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆

just a lil something i tortured @divine-misfortune with last night after he shared this post with me and said "Now hear me out Zeph/aeth and or omega bc they won’t slow down fr a damn second "

and thus i started a doc lovingly called "zephyr/omega go to sleep ya old man"

1263 words of omega misusing quintessence in order to (lovingly i swear) force zephyr to get some rest. yes zephyr will be mad at him later. yes omega is being a lil bit of a bastard. yes i am indulging in my (our) hypnokink, just go with it.

“You’re a stubborn old thing, you know that?”

Zephyr rolls their eyes before side-eyeing the quintessence ghoul, making a face. “Care to elaborate?”

“Been spending a lot of time with those new ghoulettes. When was the last time you slept?” Omega puts a hand on the back of the leather armchair Zephyr is currently seated in, where they were, up until now, engrossed in a text about ancient languages. 

They bite their tongue against the urge to correct him on Cirrus and Cumulus’ names. “I slept last night, there’s no need for your concern.”

“Oh, last night, hm? So that wasn’t the organ I was hearing in the wee hours of the morning?”

“You are as old as this building, Omega, surely you’re aware of the noises that aged pipes make when all else is silent.” 

He tuts. “Far too melodic for old plumbing, Zeph.”

Zephyr grumbles and makes to return back to their book without replying. Omega chuckles, and suddenly his hands are resting on their shoulders, thumbs heavy over the strained tendons on the back of their neck. 

“Why don’t you let me help?”

The air ghoul grumbles again. Slots their small stack of notes along the book’s binding as a makeshift bookmark and snaps the thing shut. They place it onto the table and stare at the fire in the hearth.  

“And why should I let you?” they say to the fading embers. 

Omega hums. “Because you need your rest, you cranky ghoul.”

“I am plenty rested.”

“These knots in your shoulders say otherwise.”

Zephyr closes their eyes and sighs like an exasperated teacher. “And you claim that I am the stubborn one?”

“Come on,” Omega goads them. Telltale magick crackling to life beneath his fingertips. “Doesn’t have to be much.”

Before Zephyr can so much as think about scurrying away with their book, warm quintessence seeps into their bones, the tension held there unraveling from the inside out. Their eyelids flutter, shoulders slumping. Some undignified noise bubbles up from their throat, and they can barely catch their chin from hitting their chest as their head lolls forward. 

“You . . .” They try to protest, tongue too heavy in their mouth to form its usual elegant timbre. Their hands can’t even grip the arms of the chair anymore, cementing them into place and thwarting any chance they had of escaping Omega’s nagging. 

Said quintessence ghoul shushes him, self-satisfied and certainly not even close to genuinely comforting. “There you go. See? Knew you were tired.”

“Hn . . .’m not—”

“You are, look at that sleepy face.” Omega brushes a few strands of hair back behind their horns, their head leaning into his touch without their permission. Zephyr’s eyes are drooping, rolling with the effort of trying to keep them open. Maybe they are more tired than they thought, he didn’t give them that much magick, did he?

Omega coos at them, running his thumb along the base of their horn. “Just close your eyes,” he whispers. 

Zephyr just groans, something close to uh uh, but it doesn’t sound very disagreeing. They’re falling asleep sitting up, and his warm hand against the side of their face does nothing but drag them closer to unconsciousness. Suddenly, they don’t want to get away from him. Magick swirls all syrupy in their veins, and, really, it’s getting harder and harder to have any opinions on the situation. 

Behind them, Omega shakes his head and loops around to the front of the chair, still cradling their head as he kneels between their parted legs. The hands at their sides, having slid off the arms of the chair, twitch towards him. Zephyr watches Omega’s other hand as it comes to hold the other side of their face, eyes slow and delayed as they track its movement. 

“You’d do well to listen to me, you tired old hen,” Omega chides them. He wiggles their head a little, not unlike a chiropractor looking for sore spots. Ensuring they’re close to limp and loose. 

Zephyr just lets him. Has no choice, really. They’d call him a plethora of names later—bastard, unwelcome imp, meddling hypnotist spawn—but the thought of remembering to do so slides away like rain on glass. 

He must sense the fleeting thought behind Zephyr’s glassy eyes, because he adjusts their head again, tightening his grip almost imperceptibly. 

“None of that; you’re being so good, aren’t you? I’m only helping, aren’t I? Little bit of magick to get rid of all those pesky cobwebs between your ears. I know, you’re so tired underneath all those stubborn thoughts. Just takes a nice, kind ghoul like me to help you relax, doesn’t it?” On and on he drones, the words going in one ear and out the other, washing away their own internal monologue and replacing it with his own. They are tired, and an afternoon nap isn’t so terrible, they aren’t really busy. And Omega’s helping them. 

Definitely not using his magick in some smug, actually selfish way, rendering the normally uptight ghoul completely powerless in less than a second. No, it’s completely selfless—a show of his care and concern for Zephyr’s wellbeing. Absolutely not a vehicle to win any kind of argument, not at all. 

Their breathing is slowing now, neck nearly limp in Omega’s hands. Sinking deeper into the fuzzy embrace of sleep. 

“That’s it,” he lilts. “You’re gonna feel so much better, and I won’t even say ‘I told you so.’ How does that sound?” 

Zephyr responds with a long exhale through parted lips, left thigh twitching randomly as the pleasant numbness settles in. 

Omega smirks. “Good.” With one last push of quintessence, he tilts their head just so and watches as their eyes unfocus and fall shut, jaw dropping open with the softest noise as they drift asleep in his hands. The quiet snores follow just seconds later, Omega’s hands the only thing keeping them upright. 

He waits until he’s sure they’re asleep, warming his back against the dying flames while Zephyr slumps in their chair. Only then does he pull back the tendrils of his magick, letting it seep down towards the floorboards as slow as molasses so as not to accidentally rouse them. Thankfully, the library is empty this time of day. Nothing to interrupt the air ghoul’s much needed sleep. 

They’re lax and peaceful now, but Omega’s sure he’ll hear about it when they wake. He laughs to himself at the plethora of elegant insults that come to mind. For now, he takes satisfaction in the way Zephyr’s head lolls back against the chair with the gentlest press of his pointer finger, drool making its way out of the corner of their mouth already. 

“Cute,” the quintessence ghoul comments, smoothing out the wrinkles in his button-down. And then, as a wicked afterthought, he presses the pad of his finger to the middle of their forehead again, sneaking in a cheeky suggestion of a dream wrapped in plumes of balsam and petrichor. Snickering to himself when Zephyr whines quietly and their tail kinks up at the end. “Enjoy,” he whispers, making his exit. 

Omega knows he won’t get any thanks for that—a pity, really, considering it was quite a nice little fantasy—nor will he get any thanks for helping (forcing) Zephyr to get some rest. At the very least, he’ll get a very disgruntled and haughty air ghoul glaring at him for the remainder of the day. 

Omega’s fine with being berated for misuse of magick if it means the poor thing won’t be sleep deprived. Until then, he files away Zephyr’s reaction to it for later.

[miasmaghoul]

@belle--ofthebrawl has once again said wip wednesday so here, have a little nibble of something truly nasty that I'm working on:

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

I wish I was kidding bc this is so stupid but last night I had a dream that I owned the Litjoy copies of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom only to wake up this morning and not have them and now I’m sad

And what’s worse is that this is coming on top of a dream I had earlier this week where Waterstones were releasing a hardback bind of the duology together in one big book and it wasn’t even that I owned it okay it was that they emailed me to say it was going to be released and I went to preorder it but then I woke up

So yeah I’m very boring, but I’m also sad

[nevesmose]

Answer me, father. What politics of peace did you teach? What scientific and social illumination did you bring to this society? In your quest for a human utopia, what other ways did you try beyond eating the flesh of stray dogs and skinning people alive?

Prince of Crows by Aaron Dembski-Bowden.

[katyspersonal]

[sysig]

Didn’t know you had it in you, did you (Patreon)

[jazzkrebber]

aka Kaz's excuse for being able to sense Inej's presence, when in reality he feels the lack of her presence, and when she returns to him he hates the silence because he missed her and wants to talk to her

[maxe-murderer]

Outfit design for @sankttealeaf's glorious Six of Crows old west au Blessed are the Merciful for the @grishaversebigbang! :D

Check out the other Materialki:

@mitraavrs [here] @polekands [here] @beani-ed [to be added] And thanks to Corporalki @gimmedafood for beta-ing the fic!