#and all of our terrible leaders have fucked off

[xmoriartea]

Not if I beat you to the punch—

Tomorrow, they will be counted among the legendary cultivators who came before them. They will officially become the Qing generation of lords overseeing the care and education of all on Cang Qiong Mountain and the protection of all those who look to them for aid, and even those who do not.

Tonight, they are a tired dozen of disciples with one foot in destiny and another in the trenches of their former lives. Head disciples about to ascend? A ceremony that needs weeks and weeks of planning? Well of course we can only trust those tasks to those same head disciples!

It's no wonder their last minute "meeting" on Qiong Ding devolved into nonsense. They've been running themselves ragged all this time to prepare their own ceremony. At least let them relax one final time before the weight of the mountain is strapped to their backs.

Zhang Qingyan's supply of wine flows freely between their cups and plans and preparations have been replaced with mahjong tiles and gossip. They're well into their cups by time someone calls over the clatter, "Fuck marry kill, our esteemed shishus and shibos."

(Shang Qinghua snickers into his fifth cup and does not regret introducing this hometown game to the mountain in the slightest as his martial siblings turn their attentions to this.)

There are some arguments. Who wants to marry Qi Qingqi's shizun, others want to marry Wu Qingfang's or Mu Qingfang's. Their hit lists are just as varied and animated once they confirm the silencing talisman is securely in place. Yue Qingyuan says nothing, but Mu Qingfang catches the huff of agreement when the current sect leader's name is tossed into the fire.

"Fuck Fa-shishu," Wu Qingfang finally calls out, swirling the wine in her cup and grinning as Mu Qingfang chokes on his.

Ignorant of their brother's struggle, the voices begin to rise.

Liu Qingge seems deep in thought when he says, more to his wine than to anyone else, "Fa-shishu has very gentle hands."

"Oh, yes. I change my answer," says Yue Qingyuan. "I rescind my marriage offer."

Mu Qingfang stares between them both, his wine a safe distance away from him now. "You cannot be serious."

Zhang Qingyan laughs. "Why not?"

He makes an undignified noise and gestures at nothing. "I would never slander my shizun. But I have watched him lose needles that were in his hand."

"But he's confidant."

"And handsome."

A sigh. "I could listen to him talk for a year, Mu-shidi, and not care what he was saying."

"Plus all that medical information should be good for something," Wu Qingfang pipes up again, because if she can bully her shidi she will.

Mu Qingfang turns to Shen Qingqiu because if he can trust anyone to be reasonable, it will be that man. But he finds a fan snapped open and green eyes cast anywhere but his own face.

He pulls his glasses off his face and rubs his brow.

He hears the phrase "silver fox" thrown around and positively shudders. He still has to face this man tomorrow. What a horrible idea this game was. He knows, he knows, Wei Qingwei is to blame for this and he's going to do horrible terrible things about it. What things? Ask him when the wine has stopped pounding on his head. But something certainly!

"Not to mention that tongue."

Suddenly the room is silent and eleven pairs of eyes are boring into one curly haired disciple who's still snickering into his wine until the silence penetrates even his attention.

Shang Qinghua's eyes shoot open wide at the realization those words came out of his mouth and weren't left trapped in the vault of his mind (what vault? he couldn't stop running his mouth!!).

Then the room went wild.

Um ok, 3AM thoughts, about SQH 12/12 Peak lords achievement; like even the previous ones?!

I mean, it just says 'Peak Lords' not, Qing generation or Current peak lords so.,

ehem just curious...

............ Anon why- now my mind is thinking all types of things FJSBSKDBAKDNMSND

I mean,,,,,,,, From what I remember the previous generation was a bunch of old dudes, so I don't think the System would consider them??

I won't say impossible bc at the end of the day this is THE teacher/student book fjsbakdbakdnskdk but in my AU SQH won't bag any older daddys, sorry 😔

[possumsinpeoplesuits]

Winter in Texas

I checked my stock today, and realized the last provisioner neglected to deliver my bread. Attaining such a thing was so much easier before the fall of our civilization, but I know that the apothecary on the corner will be sympathetic to my plight.

The only unfortunate thing is that that will require me leaving our shared dwellings and leaving the others defenseless. The beasts under our care make poor guards, but let no man claim the righteousness of God if he is to abandon those who can do nothing for him.

With a heavy heart, I don my boots, my coat, second coat, hat, gloves, sling bag, shemagh and bandana to keep warm, though I neglect to bring my leg machetes. This may put me at risk of assault from the roving bands of toiletry raiders, I haven't heard explosions in more than a fortnight, and can only presume they are in their dens bandaging their wounded.

I had to navigate the icy stairwell leading up to our dwelling, which provides some defense against hostile incursions, but provides some difficulty, as I have a package to leave with the apothecary for the next courier.

When I leave through the barricades, my first notice is that there's no bodies in the street. I can only presume they've been dragged inside to add to the provisions, a detestable but necessary act in these uncertain times.

As I have only recently recovered from the plague that struck us during the festivities, I must travel slow. The past year has not been kind to my adrenal glands, and their dysfunction remains long after the plague has left me. I know that, should collapse again, the demands of my rescuers will strip us of our stockpiles, so I cannot falter.

The wildlife here has no fear of us. Bullets are expensive, and hard to come by, so the lithe little creatures know I pose no threat in my current state. I remember my early days in the wilds of Van Zandt, where the yeehaw-wald was lush with large, bountiful game.

Alas, to travel there would require more resources than I can spare, as every time I've visited during the winter months I inevitably trade some of my provisions for candy cigarettes. Though rare, the addiction still grips me, and I've yet to find candy patches to deaden the agony of withdrawal.

My trek to the apothecary passes by uneventful. Clearly, the raiders must be living well off the flesh of the dead from last year's final battle. I leave my package with the clerk, and scan the provisions for something warm that isn't coffee. I find none.

What I do find is an absolute bounty of bread that has yet to be picked clean, and in the rear of the store there's all the toilet paper one could ever eat. In my glee, I also attained a frozen treat, knowing that it will survive the walk back. I tipped my hat to the apothecary's assistant, as these dire times are no excuse to dispense with respectful pleasantries.

Upon my return, I am greeted by our tamed beasts who demand I shake their food bowl to make it new again. Then, with a final prayer for our continued survival, I huddle in the dark and consume my provisions.

God is good, and Texas has not fallen.

[gravegroves]

Okay, little stream-of-consciousness-moment:

Billy, who's mind is like a steel trap, who isn't a scared little child, but a healthy, angry young adult. And the mindflayer doesn't even know what hit it. One second it's infiltrating grey matter, overtaking neural pathways and becoming one with this new vessel and the next second it's burning alive, it's crumbling and shrinking and screeching in agony as the human body does what is does best to foreign invaders: try to kill it.

I've always loved the posts on tumblr that explore how deeply weird humans would be to aliens. Our physiology, our mentality, when spoken of as animal traits they are all deeply disturbing. We're persistence predators. We're built to last. We can survive unimaginable horrors (and also die from the stupidest, most everyday things). Our main predator, is ourselves. A bite from a child can kill another human just from the bacteria alone if left untreated. Our bodies are designed to kill entities both within and without.

Humans are fucking terrifying.

So the mindflayer is so unprepared for an adult human who's been through too much shit already. Not just a tired little slip of a kid, but a healthy, entering-his-prime human and is eradicated with extreme prejudice by nothing more than a good immune system going into overdrive.

But it's too deeply imbeded, so the body again does what it can to protect itself, it encases it. Within the body, but separate. Calcified. Caged.

So here's Billy, who has a rather spotty memory of a car crash and feels like he has a head cold for a couple of days before he gets on with his life. Only weird shit keeps happening to him, now. Like that time he encounters a pack of dogs while out drinking by the quarry, except they look really fucked-up the closer they get, not like any dog Billy's ever seen before, and just as he's prepared for an attack from these things, they just walk up to him and sniff around a bit with their weird flower heads blooming and closing, but otherwise leaving him unharmed. And Billy's just this side of drunk where terrible ideas seem kinda brilliant and he tells the things to sit. And they do. Amazed, he tosses his beer bottle and tells them go fetch, and again, one does.

And then when it's time to go home Billy offhandedly tells them to get lost and they run off back into the woods, and when he wakes up in the morning it's easy to rationalise it away. Probably the beer had been rolling around in the car for too long and it went bad and fucked him up. Should just have thrown the whole sixpack out. Those were just regular dogs, for sure. Except the next day, when he's out behind the pool building trying to find a good spot to smoke, he steps onto soft soil or something and falls down into a weird ass tunnel and a bunch of those same monster dogs just appear out of nowhere and pile themselves on top of each other for him to be able to climb out. And a couple of days later when Neil smacks Billy around for being out late again, one of those dogs honest to God comes crashing through the living room window to shred Neil's leg up and leaves just as quickly at the first sign of panic from Billy.

And yeah okay, by this stage Billy's figuring out things are kinda fucky around Hawkins, and so it's just Billy having his own little side adventure in the background while the rest of the gang are running around Hawkins trying desperately to find the Mindflayer, not knowing that Billy unknowingly trapped it within himself and is just living his life, teaching these weirdly obedient alien dogs to do tricks because they keep helping him or seeking him out.

Anyway, upside down is doomed because their leader is literally trapped inside Billy and Billy is just teaching these dog-things to steal cigarettes from the gas station and volunteering for the closing shift at the pool because he can just get the dogs to bring the pool noodles back into the shed.

[holybibly]

Bunnies, how are you? I hope you enjoyed yesterday's teasers and, if all goes well, next week I'll be feeding you a full-length gothic smut with the magnificent vampire prince Hwa.

But I'm used to spoiling and pampering my bunnies, and so I'm going to share with you a few thoughts that have been on my mind for a while now. Nothing too fancy, just the hottest and most perverse of me.

Imagine you're a 9th Ateez member. You are their little princess, the most precious thing they have. You're well known in the industry for your mesmerizing looks and siren voice, which is in perfect harmony with the boys and creates the most unique and stylish sound. But it is also the reason why you are so popular with other male idols. 

You refused to date for a long time, and in general, you hardly had time for it. Unless you were busy with work, you were always busy with boys. However, when you were asked out by Sunghoon from ENHYPEN at the annual awards ceremony, you decided to go on a date. 

To say that the boys weren't happy is an understatement. You got a lot of annoyed eye rolls and snide comments, but you have to hand it to them; they kept their wild jealousy in check. 

Apart from the fact that you were terribly nervous before the sighting, there were other things you were worried about—more intimate things. You didn't understand how to please a man when things got hot between you, and who better to help you than your great leader, your adorable Hongjoong Oppa? 

You shyly asked Hongjoong to talk to you and embarrassedly told him about your worries. Of course, being a great leader, Joong knew exactly how to help you. 

"Don't worry, baby, we'll teach you everything." 

Now imagine Woo and Hwa teaching you how to suck you off properly while at the same time giving Hongjoong a blowjob. Their plump lips slide wetly over the thick, hot length of their leader's cock while their tongues lick the veins, swelling with excitement. 

"Now it's your turn, angel." Hwa says to you, pulling her swollen, reddened lips away from Joong's cock with a wet pop and gently guiding your head down so that your lips surround the head of Hongjoong's cock. "Repeat after Woo, honey; you'll do great." 

And of course you do as you're told—licking, sucking, drooling, and sliding your lips along the velvety throbbing length.

"That's my good girl, our precious Chagia." The leader moans, stroking your hair lovingly like a kitten. "That's right, princess; you're doing the right."

Your tongue meets Wooyoung's on the hot, wet head of cock, and all the caressing escalates into a messy, wet kiss between the two of you.

You feel Seonghwa's hot, wet kisses on your neck as Wooyoung continues to fuck your mouth with his tongue. Your "mommy's" elegant hands are not so gentle as they pull off your clothes. His voice is hoarse and deep as Hwa whispers into your skin.

"You don't need anyone but us, princess; we will take care of you, our precious."

"Hwa is absolutely right, kitten; no one is going to love you like we do.".

[munson-blurbs]

Can I request something with Eddie x reader in a long term relationship. They didn’t meet until their mid to late 20s. maybe they are out to dinner one time with his old highschool buddies and she hears them joke about how eddie always wanted to fuck a cheer leader. she gets the bright idea to buy a cheer leader out fit with a tiny skirt and pom poms and wears it for him one day

Oh, now this is what I'm talking about. Written with the gorgeous queen of fluffy smut, @corroded-hellfire 💚

Warnings: smut (18+ only, minors DNI), oral (m! receiving), unprotected p in v, Reader wears a cheerleading uniform, mention of Eddie's crush on Chrissy

WC: 1.8k

Divider credit to @saradika

It’s not the first time you’ve met any of the guys from your boyfriend’s old Hellfire gang. It is the first time that you’ve been around them as a group, though. They’re much louder in a pack—not necessarily trying to shout, just be heard over the guy who is telling a story next to them. 

The guys are funny though and you’re enjoying getting a glimpse of what High School Eddie was like from those who got to experience it first hand. It wasn’t terribly long ago that they were all in high school together; you’re all only in your twenties. But Eddie seems to groan every time there’s a reminder that the youngest guys in the group can legally drink now. 

“So tell me more about this hellion during his younger years,” you say with a laugh, draping an arm over his denim-clad shoulders. “Because he claims to have been a total badass, but he’s such a teddy bear.” To emphasize your point, you smack a wet kiss to his cheek. 

Eddie blushes but doesn’t wipe it off; instead, he tilts your chin till you’re facing him and kisses you until the group throws wadded-up paper napkins at you both. 

“This guy was definitely not a teddy bear,” Lucas says. “I asked him to postpone one Hellfire meeting so I could play in the championship basketball game, and he put me on probation!”

You look at Eddie, slack-jawed. “Eds!” you chastise him teasingly. 

“It was the last campaign of the year!” Eddie rebuts. “Actions have consequences, Sinclair.”

Lucas rolls his eyes and takes a sip of his drink, using his free hand to flip off his friend. 

Dustin cackles at the exchange. “Yeah, he was pretty much an asshole to everyone.” His voice is mischievous as he waggles his eyebrows and adds, “except Chrissy Cunningham.”

“Ooh,” you mimic Dustin’s playful tone. “And who is Chrissy Cunningham?”

“Head cheerleader, cute and blonde, super sweet to, like, everybody,” Mike pipes up.

Eddie gets flustered, not because Chrissy was brought up, but he thinks hearing about his crush on her might upset or annoy you. He sputters over his words, which just riles him up even more. 

“I don’t think we need to, uh, talk about that,” Eddie says, shaking his head.

“Why? What happened?” you ask with a frown. It was no secret between you and Eddie that neither of you were popular in high school and had crushes that went unrequited. But Eddie never told you about anything particularly bad happening between him and a cheerleader.

“What?” Eddie asks before realizing what you mean. “Oh, no! Nothing happened. We spoke maybe a handful of times ever. I just didn’t think this would be something you would want to hear about…”

Eddie brow pinches in worry but you just laugh and wave a dismissive hand.

“Eddie, come on. Who wouldn’t have a crush on the sweet, pretty cheerleader? I mean, I had a thing for my school’s star basketball player back in the day. You know that.”

Lucas laughs. “You definitely would’ve hated the star basketball player at our school.”

“Kid was a total douche,” Jeff adds. “Made these obnoxious, over-the-top speeches that had everybody rolling their eyes.”

“So, like Eddie, but athletic,” Gareth chimes in, putting his hands up in surrender when Eddie shoots him a look and then breaks into a grin. 

The waiter brings out a chocolate cake, loudly singing Happy Birthday to Eddie, which promptly puts a stop to their bickering and taunting. The guys lock in on the dessert, serving Eddie the first slice before turning into barbarians over the second. 

You finally manage to snag a slice among the chaos, but your mind is elsewhere. If Eddie was as into cheerleaders like his friends claim, you might be able to finagle one last birthday surprise.

A week passes from the dinner-turned-impromptu-Hellfire-meeting. Eddie saunters through the door, tossing his keys on the counter. 

“Babe? You home?” His hair is kept in a low bun; it’s easier to work on cars with it out of his face. 

“In the bedroom!” you call back from behind a half-closed door. 

Eddie kicks his boots off in the general direction of the welcome mat. “How was your day, sweetheart?” he asks as he walks down the hallway towards your room. “Mine was pretty good. I just—holy shit.” He comes to a halt in the doorway, jaw dropping open as he stares at you. 

You lounge on the bed waiting for him, a green and white cheerleading uniform on. There wasn’t one with some yellow on it as well like Hawkins High’s had when you’d gone looking, but you didn’t think your boyfriend would mind. 

He stands frozen and it makes you let out a small giggle before trying to regain the seductive air you’d been going for. 

“Wh…What’s all this?” he manages, caught completely off-guard by your outfit of choice. 

“Just your own personal cheerleader,” you say nonchalantly, crooking your finger and beckoning him over. “Wanna see my pom-poms?”

His grin nearly splits his face in two. “Yeah—wait, do you mean, like, actual ones, or…” he trails off and shakes his head. “Ah, fuck it.” He grabs you and pulls you onto his lap. 

“So, do I get to see a cheer?” he asks with a smirk. “A little, ‘two-four-six-eight, who do we appreciate?’”

You kiss his neck and murmur, “kinda figured my mouth would be busy somewhere else.” Your lips down the pale expanse of bis torso and you unbuckle his belt. 

Eddie groans and leans back against the headboard, eagerly watching you. He lifts his hips enough so you can slide his pants and boxers all the way off and toss them aside. 

You make sure to keep your gaze locked on his as you start to stroke him, using his pre-cum to lubricate your palm. “Tell me what you need, baby.”

He inhales sharply, trying to remain focused. “Need you to suck me off.”

You get on your knees in front of him so he can see down your uniform top, and he twitches against your lips. Flattening your tongue against the base of his shaft, you lick up to the head and wrap your lips around the tip before slowly taking him into your warm, wet mouth. 

“Fuuuuuck,” Eddie breathes out, throwing his head back and exposing his Adam’s apple. “Thassit, just like that.”

The tang of pre-cum is salty on your tongue, and you lap it up gratefully. Your fingers dig into the flesh of his ass as you pull him towards you, your nose grazing his pubic hair. 

“So good, goddamn, honey,” he mumbles, more gibberish than logic, “take me so well. Givin’ me the best fuckin’ head of my life.”

You’re more than happy to continue this, cheeks hollowed and tongue swirling around the sensitive tip, eagerly anticipating his cum down your throat. 

Eddie has other plans. 

He begrudgingly steps back, his throbbing cock thwacking against his stomach. If he pulls out of a blowjob, it usually means—

“Bend over, princess.”

You do as he says, palms pressed into the mattress. He quickly flips up your skirt, exposing your bare ass. 

Eddie laughs triumphantly. “Oh, fuck yes.” He taps the head of his length against it before pushing down on your back, giving him a better view of your pussy. “Mine,” he growls in your ear. 

The moan that tumbles out of your lips from his words only increases tenfold when he pushes inside of you. It makes Eddie smirk in satisfaction as his hands grip your hips beneath the pleats of the skirt. His eyes slip closed as he loses himself in the feeling of you around his cock. 

You whine as Eddie bottoms out, fingers grasping at the blanket below you. “God, Eddie, yes.”

Eddie’s thrusts gain momentum and he pulls your hips back against him for every one, never missing a beat. “Shit, you’re so fucking good for me. Your pussy’s so goddamn tight, fuck.” 

“Mhm, uh-huh.” The drag of his cock against your walls leaves you speechless, only able to whine, no coherent thoughts in your head. 

“My cheerleader feels good, huh? Aw, baby,” he coos, “so good you can’t even talk, yeah?”

Even if you had the capability to answer, you wouldn’t have time before Eddie pulls out of you for the second time today and flips you onto your back. Your legs fall open for him immediately in this new position and he wastes no time pushing back into you. 

He leans over your body, slipping his hands up the top half of your uniform. “Most beautiful cheerleader I ever fuckin’ saw,” he purrs as his hands grope your chest.

Your legs wrap around his body, only pulling him deeper inside of you. “So good,” you slur, eyes half-lidded. You feel your orgasm crash over you, waves of pleasure rippling through your body. 

Eddie’s hands slip out of your top and run down your arms until he laces his fingers with yours. He lifts your hands over your head, keeping a tight grip on you as his hips pick up the pace. Now that you came, he can take what he needs. 

“So tight,” he mumbles, breathing heavily. You can tell that he’s close. “Gonna cum all over this pretty little uniform of yours, ‘kay?”

You can only nod, and he leans in and kisses you one last time before pulling out and painting you in his release. Sticky warmth coats the exposed strip of flesh between the top and skirt, some of it staining the uniform’s fabric. He moans out your name as he jerks the last of his spend out of his cock.

“Holy shit,” he exhales, drinking in the sight of you in your cheerleader outfit and covered in his cum. His sexy cheerleader wearing his cum. The thought has him almost up for another round already. 

He leans over to the nightstand and reaches for a tissue to clean you up, but you wave him off. Your hand catches his wrist and you softly run your fingertips up to his elbow.

“Leave it,” you tell him with a smirk. “I want it to stain.” You’ll wake up in the morning to it dried on the uniform, a reminder of tonight.

“Goddamn, baby.” Eddie lets out a breathy chuckle and flops down next to you, completely exhausted. “I was not expecting this, but I’m certainly not complaining.” 

“Well,” you say, a teasing lilt in your voice. You push up onto one elbow, and gaze at him knowingly. His hair is a mess, his chest is rising and falling rapidly. He looks wrecked, and it’s a beautiful sight. “You’d better drink some Gatorade, babe. Because this is only halftime.”

--

[codenamesazanka]

Spinner, writing

---

The first time Spinner picks up the pen, his hand becomes too heavy the moment he sets it down on the surface of the table. The white of the paper in front of him blurs and blurs with the surroundings until he has to shut his eyes to clear his vision. In his mind, he immediately sees Shigaraki.

The pen snaps in his grip.

The doctors have to sedate him.

-

The second time Spinner picks up the pen, he tries to write Shigaraki's name. When he can't, he instead writes 'League of Villains.'

Now what?

"The League of Villains was..."

Was...

—the only place he felt he could belong.

Spinner's own words. He said them, once. He said them, to—Toga, who was about to run off, to find one of those Hero trainees. Because—Twice had died, Twice had been killed by Hawks, the second of them to die, after Magne, and—

Spinner throws the pen away. He drags himself over to his bed and buries his head in his pillow, biting hard into the cloth and cotton. He keeps perfectly silent, even as his eyes and heart and everything else that is him screams.

-

Some days, he resents Shigaraki. For not coming back for him, them, the League. For failing to beat that stupid fucking kid. For telling that kid to give Spinner those last words. Without them, Spinner could've stayed empty.

But Shigaraki's words are inside of him now, and Spinner cannot throw them away. They roll through his mind, always, day and night, echoing in that low, raspy voice of Shigaraki's, and though they always end up making wrong turns, crashing into the walls Spinner has tried put up to keep himself upright and moving, Spinner lets them stay. They are agony, and they destroy him. They are so very much Shigaraki's, and there is nothing Spinner treasures more.

-

He hits a stride when he decides to write as if he's writing letters.

-

Shigaraki—

I got your message.

-

Shigaraki—

Kinda mean of you to not say anything to Mister, or Dabi, or Toga. They'd be so disappointed.

-

Shigaraki—

The food here is terrible. Remember when you won us sushi? And yakiniku? I never had anything so expensive in my life. It was thanks to you.

-

Shigaraki—

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry I didn't do anything when All For One said you were you, but I knew you weren't, not completely. I'm sorry I didn't try to get answers, and just listened to whatever he said. I'm sorry I didn't help you, I'm sorry I just let you scream you were in pain and it was so obvious so obvious that something was wrong and I didn't help. I should've questioned him more I should've demanded he stop whatever he was doing to you I should've

you were hurting you took that surgery for our sake I said I was acting for your sake too but I wasn't I should've helped you for real. You were our leader you saved us you saved me and I should've saved you too.

Sorry sorry I'm so sorry.

I can't ever make it up to you and I'm sorry.

-

The worst part, Spinner realizes, is that Shigaraki would forgive him.

---

[gallierhouse]

I genuinely don’t understand how Lestat is likable. Charming, handsome, seductive, sure. But likable? Imagine being a vampire. You’ve presumably been a vampire for a while. You live in the sewers and do nothing but self-flagellation and worship Satan. Then Lestat appears, and he’s a stage actor, and he’s beautiful and he lives his life in the light, not hidden away in shame. He fraternizes with humans, he’s a part of their society. Then you find out that he was made by Magnus, the same Magnus that deserted your Satan-worshipping cult, the all-powerful Magnus who only ever made one fledgling, and then immediately fucked off and died, leaving Lestat with his blood, power, and money. Lestat is the ultimate nepotism baby of Parisian vampire society at this point. So your boss goes to put him in line, and despite your boss overpowering Lestat physically, psychically, mentally, in literally every conceivable manner, Lestat somehow wins. He does this not through vampiric thrall or physical power, but simply by waltzing into the sewer and giving an arrogant little speech and throwing crucifix on the ground. Any vampire there could’ve killed him in an instant. But they don’t, and suddenly he’s their new leader, and he makes them all move to a theatre and rejoin human society, put on plays, etc. Then he goes back to the sewer to hook up with your leader who he’s utterly humiliated, and he comes back with new powers because he’s got the blood of two ancient vampires now, and then he fucks your old leader in a theatre box for everyone to see. Then some sort of boyfriend drama occurs, someone dies, it’s unclear, which leads him to bury himself in the ground for sixty years, and the moment he wakes up he immediately leaves for America. No goodbyes, no here’s my new address for future correspondence, he just leaves. Then you don’t hear from this man who liberated then led then enslaved you into being a theatre employee all while fucking your boss so good it permanently rearranged his brain and made him kill that man’s ex-boyfriend for about a hundred years, and then when you do, it turns out he’s been murdered by a child. Not any ordinary child, but his child, and she’s also a failure of a vampire (see: the great laws). So that’s humiliating. But it turns out he’s not really dead and he’s been sulking and eating rats, so you have him shipped back to Paris, and then the most dramatic throuple argument of all time occurs, because did I mention that your leader who used to get fucked by Lestat is now fucking Lestat’s ex-husband? Then you and your friends set up a sham trial to get rid of Lestat’s terrible, ungrateful, misbehaving fledglings and to usurp your leader and Lestat’s ex-situationship, because he’s really gotten annoying and dickmatized by Lestat’s ex-husband at this point, and the trial goes alright, but then Lestat saves his ex-husband (who literally tried to murder him, mind you) and immediately fucks off post-trial. Simultaneously, while the trial is happening, it’s definitely possible that your maitre (well, ex-maitre) at this point is torturing him, possibly because they’re still working out the fact that Lestat ghosted him. Then more time passes and suddenly there’s a book about Lestat published, then another couple years pass and he sells our Madison Square Garden, whatever the fuck that means. Like, it has to be so annoying to be a vampire and to be stuck as nothing but a witness to the hurricane of Lestat. The world moves when he wants it to! It spins on his axis! And he’s done nothing to deserve any of that power besides what, having a cunty little bob?

[we-stan-cale]

I have enjoyed some of the TCF reaction fics, but I feel like there's a major problem.

Namely, that it's really hard for fic writers to stay motivated for over 700+ chapters, so it feels like they all start off strong for the beginning (especially rescuing Raon) and then peter out. We never get to the really good stuff.

Never reach that flashback when Cale reads the letter from the GoD, or see reactions to Choi Han rushing over to see Kim Rok Soo after getting Choi Jung Soo's records. Never have them see the Sealed God's test, and really... Post-apocalyptic Korea horrified Alberu, for good reason. Not that it's explicitly stated, but when is it ever? He had quite the reaction when he was trying to decide what to tell everyone else.

I've had some thoughts on how I would do it, but fair warning - I'm not much of a writer, and will probably never write it. All my respect for the ones that regularly write fanfic because I have like - less than a handful? Maybe, maybe, if I haven't moved on after finishing this reread, I'll try writing it myself.

The other thing is that I've been reading part 2 - only as far as eatapplepies has translated as I find mtl more confusing than helpful - and I'm really liking the Heavenly Demon. He seems to have fallen for our Cale pretty hard, and I'm interested in seeing how that goes.

So I have been playing around with ideas.

First - Dodam is trying to find 'that terrible bastard', and is dragging around his Choi Han.

He reaches Korea. Og!Cale as KRS, specifically. He has his own attribute, one to help him track down Cale, so he can pull up visions/memories related to that.

He pulls up the dream meeting between Cale and KRS.

There are a few team 1 members present, particularly Kim Minh Ah. Cue a bit of chaos, some 'aha' moments, and the long and the short of it is Dodam is going to pull up some of just what they're team leader is up to. (And if Dodam can figure out exactly which world or dimension to to next, and OG! Cale gets the bittersweet ability to see how his deal with the God of Death prevented the destruction he'd lived through, well... That's fine too)

During that brief moment, the Henituse noticed some strange mana fluctuations and managed to get Rosalyn there. She's basically able to tap into the feed and see and hear what's going on.

And divine intervention (like perhaps a god of love) extends the feed to the Heavenly Demon.

What would follow would be an abbreviated version of the key points. Sure, it loses some of the flavor... But we don't actually need, say, the amusing anecdote where an elf mistook Cale for a dragon.

Anyways, the more I thought about it the more I thought about how team 1 would react.

Because the minute they see those monster statues you know they'll all be going 'what the fuck?!?'

They will probably also nod knowingly at some of Cale's more shocking plans. Like hey, there he goes agreeing to help the Mogoru Empire put out the fire he started with the Whipper kingdom.

Nod, nod

Just like he did when they were dealing with that one corrupt guild

And if they ever get as far as seeing the Heavenly Demon, I'm sure one team member will be like 'Is.. is he flirting with Team Leader-nim?!?'

Cue stories where Team Leader Kim Rok Soo avoided a honeypot - except now they're thinking maybe he was just too dense to notice?

[gothamite-rambler]

When caught in a hostage situation by wannabe twitch streamers and can't be Batman

Bruce Wayne attended the gala alone; nobody wanted to go with him, and now he found himself with a gun aimed at his head. It was just another Tuesday in Bruce's life. He knew there was nothing he could do except kneel on the ground and wait for his kids to rescue him.

Bruce (in his head): I should've stayed home; then I could've saved the day. But no, I had to show up! Damn it, the things I do to keep my identity separate from my hero life.

Bruce (out loud): Can you hurry this up? Some of us have places to be.

Lennie, the goon leader, wore a white, expressionless face mask that only added to the absurdity of the situation. He sucked his teeth, visibly annoyed at Bruce's indifference to having a gun pointed at his head. It was as if he were trying to put on a show of intimidation, but the lack of reaction from his hostage only served to frustrate him further.

Lennie: We’re almost done setting up the livestream, geez!

Bruce (sarcastically): Oh yes, let’s make sure the whole world sees a bunch of no-name thugs holding a fancy party hostage. That’s smart. Truly brilliant. You're a real trailblazer.

Lennie: Yeesh, you don’t gotta be rude.

Bruce (dryly): Am I being rude? I’m just trying to maintain my composure here while you’re aiming a gun at my head. A little nervousness is understandable, don’t you think?

As if to prove his point, Lennie raised the gun away from Bruce’s head in a moment of misplaced confidence.

Lennie: Please, I’m an expert shooter—

Just then, Lennie's finger slipped, and the gun went off, shooting across the room and hitting a statue, which promptly shattered—sending shards flying and making a woman at the party scream in terror.

Lennie (shouting): I told you to stop screaming!

Bruce glared at the man for a second, then turned back to staring ahead, internally counting the seconds ticking by like they were days as he waited for literally any of his children or even Kate to arrive to save him.

Lennie: All right, I’ll just hold the gun at my side and grip the back of your neck. Don’t do anything stupid; the gun is still loaded.

Bruce (indifferent): You’ve shot it twice already, so that doesn’t bode well for your "expert shooter" credentials. But hey, start the stream for your three followers to enjoy.

Lennie (enraged): Hey! We are on the come-up! Oz, is everything ready to go?

Oz, a blonde man in a blue bandana with eye slits cut into the fabric, checked the wireless conference cam that sat on a nearby chair and glanced at his phone.

Oz (hesitantly): Um, yeah, I think?

Lennie: Cool, start it.

Oz: It’s already running.

Lennie: What? For how long?

Oz (pointing at Bruce): Well, since he mentioned we were using Twitch for our heist.

Lennie: God damn it! I told you to wait for my signal before hitting the stream button!

Oz: I thought you’d be more professional when I started the feed. What did you want the signal to be, “Cool, start it”?

Lennie: …

An old man at the gala couldn’t help but chuckle as he realized that was the signal.

Old Man: Good thing you’ve got guns, because your performance so far is downright terrible!

Bruce (aggravated tone): You must’ve failed clown college, didn’t you? This is your backup plan? Want to look like a joke in a different way?

Lennie: Shut up! Fuck, you’re just like my parents! Lucy!

Lucy strolled over, holding a similar gun and wearing a light purple ski mask.

Lucy: Yes, babe?

Lennie: Lucy, I told you not to call me that during this!

Lucy: Sorry, baby! I mean Kenny—oops, sorry, Lennie.

Lennie groaned, burying his face in his hands.

Lennie (whispering to his girlfriend): Just stand next to the rich guy while I read the ransom. You’re better with guns.

Lucy (cheerfully): Okay!

Lucy walked over to Bruce, lightly gripping the back of his collar while aiming the gun at his upper shoulder.

Lucy: Hi, Mr. Wayne!

Bruce: Don’t chat with me right now. Why are you aiming the gun at my shoulder?

Lucy: Gotta start lower and work my way up, you know?

Bruce: That actually makes sense in a messed-up way.

Lucy: Thanks! Lennie, you starting soon?

Lennie (covering his eyes in frustration): I need a fucking minute… Okay, Oz, get the stream going!

Oz (confused): Again?

Lennie: What do you mean "again"?

Oz: The one I started two minutes ago is still streaming. We’ve got viewers too! Do you want me to end that? Why? You’re already wasting time.

Lennie clasped his hands together, feeling the pressure as his plan began to crumble, and Bruce—ever the thorn in his side—wasn’t letting up.

Bruce: You’re doing a terrible job if you wanted an audience’s opinion.

Lennie (angry shouting): I’d shoot you right now if I could! I have to talk to the actual audience because if I have to talk to that smug asshole one more time, I’m going to beat your ass.

Bruce: That’s rich, coming from you.

Lennie growled, huffing as he tried to rein in his temper. He turned to the camera, his irritation palpable, and prepared to begin the ransom speech he had memorized.

Lennie (clears throat): Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the most glamorous hostage situation of the decade! If you think this is a PR disaster, you're absolutely correct!

Bruce (with a sarcastic edge): Wow, did you actually memorize that?

Lennie held up his index finger, then pulled a white bandana out of his pocket and stormed over to Bruce, tying the scarf across the man's mouth to silence him. Bruce rolled his eyes dramatically as Lennie turned back to the camera, as if he were the star of a reality show gone wrong.

As the wannabe streamer continued his speech, Stephanie, Tim, and Duke were perched atop a nearby building, close to the glass rooftop where the gala was taking place. They waited for the signal from Nightwing, who was in a different location, to ambush the kidnappers—but for now, they were watching the stream. Their reactions varied widely.

Tim let out a long, frustrated sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Tim: Yep, yep.

Stephanie was practically doubled over with laughter.

Stephanie: I can’t believe the guy in the white mask wasted two bullets! What a dumb ox with some serious daddy issues!

Duke, sporting a worried expression, chimed in.

Duke: I don’t know what scares me more—his incompetence accidentally getting Bruce shot or the fact that this stream has a concerningly high number of viewers!

Stephanie nodded, still chuckling.

Stephanie: Right? It’s like a bizarre comedy show!

Tim: I definitely recognize the ring leader by his grating voice. We took social psychology together at CUNY. Well, we took that one class before he dropped out to pursue... whatever this nonsense is. This missing chromosome was a jerk back then and hasn't changed.

Duke (raising his left eyebrow): He has a YouTube channel where he harasses people but calls it "pranks"?

Tim: No, it’s a TikTok page!

Stephanie burst out laughing harder, shaking her head in disbelief.

Stephanie: This is too good!

Tim: This is going to be an interesting mission.

[romana-after-dark]

Room's on Fire: Pilot

Dark!Santiago Garcia x Fem!Reader Dark!Francisco Morales x Fem!Reader Dark!William Miller x Fem!Reader Dark!Benjamin Miller x Fem!Reader

Also: FishBen, and an assortment of other M/M relationships (no Millercest). Everyone is Bisexual

Series Masterlist: Main Masterlist : MainTaglist

Spotify playlist

Summery: The Delta is a commune in the middle of nowhere established by Santiago's mother. Since Divine Mother's passing in a rebellion a decade ago, Santiago, known as The Pope, and his half-God brethren Francisco, Benjamin and William have ran the commune. Now it is time for them to take a collective bride to breed, to bring the savior into the world.

Warnings and Content:

DEAD DOVE DO NOT EAT

DUB CON MOSTLY but there WILL BE NON CON. Major character deaths, forced breeding, physical abuse, brainwashing, manipulation, violence, gore, alcoholism/addiction, BIG OLE BLASPHEMY WARNING like this cult appropriates a lot of religious themes and they call reader their Madonna, Santi is called the Pope, like all that stuff. However, this is a cult so I mean. It happens. None of it are my thoughts on religion or meant to make fun of religion or demonize religious people. Disgusting views on virginity. Attempted rape outside the boys. T*m warning. Age gap. Creepy terrible men. Non-reader rape, dub con, violence.

This is not meant to be a statement about religion, Christianity, or Catholicism, this is simply my take on a cult. I am a religious person. I understand that some of this may be very offensive to religious people so if you don't like thing like AHS Asylum or Black Mass, maybe consider not reading.

"Come on home, girl, he said with a smile You don't have to love me yet, let's get high awhile But try to understand, try to understand Try, try, try to understand That I'm a magic man." ~Magic Man, Heart.

"God dammit Benjamin, what the hell is wrong with you!”

Will smacked Ben upside the head as Frankie chided him.

Ben tried to defend himself. “Hey! You guys act like you don’t sleep with ‘em too, why are you blaming me?”

“You’re fucking a new woman every goddamn week, you have no fucking class, we’re not even supposed to be sleeping with these women,-”

Santiago’s voice, strong and comanding, broke through the bickering. “Gentlemen, please, this is not becoming behavior for Gods.”

With their leader’s command, the other three settled down, Frankie’s eyes casting away. “Sorry, Pope.”

Pushing himself off from the wall he had been leaning against, Santiago walked toward the group. “That can’t be all the options. There’s no way Benny’s made his way through every of age virgin in our compound, we have over 5 thousand people here.”

The men thought through the women they knew, the various families at the massive compound who could accomplish their task. She couldn’t just be a virgin, that was the thing.

They needed their Madonna.

Before her death, Santiago’s mother informed their group that the prophecy would not be fulfilled through Santiago, that he was not the promised savior. Instead, he was destined to lead after her passing and that Santiago, Francisco, William and Benjamin were all demi-Gods. This was a step up for the Millers and Francisco, who had spend their youths in the privileged position of foster brothers to Santiago and living under The Divine Mother’s roof and direct guidance. To Santiago, however, this was a humiliating demotion.

His childhood was never one of whimsy, growing up told that he was a God, that he was the second coming, that he was the savior of the broken, the beaten and the damned… All that changed in his pre-teens. Suddenly, his mother was less pleased with him. His divinity was constantly dangled above his head. When his 20’s came and he failed to be what his mother wanted, she stripped him of his full God-hood.

So why, pray tell, were him and his fellow leaders and brethren searching for a virgin? Since Santiago had failed, they needed to father a new child. A new savior. Divine Mother’s instructions were clear; they were all to wed and breed a virgin from their compound. She was to live in their home as their wife for them to use not only whenever they wanted, but whenever they could. A sacred duty to be fruitful and multiple. It didn’t matter whose child grew in her, as long as there was a child. The world would be saved, and Santiago would earn his mothers favor from the heavens.

So, she couldn’t just be anyone. She needed to be a virgin, pure and holy. She needed to be beautiful, strong, faithful to their ways, faithful to the Divine Mother, faithful to the Pope, William, Benjamin, and Francisco.

“What about Marcus’s kid?’ Will asked, breaking their silence, causing everyone to turn to him.

Frank frowned. “You think the daughter of a traitor is the best option for the Madonna?” The sarcasm was clear. He didn’t like this plan as it was. He didn’t want strangers in their home, breaching security, putting his brothers at risk.

“That might actually be the solution to the problem.” He waited until Pope gestured for him to go on, not immediately shutting it down.

“The rebellion was when she was 12, the interrogations found she had no knowledge of her father’s plans. Ever since, she has been isolated. Lydia says she has caused no problems in the women’s home, been obedient but has no friends, no connections.”

“So you think she’s intact?”

“Santi, I doubt she’d had her first kiss.”

Since the rebellion 10 years ago, Will has set up measures to identify problems before they become something like that, and that meant keeping tabs on people. Single women lived in a few group homes throughout the compound. Each home had prefects that reported to house mothers, and house mothers that reported to Will. Anyone that was of any concern, Will checked in on, that included daughters of rebels.

“And she danced at the fire?” Pope asked, arms still crossed but listening.

Will nodded. “She did. No signs of disloyalty.”

Muttering, Frankie asked Ben if he’d slept with her in recent years.

He shook his head. “Nope. Forgot she existed.”

Frankie watched as Pope thought things through, his mouth shifting.  Frankie asked, “How are the other viable women going to take it if the daughter of a traitor is chosen above them?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Ben said, defensive of Pope. His loyalty to Santiago went above everything. “If she’s the right person, she’s chosen divinely.”

Santiago held up a hand, stopping another argument. “A redemption. She has the option to purify herself from the sins of her father through the pain of childbirth.”

“Biblical precedent…” Will murmured in agreement.

“And if she fails to produce a child, then we can say we were deceived-”

“Like Eve deceived Adam. Damn, Pope, I think it’s a winner.”

Santiago smiled at his fellow leader, clasping his hands together. “Alright, let’s go visit her, make sure she’s suitable.”

*

You were dead. It was over. Lydia had cleared all the other women out of the dormitory room and told you that the Pope and the other divine leaders would be coming to speak privately to you and you assumed that you had slipped up somehow and it was the end for you. You didn’t know what you possibly could have done. You never ever spoke badly about anyone, none the less your beloved leaders! You adored them all, worshipped them as they deserved, as you had Divine Mother…

Had they decided you were too much of a liability after what your father had done? How was that possible, it had been a decade… why now…

You gasp. Fransisco… he was clairvoyant… had he seen into your dream? Had he seen what you saw oh-so often, the dreams that forced you awake crying?

You prepared yourself to grovel, to beg for mercy, to plead that these dreams of fire were not what you wanted, that they tormented you. Would you forever be labeled a traitor for what your father had done? Hadn’t you proved your loyalty to The Delta?

The door opened and you dropped to your knees, silent until spoken too. You can hear Benjamin whisper a damn. The floor creaks in front of where you knelt, arms prostrated out and for a moment, everything stood still. Warm hands were on your chin, guiding you up to see him.

He was so much more stunning up close. You’d heard tales from other girls of the men, of the way they bedded them, how it was glorious, the most holy form of worship to allow them inside you… You had taken note that you had not been allowed that honor, you had accepted it as the punishment for the sins of your birth, you never thought you’d be worthy of close contact, but right now… Pope was touching your face, your chin tucked between his thumb and forefinger; his eyes were so close to yours, his plump lips keep a soft smile. “Do not be afraid, darling girl. If we are correct, you may outshine us all.”

*

“But it is, of course, your choice.”

Your choice…

This phrase was preceded by the reminder that if you said no, there would be no savior.

There was no choice.

“I am a servant to my lords.”

Santiago smiled at that. “Excellent. Now, let’s begin the inspection.”

The what?

“Oh… is it… I swear I am a virgin, I’ve never been touched-”

“I know.” Francisco said. Oh, right. Clairvoyant. “We need to make sure you’re… healthy.”

“Oh. Yes, of course then.”

Francisco undressed you, his calm demeanor and soothing touch eased you as he slowly stripped you of your clothing. He pulled the loose shirt over your body as you raised your hands, the pail bra underneath had a lot of coverage (everything was meant to be practical) but you still felt exposed.

“Just down to her underwear, Francisco.” Will instructed as he watched. Will was a healer, that was his gift.

Francisco pulled down your pants slowly, and you feel eyes scaling you.

“Strip her down fully, Frank.” Ben tells Francisco, and you jolt when you feel his hands on the bare skin on your hips.

Francisco sighs, but Will puts his foot down. “She doesn’t need to be naked, this is invasive enough as it is”

Ben gave a short laugh. “More invasive than fucking her.”

“BEN!” All three of them shouted, discomfort and fears coursing through your body.

“Pope, she’s shaking.” Francisco asserts with his hands on your shoulders and you watch Pope give Ben a look.

“You behave, your brother knows what he’s doing.” He turns to Will, jerking his head at you. “Handle it.”

Will approaches you, his hands on your face. He holds you different than Pope, more firm, more all-encompassing. Will’s hands were larger, and he placed them at the side of your head, like he was holding you together. “Hey, it’s alright. It’s like a medical examination, okay?”

You nod within his grasp. “Okay.”

He smiled at you. “Good girl. I’m going to touch you, just stand there and take it. Trust me.”

You did. You’d follow him anywhere if he spoke like that. His hands move down your neck, slowly over your shoulders and down your arms, sending a chill through your body. He squeezed your hands. “Doing so good princess. Gonna check your backside now, can you straighten up for me?” You square your shoulders as he walks around, towering over you. You lock eyes with Ben; he looks hungry, like he’s ready to pounce but smiling at you with his boyish charm you can’t help wonder what that pounce would feel like. Ben had slept with almost every girl in your dormitory, and you’d been privy to all kinds of colorful descriptions as you overheard girls talking. Not to you. Never to you.

Will rubbed his hands together and breathed on them to aid the warmth before placing his fingertips at the top-most part of your back. Slowly, he dragged 8 fingers down, applying pressure, sending a tingling down your spine as his fingers traced it. “Excellent posture, just need to check a few things.” His hands went back up, fingers bracing at your sides as his thumbs searched certain spots, rubbing over aching parts of you with pressure, but not pain.

“Got a few knots.” Will comment’s, and you turn slight back towards him, suddenly scared.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No, no. Nothing to worry about. Just means you’re stressed. It hurt there sometimes?”

He continued massaging you, your next words coming out with a moan. “Yeah.”

“I know it does, sweet girl. Don’t you worry, I’ll help you take care of that. You will be my wife, after all.”

The thought brings a small smile to your face. The smile falters when his hands wrap around your front, William’s body pressed up against your back. His hands are pressing into your stomach, making their way up until he cups your breast, a small groan escaping his mouth that had somehow found its way into your hair.

“She likes that.” You here Ben say, drawing your attention, his grin made you swell with pride. You’d spoken with him before; Benjamin knew all the women. Still, he never chose you to bed and you had thought you weren’t appealing but now, now you see it. Now, as Ben began to touch himself over his pants as he watched his brother examine your body, you realize you were meant for a higher purpose. You were being saved, protected, put on a pedestal for this moment, to be the mother of their child, to be their Madonna.

Will continued him ministrations, soft grunts as he ground his hips into your ass. You can se his eyes are locked in with Pope. Pope, is watching the scene with hooded eyes and parted lips. With a soft but powerful moan, Will stilled behind you, panting a soft kiss on your neck before his fingertips trails your panty line. “Now, for the vaginal exam.”

All the pleasure you felt stops, your body freezing up again. “B-but, you said I wouldn’t-”

William turned you around to face him. “I have to check out your privates, gotta make sure you’re safe. It’s just me, it’s just external, don’t worry. We’ll face away.” He knelt down.

You were acutely aware your ass was still out for the other men when you heard Ben groan when your underwear is pulled down, the distinct sound of him summoning Francisco, who had been quiet so far, and the unzipping of pants.

“Goddamn…” He says, notching your legs so they spread and lifting one foot so it is resting on his bent knee. He touched your sensitive skin. “Pope, you gotta see this… the girls wet.”

“But-” I wanted to protest that he had said it would only be him, but there was no point. Soon, you’d be married, and they be able to have you as much as they wanted.

“Holy shit, she’s dripping…” Pope marvels as the slick running down your thighs.

Will continues prodding at you, fingers running through your glistening folds. In the background was a sound you couldn’t quiet pinpoint, and something that sounded like kissing, but who would be kissing? There was only Ben and Francisco there. Will dips his finger slightly inside your hole, making you gasp.

“Careful.” Pope warned. “She needs to stay intact.”

“I know.” Will groans. “But she’s so fucking tight, Pope.”

A muffled but strong groan behind you, and Pope looks like he’s about to fall apart when he pulls away.

“William, Franisco, Ben. Go to Lydia, tell her the wedding will be at her next ovulation.”

The men reluctantly made their exit leaving Pope alone in the room with you. He pulled up your underwear and pants before helping you back into your shirt. “You are perfect.” He grabbed your face again, pinching your chin and guiding you to look up at him. “Pack only personal items. You’ll have new clothing, everything will be taken care of. From now on, as long as you are what we need you to be, whatever you need, you’ll have.”

He leans in and you open your mouth to him, beautifully alluring, gifting him your first kiss and the spark was ignited. He was everything now.

“My Madonna.”

WE'RE LIVE! So excited to do this, I was a little too excited, I didn't wait until january like i said lol. After this I'm gonna try and finish Blessed be the Fruit and Awakening before going forward which shouldnt be long

PLEEAASEEEE LMK YOU'RE THOTS AND THEORIES!!!!

Special thanks to my BELOVED @hon3yboy for encouraging me so fucking hard with this series!!! she is so wonderful and has written great work including WEREWOLF MARC SPECTOR!!!!

How to keep up with the story!

Comment on this masterlist that you want to be tagged and I'll tag you in updates (If you ask to be tagged, I ask you at least like the fic. Likes dont do anything to spread the work, but it at least lets me know you're still reading.)

Follow @romana-updates and/turn on notifications

Follow the tag Rooms on fire

TAGLIST:

@hon3yboy @winniethewife @femmeanonymelives @yorksgirl @pockcock @neverwheremoonchild @casa-boiardi @meveispunk @survivingandenduring @criticalarchitecture @not-a-unique-snowflake-blog @obscurexsorrows @hellfire-state-of-mind @christinamadsen @pimosworld @princessanglophile @rubyfruitjungle @simple-lovebot @missdictatorme @campingwiththecharmings @my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction @javier-penas-wifexx420 @stefani-topaz @alwaysmicado

if I missed you LMK!!!!

[evil-peanut-butter-addict-sam]

POLITICAL RANT!!!

1 IF YOU ARE A TRUMP SUPPORTER FUCK OFF!!!

I'm taking this from my friend on twt

'trump is a rapist, racist, sexist, homophobe, transphobe, will take away rights of woman, poc, queer ppl, will make abortions and gender affirming care illegal, he will cause mass inflation and start wars and More'

if your not a Christian your also done for.

'he also plans on taking away the department of education so he can make students learn whatever he wants so they can be uneducated and be worker drones trump will cause mas inflation and make taxes more on the average citizen and kamala will lower the cost of things, give more money to start-up small businesses, first time home buyers etc'

My friend is neurodivergent, poc, trans. gay, not christian, afab

And I'm neurodivergent, genderfluid, bisexual, not christian

So me and my friend have lost all possible rights we could have had.

Thia next quote I'm taking from 'lakerfan1234000' on twt

'now that Trump might become president again.

- Palestinians will no longer exist.

- Ukraine will be taken over by Russia (Russia will attempt to move further into Europe).

- We will be paying 3k more per year because of Trumps tarrifs.

- Our taxes will stay the same, but don’t worry because Elon Musk will see his taxes go down!

- Women will no longer have access to healthcare.

- Mass deportation of both illegal and legal immigrants (terrible for economy).

- 6 Trillions will be added to the debt compared to Harris who was only going to add 2 trillion.

leader of our country is a sexual abuser, pedophile, rapist, racist, who tried to overthrow our government.'

this shit is fucked. As someone who supports palestine this will be horrible and evem worse for the people there. If you do support palestine please go reblog peoples stuff supporting them as much as possible. I highly recommend going to support @northgazaupdates they are constantly updating and are great at keeping up.

there are many other things I want to rant on that I probably will rant on about, for now reblogs are highly appreciated to spread the word, and I will now be going to school.

[discordsmuse]

Ill throw a writing idea at you.

Haarlep shows up at camp to pester everyone. (He's hungry and bored)

(Chaos ensues)

TY for requesting the silliest incubus, I love Haarlep! Also this isn't beta read lol, just slammed it out in an afternoon. I use they/them for Haarlep, and TW includes: Dubious consent, aphrodisiacs, semi-intoxicated fem!Tav, tummy bulge :) , semi-public fucking only because a tent isn't soundproof.

NSFW under the cut :)

“Oh, absolutely not.” Tav's arms came to rest on her hips, mouth twisted into a scowl. When returning from eradicating more of Orin’s cultists, she hadn’t expected to come face to face with her doppleganger once more.

Since her pact with Raphael, she'd been seeing much more of the fiend in and about her camp. Other than the occasional dinner at his House, however, his incubus left her well enough alone. This was a new low for Haarlep.

“Tav?” Wyll looked startled, looking between the woman crowded on his lap and the one standing at the entrance to his tent. The copy of the party’s leader was pouting, batting its eyelashes at the poor man. “What's-”

“Always spoiling all my fun,” the not-Tav crawled off Wyll and in a curtain of shimmering light returned to their usual form. Elegant horns curled from their forehead, a tail whipping behind them. As the leathery red wings unfurled from their back, Haarlep arched their back in a stretch. “Couldn't you have waited a moment, mouse?”

“And give you time to collect another face to parade around? I think not.” Tav snatched Haarlep by the leather strap of their harness and dragged the fiend out from Wyll's tent. “Where's Raphael?”

“Busy. Our master has much to do.” Haarlep snickered, entertaining Tav's frustration as they allowed themselves to be pulled along. “It's terribly lonesome in the House when I have no one there to entertain me.”

“Gods, so you came to seduce my friends for fun?”

“No, I came to seduce you for fun.” The incubus' tittering laugh grated on Tav's last nerve. “You were out and about saving the world. I just wanted a snack.”

“I was under the impression that you were allowed free reign because you could behave yourself.” Tav huffed. “Now I see it's merely because the devil can't keep you.”

“Ah, the little warlock loves to throw barbs,” Haarlep's tail curled around Tav’s ankle. “She's precious when she's angry.”

“Stop it,” Tav kicked away the tail and tugged the fiend inside her tent. “I'm summoning Raphael and sending you home.”

Clawed hands snaked around her waist, their skin almost too hot to bear. Warm breath fanned over her cheek, and Tav spun to chide them again but found herself locked in a kiss. The incubus’ teeth sank into flesh, tongue curling past her lips in the next breath. Haarlep kissed her like a lover, gentle and harsh all at once. Tav was overcome with the heady sensation of being adored.

Intoxicating warmth began to pool between Tav's legs, the aphrodisiac in Haarlep's saliva clouding her brain and sending the world spinning around her. The incubus purred into her mouth, catching her when her knees went weak and depositing Tav's body onto the bedroll.

It was difficult to move her limbs, impossible to push away Haarlep as they climbed atop her lap. Their tail curled and flicked like a pleased feline, watching her with Raphael's golden eyes.

“Now, I don't want to take all the fun for myself. Let me entertain you, pet.” Black claws danced up Tav's thighs, catching in the material of her pants. The fiend's head tilted to the side, their crown of horns serving as an impressive silhouette in the lamplight. “Or, I could leave and let you solve this little problem on your own.”

This time, their fingertips ghosted over Tav's clothed cunt. She whimpered despite herself and Haarlep didn't bother masking their glee.

“I hate you,” Tav hissed. Still, her hips chased the devil’s hand. The next words from her lips were quieter, sheepish even. “Please.”

“Good girl,” Haarlep bent over to press their lips to the dip in Tav’s neckline, unbuttoning the first few inches with their teeth. With each expanse of skin revealed, they left bruises and bitemarks in their wake. Their fiery, golden eyes watched her, drinking in every reaction with a hunger beyond mortal understanding. Tav knew she was being hunted, consumed like a luxurious meal but consumed all the same.

It took immense effort to reach up and take one of Haarlep’s curling horns in her hands, nails scraping against the keratin and catching on one of the barbs. The incubus hissed, and through the haze in her mind she caught their hips buck forward. This ruined their patience with the many buttons of her blouse, and instead they sliced a claw through it and pushed it aside.

“Hey-” Tav started to complain but was cut off when Haarlep sealed their lips around one of her nipples. Their forked tongue curled over the sensitive skin, and Tav’s back arched into the sensation. Rather than words, a moan worked its way out of her throat. Shifting her hips, she felt her underclothes stick to her arousal and cursed again when Haarlep refused to move lower.

“Mortals are always so impatient,” the fiend chided as they licked their way down her ribcage. “You’ll get what you want, now let me play.”

The incubus hooked their thumbs in Tav’s waistband, dipping their head to untie the laces with their teeth. If she didn’t feel half-drunk she might have marveled at the talent. Instead, her mind was occupied solely with thoughts of sex and desire thanks to the poison on Haarlep’s tongue. Her vision was edged with darkness, and all she could focus on was the fiend’s tongue as it slid along the seam of her cunt. She wasn’t certain when they’d gotten her pants and smallclothes off, but any concern was swiftly blotted out by desire.

“Delicious,” hummed the creature. “Always so warm and wanting,” Haarlep’s self-satisfaction was palpable, a clawed hand taking Tav’s waist and smoothing their thumb over the tender skin. Their mouth returned to her core, tongue dipping inside her to satisfy their hunger for the sins of the flesh. It felt like they were trying to drink her dry, mouth sealed around her so that they could reach the deepest part of her. The fork of Haarlep’s tongue pressed against the place inside her that made her back arch from the bedroll, crying out before she could press a hand over her mouth.

“No, mouse, let them hear. Don’t be ashamed. You do enjoy this after all.” They reached up to tear her hand away, much larger body dwarfing her even as she tried to fight it. Settling her palm flat on the floor, Haarlep returned their attention to her core. Two fingers slid through the slick that pooled at her entrance, their blunted nails barely impeded as they dipped inside her, “Just a little attention and you’re ready. How I love your body, pet.”

Tav wasn’t certain when the incubus had disrobed, distracted by the needy pulse of her clit as she writhed and whined at the attention. They removed their fingers from her cunt to smear her arousal on the ridges of their cock, dragging the flared head through her folds. In an attempt for more sensation, Tav shifted her hips against them, crying out when they pulled away instead.

“We have his attention, mouse. He knows what we’re doing.” Haarlep’s voice was rough with arousal of their own, lips pulled back in a toothy grin. Tav’s eyes went wide in response, realizing just who ‘he’ might be. “Ah, I knew you still had a pretty brain behind all that blind desire. It’s delicious to watch you submit to it.”

With that, they pressed forward just enough to slip the head of their cock inside her. Tav sucked in a breath, feeling her body protest the intrusion of something so much larger than a mortal man’s. Haarlep was kind enough to take their time, lavishing her skin with open-mouthed kisses and smoothing their thumb in slow circles around her clit. Tav was wet enough that the slide was easy, muscles relaxing as Haarlep caught her mouth in a kiss and clouded her mind further.

It only took a moment before Tav felt their hips meet, and Haarlep pulled away from the kiss to release a throaty groan. They smoothed a hand over her stomach, and Tav made a tiny nose of distress when she saw the way her stomach bulged out. The incubus pressed down, desire rumbling through their chest as they thrusted shallowly into her.

“You take it so well, little warlock.” Haarlep’s voice was a sigh, their eyes fluttering shut and head falling back. “I could spend all day inside you, wouldn’t you like that? Forget your little adventure, stay with me here.” The honeyed words were too sweet to hold an ounce of truth, and Tav shook her head. Words might not escape her, not when she was half-mad with desire. Still, she wouldn’t become their toy.

“No fun,” Haarlep sighted. “I won’t hold it against you, mouse.” Their thumb on her clit became more insistent, drawing the circles tighter. Tav could feel her muscles tense, hips tilting upward as everything drew taut. Then, her orgasm hit her like a wave, washing over her as her cunt pulsed and her nails dug into the bedroll beneath them.

“Yes!” This time, the words drawn from the incubus were a snarl. “Give your pleasure to me, pet. My perfect little warlock. How good you feel.” Their hips drew back, smacking against hers harsh enough to hurt. The pain was mitigated by the post-orgasmic bliss, and when their thrusts grew uneven, she felt a shudder rack Haarlep’s body as they filled her. They kissed her, tongue licking into Tav’s mouth once more.

A wave of exhaustion swept through Tav, and she let her head fall back against the bedroll. Haarlep pulled away, curling around her body and soothing her bruises with their lips.

“Rest, pet. I’ll clean you up.” Haarlep stroked their fingers over her cheek, pressing a delicate kiss to her forehead as Tav faded into sleep.

When she awoke later, well-rested and well-fucked, she might be embarrassed. For now, Tav was content to rest.

[miladydewintcr]

happy friday!! hope you're enjoying veilguard so far! how about “This is how the world works, you have to leave before you get left.” for rook & a companion of your choice!!

Thank you!! I'm having a lot of fun with it so far <3

So... Solas counts as a companion, right?

For @dadrunkwriting (Veilguard content! Major spoiler warning for something that happens in Act I!!! Read at your own risk!!)

word count: 802 rating: T tw: a lot of swearing (all Rook), mentions of death, violence

“Can you leave me alone?” Rook asked. “I’m really not in the mood for you tonight.”

Across the chasm that always seemed to separate them in her dreams, Solas shifted slightly. He clasped his hands behind his back. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No. I want to have a very nice dream where the world isn’t falling apart and everybody isn’t looking to me to fix it and my friend doesn’t hate me.” She detested the fact that she was tearing up. She was always her best self during their conversations together, unafraid to push Solas’ buttons, uncaring what he thought of her. She was confident here. She couldn’t bare the thought that the god of lies might see her as anything else. The very worst thing for any god to see her as would be weak.

Solas pursed his lips. “I take it it didn’t go well, then. How bad is it? Did Ghilan’nain-”

“I don’t give a rat’s arse about Ghilan’nain right now, Solas,” she snapped. “They sent a fucking blight dragon. Two, actually. I had to make a choice.”

“Ah.” He had the decency to sound a little concerned, at least. She thought. Maybe. Maybe she was just imagining it. Desperate for somebody to tell her she was alright. That she hadn’t done something terribly, terribly wrong.

“They sent one to Minrathous,” Rook explained tiredly, “and one to Treviso. I didn’t have time to stop them both. I had seconds to decide. I thought… I thought there are Venatori in the Templars, and Venatori in the Magisterium. Who’s going to stop the dragon? And if they manage to get their hands on it… There would be so many Trevisos, wouldn’t there? They’d want to conquer the world with it?”

“Impossible to say,” Solas said, diplomatically. “We know that Ghilan’nain and Elgar'nan intend to. If providing the Venatori with a dragon sped up their own plans…” He shrugged slightly.

“How can you be so fucking casual about this?” Rook spat. “Treviso is gone. Because of me. They all blame me for it. Several people there have told me as much. And Lucanis… Lucanis can’t even bare to look at me right now. He won’t come back to the Lighthouse. He sent me a letter.”

“No leader has ever been able to escape the burden of making decisions that aren’t universally accepted,” Solas said.

Rook wished so very much that she could punch him. She looked around for a decent-sized rock, and settled for throwing it across the chasm at him.

Solas elegantly side-stepped the projectile. “You can take your frustration out on me. If that’s what it takes to ensure you awaken undistracted from our goal.”

Rook found another rock. This one bounced harmlessly off of his breastplate. “I never asked to be a leader! I never wanted it!”

“If you hadn’t interrupted my ritual, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

“You’re a stupid fucking arsehole, I hate you!!” she screamed. It felt good to scream.

Solas raised an eyebrow, but otherwise remained still. Annoyingly, frustratingly still, and calm, and collected.

“Please yell at me,” Rook all but begged. “Please either yell at me, or tell me it’ll be alright. You’re the god of lies. Tell me it’ll be alright.” There were tears streaming down her face now. She’d given up trying to force them back. “Tell me Treviso will survive this. Tell me Lucanis will forgive me.”

Solas was silent for a painfully long time. Rook stared across the chasm at him, pleading with her eyes. She must’ve look pitiful. When she awoke in the morning, she was sure she’d be embarrassed- but for now, she was just so desperate for anything.

“This is how the world works, Rook,” Solas said eventually. “Leaders are often lonely. Hard decisions don’t leave much room for friendships to form. If you’re still alive when all this is over, then I suggest you pull away from your remaining companions before they have the chance to pull away from you. Like this Lucanis already has done.”

Rook chuckled dryly. “Is that what you did? With the Inquisition?”

“You’ll understand someday.” He nodded towards a decent-sized rock a little way away from her feet. “Go on. See if you can catch me in the face this time.”

She eyed him suspiciously, but stooped to pick the rock up regardless. “You’re just going to dodge again, aren’t you?”

“Naturally.” He wasn’t smiling at her, not quite, but Rook could’ve sworn she saw something like a smirk flicker across his face. It was hard to tell for sure given the distance. “Surely you weren’t expecting me to make this easy for you?”

This time, Rook took several big steps back, gave herself a run-up before launching the rock across the chasm with everything she had.

[bonefall]

heyyyy bonefallll!!! So uhm. Wind released. And if you read it, what do you think of it?

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I started ASC off with a lot of excitement. I had known to not get my hopes up, but for the first time in a long time, I felt like they actually had something meaningful to say about the problems in Clan society. For once, it felt fresh.

A conflict based on a murder mystery and a power struggle, political radicalization within another Clan with anti-Clanswapper bigotry turning violent, and the reluctant heir of a legacy sprawling several generations. Like a dark echo of TPB, implying the root issues had never been truly addressed by Darkest Hour. The Clans still have a terrible ruling system. The culture is still bigoted. Firestar failed to destroy the obsession with legacy-- he just founded a new bloodline.

And even if it wasn't THAT deep, it was at least a grounded plot that was based in the characters more than faith in StarClan. If Nightheart's arc about legacy fell apart, I'd still enjoy watching him struggle, lose people, grow, and find his purpose. Or seeing Splashtail juggle the power he'd managed to snatch and was just not smart enough to hold onto. Or the cool fights that would surely result from an invasion of RiverClan.

Wind tossed it. It was already having a downturn in the previous book, but this is a book that seems so afraid of having interesting conflict that it spends 75% of its time debating if something interesting should happen, and 25% of its time barking, "EVIL HEATHENS WHO HATE GOD WILL DESTROY OUR SOCIETY!!"

I can't get over how awful Splashtail's "descent" is. He's having a dumbass atheist stoner debate with Podlight when they go to the Moonpool, musing that maybe you have to eat 9 mice to get 9 lives, and then 2 appearances later he's foaming at the mouth with a dictator speech and kills harelight no miss.

They even seem to have tried to replicate Stonefur's execution but badly. It's jarring. Splashtail had a big dictator speech, killed the beloved deputy suddenly, and the whole camp looks Super Scared and Upset so that you know it's the Evil Leader and not a systemic problem.

His "TALENT FOR MANIPULATION" is saying he heard Curlfeather murmur evil plans in her sleep and (apropos of nothing) accusing her teenage daughter of "getting the wrong idea" about his adult romantic interest in her. I keep coming back to this because the ENTIRE book's plot is based on this successfully smearing Frostpaw's reputation.

you may be tired of hearing it, but I'm definitely more tired than you because I had to read and analyze an ENTIRE BOOK founded on it.

The plot is endlessly arguing over if they can trust Frostpaw or not, gathering "evidence" to this end, while Sunbeam and Nightheart's POVs uselessly languish in ThunderClan doing mentoring stuff.

Im SO sick of being forced to sit in thunderclan while more interesting things happen offscreen. stop adding MORE cats to ThunderClan, you already have Stormcloud and you do NOTHING with him why are they also getting WAFFLEPAW

Everyone's praising the fact that the book can remember previous entries, but actually, I'm going to drop a hot take; It's actually bad if they CAN obviously reference old material, and then it doesn't influence the actions the characters take. They namedrop Nightstar several times and then come up with excuses for why they still need to sit around and do nothing!!

THAT'S WORSE, ACTUALLY.

SCALDING TAKE, I'd RATHER see the cats have the memories of goldfish if the alternative is "We remember Nightstar! We're simply going to purposefully disregard Nightstar, because the plot needs to happen"

They also muse that maybe Splashtail's evilness is making all the RiverClan cats act evil, and they'll go back to normal once he's removed. This has been implied before, but never so blatantly stated.

But most of all, I can't stop going back to "Godless Heathen Bloodlust." What a fucking joke. For a shining minute it looked like we were going to have interesting villains, but no, they really are just coming out and saying that lacking faith is an indicator of a moral failing. What makes Splashtail so uniquely bad and scary is that he "disrespects the ancestors" (hey podlight. what if eating 9 magic mice gives you 9 lives? woah dude look at this. the bugle chips look like claws. lol haha) and hates love and peace and won't even let Jesus guide him.

The scenes with Frostpaw and her allies are the only parts of this book worth reading. Shadowsight, tigerHeartstar. Clinging to Whistlepaw like she's a life preserver. save me windclan

[azu1as]

HI TINN ITS ME PITTY 🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️

i was wondering if youre still open for prompts… and if u are can you write about pbss somehow tranported to current mount hua, and everyone is confused af and just watches pbss and divine dragon interact (and maybe argue) with each other

PITTY HELLO ♥✨♥✨♥ yes i'm always open to prompts !!! im literally rotating rotmhs in my head 24/7

this first half was actually born from another prompt by mei on discord but I want to build on it, so dumping it here 👍 HAHAHA

»—————————–✄

The Plum Blossom Sword Saint lets out a ragged breath, his vision rapidly fading. His sword falls from his hand and soon after his body follows.

"...Mount Hua..." he mumbles, aware that the only thing left that awaited him was the cold claim of death.

He dies. And in the next second, he blinks up to a clear sky, the dead bodies that surrounded him gone.

%%%

Dawn had barely broken when an incessant banging against Mount Hua's gates and shouting started and broke the tranquil silence, rousing several disciples.

"OPEN UP!" Someone barks out from the other side. "Fuck. Fuck. Shit. Open this gate right now!!"

Un Am frowns at the lack of manners and respect being shown by the source of the shouting. He reaches the gate and pulls it open. It takes Un Am a bit of effort to ensure that his voice sounded cordial, "Hello, we aren't accepting any visitors this ear—"

Un Am cuts himself off as he takes note of the state of the man in front of him. The man's robes and face were crusted with dried blood despite a lack of any visible injury. That is, if one ignore his lack of an arm.

It still didn't explain the amount of blood he had on his body that was free from any wounds and visible scars.

The man's eyes were bloodshot and trembling. Un Am, even from afar, could tell that there was something deeply wrong with this man. He seemed unconscious of the way he emanated a manic aura; there was a charged sort of energy surrounded him that made an instinctive part of Un Am grip his sword handle in response.

The most notable and unexplainable part of the man, however, was the blood-stained plum blossom embroidered on his chest.

"Who...?" Un Am finds himself unable to react to the man's speed and freezes in place as the man grabs him by the lapels of his robe. He pulls Un Am towards himself and grits out,

"What. Happened. To. My Sect."

%%%

Baek Cheon was quickly ushered into the Sect Leader's residence the moment he returned with a few others from their last excursion to Xi'an.

"What's going on?" He asks.

Elder Un Geom, for a lack of a better word, looked harried. His face twists into a grimace. "It's a bit complicated..."

Baek Cheon doesn't know how he should feel about that response.

Surely, it couldn't be too terrible. After all, their sect was still standing and they did leave Chung Myung behind to stay on Mount Hua as he and the other chosen second-class disciples only had to deliver some goods and tokens to their subsect. Their youngest wouldn't let anything dangerous happen on his watch.

Baek Cheon tries to probe more information. "Before you pulled me away, Baek Sang mentioned something about a guest...?"

"We aren't quite sure of the specifics either, I'm afraid. But the man claims to be one of our ancestors from over a hundred years ago."

"An ancestor? Was he able to verify the claims?"

Un Geom nods. "I've never seen someone weild our plum blossom technique with as much power as he did."

If that was the case, then maybe their supposed ancestor could help them develop and improve their sword techniques even further by teaching them more about the skills that have been lost through time.

"Isn't that a good thing then?"

"It should be, but Chung Myung..."

Ah. Hearing those last three trailing words did not promise anything good.

When they finally opened the door to the Sect Leader's residence, they were greeted to the sight of a soulless Hyun Jong slumped against the wall, a freaked-out Yoon Jong who seemed to be torn between jumping into the fray and throwing himself out the window, and—

"WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO BEAT UP OUR ANCESTOR, YOU BRAT?!"

Their ancestor and Chung Myung pause in their positions as they both turned eerily similar pink gazes towards the two new entrants.

Chung Myung had the end of their ancestor's ponytail pulled towards him and scrunched up in his fists. His knee pressed against the older man's chest and neck while his jaw was unhinged as he was clearly attempting to bite the man's single arm.

Their ancestor in turn had his one hand closed around half of Chung Myung's face, trying to push him away. His legs were wrapped around Chung Myung's lower half in an inescapable hold and he seemed to have been gearing up for a headbutt before Baek Cheon and Un Geom interrupted them.

"You want me to call this brat my ancestor?!" Chung Myung shouts out as he renewed his attempts to bite the man by roughly grabbing onto the base of his ponytail.

"I'm one hundred years older than you!" Their ancestor grits out as he unashamedly bites Chung Myung's arm. "You disrespectful descendant! Back in my time—"

"'Back in my time', my ass!"

"You...!"

Off to the side, their current sect leader lets out a pitiful moan of mental pain. Baek Cheon would comfort him if he didn't feel the same amount of psychic damage as he watches his youngest sajil and ancestor continue their childish scuffle, rolling on the floor and uncaringly biting into each other like they were both five-year olds.

Later on, after tempers have cooled and everyone (read: Chung Myung and their ancestor) had managed to settle down into a tenuous truce, Hyun Jong turns a tired, but respectful nod towards the bruised man, "May we know this ancestor's identity?"

"Hm?" Said man absently rubs against the embroidered plum blossom on his new uniform. "Ah, I supposed you would know me as the Plum Blossom Sword Saint."

They would have expressed their shock and surpise, but they get easily distracted by Chung Myung's mocking scoff as he rolls his eyes in response.

[gallusrostromegalus]

I'm glad to hear that Kaname protected Momo from the worst of Aizen's manipulations. Does she ever find out about his efforts, or does that stay a secret?

Post-Aizen-Fight, Kaname is in the hospital recovering from General Befuckening, and needs Reiatsu transfers to finish purging The Curse from his system and it's Hitsugaya's turn.

*****

The boy doesn't actually say anything for a long time after Unohana finishes connecting the IVs. It's alright. He's still exhausted, and there really isn't that much to say about what happened that hasn't been gone over and over and over, in debriefings and staff meetings and the distant sound of tears Tousen can hear coming from Lieutenant Hinamori's room. Gradually though, Lieutenant Hitsugaya's silence grows cold and sharp and restless, a winter gale banging against a window that won't quite latch right.

"-Out with it." Kaname sighs, opening his eyes and not frowning at the ceiling. "If you keep sulking like this I'm going to get frostbite and Unohana-sama will have both our hides for it."

Toshiro startles, coughs a bit like he's about to deny it, but collects himself and states his problem with magnificent succinctness.

"Momo." he says, voice almost violent in it's neutrality.

"Ah." Kaname nods. "I did what I could, but I know that was far from enough. I am sorry."

Hitsugaya is quiet, considering his words. "...What did you DO, actually?" he eventually asks.

Kaname blinks in surprise. "Huh. I thought Hisagi-san would have noticed when he did the audit of all my paperwork. I was genuinely hopeful you were going to spot it before Aizen could make his move with how much Momo complained..." he muttered, slightly puzzled.

"Spotted what?" Toshiro grumbled.

"You have undoubtedly been subject to the ongoing saga of the Rice-Farm-Subsidy Fraud case that Lieutenant Hinamori has been investigating since her promotion to lieutenancy?" Kaname prompted.

"Yeah, yeah, the one that's got her haring off to some backwater district or getting lost in the stacks at the archives for days on end or-" Hitsugaya graoned, then stopped. "...the one that had her constantly traveling away from the division, or doing extended research without Aizen's help."

"He used to get terrible motion sickness from trains or portals, you know." Kaname smiled, sitting up a bit. "-and a wretched allergy to paper-dust. Part of the reason he made me do all his fucking lab work, I imagine. but it seemed a good way to keep Miss Hinamori outside his sphere of influence at least for a few weeks at a time. Do I still have water in my glass?"

"...you MADE IT UP?" Hitsugaya yelped.

"I did no such thing. There is an extensive conspiracy between the various provincial leaders and mid-district governors to defraud the Central Government of subsidies for rice farms that frankly, do not exist, while also hiding the existence of taxable villages, resulting in invisible granaries used to fund private armies and other villiany-" he explained, sitting up properly and groping for the end-table where his water theoretically was. "-I just made sure Miss Hinamori had enough information to know where to look for the evidence of said conspiracy, and occasionally... lightly interfered with granaries in the middle districts to make sure more visible evidence came to light for her to keep the investigation open and moving in a timely manner. Lieutenant, if I may ask for your help-"

There was a rustle of cloth as Hitsugaya shook himself, grabbing the pitcher and refilling Kaname's glass, handing it to the frail man.

"Thank you." Kaname took a drink, handing the glass back to Toshiro to set down. "-I imagine the investigation will go much faster and with fewer extended trips to the rukongai now that I'm not cursed and can freely discuss the taxation and census records Aizen had covered in his illusion to hide his experiments." he explained. "...But doing it the long way has allowed Miss Hinamori to build a very complete and entirely legitimate case. She's an exceptional forensic investigator."

"...HOW?" Hitsugaya gaped. "The curse- it's not like you could talk to her, or send her messages- and if you could, it'd mess with the legitimacy of the case to have an anonymous tipster?"

"I had to...sort of gently suggest the names and locations to her in such fashion that her subconscious would make the connection between those terms and the case. Fortunately, in addition to being a certifiable genius, Miss Hinamori is also a master of the Lingual Arts."

"...Sir, I don't think Hinamori is that kind of girl." Toshiro mumbled, and Kaname could almost hear his full-face blush.

"You're thinking of Zaraki-Taicho, who is an entirely different kind of cunning linguist." Momo announced from the door. "-but you don't know everything about me Toshiro." She teased, coming in the room and climbing onto the bed beside Kaname, unfolding and re-folding that week's newspaper. "Lieutenant Sasakibe took over the crossword in your absence, and I think he may still be a bit upset with you."

"Ah." Kaname winced.

"What?" Repeated Toshiro, thoroughly lost.

"You remember that Tousen-taicho is the Editor-In-Chief of the Seireitei Newsletter, right?" She asked Hitsugaya, who failed to respond in a fashion that suggested that he did not, in fact, know that. "-Anyway, sometimes he writes more or less for the paper depending on that week's news, but without fail, he also designs the crossword- the most fiendishly difficult one in any of the newspapers, Sir." She explained, taking out a pen and tapping the partially-finished lexical puzzle she'd been working on.

"I try." Kaname smiled, looking just a bit genuinely smug.

"You largely succeed. I didn't actually make the connection between your five downs and the rice subsidy investigation until i tried doing Sasakibe's substitute puzzle this morning. I think he may have made the same connection, because 5 down today is 11 letters, starts with "P" and the clue is 'Degenerate Justice'."

"...Prevaricate." Kaname hissed with imagined pain at the likely wrath of the Chief Lieutenant. "Oh dear. Do you think a written apology is in order?"

"It's Sasakibe-san, it's just as likely to be his idea of an apology." Momo shrugged, filling in the word.

"...for those of us that are better at Sudoku?" Hitsugaya glared.

"Tousen-Taicho was putting clues about where the next bit of evidence I needed for the Rice Subsidies case in the Crossword because he knew I did it every week." Momo explained. "The clue was always in the fifth column down, which is a structurally important one in crosswords- you little shit, I even got on your case last year about how you always used locations for your 5 Downs and I STILL didn't make the connection!" She realized, rolling up the paper and affectionately swatting him over the head.

"Entirely deserved, but you have my word that was as much as I could do to help you, and that you have my full resources available to you now." Kaname smiled.

"I have entirely too many words from you-" Momo sighed with exasperation before putting the paper down and laying down beside him, hugging his chest. "-But I believe you. There's- I've been finding all sorts of things- people I forgot, places I'd been before and couldn't remember- huge sections of my LIFE! that his Illusion just... vanished."

She hugged Kaname's chest. "-I can't imagine what you went through."

"I hope you never will." he sighed, returning her embrace and for a moment, Hitsugaya felt even more outside the conversation- this was a secret grief, but the burden lightened by finally being able to share it. "...Did Sasakibe Key any clues to 5 Down? He might have more to say." Kaname asked, letting go and Momo sat up, frowning at the paper.

"Key?" Asked Toshiro, pleased to be talking about anything else.

"Sometimes one word is a hint to some of the next words, usually the ones that originate from it, um- Yeah, three words. Four letters, second letter 'i', clue is "Astronomical Favor"; Three letters, middle letter 'a', clue is "German Opera, 1874" ; and the last one is four letters, Second letter 'e', clue is "Truth's Abode". Momo read off.

All three of them stared (or pointed their faces) blankly at each other for a moment.

"...Yeah I'm gonna stick to the Sudoku." Nodded Hitsugaya.