NyxAvatar69

I know I should've had something done sooner, especially considering the much more generous time frame, but I have an actual excuse this time. I had 3 different ideas I was juggling around in my head for about 2 weeks now, but because I've had to divide my focus on the extreme levels of card and rank grinding I have to do for Persona 2 Innocent Sin and my ever cripplingly low self-esteem put it on the bench for a while. However, with the time limit fast approaching (and me forcing myself to get off my lazy ass and get something written before the last minute like always), here we are. Will I ever say what those other ideas I was juggling around were? Probably not. They weren't all that interesting, anyway, at least in my opinion. As a side note, I do know that smut isn't required this time. I guess one could argue I'm still using the "using it as practice" excuse or you could also argue I'm making up for avoiding the smutty ideas from last year's Kinktoberfest like they were a nasty virus or something. Also, procrastination station happened yet again AND I went over the 2k word limit. As always, I had to rush, so I finished at...about 2 PM EST. I am going to bedge now. Good night. Drew had hoped to finally relax after finishing his latest mission. Even though it was almost Christmas, all he wanted to do was sleep in for a couple of days and let the holiday pass him by. However, when he returned to his apartment... "What the hell is this?" the man said to himself. Sitting in the center of his living room was a massive present, carefully wrapped up with bright red wrapping paper and tied with a massive pink ribbon. He knew that he had locked his apartment before leaving, but as he thought of any other possibilities, one particular person came to his mind. "If anything, something this stupid would be her idea. Otherwise, it's a trap," Drew said out loud as he glared at the large present. As a member of the secret magical organization, Paradox, Drew did have a number of enemies who'd pay to see him dead. He had grown to become a lot more cautious over the years because of attempts on his life by those enemies. In hopes of testing his theory, he decided on a simple test. "Well, look at this! A weird box! If there's nothing in it, I may as well destroy it!" Drew called out, hoping to get a response before he followed through with his threat. He got no answers at first, but after a couple of seconds of silence, the top of the present slowly moved and a set of eyes peeked out at him. Drew only stared in silence at the set of eyes looking back at him. Before he could say anything, the person inside the box leaped out as if it was all a part of their plan from the beginning. "Merry Christmas!" the woman who had been inside the large present shouted as the lid of the present flew up and hit the ceiling before carelessly falling to the floor nearby. "Christmas isn't for another two days," Drew pointed out without missing a beat. The pink haired woman stood frozen upon hearing Drew's words before quickly bouncing back and waving a hand around. "That's not important," the woman said as she climbed out of the present. "The important part is-" "What are you even doing here, anyway, Lucy? I thought you were still off on a mission," Drew questioned. cutting the woman off before she could finish. Lucy flashed a confidant smile as she put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest. "I finished early. When I heard from Irene that you didn't have any Christmas plans, I worked hard to take care of my mission early and came straight here. I wouldn't want my friend to be lonely on Christmas," Lucy replied as she moved closer to Drew. "We're not friends. We're hardly even acquaintances," Drew said. "Aw, don't be that way. You can say that we're friends if you want to. It's just us here, after all," Lucy said, completely ignoring Drew's words as she lightly poked Drew's side with a finger. As much as he didn't wish to admit it, Lucy did have a point about the nature of their relationship. While he wouldn't call her his friend out loud, the two were easily more than just mere acquaintances. Even though he had worked with her on a few jobs and reluctantly shared a bed with her a number of times, Drew wasn't a fan of how she tried to act so familiar with him. At the same time, something about how she simply rammed past his walls drew him to her for reasons he didn't understand. 'Paradox's magic experts do say that magical abilities in humans sometimes have strange effects on their personality. Even so, how did a woman like this make it to the rank of an agent?' Drew thought to himself. As he turned towards Lucy, it was then he finally took notice of her outfit. When she had come out of the present and started rambling about Christmas, he shouldn't have been surprised that she had chosen to wear a red and white outfit similar to the main man of Christmas himself. The outfit itself, however, left a fair amount of skin exposed, despite the season. 'She has to be an idiot or something, dressing up like that,' Drew thought to himself. He stopped when he caught Lucy staring back at him with a grin. "Like what you see? Irene recommended it to me when we went Christmas shopping," Lucy said, moving a finger to her mouth. "You can stare all you want, you know. I don't mind if it's you" "S-shut up, you idiot!" Drew said, quickly looking away from the woman and moving a short distance away from her. Her quiet laugh rang out through the quiet apartment before she quickly changed gears. "But enough about that! Let's go out and see the town. It's been a while since I've visited," Lucy said, walking past Drew and making her way towards the door. "Wait, you're going out dressed like that?" Drew questioned, but by the time he looked towards the door, it had already been opened and the pink haired woman was gone. Drew couldn't help but sigh to himself. "That woman moves at the beat of her own drum. At the very least, she could've worn a coat," he muttered to himself. 'Christmas, huh. Ever since I became an agent of Paradox, I haven't really thought about it all that much. I usually just take on a long job to avoid thinking about it. A lot of agents don't keep much contact with family because of the danger of the job, especially with all this business involving that King guy and his goons. And yet...' A light snow had begun to fall when Drew and Lucy made their way into town. From the main street to local businesses, the town was bustling with the Christmas spirit. Everywhere Drew looked were plenty of decorations. Lucy hung close to him, pointing to anything that caught her interest, from a large gingerbread man in a person's yard to the large, decorated tree at the center of the town's park. "Ordinaries really like their holidays, don't they?" Drew asked in an attempt to make conversation. Lucy frowned and prodded his side with her finger, causing him to jump a bit and move away from her. She quickly closed the distance, looking up at him. "You shouldn't call them that. We used to be like them before, you know. Didn't you used to celebrate holidays like this with your family?" Lucy replied. Drew took a moment to consider Lucy's answer as he looked up at the sky. While he was thinking things over, Lucy smiled and took his hand. "Even though we can't really be with our families without putting them in danger, we could always celebrate the holidays together," she said, flashing Drew a smile. When Drew heard her words and met her eyes, he froze for a moment. In that short moment of time, the sounds of people, the falling snow, and everything else ceased to exist. Drew caught himself and quickly looked away from Lucy, clearing his throat and trying to pretend nothing was happening. "Come on, let's just get going," Drew said in an attempt to deflect from the conversation, pulling Lucy along by the hand with him. The pair's Christmas trip into town took them to several shops for primarily window shopping. Lucy had ended up buying something when Drew wasn't looking and the pair made the walk back towards Drew's apartment. "This is really a nice little town you've been assigned to. I should visit more often," Lucy said. "Please don't. Dealing with you whenever you come storming into my place like you own it is annoying enough, especially when you go deciding to use my shower without asking," Drew replied. "You say that but you;re the one who couldn't help himself that one time." "That's because you threw off your towel and started running around like an idiot." "You didn't seem to mind back then," Lucy said with a grin. Drew had no counterargument, so he instead kept his mouth shut. "Speaking of which, though, think fast!" Lucy added, digging through the bag she was carrying and tossing something out of it. Drew was only able to briefly see the item she threw, but when he tried to reach out and grab it, Lucy made her move. She moved in, wrapping her arms around her neck and connecting her lips with his. Drew's eyes widened as he finally realized what the item she had tossed in his direction had been. Lucy had thrown a fake mistletoe at him, knowing he'd react by trying to catch it. She kept the kiss short, but when she moved away, her face was still incredibly close to Drew's. "You never got me a present, you know," Lucy quietly said. "What are you expecting? I wasn't planning on celebrating Christmas. Besides, I wasn't expecting you to make a surprise appearance," Drew said. "Then you can make it up to me," Lucy replied, leaning in and whispering into Drew's ear. "Besides, I came in that present. You should play with your present. You've been staring at me all afternoon, you know. I bet you've been thinking all sorts of things this whole time." "Why do you get like this at the weirdest times?" Drew muttered. As much as he wanted to deny it, feeling Lucy's warm body pressing up against him was wearing at his mental defenses. Even though he knew better than to play along with her games, seeing the revealing Santa outfit on Lucy had been pushing thoughts into his mind since he saw it. Late that night in Drew's apartment, loud moans rang out from the open door to Drew's bedroom. Lucy lied naked on the bed, her arms and leg tightly wrapped around Drew as his cock pounded her pussy. When the pair had returned to Drew's apartment, it didn't take long for the floodgates to break. Shortly after Lucy had undressed, the pair moved to the living room, where she sat in his lap while he fingered her. At the same time, she had reached between Drew's legs and slowly stroked his cock with her hand. Once Lucy was wet enough, she turned around and lowered herself onto Drew's cock, pressing her bare breasts up against his chest while she moved her hips. Her hands rested on Drew's shoulders as the room filled with the sounds of sex. Before long, Drew came inside her, but one time had hardly been enough to satisfy them. Lucy slowly got off of Drew's lap and moved between his legs, taking his still hard cock into her mouth. She slowly bobbed her head up and down, sometimes pulling his cock out to run her tongue up his full length. When Drew was close again, Lucy would stop and instead shove his cock between her breasts. She flashed a grin as she ran her tongue around his tip, pushing him over his limit and shooting out another load on her face and breasts. From there, they moved to the bedroom, where Lucy pushed Drew onto the bed and straddled him. She took his cock in her hand and slowly lowered herself onto it. A loud moan came out of her mouth as his cock entered her a second time. She put her hands on her chest as she rode him, unable to hold back any sounds coming from her mouth. She leaned in and stone a deep kiss from Drew;s lips, but before she knew it, the man turned the tables on her and she found herself laying on the bed while he towered over her. After a number of thrusts, Drew let out another load inside of Lucy while she let out a loud moan and came herself. Shortly after they had finished, Lucy ended up falling asleep holding onto Drew's arm. Drew tried to shake her awake, but Lucy slept like a log. 'Come to think of it, she said that she finished her mission early and came straight here to do this elaborate present stunt. If I remember correctly, she was sent on an elimination job to deal with some problem King's goons were starting. Did she really pull off the job early just to celebrate Christmas with me? No...that's not possible,; Drew thought, turning his gaze to the sleeping woman. "Why does this always happen, anyway? We always end up having sex whenever you come storming in," Drew said, mostly to himself. Even as he let out a sigh, he slowly moved a stray strand of Lucy's pink out of her face. Watching her sleep peacefully made Drew think back to the past a bit before he lied down and went to sleep. Early the next morning, while Drew was making breakfast, Lucy sat at the table wearing nothing but one of Drew's white button up shirts. She had not bothered to button up the shirt, giving a good view of her chest and stomach. She sat in silence, clearly thinking over something. When the thought came to her, she quickly stood up and walked to the kitchen, where Drew was right in the middle of putting butter on toast. "Hey. so...I kind of forgot to fill out my report for my mission," Lucy suddenly said once she was right next to Drew. The man's hand stopped moving while he turned to Lucy, who looked at him with a "please help me" smile. 'I take back every positive thing I thought about you before. You really are an idiot,' Drew thought to himself. In the end, Drew had spent the day before Christmas having to write Lucy's mission report for her while trying not to be tempted by how she was dressed. All the while, Lucy lied her head on Drew's lap as she recounted her mission. Even as he tried to work, impure thoughts began to run through his mind again. 'I guess it's not the worst thing ever, spending the holidays with someone. Even so, this woman will probably be the end of me at this rate.'

Me, 2 days ago: "Ok, we're not going to procrastinate this time. We're going to get this done before the deadline." Also me, on the day of the deadline at 12:24 PM: "...Welp, at least it's done. Even if I had to rush the end a lot." In my original outline, I was planning on adding in a second girl who had a crush on Seth and gives him a bit of "extra service" before the classroom meeting which was already planned. Because I slacked off insanely hard and rushed to finish, that part will likely sit in purgatory for the forseeable future. 'It's hard to believe it's only been a year since graduation. With everything that happened since then, it's felt like an eternity. And yet, even after that time, I end up back in this town. I don't know whether to thank the chief or punch him when I get back tonight for this.' A lone figure walked among a large crowd of people. All of them were heading for the same destination, the school festival of Ravenwood Academy, held twice a year. Apparently, it was a chance for the students to show off their creativity before the long school year got into full swing. A tall, black haired man hung in the back of the crowd, carefully observing the area around him. Due to a number of circumstances, he had been shipped out of town the day after his graduation ceremony from the very same school whose festival he was now heading towards. After a long, long year, he had finally returned, but he was no longer the same as in his school days. Unlike the rest of the crowd, a sheathed sword was at his belt, getting him a number of looks from the students at the front gates. He had gotten express approval to bring the weapon, under the condition he didn't draw the blade for any reason in public spaces. As he walked past the decorated front gates and onto the campus, he spotted a number of stalls lining the area. From food and drinks to games someone would usually find at a festival, all run by the students. 'It's almost funny how normal it is,' Seth thought to himself as he wandered around. His childhood friend was supposed to have been meeting him when he arrived, but she was nowhere to be found. While the two of them were the same age, she had ended up missing a large number of days of school due to a family situation and ended up being held back a year. While he didn't exactly know how, she had managed to get into contact with his superior and invited Seth to attend the school festival. Even so... "She's late," Seth said out loud to himself. He could feel the eyes of passerby on him as he stood around. A part of him was considering going off and looking for his friend on his own until he spotted a familiar, brown haired girl running from outside the school's main building. When she came running towards him, Seth moved out of the way through instinct, causing the girl to fall onto the ground. "You really need to be more careful, Nadia," Seth said, extending a hand for the girl and helping her on her feet. Upon closer inspection, he noticed the girl had not been wearing the academy's uniform, but was instead dressed up as a maid. "Why do you always do that, Senpai? I was just going to give you a hug," Nadia said, glaring at him with her cheeks puffed. "You should know better than throwing yourself at someone in public like that," Seth replied. After a short pause, he gave the pouting girl a smile. "It's been a while, though, Nadia. It's good to see you're doing well," he said. For a moment, Seth watched as the look on his friend's face changed, like she wanted to ask him about what had happened to him after graduation, but just as quickly, she flashed a bright smile. "Of course! I'm not the same girl I was last year, after all. Now, come on. We've got a whole festival to explore. You're free until tonight, right?" Nadia said, leaning in close to Seth and taking one of his hands. As she pulled him on ahead towards the school, a thought ran through his mind to last year, shortly before his graduation. Throughout that day, Nadia led Seth all around Ravenwood Academy, showing off the various stalls and attractions the student body had prepared. Among them, Nadia's own class was doing a cafe, an idea that had been primarily suggested by the guys in her class. At no point did she ask Seth any questions about where he had been or what he was doing since he vanished. Meanwhile, Seth listened to Nadia rant on about how hard the work was to get certain things approved and prepared for the festival. It reminded him of his own time at school and how much work was put into preparing for the school festival. Students of Ravenwood Academy were usually studying hard for most of the year, making the school festival a time for the students to unwind, especially for those preparing for college entrance exams. "I haven't really thought about college yet," Nadia said during a conversation the pair was in the middle of. They had picked up some sandwiches from a stall and took a seat on a bench outside, watching students and families pass by. "You've had plenty of time to consider it," Seth shot back, but Nadia only looked up at the sky. "I know, but..." she trailed off, looking back down at her half eaten sandwich. "It's because of you repeating, right?" Seth asked. Nadia replied with a small nod. 'In a way, she does have a good point. Her having to repeat the year is going to affect her future, regardless of the reason. But maybe I can...' Seth thought, but he stopped his train of thought when Nadia quickly stood up. "Senpai, let's stop talking about this serious stuff. Today's supposed to be about fun, after all. Come on, there's still plenty of places to check out," Nadia said, taking Seth's hand and pulling him off the bench. For the rest of their walk around the festival, Nadia didn't bring up any more serious subjects. He didn't know the exact reason, but Seth had a feeling of why she was trying so hard to put on a cheerful act. 'Senpai's changed. I don't know what happened to him, but he's nothing like how he was before. He feels so distant now, and he's probably going to vanish again after today. Maybe he's met someone else. Even if he did, I don't want him to forget about me,' Nadia thought to herself. The sun had already begun to set and she was alone in a classroom, changing out of the maid outfit she had been wearing earlier back into her uniform. She had asked Seth to wait in a classroom on the third floor, but when she thought about her childhood friend, she couldn't help but be curious about where he had gone after graduation. While she was doing her best not to pry, another part of her wanted to know something. Nadia took a deep breath and walked out of the room, heading for the classroom on the third floor where Seth waited, the very same room she confessed her feelings to him one year prior. "Yeah. Sorry about this. This may be my last chance, after all. Yeah, thanks. I'll buy you a drink for this," Seth said to a person on the phone as he waited for Nadia. Once the person on the other end said their piece, he hung up the phone and shoved it into his pocket. He turned towards the window, watching students walking around and having fun. He thought back to the past and how he's become different than his old self. As such thoughts ran through his head, the door slowly opened and Nadia stepped inside. For a few moments, neither of them spoke as Nadia closed the door behind her. She stood silently for nearly a minute, the only sound being the voices coming from outside the windows. "Hey...Senpai. You're not going to be around after tomorrow, right?" Nadia finally asked. Seth didn't answer her question right away. The question was bound to be asked at some point, but he had not thought it'd be then and there. "Yeah. I don't know when, or even if I'll come back to this town again," Seth simply replied. Another short silence followed. Seth walked over to Nadia, who refused to look in his direction. He reached out and wrapped his arms around her from behind, pulling the girl closer to him. It was only then he noticed that tears were streaming down her face. "Even if I have to go far away, I'm not going to just forget about you. I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you, Nadia," Seth said. It wasn't long before his friend turned around, burying her face in his chest as she cried. The most Seth could do at that moment in time was hold her close to him. Outside, sunset soon made way to night. The last major event of the school festival was a dance around a large bonfire made in the courtyard. However, while a vast majority of the festival's attendants were at the dance, in a classroom on the school's third floor, a girl's moans could be heard coming from one of the closed rooms. Nadia sat in Seth's lap, wearing nothing but her skirt. Hidden underneath, his cock was already deep inside her. One thing had quickly led to their current situation after Nadia had calmed down. Nadia put her hands on her friend's shoulders, bouncing up and down on his cock while her moans rang out in the room. "I never would've thought all it'd take is a year for you to become such a pervert. Someone could catch us, you know?" Seth said. Nadia stopped moving and poked his cheek with a finger. "It's all your fault, Senpai. You made me wait for a whole year," Nadia replied, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her body up against him. "If it's all my fault, then you want me to take responsibility, right?" Seth asked. Before Nadia could answer him, he put his hands on her hips and started thrusting up into her. A loud moan escaped from Nadia's lips after Seth took control, his strong thrusts making wet sounds echo through the room. Nadia soon found herself bent over a desk while Seth pounded her from behind. She covered her mouth with one hand, trying to stop any of her loud moans from coming out. The sounds of music and people outside managed to drown out most of their noise. Before long, Seth felt himself reaching his limit, and with one last thrust, stuffed his cock into Nadia one last time before shooting out his cum deep inside her. After a short time, Nadia went and put back on the rest of her clothes and the pair walked out of the room together. The pair walked hand in hand down the quiet hallway, neither saying anything. Nadia had a bright smile on her face, staying close to Seth as they walked. As they reached the stairs heading down to the second floor, Nadia stopped for a moment. "Hey, Senpai? Do you want to go get something to eat? I'm feeling a little hungry after earlier," she asked. After a short pause, she flashed a grin. "And maybe afterward, you can show me how much you love me again." Seeing the smile on her face, Seth already had an idea of what she was talking about. 'Chief, I don't think I'll be back tonight.'

I cannot believe it's been nearly a year since I bumped this, and like last time, I am in Trails Jail because of Sky 1st Chapter, then again in 3 months once Horizon releases. I will be brutally honest, though, at this stage, I'm mostly just here for the writing challenges. I've long accepted I am not consistent with my reply speed and that's a giant red flag for a lot of folks. My self confidence writing smut is still at borderline zero, so that doesn't help my case, either. Even so, I will bump this thread, and continue to lurk for the forseeable future. (Also I may or may not have added a few more ideas.)

So...I may or may not have to retract what I said before, because unless I take some heavy creative liberties, I don't know if I can come up with a consistent plot this time unlike with Kinktoberfest where the ideas left enough wiggle room to slide in something. Also for this first one, I nearly hit the word limit before the end, so I had to rush the ending...and end up 26 words over. We're off to a great start. Trick Costume The day of Narfolk's annual costume contest was fast approaching, and Amber had been spending the past number of days worrying about what she wanted to dress up as. Almost like a miracle, as she was agonizing over what would've made for a good costume, a new store had recently opened up in town, Magic Hag's Potion Shop. Despite it's name, it had far more than supposed "potions" in stock. From old books to secret family recipes. There had even been Halloween costumes for sale. On an ordinary afternoon after her courses for the day had finished at the community college, Amber decided to check out the shop, dragging her childhood friend, Troy, along with her. Despite the shop's sudden surge in popularity among the people of Narfolk, it's location was fairly out of the way. It had taken nearly an hour and a search on a map app, but the pair eventually found Magic Hag's Potion Shop in a dark corner of town. The smell of various incenses filled the air of the shop, covering the smell of the musty tomes that lined one of the walls near the front entrance. Cheap Halloween decorations had been carelessly strewn about the place. On a large table near the front entrance was a table with several liquid filled bottles, all of them marked with their contents by a small paper tag. The shop's only employee, a black haired woman dressed up in a witch's costume, watched the young college students enter her shop with a bright smile, but at the same time, Troy couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy. "You sure you want to get a costume here of all places? When you told me about this place, I tried looking it up online. All I could find is a place in a game that has the same name, but nothing about a place like this," Troy asked as he followed Amber while she browsed around the shop, looking for the Halloween costumes. "You're worrying too much. Besides, it'll be way too late if I order one online. The contest is only a couple of days away," Amber answered. "But doesn't it seem weird that this place opened just now? Halloween's nearly here and this place just happens to open now?" "You're overthinking things, Troy. Maybe it just took time to get ready to open up. I mean, look at some of this stuff," Amber said while she stopped and lifted up a broom from a line on the nearby wall. The broom reminded him of something a witch would ride in a movie. As he thought more on it, the broom looked exactly like one a witch would ride. Amber turned her head and spotted a row of hung up Halloween costumes, setting the broom down and making her way over to the women's costumes. Troy took a bit of time looking over the variety while Amber shopped. While there were simple costumes like scary clowns or a monster of some kind, more complex costumes were mixed in among the simpler ones. "A lot of variety for a small time place," Troy muttered to himself. Before he could continue browsing, an unfamiliar voice came out of nowhere and made him jump. "They're all handmade, by the way," the voice, cold as ice, spoke out close to him. When he turned his head, he found the shopkeeper standing before him, her unusual golden eyes looking straight at him. Troy had no idea where she had even come from. At no point did he hear footsteps moving towards him, and aside from Amber, no other customers were in the shop. "These costumes are all quite special, you know?" the shopkeeper asked. "Is...that right?" Troy replied. "I'm sure your girlfriend will be quite satisfied, no matter what she chooses," the shopkeeper said. Troy quickly waved his hands and shook his head. "No. no, no, it's not like that. She's not my girlfriend. She and I are just friends," Troy quickly shot back. For a moment, he could've sworn he saw a faint smile on the shopkeeper's normally stoic face, but her expression went back to normal before he could be totally sure. Before he could ask about it, Amber's voice rang out behind him. "Hey, Troy, I got a costume," she said, leaving Troy to turn to face her. The shopkeeper turned and made her way back to the front counter, but Troy couldn't erase the image of the woman's faint smile from his memory. Two days after their shopping trip, Amber had decided to actually try on the costume she had purchased from Magic Hag's Potion Shop. Among the variety of options, she had settled on a frilly and pink magical girl costume. She had primarily picked it out since the costume reminded her of a TV show about magical girls she watched as a kid. She laughed a bit to herself as she remembered dragging Troy along to watch episodes with her when he visited her house. He had stopped going to her house once the pair started high school, and while the pair still went to the same community college, she felt like there was a certain invisible distance with her friend that wasn't there in the past. Such thoughts raced through Amber's head as she slipped on the magical girl costume, which to her surprise, fit her perfectly. While she was looking herself in the mirror, she had failed to notice the mysterious glow that came from the costume for a moment. Over the days before the costume contest, the days passed by uneventfully. Troy had gone about his usual days, but something about the shopkeeper at the Potion Shop kept bothering him, so he had decided to look into it. He returned to the dark corner of town he had gone to with Amber, but when he got there, the Magic Hag's Potion Shop was nowhere to be found, as if it had never existed at all. "What's going on here? The place was here just the other day!" he said to himself, but before he could inquire further, he was interrupted by a sudden text message. When he opened up his phone and checked it, he raised an eyebrow when he learned it was from Amber. I want you to come over, was all the message said. Troy found the whole thing unusually vague, especially when he considered how Amber usually was. When he was going to put his phone away, he got another text containing the exact same message. "Did someone hack her phone or something?" Troy asked. He let out a resigned sign and shoved his phone back into his pocket, deciding to go and see what the problem was with Amber. What he didn't realize at the time was that a woman with long black hair, dressed up like a witch, had been watching him from the shadows where the Potion Shop should've been. In her hands was a strange, wooden puzzle box covered in mysterious symbols. The trip to Amber's house felt more like a trip down memory lane for Troy. He had stopped going over once he started high school, even though he still sometimes spent time with Amber after school. There wasn't any real malice behind it, but more of the two just drifting apart. Amber had gotten new friends and Troy had figured he wasn't needed anymore, choosing instead to distance himself from her. Even then, however, he always seemed to end up finding her again, like when he found out they were attending the same community college. As he thought back to memories of the past, he reached his destination. He walked past the familiar white fence and down the simple brick walkway to the front door, but when he knocked on the door, it slowly creaked open on it's own. "Amber?" Troy called out. When there was no response, he stepped inside. Once he was inside the house, he heard a sound coming from upstairs. He slowly walked up the stairs, trying to listen for any more noises until he thought he heard a slight creaking. Carefully, Troy followed the sound when he reached the top of the stairs until he stood at the front of Amber's room. As a kid, he had visited her room several times, so he already knew it was hers. He was about to knock on the door until he heard heavy breathing and the creaking of the bed coming from inside. Troy had an idea of what may have been going on inside, yet something inside him compelled him to at least check. He reached for the doorknob and slowly opened it up a bit, just enough to see inside. What he saw was Amber, laying on her bed, still wearing the magical girl costume she had gotten a couple of days ago. One of her hands was on her breast while the other fingered her wet pussy. Amber squirmed around on the bed, finding it impossible to find any release no matter how much she tried. Troy was about to walk away until he heard Amber call out his name. He froze in place, unable to keep his eyes off of her. He didn't know what was causing Amber to behave the way she was, but he figured it was related to the text she sent him. He took a deep breath and pushed open the door. When Amber heard the door open, she froze, her whole face turning red. "Troy?! What are you doing here?" she questioned. She quickly moved her hands and closed her legs, trying to pretend nothing was going on. Neither Amber or Troy spoke for several moments until Amber slowly looked up at her friend. "I guess that's not important right now. I...need your help," Amber finally said. "Need my help?" Troy asked. Amber gave a small nod and tugged on the magical girl costume. "I...can't get this off," Amber replied. "And what does that have to do with calling me here?" Troy asked. Amber reached over to near her pillow and grabbed her phone. She turned the device on and showed a mysterious text message to Troy. The only way to free yourself from the costume's spell is being claimed by the person closest to your heart. "Costume's spell? What does that-" Troy tried to ask, but before he could finish, Amber's arms were around his neck and her body was pressed up against his. "My body feels so hot. Ever since I put this thing on, all I can think about is...you know," Amber quietly said. "It...feels weird. All I've been able to think about is you," she added, burying her face in his chest to hide how red her face was. "Are you sure that's the only way?" Troy asked. "I don't know, but I have courses tomorrow. I can't go to class wearing this," Amber replied. Even as she spoke, she pressed her body up against him. The feeling in her was driving her towards such action, and she was slowly becoming less sure whether it was because of the costume or if she actually wanted it herself. "Please, have sex with me, Troy," Amber finally said. After a long silence, Troy looked down at his childhood friend. He wasn't totally sure of all the details, but from what he did know at the time, he knew that his friend needed his help. Even if such an act would blur the lines of their friendship, he decided to indulge in her request. Outside the house, a figure watched as two shadows on the second floor moved with each other. The wooden puzzle box in her hands glowed with an otherworldly light. "Everything has worked out as I hoped. It is far from enough, however. Savor your time together," the black haired shopkeeper said to nobody in particular. Once a woman's moans began to ring out from the open door to the house, she turned and walked away. After a few steps, she was gone, as if she was never there at all.

Nearly went over 2k words with this one. I also had to rush to finish it, but what else is new? I'm probably going to be in Trails purgatory for about a week minimum since Sky 1st Chapter is out, but if a thing like Kinktoberfest comes along again, I will likely do what I did last year and try coming up with some kind of consistent storyline. Will I engage more in the smutty ideas? I don't know. As we know, my self confidence writing smut is borderline nonexistent still. We'll have to wait and see. If there is no Kinktoberfest, I can probably just recycle ideas from the old thread. On a dark and foggy night, a lone figure in a brown trench coat and carrying a black suitcase made his way to a simple wooden house. He pulled out a single piece of paper from his pocket to make sure he had gotten the right address. With a nod, he reached out and knocked three times on the simple brown door. It only took a few moments before the door slowly creaked open and a woman with long brown hair revealed herself. When she saw the man standing outside, she let out a relieved sigh. "Thank you for coming on such short notice, Mr. Exorcist. I know it's a bit late, but..." the woman said. "It's no problem. May I come in?" the exorcist replied. The brown haired woman moved aside, allowing the man to enter her home. The moment he walked past the door, he paused for a moment, sensing the thing he had been hired to eliminate. 'The demonic power is strong in here already. It's more serious than she told me on the phone,' he thought to himself, setting down his suitcase while the woman closed the door behind her. "Did you follow the instructions I gave you on the phone?" the exorcist questioned. "Yes, sir. Nobody has been inside the house besides me all day. Is my sister's condition that serious?" "From what you said, she had been visited by an incubus in her dreams. Such a demon's power can spread easily to new hosts if you're not careful. Show me to where you have her," the exorcist explained. The woman nodded and led the man up to the second floor and down a short hallway. The hall was lined with a number of family photos and landscape paintings. As the pair moved closer, the feeling of the demon's power only grew, choking the air in it's evil influence. Such an influence couldn't be felt by ordinary humans, however. Soon, the pair reached a door near the end of the hall, and the brown haired woman opened it up. Right away, the exorcist was blasted in the face by an invisible wave of the demon's influence. It had no visible effects on the man, but the mere fact of how strong it was told him time was running short. Laying in one of the beds in the room was a blonde haired girl. Even from the door, the exorcist could see a faint pink glow in the girl's blue eyes, a sign of the demon's curse having taken it's hold on her. "Vera? Did you bring the exorcist?" the blonde haired girl asked, turning her head towards the pair at the door. The brown haired girl, Vera, made her way towards her sister, reaching under the blanket and taking her hand. "That's right, Emma. He's going to help you," Vera replied. The exorcist wordlessly made his way over, carefully looking over Emma as he walked. "Charles, local exorcist. From what your sister had told me, you've been receiving visits in your dreams from an incubus, correct?" the man said once he reached the sisters. "Y-yes. I didn't think it was actually a demon. I started feeling weird after a few days," Emma replied. Charles took note of what she said with a simple nod. "Then we will need to work quickly and administer treatment before it's too late," Charles said. Instead of Emma, it was her sister who spoke up next. "By treatment, what do you mean?" Vera asked. "Incubus are sex demons. Normally, I could purge the curse, but it's gotten too far along. The only method is to remove it a different way," Charles explained. He didn't need to say exactly what needed to be done, but the older sister continued to ask questions. "Is having sex with my sister the only way? What would happen if you tried another way?" Vera asked. Charles wasted no time giving her a response, telling her as factually as possible what would happen. "As an exorcist, I'd have to kill her. If this isn't dealt with now, your sister will become a demon. Allowing her to continue living after that isn't an option." For a moment, Vera was silent. She clenched her hands into fists while she tried to construct another argument. Before she could speak... "I'll do it," Emma finally spoke, getting the attention of both the exorcist and her older sister. The girl's face was red as she looked towards her feet, feeling the two gazes on her face. "If this is the only way, then I'll do it. I don't know if it's because of the curse making me feel this way, but I think I wouldn't mind if things went this way," she added. "Emma..." "But I want Vera to stay with me during the treatment. I won't do it if she's not here," Emma went on. There was a short moment of silence in the room once Emma said her piece. Vera looked over to her sister and the girl nodded back to her. "Very well. We'll have to begin at once, though. Time is running short," Charles finally said. Before long, the two sisters found themselves laying on Emma's bed. As per the exorcist's instruction, they had taken off everything they were wearing. Charles soon approached the pair, having taken off everything he had been wearing aside from his black gloves. As he approached, he could feel the demonic power coming off of Emma's body as if he was hit by a tidal wave. He had been so distracted on the demonic power that he failed to notice Vera staring at his hard cock. Once he was at the bed, he slowly spread open Emma's legs. He wasted no time, slowly moving in and shoving his cock into her wet pussy. Emma let out a loud cry as the exorcist thrust into her. She took her older sister's hand as Charles claimed her pussy, her moans ringing out through the room. While Vera was worried about her sister, she couldn't keep her eyes off the scene in front of her. Emma opened her eyes and turned towards Vera, noticing the look in her eyes. She reached out and put a hand on the exorcist's shoulder, making him stop. "H-hey, Mr. Exorcist. I have a little favor to ask," Emma said, taking a chance to catch her breath. She looked over to Vera again and flashed a smile. "I want you to help my sister, too, She hasn't had a boyfriend in forever, and she'll probably stare all night long," she added. "Wait, Emma, what about your treatment?" Vera tried to protest, but Charles was already pulling his cock out of Emma. He didn't know for sure if the demonic curse was influencing her behavior, but he decided to indulge her request. Emma sat up and moved over to Vera, putting her hands on her sister's shoulders. Before Vera could protest, Emma pressed her lips against her sister's. She quickly deepened the kiss as she pushed her sister down onto the bed. Once Emma broke the kiss, Vera was given little time to react before Charles filled her pussy with his cock. Vera let out a loud moan as the exorcist's cock entered her. Her hands tightly gripped the sheets as he thrust into her while Emma lied on top of her, watching her sister's expression with amusement. "You look like you're having fun," Emma whispered into her sister's ear. She leaned in and stole another kiss from her sister's lips. That night, Charles spent the time giving Emma her treatment to dispel the demonic curse while also satisfying Vera. By the time he was sure he had purged the demonic curse, dawn had nearly broken. He had lost track of how long he had spent having sex with the sisters. As he had gotten dressed, he looked over to the pair, laying asleep on Emma's bed holding each other close. 'The younger sister will likely forget about all of this once she wakes up. She'll probably be a bit confused, but the curse shouldn't have any lasting after effects. As for the older one...' the exorcist's thoughts trailed off as he shook his head. 'It doesn't matter. She probably won't think much of it. Everything was in the heat of the moment. Her sister was cursed by a sex demon, after all. It wouldn't be unsurprising if it's influence was starting to effect her too.' He couldn't help but laugh a bit when he thought about being affected by demonic influences. He thought back to how quickly he played along and fucked Vera without any protest. 'Maybe her influence is starting to affect me.' With that last thought in mind, he made his way out of the room, slowly closing the door behind him. He made a mental note to get in contact with Vera at a later date for a status report on her sister's situation.\ With the job done, Charles made his way back to his place, a wooden cabin in the woods just outside of town. He had chosen to live in such a place primarily for solitude, but in reality, there was a much more serious reason for such a location. As soon as he opened the door, he was greeted by the sound of the TV coming from the living room. Laying on her side on the large gray couch, watching a morning game show was a woman with long, pink hair clad in nothing but a white button up shirt. She looked on as contestants were answering questions until she heard the door close. The woman shot up and quickly ran over to Charles when he walked in, practically tossing herself at him and wrapping her arms around her neck. When she looked up at him, however, her cheeks were puffed up as she glared at him. "What took you so long? You reek of human," the woman questioned. "I ran into a bit of extra work when dealing with that incubus curse. It's influence might've passed onto a third party indirectly," Charles explained. The woman moved away from Charles, making her way back over to the couch. "And this 'extra work' took you all night?" the woman asked. "What? You were lonely? I thought you went to go hunt down the incubus himself?" "I did! It was too easy, though, so I got back after an hour." "Is that right?" Charles asked, taking a seat on the couch. The woman sat down next to him, puffing out her cheeks again as she prodded his side with her finger. "That's all you have to say? I worked hard hunting that demon down, you know," she said. "And if I give you praise, you'll just let it go to your head. We've done this song and dance before," The woman shrugged and moved to take a seat on the exorcist's lap. "Then if you won't give me praise, I want a reward," the woman said, putting a hand on Charles' thigh. She leaned back into him while she moved her hand up and down his thigh. After he had been gone for so long, she refused to leave him alone until he had satisfied her completely. Because in reality, the woman who lived with Charles the exorcist, was a demon herself.

I tried. I really did. I procrastinated for numerous days, trying to think of something sci-fi, even as fantasy threatened to infect this idea too. In the end, I came up with this. I will admit, I did...maybe rush a bit, since I started on August 29th, then spent 2 days playing stuff for RetroAchievements, and now Discord Wars is probably going to have my attention for a while in August. Also, I reused the setting from Challenge 10, so more of Axiom Labs being so morally evil it's not even funny. "For an old Axiom facility, this place was way too well guarded. Makes you wonder what they're trying to hide," a man muttered to himself, kicking the remains of one of the many robots that had come and tried to kill him and his companion. He turned to face her, a woman with short black hair clad in a light blue bodysuit. Two gun-like drones floated in the air closely next to her. Bruno had no clue how she could control them so well, but he had long since come to assume they were just something she could do. "Dr. Cain was always a very cautious man," the woman simply replied. "Of course he was. Those Axiom bigwigs all seem to be like that. I guess being at the top means always jumping at shadows. Is the place we're after much further, Sophia?" Bruno replied while the black haired woman walked past him, paying no mind to the piles of scrap littered about the metal floor. "The terminal containing the data we seek is not much further. I also do not detect any more security," Sophia said. Bruno let out a sigh of relief and put a hand on the woman's shoulder. "That's some good news. Let's get going quick so we can be rid of this place," Bruno said, giving Sophia a thumbs up and walking on ahead of her. The pair moved down the halls in silence, only the sound of their footsteps echoing through the old facility. Many of the lights in the halls refused to turn on, but the old facility's security robots had still been running ever since the building had been abandoned by Axiom Labs. However, a tip had arrived to the fixer, Bruno, that secret information on Axiom's big Ark Project II remained in the data banks of the facility. Two days later, him and one of his companions, Sophia, took a couple of hover bikes to the old facility to try securing the data. Following Sophia's advice, the pair finally reached their destination, a massive room full of monitors and terminals. In the center of the room was a large, empty stasis tube. Upon their arrival in the room, Sophia's gaze was drawn to the stasis tube in the center. She knew it well, as it was the very same one she had spent a number of days inside of in her past, as one of Axiom's experiments. It had been thanks to Bruno that she had been freed, but not before they had managed to do enough to make her feel less than human. Her gaze turned to a large, dark red spot on the floor. It had been the very place where Dr. Cain, the Axiom scientist behind the experiments, had died by her own hands. She couldn't forget the way he laughed at her in his final moments. Sophia's body started to shake, but before long, she felt a hand lightly pat her on the head. When she looked up, Bruno was standing in front of her, giving her a reassuring smile. Sophia didn't hesitate to move closer to Bruno and wrap her arms around him in a hug. "It's going to take some time to transfer the data. Whatever this Ark Project II is supposed to be, the security on it's pretty tight. What the hell are those guys thinking, anyway? The Ark collapsing is what caused all the problems, anyway. Do they really want to make that happen again?" Bruno explained. After taking her time in Bruno's embrace, the pair took a seat near the terminal containing the data they sought. Due to powerful security, the hacking disc the pair had brought along would require time to get the data they needed. When Sophia didn't say anything in response, Bruno looked around the room. "Nothing but bad memories in this place, huh? When we met, you almost looked like you were ready to end it all," he added. "It was thanks to your and Ms. Lucia's kindness that I'm still here. I can't thank either of you enough," Sophia finally said. Bruno gave a simple shrug. "It's like I told you back then. It's a fixer's job to handle things like this. Axiom snatched you away from your home, treated you like a guinea pig, and messed with your head and body. Getting one over on them was the least I could do," he said. "A fixer's job..." Sophia muttered to herself before turning to face Bruno. "Then, can I make a request of you, as a fixer?" she asked. She slowly moved in closer to him. "I will likely never forget the things that happened here. But at the very least, I would like to have one good memory of this place," she continued, reaching out and putting a hand on Bruno's thigh. Even though her voice lacked any distinct emotion due to Axiom's mental experiments, Bruno knew what it was she was talking about. It wasn't long before Sophia's light moans rang out in the room. The bodysuit she had been wearing had been carelessly discarded on the floor while the woman herself was bent over in front of one of the deactivated terminals. Even though her body looked to be ordinary flesh, her skin was cold as metal. Even as he thrust inside of her, Bruno couldn't feel the distinct warmth that came with a normal human body. To many, they would call Sophia a living weapon made by Axiom Labs, with all aspects of a normal person stripped away. Bruno saw her the same as anyone else, and was determined to give her what she wanted. While Sophia was trying to keep her attention on Bruno's cock thrusting into her, the sensors in her head were constantly going, and they had detected an incoming presence. Reflected in the inactive monitor was the hallway Bruno and Sophia had come from, and Sophia spotted a figure approaching. One of her drones was quick to fire a shot towards the approaching figure, and a loud thud echoed into the room, as if a large metal object hit the floor. "Another robot? I thought we had gotten them all," Bruno said. When he spotted the approaching machine in the terminal's reflection, he had already pulled out of Sophia's pussy and reached for his weapon. He took a couple of steps towards the hallway until he felt something grab his hand. When he turned around, Sophia was staring at him. "There are no other machines approaching. But why did you stop? I had thought it was a fixer's duty to see things through to their end," Sophia said, trying to use Bruno's own personal code against him. 'It's weird when she gets like this. You'd think Axiom's mental conditioning would shut down acting like this. Maybe they're not as perfect as they think,' Bruno thought to himself. He shrugged and turned back towards Sophia. "Sorry. I should've known you'd have our backs, but we can't be too careful with Axiom's machines, you know. Come on, we'll finish up over here," Bruno replied, leading Sophia by the hand to a corner of the room. He sat down on the floor, his back against the cold metal wall. Sophia quickly got the hint and put her hands on his shoulders, lowering herself onto his hard cock and letting it enter her again. Her cold body pressed up against his as she began moving her hips. Even as she moved up and down, lightly moaning in Bruno's ear, he felt something was different from earlier, despite her clear lack of emotional change. Between her body pressed up against him and her cold breath on his ear, Bruno felt himself getting close to his limit. "Sophia, I'm cumming!" Bruno said. He held Sophia close to him as he filled her pussy with his cum. Her arms wrapped around him as he did. Even after Bruno had finished, Sophia refused to move off of him. She instead laid her head on his shoulder, saying nothing. Bruno didn't say anything and pulled her into a hug. He didn't know how long they stood together like that before an automated voice rang out from the active terminal. "Data transfer has completed," the voice said in a cold, mechanical tone. After taking the time to clean up and destroy the terminal once the pair was sure the data was transferred to the proper place, Bruno and Sophia made their way out of the old facility back outside to where their hover bikes waited. Before Bruno got onto his bike, he turned towards the old facility again, then back to Sophia, who had been staring at the old building. "I had spent a great number of days in this facility. I do not have many good memories of this place," Sophia began. After a short pause, she turned to face Bruno. He froze when he saw the expression on her face. It was faint, but a smile crossed Sophia's usually emotionless face. "But it is thanks to you and Ms. Lydia that I was freed from this place and can choose my own path." Bruno couldn't help but smile and walked over to Sophia, putting a hand on her head. "And whatever you want to do with that path, you know me and the others will be with you until the end," Bruno said. After a couple of seconds of silence, Bruno moved his hand and turned back towards the hover bikes. "Speaking of the others, Benny should be done getting all that data together by the time we get back to the village. We should get going," Bruno added. Sophia gave a simple nod and turned away from the facility, making her way towards her own bike. The two rode away from the old facility, never looking back. Even though Bruno didn't know for sure if the shadows of Sophia's bad memories had been fully dispelled, they had at the very least accomplished what they had originally sought. 'The Ark Project II. What exactly is it? What is Axiom Labs up to, bringing back the old Ark Project?' Bruno wondered, but at that moment, he would be left pondering on the end goal of the labs who controlled a majority of a world brought to it's knees following the fall of The Ark.

I wish I wasn't feeling like death for the past several days (which is around the time I even found out this challenge existed), because despite my borderline nonexistant self confidence regarding writing smut, I actually would've really liked this idea since fantasy is my go to setting. I might still make an unofficial entry because "use this as an excuse to practice" or something.

One month had passed since the coup against the king of the underground city, Kingpin. With the man's death and the subsequent defeat of the mercenaries under the man's employ, the people trapped under Kingpin's rule were free to finally return to the surface. Alone in a cheap apartment, a man who had many things taken from him as part of Kingpin's schemes sat alone in front of a cheap wooden table. His once blonde hair had been dyed jet black and his golden eyes lacked the same light they had before a planned encounter led to the deaths of those he formed bonds with while underground. As he sat alone in silence, one name continued to race through his mind, like it had latched itself onto his thoughts. 'Origin. That name came up far too much in Kingpin's notes. But why did I never hear about this figure until now?' he thought to himself. As the thought raced through his mind, the door to the apartment opened and a man in a white suit stepped in. "There you are, Kresnik. I've been looking for you," the suited man said, but he only got a glare in response. "I told you to stop calling me that," "Old habits don't die easy. You've been Kresnik ever since your first match down here, after all. You're really planning on going back to your old name? Calling you Damien again would get pretty boring," the suited man replied. "Nobody asked for your opinion. Did you finish the arrangements?" Damien shot back. The suited man sighed and pulled out a letter from inside his suit, tossing it down onto the table. "Took a few days with all the transfers going on, but yeah. Congrats, Damien, you now own your own place in the Village of Outcasts. You're lucky the person in charge there owed me a few favors. But why there of all places?" the suited man said while Damien picked up the letter. "That's easy. People there keep to their own business. Nobody will ask any questions." "I guess that makes sense, considering the damage those church types did to your reputation. It's probably better to lay low in a place like that," the suited man said as he started walking towards the open door. He stopped just before heading out, but didn't turn to face Damien. "One other thing. We're moving Maya and The Crusader's graves to somewhere topside. Just figured you'd want to know. I'll give you a call when they found a good spot," the man added before he stepped outside, leaving Damien alone to finish gathering his things. After one last check over his things, Damien stepped out of the place that had been his home for the past several months and walked outside. The streets of the underground city were in ruins due to last month's battle. Buildings were either completely destroyed or long since cleaned out, mana powered streetlights were collapsed on the road and bloodstains were littered about the area. With next to nobody left in the city, Damien's footsteps echoed through the empty streets. Ahead of him was his destination, the former site of Kingpin's penthouse, which Damien had destroyed during his battle with the underground's king. When he thought about his fight with Kingpin, his thoughts would drift back to what he read in the man's notes. 'To think, all of this was just part of a game. He used every one of us like pawns on a board. Even though he's dead, the game isn't over. Maybe Kingpin was just another piece on the board,' Damien thought to himself, making his way past the ruins of Kingpin's penthouse and to the iron door that sat beyond it. The door had been left wide open, revealing a flight of stone stairs leading up to the surface. He walked for a few minutes until he reached a second iron door at the top of the stairs. Light filtered out from the bottom of the door. Damien reached out for the knob and slowly opened the door. Light quickly poured into the dark cavern, forcing Damien to cover his eyes with his arm. When his eyes finally adjusted to the sunlight, he found himself in a large, open field. A light breeze blew through his hair and the warm early spring sunlight was a relief from the months spent in the cold underground. As Damien took the time to take his first breaths of fresh air, a long shadow began to loom over him from high up in the air. The man looked up to find a large bird with beautiful rainbow wings flying through the air above him. The creature reminded him of an old fairy tale he had heard as a child about a legendary phoenix. It had been caged and tormented by a cruel, sadistic man. From having it's beautiful feathers torn off to being generally tortured, because of the creature's ability to revive itself. One day, the cruel man got careless and left the cage of the phoenix open, and the bird got it's revenge by incinerating the man. Damien wanted to deny the possibility that the bird he saw flying across the sky was the same as in the story, but the thought reminded him of another task he had to undergo. He had promised an old friend he would find his sister and deliver his final gift to her. The underground city had taken many things from him. Damien's reputation had been destroyed when the true nature of his power was exposed. The people he had come to trust and keep him grounded were senselessly killed to push him to greater power that he didn't even want. He had nearly lost what remained of his humanity all for the sake of destroying Kingpin. Even with all the chaos he had endured, Damien had chosen to continue moving forward, and on that day, guided by the rainbow made by the flying phoenix, Damien Kresnik took his first steps towards his new beginning. His old self had long since died, and a new version of himself had risen from the ashes of the underground to walk a world of chaos once more. All for the sake of destroying those who ruined his life.

As much as I'd love to toss out the "something related to Spring" idea, outside of Easter, what really is there in spring? Summer has a lot more going on for it idea wise. There's also the path of just rehashing an old challenge idea, like one of the really old ones.

I decided to go with the different angles regarding New Year's Resolutions. From someone who failed to finish their major goals, to someone who has, and even someone who has no belief in them. The ending is just setup for something I'm writing on the side, unrelated to this challenge. The year had come and gone, and on that particular afternoon, around two weeks after the beginning of the year, Vangor sat alone reading through a notebook he had carried around with him. Even though, as an immortal, he had all the time in the world, a mortal concept like making New Year's resolutions was still something he chose to do. At the top of the open page had been a goal he had still failed to accomplish. 'Kill Damien Kresnik' had been written in bright red letters, followed shortly by 'Conquer the world' on the line below it. One by one, the purple haired man crossed out each line with a pen before setting the notebook down on the dusty wooden desk in front of him. "Even this year, Damien Kresnik eluded my attempts on his life. I could wait until he grows old and weak, but then he would no longer be an effective general of my zombie army. Even worse, he now has that priestess and that strangely intelligent Shadow Wolf on his side. I had thought he despised the church, and worked alone," Vangor muttered to himself, lifting up the notebook again and reading down his list again. Instead of crossing it out, he put a check mark next to 'create more skeleton soldiers' and 'study new magic' below his larger goals. As he set his notebook down again, he watched as several apron wearing skeletons milled about the old, abandoned house that Vangor turned into his (self proclaimed) evil lair, moving the man's books to shelves or sweeping the floor. "I will need to rearrange my approach. Once Damien Kresnik is dead, I will have to construct a way to eliminate the priestess, even if that draws the church's ire," Vangor said to himself. He leaned back in his chair as he closed his eyes and thought over how he would attempt to kill his number one target in his next encounter. "It looks like I did all of my resolutions again this year," a woman with hair white as snow said to herself as she sat on a stair, looking over a piece of paper in her hands. As she looked over the list of resolutions she had made at the start of the year, it reminded her of how much simpler her life used to be. Even then, the time she had spent at the temple had been while she was under the control of a powerful spell. As she thought it over, Amane wasn't even sure if she could say the resolutions written on the paper were her own or the person who put the spell on her in the first place. "Is something the matter, Lady Amane?" a voice rang out in her head. When Amane looked up, standing before her was a black haired man with golden eyes and a large, light brown wolf with a large X shaped scar over it's left eye. The wolf in question was once an ordinary wolf, but thanks to being used in an experiment, had been transformed into a Shadow Wolf that also carried the power to destroy gods. The experiments had also greatly increased it's intelligence and granted it the ability to speak through telepathy. Amane slowly shook her head in response to the wolf's question. "Sorry, it's nothing," she replied. The wolf caught sight of the paper in her hands and tilted it's head. "And what might that paper be?" the wolf's telepathic voice rang out in Amane's head again. "Oh, this? Back at the temple, we would make New Year's resolutions," she answered. "Don't think too much about it, Scar. It's a human thing. They make goals they usually don't end up accomplishing, or they just forget about them," the black haired man finally said. "What point is there in doing such a thing?" Scar asked. "You don't believe in New Year's resolutions, Damien?" Amane said. The black haired man, Damien, shook his head. "It's a waste of time. If you have goals, why make some list for future reference? It's just like humans to find something to waste time," "You used to be human too, you know. Besides, it's not a waste of time," Amane shot back, standing up and walking up to Damien. Since he was taller than her, she ended up having to look up to meet his eyes. "That's what you say. You'll have time to work on your little 'resolutions' later. Go and get your things ready," Damien replied, moving past her and towards the stairs Amane had been sitting on. "Does this have something to do with where you and Scar went to earlier?" Amane asked. Damien stopped walking and turned to face Amane. "Yeah. We're going on a little trip. An all expenses paid trip to Snowcap Village."

While I am bumping this thread, I am currently deep in the Trails pit right now, and Trails does not respect my time. It dragged me in and refuses to let me go. Let the below screenshot be my proof. Translation: Approach with caution, as replies will likely be slower than usual...not that I'm Sonic the Hedgehog when it comes to the speed of replies alongside having the memory of a goldfish sometimes.

Back by popular(?) demand, another tale about the mysterious spirit of Christmas, who aims to make people's Christmas better...even if her methods are a bit odd. It was almost Christmas, and instead of hanging out with his friends or spending time with family, Steven found himself sitting at home by himself, watching Christmas movies on TV. His family was supposed to have been home for Christmas, but due to work, they had to change their plans. Steven had expected his parents to be busy with work, but as he looked through his text messages on his phone, he couldn't help but sigh. "Everyone's busy with their families or their girlfriends. Isn't that just great," Steven said to himself, tossing his phone next to him on the couch and picking up the remote. As he flipped through the channels, he couldn't help but mutter to himself. "We haven't had Christmas together since I started high school. I thought things would be different this year, but why should I be surprised they chose work over spending time here?" he muttered, turning his gaze towards the window. A light snow had been falling outside since the early afternoon. According to the weather, it was going to snow all night long. "It's almost midnight. Maybe I should turn in early. Not like I'm going to be doing much tomorrow, anyway," Steven said to himself. He turned off the TV and grabbed his phone before he headed up to his room. Once he closed the door to his room, a breeze slowly pushed open the front door just enough for a slender hand to push the door open. Slowly walking into the house was a woman with long, blonde hair, dressed in a red and white Santa outfit. "This looks like the place," the woman said to herself, glancing around the living room. The smile on her face was gone the moment she saw the area had not been decorated at all for the holidays. "He doesn't even have a tree? That's no good. It's a good thing I'm here," the woman said. With a mere snap of a finger, a gust of wind from outside rushed into the living room. The once ordinary living room was quickly decorated with Christmas accessories, a large, decorated pine tree had appeared in the corner near the TV, and a wooden carving of Santa Claus was placed in the center of the table near the couch. The last piece followed, a number of wrapped presents appeared underneath the Christmas tree, one after the other. Once the job was complete, the woman put her hands on her hips and gave a satisfied nod. "There we go! It's perfect! Steven should love it," the woman said to herself. She walked around the living room a bit, looking at some family pictures on the wall. Her blue eyes fell on a picture of a young Steven and his parents along with the family dog. She didn't know what the history was between Steven and his family, but as the legendary Spirit of Christmas, she knew her job was to help Steven rekindle a love for Christmas. She smiled a bit, remembering the man she helped last year, a man who had a falling out with an old friend and blamed Christmas for it. While she didn't know if he had begun taking steps towards accepting friends again, but a large part of her was sure that her visit to him guided him on the right path. Instead of going straight to bed, Steven spent some time on his phone, reading stories on the internet. One in particular stood out to him, regarding a rumor about a person who apparently appeared around Christmas. Whether they were an actual person or some kind of phantom, nobody know, because nobody apparently ever saw them. "It's probably just a story. Things like that don't make any sense," Steven said to himself. He was about to scroll down until he heard his door open slightly. The young man spotted a number of bright lights coming from the open crack, causing him to sit up. He knew that he turned off all the lights before he went upstairs, and he didn't have any multi colored lights in the house. Getting off the bed, he decided to go and investigate. As he walked down the stairs, his eyes widened. Somehow, the entire living room had been decked out in Christmas decorations, including a tree and presents. Steven was sure he had nothing to do with such a thing, especially in such a short amount of time. "How did all of this..." he questioned as he stepped down the stairs. As he made his way towards the center of the room, the smell of hot chocolate hit him. He turned towards the source of the smell, a single red and white coffee cup filled with hot chocolate sitting on the table in front of a carved wooden statue of Santa Claus. "What's going on here? Did someone break in? Then again, who'd break into someone's house and set up decorations and make hot chocolate?" Steven questioned. Deciding to look further into the situation, he made his way into the kitchen, but found no sign that anything had been used recently. Only the plate he had used earlier in the night when he ate dinner sat in the sink, waiting to be washed. Steven raised an eyebrow and turned around, heading back to the living room. When he got there, however, he found a blonde haired woman sitting on the couch, drinking a cup of hot chocolate as if she had always been there. Steven froze as the woman's blue eyes met his. He didn't know who she was or how she even got inside his house, but for some reason, the moment their eyes met, he found himself unable to say anything to her. The woman set down her cup and stood up, walking over to Steven. He took a subconscious step back as she approached him, the smell of peppermint and pine hitting his nose once she had gotten close to him. "It's good to meet you, Steven. My name is Anna, a spirit of Christmas," the woman said with a smile. 'Like the rumor online? There's no way. She doesn't look like some kind of phantom, but how'd she get into my house?' Steven thought to himself. "I'm here to help you. You don't like Christmas very much, do you?" Anna asked. Steven wasn't sure how to respond to such a random question, or what the strange woman meant by helping him. "I don't think that's any of your business," Steven answered, but Anna only laughed a bit. "Helping people who don't like Christmas anymore is my business. All I want to do is help you," Anna said, stepping closer to Steven. As Anna got closer, Steven stepped away until his back was up against a wall. "Just let me help you and I'll make your Christmas much better for you," Anna whispered. Steven could smell chocolate in the air as she moved closer to him. She slowly leaned in and pressed her lips against his. She used her body to push him against the wall as she kissed him. As Anna quickly deepened the kiss, Steven found his vision getting oddly blurry. Before he knew it, everything had gone white, but in the haze, he heard Anna's voice in his ear. "It's almost Christmas, so I'll give you a nice memory, so you can start to like Christmas again," When Steven was a child, him and his parents would spend every Christmas together as a family. There were years they would take a trip, but most years, they would stay home, open presents, and play around outside if it snowed heavily enough that day. Relatives would've sometimes visited, and the night usually ended with the family having a nice meal together before watching Christmas movies with some egg nog until it was time for bed. For most of Steven's life, that had been his Christmas experience, and he would always enjoy it. From going out to pick out a tree, to decorating and writing a letter to Santa Claus. Even though he had gotten older and found out Santa was fictional, the rest of the family's Christmas traditions remained solid. Things changed drastically once Steven began high school, however. His parent's jobs had gotten far more demanding and that led to them spending less time with him. From his point of view, it had felt like they were intentionally distancing themselves from him. The Christmas of his first year of high school, his parents had been too busy with work to be there. The same thing happened the year after that, and after that, all the way up until his senior year. They had even barely managed to get time off work to attend his graduation, but by that point, the distance between them had grown greatly. The way his usual Christmas traditions ended, from Steven's point of view, led to him slowly beginning to resent Christmas. To him, it slowly became just another day. When Steven opened his eyes, he found himself sitting on the couch. His clothes were mysteriously missing, and in front of him was Anna. She was on her knees in front of him with his hard cock between her breasts. Anna looked up at him and flashed him a smile before she started moving her breasts up and down his length. "Do you really think your folks are avoiding you on purpose?" Anna asked. Even though his mind was feeling foggy from the feeling his cock between Anna's soft breasts, he tried to consider the woman's question. When he thought harder about it, he did notice that while they usually came home from work more exhausted than in the past, they had apparently been making far more money than before. 'Are they really doing it on purpose?' Steven thought to himself. When he actually considered the possibility, he began to realize he had never considered asking them why or how their work suddenly became much more demanding. Once they had started distancing themselves from him, Steven had been quick to make an assumption. That assumption, at least from Steven's point of view, could've been what began the distancing from his family. "Was it...my fault?" Steven asked. Anna stopped moving and moved herself away from Steven's cock. She slowly stood up and reached out for him, patting him on the head. "You and your parents need to talk these things through. Family can always get through things if they talk together," Anna replied, giving Steven a warm smile. She moved towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck as she sat in his lap, pressing her breasts up against his chest while his cock slowly entered her wet pussy. "If you promise to talk to your family, then-" Anna started to say, but she cut herself off when Steven's cock entered her with a loud moan. She hugged Steven tightly as she moved her hips, taking his cock deeper into her. Between the titfuck earlier and now, Steven found himself shooting a load of cum inside Anna not long after they started. For a bit, the two sat there together before Anna leaned in for another kiss. From there, Steven brought Anna upstairs to his room. He didn't know why he felt like he wanted more sex, but once the pair had stepped into the room, it wasn't long before he had Anna bent over his bed with his cock inside her. Wet sounds and loud moans rang out through the room as Steven fucked her again and again. He didn't know how much time had passed before exhaustion finally took him and he fell asleep in his bed holding Anna close to him. Steven woke up early the next morning in his bed. His clothes were on him and the young man let out a low groan as he sat up. He felt unusually tired, but he didn't know why. The last thing he could remember before he went to sleep was reading about some rumor online before he went downstairs. From there, everything else was a blur. He scratched his head when he found himself unable to recall anything that happened after he went downstairs. When he thought about it, Steven heard the front door opening. He got out of bed and headed downstairs only to find his parents stepping inside the house, carrying several shopping bags with them. "Mom? Dad? What are you doing here? Don't you have work?" he asked. "It's strange. All of a sudden, the chief called me this morning and said I had the rest of the week off," Steven's dad said. "I got a similar call. With all the changes to the company lately, I'm surprised he could afford to such a thing," Steven's mom added. Steven tilted his head, wondering what could've happened. Something inside him felt like he had said something regarding how his parents were always busy with work. He also remembered a promise, to talk to his family about things, even though he had no idea who had made him promise such a thing. "So what's with the bags?" Steven asked. His mom's eyes lit up and she ushered him over, excited to show off the things she had hoped to give him for Christmas. The boy's parents marveled at Steven's hard work at decorating the living room, even though Steven was sure he had nothing to do with it. He took the credit for it anyway, hoping to finally spend a Christmas with his family. Outside, standing on a roof across the street, was a blonde haired woman dressed in a red and white Santa dress. She watched Steven and his parents through the window with a smile on her face. "I hope you enjoy your special present, Steven. Merry Christmas," Anna said. Once she said what she wanted to, the woman was gone, as if she had never been there to begin with. The rumors of the mysterious spirit of Christmas would continue to be spread, and when someone's love for Christmas began to wane, stories of a strange woman would begin to crop up online. Nobody, however, has apparently actually seen this spirit of Christmas. I went over by about 300 words, but I wanted a wholesome ending. I may suck at writing smut, but I think a Christmas story needs a wholesome ending.

After a bit of thinking it over, I did come up with something. You know how during December they usually have those "12 days of Christmas" specials where they play Christmas episodes or movies? I don't know if they still do it because it's been years since I've openly watched TV, but how about something in a similar format to Kinktoberfest, but just with winter/holiday themed ideas. Just, a bit shorter than 31 days. We can even throw in the "drinking at a holiday party" idea in there, since that apparently happens. Also in advance I'll give my usual "no promises of actually participating depending on what other things I have going on at the time" comment, but we saw how that went last time. 12 holiday ideas may actually be a bit harder for me than 30 different ideas following their own themes with a somewhat connected plotline mixed in there.

Is there any special reason why both examples involve alcohol in some way?

This is it. The finale. It was a good run, and 30/31 is not bad. Could I have used the kink list more in these 31 days? Probably, but between me changing my mind between days and not being good at writing smut, I feel like writing the Geraldo storyline was a better use of these days than trying to force myself into something I know I'd make people cringe from. Will I make a more refined and fixed version of the Geraldo tale? At this stage, I'm considering it, but I do have other items on my plate at the moment between finishing my Radiant Dawn videos, reviewing someone's RPG Maker game, Mario and Luigi Brothership releases soon, and my general slacker nature do stand in the way. Only time can tell. Day 31 - ??? After many trials and tribulations, Sam and his party had finally reached the peak of the Tower of Despair. Standing between them and the final chamber was a massive set of stone doors. Even with the doors closed, an overwhelming level of darkness could be felt, as if the doors themselves were made to contain it. As the party took a rest before heading inside, Sam stood alone in front of the doors. A number of things ran through the young man's mind at that time. He wondered why Geraldo would go down such a path, what the future would be like, and even if him and his new friends would even survive the final battle. While he was lost in these thoughts, Luna approached him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Sam? Is something wrong?" she asked. Sam slowly shook his head to snap himself out of his thought and turned to face Luna. "Sorry about that. I was just thinking of some things," he began, turning back towards the doors. "Master Lee took me in not long before he got sick. I didn't really get much time to know the others. I just want to know why. He didn't have to do any of this. Kill the others, kill your dad, bring all of this evil to the world," Sam added. "I'd like to know too. I know that Father only wanted to help. There is also the matter of the dark items. We must dispose of the Book of Shadows and the Shadow Staff once everything is done. As long as those still exist in this world, this tragedy could be repeated in the future," Luna said. "Yeah, you're right," Sam said, taking a deep breath and steeling his resolve. "We should probably get going soon. This'll be the final battle." After finishing their short rest, Sam, Luna, Luis, and Rosie stood before the massive stone doors. The doors slowly slid open, letting out a flood of darkness that Luna used her magic to protect the party from. Once the darkness was cleared away, the four stepped into the massive circular room. Many windows lined the walls, giving a view of the world outside. At the very back of the room, sitting on a throne of bones, was a man dressed in black with short brown hair. When Sam got a look at his eyes, they were crimson red, nothing like the person he knew in the past. In his hand was the infamous Shadow Staff while the Book of Shadows floated in the air close to him. "So you are the heroes I have heard whispers about. I am surprised weaklings like you managed to survive climbing my tower," the man said. While the voice that had come out of his mouth had belonged to Geraldo, any other part of his personality was nothing like his was. Sam subconsciously took a step back as the man stood from his throne of bones, darkness flowing off him like a fountain that quickly began to fill the room. "Geraldo. Why are you doing all of this? Why did you kill Anna and the others?" Sam asked, but Geraldo's booming laughter cut him off before he could ask any more questions. "The human known as Geraldo is dead. He has given himself, body and soul, to me. I am the Ancient One, Izroth," Geraldo said, spreading out his arms as he introduced his true name. "The Ancient One? But all the stories say that Izroth was defeated by a legendary hero and sealed away!" Luna cut in. "He sure doesn't look sealed away to me," Rosie added. "Precisely right. When that fool took this staff in his hand and surrendered his very self to me, I was free to take this flesh for my own. He may have shown a bit of resistance towards the end, but such things meant nothing in the face of my power. Now that I am finally free, I will drown this world in complete darkness, and I will begin by obliterating all of you," Izroth explained. He slowly began to lift up into the air until he towered over the party. "Not if we have anything to say about it! You've ruined a ton of people's lives with your shit, and it ends today!" Luis shouted. "Then go ahead and try! Book of Shadows, hear my decree, as the Ancient One! Call forth the beings of the dark to devour these fools who cling to the light!" Izroth replied. Responding to the incantation spoken by Izroth, the Book of Shadows flipped open on it's own, shrouded in a pale purple light. All at once, several shadow creatures came shooting out of the book and quickly surrounded the party. "Please, leave these beings of the dark to me," Luna said, stepping forward. She put her hands together and uttered a prayer, sending a blinding light out from her in it's center. The light tore through the shadow creatures, obliterating them with ease. Izroth didn't seem the least bit concerned, moving right onto his next spell. "Hear my decree as the Ancient One! Summon the corpses of the fallen to devour the flesh of the followers of light!" Izroth called out. The Book of Shadows reacted, sending bolts of black lightning shooting down from the ceiling to call forth zombies from the floor. Some were in good condition and more difficult to kill while others were weak and decaying. As the party fought off the horde of zombies being summoned by the Book of Shadows, Izroth made his next move. "Ensnare the priestess with unholy tendrils!" he called out. Even while the Book of Shadows continued to summon undead to ware out the team, jet black tendrils shot out of it's pages, reaching out to grab Luna. Luis was faster and cut down the approaching tendrils, but was nearly pushed down and killed by a couple of zombies. They were blown away and smacked into a wall by a blast of wind magic from Rosie. "Why do you fools struggle so hopelessly? You will eventually run out of energy, and be destroyed," Izroth said, watching as the humans managed to clean up the last of the horde. It was then a new idea came to him. He floated down and twirled the Shadow Staff around in his hand before thrusting it into the ground. Dark power swelled and four pillars of darkness shot out in four corners of the room. Slowly, a figure emerged from the holes left behind by the rising pillars. "Beth, Mark, and Anna?" Sam said, watching the figures as they exposed themselves. They had indeed been Master Lee's old apprentices, or rather their bodies. Their skin had become a dark gray and there was no light in their eyes, simply the same red glow that was also in Izroth's eyes. They had been turned into nothing more than husks with no souls, filled with the power of darkness. From the fourth hole emerged a husk of Father Marco, his pristine white robes replaced with the black cultist's robes. "Do you like them? It took some time extracting them from the shadow creature, and by that point, all of them had been so broken spiritually, it was easy to implant my power into them," Izroth explained as he moved back to his throne and sat down. "Now die, killed by the very people you care about," he added, laughing loudly as the former apprentices made their move. Sam and the others split up, having to take on one of the husks each. With Mark's reputation as the Swiftblade, Luis had been the one to challenge him. Mark no longer had his usual sword, instead having been given a sinister looking dark blade. Even though the body was just a husk, it was clear that it wasn't used to wielding the dark blade, giving Luis an edge in his fight. While Rosie took on the Father Marco husk in a battle of magic, Luna had taken on Beth. Both Beth and Rosie were generalists when it came to magic while Father Marco and Luna were more specialized in light magic. The two were fairly evenly matched. For Sam, however, he knew Anna was the best of Master Lee's apprentices, having become skilled in both sword and magic. The husk showed no signs of being any different in terms of skill, giving Sam a run for his money. All the while, Izroth continued to take advantage of the Book of Shadows to disrupt the party's battles, hurling blasts of lightning and more monsters. While a tough battle, Sam managed to overpower the husk of Anna, and the party turned their attention to Izroth, who stood from his seat again. He had prepared to launch another attack, but Luis struck first, running at him with his dual daggers. Izroth put up a barrier to protect from the attack only to be hit from behind by a fireball by Rosie. When his guard was temporarily down, Luna used a move to keep Izroth restrained. His overwhelming darkness tried to destroy the sealing move, but it had come too late as Sam rushed forward and thrust his sword through Izroth's chest. "You...humans..." he weakly said, but it was still not enough. The dark power that formed Izroth's essence slowly began to flow out of Geraldo's body and back to the Shadow Staff. "He's trying to get away. Luna!" Sam shouted. The woman nodded and put her hands together in a prayer, activating a spell that was saved for such a situation. It had been found in a secret scroll left behind by Father Marco on the off chance the exorcism against Geraldo's darkness failed. The room was engulfed in a blinding light, one that poured out from the windows and lit up the peak of the Tower of Despair like a lighthouse. When Sam came to, the darkness that had been flooding the room had been cleared out. Laying unmoving on the floor was the Book of Shadows and the Shadow Staff while Geraldo's body with Sam's sword in it's chest, sat in the throne. The husks made by Izroth's magic had turned to dust, leaving nothing else behind. Sam slowly stood up and spotted Luna laying on the floor. He ran over to her and lifted her up. He let out a sigh of relief when her skin was still warm, remembering the warning that was in the scroll about using that spell. Luis and Rosie soon awoke and made their way over to Sam and the unconscious Luna. "Is it over?" Luis asked. The team looked outside, watching as the dark clouds that covered the sky since the darkness took over begin to clear. The first signs of the morning sunlight began to peek through, lighting up the dark landscape. "Defeating Izroth may be over, but there's going to be a lot of work to do. The world's pretty screwed, after all," Rosie pointed out. "Oh right..." Luis said, laughing a bit and scratching the back of his head. After a short pause, he turned his gaze to Luna. "And our sleeping beauty? How about her?" "She'll probably need to sleep for a while. That maneuver didn't kill her, but she likely used up every drop of mana in her body to destroy Izroth in that form," Rosie said. "Well, I guess that's something. It'd be a shame if we lost someone after all we got through," Luis said. For a bit, nobody spoke. Whether they were reflecting on those who had died along the way or thinking about the future, nobody knew. It would've forever been a moment just between them. From there, a lot of work would have to be done to fix everything and move the world on the path to returning to normal. Sam and his party were met with a hero's welcome upon their return to the Order's camp. A celebration was held in their honor and the four of them were revered as heroes who defeated the Ancient One. The day after the celebration, the road to recovery had begun. Homes had to be repaired, monsters left behind had to be handled, and the people of the world began to move towards the path of returning their lives to how they used to be. The Book of Shadows and Shadow Staff, the very dark items that started the entire disaster, were tossed away into a volcano and destroyed permanently. After the final battle, Luna was taken into the Order's care to oversee her recovery. Luis decided to return to his village and help rebuild, especially since he had plenty of stories to tell the kids about his adventures. As for Rosie, since she had nowhere to go, she had chosen to stay with the Knight's Order, hoping to find a way to get her emotional state returned to normal. As for Sam... One year passed since the battle on top of the Tower of Despair. A man with blonde hair stood in front of five graves alone, each one marked with a single person's name. Beth, Mark, Anna, Master Lee, and Geraldo. Four of them had been his fellow apprentices while the fifth was the man who brought them all together and raised them as if they were his own children. The man turned back towards the manor where Master Lee had taught the apprentices, raised and cared for them, and even met his untimely end there. In the year since the battle, Sam had worked to clean up Master Lee's manor and only recently decided he would follow in his master's footsteps and take on young apprentices who had nowhere to go. With many people having lost their families, there were a number of orphans around, and Sam hoped to find a couple of them and take them in. "Hard to believe tomorrow's the day already," Sam said to himself as he turned and headed back inside. Since the final battle, he had not heard anything from Luna. He got the occasional letter from Luis and Rosie about how they were doing. He did find that Rosie's letters were slowly becoming slightly less blunt in her words, which he found a good sign of her progress. The only thing that disappointed him was that he had heard nothing from Luna yet. Rosie's letters did speak about how she was and her progress towards recovery, but he had hoped to see her in person. Almost as if the universe had been hearing his thoughts, Sam heard a knock at the front door. When he made his way over, he couldn't help but look shocked. Standing outside was Luna, the woman he had not seen in a year. "Luna?" Sam asked. "I'm sorry for not showing up sooner. Can I come in?" she asked. Sam nodded and moved aside to let her inside. The two moved to the kitchen and took the time to catch up. Sam told her all about what he had been up to since she was left in the Order's care, between giving the other apprentices a proper burial and deciding on what he planned on doing in the future. Luna listened patiently until she was given the chance to explain what had happened. "I had to undergo some treatment for a while when I woke up. My mana supply recovered too slowly, and the priests at the Order were worried about me. I was not allowed to contact anyone during the treatment, just to not worry anybody. After that, I had asked to be allowed to help with the recovery efforts. I will be going around the world for the next several months to aid in the restoration," Luna explained. "Sounds like we'll both be busy for a long time. Luis says he's teaching the kids in his village some things and Rosie sounds like she's still in the middle of her own recovery," Sam said. Luna responded with a nod. "I do hope we can all meet together one day. We had never gotten a chance to celebrate together as a team. Speaking of which, Sam..." Luna trailed off, looking away from Sam. When Sam looked at her, he noticed her whole face had turned red. Under the table, she had clenched her hands into fists. Instead of telling Sam what she meant to say, she quickly stood up and walked over to him. She put her hands on Sam's shoulders before leaning forward and pressing her lips against his. The kiss only lasted for a couple of seconds before Luna moved away from Sam. "Father Marco used to always tell me that you should make memories with the people you care about. We may not see each other for a long time, so I..." Luna tried to say, but stopped herself as Sam stood up. He wrapped an arm around Luna's waist and pulled her close to him. "I think I know what you mean. Master Lee used to always say something similar," Sam said. The two leaned in and shared another kiss, determined to make a memory that would last a long time. A woman's loud moans rang out through the large master bedroom. Luna lied naked on her side with one of her legs being lifted up as Sam's cock filled her pussy. His free hand groped one of her breasts as his cock went in and out of her. After they had moved to the bedroom and Sam took her first time, Luna had been eager for more. They had changed positions several times during their night together, with Luna soon finding herself laying on top of Sam. She quickly moved her hips, and when she felt like Sam was close, the pair shared one last kiss before Sam filled her pussy with his cum. The two of then ended up falling asleep in each other's embrace, Sam's cock still inside of Luna. Early the next morning, after taking a bath together and getting dressed, Sam and Luna left Master Lee's manor together, holding hands. Sam had collected the things he would've needed for a long journey before leaving, not expecting to return for a long time. As the pair walked away from the manor, Sam couldn't help but look back at the house he held so many memories in. From being raised by Master Lee when he had nowhere else to go, to the day he died and the division of the apprentices, and now his first intimate moment with Luna. None of them would be memories he would ever forget as long as he lived. Once the pair had reached the road, the two of them stopped. Sam didn't want to let go of Luna's hand. He wanted her to stay with him. He knew, however, that she had her own important things to take care, as did he. "We'll meet again, Sam. It may not be right away, but I'm sure that you, me, and the others will see each other again," Luna said to Sam, flashing him a smile. "Yeah...you're right," Sam replied. Luna let go of Sam's hand, but before she turned away leaned in and planted a kiss on Sam's cheek. A single tear rolled down Luna's face that she quickly wiped away as she turned around. "I'll see you again, Sam," Luna said before she walked off in the direction opposite to Sam. He watched her go, and once Luna was out of sight, he turned his own direction. "Master Lee, I will follow in your footsteps. I will guide the next generation, and keep people off the path of darkness. I won't let myself become consumed by darkness like Geraldo, but I won't blindly follow the light, either. I promise you, and I promise all of my friends that I will do this. By giving me a chance to live, when I had nothing, I thank you, Master," Sam said to nobody in particular. He took his first steps forward to an uncertain future in a world recovering from a time of darkness, unaware that, floating on the roof of the manor, a ghostly figure of a muscular man watched the young man make his first steps forward with a proud smile, like a father watching his child move towards the future.