TW: None

Title: ~The First Meeting~

The happy sounds of Minecraftia filled the air as the girl walked gingerly across the grass. Kim had settled in a lot to her new home, and after her experience in the Nether, she appreciated the calm and quiet daytime world. Even so, she had never ventured this far beyond Sjin's farm before and she was nervous at what she might encounter, especially as the sun was already beginning to set. Suddenly, Kim stopped in her tracks. She saw a figure, sitting underneath a tree, surrounded by mushrooms, their head resting on arms that were themselves balanced on bent legs. Kim approached the figure slowly and saw that it was a girl, with long locks of bright red hair, gazing thoughtfully over the landscape. The girl suddenly looked up at the approaching noise and Kim could see that behind her futuristic glasses, she had eyes of deep blue. It was hard not to recognise these striking features.

"Are you...Zoey Proasheck?" asked Kim tentatively. She had heard a lot about this woman, and her various adventures with a mage and mute dinosaur, from Sjin, during her short stay at his farm and she had to admit to herself, she was a little bit star-struck at meeting her.

"Yes" answered Zoey "Who's asking? No, wait; are you the new girl who's moved onto Sjin's farm?"

Kim nodded silently while deciding which of her many questions she wanted to ask first.

"They say you survived a nuke explosion, and that you can talk to mushrooms, is that true?" Kim babbled, trying not to show how nervous she was. "I found a big patch of mushrooms back there by a pond, if you wanna go and talk to them, they might have some interesting stories to-"

Kim fell silent as Zoey stood up, revealing herself to be much taller than the dark haired girl, and placed a metallic finger across her lips.

"No, don't talk about me like that. They're all just stories. Stories don't show me as I really am. Yet this is how people see me, as some crazy mushroom girl, or as a heroic martyr for sacrificing my arm to save our home, when it was tragically destroyed anyway. And still no one knows the real me, not even..."

Here her voice trailed off and she dropped her hand back down to her side and looked at the floor. Kim realised for the first time, with their faces this close together, how beautiful Zoey was in the dying light of evening, and before she knew what she was doing she reached up and gently brushed a stray strand of ginger hair away from Zoey's face and tucked it behind her ear. Zoey's eye flashed red as she viciously slapped Kim's hand away and stumbled back.

"Stop that! Get away from me!" she cried, breathing heavily through her rage. Kim was shocked and close to tears that their first meeting had grown sour so suddenly.

"I...I'm sorry" she stammered "I didn't mean to-" But her apology was cut short as Zoey collapsed back to the ground and buried her head in her arms, her red hair reflecting the last rays of sunshine. The shuddering of her body revealed that he was sobbing.

"There's something I've not been truly honest about, with anyone. I just can't keep it a secret anymore, I need to come out and say it." She whispered through her tears.

"Err, come out?" Kim asked, thinking back to Zoey's finger on her lips and her face and her hair and how beautiful she had looked. "But I thought-"

"I don't care what you think right now, I need to say this, it's important!" Zoey blurted out, looking up at Kim, her face contorted with rage. But as soon as she had said it her face relaxed again and she returned her head to its position in her hands.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shout. But for some reason I feel like I can trust you, and I need to tell someone, anyone." Zoey took a hold of her hair in both fists and sighed. With a quick motion she yanked upwards, taking her ginger mop with her, and flung it to the ground.

For a second, Kim could only stare at the lifeless mass on the ground but slowly her eyes traced its path back up to Zoey's face. There she saw a shaggy, jaw-length, brunette bob where long, ginger locks had once sat.

"A wig?!" Kim exclaimed. "All this time, you've been wearing a wig?! That's what you had to tell me?!"

"That wig." Zoey spat, looking distastefully down at it, "That wig symbolises a character that I created but have come to despise, as her accomplishments have out shadowed anything I hoped to achieve. And now, no-one can ever look past her to see the real me."

As Kim gazed at the girl in front of her, still sat on the floor, she saw a fragility and vulnerability to her that she hadn't previously recognised. She took a step closer and, seeing no reaction, sat down next to her on the floor.

"Well, this is the real Zoey I'm seeing now, aren't I? And you know what? I think I like her. Brunette suits you too."

Zoey lifted her head to look at Kim, her hair framing her face perfectly and magnifying her stunning features. Her eyes were lined with tears but her lips were smiling. No more words needed to be said as the two friends sat together and watched their shadows lengthen over the grass as the sun set, and the land fell dark.

~~~~~~~~~

TW: Sexual Coercion, Smut, PWP, Set in the Old World

Title: ~Winners And Losers~

Lalna watched the contents of his chest carefully, half-expecting it to suddenly begin to empty. Once he'd caught Sjin and burned down his house, he'd thought the stealing incident would be done with. But ever since he could hardly walk by without stopping to count his dust and ingots or checking the ground around his base for signs of disturbance. He told himself it was more of a precaution than paranoia, but that didn't stop it from making him angry. Sjin was still getting the last laugh. The architect's house would soon be rebuilt and restocked, but Lalna wasn't sure he'd ever stop waiting for his materials to be stolen again.

If he had to lose sleep over it, he wanted Sjin to suffer the same. But stealing wasn't an option. Sjin would be expecting that, surely.

It took Lalna two days to come up with his revenge and another two to gather the courage to put it into place.

——————

He'd thought long and hard about how to approach Rythian. The mage was friendly enough, but Lalna didn't have much practice dealing with him and there was something off about Rythian that kept him on his toes.

Coming up to the mage's stone tower, Lalna realized he might have had some help in converting Rythian to his cause. The mage was hovering over a half-patched hole in one of the walls of his base that looked like it'd been blown by a mining laser. Ravs watched idly below, sipping at a strong drink and rolling his eyes as Rythan cursed "impish scientists with too much time and too many guns." Yeah, that sounded like Sjin.

"Is this a bad time?" He asked as he activated his jetpack and flew up to hover near the angry man. Rythian looked over and seemed unsure of how to greet him.

"No, it's fine. Sjin was having some target practice last night and missed."

Lalna surveyed the damage up close. Both men kept their eyes on the building as they spoke. "I don't think he missed."

Rythian sighed. "That's what I'm afraid of. Someday he's going to go too far."

"He's been stealing from me too. He needs to be taught a lesson before things get out of control."

Out of the corner of his eye, Lalna noticed Rythian turn to look at him. Lalna made eye contact and immediately felt like that was a mistake. Something in Rythian tightened uncomfortably and Lalna wondered if maybe coming to him was a mistake, but his expression stayed carefully neutral as he raised an eyebrow and asked, "What did you have in mind, Lalna?"

——————-

The moon was hardly a sliver in the sky as Rythian and Lalna converged upon the temporary home Sjin had set up for himself. Even though Lalna expected it was going to be ripped down in the making of his new base, it still had a certain stylistic attention to detail that Sjin put into everything he built. Lalna could pick out the punctuated sounds of only a few basic machines, as opposed to the overlapping grind of many. He doubted this was everything Sjin had, but it was all he could use right now and it posed no threat to his plan. He'd gone over his idea thoroughly with Rythian as he helped the mage rebuild. They were here to sneak in while Sjin was asleep and threaten him. Wave their swords around, maybe yell a little, whatever it took for Sjin to get the hint that he'd pissed off two people who could get to him anywhere and weren't afraid to take their revenge.

Rythian flew forward, his flight ring completely silent where Lalna's jetpack would have far too noisy. Opening the door with care, he floated just above the ground to avoid the alarmed pressure plate Lalna had guessed would be there. The scientist watched him disconnect it quickly. Rythian may have preferred magic over science, but he was obviously versed in both. He was perhaps the closest Lalna had to someone who could be considered an intellectual equal, though he lacked curiosity and drive.

Rythian disappeared inside the little house for only a handful of seconds before reappearing at the door and beckoning Lalna in. The scientist obeyed, grabbing his mining laser as he did. Stepping inside, his eyes adjusted from the light of the half moon to the dull glow of an interdiction torch. Settled in a forest and with its back to a mountain, the tiny windows got little in the way of moonlight. Against the wall, snuggled in bed, he could make out the outline of Sjin. Lalna noticed Rythian draw a weapon of his own—a red matter sword—and move so that between the two of them and the wall, Sjin was cornered with Lalna between him and his sword. Setting his laser to the lowest setting, Lalna shot just above Sjin's head, making a neat hole in the stone wall behind him.

"Ah!" Sjin yelped, all but flying out from under the covers. As he did, Lalna's face turned red and he laughed nervously. What else had he expected of a guy who thought nothing of walking around in a loincloth in broad daylight?

"You sleep in the buff?" He asked as Sjin scrambled to pull the blanket up around him, looking all the while from the smug scientist with the still-hot gun in his hand to the embarrassed but still intimidating mage bearing a red blade.

"Eheh, hey guys."

"Hello, Sjin," Rythian replied, not sounding the least bit friendly. "Since you paid my house a little 'visit' last night, I thought I'd return the favor."

"You should have told me you were coming. I could have brewed a bit of coffee, made up some fresh bread..."

Lalna cut him off. "This isn't really a call-ahead type of visit, Sjin."

"No?"

"No." Lalna was happy to see that his plan was working. Sjin's eyes never left their weapons for long and he looked nervous. He seemed to think they had really come to hurt or even kill him.

"Look, guys, I'm really sorry about things. I was just having a little fun, eh?"

Rythian's eyes narrowed and he took a step forwards that drove Sjin flush against the wall, his eyes torn between Rythian's, which looked less blue and more purple than Lalna remembered, and the blade that had risen just a fraction, the hand around its hilt tightening. "A joke? You blew up part of my house and my condenser with it! You could have killed me!"

"It was an accident?"

Lalna stepped up this time. "Just like stealing from me?" Sjin was starting to sneak furtive glances at his sword, but he wasn't desperate enough to chance lunging for it yet. Maybe soon he would begin to understand that the people he'd pissed off weren't shy about getting revenge, and that no defenses he put up could keep him safe.

"Can't I make it up to you?"

Lalna raised an eyebrow at Sjin's plea. He hadn't expected that, but the idea was was worth considering. He could demand more of Sjin's resources, but would that really do anything? He had no real need for them and Sjin obviously had more hidden away somewhere so it would be no inconvenience. Rythian seemed equally skeptical. "How? My wall is already fixed. We can never trust you again, Sjin." Hoping to drive home the point, the blonde moved forward until his knees brushed the bed's edge and his gun was only a couple of feet from Sjin's very vulnerable person. This time, however, Sjin didn't recoil.

"Yeah?" The shyness evaporated from the brunette like morning fog to reveal the grin of a fox. Instead of trying to put distance between himself and Lalna, he pushed himself up on his knees and scooted forward close enough that Lalna could feel Sjin's breath on his face. "Well... well I still trust you."

There was no sign, no segue, no lead up at all to prepare the scientist for what Sjin did next. His hands came up, letting the blanket around his hips fall. Tangling his fingers in Lalna's thick blonde hair, he pulled the scientist onto the bed and messily brought their lips together. The sound of Lalna's shock was muffled in Sjin's mouth, but clearly audible was Rythian's exclamation of, "What the hell?"

Pulling himself away, Lalna realized he was hovering above Sjin, his legs trapping one of the architect's between them. Sjin grinned and gently brought it up to rub against Lalna's clothed member, laughing as a groan escaped Lalna before he could cut it off. "Little Lalna seems to think this is pretty good repayment. How long has it been since you got some, you poor son of a gun?"

Rythian moved forward, readying his sword for actual use."Let him go, Sjin."

"No, wait."

Rythian looked at Lalna the same way he might have looked at a mooing sheep. "You're not seriously considering this?"

But he was. Sure, it was probably a last-ditch ploy by Sjin to try to create an escape route to his sword and wherever he had his mining laser hidden. But more than he was suspicious, more than he wanted to get back at Sjin, he was curious. And with Lalna, curiosity took priority.

Sjin watched Lalna think it through and grinned at Rythian. "Hey, if you just want to watch..."

The mage ignored him and kept his eyes on Lalna, hoping the scientist would put a stop to whatever was starting. Instead, he laughed sheepishly and tried to form his thoughts into an explanation bu he lost his voice as Sjin's knee provided him with friction once more and his hands snaked under Lalna's lab coat to knead the strained muscles of his upper back with sure, firm fingers. He ground himself against Sjin, unashamed of a little dry humping if it relieved the growing frustration.

Sjin never took his eyes off Lalna as he spoke. "Join in or bugger off, Rythian."

Lalna lost track of the mage as Sjin began to pull off his clothes. The architect's fingers could be deft and light, but he was purposefully rough. He yanked Lalna's shirt over his head and all but whipped his belt out of its loops. Lalna repaid him by burying his face in Sjin's neck to suck and bite at the skin with the intention of leaving as many marks as he could and hearing Sjin's breathy groans in his ear for as long as possible. His hardening dick was proof that Sjin was being affected, but he never so much as stuttered in his stripping of Lalna until he was fully naked. Lalna reached a hand down to stroke Sjin's cock as the architect grabbed his ass and forced Lalna closer to him, feeding the scientist more of the friction he craved. As Lalna relaxed into what was happening, Sjin found the nerve to bring down his hand across his bare ass and fill the air with the sharp smack of flesh on flesh. Startled, Lalna pushed him away and the architect yelped between laughs as he tumbled onto the floor. "Bloody hell, Sjin!"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself!" Even as he apologized, Sjin laughed. He just couldn't do anything without trying to make Lalna seem like a fool, could he?

Lalna wondered if it would be best to call off the whole idea of repayment, give the place a thorough blasting with his mining laser, and jack himself off in the safety of his own base. Just as he reached to find his lab coat, however, he saw that Rythian had taken the architect by the hair and yanked him up onto his knees. Sjin quickly complied with a whimper that didn't sound as unhappy as Lalna suspected it should have. Rythian had already shucked off his own pants and boxers and his dick was level with Sjin's face. The architect glanced at the hand not tangled in his hair, which still held a menacing blade, and quickly took the mage in his hands, giving his half-hard member a few encouraging jerks. Rythian shuddered, then threw his head back when Sjin took his cock into his mouth. Despite himself, Lalna found his own dick getting hard again just from the sight. Sjin moved slowly up and down Rythian's shaft, coating it in saliva. At first his pace was regular, but he soon grew bored and began changing it up. He would take most of Rythian's cock in his mouth one moment, then lap teasingly at the head another. Lalna thought the teasing might make the mage impatient, but Rythian just watched Sjin with half-closed eyes and panted quietly behind his mask.

Not entirely of his own bidding, Lalna's hand wandered down the trail of curly blonde hairs on his stomach to grip his own erection, pumping it slowly to give himself some relief. In his mind he pictured that his hand was Sjin's mouth and tried to imagine the wet warmth around him and the feeling of his head hitting the back of Sjin's throat. A sound perilously like a whimper escaped his lips and suddenly two pairs of eyes were on him.

Sjin smiled, pulling himself off Rythian. "Come over here, you big jabroni." The brunette didn't need to offer twice. Lalna got off the bed quickly and walked over, carefully avoiding eye contact with Rythian. Sjin looked up at him and smiled a smile that was less like a fox, now that Lalna took the time to look, and more like a dog, happy to be doing its masters' bidding. He left one hand working Rythian's shaft and moved his other to Lalna's. As he jerked the scientist off steadily, he occasionally brought his head over to lap a bead of pre-cum from Lalna's tip, each time making eye contact and moving his tongue with exaggerated slowness over the slit and making Lalna's legs twitch.

Like most of the night, what came next came without warning. One minute Sjin was pumping him steadily, his hot breath only distantly washing over his cock, and the next he had the entirety of Lalna's length in his mouth, his throat tightly constructing around the head. Lalna groaned in pleasure and his legs nearly gave out. Surprised and desperately wanting to keep his balance, he reached out to steady himself on Rythian. He thought he would grab the mage's shoulder, but instead his hand grasped and pulled down Rythian's face mask. Quickly re-reaching and finding a solid grip, Lalna closed his eyes as Sjin slowly pulled away. When he opened them again, he saw Rythian's eyes intently on him. He didn't look angry so much as he seemed to be trying to read Lalna's expression. The scientist took the chance to look over what he had accidentally revealed. The mage's lips were oddly thin, he thought, but more eye-catching were the scars. They were unnaturally deep and one of them pulled at the corner of Rythian's mouth, giving him the passing impression of a perpetual frown.

Meeting his eyes blue for blue, he leaned forward and kissed him, coaxing Rythian to open his mouth and let him in. As they kissed he felt one of the mage's cold hands begin toying with his nipples as Sjin's mouth returned to his cock and Lalna let his brain fog over in pleasure The architect below them moaned at the sight, the vibrations making Lalna pulse in his mouth. Only when Sjin brought a hand up to stroke Lalna and turned his mouth back to Rythian did the scientist pull away from the mage, wondering if that was red he saw on Rythian's cheeks as the other man shrugged off his cloak and his shirt.

Sjin started slow, just taking the head of Rythian's cock into his mouth and sucking on it as his hand worked the rest. Rythian tried to jerk forward and bury the rest of himself into Sjin's mouth, but Lalna helped the architect keep him more or less in place. Defeated, he dropped his head and panted quietly as Sjin swirled his tongue around his tip and gathered the abundant pre-cum there. When he felt Rythian twitch in his hand, he pulled away.

"There. I think we're pretty much even, right guys?" Rythian looked up at Lalna across from him. The malicious look they exchanged had Sjin visibly worried.

For better or for worse, he didn't have to wait long to find out what they had planned.

Lalna laughed. "No, not quite. Stand up." Sjin did as he was told and Lalna stepped out of the way as Rythian grabbed him, twisting the architect around before half-throwing him onto the bed so he was bent over it with his face buried in the sheets and his naked ass exposed. Lalna took the opportunity to pay Sjin back for the earlier slap, smacking Sjin's backside hard enough to crack the air and make the architect yelp and jerk forward, rutting against the bed. "Knowing you, Sjin, I would guess..." Lalna opened the chest at the head of the bed to reveal, sure enough, a bottle of lube. "What have you been up to, hm?"

Sjin glanced up at Lalna, holding back a whine as Rythian held him in place and the blankets teased his dick with light touches. The blonde laughed, squeezing the lube onto his hand before coating himself with it. Throwing the lube back in the chest, he took Rythian's place and spread Sjin's cheek's open to reveal his tight hole. Worrying his lip and swallowing his uncertainty, he carefully started pushing into the thief. Sjin whimpered as Lalna's cock pushed inside him, trying very hard to buck back and take all of Lalna at once. But Lalna fought to take his time, moving inch by inch and sighing in relief as he slid further in. Sjin's whimpers became mewls until finally Lalna was buried in his ass to the hilt. As soon as he could go no further, Lalna pulled out almost completely and felt Sjin tense up in alarm just before he thrust roughly back in, hitting something inside Sjin that made him beg, "Lalna, please!" The scientist smirked.

"This isn't a reward, Sjin, it's a lesson. If you're enjoying it, what's the point in continuing? It's counter-productive."

"No, no, Lalna, please no. I'll leave you alone, you and Rythian both, I swear! Please."

"Please what?" This time the question was from Rythian, who climbed onto the bed and sat in front of Sjin, his cock brushing the architect's parted lips.

"Fuck me, please." Lalna watched Rythian grab Sjin's hair again. The architect opened his mouth took Rythian eagerly all the way in. At the same time Lalna thrust into Sjin and tried to find his prostate again. It was hit-and-miss, but whenever he did Sjin would swallow around Rythian's cock and draw out a surprisingly erotic moan from the mage. Lalna found himself working hard to draw out the sound more often as his orgasm grew closer and closer.

"Fuck, Sjin," he groaned, forcing himself deep inside of Sjin as he came. He braced himself on the bed as his cum shot into Sjin's ass and caused the architect to pull himself off Rythian to cough and pant. His own orgasm taken care of, Lalna watched Rythian give Sjin a short break before pulling him back and coaxing Sjin to wrap his lips around the head of his cock, his breath coming in quiet pants as he got close. Lalna frowned. He was tired of quiet.

Reaching beneath Sjin, he grabbed the architect's neglected dick. It twitched in his hand even as Sjin bucked and moaned in relief. The sound vibrated down Rythian's length and the pleasure brought another deep moan from his scarred lips. Lalna pumped Sjin at the same pace as Rythian thrust into his throat, watching as finally the mage buried himself to the hilt and came in Sjin's mouth. As the architect fought to swallow, he reached his.own orgasm and shot cum all over Lalna and the bed sheets.

Sjin rested his head on Rythian's thigh as he came down from his high. Half expecting Rythian to shove him off, Lalna was surprised to see him rest a large hand on Sjin's back and absently rub a steady circle between his shoulder blades. Leaving them to it, Lalna began to gather his clothes.

"Leaving so soon?" Sjin's teasing question was hoarse coming from his abused throat.

"I did what I came here to do. Rythian, are you coming?"

The man hesitated, but Lalna shot him a look that reminded them that their visit wasn't meant to be a friendly one. Rythian was quick enough to remember and push Sjin away in favor of standing and getting dressed.

Sjin's face looked crestfallen, but he grinned when he noticed Lalna watching him. "I guess I've learned my lesson then."

Lalna finally slipped on his coat and made sure his mining laser was ready to go. As Rythian pulled on his second boot, he opened the door and stepped out. The mage started towards him, but paused to turn back to Sjin.

"Think whatever you want, but this was a warning. If you don't cut it out and act peacefully, you won't get off so easily. I can promise you that."

"Guess I'll have to behave then," came the quick reply. "I really like getting off."