46: Do You Regret It...? (18+ 1st 1/3 only)

Raven bit her lip to muffle a scream. She thought she was ready. She wasn't. She so wasn't. Everything she thought she knew — everything she'd been anticipating — paled in comparison to the 'real' thing. Pleasure wracked her frame, overtaking her mind — her whole world. Blissful pink clouds rained down lightning bolts that shocked her to her very core.

"Mmmmph~! Harder~! Please~…?" Raven 'demanded', biting back a soul-shaking moan.

She was pressed up against a wall. She didn't know what wall that was. Or where it was — where she was. She didn't particularly care. Not when she was being pounded from behind, FUCKED until she barely knew who she was.

Raven's mind drifted in and out of sense and reason, driven by soul-deep ecstasy. She lost herself in the sensations, pushing back to meet every thrust as if it were the only thing that she wanted in life. The only thing that mattered.

Her other half was suspiciously silent as Raven was fucked into a coma and loving every second of it. That was because her Passion had been made real, joining Raven in relishing every second of fucking pleasure. Passion gripped Raven's hand tightly enough to hurt, pressed up against the wall beside her and writhing on the fingers of the man, the beast, the GOD behind them.

Sean groaned and growled. His hips smacked against her ass. He pounded himself into Raven as if the world was ending. As if he was bringing about that pleasurable apocalypse. For once, Raven didn't care to stop the end of the world. If anything, she wanted nothing more than to aid it, to make sure it continued indefinitely — especially if it meant more and more of this pleasure for her.

SEX and SUBMISSION. God, Raven hadn't known what she was missing. Her insides fluttered and clenched around the hard-driving rod of her new GOD. DADDY… He practically owned her, swaying her mind with pleasure upon pleasure she could barely comprehend. Sean might as well have held the key to her immortal soul. And if he didn't, Raven would be giving it to him after all of this was over.

The scene shifted and Raven found herself on all fours, still pushing back into Sean's thrusts. She didn't immediately realize what that meant, too lost in carnal bliss to truly think. Her hair was pulled back tight by a strong hand. CONTROL as Sean mounted and rode her body like a dominating warlord. Her back arched under his strong hands, yearning for more pleasure than she could ever possibly get on her own.

The scene shifted again. Raven felt her back upon something soft, something that gave and submitted beneath Sean's domination just as her body did. Her legs locked behind his back, heels urging him ever-onward in their fucking quest for the ultimate shared ecstasy.

She looked up into Sean's eyes, an utterly lewd look in her own eyes. The only part of her face that could truly emote. The contrast must have been DELICIOUS. A dead, impassive expression and eyes begging for more.

A tender hand stroked her cheek while Sean RAVISHED the rest of her body. His cock dominated her poor pussy. She yielded to his thrusts — sucking him in, clinging, and futilely trying to make him stay. Her muscles tensed and flexed, nerves driven wild with overwhelming sensation. Her whole body tingled as if set alight by the invisible fires of ecstasy.

Another shift. She was pressed against something again, horizontally this time instead of vertically against the wall. The surface she was pressed down upon changed with every blink. A bed. A rug. The metaphorical dirt of her deadbeat father's grave. That last one thrilled her quite a bit.

Raven submitted herself willingly. Sean's body engulfed her, inside and out. His hard cock ruled her pussy, dragging along her inner walls. The wet, hot friction was so good that Raven forgot to breathe for a moment.

A delicate hand reached for her throat. She found a band of soft leather there. A reminder hugging her skin. She was his. The POWER that lit a flame of pure desire within her soul now owned her completely. Her mind, her soul, her Passion, Raven herself. It was only right. She gave herself over willingly to power and pleasure, the natural order that Raven hadn't even known she wanted until Sean came smirking into her life.

Her insides quivered around him. Skin against skin never felt so good to Raven's mind. They shared flesh and sensation, giving to each other freely and taking in turn.

His cock held hard and strong like steel within her. Driving flashes of light before her mind's eye. Thrusting blissful explosions that overtook her whole world. He was unstoppable. Raven clung to every movement of his pistoning hips, paying back each pleasure as good as she got.

Her Passion kissed him when Raven couldn't. Clung to him when Raven was preoccupied with just holding on for sheer life. Her other half was just as much a part of this carnal coupling as she was. Even with the numbers advantage, they failed to overwhelm Sean and his soul-dominating, body-quaking thrusts.

'Just as it should be…' A rare thought made it through the pleasure that clouded her body, mind, and soul.

Raven and her Passion switched positions in yet another shift. As if reality had been made as malleable as Raven's pleasure-pounded body. Passion instantly collapsed — crumbled beneath Sean's thrusts — feeling everything Raven had felt and more.

Her plump and plush ass — the same one Raven knew supported her own lower half — was raised high on bent knees, jiggling perfectly with each thrust and hips wiggling back as if begging for more. Passion's face fell to the surface below, her arms unable to support herself against the pleasure. Like some kind of long, lewd right triangle, Passion prostrated and pushed herself back upon the long, lewd cock that dominated her world.

Sean bent partially over Passion's back, holding her head down deliciously~. His other hand held her hip, pulling Passion back to meet his thrusts even harder. He fucked deep as he could go, stretching her pussy to perfectly fit his shape.

Raven offered what little support she could to her other half. She molded herself to Sean's back. Her breasts clung to his back, tingling nipples hard against his skin. The kisses she laid upon his skin barely served as a distraction from his intimate domination of Raven's other half. She tried for a desperate bite, a hard nip upon the crook of his neck.

Sean snarled wickedly — thrills running up Raven and Passion's spines — and the scene shifted again. This time, Raven was sure Sean was in control of the change. She couldn't think long enough to process what that meant.

Raven found herself lifted completely off the ground in Sean's arms. His cock drove deep inside her, deeper than ever before. He struck a euphoric button at the back of her channel, just behind her womb. Raven couldn't look down but if she did, she was sure she'd see the bulge of his progress on her tight, tensed tummy. Instead, all she could do was groan and gasp out her delight, her constant deadpan expression not shifting an inch as she did.

Her legs shook, wrapped around Sean's waist and locking up in orgasm after orgasm after orgasm. Sean's strong hands manhandled her ass, carrying her up and down his huge cock with ease. Her arms clung around his neck anyway. It was all she could do to hold on.

Passion pouted and tried to pull Sean's attention back to her. She succeeded, kneeling beneath them to lewdly suck and worship Sean's balls. In a blinking instant, Raven found herself on her knees beside Passion, who was suddenly gagging and choking on something blissfully fierce.

Sean facefucked Passion like a man scorned. Wild and thrilled eyes looked up at him as she submitted her mouth, tongue, and lips to his cock. Passion's throat bulged slightly as she took it to the hilt over and over again. She eagerly sucked Raven's — her own — juices off the throbbing shaft, trying to replace them with facefucked spit and drool.

"Oh, wow of wows~! This looks like so much of the fun~!" A familiar but momentarily out-of-place voice interrupted the vigorous intimacy.

Raven blinked, struggling to make her mind work and the gears within turn. She glanced at the voice and saw that Kori was now watching them, a fascinated look on her face that somehow made her look utterly lewd and wholesomely pure at the same time. Raven blinked again, her mind not quite catching up with what her eyes saw.

Kori…? And where… were they? All she saw were pink clouds of dreamy Desire as far as the eye could see.

"Hey, Kori," Sean grunted. "I didn't know you were going to be joining us tonight. It's a pleasant surprise."

He didn't stop facefucking the spit out of Passion for a moment as he spoke. The lewd degradation of her other half didn't help Raven think at all. She found herself very flustered and very, very confused by everything that was happening.

Kori skipped over to inspect the ongoing facefucking with clear interest and a carefree smile on her face, "I did not know Friend Raven was so of the kinky~! Two at once~? Impressive~!"

Raven felt her face grow hot as Kori's bouncing entrance did wonderful things to her glorious, gold-skinned, and very much nude body. Those burnished bronze nipples were in danger of putting someone's eye out. And Kori's abs were as unfair as ever. Especially when Raven could see the physical evidence of her best friend's arousal dripping like copious rivers down her inner thighs.

"Wha…? Is this…?" Raven muttered in a daze. "Oh, God, this is a dream…"

She seemed to be the only one surprised by that realization. Passion was too gone in her own little facefucked world to show anything other than worshipful love and pleasure. Kori seemed to take the 'all a dream' bit in stride as she usually did. And Sean just bucked his hips, wrapping Passion's lips around the hilt of his cock and holding her there as she suddenly came hands-free.

Infuriatingly casual (and infuriatingly sexy as he almost effortlessly made Raven's other half cum her brains out), Sean nodded, "Yeah. You didn't know?"

"…" Raven stared, internally inspecting the dreamscape. "It's a dream. But it's also practically real. And… shared? You and Kori are actually here. In my dream. In my mind."

"We are?" Kori cocked her head in surprise, her eyes lighting up with curiosity. "Show me how Friend Raven truly feels for me!"

"Don-!" It was already too late. "Dammit, Kori…"

Raven's feelings for Kori were pulled forth from her subconscious into the dreamscape before Kori's eyes. The unconditional love she'd come to hold for her best friend in her Heart. As well as the not-so-insignificant portion of attraction she kept hidden from her friend, teammate, and original sexy bi-awakening…

"Oh, Friend Raven~!" Kori exclaimed, glomping Raven as she tended to do. Only this time, her nude sinfully perfect body was free to rub hotly against Raven's. "I love you too! Come, come, see!"

Kori's own love was pulled from her Heart into Raven's dreamscape. Fueled by PASSION-FIRE — sheer, hot, and overwhelming. There was an attraction there as well. Kori thought all of her friends were beautiful, inside and out, but Raven especially. Tamareans didn't have the same hangups and biases as Earthlings about sexuality and Kori was downright EAGER to share her love.

"I'm growing quite fond of you both as well," Sean chuckled, holding a seemingly normal conversation while his cock was buried in Passion's throat.

His feelings were also brought to the fore. Not quite love — at least, not the same as what Kori and Raven shared as friends and teammates. But there was the beginning of something special there. And no shortage of admiration and attraction that left Raven blushing and hot between her thighs.

Passion was seemingly hit the hardest by Sean's shown feelings. She moaned, muffled and vibrating around Sean's cock. Her eyes fluttered dramatically and she came apart hands-free all over again.

"… Fuck," Raven croaked out a little, stunned, and aroused sound at feeling tangible evidence of Sean and Kori's feelings that she couldn't deny.

Kori loved her. And Sean… liked her? REALLY liked her… Was that supposed to make her feel so light? Raven felt like she could fly without her shadows at the moment. Like it would have been effortless to do so supported by those close to her.

In her dreamscape, the three of them bared their true faces to each other. Their feelings resonated as a triangle, bouncing off each other and growing as they each felt how sincere the others were. Kori's smile grew wider than Raven had ever seen it. Sean smirked lazily, utterly content with how things were progressing. And Raven felt her usual frozen expression thaw ever-so-slightly — the scars left behind by her self-imposed emotional chains fading.

Then the moment passed and the dream began to fade. DESIRES shared — confirmed, resolved, and expanded — the dream had served its purpose. Raven felt herself waking up. For a brief moment, she panicked.

"Wait, no-!"

Sean gave her a confident, soothing smile, "Until next time, girls. Maybe then, we'll be able to do this for real."

"Okay~! I will do the holding of you to that~!" Kori cheerfully chimed, still smiling as if everything was more than right with the world.

Raven's Passion knelt there beneath Sean, dazed and still suckling dutifully on his godly cock. She let out a little moan. Sean patted her almost patronizingly on the cheek. It was too much for Passion's overwhelmed mind. Her eyes rolled up in her head and the embodiment of Raven's Passion… passed out within the fading dream.

That was the final straw that broke the dreamscape's back. Raven blinked. Between one moment and the next, she woke up in her bed. As if nothing out of the norm had happened while she slept… Except for the now completely drenched sheets of her bed.

"Dammit…" Raven muttered to herself. "We're screwed…"

She barely had time to lament (and relish) her romantic situation before Kori flew into her room like a kid on Christmas morning, grinning just as widely as she was in the shared dreamscape. She'd flown through the hallway between the room exactly how she slept: naked. And she didn't seem to mind her lack of clothes one bit as she pounced on Raven and began gushing about their shared dream experience.

"So fucking screwed…" Raven sighed.

Outside of time and space, Desire giggled to themself like a fool, closely watching the happenings around their sister's Prince Consort with great entertainment. They hadn't had this much fun in literal ages~! Desire was enjoying themselves so much that even their least favorite sibling — Dream, the Moody Dick — barging into their realm didn't diminish their mood.

"Desire! What the absolute Hell! Did you hijack my domain?!"

There was only one thing to say to an angry overbearing dick of an Endless sibling… "Neh~!"

IIIII

Considering the most recent Endless meddling, I had to reconsider which of Didi's siblings I'd assumed was responsible. I found it very unlikely that Destiny and Dream would both be pulling strings — especially when it came to my love life. But there did so happen to be an Endless sibling who wholly concerned themself with just that.

Desire… made things tricky. They weren't well-known for their benevolence. But — in my case at least — they hadn't done anything I considered too far. No mental or emotional control. No unnecessary drama or tragic misunderstandings. Just a very light touch prodding DESIRES in the right direction and (I assumed) amused watchful eyes from a distance.

I could work with that. I'd still be talking to Didi about it. Any Endless sibling meddling deserved to be mentioned and I wasn't going to NOT communicate with my Didi. But I could work with that. This Dream-domain hijacking turned out for the best, at least. I had a feeling the Teen Titans would be showing up again tonight. And that I'd be getting a more personal visit from Raven and Kori at some point here as well.

I hummed to myself as the girls and I got the bar ready for tonight's opening. It was still an hour or so off but it was better to get these things done early. Especially when we had such good company to enjoy while we waited.

Barbara and Kara had swung by before we even opened. They'd both seemingly missed me, though Barbara would be hard-pressed to admit it. As she put it, she preferred having me where she could watch me. Otherwise, why, who KNOWS what I could get up to?!

Kara was much more pure in expressing how she'd missed me. Just a single pout and quivering lip from her and I caved like a bitch. A lucky, lucky bitch. I quickly made it my duty and pleasure to pacify and sate the adorably needy Kara.

Aside from Barbara and Kara, Harley and Ivy were an ever-present part of me and Didi's life. They'd fortunately been able to hand most of the day-to-day operations of Ivy's shop off to Freeze and Nora at this point. Even Grundy and Croc were there to lend a hand when needed. But that meant — to the horror of everything orderly and peaceful — they'd be able to spend a lot more time in the bar from now on…

"Hey, Gothboy, buckle the fuckle up-le~! We're giving back to the community tonight~!" Harley exclaimed, striking a pointing pose with a hand on her hip.

"Community service," I asked, raising a single eyebrow.

"Yeppp~!" Harley popped. "Red figured it's finally time you used your super special magical Death Consort powers or whatever to help her clean up Gotham a bit."

Ivy sighed beside her, elaborating, "More specifically, I thought you might be able to safely dispose of the toxic and disgusting chemicals that I've had to live with for as long as I can remember."

"Ah, that makes a bit more sense," I nodded slowly. "I suppose I don't mind helping. I'm always looking for fun new chemicals to brew into fun new drinks."

"You're going to brew Gotham's toxic chemical dumps and spills into alcohol…?" Barbara asked flatly.

"Did you really expect anything better from me?" I teased.

"No," Barbara replied dryly. "No, I really didn't."

"Can I come? I can use my supersenses to help you find stuff you might otherwise miss," Kara enthusiastically offered.

Ivy nodded, "That's very kind of you. You may. I feel that not enough people consider cleaning up the environment, even just locally. Especially heroes."

"Green Lantern could probably make cleaning up the planet look easy with that ring of his. It'd certainly be on brand for them but I don't think any of them have realized or even thought about it for more than a second," I commented casually.

"Grrr, that man…" Ivy glowered. "He gives 'green' a poor name."

"To be fair to the Green Lanterns, current and past, they have a whole sector beyond Earth to worry about," I said.

"Kal and I try to do what we can but there's only so much we can do," Kara added apologetically.

"Well, let's do what we can to fix that for Gotham, at least," I decided. "We'll have to be a bit quick about it. I want to get back in time to open the bar myself."

"Yippee~!" Harley cheered, grabbing Ivy's cheeks energetically and pulling this way and that in a comical manner. "Hear that, Red~? Geee~eeet happy~!"

Ivy gave Harley a flat stare as her face was played with like putty, "Pleesh shtop, Harrdley…"

"Hmm, that looks like fun~," I grinned wickedly, glancing at Kara.

"Meep~?!" Kara squeaked but it was already too late. "Waish Waish Waish~! Shtoooooopphh~!"

Still grinning, I played with her perfectly puffy, pouting cheeks, "This is strangely soothing."

She pouted at me even harder. I squeezed her cheeks like she was a floofy golden retriever. She couldn't even muster the vitriol to glare at me, cinnamon roll that she was. Kara just stood there and took it, crossing her arms and pouting fiercely at me.

"Dear," Didi sighed and intervened. "Please don't bulli our Kryptonian. No matter how cute she is like this."

Harley and I shared conspiratorial grins. Kara and Ivy were at our mercy. And truly adorable like this with their cheeks squished and played with. Still, I chuckled and obliged my Didi. When I let her go, Kara clutched at her cheeks as if I'd just violated her, blushing brightly.

"Meanie…"

"You too, Harley," Didi turned a stern glare onto the bullying jester. "Please don't bulli our Ivy."

Harley giggled but obeyed as well. Ivy — once free from the affectionate bullying — glared at her, "Gah… I'll get you back for that."

I had a small, honest smile on my face after recharging my batteries like that, "Alright, anyone else? Barbara? Do you wanna come clean up Gotham with us?"

Smirking at our antics, Barbara waved me off, "No, I'm good. I wouldn't be much help anyway. I think I'll just stay here with Didi and Alice. We'll just talk about you behind your back."

"Heh, with Dad? There'll be a lot to talk about," Alice snarked.

"I don't really mind," I shrugged. "Alright, girls, we're off. Do you want to ride with me, Ivy?"

"Yes. Yes, I think I do," Ivy said, pointedly turning her nose up at Harley.

Wrapping an arm around her waist, I led her out of the bar. From there, I led us into the sky, still walking as easily as one would across flat ground. Ivy shot me an impressed glance as we made gravity our bitch so casually. Harley followed us, cackling as Kara was left to carry her.

"Guess you're stuck with me, Farm-Girl~!"

"Meep~! Keep those hands to yourself, Missy!"

Our community service journey across Gotham continued casually after that. Thankfully, Harley did keep her hands to herself, turning her efforts to more verbal teasing and planting certain 'ideas' in Kara's innocent mind. I didn't try too hard to listen in but I did catch 'romantic picnic under the stars' at one point and the flustered squeak from Kara that followed.

Ivy and Kara helped point out places of pollution as we 'flew'. Mostly chemical spills and toxic chemical dumps. Ivy could surely feel every bit of pollution in the environment, even in a city as large as Gotham. Probably even more intimately in Gotham. The local environment was something of a proto-domain for her, every plant in the area heeding her beck and call.

The severity of the pollution left her in a somewhat grave mood. Her lips were set in a tight line, still beautiful but marred by her discomfort and outrage. I imagine that each spot of pollution we cleansed was akin to the relief of a long-standing ache for her. In a way, we were cleansing her as well with our actions.

She helped me during the cleansing process. I removed the pollutants, gathering them in a conceptual still for toxins and poisons to ferment. She did her part after, regrowing what should have been in the pollution's place. Kara helped where she could with the physical labor. And Harley… Harley helped with moral support.

"Woooo~! Slap that shit down and put it in its place~! Give 'em that ol' one, two, pollution boogaloo~! Say yes to drugs but no to pollution~!"

"Inspiring," I deadpanned. "Truly inspiring."

Kara frowned, "I don't think you should say yes to drugs either…"

"Ohohoh~…" Harley let out a menacing chuckle. "Oh, Farm-Girl, I have so much to introduce you to~."

"What's actually going to become of the pollutants in the end, Sean?" Ivy asked.

"They'll be taken and turned into something productive for me," I explained. "Honestly, this would have been a windfall back when I was just starting out on my cultivation. I think some of the toxic waste is even slightly magical in nature."

"Say, Gothboy?" Harley perked up with interest. "I'm curious. How does that whole 'cultivation' shit even work? I don't really see how finding inner peace or whatever should allow you to munch down on spent uranium rods."

I chuckled, "It works because cultivation is bullshit."

"Gee, thanks. That explains things," Harley snarked sarcastically.

"More than you probably realize," I nodded. "Cultivation is all about cultivating — go figure — the inner energy inside yourself. There are other aspects but that's it at the core of it. It's kind of like this: power is where everyone starts but not where everyone ends. After a certain level, there are things like concepts and Daos to think about — profound understandings to comprehend. They become much more important than pure power.

"But it all starts with purifying yourself and growing your Qi — your internal energy — the core and fuel of your immortal soul. As your internal energy grows, so too do you with it. Your existence becomes fundamentally MORE. MORE in relation to the world around you and MORE in relation to yourself.

"It's a hard concept to describe in any words other than MORE. There's the basic stuff. You grow stronger, tougher, and smarter. The energy you can wield grows exponentially with each stage. But there's also something beyond that. You think and comprehend more. You experience more. You ARE more.

"Reality itself even begins to respond to your presence and actions more. Starting out, a cultivator may smash boulders and rule over towns or cities. But that existence grows relative to their cultivation and reality itself. Eventually, they might smash stars in the same way and rule over galaxies.

"Most fall into the eternal pursuit of more strength, more energy, more cultivation. And that's understandable. It's relatively easy for a cultivator to ascend to the level of a lowercase 'g' god. But that's not the true end goal of cultivation. The Qi — cultivation itself — is only the first stepping stone. A cultivator's journey only ends when they reach true enlightenment. Finding your Dao — your way — and embodying it in all things."

The girls listened intently as I gave a very basic rundown on the foundation of cultivation. Just the very core of the subject. We likely could have spent years discussing it in more detail. However, I felt my brief lecture got across the general idea and the scale of cultivators.

The girls seemed to agree, judging by the looks on their faces. Mentioning that casual god-level power was relatively easy for a cultivator to grasp seemed to have done the trick. As did the little tidbit of MORE.

Harley's eyes were lit up wickedly with the possibilities. I could practically see her mind working, fantasizing about herself as a Star God tier cultivator. She was exactly the kind of person to throw galaxies around for a laugh.

Ivy, at least, seemed more considerate. She thought intently about what I'd said. I could already see her connecting dots in her mind and coming up with more questions. She seemed fascinated by cultivation on an intellectual level but not overly interested in it in practice.

It was something I'd absently noticed about this universe. There was a different culture to this reality — a reality-wide vibe check that wasn't passed if you will — that made cultivation not as widely appealing here as it was in one of its native realities. Qi and Ki existed in this reality — two sides of the same coin — but cultivators and cultivator culture were thankfully absent.

I didn't doubt that there were some monks or ancient Chinese powers that practiced something that I would recognize as cultivation. But it seemed exponentially less effective here. More like magic than the cultivation I knew. If it wasn't, the natives would have noticed long, long ago…

Kara's eyes were wide with shock. Poor girl didn't realize she was effortlessly doing the same thing as cultivators with just her natural physiology. In that previous cultivation world, she (and all Kryptonians in general) would have been valued beyond belief and reason for their ability to harness the sun for personal energy.

I said as much, "You know, Kara, Kryptonian physiology acts in a similar way. Only instead of pure Qi, you cultivate solar energy."

She jumped slightly, startled by the revelation, "W-We do…?"

"You do," I nodded. "It's not very important in the grand scheme of things but I might be able to wrestle up a few techniques to help you if you ever feel lacking in the power department."

A shocked and thoughtful expression appeared on Kara's face as she worried at her lip, "I think… I think I'm more than happy where I am now."

"The option's always open," I shrugged. "You know I'll never turn you away."

That made Kara smile brightly enough to blind, imitating the sun shockingly well, "I know."

"So cultivation is bullshit," Harley grumbled goodnaturedly. "Care to teach me that bullshit, Gothboy~?"

I shook my head, "It wouldn't have the same effectiveness here. You'd be better off having me teach you Ki-based martial arts than a method of gaining power that doesn't mesh with this reality."

"Sold~!" Harley grinned. "Gimme, gimme, gimme~! I wanna shoot Kamehameha lasers~!"

"That I can do," I chuckled. "But let me finish the story you prompted out of me first."

"Yes, I'm quite interested in your particular brand of this 'bullshit', Sean," Ivy agreed dryly.

"You're in luck then. My cultivation method in particular was very bullshit. I fueled my growth and power with the same impurities that other cultivators scorned and tried to rid themselves of. The Dao of the Drunken Fist was much more than it seemed at first glance."

"More than just drinking copious amounts of alcohol?" Kara asked, cocking her head like a golden retriever.

My lips twitched, "Something like that. I was basically doing the opposite of what a cultivator 'should' do. Elevating myself through worldly pleasures and impurities instead of ridding myself of them. I shouldn't even have gotten off the ground. But the Heavens seemed to like that I was carving my own path in opposition to them."

"So I drank to cultivate," I continued. "And I cultivated to drink. I grew my Qi and Self into something MORE. Until I was drinking soul-destroying poisons for the tiniest buzz and distilling demonic taint into corrupted booze rejected by reality itself."

"'Course," Harley nodded matter-of-factly. "Makes perfect sense."

"More sense than cultivating usually makes," I said. "At least I was constantly experiencing new highs and novelties instead of just locking myself in a cave for 100 years for 'closed cultivation'. That's honestly where the vast majority of cultivators go wrong. They focus so much on the power that they forget what the power is supposed to be used for."

"What do you mean?" Kara asked.

"Ah, that gets into some of the other aspects of cultivation," I explained sagely. "Most notably Daos and profound understandings. Most cultivators forget or never realize that they have to LIVE to grow. They have to experience new things and push themselves out of their comfort zones. They have to constantly confront their own beliefs, biases, and prejudices. To cultivate is to LIVE in its purest form. Once a cultivator stops living, they will inevitably hit a wall that they won't be able to overcome."

"Huh," Harley made a little noise of understanding. "Neat. So what was your Dao-thingy~?"

"It started as the Dao of the Drunken Fist. Something silly. Something intended to spite how serious all the other cultivators I encountered always were. It grew into something so much more…" I trailed off dramatically.

Ivy rolled her eyes, "Oh, just tell us, Sean."

I chuckled and obliged, "The Dao of the Drunken Fist became something more profound and all-encompassing as I grew past limit after limit, bottleneck after bottleneck. Refined, distilled, brewed much like the booze that fueled me."

The girls hung off my every word, my voice heavy with gravitas and eternally profound truths, "The Dao of Change. In one understanding, Change. Cause and Effect. Entropy. In another, Alteration of Self. Growth. In yet another… the ultimate Essence of Magic in all its many beautiful forms."

"Ooohhh~, Cool~!" Harley giggled giddily. "You made your voice all tingly with TRUTH~!"

"That…" Ivy said slowly, stunned. "Yes, I can see how that might drive you closer to true enlightenment."

"Ahhhhh…" Kara whimpered slightly, pouting at me in that specific way that never failed to pull at my heartstrings. "My brain kind of hurts now. Was that really necessary, Sean~…?"

"Sorry, Kara," I apologized before bouncing back with a grin. "But now you know what allows me to do something like… this."

With that and the girls still watching attentively, I brought my brewed booze of pollutants to my lips and drank it down deeply. As a conceptual still, it didn't look much like what one might expect from a traditional still. It was more like an expanded inner space superimposed upon reality that I could summon and control at will. Cracking it open like a cold one was well within my abilities.

The pollutants had been gathered and refined in a confined space, conceptually enhanced by the 'brewing' process until they could scour half the life from the entire planet. They smoked and smoldered as they reentered reality. The smell of pure conceptual toxic decay wafted from my lips as I drank.

The girls watched, gaping at me as I so casually gulped down decades of toxic pollution. Chemicals, radiation, plastics, and even old tainted magicks that had plagued Gotham since before they'd been born were swallowed down as if they were a mimosa at Sunday brunch. My brew even had a similar sort of refreshing tang to it. 6/10. Not enough conceptual power and potency but the complexity was nice.

Decades of pollution, flavored with nice hints of Death and Urban Decay, flowed down my throat. After drinking it all down, I smacked my lips together in satisfaction, exaggerating the motion for added effect, "Ahhhh~… That hit the spot."

There were a few long moments of silence as Harley, Ivy, and Kara simply stared at me. Then Harley broke the shock with a laugh that quickly had her doubled over in hilarity.

"Oh, holy shit~! That was GOOD, Gothboy~! How the Hell did you manage to keep a straight face through all of that~?"

"I must admit," Ivy nodded, slowly getting over her shock at me drinking what was essentially the anathema to her very being. "That was impressive. I'm impressed. Horrified and very nauseated. But impressed."

"You… That… Huh…?" Kara babbled momentarily before shaking herself and fixing me with an adorable glare. "Don't freaking do that, Sean! Even if you told us you could, you scared me there for a moment!"

Laughing, I mimed a bow, "Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all-… well, forever most likely. That was light work though, Kara. I can handle much, much more than a little pollution."

"'Little pollution' he says," Ivy sighed. "As if me and the environment don't feel better than we have in years…"

Smirking ever-so-slightly, I said, "C'mon, let's get back to the bar. I think that's enough good done for a single night."

Ivy stepped into my arms again, giving me a smoldering promise of a look, "Oh, yes~. I think you've done more than enough to earn a ~reward~, Sean… I'd like to ~personally~ thank you for what you've done to cleanse Gotham's environment — cleanse ME…"

"I might just take you up on that," I said, shooting her a wink and a lopsided smirk as I led her up into the air.

Kara scooped up Harley and followed, flying after us. Harley was still giggling to herself over my little stunt the entire way back to the Dead End. Ivy, meanwhile, made herself busy molding herself to my side, rubbing her sinfully smooth skin and sinfully soft curves onto me every chance she got. Which left Kara the only one really available to continue the conversation.

"Hey, Sean? If you were so powerful as a cultivator, how'd you die?" Kara asked innocently. She blushed as she realized how rude that could have sounded, "I-If you don't mind me asking, of course!"

"I don't," I confirmed with an unoffended shake of my head. "It's quite simple, really. I got bored."

"Bored...?"

"Bored. Of that reality, mostly. After reaching and surpassing the pinnacle of what cultivators considered the Heavens so many times, I came to feel as if I was stuck in an unproductive cycle. I was still growing but I wasn't really growing, if that makes any sense. So I gave it all up and voluntarily entered myself into Samsara. I didn't die so much as I simply… moved on from that existence."

"Huh… Do you… regret it?" Kara asked hesitantly, honest curiosity in her voice.

We landed and wandered back into the Dead End as she asked that. Back into my domain. My gaze flitted around, lingering on everything I'd built here and the trophies of my past on the wall. The Teen Titans had dropped by while we were out. They sat with Barbara, enjoying themselves as she tried to tease Damian and got bullied right back without fail.

My gaze lingered on Kori who smiled widely and waved enthusiastically when she saw me. On Raven, who stared at me with a look anyone else would have mistaken for a glare — one that I knew was hiding so much more.

I glanced at some unexpected guests for the night. Ciri had returned. And she'd brought friends. A ragtag bunch who somehow looked out of place and also seemed to fit in so naturally. They were guarded and wary but they trusted Ciri. Her obvious ease was enough for them to give the Dead End a chance.

A young man Ciri's age who fidgeted and twitched with unprocessed trauma, looking like he had to get used to his own skin all over again. A pastel-punk, futuristic, poster-perfect egirl who didn't even try to hide her love and open affection for the young man beside her. A little cyber-gremlin with a wild grin who was blatantly eye-fucking Cyborg — his augmentations, most likely — from across the bar to his obvious discomfort. And an older gentleman-type who looked torn between amusement and very done with everything, but was ultimately content to nurse a drink like a lifeline.

When I looked at them, I saw a team. A found family. And most importantly, new friends and new stories to be told. Ciri had brought them so I'd happily welcome all of them at the Dead End.

Finally, my eyes landed on Didi. My Didi. As usual, she seemed to know exactly what I was thinking. She gave me a warm smile, silently welcoming me back over our bonded connection. As she always would. My eternally wandering soul had found a home in Didi, in Death. And I wouldn't give her up for anything.

I glanced back at Kara and smiled softly, "Not for a second."