{ "submission_id": "3541533", "keywords": [ { "keyword_id": "8173", "keyword_name": "age progression", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "472" }, { "keyword_id": "554", "keyword_name": "alien", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "24239" }, { "keyword_id": "360", "keyword_name": "bird", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "38781" }, { "keyword_id": "288764", "keyword_name": "brain drain", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "267" }, { "keyword_id": "303", "keyword_name": "canine", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "195072" }, { "keyword_id": "17176", "keyword_name": "casino", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "378" }, { "keyword_id": "7708", "keyword_name": "cigar", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "917" }, { "keyword_id": "851", "keyword_name": "city", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "7296" }, { "keyword_id": "16726", "keyword_name": "drone", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "2621" }, { "keyword_id": "552304", "keyword_name": "ego death", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "11" }, { "keyword_id": "1239", "keyword_name": "ferret", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "10785" }, { "keyword_id": "1440", "keyword_name": "human", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "109982" }, { "keyword_id": "1632", "keyword_name": "hypno", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "4386" }, { "keyword_id": "1631", "keyword_name": "hypnosis", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "16557" }, { "keyword_id": "161279", "keyword_name": "inflitration", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1" }, { "keyword_id": "354390", "keyword_name": "iq drain", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "20" }, { "keyword_id": "10943", "keyword_name": "kobold", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "12363" }, { "keyword_id": "819", "keyword_name": "lizard", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "24832" }, { "keyword_id": "1633", "keyword_name": "mind", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1790" }, { "keyword_id": "837", "keyword_name": "monster", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "25916" }, { "keyword_id": "6053", "keyword_name": "musk", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "10611" }, { "keyword_id": "86", "keyword_name": "orgy", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "12595" }, { "keyword_id": "526", "keyword_name": "panda", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "18856" }, { "keyword_id": "2972", "keyword_name": "peacock", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1492" }, { "keyword_id": "9146", "keyword_name": "preview", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "2081" }, { "keyword_id": "1025", "keyword_name": "raptor", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "5687" }, { "keyword_id": "10", "keyword_name": "red", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "17444" }, { "keyword_id": "2355", "keyword_name": "secret", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1257" }, { "keyword_id": "1549", "keyword_name": "smoke", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "3108" }, { "keyword_id": "1170", "keyword_name": "snake", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "18726" }, { "keyword_id": "5653", "keyword_name": "spy", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1167" }, { "keyword_id": "2686", "keyword_name": "superhero", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "4259" }, { "keyword_id": "576", "keyword_name": "wah", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "980" } ], "hidden": "f", "scraps": "f", "favorite": "f", "favorites_count": "5", "create_datetime": "2025-02-04 14:49:08.96429+00", "create_datetime_usertime": "04 Feb 2025 15:49 CET", "last_file_update_datetime": "2025-02-04 14:49:04.468398+00", "last_file_update_datetime_usertime": "04 Feb 2025 15:49 CET", "username": "leembeam", "user_id": "867676", "user_icon_file_name": "217600_leembeam_comm-leem-square.gif", "user_icon_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/large/217/217600_leembeam_comm-leem-square.gif", "user_icon_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/medium/217/217600_leembeam_comm-leem-square.gif", "user_icon_url_small": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/small/217/217600_leembeam_comm-leem-square.gif", "file_name": "5421620_leembeam_the_bird_always_wins_prologue_and_chapter_1.doc", "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/5421/5421620_leembeam_the_bird_always_wins_prologue_and_chapter_1.doc", "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/5421/5421620_leembeam_the_bird_always_wins_prologue_and_chapter_1.doc", "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/5421/5421620_leembeam_the_bird_always_wins_prologue_and_chapter_1.doc", "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/5421/5421620_leembeam_the_bird_always_wins_prologue_and_chapter_1.jpg", "thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/5421/5421620_leembeam_the_bird_always_wins_prologue_and_chapter_1.jpg", "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/5421/5421620_leembeam_the_bird_always_wins_prologue_and_chapter_1.jpg", "thumb_huge_x": "300", "thumb_huge_y": "300", "thumb_large_x": "200", "thumb_large_y": "200", "thumb_medium_x": "120", "thumb_medium_y": "120", "files": [ { "file_id": "5421620", "file_name": "5421620_leembeam_the_bird_always_wins_prologue_and_chapter_1.doc", "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/5421/5421620_leembeam_the_bird_always_wins_prologue_and_chapter_1.doc", "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/5421/5421620_leembeam_the_bird_always_wins_prologue_and_chapter_1.doc", "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/5421/5421620_leembeam_the_bird_always_wins_prologue_and_chapter_1.doc", "mimetype": "application/msword", "submission_id": "3541533", "user_id": "867676", "submission_file_order": "0", "full_size_x": null, "full_size_y": null, "screen_size_x": null, "screen_size_y": null, "preview_size_x": null, "preview_size_y": null, "initial_file_md5": "c6534e6581e67effa84a4b8b5d5d6ce9", "full_file_md5": "c6534e6581e67effa84a4b8b5d5d6ce9", "large_file_md5": "", "small_file_md5": "", "thumbnail_md5": "42060341c5b8eb534110adc07f812b15", "deleted": "f", "create_datetime": "2025-02-04 14:49:04.468398+00", "create_datetime_usertime": "04 Feb 2025 15:49 CET", "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/5421/5421620_leembeam_the_bird_always_wins_prologue_and_chapter_1.jpg", "thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/5421/5421620_leembeam_the_bird_always_wins_prologue_and_chapter_1.jpg", "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/5421/5421620_leembeam_the_bird_always_wins_prologue_and_chapter_1.jpg", "thumb_huge_x": "300", "thumb_huge_y": "300", "thumb_large_x": "200", "thumb_large_y": "200", "thumb_medium_x": "120", "thumb_medium_y": "120" } ], "pools": [], "description": "[i]PROLOGUE\n[/i]Welcome to Sterlingsburg, Hypnosis Capital of the Known World.\n\nCHAPTER 1 \nMeet the Team, as their infiltration begins...\n\n\n\nFinally, it's time to share this massive novella...!\nIf you want to read Chapter 2, in which Grassroot tries to win it big and loses a lot of braincells, you can become a [url=https://subscribestar.adult/limewah]Subscribestar subscriber[/url] to read it right now! \nNot sure what to expect? Take note of the tags...~\n\n[url=http://www.postybirb.com]Posted using PostyBirb[/url]", "description_bbcode_parsed": "PROLOGUE
Welcome to Sterlingsburg, Hypnosis Capital of the Known World.

CHAPTER 1
Meet the Team, as their infiltration begins...



Finally, it's time to share this massive novella...!
If you want to read Chapter 2, in which Grassroot tries to win it big and loses a lot of braincells, you can become a Subscribestar subscriber to read it right now!
Not sure what to expect? Take note of the tags...~

Posted using PostyBirb", "writing": "Sterlingsburg's reputation is a decidedly unique one. It has a higher concentration of hypnotists and mind-controllers than any other city in the world. A combination of that, plus its local goverment's relative permissiveness of its seedier elements, makes it a very tantalising place for a specific flavour of person. \n\nWhether one is a budding hypnotist or minor megalomaniac seeking to control minds for fun or profit, it's a no-brainer to at least try their luck at the Hypnosis Capital of the known world.\n\nHow this inland city got said reputation is still the subject of speculation, and there's a theory for every type of person.\n\nSomeone with an interest in spirituality and the occult might subscribe to the belief that the city was built on ancient grounds, a powerful inflection point for the world's leylines where witches and warlocks met to bind the minds of lesser folk to their eldritch whims. \n\nMore modern conspiracists tend to think that Sterlinsburg is a site for some secret government experiments, either in the past or ongoing, around mind control and suggestibility, and the lingering effects from that were what made its denizens so susceptible to coercion and conditioning.\n\nSomeone who subscribes to Occam's Razor, on the other hand, might ascribe it to that old axiom, `if you build it, they will come' - and come they have.\n\nAlmost every city block has at least several mind-control related establishments. A bawdy hypnosis stage show here, a sweaty `transcendent' yoga studio there... and of course, clubs. \n\nSO many clubs, of all shapes and sizes, catering to all types of clientele. One would never be lost for something to do, as long as they went into any building with the understanding that one might not leave with all their brain cells and willpower intact... assuming they left at all.\n\nMany stag or hen nights have gone awry in some memorable(or amnesia inducing) ways.\n\nBut how, might you ask, is all of this debauchery allowed? And why?\n\nThere certainly aren't any `evil hypnotic lair' zoning licences to speak of, and surely having a host of innocent people under a spell and hopelessly devoted to your villainous, hedonistic desires had to be breaking numerous laws, regardless of whether one's hypnotic style was something cosy and maternal(Like the Principal of the Mind Montessori) or domineering and sadistic(like... basically everyone with access to a dungeon and a hypnotic focus).\n\nThe answer is simple; plenty of loopholes. Consent forms are a popular prophylactic, particularly for those drunken out-of-towners who would be a bit too pissed to realise how deep the rabbit hole could take them. Also, there's a sort of soft limit to how long one could be kept under a spell `unwillingly'; most hypnotists practice, a very ethical `catch-and-release' system, letting their subjects go after a few days; they'd emerge dizzy, perhaps a little sore, but never traumatised. Then it would be up to those former slaves if they wanted to come back for seconds, or go shopping for someone else to dominate their mind.\n\nIt also helped that the hypnotists and mind-controllers paid their taxes on time.\n\nAs long as you didn't fuck with the locals, the money, or your fellow hypnotists too much, you could brainwash to your heart's content.\n\nThat last one's a particularly important one. Competition is all well and good, but territorial disputes are very much frowned upon. Aside from the odd seductive skirmish here and there, the corruptive capos of the city gave each other space. \n\nThe Pavo Royale's slow, stealthy takeover plot was devious in its subtlety. \n\nThe occult bookshops with their witchy hideaways were the first to be bought up through a matryoshka doll of holding companies, and their stock promptly cleared out and replaced with cards, incense, and charms with a very particular red and yellow rosette branding, resembling the many burning eyes on the Pavo Peacock's Plumage.\n\nNext were the yoga studios and gyms. Rather than being suffused with steam and sweat, they took on a far smokier aroma. The clientele either became more ludicrously swole than before, or they turned softer, more decadent. All of them wore bloodshot gazes and dreamy smiles, even the ones who were ostensibly in charge, and all of their profits began to be funneled towards the Pavo.\n\nThen Club Samhain fell.\n\nWell, `fell' was perhaps a strong word, the building wasn't invaded per se... though when the first cigar chomping boar was allowed in and not turfed out, it wasn't long before more equally burly types joined them night after night. \n\nWhen they entered, no one inside the club at the time. Then the cool teal interior turned darker, redder, and the folksy fae aesthetic turned harsh and seedy. Until eventually, the facade was replaced entirely, changed out for a neon sign that simply read `Sammy's Pub'.\n\nMadame Maeve, the silky weasel witch who owned the place, vanished off the face of the earth around the same time. When she re-emerged into the public eye weeks later, Scarcely recognizable. She had become almost grotesquely voluptuous - her red fur bleached blonde, with red lips almost as pronounced as her new tits and ass, and not a hint of the seductive hibernian lilt her voice once possessed.\n\n``Like, what?'' was about the only two words the hourglass bimbo ever said; that vapid question always followed up with a brainless giggle. She was hanging off the shoulder of some low level lieutenant for the Pavo Royale - a big bellied rat with a laugh like a backfiring car, and a paw that never strayed far from a possessive clamp on the back of her neck. \n\nShe didn't even have the dignity of being arm candy for the Pavo Royale's boss. She was Sammy's squeeze and no one else's.\n\nMore establishments have fallen since, with greater momentum, their proprietors turned into very public examples of what fate awaits the rest of them.\n\nWorst of all...\n\nThe Pavo was under-declaring its income for 3 years running.\n\nThe city council, seeing the writing on the wall - and the threat to what fragile power they have - put out a call for help.\n\nThe Vigilant Vanguard, as always, heeded that call.\n\nTHE BIRD ALWAYS WINS\n\nBy Limewah\n\nFeaturing characters created by:\n\nGerrark\n\nFlarfenarfle\n\nVel'gahrus\n\nInu_shift\n\nSuadero\n\nPasserby\n\n18+ only\n\nCHAPTER 1 - THE TEAM\n\nThe usual late-evening rush was in full swing in Sterlingsburg; it was a friday night, which meant the trams and trains were packed with pre-drinkers and partygoers, and the streets were rammed with taxis.\n\nEveryone was headed somewhere. A nebbish raccoon was on his way to his favourite bar, not remembering how the handsome grey-furred wolf who owned the place was tempting him back again and again with demonic charms. A bright pink rabbit dressed in a stage hypnotist's attire was cursing as she wove through the crowds on a unicycle, bending and slithering in the ways only a toon could. A chorus of drums and cymbals from a small crowd of monks clad in colourful burlap and tinkling chimes were gradually bringing more and more passersby to join in their revelry towards their little temple.\n\nAll these little hypnotic adventures would play out independently of one another, making this city a melting pot of mind-melters and mind-meltees.\n\nAmongst the many black cabs (some of whom had some built in light-shows to ensure better tips or to tempt someone towards a particular club), there was a mid-sized van, the type that would usually be used for a small bachelorette party. Lights were flashing inside it too, giving the appearance of pre-drinks being well underway.\n\nThat was not exactly what was occurring on the inside; the true occupants were hidden thanks to Geek-Gecko's work.\n\nIt was quiet inside the main compartment of the van. An arena of cushioned seats surrounded a large table bolted down right in the centre, with deep recessed cylinders in each for holding drinks. \n\nThe snake with scales the colour of jungle vines was the most dressed-up for the night's mission. He was man-spreading as much as his crisp grey slacks would allow, with his long tail drizzled along the floor of the van. He was checking his reflection in the window, making sure his lavender dress shirt and grey vest were just-so. He was dressed to kill, and to win a fortune.\n\nThe stocky red panda, clad in black garb and the domino mask of a cat burglar, had their seatbelt buckled and was sitting politely and quietly. Every so often, their body seemed to flicker out of sight, like the flickering artifact of a badly-programmed animation. When Lux got nervous, they tended to play around with their light-bending powers as a way to stim. It helped them keep their attention on what the final person in the van had to say.\n\nThe lavender-scaled lizard, clad in a sheer bodysuit that was gleaming with little rivulets and veins of pulsating green, was scurrying and pacing around the floor plan laid out on the main table. The eyepiece over his left eye poured a cascading waterfall of text that would have been too fast for anyone but him to read. Geek-Gecko scanning the map and committing it to memory even as his claw jabbed and poked at the individual rooms. \n\n``This route will give us access to the security offices,'' he said. ``Most of the cameras are more focused around the vaults and the penthouse; I think he probably expects people to break in to steal his stuff, not to investigate him. Now, this other vent on the east side will...''\n\n``Give it a rest, Geek,'' Grassroot said. ``The plan's simple. Get in, take down the boss, get out. Couldn't be simpler. In fact, I'd say I'll charm the pants off that bird before the night is through. He'll spill the beans for me. You two can probably take a back-seat... well, more of a back-seat.''\n\nThe kobold shot the red panda with an exhausted look. The panda shrugged apologetically, as if they were somehow responsible for the team configuration.\n\n``We're nearly there!'' the driver called out from the front. ``You said you were picking up another friend, yeah?''\n\n``...Friend isn't exactly how I'd put it.'' Lux said.\n\n``So what is your history with this contact of yours?'' Grassroot asked. The panda looked a little paler.\n\n``Uh... a few near-misses, both here and elsewhere. She's kind of a mercenary for hire, though they usually pay her in meat n' fatty foods...''\n\nThe car came to a very gentle halt.\n\n``So, who're we looking out for?'' The voice from the front called.\n\n``Don't worry, she'll come to us...'' Lux said. ``I think.''\n\nThe van was idling on a side street in a quieter part of town, but one that was still fairly bustling. The muskrat in the front seat clutched his wheel a little nervously, glancing around at the pedestrians, looking for the final passenger.\n\nHe wasn't going to spot her. After all, she was coming up from beneath, emerging from a manhole cover just beneath the suspension.\n\nThunk.\n\nA thick, shining spike of orange, bladed bone shot up through the middle of the table, and right through the centre of the map.\n\n``GAH!'' \n\nGeek-Gecko practically shed a layer of skin as he leapt back, and Lux's fur puffed themup to twice their usual size. Grassroot's man-spread turned to an emasculated thigh-squeeze.\n\nThe sharp claw pulled and twisted, slicing through the thick alloy as if it were butter, and Kryk pulled herself up through the hole she made, shimmying in on her belly before rearing up to her full, lithe height. She took up a huge chunk of the space, being at least twice the size of the rest of the team combined. As a result, she was hunched forward, shoulders down, head scraping against the ceiling. \n\nHer skin was dark, blotched with crimson rosettes that matched her matted crimson hair. Her eyes were piercing blue sapphire, and they scanned down, relishing in the mutual fear of the three squishy heroes.\n\n``Heeey~'' she said, her tone almost girlish, as she wiggled those mango-coloured claws at them.\n\n``What was that?'' The driver called from the front.\n\n``Don't worry about it!'' Grassroot called out. ``We'll pay for the damage, let's just drive...''\n\nThe open manhole cover beneath the hole Kryk had made disappeared as the car took off once more. There was a harsh scraping sound as the suspension brushed against the road, before it righted itself.\n\nThe enormous raptor laid herself along one of the benches like a reclining cat, and the minibus sagged to that side.\n\n``Thanks for the pick-up,'' she said, picking at her teeth with a long, gut-unseaming claw.\n\n``Hi, Kryk...'' Lux stammered, now somewhat translucent.\n\n``N-now remember,'' Grassroot said, still angling his serpentine body away from Kryk, ``Don't go peeling off from the rest of us. If you start carving people up, that's going to look bad for us.''\n\n``I don't do any carving,'' she said. ``Not fleshy things like you, anyway. Not anymore. S'boring. When something dies it's no longer any fun to play with.''\n\nKryk was now scraping some scribbled lines and swirls into the nearest window of the van. The scraping sound was making Geek-Gecko visibly flinch. \n\n``Keep that up and the car's gonna be a write-off,'' he muttered.\n\n``Huh? What's that?'' \n\n``Nothing,'' Geek-Gecko said quickly. \n\nKryk crossed one leg over the other, curling her raptor talons inwards as if to beckon someone to push their face in and be embraced by the claws. She was very pointedly aiming them in Lux's direction, and Lux flickered until they were gone from view.\n\n``You know I can see your body heat... n' smell you too, right?''\n\nKryk winked in Lux's direction, her sapphire tongue briefly flitting out from between her jaws. Grassroot noticed the look.\n\n``Ohh... Lux, did you suggest bringing her on because you caught feelings~?''\n\n``SO,'' Lux's disembodied voice practically shouted. ``Should we get Kryk up to speed with the plan?''\n\n``Alright...'' Geek-Gecko moved back to the map, carefully smoothing it out and trying to hold the sheared bits together. The other three sets of eyes finally were giving him their undivided attention.\n\nGrassroot is going to go in through the front door, mingle, and gamble. You'll probably get recognized pretty quick, so make it count. Make sure to aim high and win big; you want all eyes on you, right?\n\n``And some careful application of my hypnotism might give us a few insiders...''\n\n``I wouldn't take that risk if I were you,'' Geek-Gecko said. ``Gerrark's probably got his hooks deep in the staff. I don't think one little burst of swirly eyes is going to break his hold over any of them.''\n\n``You'd be surprised,'' Grassroots said.\n\n``Oh yeah?'' Kryk piped up, shifting to loom over the snake. ``Do me, then! Do me!''\n\n``Heh, yeah, I bet it wouldn't take long...'' Grassroot periscoped his head upwards towards her, and his green eyes turned a rippling red, twin whirlpools that were one of Grassroot's signature moves.\n\nKryk grinned back at him, though there was a very slight relaxation to her wide, tight smile.\n\n``You'd do pretty good here, snakey,'' she said. ``With a pair of eyes like... those...''\n\nHer pupils were beginning to swirl, changing from dark to crimson...\n\nGrassroot grinned, his head tilting to one side. \n\n``Your vision's based on movement, right? Like a dino's? Which means you're already well wired to take in the pretty shapes, and welcome them into that mind...''\n\n``Uh-huh,'' Kryk nodded, her smile slackening an almost imperceptible amount. ``Maybe if you kept this up for another twenty minutes, I'd start to feel something~''\n\n``Can't this wait?!'' Geek-Gecko snapped, jostling the pair out of their moment. ``We're almost there!''\n\nKryk tutted and leaned back, pushing Grassroot's head back down to his normal level.\n\n``Not bad, snakey... cute trick. you weren't gonna get me, though.''\n\n``I saw a little twitch in there,'' Grassroot said with a smirk. ``You were just on the cusp...''\n\n``You're not gettin' too jealous over there, are ya fluffball?'' Kryk looked to Lux - the panda's meek head had rematerialised, and they were grimacing, not to mention blushing.\n\n``Now, as I was saying,'' Geek-Gecko said, looking back at the shredded map. ``The Pavo Royale has its own plumbing setup, separate from the rest of the city. He's got a miniature hydroelectric plant powering the whole place. \n\n``How Gerrark swung that, I don't know. But we don't have it mapped out. Kryk, you're going to scout things out down there, and find a way in for Lux and me.''\n\n``Am I goin' alone?'' Kryk asked.\n\n``No, we'll be close behind,'' Geek-Gecko said.\n\n``Good, Lux won't have to be alone with me... they'd hate that.''\n\nLux coughed. \n\n``Once we're in,'' Geek-Gecko continued, ``I'm going to send in a drone to find the security office, check in on Grassroot, and see if we can disrupt things a bit. He's probably more prepared for someone raiding the casino vaults than someone trying to get into his penthouse. The security should be a li'l lighter. And Lux should be able to pass through unnoticed.''\n\n``And once I know I've got a clear path in,'' Lux said, ``I'll get up to the penthouse and snoop around. Is that about right?''\n\n``And if anything goes wrong?'' Grassroot said. ``If one of you messes up, what's my way out?''\n\n``Well... you can just walk out the door, or trance your way out. I'll set off an EMP. Lux can sneak out. And Kryk... you can, uh...''\n\n``Smash and Slice?'' the raptor grinned, relishing in the horrified looks on their faces. ``Nooo, don't worry, I'll be good. Ish.''\n\n``What if one of us gets brainwashed?'' Lux piped up. Kryk and Grassroot both scoffed, as if the idea was ludicrous.\n\n``Well... I guess you'll just have to get rescued by the next team.'' Geek-Gecko shrugged.\n\nNot even he found that answer satisfactory.\n\nIt was a going concern for all of them, one that left them in silence for a few minutes. Save for Kryk's bored whistling and scratching.\n\n``We're here...'' Lux said, looking out the window.\n\nThe brightly flashing obelisk loomed up over them, ten stories high and crowned with that bright orange eye, like a dark lord's tower. The whole block was bathed in the glow of the warm neon, and there already were punters filtering in, ready to lose their wallets... and presumably, their minds too. \n\n``Dropping ya all here?'' the driver called out.\n\n``No, just one of us!'' Lux said. \n\nGrassroot already had his hand on the sliding door of the van. He gave the crew a wink, and stepped out, striding his way towards the glowing entrance of the casino without a glance over his shoulder.\n\n``You can take the rest of us a little further, around the side!''\n\n``Sure thing, boss!'' the driver said.\n\nThe van drove on a bit further, and Geek-Gecko took one long last scanning look at the map. He poked a small dot off to the east side, close to where the car currently was. `Sewer' was scribbled next to it.\n\n``We're heading in here.''\n\nThe remaining three lost sight of the city as the van trundled into a dark side street, and came to a stop. Kryk wasted no time slithering out the massive hole she came from and disappearing into the dark. Lux hopped out and went to the driver-side window. \n\n``Thanks again for this, you've been a great help!''\n\nThe driver looked down at Lux, with stony professionalism.\n\nThe muskrat didn't look suspicious of them, per se, but Lux couldn't help but feel like something was off about him. Where had the Vigil found this guy...? They must have vetted him... \n\n``Here you go,'' Lux said, handing him a rather sizable wad of cash. ``And you can invoice the Vigil for the, uh... damage.''\n\n``What damage?''\n\n``Uhm... don't worry about it.''\n\nThe driver just shrugged his shoulders, more interested in counting the money. ``You have a good night, now.''\n\nHe didn't even put his hands on the wheel straight away when he pushed on the gas. The car slid backwards and turned back into the street, before zooming off with a sputtering cough.\n\nLux watched him go. \n\n``Kryk?'' Geek-Gecko glanced around, until he spotted the magenta glow of the raptor-woman's spots. He gestured to the nondescript manhole cover nestled away in that alley; most people wouldn't have even noticed it even if they were pissing on it; which, judging by the smell of this alley, plenty of people had.\n\n``Here's our entrance. You can lead the way.''\n\n``Gladly~'' Kryk lilted. She grabbed the manhole cover and yanked it free like she was twisting the top off a drink-bottle, before flinging it aside. Lux ducked out of the way as the cover embedded itself like a chakram in the brick wall behind them.\n\n``C-could you not?'' Lux said, though they glanced again in the direction of their driver.\n\n``Something the matter?'' Geek-Gecko asked. \n\n``Nah, just...'' Lux shrugged. ``I'm just paranoid.''\n\nThe van stopped barely a block away. The money had already been discarded into the wheel well; the driver had stopped counting once they were out of view of the staff. \n\nThe driver took his phone up, and his thumb typed briskly.\n\nThe Dropoff has been completed, Boss. \n\nIt did not need to wait for a response.\n\nThe muskrat form was gone before it even stepped out of the car, leaving it abandoned for someone to rifle through and strike it rich.\n\nIt made its way briskly through the shadows, back towards the casino.\n\nIt had more work to do.\n\n``Right.'' Geek-Gecko nodded. He tapped gently on the small device nestled just in his ear. ``Grassroot, do you hear me?''\n\nTo read Chapter 2 now, become a subscriber! HYPERLINK \"https://subscribestar.adult/limewah\" https://subscribestar.adult/limewah \n\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Sterlingsburg's reputation is a decidedly unique one. It has a higher concentration of hypnotists and mind-controllers than any other city in the world. A combination of that, plus its local goverment's relative permissiveness of its seedier elements, makes it a very tantalising place for a specific flavour of person.

Whether one is a budding hypnotist or minor megalomaniac seeking to control minds for fun or profit, it's a no-brainer to at least try their luck at the Hypnosis Capital of the known world.

How this inland city got said reputation is still the subject of speculation, and there's a theory for every type of person.

Someone with an interest in spirituality and the occult might subscribe to the belief that the city was built on ancient grounds, a powerful inflection point for the world's leylines where witches and warlocks met to bind the minds of lesser folk to their eldritch whims.

More modern conspiracists tend to think that Sterlinsburg is a site for some secret government experiments, either in the past or ongoing, around mind control and suggestibility, and the lingering effects from that were what made its denizens so susceptible to coercion and conditioning.

Someone who subscribes to Occam's Razor, on the other hand, might ascribe it to that old axiom, `if you build it, they will come' - and come they have.

Almost every city block has at least several mind-control related establishments. A bawdy hypnosis stage show here, a sweaty `transcendent' yoga studio there... and of course, clubs.

SO many clubs, of all shapes and sizes, catering to all types of clientele. One would never be lost for something to do, as long as they went into any building with the understanding that one might not leave with all their brain cells and willpower intact... assuming they left at all.

Many stag or hen nights have gone awry in some memorable(or amnesia inducing) ways.

But how, might you ask, is all of this debauchery allowed? And why?

There certainly aren't any `evil hypnotic lair' zoning licences to speak of, and surely having a host of innocent people under a spell and hopelessly devoted to your villainous, hedonistic desires had to be breaking numerous laws, regardless of whether one's hypnotic style was something cosy and maternal(Like the Principal of the Mind Montessori) or domineering and sadistic(like... basically everyone with access to a dungeon and a hypnotic focus).

The answer is simple; plenty of loopholes. Consent forms are a popular prophylactic, particularly for those drunken out-of-towners who would be a bit too pissed to realise how deep the rabbit hole could take them. Also, there's a sort of soft limit to how long one could be kept under a spell `unwillingly'; most hypnotists practice, a very ethical `catch-and-release' system, letting their subjects go after a few days; they'd emerge dizzy, perhaps a little sore, but never traumatised. Then it would be up to those former slaves if they wanted to come back for seconds, or go shopping for someone else to dominate their mind.

It also helped that the hypnotists and mind-controllers paid their taxes on time.

As long as you didn't fuck with the locals, the money, or your fellow hypnotists too much, you could brainwash to your heart's content.

That last one's a particularly important one. Competition is all well and good, but territorial disputes are very much frowned upon. Aside from the odd seductive skirmish here and there, the corruptive capos of the city gave each other space.

The Pavo Royale's slow, stealthy takeover plot was devious in its subtlety.

The occult bookshops with their witchy hideaways were the first to be bought up through a matryoshka doll of holding companies, and their stock promptly cleared out and replaced with cards, incense, and charms with a very particular red and yellow rosette branding, resembling the many burning eyes on the Pavo Peacock's Plumage.

Next were the yoga studios and gyms. Rather than being suffused with steam and sweat, they took on a far smokier aroma. The clientele either became more ludicrously swole than before, or they turned softer, more decadent. All of them wore bloodshot gazes and dreamy smiles, even the ones who were ostensibly in charge, and all of their profits began to be funneled towards the Pavo.

Then Club Samhain fell.

Well, `fell' was perhaps a strong word, the building wasn't invaded per se... though when the first cigar chomping boar was allowed in and not turfed out, it wasn't long before more equally burly types joined them night after night.

When they entered, no one inside the club at the time. Then the cool teal interior turned darker, redder, and the folksy fae aesthetic turned harsh and seedy. Until eventually, the facade was replaced entirely, changed out for a neon sign that simply read `Sammy's Pub'.

Madame Maeve, the silky weasel witch who owned the place, vanished off the face of the earth around the same time. When she re-emerged into the public eye weeks later, Scarcely recognizable.  She had become almost grotesquely voluptuous - her red fur bleached blonde, with red lips almost as pronounced as her new tits and ass, and not a hint of the seductive hibernian lilt her voice once possessed.

``Like, what?'' was about the only two words the hourglass bimbo ever said; that vapid question always followed up with a brainless giggle.  She was hanging off the shoulder of some low level lieutenant for the Pavo Royale - a big bellied rat with a laugh like a backfiring car, and a paw that never strayed far from a possessive clamp on the back of her neck.

She didn't even have the dignity of being arm candy for the Pavo Royale's boss. She was Sammy's squeeze and no one else's.

More establishments have fallen since, with greater momentum, their proprietors turned into very public examples of what fate awaits the rest of them.

Worst of all...

The Pavo was under-declaring its income for 3 years running.

The city council, seeing the writing on the wall - and the threat to what fragile power they have - put out a call for help.

The Vigilant Vanguard, as always, heeded that call.

THE BIRD ALWAYS WINS

By Limewah

Featuring characters created by:

Gerrark

Flarfenarfle

Vel'gahrus

Inu_shift

Suadero

Passerby

18+ only

CHAPTER 1 - THE TEAM

The usual late-evening rush was in full swing in Sterlingsburg; it was a friday night, which meant the trams and trains were packed with pre-drinkers and partygoers, and the streets were rammed with taxis.

Everyone was headed somewhere. A nebbish raccoon was on his way to his favourite bar, not remembering how the handsome grey-furred wolf who owned the place was tempting him back again and again with demonic charms. A bright pink rabbit dressed in a stage hypnotist's attire was cursing as she wove through the crowds on a unicycle, bending and slithering in the ways only a toon could. A chorus of drums and cymbals from a small crowd of monks clad in colourful burlap and tinkling chimes were gradually bringing more and more passersby to join in their revelry towards their little temple.

All these little hypnotic adventures would play out independently of one another, making this city a melting pot of mind-melters and mind-meltees.

Amongst the many black cabs (some of whom had some built in light-shows to ensure better tips or to tempt someone towards a particular club), there was a mid-sized van, the type that would usually be used for a small bachelorette party. Lights were flashing inside it too, giving the appearance of pre-drinks being well underway.

That was not exactly what was occurring on the inside; the true occupants were hidden thanks to Geek-Gecko's work.

It was quiet inside the main compartment of the van. An arena of cushioned seats surrounded a large table bolted down right in the centre, with deep recessed cylinders in each for holding drinks.

The snake with scales the colour of jungle vines was the most dressed-up for the night's mission. He was man-spreading as much as his crisp grey slacks would allow, with his long tail drizzled along the floor of the van. He was checking his reflection in the window, making sure his lavender dress shirt and grey vest were just-so. He was dressed to kill, and to win a fortune.

The stocky red panda, clad in black garb and the domino mask of a cat burglar, had their seatbelt buckled and was sitting politely and quietly. Every so often, their body seemed to flicker out of sight, like the flickering artifact of a badly-programmed animation. When Lux got nervous, they tended to play around with their light-bending powers as a way to stim. It helped them keep their attention on what the final person in the van had to say.

The lavender-scaled lizard, clad in a sheer bodysuit that was gleaming with little rivulets and veins of pulsating green, was scurrying and pacing around the floor plan laid out on the main table. The eyepiece over his left eye poured a cascading waterfall of text that would have been too fast for anyone but him to read. Geek-Gecko scanning the map and committing it to memory even as his claw jabbed and poked at the individual rooms.

``This route will give us access to the security offices,'' he said. ``Most of the cameras are more focused around the vaults and the penthouse; I think he probably expects people to break in to steal his stuff, not to investigate him. Now, this other vent on the east side will...''

``Give it a rest, Geek,'' Grassroot said. ``The plan's simple. Get in, take down the boss, get out. Couldn't be simpler. In fact, I'd say I'll charm the pants off that bird before the night is through. He'll spill the beans for me. You two can probably take a back-seat... well, more of a back-seat.''

The kobold shot the red panda with an exhausted look. The panda shrugged apologetically, as if they were somehow responsible for the team configuration.

``We're nearly there!'' the driver called out from the front. ``You said you were picking up another friend, yeah?''

``...Friend isn't exactly how I'd put it.'' Lux said.

``So what is your history with this contact of yours?'' Grassroot asked. The panda looked a little paler.

``Uh... a few near-misses, both here and elsewhere. She's kind of a mercenary for hire, though they usually pay her in meat n' fatty foods...''

The car came to a very gentle halt.

``So, who're we looking out for?''  The voice from the front called.

``Don't worry, she'll come to us...'' Lux said. ``I think.''

The van was idling on a side street in a quieter part of town, but one that was still fairly bustling. The muskrat in the front seat clutched his wheel a little nervously, glancing around at the pedestrians, looking for the final passenger.

He wasn't going to spot her. After all, she was coming up from beneath, emerging from a manhole cover just beneath the suspension.

Thunk.

A thick, shining spike of orange, bladed bone shot up through the middle of the table, and right through the centre of the map.

``GAH!''

Geek-Gecko practically shed a layer of skin as he leapt back, and Lux's fur puffed themup to twice their usual size. Grassroot's man-spread turned to an emasculated thigh-squeeze.

The sharp claw pulled and twisted, slicing through the thick alloy as if it were butter, and Kryk pulled herself up through the hole she made, shimmying in on her belly before rearing up to her full, lithe height. She took up a huge chunk of the space, being at least twice the size of the rest of the team combined. As a result, she was hunched forward, shoulders down, head scraping against the ceiling.

Her skin was dark, blotched with crimson rosettes that matched her matted crimson hair. Her eyes were piercing blue sapphire, and they scanned down, relishing in the mutual fear of the three squishy heroes.

``Heeey~'' she said, her tone almost girlish, as she wiggled those mango-coloured claws at them.

``What was that?'' The driver called from the front.

``Don't worry about it!'' Grassroot called out. ``We'll pay for the damage, let's just drive...''

The open manhole cover beneath the hole Kryk had made disappeared as the car took off once more. There was a harsh scraping sound as the suspension brushed against the road, before it righted itself.

The enormous raptor laid herself along one of the benches like a reclining cat, and the minibus sagged to that side.

``Thanks for the pick-up,'' she said, picking at her teeth with a long, gut-unseaming claw.

``Hi, Kryk...'' Lux stammered, now somewhat translucent.

``N-now remember,'' Grassroot said, still angling his serpentine body away from Kryk, ``Don't go peeling off from the rest of us. If you start carving people up, that's going to look bad for us.''

``I don't do any carving,'' she said. ``Not fleshy things like you, anyway. Not anymore. S'boring. When something dies it's no longer any fun to play with.''

Kryk was now scraping some scribbled lines and swirls into the nearest window of the van. The scraping sound was making Geek-Gecko visibly flinch.

``Keep that up and the car's gonna be a write-off,'' he muttered.

``Huh? What's that?''

``Nothing,'' Geek-Gecko said quickly.

Kryk crossed one leg over the other, curling her raptor talons inwards as if to beckon someone to push their face in and be embraced by the claws. She was very pointedly aiming them in Lux's direction, and Lux flickered until they were gone from view.

``You know I can see your body heat... n' smell you too, right?''

Kryk winked in Lux's direction, her sapphire tongue briefly flitting out from between her jaws. Grassroot noticed the look.

``Ohh... Lux, did you suggest bringing her on because you caught feelings~?''

``SO,'' Lux's disembodied voice practically shouted. ``Should we get Kryk up to speed with the plan?''

``Alright...'' Geek-Gecko moved back to the map, carefully smoothing it out and trying to hold the sheared bits together. The other three sets of eyes finally were giving him their undivided attention.

Grassroot is going to go in through the front door, mingle, and gamble. You'll probably get recognized pretty quick, so make it count. Make sure to aim high and win big; you want all eyes on you, right?

``And some careful application of my hypnotism might give us a few insiders...''

``I wouldn't take that risk if I were you,'' Geek-Gecko said. ``Gerrark's probably got his hooks deep in the staff. I don't think one little burst of swirly eyes is going to break his hold over any of them.''

``You'd be surprised,'' Grassroots said.

``Oh yeah?'' Kryk piped up, shifting to loom over the snake. ``Do me, then! Do me!''

``Heh, yeah, I bet it wouldn't take long...'' Grassroot periscoped his head upwards towards her, and his green eyes turned a rippling red, twin whirlpools that were one of Grassroot's signature moves.

Kryk grinned back at him, though there was a very slight relaxation to her wide, tight smile.

``You'd do pretty good here, snakey,'' she said. ``With a pair of eyes like... those...''

Her pupils were beginning to swirl, changing from dark to crimson...

Grassroot grinned, his head tilting to one side.

``Your vision's based on movement, right? Like a dino's? Which means you're already well wired to take in the pretty shapes, and welcome them into that mind...''

``Uh-huh,'' Kryk nodded, her smile slackening an almost imperceptible amount. ``Maybe if you kept this up for another twenty minutes, I'd start to feel something~''

``Can't this wait?!'' Geek-Gecko snapped, jostling the pair out of their moment. ``We're almost there!''

Kryk tutted and leaned back, pushing Grassroot's head back down to his normal level.

``Not bad, snakey... cute trick. you weren't gonna get me, though.''

``I saw a little twitch in there,'' Grassroot said with a smirk. ``You were just on the cusp...''

``You're not gettin' too jealous over there, are ya fluffball?'' Kryk looked to Lux - the panda's meek head had rematerialised, and they were grimacing, not to mention blushing.

``Now, as I was saying,'' Geek-Gecko said, looking back at the shredded map.  ``The Pavo Royale has its own plumbing setup, separate from the rest of the city. He's got a miniature hydroelectric plant powering the whole place.

``How Gerrark swung that, I don't know. But we don't have it mapped out. Kryk, you're going to scout things out down there, and find a way in for Lux and me.''

``Am I goin' alone?'' Kryk asked.

``No, we'll be close behind,'' Geek-Gecko said.

``Good, Lux won't have to be alone with me... they'd hate that.''

Lux coughed.

``Once we're in,'' Geek-Gecko continued, ``I'm going to send in a drone to find the security office, check in on Grassroot, and see if we can disrupt things a bit. He's probably more prepared for someone raiding the casino vaults than someone trying to get into his penthouse. The security should be a li'l lighter. And Lux should be able to pass through unnoticed.''

``And once I know I've got a clear path in,'' Lux said, ``I'll get up to the penthouse and snoop around. Is that about right?''

``And if anything goes wrong?'' Grassroot said. ``If one of you messes up, what's my way out?''

``Well... you can just walk out the door, or trance your way out. I'll set off an EMP. Lux can sneak out. And Kryk... you can, uh...''

``Smash and Slice?'' the raptor grinned, relishing in the horrified looks on their faces. ``Nooo, don't worry, I'll be good. Ish.''

``What if one of us gets brainwashed?'' Lux piped up. Kryk and Grassroot both scoffed, as if the idea was ludicrous.

``Well... I guess you'll just have to get rescued by the next team.'' Geek-Gecko shrugged.

Not even he found that answer satisfactory.

It was a going concern for all of them, one that left them in silence for a few minutes. Save for Kryk's bored whistling and scratching.

``We're here...'' Lux said, looking out the window.

The brightly flashing obelisk loomed up over them, ten stories high and crowned with that bright orange eye, like a dark lord's tower. The whole block was bathed in the glow of the warm neon, and there already were punters filtering in, ready to lose their wallets... and presumably, their minds too.

``Dropping ya all here?'' the driver called out.

``No, just one of us!'' Lux said.

Grassroot already had his hand on the sliding door of the van. He gave the crew a wink, and stepped out, striding his way towards the glowing entrance of the casino without a glance over his shoulder.

``You can take the rest of us a little further, around the side!''

``Sure thing, boss!'' the driver said.

The van drove on a bit further, and Geek-Gecko took one long last scanning look at the map. He poked a small dot off to the east side, close to where the car currently was. `Sewer' was scribbled next to it.

``We're heading in here.''

The remaining three lost sight of the city as the van trundled into a dark side street, and came to a stop. Kryk wasted no time slithering out the massive hole she came from and disappearing into the dark. Lux hopped out and went to the driver-side window.

``Thanks again for this, you've been a great help!''

The driver looked down at Lux, with stony professionalism.

The muskrat didn't look suspicious of them, per se, but Lux couldn't help but feel like something was off about him. Where had the Vigil found this guy...? They must have vetted him...

``Here you go,'' Lux said, handing him a rather sizable wad of cash. ``And you can invoice the Vigil for the, uh... damage.''

``What damage?''

``Uhm... don't worry about it.''

The driver just shrugged his shoulders, more interested in counting the money. ``You have a good night, now.''

He didn't even put his hands on the wheel straight away when he pushed on the gas. The car slid backwards and turned back into the street, before zooming off with a sputtering cough.

Lux watched him go.

``Kryk?'' Geek-Gecko glanced around, until he spotted the magenta glow of the raptor-woman's spots. He gestured to the nondescript manhole cover nestled away in that alley; most people wouldn't have even noticed it even if they were pissing on it; which, judging by the smell of this alley, plenty of people had.

``Here's our entrance. You can lead the way.''

``Gladly~'' Kryk lilted. She grabbed the manhole cover and yanked it free like she was twisting the top off a drink-bottle, before flinging it aside. Lux ducked out of the way as the cover embedded itself like a chakram in the brick wall behind them.

``C-could you not?'' Lux said, though they glanced again in the direction of their driver.

``Something the matter?'' Geek-Gecko asked.

``Nah, just...'' Lux shrugged. ``I'm just paranoid.''

The van stopped barely a block away. The money had already been discarded into the wheel well; the driver had stopped counting once they were out of view of the staff.

The driver took his phone up, and his thumb typed briskly.

The Dropoff has been completed, Boss.

It did not need to wait for a response.

The muskrat form was gone before it even stepped out of the car, leaving it abandoned for someone to rifle through and strike it rich.

It made its way briskly through the shadows, back towards the casino.

It had more work to do.

``Right.'' Geek-Gecko nodded. He tapped gently on the small device nestled just in his ear. ``Grassroot, do you hear me?''

To read Chapter 2 now, become a subscriber!   HYPERLINK "https://subscribestar.adult/limewah"; https://subscribestar.adult/limewah  

", "pools_count": 0, "title": "THE BIRD ALWAYS WINS : Prologue and Chapter 1", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "application/msword", "pagecount": "1", "rating_id": "2", "rating_name": "Adult", "ratings": [ { "content_tag_id": "4", "name": "Sexual Themes", "description": "Erotic imagery, sexual activity or arousal", "rating_id": "2" } ], "submission_type_id": "12", "type_name": "Writing - Document", "guest_block": "f", "friends_only": "f", "comments_count": "0", "views": "115" }