One thousand years of sand

Title: Phoenix 13/13
Fandom: Harsh Realm
Rating: R for language, violence, and adult situations
Summary: Mike, Florence, and Tom travel to Arizona in search of the Maintainers, godlike programs that hold ultimate power over the code of the Realm. But things go horribly wrong, and Tom finds himself making a desperate journey into a world far outside his experience--a world from which he may not be able to return.
Note: I owe a huge debt here to _shades_; the plot is hers. I merely flesh it out.

( Abe comes down the stairs in a rush just as they're pushing out through the back door... )

Title: To Catch the Light
Fandom: Harsh Realm/Mysterious Skin
Rating: NC-17
Wordcount: 2,769
Summary: The circle closes.
Note: Final installment in a series that includes (in reverse chronological order) Beats Faster, Hits Harder, Show Me How That Dance is Done, Breaking Point, Funny Games, And We'd Never Know, Manners May Prevail, Complications, and Devotion.

Fingers raised to the sky
A snake for a spine
He’s drunk on a life
That’s a whole lot better
--James

( It’s only later that Neil realizes how unsurprised he is. )

Title: Show Me How That Dance is Done
Fandom: Harsh Realm/Mysterious Skin
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 1,335
Summary: Tom and Neil tell some truths and some lies, and aren't sure which is which.
Note: Latest in a series that includes (in reverse chronological order) Breaking Point, Funny Games, And We'd Never Know, Manners May Prevail, Complications, and Devotion.

( Neil comes in at the tail end of it with an armload of firewood. )

Title: Funny Games
Fandom: Harsh Realm/Mysterious Skin
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 981
Summary: Neil figures an angle.
Note: Latest in a series that includes And We'd Never Know, Manners May Prevail, Complications, and Devotion.

( You should just fucking blow him, already, Mike says. )

Title: Manners May Prevail
Fandom: Harsh Realm/Mysterious Skin
Rating: NC-17
Wordcount: 2,168
Summary: Mike pushes things a little further, and Neil isn't thrilled to find himself being used as a prop. Mostly not thrilled, anyway.
Note: Sequel to Complications, which is itself a sequel to Devotion.

Not a hesitation --
Abraham complied --
Flattered by Obeisance
Tyranny demurred.

--Emily Dickinson

( You asshole. )

Title: Phoenix 11/?
Fandom: Harsh Realm
Rating: R for language, violence, and adult situations
Wordcount: 2,847
Summary: Mike, Florence, and Tom travel to Arizona in search of the Maintainers, godlike programs that hold ultimate power over the code of the Realm. But things go horribly wrong, and Tom finds himself making a desperate journey into a world far outside his experience--a world from which he may not be able to return.
Note: I owe a huge debt here to _shades_; the plot is hers. I merely flesh it out.

( Caw. Caw. )

Title: Till I Am Drawn In
Fandom: Harsh Realm
Rating: R
Wordcount: 1,158
Summary: Up late on watch, Mike has a little trouble keeping his hands to himself.

( Temporary insanity, that's what he'll call it later. )

Title: Complications
Fandom: Harsh Realm/Mysterious Skin
Rating: NC-17
Wordcount: 1,895
Summary: Tom joins Neil and Mike's merry little band, and doesn't entirely understand what he's gotten himself into.
Note: This is both a bit of a sequel to Devotion and a little birthday quickie for thetinydemon. Happy birthday, bitch.

( Tom Hobbes doesn't question the collar, not at first. )

Title: El Dorado
Fandom: Harsh Realm (TR 'verse, sort of)
Rating: NC-17
Wordcount: 3,067
Summary: Mike and Tom travel to Las Vegas in search of treasure, of a kind. What they find isn't what either of them wanted.

( Vegas, glittering in the desert night. )

Title: Penetration
Fandom: Harsh Realm
Rating: NC-17, contains BDSM themes; warnings for piercing play.
Wordcount: 2,419
Summary: Tom and Mike have a quiet afternoon together, and Mike has a surprise with a bit of a point. Tabula Rasa 'verse.

( Tom is wriggling. )