The Heavens Shall Fall

After getting back home, Siu's first move was to sort and count the CC in his bag, organizing and planning how to use them all. In the end, it was exactly 60,000, but even after boxing them up and putting them away, he didn't know how much that really was. It was a lot, yes, but how much will it take to register? How much will it cost to run things...? Who will keep counting it, and who will work the numbers? Suddenly, this idea of creating his own association was nothing but... headache.

As he was thinking about that, he moved through the early morning snowfall, heading to his very first choice to recruit. While walking, Arya was perched lazily across his shoulders, and Marly was gliding ahead between trees, pretending to scout but mostly looking for food caches... but inside the sect, she wouldn't find any.

"Master, calm down! You had spent three days refining the idea, it's fine!" Arya exclaimed as she tried to soothe Siu's jumbled-up thoughts. "You need to jerk those things out, wriggle them free! They are making you twitchy."

"Sometimes, I don't know if I need to wash out your mouth or not..." He muttered, shaking his head. "But you are right, worrying about it won't solve any issues, so I will take it as it comes."

Just as he said that, he finally smiled to himself because he finally saw his first candidate appear before his eyes. She was hauling a small crate of preserved pieces of a beast toward her processing table from the resource shed, walking carefully, as she could barely see over the box in her hands.

"Let me take that," he said as he stepped over to Neya, grabbing it from her hands.

"Eh?!" She looked up when she heard him, feeling the crate leave her hands, “Siu? Thanks! Ahaha... what are you doing here?”

"I came to you, specifically."

"Oh?" She blushed, but then she noticed his expression as they walked into the building, up to Neya's table. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” he said, putting it down in the meantime, “Not in a way you may think, I just... Have a lot on my mind, so I need to ask you something.”

“Okay.” She nodded seriously, watching his face, "I'll help, just tell me what you need me to do."

"Well," He glanced around briefly, then stepped closer, not wanting to be loud about it, “I’m forming a collective.”

"WHAT?!" She yelled out, before slapping her mouth, slightly trembling, knowing that everybody else inside was now looking at them, and thinking what was happening. Was there some kind of lovers' quarrel going on...? Which would be a big scoop, so of course, every other person present tried to listen in.

"Shoo! Shoo!" Arya jumped off Siu's shoulder and, with Marly in tow. The moment they landed, they began growling at anyone who tried to eavesdrop on the pair, forcing the disciples present to act as if they didn't care what was happening.

“You...? Are you doing... what? A... group? Really?” Neya stuttered, finally turning her voice down to its minimum.

“Yes.”

“For… hunting?” She asked, unsure why the sudden decision.

“Not exactly, that's probably covered by the Ember Circle. I am not saying we won't go and hunt, but I am doing it more because of outside pressure.”

"Pressure..." That made her tilt her head, putting a finger over her lips, "I know what you mean... Some groups are coming to me daily, trying to recruit me..."

"You refused?"

"Of course!" She pouted a little, "I am not stupid, I know they wanted me to go around my position here and make me work for them without commission fees."

"Err..." Siu suddenly stopped himself from saying what he was about to say, realizing that... yeah, it could be interpreted that way.

"Oh." Neya understood the change in his face at once and almost began laughing, "I wouldn't think that about you, of course! Are you... inviting me?" She asked, suddenly a bit unsure, playing with the edge of her robes.

“Yeah, I came to you first,” he said plainly, nodding his head.

“I'm in.” She didn’t even ask for details, only nodding her head with a serious gaze.

“You don’t even know the rest of it...” Siu answered, even though he hoped it would be an easy recruitment.

“I don’t need to,” she answered, covering her mouth while giggling, "If you’re doing this,” she added softly, “it means you’ve thought about it, and if you’ve thought about it, it means it matters to you a lot. And I will help out! Even if it may be... dangerous?”

“Yes, there is a possibility for a bit of danger, because we may go against the Stone Ward people.”

“I wouldn't be surprised about it, hah,” she nodded at once, crossing her arms, furrowing her brows, "Their members are very rude... And they always skimp on paying their fees... I am very much reluctant to take their ingredients to process, because they... Always come up with excuses that something was ruined or... whatever... Haaah... Well, I don't like them." She finished, instead of starting to berate them openly.

"Hopefully, that will change, but it won't be an easy one to enact," Siu said, tilting his head to the left, thinking about her words.

“It's fine, and I’d rather be with you than not, when it happens.”

“You’d be part of the core,” he added, without hesitation, making Neya blush again, “Not just a member. But someone important!”

“Core? Important...? To you or... hauh!” She asked in panic, putting a finger to her lips, trying to silence herself before she asked something way out of line.

“You’re one of the best harvesters in the outer disciples already," Siu answered, missing half of her question, which was done intentionally... he didn't want to go into it, right here and right now. "So if we do hunt, we would be bringing it to you or people you trust. I intended to get others in, so it won't be like... Forcing you to do nothing but work on beasts. You would only have to handle the core members' possessions, or if others pay you to... anyway! That's still under construction, so to speak, because I haven't thought through everything yet.”

"No wonder you looked so troubled!" She giggled, chasing away the blush painting her face red, looking at him with a bright smile, “You have already thought that far ahead, huh? Don't worry, I will do my part, whatever you decide it should be!”

“Thank you.”

"Don't." She beamed happily, holding her hands behind her back, tiptoing as if waiting for a kiss, but she was just giggling and watching his face, "It's exciting! I was afraid I would be left behind, but if it's like this... Ahaha! I know I won't be!"

...

....

......

With Neya's position secured... It was time for the day's true challenge, and this one, he knew, he had to approach differently. Especially because his next two candidates were... A double-edged sword. Swords.

"Haaaah..." He couldn't help but sigh as he thought about them, and Siu knew he couldn't just walk straight into the Mission Hall with his request. That may give away his intentions before the group is ready to face its inevitable opposition.

So, instead of doing that, he sent word, asking the twins to meet him in private after their work was done. Predictably, they arrived, completely misunderstanding it from the get-go, because they wore their robes very loosely even in the cold winter, their hair flowing openly and bringing along... bottles of alcohol.

"Oh? Wanting to do it outside for the first time? Nice!" Milli giggled as they arrived at their meeting place, close to one of the alcoves Siu had rented out, just for this meeting.

"Silly," Nilli nudged her sister, "Don't you see he paid for the nook behind him? Looks small, but... that's just makes it easier to get entangled in the pleasures of flesh! We would catch a cold, doing it in the snow, anyway."

"Just... let's go in," Siu groaned, and not even because of the twins, but because of what Arya was saying, watching the two.

"Master, that's why we are superior!"

"Superior! Um... Are we...?" Marly asked, unsure a bit.

"Of course, because we have the fur, we won't get cold, even if we are rolling in the snow."

Siu just closed their chatter out of his mind, while the door to the small room slid open, and he watched as Milli stepped in first, followed by Nilli, wearing identical smirks.

“Well, well,” Milli purred, after the door was closed, "It is... puritan, but I'm not against doing it on a fur mat."

“Good that we prepared,” Nilli added, already pulling one out and laying it down, “We thought you’d never cave... But you will have to choose which of us will be the first!”

"Girls..." Siu pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to remain calm, “That’s not why I called you.”

"..." They both paused, looking at each other, grimacing because they could tell he wasn't lying, “Tsk! Come on... Don't play with us...” They sat down, now looking a bit more angry than anything, opening a bottle for themselves, taking a big swing from it.

“I’m forming a collective,” he said quickly, because he knew that no excuses would ease their mood at the moment.

“You?” Milli asked slowly, her anger suddenly gone, replaced by actual shock and curiosity.

“Yes.”

“You’re serious,” Nilli added, studying his face, "Oh... and you want to invite us?"

“Yes,” Siu added, watching the two, while Arya and Marly were sitting next to him on the floor, sniffing at the twins, smelling something... very sweet coming off the two.

"Okay, okay, this is not what we expected, but it is a surprise!" The twins nodded, looking at each other, exchanging glances quickly, speaking without words. "Hiring us is not cheap, and we are not even talking about sex!" Milli said at last, looking back at Siu.

“I wouldn't call it hiring...” Siu muttered, rubbing his face, "I just wanted to ask you to join, if you are interested."

"We are interested," Nilli continued, leaning back and stretching her legs forward, letting her robes roll up and showing his bare feet to Siu, right up to her thighs, "But we are used to being independent. We won't just... jump in, because you also refuse to jump into our laps."

"Yeah," Milli agreed, copying her sister, even loosening the top part, showing her cleavage, "You decline us, over and over again, to just do it, and now you expect us to... do what you won't?"

"No, I guess not." He shrugged, "But I hoped we could talk about it."

"We are talking about it." They nodded, sharing a drink again, before sitting a bit farther apart and slapping the space between them. "Sit. Then we can talk for real."

"..."

"Come on, we won't bite." Nilli giggled, "Sit, because if you convince us, you will have someone to monitor mission postings before anyone else has a chance to react!” She added, already naming the main reason why Siu thought about recruiting the two in the first place.

“I have no choice, do I?”

Their answer was just utter silence and two fox-like smiles, while Siu sat between the twins. Of course, Milli leaned forward slightly, letting her chest envelop Siu's left arm, while Nilli did the same from the other side, right until Arya and Marly appeared on Siu's shoulders, pushing them further apart from their Master.

“If we join,” the twins said without getting angry, holding the bottle up to Siu's lips to make him drink a little, “we also want benefits, too, not only giving them out. Don't exploit us, we are fragile, young women, after all!”

“And I'm the Sect Master," Siu countered, but then continued, "You could join as core members who would be responsible as administrators,” he tried, unsure what to say besides that, especially after he was suddenly forced to take a sip from a wine bottle, and... it was nice. The drink was sweet and not at all strong, almost velvety as it slid down his throat, refreshing him.

“Define what that means.” They said in sync.

In the end, Siu went over everything he planned so far, how the inner structures would be built up, everything he had thought about so far.

"Well," Nilli mused, taking another sip, leaning against him, even beginning to tickle Arya's tummy, almost making the fox fall off Siu's shoulders, "I don't like the fact you would take a percentage off the missions we complete."

"But," Milli added, doing the same and also playing with Marly's cheeks, as the twins began disarming his beasts without any real effort, "We can see the opportunities and honestly... with how missions are at the moment... We could screw over the bastards."

"Stone Ward?" Siu asked, trying to stay calm, being surrounded by the twins, and realizing that their scent was the same as the wine, sweet and... fragrant. Enticing even...

"Of course," they said in tandem, once again, making him drink, and then Milli put a piece of grape into his mouth, producing it from who knows where. "You see, we also got commission fees, working in the Mission Hall, that is part of our pay."

"And it paid well," Nilli nodded, shifting her position, making sure her breath tickled his neck, "But our margins on disciple-made requests are shrinking a lot recently... And we can't just rely on sect-issued missions all the time."

"I guess," Milli giggled, "If we have a certain organization, that can get every mission slip, before a Stoney bastard has a chance to come in and claim it or even hinder it from being posted... We could get back to earning good money again."

"Of course, it wouldn't be fair!" Nilli moaned a little, "You would become a bad... bad... corrupt boy, Siu~!"

“I don’t care about being fair against the Stone Ward Collection.”

"Ahaha, cute!" They nodded, and then, to his surprise, slowly leaned back from him, and even stopped teasing Arya and Marly, who felt as if they were hypnotized by the belly rubs. "Well, although this is not a lustful and sinful cave," Milli shrugged, fixing her clothes a little, "we can still do business."

"Yep!" Nilli agreed as she also straightened up, "We can swing around to that... later. But, we told you, Siu, we are not cheap. You want us? Good."

"So! Prepare to pay!" Milli nodded as the twins now sat opposite him, leaning on each other, watching him, licking their lips, sharing a drink with each other in a way that made Siu look away, "We can see the opportunity to make it big, so... Let's get into the dirty, dirty little details. Lay it out and convince us well, Siu... And then! Just then... we may make sure your little group will be a well-oiled and lubricated... fucking machine~!"

"With Stone Ward as its first bitch!" Nilli added, as the two began giggling like demonic succubi from the underworld.