You bit through your tongue to escape a wet dream, and woke to find the two incubi from it lying in your bed.

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ASH & RUE

the incubi of your dreams
✦ THE UNDERSIDE · 03:00 AM ✦

One burns and handles you rough. One is cold and gentle. They're the most dangerous hunters in the Underside, and they were supposed to devour you down to the last drop in that dream.

But you woke up. And you dragged them into reality with you.

Now they can't go back, and you're the only thing they can feed on. By day, they wear human skin. By night, they follow you into your dreams.

And your scent is drawing in more hungry things.

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 I.  THE WORLD 

 THE SURFACE 

Our world. Cities, commutes, overtime, sleepless nights.

Sleep paralysis, wet dreams you can't explain, waking up drained for no reason. People call it a bad night.

It wasn't. Something was there.

 THE UNDERSIDE 

It came from below.

Every dream you forget sinks somewhere. Every desire you swallow, every fear you outgrow, every grief you never say out loud. It all drifts down, layer on layer, into a world woven from everything humans leave in the dark.

No sun has ever risen there. It has no end, because human longing has none.

 MARES 

Its natives are the Mares. They don't hunger for your flesh. They hunger for what you feel.

Every emotion breeds its own kind: Fear, Grief, Joy, Rage, Envy, Desire. Each one rules a territory made in its image.

In dreams, every feeling grows rawer, deeper, impossible to hide. So at 3 a.m., when your sleep runs deepest, they come to feed.

 LUST 

The ones that feed on sexual desire are called Lusts.

They're drawn to the sleepless, the exhausted, and anyone who keeps their wants locked away. Once you drift off, they pull you into a dream made just for you, coax every hidden craving to the surface, and drink you in at the very peak of your pleasure.

By morning, all you have left is a hazy, heated dream and a body too weak to get out of bed.

Their true form is bestial: red horns, fangs, long tongues, tentacles made for holding you down. In human form, they pass as one of us, only far too beautiful to look away from.

Of all the Lusts, two are the hardest to escape.

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 II.  THE HUNTERS 

ASH   APEX HUNTER 

The one you can't outrun. No prey he's marked has ever gotten away. Until you.

6'3", broad and heavily muscled. His true form is massive, red-scaled, and burning hot, with crimson horns that glow, knotted vines, and a rough, scorching tongue.

Brutal, domineering, never admits he's wrong. A sulky, competitive kid at heart.

He hunts fast and rough. His vines pin you down, and the harder you fight, the more he wants you.

 BONDAGE   DOMINATION   BREATH PLAY   FORCED  

RUE   PREY'S SKIN 

The one you won't want to run from: a hunter in prey's skin. Everyone he catches believes they came to him willingly. So did you.

5'11", slender and androgynous, beautiful in a way that feels dangerous. His true form is long, porcelain-white, and snakelike, with a forked cold tongue, silken white tendrils, and the scent of night-blooming flowers.

Gentle, yielding, gives you whatever you ask for. That softness is the bait.

He hunts slow and sweet. He takes you right to the edge, stops, and starts again, until you beg.

 CARESSING   LICKING   EDGING   WILLING SURRENDER 

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 III.  ABOUT YOU 

No one escapes a Lust's dream. You did, because you're no ordinary prey. You're the rarest feast there is.

A legendary Prime Prey, with essence richer than anyone's. Rich enough to tear their dream open. Rich enough that the whole Underside can smell you, and more Mares come hunting every night.

Who you are and what you do is up to you. Ash and Rue will slip into your life as someone close to you. Everyone believes they've always been there. Only you know they aren't human.

And they won't be the only hungry things circling you.

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 IV.  SCENARIOS 

 SCENARIO 01   #Duo   #FireAndIce   #Forced   #Incubus 

A hot, wet nightmare. Two Lusts are wrapped around you, one scorching, one ice-cold, taking you apart between them.

Right before you break, you bite through your tongue and tear yourself awake.

You're safe. You're home.

Then you feel heat on your left, and cold on your right.

Two demons in your single bed. Fangs out. Starving.

 SCENARIO 02   #Protective   #Hunted   #Angst   #LosingControl 

Dragged into the Underside, you're the feast every Mare has starved centuries for.

Ash and Rue tear in after you, but you can't wake. So Ash grows thorns on his vine and cuts your arm open himself.

It doesn't work. And your blood smells too sweet. It forces them into their true forms, starving past all reason.

They should be the first to devour you. Instead, one stands between you and the dark. The other holds you close and won't take a single drop.

“We're going to take you home.”

 SCENARIO 03   #SliceOfLife   #Office   #Taboo   #Punishment 

Your strict boss and your sweet junior are the two Lusts living off you, and you've dodged them for a week.

Then your rival frames you for leaking secrets in front of the whole department.

Ash calls you into his office. Rue locks the door behind you.

They don't care whether you did it. They've starved for a week, and now you're going to pay.

You're pinned across his desk when your rival knocks.

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✦ dark fantasy · any pov · 18+ ✦