Chương 1072: Day One Thousand And Seventy

Dear Diary, Welp, my pondering regarding my neurotransmitters running out might have another mark in its favor, although to be honest this time isn't so bad. I'm talking about the whole thing I mentioned where a week of solid good feels induced by my family may have caused the unfortunate side effect of having no neuros left to transmit on Yule.

I hit that today, although it's not really all that surprising, what with the whole 'pre-game jitters' I had before dealing with Aphrodite, followed by confronting Ares, followed by the execution of Operation: Maenad Rescue. With that much adrenaline pumping through me for that long, it's no wonder that I crashed. Which... Fuck, I'm not a neuroscientist. I'm not a biologist. I'm just a dumb bitch from Camden who got yeeted into the body of an eldritch abomination.

I'd say 'Elder God', except that's a term that has an actual meaning here and now. My point being that I just read a bunch online about dopamine and serotonin and cortisol and shit. I don't have any kind of degree related to that. I was just tryna figure out what had me lying in my bedroom for weeks on end in the summer, only crawling out of bed to piss, shit, and grab the uber eats off the porch.

At any rate, I'm not sure whether I crashed because of too much on time for too long, or if it's due to neurotransmitter exhaustion, or if this was just the Black Dog tryna fuck up a series of absolute wins for me. Sure as shit that last one didn't actually happen, which would make me hugely happy if I wasn't too tired to really be happy.

Fuck, that would explain a lot of my 'do wacky shit, pass out', if I wasn't really passing out from accumulated damage or whatever, but from the psychological fatigue of controlling enough of my extended self to do whatever crazy shit I did. It would also explain why some stuff that was well beyond 'human' didn't knock me out, because while it wasn't humanly possible, I'm not. Human, that is. But I'm still a person, and I still have a personality, and I'm tryna work out that fuckin' thing's disorders.

So yeah, after watching the Maenad on my Altar reconstitute herself at dawn, I stepped to her side. Hell, I felt the other four on four of my other Altars, so I stepped to them as well. I leaned forward, hand extended, palm up, smiled, and said, "hey there. I'm Tabitha Diaz. You're safe now. What's your name?" Yeah, none of the five really looked thrilled at that. All five of them rolled into a crouch, facing me and growling. Fortunately I wasn't the only one at any of the Altars.

At each of them my High Priestess stood next to me. Karen in the Temple of Love, Marie in New Amsterdam, Saffron in Camden Yards, Siobhan in Newark, and Orla in Calverton. Each Temple had a few other folks in attendance as well.

Sarah and Dionysus stood next to me in Phileo, Helen the Academy Maid and all eight of the Maenads living at the old Aetos place in Camden Yards, Larry, Bonnie, Stheno, and Euryale crowded around the Altar in Calverton, Dana stood next to Marie in New Amsterdam along with a Cadet review of the terrible trio and Cadet Brat.

The only additional people who'd grabbed a spot standing near the Altar was Cadet Hilde in Newark, who'd practically dared me to tell her she couldn't with her stare, and Grand Councilman George, who'd just, y'know, showed up. Nobody told most of them, or sent for them, but apparently rumor is faster than light, and my Temples had become community centers or some shit like that. No idea why, really, but I'm down for it. Honestly, I wanted a small group to greet each of them, but the folks in Newark...

They really weren't comfortable with Maenads yet. Kinda sad, they'd been bludgeoned into submission for so long by New Amsterdam that it was taking a shit ton to put them back onto their own feet. Fuck the idea of any kind of 'conservatorship' the way Ophelia suggested at one point, though. George was proof positive that they might not be arrogant assholes or overeducated idiots, but they were decent people who deserved their own thing. At any rate, the reactions of the Maenads varied. The...

I dunno if I wanna call it 'worst' one was actually in Newark, where the Maenad just snarled at me until Siobhan stepped forward, Aoibh at her breast, and said, "welcome to the Alliance, to Newark. I am Siobhan Darling, High Priestess of Tabitha Diaz." The Maenad's eyes snapped like magnets to the baby, and Siobhan, who for all her lack of combat prowess and violence is still one of the bravest women I've ever met, nodded to Aoibh and said, "do you want to hold her?"

I saw something soften when Siobhan made that offer. The Maenad crawled forward, twisted around to perch on the edge of the altar, where she reached one hand out tentatively. When Siobhan didn't flinch or lean away, but leaned in to make it easier for the Maenad to reach, the tigress whispered, "Arachne." Yeah, that kinda blew me away at first, but then I figured maybe it was one of those 'really common for a century in ancient Greece' names. Like, y'know, Tiffany.

Okay, I don't think the Tiffany Problem was specifically ancient Greece, but it had to have had its own version of that shit. In Camden Yards, the Maenad blinked when I asked her name, but then glanced away from me, taking in the room, and realized that I was one woman in a crowd of nine Maenads. The tension in her transmuted in an instant from suspicion to joy, and she jumped into their collective arms. Okay, mostly into Helen's arms, because all eight had brought their little ones.

Then there was a long sorta intricate dance where they passed the new Maenad around to exchange hugs and cheek rubs, while also passing each of their kids into her hands for a nuzzle. When she stood there surrounded by her sister, she turned to me and said, "Antigone." Yeah, gotta be coincidence. That bitch had been in famous plays and shit, had to be girls named after her, right? In Phileo, I didn't even have to wait for the Maenad to respond.

The moment she looked at me, which also meant she was looking at Sarah and little D, he shouted out, "Iphigenia!" wriggled his hand out of Sarah's, and rushed to meet Iphigenia at the edge of the Altar. That name kinda reminded me of something, but I couldn't remember anything specific, so I figured it was just something like deja vu after the first two wound up being famous names. New Amsterdam almost wound up the scene of some additional violence when Marie stepped forward and said, "Penthesilea."

Okay, there was some very brief violence anyhow, because Penthesilea first relaxed, turning to Mittens and creakily murmuring, "Marie?" Marie nodded, and Penthesilea tensed, eyes narrowing, before she screamed out, "Imposter!" and leapt at Marie. Who managed to catch her claws mid leap, then repeatedly block Penthesilea's feet from clawing her with one of her own feet, just kicking the claws away. As the rescued Maenad's kicks got maybe a little less frantic, Marie leaned her face in and growled out, "Who Else?"

Penthesilea stopped struggling at that point, but replaced that with a fuckin' pout to end all pouts when she muttered, "Achilles." I was not expecting Marie to transfer both of Penthesilea's claws to one of her own, then pull her Yandere Shobitch Wedding Gown's boob window wider to expose first one, then the other of her tits. When Penthesilea looked like she was gonna argue again, Marie shook her head, rubbed her hand in her crotch, and more or less shoved her claws up Penthesilea's nose.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. At which point the rescued Maenad just whispered, "Marie?" When Mittens nodded, she asked, "How?" At that point it became very clear that she was staring at Marie's new markings, specifically the ones she could see easily on her neck and wrists. Yeah, I'm not sure I liked the 'gotta get me some of that' look Penthesilea turned on me when Marie smiled at me and said, "My Vlickies!"

It probably didn't help that my Wifiest of Wife's voice had an absolute 'you gotta try this shit' tone to it as well. Fuck it, if I gotta take one for the team, I'd had worse 'prices' to pay for making things right. Shit, I really wasn't sure if that was a price or a reward. Fuck it, I'm gonna call it a maybe reward and be done with it. Of course, then there was the last one. Calverton. Where much like Phileo, the Maenad on my Altar did not have time to respond before she was buried in Maenad.

Okay, not so much 'buried' as turbo glomped by Stheno and Euryale. Weirdest thing, I kinda felt the beginnings of something not unlike my asshole brother Balor's death stare before they intervened. The moment they did, though, she lost any interest in me whatsoever. If they weren't three anthropomorphic tigresses on my Altar, two in Lancaster House maid uniforms, one stark naked, it would have been the image of a long delayed family reunion.

Then the three of them turned to me, and one of the maids, looking at me, said, "Tabitha," then nodded to the naked one and said, "Medusa." Her sister had been looking at the naked one and said, "Medusa, Tabitha." Yeah, at that point I turned to D in Phileo, put a finger under his chin to tip his eyes up from my tits to my eyes, and said, "have you just been running an undercover op to steal all the tragic heroines in Greek history or some shit?"

Holy fuck the shifty eyed look he gave me before grinning and saying, "Nah?" Yeah, I'm pushing two dozen kids now, and I'm not all that far from kid-hood myself. I sucked my teeth and said, "really?" At which point he giggled and said, "not just Greece!" Yeah, I think the Maenads in the other locations, especially Arachne, thought I might have lost my mind as I started laughing, but fuck it, they were all safe as they could be, so once they were settled, we started working on where they'd be staying.

Medusa, obviously, went home with her sisters. Which kinda finally told me why they'd taken the Maenad route; their sister had been Mortal, and becoming a Maenad not only corrected that, but I'm pretty sure 'Heir to Olympus' trumped 'Goddess of Strategic War' when it came to giving her her looks back. Okay, I think they're all beautiful. I may be biased. Stripes aside, they are all basically clones who reset any time they have a Sparagmos done to them. They look more alike than most sets of identical twins.

Antigone decided to return to the Academy with Helen. I'd been kind of worried about placement of the new Maenads, both because they're extra special trauma survivors, and because if the Spartans tried anything tricksy... Okay, if the Spartans put out some kind of bounty on their lost Maenads and someone tricksy took them up on it, I really wanted them all in secure spots. The Academy qualified. So did fuckin' Lancaster House, luxury fortress assed pile of stone that it is.

I poke fun, but my buddy Larry's house is, in fact, a nice place and a fortress. The other three came home with us. Arachne seemed almost like she didn't trust Aoibh or Siobhan away from me. Iphigenia, who apparently had been stolen from a sacrificial Altar by a strike team of pissed off Maenads as part of a longstanding feud with the owner of the Altar, was another Greek princess. Daughter of King Agamemnon. Asshole decided to sacrifice his own daughter and shit. Fucker deserved what he got.

Penthesilea followed my ass home. Literally, I don't think her eyes left it from the moment I turned to say something to Dana. Like, she literally scampered around the room, absolutely shameless, just to keep my butt in her field of vision. Doesn't really compute for me, but it takes all kinds. So we had three new Maenads in the house. I stepped them all back into the courtyard, collapsing into one of me as I did.

As the girls all looked over to see who had just arrived along with the eighty percent of the Mom Collective who'd been away at breakfast, I turned to the Maenads and said, "welcome home, ladies. For as long as you need. Forever, if that's what you want." Then had to spin around as fuckin' Penthesilea kept dancing in circles around me. Bitch likes what she likes, I guess. No idea how long she'd been stuck in that hole, but I for one was not gonna try to shame her or harsh her joy in any way.

So eventually I just looked over my shoulder at her and clenched. At which point she looked a little like she'd gotten a case of the vapors, and Marie, who stood next to her at that point, said, "See?" Then the kids arrived, and the questions and introductions began. I just kinda watched, making sure their time in that place hadn't left them too jumpy. Iphigenia shied away from Boy just the tiniest bit.

Not enough I was worried about her lashing out without provocation, but enough I realized I needed to tell Hero Aetos and the other dudes in residence. Maybe I'd talk with Marie. On the other hand, she absolutely adored Isnomi at first sight. I got the strangest vibe that she saw our Menace as some kind of big sister. Weird, but Isnomi had been working the 'big sister' thing with the rest for so long that for whatever reason it didn't strike me as weird.

When Iphigenia saw my kits, she froze, then looked to Marie and asked, "yours?" Marie stepped up to me, threw an arm around me, pulled her to her, and said, "Ours!" That seemed to settle it for Iphigenia, who immediately adopted an 'older sister' attitude to all of them. Guess the daughters of the Queen of the Murderfuck Cult were acceptable sisters for the Princess of Mycenae.

For her part, when Penthesilea heard that, she froze, then slinked around in front of Marie and I, oozed around until she was crouched over, staring me right in the eye from about four inches, and said, "really?" I just hugged Marie to me and said, "yep." Okay, I may have giggled a little. I definitely had a grin on my face, because yeah, odd though they may be, our kits are ours and I love the ever loving fuck out of them.

At which point she turned to Marie, whined just the tiniest bit, only going silence when Mittens almost murmured, "Patience." Arachne... Yeah, Arachne might wind up being a problem, or really have some problems. She kept glancing between Isnomi, the kits, and me, like she had to keep all of us in line of sight at all times, not to mention trying to stay between any of us and Aoibh. Well, Aoibh and Siobhan, although I suspect if she had to choose she'd go with her Maenad instincts and protect the baby.

I nudged Marie and thought, is she gonna be okay? She radiated confusion at me for a moment while she turned to watch Arachne. After a moment she sighed, slumped the tiniest bit, then let me go to walk over to the other Maenad. When Arachne looked up at her, because if the white Holy Garb didn't add much height, Marie stood with her normal ramrod posture, where Arachne moved... I was gonna say like one of the Persian Maenads, but to be honest she really did scuttle just a little bit.

At any rate, Marie nodded and said, "Arachne." Arachne didn't get that 'imposter' vibe Penthesilea started with, but she didn't relax either.

"Marie." Marie reached down, put her claws on Arachne's shoulders, and pulled her inexorably into a hug. When Arachne finally went still, Marie intoned.

"You're Safe." I'd never really seen another Maenad break down like Arachne did. She squirmed, she even flailed a little bit, but I knew how dangerous a Maenad could be. She wasn't trying to hurt anyone, just couldn't let her grief and tension out peacefully. Marie just held her, comforting her, until she finally went still. At which point the girls kinda swamped in, hugging and making comforting noises.

Okay, all the kids plus Iphigenia, and excepting the kits and Isnomi, who just stood in a mostly outward facing circle around the whole mass of sisters. I almost missed the whole thing, because a certain Penthesilea laid her chin on my shoulder as her claws tested the structural integrity of my ass and whispered, "so...?" I just put my arm over her shoulders, tried to maybe pin her to my side a little, and repeated Marie's answer.

"Patience." Eventually, some time well after noon, Arachne settled enough to go in for some food and for finding rooms. Penthesilea and Iphigenia took rooms to either side of D and Sarah. Arachne... So weird, that she avoided the kits and Menace at first, but then insisted on sleeping in the big round bed with us. I mean, I wasn't gonna argue. I also didn't argue when a certain Murder Mittens swept me away to the Bedroom later. Apparently Penthesilea's patience has limits.