Chương 200: Day One Hundred And Ninety-Eight

Dear Diary, It's really weird; I used to get really bent out of shape at management types who didn't get their hands dirty. Now I are one. Not, like, on purpose or because I want to slack, but because I don't know enough about anything that the Cadets and Volunteers are doing to be more than brute force and another set of hands, and not only are we really not short on hands, but I've also got all that 'go do the thing you told me you need to do' cheerleading on my plate.

So, like, I'm not complaining, but it's really fuckin' weird. But I said that already. The family got to spend one last night in the farmstead's master suite, and I would be lying if I even tried to imply that the three of us didn't take advantage of that until we all passed out from exhaustion. Okay, not so much 'passed out' as 'got happy sleepy from Happy Brain Chemicals', but you get the gist, I'm sure. Woke up to Marie telling us breakfast was ready again.

While getting dressed in the dressing room, we discovered something we'd missed the two days prior. There'd been a curtain along the inside wall of the dressing room, and neither Saffron nor I had really given it any thought. The menace, on the other hand, finally noticed it, and curious little scamp that she is, she pulled it aside to reveal a full length wall mirror. Saffron's breath caught when she saw it.

"What's up, Kitten?" She shook her head, then said, "that's hideously expensive. Not more expensive than the house, but probably in the same general range." Thinking about the glass I'd seen, and realizing that they probably still made mirrors using precious metals like silver, that made a whole lot of sense, even if I just couldn't feel it in my gut the way she did.

"Well, I guess we missed an opportunity, then." Saffron shot me a look while adjusting her garters.

"Don't tell me you'd have taken this with us?"

"Nah, nothing like that. But I've always wanted to try it in front of a mirror. Y'know, try the whole 'exhibition / voyeur' thing without needing anybody but the three of us." Saffron rolled her eyes, "of course you do." Then she got a bit of a faraway look on her face.

"You know, I think that's a completely reasonable thing to look for if and when we finally look for our own house. Or perhaps if we get one of the suites at the Academy." I stepped over to the mirror to really get a look at myself; I'd done the Co-Location often enough to, y'know, recognize myself, but I'd never really looked myself over. Dunno why not. Probably because I'm an oversexed idiot who seriously considered Co-Locating for solo fun time, but not to use it for a mirror.

Then again, the feedback's a bitch, so neither of those might be as fun as I'd have thought. Starting from the bottom, Marie kept my boots shiny as fuck, and they gleamed even in the dim light in the dressing room. The slacks covered the top of the boots, the linen just as black as the boots, matte to the boot's high gloss. Even I noticed the slacks' tailoring, flaring out in the thigh to cover my thighs, which were at least twice as wide as my calves.

I mean, my calves weren't skinny or anything, but they mostly bulged out to the back, where my thighs? Just bulging out all over the place. Okay, not exactly 'all over the place'. No thigh gap for your girl Tabitha, because too much muscle. Of course, I turned to check out my ass, fully ready to remain frustrated and disappointed by my eternal flat ass. Did you know that if you work your glutes enough, you can actually have a badonkadonk made out of muscle?

I sure as fuck didn't until I saw my ass actually, y'know, sticking out behind me, flaring the tails of my jacket just a little bit. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Kinda interesting, I know the uniform has really good gusseting, what with being able to do all Marshall duBois' freaky tai chi moves and stretches while wearing it, but if I stood there casual-like? I couldn't really see any of it.

Something, something, something, tailors with centuries of experience with this exact uniform. Above the waist the jacket pretty much covered everything. A fond memory popped up, the first time I'd seen Saffron jacketless, and I went to the trouble of unbuttoning my shirt just to check to see how I looked. I'd been kinda worried about all the chest exercises deflating my boobs or something like that.

I mean, they were there when I looked down, but without a mirror or Co-Locating, I can only get that one view, y'know? Surprised myself a second time when I realized that while I had some pronounced neck muscles peeking out at the top of my shirt's ruffles, the pectorals I knew I had got entirely eclipsed by my tits. I'm not sure if they looked so big because of the pecs, or if somehow nursing Isnomi had wound up with me starting to lactate, or what, but dayum, I looked racked.

I tried to be a little subtle about pulling my shirt open to see whether I needed to worry about padding the inside of my shirt to prevent milk stains, which is when Saffron interrupted my self-inspection by laughing and saying, "Yes, Goof, they're, what was that phrase you used?

'Sugoi Dekai?" I watched a blush rush over my chest and up my neck. Of course, that blush made my scars stand out. So many scars. Not too many on my face; one along the left side of my jaw, another thin horizontal one right below my hairline on the right side. Below that? I had a whole network of them. They didn't stand out so much now, since they'd all healed over and weren't the angry red color they'd been.

Saffron stepped in front of me, interrupting my self-inspection by the simple expedient of letting me see her front directly and her back in the mirror, which caused a bit of an overload and crash in Tabitha. exe. While I ogled, she reached up and ran a gentle hand across the scars on my neck and the top of my chest.

"So many." I shrugged.

"Something about Co-Location. Dead mes don't rejoin, they just hurt like fuck when they die, but I guess I get all the nicks and bruises of all the live mes when I bring myself back together again." Almost whispering, not meeting my eyes, she said, "all this, for me." I shrugged.

"Yeah?" She looked up at me.

"We always have the lights down lately. Firelight for the past few nights, but still not clear lighting." I shrugged again.

"Hadn't really thought about it."

"When next we have time so we need not rush, we will not turn the lights down." I shot her a crooked grin, because I had the perfect quote for this.

"Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory lasts forever." After a second, I thought about it enough to ask, "so. Do you? Dig scars?" She smiled up at me.

"Not the scars themselves. The fact that you got them all avenging me." I sighed.

"I must look kinda gruesome when I'm starkers and flushed." She shook her head.

"Never. These are not marks of shame. They are badges of honor. They are your love for me traced out in flesh and pain." I chuckled.

"Way too deep for me."

"I will just have to make you believe. Which, once I have the opportunity, I will do, with our dear Marie's assistance." Before I could reply, Marie cut in with a simple, "Yes." I pulled them both into a hug, and couldn't even be mad when the menace climbed up the inside of our little triangle to hug us all.

"Breakfast is probably getting cold."

"Hush, Goof. It can wait." I certainly wasn't going to argue with her at that point.

"Yes, dear." After we'd stood there long enough for the warmth of the three of them to sink deep into me, Saffron sighed, turned to me, and fixed my blouse and jacket.

"I'm afraid I need to be going now." I sighed.

"Yeah, I know. Marie?"

"Yes?"

"Can you carry Isnomi's bed while Saffron Translocates you back to the Academy?" For an answer, she set the menace on the bed, then lifted it with one hand. Saffron took her other hand, I snagged another round of hugs and kisses, and then they were gone. I wandered down to breakfast, only to find most of the Cadets with mostly empty plates. A small stack of full plates sat in front of my seat, and Azalea slapped Andre's hand away when he stole a sausage from one of them.

Of course, eating meant I was completely unable to defend myself from the endless volleys of ribald joking about how little sleep the Cadets had gotten last night. Even with half of it aimed at Andre and Azalea, plenty of it still wound up coming my way. Hell of a way to be reminded that the rooms here weren't soundproofed.