Chương 535: Day Five Hundred And Thirty-Three

Dear Diary, Y'know, at some point I need to make a list of shit I've promised people I'd do. Seriously, I'm sure there's shit I'm forgetting. Like, I remember a lot of things when I think about it. Freeing Dad and his kids. Fixing Hades' roof, and maybe doing a better job on Hel's place. Seriously, if I put the time in to do his sunlight right, and hers is just kind of a smacked open rift to the sky, that's gonna make her feel some kinda way.

I'm pretty sure I remember promising, at least to myself, that I had to reward Grand Councilman George Papadopoulos. I definitely have to figure out some kind of reward for Siobhan, and Saffron's made it clear she's in need of some Penance for shit she had to pull while I was amnesiac. Those are just the big ticket ones that I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure there are others out there that I put on the list and, because there is no actual physical list, forgot about immediately.

That's not a happy making thought, especially what with the potential for Divine Mana Fuckery giving me a painfully inconvenient M-Space Turbo Wedgie. Okay, that's honestly the least of my worries, even though it probably ought to be higher on the list. Really, I'm just trying to be the best me I can be, and 'doing what I said I was gonna do' seems to be a big part of that. Integrity is something I think everybody ought to aspire to having.

I dunno about anybody else, but at least for me a big part of that is follow through. Probably gonna need to sit down with Saffron and make a list, and have her hold me to it. I really hope that's not asking too much, like I'm trying to make her be mature for me or something.

I kinda wonder if other married couples eventually do stuff like this, and whether it makes their relationship stronger over time as they help each other with things they have problems with, or it eats away at things until they have some kind of blowup about it. Because that latter scenario does not appeal to me one tiny little bit. So Mom and Dad stayed yesterday all the way through dinner time, at which point we decided on after dinner showers and a nice long soak.

While Saffron and Siobhan got the little ones showered and into the Bath, where Sigyn already waited to watch over them, I sidled up to Loki, currently wearing his Lymanette guise.

"You know, you don't have to do the girl thing." She looked up at me, raising an eyebrow.

"It wouldn't make anyone uncomfortable to have a man in the room?" I shrugged.

"We've got some boys in here. Only a couple, but I realized just now that you doing that might be sending some kinda negative message about masculinity to them." She tilted her head.

"You'd posit me as an exemplar of masculinity to young men?" I smiled at her.

"Oh, devoted family man, literal God of Home and Hearth with a sense of humor? I can think of worse."

"You realize I'm somewhat fluid on the subject of gender? That I have at one point literally been railed not like, but as a mare in heat?" I choked down a laugh at that.

"Yeah, I get that. Funny thing, unless some of the Lancaster House bros show up or something, you're also the most 'guy' person in the room." She just poked my bicep. Or rather, put her finger against it and pushed and didn't do much at all in terms of pressing into it.

"Really now?" I nodded, my smile getting a lot more smug.

"Yeah. Really. Because being a guy isn't about being a wall of muscle. I think any boys here ought to see that." She pursed her lips, then said, "tonight would be odd, since I've already started like this. But going forward, I'll see to providing a good example for how one ought behave in a mixed bath." I hugged her, and she squeaked a little.

"Thanks, Dad." Weirdest fuckin' thing in the world happened at that point, as Loki walked over to join Sigyn watching the kids. Tallulah showed up. Like, I maybe felt that little mental tingle that told me one of my Clergy was poking at my brain, and then Tallulah. Fully dressed, in her whole court regalia getup.

"Goddess."

"Hey, Tallulah. C'mon, I'm naked and about to climb in the bath. You can call me Tabitha." She opened her mouth as if to argue, but then said, "we are in your House. As you wish, Tabitha." I chuckled.

"While on the topic of the House and customs thereof, you're a little overdressed." She looked around, looked down at herself, and I waved for her to follow me and stepped into the room with the cubbies. Our locker room, I guessed, although what with everyone being a family member or guest, I figured we wouldn't need 'lockers'. If we did, somebody was gonna need to find a new place to stay while visiting. When she followed me into the locker room, I asked, "so, what brings you to Casa de Aetos y Diaz?"

"I hoped to spend time with my daughter Ria this Yule." Poor woman looked like she'd just admitted to grand larceny or some kind of blasphemy. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I smiled at her and put a hand on her arm. Had to reach up a little to do it. Tallulah be tall.

"Yeah, if you want to take her home after her bath, I guess that's cool." I'd tried to keep my disappointment at our newest girl going away during the holiday, but Tallulah must have spotted it.

"I... I could... Could I stay here?" I must have looked a little happy, because she said, "I'd hoped to spend time in a place where I need not be on my guard at all times." Yeah, if you need to be on your guard here, you're already kinda fucked, aren't you? She winced, and I pulled her in to a hug.

"Look, Tallulah, I didn't mean anything negative by that. Ria's family, which makes you family. Maybe give us a little more warning next time, though? I'm not sure we have enough towels."

"Towels?" I nodded toward the Bath, and very pointedly did not look down at my very naked front, which I kinda sorta wanted to get showered and into said Bath.

"Yeah. Ria's in there right now. I'm sure she'll be thrilled to see you." She surprised me with a wry grin.

"I'm not sure Ria was thrilled by much of anything before you chose to foster her." I nodded toward one of the cubbies.

"Well, no time like the present to fix that. C'mon, we've got a little time before the kids manage to overwhelm the Trickster God and his mega-mommy wife." She blushed a little, and I whispered, "look, if you really don't want to get all the way naked, I'm sure nobody will say anything if you keep your panties and bra... er, shift on." She shook her head, then slipped her outfit off piece by piece, sliding each into the cubby atop the others. Her boots went into a cubby beneath the rest though.

Honestly, they were the biggest reason I wanted her out of the Bath with them on; even if they'd been, y'know, 'scraped', they were still boots. Not something you want in your bath water if you can possibly avoid it. Surprisingly quickly, she had everything, underthings included, folded neatly in a cubby, at which point she turned to me and said, "lead on, Tabitha." I took her hand and walked her back in to the showers, where Saffron was waiting for me.

Siobhan and Marie had already joined Loki and Sigyn to soak and help with kid wrangling. Then again, between the heat and the hour, the kids weren't all that hard to wrangle. Saffron and I scrubbed Tallulah down. Other than Marie, she was the first woman I'd seen here with the same kind of build I had. Okay, not nearly as much dense muscle, but still that kind of very little excess fat look. Okay, more Marie than me, I guessed.

She waited until Saffron and I finished bathing each other, which gave me a bit of minor sad, what with that precluding even stealth shenanigans, but after yesterday I wasn't exactly hurting for dopamine yet. When we finished, we each took one of her hands and walked her to the tub. We walked down the steps to a nice soaking depth, where the water was just above the knees, at which point I called out, "hey, Ria?"

Our little Sidhe, who'd been playing some kind of lazy water splooshing game with Maze and Lindsey, turned, saw her mom, and her face ran through a gamut of emotions. Surprise at first, of course. Then maybe a little worry, like she thought Tallulah had come to take her home. Then, as she realized that her mom was actually, y'know, naked and getting into the bath, her whole face lit up, radiating joy hard enough it made me blink a little.

It made Tallulah blink a lot as she held out her arms and knelt, and Ria did her best to come rushing over through chest deep water. Which was not very fast at all until a certain Horse Girl took her under the arms and just zipped her over into her mom's waiting arms. I tugged Maze away to snuggle her next to Saffron.

"Neat trick." She shrugged.

"Kelpie."

"Have you always been able to swim like that? Like, completely upright and still going as fast as you were running on land?" She giggled a little at that.

"I'm not sure. Ria's been... helping me." At my quizzical look, she said, "with, um, being Fae, I guess."

"Huh. Cool." At that point Ria, who'd been talking to her mom, turned and pointed at Maze, and Tallulah extended an arm towards us, a clear invitation. Maze looked up at me, and I shrugged and nodded toward them.

"Looks like your sister wants to introduce you." Watching her move through the water without Ria between us was something else. Almost no wake, like the water was moving out of the way for her or even pushing her along. Weird to watch, but very cool. Of course, less than sixty seconds later, I had to raise my voice to be heard underwater, carefully trying to add some warning into my voice without upsetting anyone.

"Menace..." Tallulah might have been confused, but Ria and Maze absolutely knew what I meant, and between the two of them managed to scoop Isnomi out of the water before she re-enacted Jaws on Tallulah or something equally awkward. After that, Ria sat there more or less talking at her mom, Maze and Isnomi backing her up and prompting or prodding her as needed, while Tallulah looked very pleasantly overwhelmed. Oddly enough, she seemed less weirded out by everybody piling into one bed than she had with the bath.

Maybe it's because by then she'd had like an hour of three kids talking at her while she sat in water up to her neck with Ria in her lap. When Sigyn and Loki made their farewells, the rest of us got out of the tub and dried off with some nice white fluffy towels. The kids asked me for towel turbans, so I did them up for all of them. Then Saffron asked for one, and that led to me giving Marie, Siobhan, and Tallulah each one as well.

Weird thing, Tallulah wound up being the one to do mine, because Siobhan couldn't get the hang of it, Marie's fingers couldn't quite do the thing, and Saffron was too short. On the one hand, kinda missed having Ria right up against me. On the other, did me a world of good to see her snuggled up next to her mom. Who was between Marie and Siobhan, of all places. Dreamt of all of my ladies lazily swimming around my Maw. The following day the kids decided that the snow was perfect for outdoor snow battling.

They got all the other kids at the Homestead with them and built two big snow forts, one on either side of the East House entrance. Ria convinced her mom to help design hers, which meant Menace snagged Saffron to do the same. I mostly just watched from the top floor of the tower, making sure nobody wandered off into the snow. While I did that, I pinged Saffron about something, and on receiving a wordless confirmation, Co-Located to the Academy.

I signed myself up for Advanced Physical Training on Tuesdays and Basic Heroic Skills Two on Thursdays. Classes wouldn't start for another couple days anyhow, but it still kinda bothered me that there were a whole bunch of classes I'd just kind of bypassed. So, screw it, since I'm a Hero, or at least a Hero-in-waiting, and Heroes get to sign up for classes, I signed my ass up. Should be interesting, anyhow. If I can remember to go to class this Season, at least.