Chương 686: Day Six Hundred And Eighty-Four

Dear Diary, I think the weirdest part about being a Goddess, especially when I think about how I would have reacted to finding out about that part back in the day, has got to be my new Friday Night Revel thing. Because frankly I think it might rapidly be becoming my favorite part of being a Goddess as well. Like, if I still had some of the abilities I do, if I were as strong as I am, able to take care of my family, keep in touch with my ladies, 'being a Goddess' wouldn't be so high a priority.

Like, I get it, I have those abilities, have that power, because I am a Goddess. But those are kinda side benefits, maybe. I'm a Goddess so I have them, and I love having them, and they help me keep the people around me safe and sound and maybe even flourishing, but...

Y'know, I think the bit back in the day me would never really have understood is that my Friday Night Revels aren't my favorite part because I get to get my groove on half a dozen times in an evening with people who are coming up specifically to get with me. Don't get me wrong, that's awesomesauce and the entire party sized bag of chips. That's some validation and acceptance straight to the hindbrain from the girl who constantly wound up an afterthought, an also ran, a booty call of last resort.

But that's not why I love it. I love it, at least I think I love it, because I get to give back. Not just in some kind of 'I kill the people tryna oppress and exploit them' kind of way, or a 'I deal with big disastrous problems they can't' kind of way, or even in a 'I'm strong and fast and tough and can do some wacky levels of Search and Rescue' kind of way. Hell, my previous proudest moment was all the Healing, keeping all those people who would have died alive, but that was just another kind of natural disaster.

No, my favorite part is being able to meet with so many of the people who support me, who Worship me, who empower me to do all that stuff I listed above, and form an intimate connection with them, and maybe even help them in ways that help them grow, to become more than they were, to become better people not because I'm punishing or restricting them, but because I'm uplifting and empowering them. And, now and then, doing so in ways that nobody else can do, or at least that nobody else has done.

Even my dad, no matter how much I love him, even though he's the best, hasn't done this. So after a day spent doing normal daily things and watching Karen watch Pesce maneuver the Questing Tentacle through waterways that she probably shouldn't really fit through, I brought dinner home for the fam. I also learned the why behind shoe leather beef.

No refrigeration combined with 'salting' and 'pickling' being the two most common types of meat storage, followed up by not paying all that much attention to rehydrating the beef, because the folks eating it not only didn't appreciate it, they bitched about it. Suffice to say that Marie has decided that Shoe Leather Beef will no longer be tolerated in the Academy Kitchens or Dining Hall, and the kids got some really nice savory stew with mixed veg in, plus bread and salads.

Yes, I ate my salad before heading off to the Temple in New Amsterdam. I also chugged my stew while the kids cheered me on. Then I gave my ladies kisses and hugs and stepped to the Altar in New Amsterdam. It's weird, I don't know how I realized so quickly that the Clergy at the front of the queue weren't the same ones who'd been there last time. Something about the way they all looked, I dunno, like they weren't real comfortable being at the front of the line.

I waited, patiently, while the one at the front worked themselves up to stepping up to me. Eventually they did, looking at the floor between my feet, unable to bring themselves to meet my gaze. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. I reached up and lifted their chin until I could look into their eyes.

"Hey. What's your name?"

"Ivan." I gotta say, Ivan did not sound a whole lot like an Ivan. Yeah, maybe a little bit raspy and not a soprano, but... I looked into their head, but before I could say or do anything based on what I found there, Ivan cut in with, "Is it true, the Boon you granted Alan?"

I smiled up at her, stood as I slipped my fingers up into her hair, then ran them down her face, down her neck, down her arms and across her hips and finally coming to rest on her thighs just above her knees as she stumbled, not used to the way her weight sat now. As her eyes shot open I reached back up to thumb away the tears that threatened, I said, "well? What do you think?" She blinked, looked down at me, and for some mysterious reason looked guilty.

I looked inside of her, saw what resided in that deep hidden inner place, and smiled up at her.

"Want a bit of a Divine Blessing as a test drive, huh?" She smiled down at me, nodding, but held my hands before I could pull her down.

"There... there are others waiting." I raised an eyebrow.

"Others like me." I chuckled, pulled her ear down to mine, and said loud enough for them to hear me in the sudden silence of the temple, "Want to show them what they have to look forward to?" She did. The whole Karen on New Years treatment, front and center and the focus of the entire Revel congregation for as long as she could stand. Then Jon, then Ben, then Joe. All needing, all wanting, all hoping for the same general thing. All with that vague desire for their bodies to match their Souls in that one vital way.

Each and every one thrilled beyond their ability to express when their bodies matched their inner selves as accurately as I could make them. Really kinda funny in the case of Joe, who went from long, leggy, almost model pretty to a short stack to rival my Kitten. The next one who came up, again dressed in Glowing Midnight, seemed almost unable to close with me. I motioned them forward, and they shuffled toward me.

"What's up?" I asked, as I looked into their Soul.

"Stella?" He looked up, then down. Then grabbed at his crotch. I banished his Glowing Midnight, dropping it on the Altar behind us, and snagged his hips to pull him toward me. I eyed it critically, then looked up into his eyes.

"So, you like?" I asked, completely unnecessarily as he ran his fingers across his pecs. I smirked, then asked, "mind if I give my work a taste test?" He did not, in fact, mind at all. Nor did Denise, although he really wanted to try every conceivable position he could manage with me as a girl. I got to experience that fantastically exposed position myself at one point, and holy crap did that Worship hit hard like that.

Then Ray, who was as fluid as I was, who seemed confused when I left them as fluid as they wanted to be. Then Dana, who didn't want any of it. I held them after, gently talking with them about what they intended to do next. They seemed to think they couldn't be my Clergy without the equipment to participate in the sex part of Revels.

"Do you still want to be?" I asked. They nodded.

"More than anything." I shrugged.

"Okay then. You are."

"But I..."

"You. Are." They smiled, and I snuggled them until they went to sleep, because it was getting really close to morning. At that point, after laying them down on the Altar, I turned to the folks waiting patiently in queue for me.

"You guys let them go first?" A bunch of them nodded, and I smiled at them.

"You guys rock. Can't wait to see you on the night of the New Moon." With that I stepped away, collected my kids, Liam, and the Homestead kids who wanted to come along, and stepped them all to school. I stuck around, not just to make sure the new kids integrated okay, but also to teach Math. That still kinda fucks with me. I did all the rest of my normal stuff, not to mention one of me sticking around at the Homestead long enough to visit with the kids' moms.

Yeah, I felt kinda guilty about absconding with their kids, but if they were less than copacetic about anything, it was me assuming their kids, like, deserved a formal education with math and history and shit. I think I scored more Patron points with them or something. Definitely got some Worship out of that too. Really thought Karen would be heading into Jackville today, but she wound up sleeping off the Revel from last night. I kinda forget other people need to do that.