Chương 714: Day Seven Hundred And Twelve

Dear Diary, Sometimes I'm really not sure about this whole religion thing. Seriously, I get it, I'm a Deity now. Not even just 'technically a Deity' like Marie, either. That's not meant as an insult of any kind. She's clearly got more going on Deity wise than me in the mental sense, because she can legit control more than one of herself at a time to do true multitasking, where every one of me other than one of me is more or less on autopilot all the time.

She can also have one of her sleep while the others are awake, which is huge. Like, apparently even Loki has some problems with that. Less so now that I'm no longer dying of the Divine equivalent of starvation, thanks to my Daughter. Huh. Good to know. Thanks, Dad. You still can't do that, can you? Nope. Although I guess I'll give it a try later this week maybe. Whether it works or not though, you're still the best. I know.

So at any rate, while Marie can multitask where I can't, and she can step to M-Space and touch Souls, I don't think she has enough raw Divine Power to rewrite reality or fix causality when it's broken. Or, y'know, to break it in the first place. Honestly, I did that shit by accident, and if Jack's Wish and Adrienne's Blessing gave me a bit of a boost in doing so, I still did that shit by accident. That's like going to get in your car and ripping the fuckin' door off or some shit like that.

While I'm beat to shit after doing so, and honestly that's more true mentally than it is physically, to be clear it's a 'did a bunch of hard work I'm not accustomed to' beat to shit, not 'died and said fuck you to dying because I have Kittens to seduce and kittens to sire'. Okay, that's got to be one of the weirdest things about here and now me. Like, not the weirdest, clearly, but one of. Although I think that's the right word for it, because being Maze's Papa aside, I'm clearly Mama, not Dad.

Also, if Marie's kittens or snaky tentacles or catgirls pop out and start calling me Papa, I'm gonna have words with Maze. Not, like, overly harsh ones, but maybe I can bribe her to convince the next batch to call me Mama or something. Holy crap on a stick I am actually intending to put another batch of buns in my Murder Mittens' Muffin Oven. I don't even know how to feel about that. Like, obviously, I enjoy the sex part, because duh.

But as we showed for like almost two years before getting my big wifey dork with child, engaging in sexual shenanigans need not result in offspring. But it's not even about that. The thought of actually making babies with her yet again once this set is out and she's recovered has me all kinds of anxious. Which, after yesterday afternoon, has to be some kind of impressive. I'm a little, I dunno, feeling some kinda way about that now.

I sort of remember doing stuff with Saffron with both of us as Great Kraken back when my memory got hit with Ria's Blessing whammy. No idea what we were doing, just poking appendages in orifices, rubbing, poking, all that good good, but without any instinct or knowledge of what's supposed to go where. I'm pretty sure there was even some orifice creation that went on that day. Sure as fuck was yesterday. Which left the Kraken sort of... okay, they don't think like we do.

Don't speak like we do, the closest they get to us is some really baseline emotions. Although oddly enough Blend will translate from Kraken to Human, or at least from Kraken to Tabitha, and I can do the rest. Like, they perceive some things differently, even while others mesh pretty well. Yeah, I'm not describing this well, because they are, in a word, alien.

I'm pretty sure that's why my Great Kraken High Clergy, because I definitely have at least two of those, unless the Keeper swam down to Florida just to visit, which I don't think she did, but I'm pretty sure that's why they don't ping my brain a lot. Because a direct mind-to-mind contact with someone that alien, the brain starts to melt a little, and I'm pretty sure the Divine brain isn't going to be the one melting.

Fuck, this is like conversing with one of those 'Great Old Ones' from those Mythos stories, only I'm the fuckin' Great Old One, and the poor Kraken are the humans. Just tryna talk to me without me being my own cutout winds up driving them insane. I feel a little bad about that. I feel a little bad that we wound up having a Great Kraken Orgy instead of, y'know, me paying close personal attention to each and every one of them.

I'm definitely feeling some kind of way, and I'm not sure if it's sad, angry, or just embarrassed, that apparently Saffron and I are, by Great Kraken standards, Cenobite level freaky. At least part of my bad feels about it are because as Goddess and chief High Priestess, we set the tone of the function, and while I'm ninety percent sure that nobody went away dissatisfied or with mortal wounds, ninety percent is ten percent too low for the former and more than that for the latter. Still, the Worship was intense.

Translocated away to Erie, froze our asses off for the fraction of a second it took us to Shapeshift back to ourselves, then Translocated back directly to the Bath to warm up in a physical sense and cool down in the mental one. Okay, very shortly after landing in the Bath we realized that we weren't really cold after Shapeshifting back to Human-Adjacent shape and size, but we were kinda coated in Great Kraken emissions.

So we hopped out, showered, then dried off and headed down to collect Siobhan and Marie from the bedroom.

"So, Temple of Wisdom then?" Saffron shook her head as she gently sponged Siobhan off while Marie held her in place and I pulled some of Siobhan's comfy clothes out of the closet.

"Not unless you would really rather, love. Not this year." I head tilted a little at that, and she smiled at my confusion. I caught her mental image of me with floppy dog ears and snorted as she explained.

"The women would like to celebrate here at the Homestead." I smiled at that. We'd done our duty to the Temple of Wisdom last year, showing up, throwing logs on the fire, doing the jumping thing, and unless I missed my guess, making love under the stars on the roof of the place. Yes, I was definitely gonna call what we did 'lovemaking', because... it was. Yeah, bells rang and we got sweaty as shit, but that doesn't preclude love.

I smiled at her as I laid Siobhan's clothes out on the bed next to her and said, "sounds good to me. We gonna have a bonfire?"

"It's traditional."

"We gonna jump over it?" She smiled up at me.

"Would you like to?" I smiled back at her, then at Marie, then down at Siobhan.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think I would."

"But I," Saffron stopped Siobhan's complaint with her fingertips. I noticed something, and placed my own fingertips gently on Siobhan's collar, where it seemed to have become one with her neck. Wasn't sure if that was Conrad's Artificing fuckery or Siobhan bloating a little because pregnant, but I whispered, "this can't be comfortable."

"If someone tries to take my collar I will bite them," Siobhan murmured through Saffron's fingers, prompting everyone to giggle. Of course, it also prompted Marie to say, "Me Too." I grinned at her, ran my fingers around the black band of skin and fur around her neck.

"I don't think yours comes off, Mittens."

"Or Hers." My inner gremlin made me trace my fingers along both collars at once.

"So if I tinker with the clasp on her collar, you're both gonna bite me?"

"I think someone wants to be bit, ladies." Trust my Kitten to realize what I wanted even before I did.

"But quickly, we'd best be getting down to the Courtyard." After a bit of really affectionate nibbling in all directions, we helped Siobhan and Marie dress, then we all walked downstairs to the dining room. Where the kids were in the process of setting out grilled sandwiches for everyone. On the one hand, I felt a little bad when my first mental reaction was to notice the burned bits, the uneven grilling, the general sloppiness of all of it.

On the other hand, our girls had made sandwiches all on their own, and made enough for everyone in the Homestead, really. The women from North House and South House had brought stuff as well, so we wound up using more than just the serving table to hold all the food. That meant everybody rolled through to grab dinner, while the four of us sat there holding court.

So weird that people felt better just seeing me sitting there, but I guess with me being the one that kicked the living shit out of whatever threatened them, knowing I hadn't done a runner, just gotten busy for a couple days, had to be a relief. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Did not expect Cadets Ryan, Chloros, and Aetos to be part of the crowd circulating through. Although that wasn't entirely accurate.

They cycled through, collecting hugs from me and Saffron, not to mention our girls, who were hovering over the sandwiches they'd made, piping up when someone asked what was in them. But they weren't technically Cadets any more. We had three Heroes living in our Homestead. Okay, three Heroes other than Saffron. I didn't count, still being a Hero In Waiting, as far as I knew.

As some of the women, led by Devorah, came through a second time, both to get seconds of the sandwiches and linger around our table to talk with us, I thought to Saffron, why are they all still so eager to see me, what with the Heroes living here now? She pinched me under the table where nobody could see. Because they love you, Goof. I snorted, trying my best to keep it inside, only letting the tiniest chuckle out. Who, me? Really? I mean, okay, yeah, Devorah still wants to get with me, I guess, but the rest?

Wait, did you tell them all they can run a train on me or something? I'd missed whatever Devorah said, but she seemed happy that it made me smile. Meanwhile Saffron whispered into my brain, did you want them all to? No! Then I thought about it. I mean, not really?

I looked around at the ones still in our dining room, realizing that the combination of all the hard work they'd put in turning our Homestead into a home, plus the high protein diet of plentiful bear meat had left the women of our Homestead maybe a little buffer than most. Not, like, bodybuilder buff. Just, I dunno, what I guess I always thought of as 'farm girl' buff. You wouldn't expect them to need someone to lift reasonable shit or carry wood in from outside or anything like that.

The hand Saffron had pinched me with slipped open, caressing my thigh as she giggled into my brain. So, should I arrange for Karen to take all the children for some kind of activity some time soon? No! I mentally squeaked again, realizing as she grinned that she was definitely at least half joking. Like, she'd totally arrange that shit for me if I said yes, but she also didn't really think I wanted it. Then I realized something. Wow. What is it, love? I think my time at the Temples taught me something.

She smirked up at me, and I realized right then that whenever she looked at me like that, like the two of us were sharing some kind of intimate, private joke, the women in the room all smiled. Us being affectionate made them happy. Which did not do anything for my resolve to avoid initiating Operation: Homestead Train, but my moment of satori still held sway. So are you going to show me the new tricks you've picked up frolicking with your flock?

I snorted and leaned over to give her a quick smooch, which got the surprising yet inevitable flicker of smiles. Nah. Not that. I've realized that I like... focusing. Wait, no. I mean, yeah, but... Intimacy. I like intimacy more than I like sex? Holy shit, I like intimacy more than I like sex. I must have made a face, because a wave of quiet chuckles spread out from where we sat. Saffron reached up and pulled me down for a thorough kissing; when she let me go, Marie did the same.

When she let me go, Siobhan looked so forlorn that I leaned over and kissed her as well. Saffron leaned her chin on one hand, watching us with a soft smile. I think we've all noticed that, love. So, shall we tell the boys not to come over tomorrow night then? Wait, you invited them over tomorrow night? She Grinned at me. Well, no, but we could. But I guess you don't want to now? I didn't say that. I snickered. My love of sex has not diminished. I've just found something I like more.

Saffron shifted over to sit in my lap.

"So, both is good?"

"Yeah, Kitten. Both is good." We sat there and necked while the women sat around gossiping for a bit, until Hero Aetos wandered in from outside. Funny, he's not Lachlan, or Silk, or boy-mode Saffron, but watching the reactions of the women as he walked through the room definitely sorted out the Straights from the Sapphics. Heroic Title at work, I guess.

Fuck it, all of them know they've got a safe, secure, stable place to live without giving it up for the local 'big strong man', so if they're all down for him being Town Bike, I can't see a problem with it. He stopped in front of us and said, "bonfire's ready, if you want to come out and light it?" So we all trooped out to the Courtyard, where a big assed bonfire had been set up.

Not, like, as big as the Temple of Wisdom last year, but a big solid thing that could keep everyone warm on a not very chilly night, if we all decided to dance around it skyclad or some wacky shit like that. Not that there would be skyclad dancing with my daughters just yet. Okay, maybe, but purely as a religious thing, not any kind of, y'know, 'fertility rite' thing. I do not need grandchildren yet. Are you certain about that, Tabitha? Tallulah kinda startled me as she showed up out of nowhere.

"You're not celebrating in Rich Man's Port?"

"Did you think I should?" She seemed, I dunno, worried about that for some reason. Before I could reply, Saffron poked me, and somehow my Goof brain translated that to replying, "of course not. You're family, right? So you belong here with family." I'm not sure I'd ever seen Tallulah smile quite like that without Ria being involved. Of course, a moment later our little Sidhe girl was involved, her arms around one of Tallulah's legs. Maze glomped the other one, and Menace scampered up me like a tree.

"Mama! Wide da fiyah!" I looked at Saffron, who nodded, and then I focused on the fire, pulled on that part of me that connected me to Dad, to Hearth-fires, to fires that weren't just fires, but symbols of home. A moment later, we had a roaring bonfire.

"Thank you, love."

"You wanna do some running and jumping?" She shook her head, smiling.

"Would you be upset if you and I waited?" I felt myself pout a little, but tried to hold it back.

"Why? I mean, sure, but why?" She smiled up at me.

"Because I want to save the best for last?" I leaned over and kissed her, murmuring, "right back at you, Kitten," into her lips.

"Attention everyone! Our first lovers of the evening!" Saffron announced, and everybody kinda shifted around to give us a runway and some landing space. I walked hand in hand with Marie to the far end of the Courtyard, then looked at her belly.

"You sure about this, Mittens?"

"Yes!" She took off, and I realized that while she was absolutely carrying all kinds of extra weight on the front, she also wanted this enough to make the run. Again, not the huge bonfire of last year, and my Mittens, she long of leg and strong to boot, so we both sailed right over, landing on our feet and staggering to a stop in each other's arms. I slipped my arms under her and carried her back to where Saffron waited, setting Marie in her lap, then turning to Siobhan.

"Well?"

"I... I can't!" I gook her by the hand, gently towing her to the staring point.

"Not feeling well enough?" She was so cute when she got flustered.

"I can't leap over that!" I turned to face her, my palms against her cheeks, staring into her eyes.

"Siobhan Darling, do you want to leap over that fire with me?" She opened her mouth, and I cut her off.

"Yes. Or. No?" Her mouth worked, then she whispered, "yes, bu..." Her words slipped into a squeal, her arms wrapping around me as I scooped her up and ran. Leapt. Landed, all without jostling her. When I looked down at her, joy warred with nausea on her face.

"Sorry, Darling. Too much?" She smiled up at me, and as we approached Saffron and Marie, whispered.

"only in that I suspect I'll have that done to me twice more tonight."

"Yes." Marie definitely had opinions about that. I agreed with them. I handed Siobhan over, then reached for Saffron's hand. She shook her head, and I smiled at her.

"Oh, right. You've got your own leaping around to do first." She smiled up at me, shaking her head.

"I do, but you're not done yet either." When I tilted my head, wordlessly asking for explanation, she nodded toward someone behind me. I turned, half expecting to maybe see Devorah, and got the tiniest shock to see Tallulah standing there looking... shy. She looked down at her feet.

"I didn't mean to presume." She went silent when I took her hand and tugged. As we walked, I whispered, "I don't know where else this is gonna go, but we've got a daughter in common, right?" She smiled at me.

"Two, now." When I asked the question with a look, she smiled and said, "Jack and Adrienne might well make you a grandmother soon." That hit me in more ways than I could process right then. So I set that aside as a problem for Future Tabitha, and turned to the fire.

"Yeah. Okay. Two girls. So, yeah. That's something to build on, right?" She nodded, we turned, and ran for the fire. We leapt, and right at the height of our leap, she pulled me around and kissed me, whispering, and someday, three, into my brain. Yeah, I guess it wouldn't be a proper Summer Solstice without me tumbling on my ass at the end of at least one leap.

When we got back to where Saffron sat, we settled in to watch first Marie and Siobhan, then Saffron and Siobhan, then the absolutely hilarious sight of Saffron scooping Marie up and carrying her like I'd carried Siobhan. It felt so strange, watching them. Literally, like little bindings slipping around my heart, not to mention other bits, as each couple finished those leaps. As Saffron carried Marie back to us, I turned to Tallulah.

"You making that leap with anyone else?" She looked around, then back to me.

"Not tonight." That sort of bothered me as Saffron set Marie down next to Siobhan, then helped me to my feet. I pondered as we walked to the start of our run, then looked down into her eyes.

"Are you okay with," I nodded toward Tallulah. She just smiled up at me.

"Why wouldn't I be? Do you love me any less?"

"No!" She just giggled.

"That question was rhetorical, love. But since you seem to need reassurance." A moment later, we both wore our High Priestess finest. She took my hand in hers, slipped her other hand around my waist, and we danced down the runway, then right over the bonfire, flames licking at us from beneath, lifting our skirts and hair and spirits in equal measure.

The strangest, most wondrous part of the whole night had to be that feeling, that very physical feeling I'd felt watching each of my loves declare their love for each other, tickle its way across my skin, weaving itself into something more, something deliciously intimate without, surprising me, being the slightest bit sexual. Most of all, where Marie was stiff lace, Siobhan soft cotton, and Tallulah smooth silk, my Kitten was...

like a second skin, slipping over me, sliding in and around all the others, holding them to me and each other. When we cleared the far side of the fire, our women reacting with cheers and jeers and even some awed gasps from those who hadn't heard of our previous year's fire dance, I looked down at her.

"I love you, Saffron Aetos-Diaz." She smiled up at me, then pulled me snug to her, laying her head against my breast.

"And I you, Tabitha Diaz."