Chương 968: Day Nine Hundred And Sixty-Six

Dear Diary, It's a little strange to me how fast I wound up embodying certain aspects of my Divine Portfolio. I mean, yeah, they were the parts I was already kinda there for, but if somebody had told me during my first Season here that I'd wind up spending actual intimate time with dozens of people only connected to me via Worship and Service every year, sometimes every month, I'd probably make jokes about becoming Turbo Slut Nine Thousand And One.

The really weird part about that is how I felt like the worst, least lovable slut in the world on the day I confessed to Saffron about having sex with Marie in the Infirmary, and how even after Vickerson I felt kind of slutty in a bad way, by the time Saffron and I spent the night with Lachlan and Linus she'd managed to straighten my head out enough that I didn't feel anything like as guilty as I had after that first confession.

The times I've been with friends or acquaintances since then, and right now I'm thinking mostly about Lily, but Lachlan and Linus and Silk count too, I haven't felt guilty or slutty. I mean yeah, I'm still gonna joke about it, and I'm still a lusty wench, but so long as I'm not abusing anybody or messing with their Agency, I don't feel guilty about any of them. The folks who join me on the Altar are another thing entirely, and definitely warrant the 'it's complicated' tag.

On the one hand, given who I've indicated I want joining me, meaning my Clergy and folks who volunteer at my Temples, I think most of them see it as some kind of reward. Like a backstage pass to a celebrity's dressing room for the after party, although given how often I've dropped Boons on folks, either temporary or permanent, while they lay on my Altar with me, I guess it'd be one of those rich celebrities who's just as likely to buy the contest winner a new house as buy them dinner.

So if somebody has a problem that only a Deity can fix, I guess 'do good works in the community and get a chance to present your case to the Goddess' isn't the worst trend I could have started. Fuck, I wonder if Diana has Revels at her Temples now. I wonder what her Temples are even like now, really, because before they were basically indoor stadiums. If that's what she wants, that's fine, but honestly I like mine more.

Yeah, there's a certain voyeur and exhibitionist angle to it, but the layout and physical distance between the seats and the Altar make it oddly private. Like, the audience can watch, my Worshipper can show off if that's what they're into, but if not then the audience is just there to bear witness.

Okay, sometimes bearing witness involves masturbating or copulating with the nearest willing partner or partners, because Murder Mittens getting her ashes hauled is the kind of thing that could inspire lust in a fuckin' rock.

Yes, I am deliberately ignoring the fact that the audience has often engaged in those same activities when none of my ladies are up on the Altar with me, even when the dude in question wouldn't get a callback for the 'ugly bastard' role in certain kinds of anime for being too camera unfriendly. Gotta be my Divine Woo saturating the place inadvertently. Meh, I don't force them to show up, although I may check with Karen just to be sure everybody understands that kind of behavior isn't required.

Not gonna penalize it, mind you, but I want my Ace Worshippers to feel welcome at Revels. At any rate, while they might consider it a reward, for me it's a kind of grounding. Not in the punishment sense, but in the connecting to an important part of my foundation sense. From what I can tell, my Worshippers affect me, and I affect them, and that kind of shit can form a self reinforcing feedback loop. Shit, it's going to form one, and the only vague control I have over it is what kind of things I encourage.

What kind of people I tag as my 'most faithful', the ones I let come closest to me, which yes occasionally means six to eight inches inside, and I need to send the Fates a nice fruit basket for not gifting me any Worshippers endowed like Mr. Driver. My point, though, before the digression, was that by choosing those of my Worshippers who do good for others, however obliquely, and spending time doing for them, rather than using them, I've set that loop to be maybe something positive. I think.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. I mean, horny as fuck, yeah, but the neopuritans can join my congregation and get the prudery fucked out of them if they're very polite about it, because I am a kind and loving Goddess and want them to live a life of joy too. Holy fucking shit my teenage edge lord self would die of cringe hearing that. Then auto-Revive when she realized that I was talking about more sex in an evening than she had in a typical year.

Well, more sex with other people. Huh, I just realized that I don't think I've self-serviced since I came out of my hole at the bottom of the ocean, and I can't really remember the last time I did prior to that. Might give that a try just for old time's sake some time soon. Like, after we catch these fuckin' Spartans and deal with them one way or another. So the Spartans got another day ahead of us by the end of the day yesterday, and from what Panther could tell we were even further behind by midnight.

I stepped us home only to find that apparently at some point over the last week or so Marie managed to get a bunch of lobster, I'm guessing from Boltophsberg or maybe the Kraken. Lobster bisque. Oh my fucking beautiful Goddess of a wife, that stuff tasted like orgasms feel. She delivered it to the dining table in actual bowls, unlike the past few days where we got to guzzle dinner. Each bowl had a few shrimp in it. Honey glazed, crispy on the outside, perfect on the inside.

Look, I can make some kitchen magic myself now, but this was fuckin' gustatory wizardry. I put the trackers in the Bath to soak, tagged them with that drown-proofing Boon just in case, then snagged the extra servings of bisque and shrimp, carried them to the Bedroom while duping them a few times, and scooped up my Kitten and my Darling. Orla, Karen, and Mads already knelt on the bed, looking like they intended to do sexytime things. I duped the food some more and thought, Tallulah? She showed a few moments later.

"Mistress?" I snagged Murder Mittens, forcibly planted her on the end of the bed and growled, "stay," then handed every woman in the room a bowl. Nodding to Marie, I said, "this woman, this Goddess, produced this." Then I plunked my ass down on the divan next to Siobhan and Saffron, where I sipped at my bisque, nibbling at the shrimp. Been too long since I saw Marie blush. So adorable. Also, I'm not sure I've ever seen her start sparking from over Worship before while blushing.

Literal little pink sparks where her hair started standing away from her head doing that Jareth thing. By the end of the night, after multiple M-Space duplications of everything, we'd all crowded around Marie, who'd stayed perched on the end of the bed. Those tiny scintillating pink shocks arced between her knees and my fingertips as I smiled up at her.

"You haven't moved once tonight. Are you okay?" She grinned at me, pinkish white of tooth and claw.

"Obedient." I snorted, laughed, and that cut something loose. We tucked the rest of the ladies into bed still chuckling, handed the pruney trackers more bisque and shrimp, then hit the trail again. The good news was that shortly after noon we found the Spartan's next bivouac. The bad news was that shortly after noon we found the Spartan's next bivouac.