Dear Diary,

"'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."

- Alfred Lord Tennyson

"What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us."

- Helen Keller

I read those two one after the other. The first one... I agree, I really do. I haven't always. I first read it as part of an assignment back in High School, where we each had to memorize some classic piece of poetry. Of course, we didn't get to choose, exactly, we got an author assigned to us. Tennyson wasn't really my thing, but that one line spoke to me. I mean, I ranted and screamed and threw the poor book across the room when I read it, because my mom had died like a month before and I hated the world and anything that reminded me of her. Because when you love someone, then lose them, it tears pieces out of you. Like when two trees have grown together, and then one of them gets cut down, it rips away branches, bark, even heartwood.

But I'm not that hurt little kid any more. I've learned more. I've lived more. I've realized the truth of that second quote, and why it makes the first one ever so right. When you love somebody, open yourself up to them, you expose parts of yourself. You give them parts of yourself. And when they do the same they give parts of themselves back to you. That's why, when they go away, it hurts so much. Because they're taking parts of you away. Ripping them from you. Maiming you.

But we heal. We grow back. We come back older, and smarter, and maybe wiser, and tougher. Because when they left they left parts of themselves behind too. They give us part of themselves, and we don't even realize it. They grow inside us, become part of us, and eventually the only reason we know that part maybe wasn't us at first? Is because that's the part that keeps hurting for so long. Because it wasn't torn away from us, it was torn away from them. Maybe 'healing' from that isn't a process of growing new parts to replace the lost ones, but soothing the parts we've gained, letting them know that they're still loved, still cared for, still wanted. Yeah, maybe the person who left hates you now. Maybe the feeling's mutual.

But maybe not. Maybe they didn't want to leave. Maybe they fought like hell to stay with us for just a moment longer. Or maybe they didn't, but they left for one of the million reasons shit happens in the shitty worlds we live in. Fuck, maybe they left for our own good. Maybe they worked themselves to death for us. Maybe they went off to war and died trying to keep us safe. Fuck, maybe they just went to get milk and got run over by a goddamned bus. But... wait, fuckin' Helen Keller said that? No sight, no hearing having bitch said something that fuckin' profound? The fuck? On the one hand, deep internal world and wisdom spewing out the holes and shit, but on the other, how fuckin' stupid do I have to be that I'm ostensibly fully functional and it's taken me the better part of a decade to realize this shit?

Shit, maybe one more quote before I pack away the self-help books for a while, maybe let that shit simmer. Not gonna have as much time for it, after all. No more standing watch. I've got a house to build. Maybe a book to write my own self. Might be handy to have something for the Clergy to read so they don't have to be asking the same old dumb questions all the time.

"You better get your seven laughs in every day."

- Katt Williams

It's mean to laugh at somebody weaker than you. It's stupid to laugh at somebody stronger than you. So I guess my best bet is to find seven things a day to laugh at myself for. Luckily, I am a dumbass who excels in doing stupid shit, and when I step back far enough I find that shit hilarious.

Take yesterday for example. My fuckin' Kitten, Murder Mittens, and newly minted fun to suck on Ice Pop all told me they had Nefarious Plans for me like, the moment Siobhan was done enough, and somehow I'd completely forgotten that not only are all three of them smarter than me, there are also, y'know, three of them to my one. All of whom can force feed imagery direct into my brain hole. I really don't know how long I slept, not because I don't know what time I woke up, but because I lost track of time right about when Siobhan and I decided to short circuit each other's brains, and once we left M-Space for the Love Shack I was not, in any way, at any time, thinking about the position of the sun. Positions, yes. Sun, no.

At any rate, woke up to warm Saffron against my front, cool Siobhan snuggled against my back, and all of us using Marie as a big fluffy purring pillow. Checked the time and realized that the sun was, in fact, in the process of going down. Smiled and snuggled closer to everybody after I thought that, then some part of my brain remembered that the four of us were all here. More importantly, Saffron, Marie and I were all here. As in not anywhere else. As in I'd left Karen with Menace twelve hours ago and hadn't given her a single fuckin' thought since then.

"Hey ladies. Time to wake up."

"Yes." Trust Marie to wake up first, then lay there utterly motionless while I woke up.

A moment later Siobhan rolled away from me, pushed herself up, and stretched. I watched in the ceiling mirror as her eyes opened, looking right at me. "Oh, that's..." She reached for her shoulder, only to have Marie grab her hand, then run her tongue over the bruising and puncture wounds. "Sorry, Marie. I almost forgot." Then she reached over, took my hand, and lay it on her belly. "Goddess... Tabitha, Heal please? Just a little?"

I shrugged and shaped the littlest Heal I could. She smiled at me. "Everything okay? I... might have missed the last little bits there for all the best reasons."

She smiled up at me, her eyes popping wide just a moment as she said, "Oh, just a little lingering soreness. Don't want that to heal naturally, do we?"

I chuckled a little. "Holy fuck, Ice Pop, I was half joking."

She nodded, faking solemnity. "Exactly so. Best not to risk it though. Has your little Kitten awakened yet?"

I scooched back and rolled Saffron to face me. "Time to get up." I gently murmured to her. She grumbled and nuzzled into me. "C'mon, Kitten, it's time to go pick Isnomi up."

She grumbled a little more, but started her boot up routine. tickling my chest with her morning taste test of her environment. Siobhan leaned over me, watching. "Oh, that's adorable!"

"I know, right? Didn't roll her over by accident."

After she finished her whole sequence, Saffron cracked one eye open. "If you two are completely done mocking me?"

I gasped. "Mocking? Never! Adoring!"

"Yes! Adoring. Worshipping even!"

She tried to keep up the grumpy face, but Siobhan's infectious bubbliness put the tiniest curve in her lips. "So wasteful. Decadent even."

"Screw it. Not like I really need it at the moment."

Kitten stretched up to give me a peck on the lips. "Oh, but much like with everything else, you would absolutely take it were it offered."

"Yeah, stop, we really do need to get over and rescue Karen."

Saffron sighed, rolled around to her knees, then stretched not unlike Siobhan had. "More than that, if Isnomi is satisfied."

"You mean officially making her my High Priestess?" She nodded, still working her shoulders around as the rest of us stared at the impressive topographical changes that caused. "What's the big rush?"

Rising to her feet, offering Siobhan a hand up, and leading her to the steps at the end of the bed, Saffron said, "Tomorrow is the Equinox, love."

"Wait, what? Oh, shit, you're right!"

She nodded. "And she will not be 'your High Priestess'?" When I let my confusion show, she explained. "She will be the Highest Priestess of Tabitha Diaz, Patron Demigoddess of the Alliance."

"Is there, like, a functional difference?"

She shrugged. "As you've two completely different sets of Worshippers, it's likely best to keep them separate until you choose to reveal yourself. Which means having someone to head up your Clergy. Based on my research, I also suspect that her Title as Highest may mirror my own, rather than Siobhan or Marie's." She paused a moment, smiled in appreciation as she looked Siobhan up and down, not quite a leer but a close cousin, then popped Glowing Midnight onto her. "But much like I have access to Lord Loki's abilities via you being his High Priestess, as your High Priestess in either persona she will as well." And, of course, there is this.

"Okay. Yeah. All that makes sense. But... why the rush?"

Saffron smiled fondly at Siobhan, then me, as Ice Pop wobbled. "Never worn heels before?" Siobhan shook her head. "Lean on me until you're steady, Sister." She nodded, then said, "Karen... is like me, love. But unlike me she has no reason to hide her position or Patron Deity. So she will want to claim your place in at least one Temple before the Equinox celebrations begin."

"Really?"

"Really." Satisfied with Siobhan's appearance and balance, she garbed herself. Then switched them both to their Academy togs. "Unless you'd rather proclaim your status?" Siobhan pondered that, but shook her head gently.

I sighed. If Karen had gone to all this trouble to get the job, the least I could do was not get in her fuckin' way. "Okay then. Let's do this." I rolled out of bed, mildly irked that I couldn't just stand up and walk. I've mentioned, I'm not stupid tall, but I'm 'tall for a girl' tall, and that put me like three inches too tall to walk without bonking my head on the mirrors. I popped my uniform on to match Saffron, and a moment later had Marie behind me in her full Maid regalia. "Before we go." I spread my arms, and pulled everybody into a hug.

Siobhan wound up in the middle, and she squeaked when the rest of us squeezed just a little. "Oh my. This is very..." She interrupted herself laughing. When Saffron raised an eyebrow, she said, "I was about to say 'intimate'."

Saffron nodded. "It is." Then she lay her head on Siobhan's arm. Marie and I followed her lead, and we stood there a bit just... I dunno, welcoming our newest partner? Yeah, that kinda felt right. I mean, weird to 'welcome' her after getting up in her guts enough to require healing like four times, but I actually got it. There's a difference between sex and intimacy. I realized right then the difference between Siobhan and the boys. Then I thought about watching her with them, realized why that wasn't going to happen, like I wasn't even going to ask because not even I'm that crass and insensitive. Then I thought about Saffron and shapeshifting and the image popped back into my head again.

We'll see. Saffron's mental voice matched her affectionate smile. I stepped us to the Lancaster House Suite to find every fuckin' kid in the House, not to mention quite a few moms and all the Maenads and refugees spread out across the floor. Maze, Menace, and Karen stood on the bed, our daughters using it as an impromptu stage. I'm not sure what they were doing, because the moment they saw us, Menace crowed out, "MAMAS!" and took a running leap off the bed towards us. With my arms still around the rest of the ladies, I couldn't lunge fast enough to grab her, but I really hadn't needed to worry. Marie's five point harness claw snapped around her with inches to spare before she faceplanted into the rug and, more importantly, the hard stone floor beneath it.

Padding under the rugs in our new place?

Definitely, love.

Marie brought Isnomi around to nuzzle nose to nose, murmured, "Scamp." then handed her over to me.

She gave me a full head glomping hug, hopped off me to do the same to Saffron, sniffed the air, then got an absolute booger look. She turned to Siobhan, who smiled at her. "Good Evening, Isnomi!" Moving with an awkward version of Marie's stalking grace, Menace crawled over into Siobhan's arms. Well, clung to her shoulders, since her arms were still a little pinned by Saffron and I hugging her. "Oh, you're quite affectionate today!"

I guess she couldn't hear the low growl our Menace let out, or confused it with a purr or something. She shoved her face into Siobhan's headpiece, snuffled, pulled back, snuffled one side of her neck, then the other. At that point her tension ratcheted up until she shoved her whole fuckin' face into the collar of Siobhan's robes, pulling it open to do so. "Oi! Menace! No stripping the Sister!"

Not in public, anyhow.

Not at all, Kitten! That's our job.

Oh. Point.

All the tension drained out of Menace as she pulled her face out and looked up at Marie. "Nythe." Then she head bunted Siobhan, who looked confused but not upset.

I gathered my smallest daughter up by the scruff of the neck, bringing her around to face me. "So, she meets your approval then?" She shrugged, nodded toward Marie, like Marie's very clear stamp of approval was good enough for her. Of course, that led me to the reason we'd come back in the first place. "So. What about your Babysitter Karen?"

Isnomi twisted around to look at my would be Priestess, who'd heard the question and tensed up. I turned my kid so she could meet Karen's gaze, at which point she folded her arms across her chest, the uniform jacket and blouse ruffles rustling as she did. They stared at one another for a long moment. Eventually Karen sort of slumped, her gaze dropping to the bed. Menace nodded, once, then turned to me, joyous 'mamas are back' smile in place. She lunged toward me, wriggling free and glomping my head again. "Ah-Tay!" she whispered into my ear.

"That's it? No details? Just 'okay'?" I murmured back. She nodded. I looked over at Karen, and loud enough to be heard through the room, said, "So she's got the Isnomi Seal of Approval then?"

"Yeth!"

Right then I lost any regret I might have had about letting Karen try to join my Priestesses. The look of sublime, rapturous joy on her face as she looked at me, realizing her Trials were done, completed successfully? Yeah, I didn't have the heart to stomp on the dreams of somebody who felt that strongly, that deeply about something. "Okay then. Everybody, let's get down to dinner!"

I pulled Maze in next to my hip, and she gave me an actual rundown of the day while we walked down to dinner. Turns out Karen had very sensibly dragooned Maze into being her assistant babysitter, and the two of them managed all the crazy yard games through the morning, then moved inside when the weather got bad. Of course, there wasn't really enough play area for that many kids, so Karen had come up with the idea for an impromptu self defense class slash demonstration slash 'let Maze and Menace entertain everybody tossing one another around on the bed'. Given that Menace was at her 'barely able to walk' smallest when we arrived, and Maze seemed to have gotten a little more gangly since I'd started reading to her, it wound up being an almost entirely unfair fight in Menace's favor, but neither of them were really trying to hurt each other. Just act out what Karen talked to the refugees and kids about. I mean, she talked to the Maenads too, but as far as I knew the youngest Maenad had a shit ton more experience than Karen, not to mention being a purpose-built killing machine.

Still, maybe they took it as slapstick or something.

After dinner, with Maze sitting beside me and Isnomi perched on Siobhan's shoulders so she could annoy Siobhan and Saffron, who Siobhan sat next to, I held my hands out to Menace, who leapt over to me. After giving her and Maze a good snuggle, I said, "can you two lead everybody up and help them get ready for bed?"

"Yeth!"

"Yes, papa," Maze smirked. The two of them ran off, gathering kids, trailing moms and refugees. Devorah and Anna both looked at me and nodded before following. Then I stepped over to Karen and said, "so. We need to talk, I think."

She nodded, I put my hand on her shoulder, and stepped us to the Love Shack. I figured if it worked for one kind of privacy, it wouldn't be bad for another kind. Before I took my hand off her shoulder, I pulled her back to her normal size and shape. She chuckled. "Thank you, Goddess. I worried vaguely that I'd stay that way."

"Yeah, no, not something you'll need to worry about." Mittens, can you bring Karen's Garb? And... all three of you in Glowing Midnight, please. I stepped back, flopping back onto the divan, arms draped along the back. "Also, 'Goddess'. So formal. So not really me."

"This... isn't a formal occasion?"

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, fine." I snapped my fingers and banished her Academy uniform. Other than a quick glance to make sure I'd put everything back the way it should be, I kept my gaze on her face. No real embarrassment there, although there might have been a trace of apprehension.

"Am I to be skyclad for this then?"

I grinned and shook my head. "Nah. Just getting you ready for them."

My girls' timing was, as always, impeccable. They arrived, all clad in Glowing Midnight, surrounding Karen on every side not facing me. I watched, trying to smile encouragingly, as they dressed her, piece by piece, in the Yandere Shobitch Wedding Gown. Unlike The Dress and Glowing Midnight, it didn't have thigh boots. Instead she had white pumps that had a sandal look going on, and the straps wound up around her thighs, going all the way up until they clipped to her garter belt. No idea how he got them to lay flat against her skin, but I wasn't complaining. I got a good look at the underthings, which bordered on being Frederick's of Hollywood, only missing that because Conrad has way more talent than anybody they've ever employed. No more boundaries, and even if he has more class, he'd obviously been playing to my personal foibles, so her whole outfit was clearly 'class optional'. Look, I'm a street kid at heart, and while I appreciate the class and style Saffron and Conrad put into Glowing Midnight? This dress was just Conrad pointing and laughing at my reaction, which I had about as much chance of stopping as a fart stopping a California brush fire.

Of course, I had my black uniform slacks and a jacket that covered my crotch even when slouching, so I wasn't worried about any embarrassing mishaps. At that point I realized that the room did, in fact, reek of pumpkin spice. Hopefully Karen hadn't figured that out yet.

After taking like fifteen minutes to get everything absolutely perfect, my High Priestesses backed away. Siobhan and Saffron slipped to the sides, each sitting on the edge of the bed, their legs stretched out along the steps. Marie just backed straight up, crawling in reverse until she straightened to kneel right in front of the mirror at the head of the bed.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

I took a deep breath, then said, "Senior Cadet Karen Smith. Why are you here?"

It took her a half second, but she rallied, knelt, mirroring what she'd done in the hallway outside our Academy Suite, then said, "I wish to become your Priestess."

I nodded. "If you become my Priestess, you're gonna learn secrets." At her confident nod, I continued. "Family secrets." I paused, and when she didn't respond, said, "as in, everyone who has learned them has wound up family, or very, very dead." She stiffened a little, and I wasn't sure if it was what I said or that she'd caught on to Sister Siobhan's sudden glee. I'm sure as shit she didn't hear the little thrilled giggle Siobhan trickled into the brains of everyone else in the room. Wait, shit, Canta.

Siobhan just smiled at me. He is no danger to us, my Goddess.

Oh, no. I meant Diana declared me her Matriarch.

Her smile got wider. Oh! I'll... speak with him.

Cool.

Meanwhile Karen stuttered out, "I... I understand."

"Do you?" She frowned. "You were with the Army at Newark." She nodded. "Did you see what I did there?" Her freckles stood out as she nodded. "Did you smell the fear in the air? Did your boots squelch through the blood and shit masquerading as mud? Were you on the cleanup crews gathering mutilated body parts for disposal?"

She had a strong enough stomach that other than getting slightly paler, she didn't react other than to say, "I was."

"That's what happens to someone who hurts my family." She nodded, as if she understood, and I said, "that's what happens when someone hurts my family and I'm in a hurry. When someone does that and I've got time? I have done so, so much worse."

She looked almost disbelieving. "What could be worse than that?"

"You still want to be my Priestess?"

"Of course."

I nodded. Time to drop the anvil. "Too late to back out now then, Karen. Artemis had our daughter sacrificed a year ago. I destroyed her High Priestess' Soul to Revive Isnomi. The day after the Liberation of Calverton, while you restored children and innocents, then dallied with my Concubine and Fiancé, I tortured her to death over twelve long, hard hours." I paused. Karen finally looked just the tiniest bit shocked. "I Revived Diana after she died, because she'd shown me that she might have realized that she'd fucked up, and wanted to do better."

"You... Revived a Goddess."

"My Wife is talented that way." Karen jerked at Saffron's droll statement, like she'd forgotten my Ladies had her surrounded.

"Now. You still want to be my Priestess?"

She took a calming breath, then said, "I suppose my other option is death, now?"

I shook my head. "Nah. I'm not pissed at you. Really not. But the moment you're my Priestess? Is the moment it's too late to back out. You'll still have your Agency about how you want to represent me, yeah, and I wouldn't even consider it if you hadn't passed my Trials, made me think I'll be okay with however you choose to do that, but once you cross that line? There's no going back."

"You... you wouldn't disavow me?"

I snorted. "Fuck, if you do anything that would make me want to do that? I'll just fuckin' kill you, Karen."

"No second chances?"

I shrugged. "Oh. No. I'd have to Revive you." She blinked. "I'm kinda generous with the Mana supply when it comes to giving people second chances."

She snorted. "I noticed. Wait..."

"Yeah. about that. Do. You. Still. Want to be. My Priestess?"

She took another deep breath, squared her shoulders, and bowed her head. "I do, My Goddess. Please, make me your Priestess, Demigoddess of the Alliance, Tabitha Diaz."

I chuckled, pushing myself to my feet and taking one long step to stand over her. "You had to go and make it all formal-like, so..." I put my hand on her head and said, "rise, Karen Smith, Highest Priestess of Tabitha Diaz."

She rose under my hand, then blinked. Highest?

That was far more formal than my Ordination. Karen's eyes shot wide open at Saffron's voice in her head.

Jealous now, Kitten?

A little Envious, perhaps.

I didn't get anything really formal either. You Ordained her to get married, you Ordained me as a glorified messenger. Karen took half a step back as Siobhan chimed in.

Complaints?

She giggled aloud at me. I think I've lost the ability to form any complaint related thought other than possibly 'more, please, Goddess'.

"Wait, wait, wait..." Karen took another half step back, and her calf hit the foot of the bed.

Whiners. Karen flopped ass first onto the bed as Marie's growl sounded through my head.

Oh, hush, you. You asked to be Ordained for more hands. Marie's chuckle filled the room, her fangs showing as she grinned at my Kitten. Specifically because your hands were full of my tits and you wanted more for elsewhere.

"Wait, what?"

"I promise I'll show you next Ladies' Night, love."

"But... but you three..." With a glance I silenced my adorable Priestess' banter, letting Karen have her head clear enough to think, to speak. She turned to Saffron. "That is the Holy Garb of a Priestess of Mimic, is it not?" Saffron just nodded silently. Karen turned to Siobhan. "And so you are as well?" Siobhan smiled, stifling her giggle. Karen twisted around to look at Marie, who just smiled wider and nodded. She turned back to me and asked, "so... should you be wearing black as well?"

I laughed at Blend's last ditch attempt to hide me, then stepped forward, rustled her fiery hair a little, and stepped back to flop onto the divan again. I switched into The Dress. "Nope, the only person I'm a High Priestess of is Loki. Who is also my adopted Dad. So, y'know, he knows all the secrets. As does Mom. Sigyn. You know, badonkadonk without peer."

I simply must tell her you said that.

I'mma tell her to shut you up with it if you jostle my elbow.

That... won't actually stop me from talking to you, you realize?

No, it won't take away your ability to make noise in my head. But to make words you gotta think straight, and I sure as fuck couldn't do that with dat ass in my face.

Loki's laughter filled every head in the room. Point taken, Daughter.

Thanks, Dad. You're the best.

I know.

Karen just stared at me. "Who... who are you?"

I tilted my head. "You haven't figured it out yet?" She shook her head, almost like trying to dispel cobwebs. Shit, I think I'd done that same maneuver when trying to get my fuckin' brain chemistry to let me concentrate. "Would it scare you more for me to show you, or to figure it out on your own, do you think?" I turned to Siobhan. "Which do you think?"

"Oh, I think being shown was more impressive, but... less frightening?"

I smiled, stuck a pin in my guilt, and held it out to her, saying, "Okay, Ice Pop. Do I tell her or not, then?"

"You're asking me?"

I nodded. "You're the nicest one in the room, you sweet suckable thing you. Do I do the nice thing?"

"Do you want to?"

"No, but I don't want to be mean and feel guilty, either."

Siobhan smiled, her hand coming up, reaching for me across the room, winding up moving in a kind of benediction. "Here? Now? Do what makes you happy, and feel no guilt about it. It won't hurt her to be just a little scared."

"Probably a survival trait," deadpanned Saffron.

Still looking at Siobhan, I asked, "what if she winds up so scared that she has a coronary or aneurysm or both and dies?"

Siobhan giggled. "She's a Senior Cadet, I doubt that will happen. Besides, if it does, there are three people capable of Reviving her."

I turned back to watch Karen's eyes, to drink in their fear, as I said, "yay!" Then I growled at her. "It normally makes me feel guilty to terrify people, but I do. So. Love. Terror."

Karen might be my Priestess, but she was Dan. She'd grown up with the same stories every Dan kid did. I saw when that last word made it all click, watched as my Blend and her Terror made the knowledge slippery, watched her cling to it even as I felt her whole being narrow to holding that idea and maintaining bladder control while doing so. "You... you... you're... M... Mi... Mi... Mi... Mim..."

I chuckled, not just at her stuttering, but at the rush of power and terrified Worship flowing through me. Ice Pop said it was okay, so I let it happen just a little longer before deciding that a glass of wine was fine, but chugging a barrel of whiskey was not. I leaned forward, smiling at her. "Wanna see? Want me to show you?" Karen took a deep breath, then nodded. Wrapping my Blend around the room, pushing it around us until the room itself was a fever dream, I stood, stepped to loom over her, taking one last draught of fear.

Then I dropped my personal Blend, and reached out my hand. Trembling, she reached out and took it. I stepped us all to the endless field of undulating tentacle tips. Far above, the stars winked in the sky. I pulled Karen to stand in front of me as Marie, Saffron, and Siobhan appeared, lounging on my tentacles. Siobhan giggled, and a half formed image of her sandwiched between Marie and I, complete with the full body sensation of fuzziness enveloping her, formed in our heads. Ice Pop!

She giggled and blushed. "Sorry, it's just all so new." Then she wiggled, and I realized she'd continued her underwear habits, because tentacles. "So nice though."

I couldn't help it. I laughed. "Down girl! Down! Later!"

"Promise?" She appended an image of me standing in that muscle lady pose, but fuzzy.

I put my hands on Karen's shoulders as I shook my head. "Yes, I promise. Ladies, if I haven't by next Ladies' night, hold me to that?"

You heard her, make her forget about that so we can make her fuzzy. Saffron looked at Siobhan. It's even better than you think.

I laughed and looked Karen in the eye. "You see what I have to deal with?"

Saffron and Siobhan chorused, "you love it!"

"I do."

Karen smirked, chuckled, then started laughing. "This... this is you?"

I nodded. "This is me, Karen."

"I don't know whether to piss myself in terror or piss myself laughing."

I chuckled. "Yeah, I'm not wearing any underwear at the moment, so I'd appreciate you avoiding the 'terror' option. Also, yours doesn't look real absorbent, so I'd avoid pissing yourself altogether." I waited half a beat, then as she started to reply put on my best thoughtful look and said, "although I guess it'll all clean itself at sunrise anyhow."

That got her. She started laughing. A little hysterical, at first, but before long she was leaning on me, laughing at me, laughing at the increasingly lewd and improbable images my lovers kept bouncing through my head. Laughing at the situation. Laughing at herself. I pulled her into a hug, and moments later the others joined us. They murmured welcoming things as her laughter died down. Tossing more really over the top stupid head pron of me every time she stopped completely. Eventually she stood there, leaning against me, surrounded by her fellow Priestesses. "Do... I don't mean to offend?" I rolled my eyes. "Do all Bag purr like this?"

"I mean, I'm not sure, but yeah, a lot of us."

"Shame you're not all fuzzy."

I should have seen it coming when Saffron said, "so... you want a fuzzy Bag man to purr for you?"

Her eyes still closed, comforted despite herself, Karen muttered, "who wouldn't?"

"More than one?" Karen shrugged. Before I could warn her, an image of Karen, wearing her Holy Garb and yet still intimately involved with Thomas, Richard, and Harold from Saffron's old Volunteer unit popped into our heads. Marie snorted, Siobhan looked about as noped as I was, and Saffron, the perpetrator of this crime against horny women everywhere, just giggled at us. Then I realized Karen hadn't reacted in the slightest.

"Really?"

She shrugged. "Of the two fuzzy people I've had any form of intimacy with, both have been unfailingly positive. The one I had sex with was more pleasant than any experience prior. Am I to hold it against them that they're hirsute? Or Bag? Or anything else beyond their control?"

Saffron surprised me just then by saying, "would you like to stay with us tonight, Karen?"

"I'd say I'm not into women, but... see my statement about hirsute people."

Saffron chuckled. "You're getting as bad as her. Which is probably not surprising. I meant sleeping. You need your rest. You've got a Temple to claim in the morning, not to mention the Revel Dionysus even now gathers his Maenads for."

I glanced at Marie, who nodded. "Did you want to go, Mittens?" Rubbing a thumb against the ring on her finger, she shook her head. Blushing. I couldn't help it, I snuggled them all in.

"Here or at Lancaster House, Karen?"

I didn't quite understand Saffron's question until Karen replied. "I... never dreamed I would feel so safe, so secure and loved, so surrounded and supported by the limbs of Mimic. But here we are. Can we stay?"

"Here it is then."

We woke as false dawn lit the sky. Karen looked up at me as everyone stretched and blinked, saying, "Can you take us to the Seven, please, Goddess?"

"Oh, shit, yeah, I forgot. Uh... Important Boons, coming up. Translocation, Shapeshifting... oh, the no breathing one is super handy." I looked at Saffron. "Anything else, Kitten?"

"She can grant them to herself as she needs them, love. But yes, those are the most critical in my opinion." Marie snorted. "Trust a cat to say shapeshifting isn't important. They all think they're the perfect shape anyhow."

"Truth."

We joined hands, and I looked at Karen. "Just envision the place and... move there."

I felt that anti-tingle of someone pulling Mana from me as It took her a couple tries, but moments later we stood next to the Temple of Justice, looking down at the Temple of Kings. D stood outside the doors surrounded by some huge barrels of something, waving his hands at some musicians who had already started playing. The eclectic crowd dancing around him had to be at least a third Maenads; some in Academy Maid's uniforms, some in minimalist survival togs, but most wearing nothing but toothy grins.

"Holy shit. I didn't think he'd Revel, like, during the day."

"He has his Maenads. He has his High Priest. He has, I think, claimed his portion of the Temple of Kings. I'm fairly certain the Revel started last night, and will continue until sunrise tomorrow."

"Okay, yeah, I get that Kitten, but most of the big celebrations like this have been at least kid-friendly-adjacent."

Saffron shrugged. "As I said so long ago, skyclad is traditional. The Maenads are simply old enough to remember that. Do you see any of them fucking?"

I glanced around again. "Oh. Yeah, I... I guess not? Are they, like, just celibate during the day or something?"

Saffron chuckled, shaking her head. Here in this world we have these mystical inventions called 'buildings' and 'doors' and even, for the wealthy, 'locks'. "Speaking of, shouldn't we follow her? This is her first day, after all, and Raymond and Saffron Rae have fared just fine without us prior to this."

I followed her gaze to see a scintillating white figure yanking open both doors of the fucking Temple of 'Love.' "Oh, shit." I grabbed my Ladies and stepped to the steps behind my new Priestess, who'd walked into the Temple not just like she owned it, but like she owned it and was headed to evict squatters. We hustled after her, Marie scooping up an unsteady Siobhan when she proved to be a little less than capable of jogging in heels. The hall just inside that had what looked like cloak rooms to each side. While some cloaks and robes hung neatly on hooks and racks, most of the floor of each was covered by piles of miscellaneous clothing. Each room had a seat for an attendant, but one sat empty, and the other had a naked couple sitting on it, by the motion of their ocean doing the deed right there in sight of the doors.

The fuck? Is nobody in charge in here?

Of course. You've met her, even. You remember High Priestess Aphroditopolous?

Shit. I didn't think, I shoved the doors closed with a pair of tentacles as the four of us followed Karen's flashing form further into the temple. The antechamber looked kind of like a bar. The fixtures reminded me of really old buildings I'd seen in downtown Camden, built before the city went to shit. Fancy, with like, gold and brass and hardwood, but the brass was tarnished, the wood cracked and dry, and the gold worn or missing. Looking at the place, I expected the smell of polish and alcohol. Maybe some fried food, because bar food is always fried for some reason. Instead I smelled nothing but sex. Don't get me wrong, normally I'm a big fan, but this was... old. Like, nobody had ever hit the place with a mop and bucket between parties. The bartenders and dancing girls went at it with an assortment of... I didn't want to say 'ugly people', but maybe my standards had changed while living at the Academy.

Saffron's fingers interlaced with mine, and Marie growled while Siobhan panted. "What's wrong?"

"You... you don't smell that?" whimpered Siobhan.

"What? Week old fuck juice?"

"Aphrodite is in residence, love." Saffron smiled up at me, the only sign of tension her grip on my hand. "I doubt any of these had much Agency regarding their actions. Or their partners."

"Oh, that bitch. I'll..."

"I think your Highest Priestess has that well in hand."

"OH SHIT." I stepped us to the entrance to the temple proper. The entrance was midway up one wall, the floor dropping off like stadium seating until it hit a broad open floor which sloped up toward a kind of dais in the center of the room, with its high point just a touch higher than we stood now. Some corridors led off the room from lower down, and doorways led into side rooms all around the level we stood at. A fancy weird throne shaped bed stood at the center of that dais, and fuckin' Alexandra sat on that chair. Literally, because the only people in the room not engaging in sex simultaneously frenzied and distracted were the ones lying insensate on the floor. Quite a few of those lay around Aphrodite's throne. Even a quick glance showed me that the prettiest people in the room? Were the ones she'd fucked unconscious then discarded like a teenage guy dropping used tissues on the floor.

"I CLAIM THIS TEMPLE IN THE NAME OF TABITHA DIAZ, GODDESS OF THE ALLIANCE." Karen's voice rang out from where she stood, glittering, at the edge of the dais.

Aphrodite, riding Alexandra, stopped riding her latest tissue and shoved him aside, where he tripped and faceplanted onto the floor. She sat down, throwing one leg over the arm of her bed-throne, trying for languid, hitting drunk and stoned. "Tch. You may petition for a portion of the Temple after the Equinox celebrations are complete."

"I. Don't. Think. You. Heard. Me." With each word, Karen took another step toward the Goddess of Lust Incarnate. At the last, she stood over the reclining Goddess, glowering.

Even I felt when Aphrodite pushed more of her power into the room. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Siobhan, eyes squeezed closed, clinging to Marie's side, very obviously trying not to start dry humping her leg. Not that it would be 'dry'. Not with this kind of lust flowing into the room. Images of bloody violence as foreplay flashed through my mind. "You will service me before I deny your petition, Mortal bitch," Aphrodite sneered.

That anti-tingle hit, and it totally hit me below the belt as Karen extended Mana Blades from her wrists, long and thick enough to score the floor, flickering white and silver with dead black cores. "You want to be serviced? Spread wide. Hold still. Immortal. Bitch." Aphrodite's aura of lust evaporated, leaving Alexandra staring up at Karen with a mix of petulance and confusion. Her voice less angry, but no less unyielding, drawing her Mana Blades back to maybe arm length, Karen said, "you're in my Goddess' seat."

"I... I am?"

"Yes. She's here now," she waved back to me, and I waved. "In person. Your Goddess seems to have left you alone."

"But... where am I supposed to sit?"

Karen's Mana Blades slipped away, and she held out a hand to the idiot in the bed throne. "There are lots of open seats."

As Alexandra wandered down the stairs, and the men and few women surrounding the bed-throne stirred and started crawling and staggering away, Karen turned to me and held out a hand. My Goddess? Help?

I stepped to her, bringing my ladies along. "What you need, Karen?"

I... have heard rumors that you can influence the sun in its course?

"I think everybody would be pissed if I cut the Revel short by having sunset now."

"I was thinking perhaps sunrise?"

I thought about it for a second, shrugged. "Sure."

She reached out, took my hand, and I felt the anti-tingle of Mana flowing into her. Letting her do her thing, I reached out and pulled. Pulled the sun back through the sky. It fought me a little, and I reached out, and down, and further out, and further down, to that terrible place where Her Dark Fatassness was just an Avatar of a her that was incomprehensibly vast even to her continent covering ass. I pulled, like pulling back a spring, and the sun sank down to the horizon, obedient to my strength and will alike.

I let it go, and it flew into the sky like a crossbow bolt. The moment it crested the horizon, the pull of power from Karen multiplied, and she rose into the air. The aura around the Yandere Shobitch Wedding Gown surged outward, encompassing the dais, then the room, leaving me staring at a world in reverse wireframe as it encompassed the Temple itself. The light faded as Karen landed lightly in front of the chair. I looked around the room. It was...

Clean. The people in it as well, although most of them were buck naked and seemed horny as fuck. Everything still looked old and busted as shit, though. The place needed an overhaul.

Shit.

MY place. Needed a full remodel. A makeover. And I did not have the time, Mana, or really creative juices to do it right now.

But at least it was clean.

Including the fuckin' bed-throne, which Karen waved me to as she let go of my hand.

"Your throne, My Goddess."

I opened my mouth to snark at her, but she looked so fuckin'... sincere. She'd asked for this. Worked for it. Stood up to a fuckin' Goddess for it. For me. Just to put me in that fuckin' seat. I mean, it did have the benefit of being a literal fucking seat, so there was that.

I stepped forward and looked down at it. Murmurs and quiet sounds of skin on skin made me look around to where the folks around me were definitely getting way more into the spirit of the whole Revel than they had been before. I saw a couple people dancing. Yeah, a couple more doing the horizontal mambo, one couple doing it vertically, but they looked like they were actually into it, rather than being driven by Aphrodite's aura.

Karen whispered, "I'll see to the Revelers, my Goddess. Their safety, their Consent. You need only..." I nodded, and she strode off, a spring in her step.

I looked back at the chair. The throne. My throne, that my Highest Priestess had just won for me. The moment I turned and sat down, I was admitting to what I was. Declaring in front of a fuckin' temple full of fuckin' people that I was, in fact, a Goddess. Somebody to pray to. Somebody to call to in times of need. Somebody to obey. Somebody to ask the hard moral questions.

The moment I turned and sat, I wasn't just an adult. I was a responsible adult. Like, responsible not only for myself but for everybody who signed up to follow me.

I don't know how long I stood there staring. Maybe a second, maybe a minute. I'd kinda fucked up my own sun-based time sense for the day, at least.

Siobhan, since you seem set to take your Goddess mandated third try at Marie right now, might I suggest you find a less precarious perch?

Siobhan giggled. "I think I'm afraid of heights. Perfect. Marie?"

I was about to look around when I heard his voice. Saffron's voice. It reached in and flipped every fucking switch I had. I spun, stumbling backwards as I drank him in with my eyes. Dark. Muscled. Thick, in every fucking way that mattered. Rocking Glowing Midnight sans dress. My ass hit the seat and he loomed over me for a second before taking a knee in front of me. Saffron bowed his head, curly black hair bouncing, inviting me to bury my fingers in it, cling to it, clutch it, and his voice rumbled over me. "My Goddess. My lover. My wife." He smirked at me. "My Goof. Are you ready for me?"

My smile stretched so wide I think my lips split as I realized that the only thing I felt at that moment was an utter unquenchable need for the beautiful man standing in front of me. "Kitten?"

"Yes, Goof?"

"Why are you waiting?"

So he stopped.

It was absolutely everything Saffron had promised, and then some. Really glad we had Karen there paying attention to shit. Y'know, like evacuating the Temple. I gotta do something nice for her, especially since she'll probably be overseeing the repairs.

Fuck it. Place needed a new roof anyhow.