Dear Diary,

When you find somebody who finds your particular brand of stupid endearing, you hold on to them like they're a life jacket and you just saw an iceberg looming out of the fog.

So, spent yesterday resting, getting some light cuddle on with Saffron, and watching Menace do aerobatic shit designed to make parental units of less stern intestinal fortitude drop a brick. Funniest repeat occurrence, at least for my entertainment dollar, was when she pulled the whole 'requesting a flyby' maneuver past the rope net and straight the fuck between the climbing ropes. I kept count, and when we got home, I poked my head into the armoire. "Conrad? Son?"

He popped up right in front of me, and I said, "I want to paint some stencils on your sister's glider; will that fuck it up or something?"

After an instant's thought he replied, "it's good that you asked; I'm assuming you want permanent markings?" When I nodded, he continued. "Most stains that would mark the wings permanently would also negatively impact their integrity. Thank you for coming to me before possibly ruining her gift."

"No problem. Do you have something that will work?"

He shrugged. "It's no bother to work something up. What did you intend to stencil?"

"To start with? The rope tower and cargo net tower from the Practice Yard obstacle course."

He cocked his head, "is she somehow climbing ropes and nets with her glider? Perhaps to get airborne after landing? Or crashing?"

I held back exactly what I thought about his casually mentioning his sister faceplanting into the pavers, then shook my head and said, "nope. She's knocking people off. Well, mostly scaring them so they fall off."

I watched his smile slowly stretch from ear to ear, his eyes sparkling. "Oh, that brilliant little Menace. How many of each so far?"

"So far six from the nets and thirteen from the ropes."

He nodded. "I'd best make them small, then. Not likely she'll stop any time soon, after all."

"Thanks, son."

He gave me a full on fancy bow, saying, "think nothing of it, Mother. Did you need anything else?"

I shook my head. "Couple night's sleep to recover from mauling myself after no-holds-barred sparring with the Marshall, but I can get those on my own."

He nodded, said, "I'll be about it, then," and slid the door shut.

Snuggled into our bed with Saffron and Isnomi, who had Mister Kraken in her arms. Got jostled half awake when Marie joined us, but honestly I probably hadn't really fallen asleep. No Mimic dreams.

Woke in the morning after trying all night not to laugh at Mega-Kaiju Orange Cthulhu Tabby.

Corncakes and tortillas for breakfast again. I'd be getting a little bored at the lack of spice and variety, not to mention annoyed at the lack of quantity, but Menace liked them both, and feeding the last few sopping bits of corncake to Saffron had become the highlight of my mornings. I mean, okay, yeah, the adultier part of me realized that these were just the easiest high protein, high carb things the Maids could put together with nothing but eggs and corn, what with everybody on food rations until the first serious harvests started coming in.

As I prepped the last bite of corncake, getting it fully inundated with syrup then spooning it up to float in the middle of a spoonful of honey, I asked, "Kitten? Did you tell Miles to ration shit?"

She licked the sticky off her lips from the last bite, then replied, "not so much tell as discuss it with him. Once made aware of the issue, he chose this response."

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

I nodded. "Cool. Good to know he remains free of cranial rectal inversion."

She smiled at me, said, "as much as any of us, at least." Then she opened her mouth as I brought the spoon up.

"Open your mouth, close your eyes, and I will give you a big surprise!"

She snorted out a disbelieving, "surprise?" but opened her mouth wider, squeezed her eyes shut, then leaned over the table and stuck her tongue out as far as it would go as well.

I got a big stupid smile on my face, then used the dripping back of the spoon to paint her tongue with honey. When the bottom was mostly clean, I said, "close your mouth." As soon as her lips sealed, I rotated the spoon and wiped the bowl of it clean on her lower lip as I pulled it out. She absolutely reveled in it; somehow not being able to see people watching let her focus on the sweets.

When she swallowed, which mind you didn't manage to do its normal trick of blowing out my fondness to horny ration, she asked, "may I open my eyes now?"

"Yeah," I sighed.

She looked the tiniest bit surprised and miffed by that, but any irritation evaporated the moment she saw my face. "You look a little gobsmacked."

"You're so cute. Adorable. Adorkable. I just wanna scoop you up and snuggle you like a stuffed animal. Or a body pillow. You're more body pillow shaped. But I want stuffed animal snuggles, not body pillow snuggles." As I spoke, her smile just got wider.

When I stopped talking, she looked over and said, "Marie, can you take the Menace with you today?"

She shrugged and nodded past Saffron and I. We turned to see Conrad fastidiously wiping his sister's mouth clean with a kerchief. "I thought I'd oversee some flight time with her today. If you both approve?"

Saffron said, "why wouldn't we?"

I nodded my agreement and said, "yeah? Why would we object? You built the thing, know how it works, you're probably the one she's safest with."

She held up her hands to him for uppies. He held back a moment or two, daubed a few spots I didn't see anything dirty on, then lifted her and placed her on a hip. Then he walked over to where I sat and put an arm around me for a sideways hug. "Thank you, mother."

"For what?"

"For trusting me?"

I shrugged. "Why wouldn't we? You've been an absolute joy to parent. If anything, I feel kinda guilty when I think about it, since I don't get to do to much momming for you." He pulled me tighter for a second, turned to Saffron, who'd come around the table, hugged her, then left with the Menace on his hip.

At that point Saffron turned to me with an impish grin. After holding me hypnotized by her smile for a bit, she held up her arms just like Isnomi had done with Conrad. I picked her up and swung her around so I could carry her the same way he'd carried Isnomi, my arm under her ass like a seat. Of course, her legs were a little longer relative to my waist, so she locked her ankles on the far side of my thighs, wrapped her arms around my chest, and leaned her head against me. "Is this sufficiently... what was the word? Plushie like, my love?"

I squeezed her to me as best I could, and she squeaked just a little. "Perfect."

I didn't bother stepping us to class. I enjoyed the walk, even if my ass was complaining at me the whole way. The half I'd blown up with my own stupid and stubborn, anyhow.

We spent the day making copies of Saffron's Law and Custom of Camden Yards. About halfway through the day something got in my light, and when I looked up I had sudden Saffron staring from under six inches. The moment my hands cleared the copy table, she leaned in and planted a kiss square on my lips. Kinda surprising how un-chaste it got with her hands clasped behind her and mine full of mana pen and sand bowl.

"Wait, wait, wait," I said when she pulled away. "Sister Siobhan told me 'chaste' means not unlawful or unhealthy. So, like, that kiss was technically chaste even with the tongue on tonsil action? Where's the fucking line?"

She tilted her head to the side, her smile slowly melting into a Grin. "Well, now that you mention it, by that standard it would absolutely be a chaste kiss. I am becoming pleasantly aware of a few things, in fact."

I grinned up at my Kitten. "What's that, sweetie?"

"That I find you pondering academic topics, as you would put it, really fuckin' hot. That despite having remained curious since the first time I saw you like this on the day I chose you as my Patron, I do not think I have had the opportunity to explore your current form to my satisfaction. And finally, that due to what was surely either an oversight or proof positive that the Archivists and Librarians are far more lusty than anyone else would believe, there is no specific rule against having relations in the Library."

My eyes drifted closed and back open, not quite believing what I was hearing. "Which means...?"

"That I have the completely chaste desire to have my way with you on the table. Which would put the fucking line somewhere on the aforementioned table." She snickered. "Although I find the thought we'd stay on a single line absurdly hilarious."

We didn't do that. Or, y'know, she didn't do that, since despite me being a pretty active partner most of the time, she was definitely the instigator here. Until we were done copying and had our new copies safely ensconced in a library cart, that is.

Seriously, you think my Kitten's gonna leave me hanging, or that I'm gonna say no to that? To quote big bro, 'who the hell do you think we are?'