Day One Thousand One Hundred And Ninety-Five

Dear Diary,

Sometimes I'm really not sure if I'm an idiot or not.

Okay, that's not fair. I'm not actually stupid. I'm just kind of a meathead at times. I don't sit down and make long lists of my Skills and Titles and other resources and think about how they'd all fit together. I mean, half the time I don't even remember that I've got some of that shit until the moment arrives that I need it, at which point I just, I dunno, use it. Then there are 'other resources' that I'm sure both Tallulah and Saffron think of that way, and I can't really get my mad on about it, but I would feel some kinda way if I thought of them that way.

Yeah, it's hard for me to think of people as resources. I mean, objectively I guess they are, but for whatever reason I can't think of them that way without some part of me feeling like I've dehumanized them. Which is not to say that I think T or my Kitten do so, because I saw the tears in Tallulah's eyes when she thought she had to kill Ria to keep the rest of her family alive. But at the same time, if I hadn't been there, hadn't literally forced her to stop, she would have. Because in her mind, the hard, cold, cruel logic of the situation meant she lost one daughter or lost everything, including that daughter.

I hope she's in a better place now. Honestly, I know she is, because the Overlord whose knee I've leaned against has been far kinder than the one I vaguely remember Karen watching in the days before Ria revealed herself as the one who put the whammy on me. Hell, the whole family is, and I'd like to think that I had something to do with that.

I'm not gonna claim that I did all of it, or even most of it. Really, all I did was cut them free of The Morrigan, then maybe give them a little nudge toward ending the generational trauma she'd planted, tended, harvested, and fermented like fine wine. Because honestly I think for her it might have been. The suffering was the fucking point.

Welp, she's got plenty of suffering now.

At any rate, I've been a little bit of an idiot, but mostly because I don't think of things as 'resources', even when I've started thinking of them as 'mine', and that goes doubly for people.

So I basically wound up sitting on top of the oubliette trapdoor for twenty-four hours while I did all my other daily stuff yesterday. Stuff which are not chores because if I thought of them as chores I'd get bored by them, at which point I'd stop doing them, and I enjoy them, so they're stuff, not chores. I pulled the kids to the Dining Room, helped Marie bring out dinner, then pinged my High Clergy, asking, who can take care of prankster sitting while I go focus on the Revel?

Tallulah took the opportunity to raise her hand just enough to get my attention before thinking back, I will. I think I may have the most resistance to Fae and Fairy magics, and I suspect I'll need to be involved in binding the prankster when they eventually decide to negotiate with us.

I was not copacetic with that, but I'm proud of the fact that instead of just barking out a negation, instead I thought, binding? I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that.

She sighed audibly, although she started eating her salad when she thought back, if it would help, you could think of it as an employment contract.

Would it be one?

She pondered that for a bit, and I realized she was eating a little fast. Wait, are you guys going to be doing Revels at the other Temples tonight?

Karen replied to that from wherever she was. Probably the Temple of Love, come to think of it, since I usually started in Phileo lately. With eight Temples, we've taken to holding Revels in two to four of them on any given Freyday, Goddess.

I thought about that for a moment before thinking back, I guess I can't see any problems with people wanting to party more often, so long as the Temple staff aren't getting too overwhelmed?

I felt her hesitation as Karen thought, I suppose it would be nice if they could attend Revels rather than hosting them?

When that thought hit my brain, it was like a whole cascade of ideas fell into place. I stepped over to where Tallulah had almost finished eating and set my hands on her shoulders. Hey, T, are we gonna pay that prankster for their time?

She head tilted just enough to give me an odd look as she swallowed the last of her dinner. I'm not certain we have any currency that a Fae could want.

Once I was sure she'd finished eating, I reached out and gave all the kids a quick squeeze, then thought, Karen? Are we good to do a Clergy and Volunteers only Revel in Phileo tonight?

What of the Worshippers?

Another bit clicked into place. Mittens? Can you get everybody who isn't Clergy or Volunteer but wants to get their party on to the Temple in New Amsterdam? And, uh, make sure the Revel is up to our standards?

Mittens grinned at me from where she'd just settled in to help feed Aoibh. Okay, mostly to feed Siobhan, who was feeding Aoibh. "Yours? Mine?"

I smiled back, then stepped Tallulah to the oubliette trapdoor. I don't want them disappointed. So, y'know, yours, obviously.

I felt her Co-Locating, then Translocating back and forth almost too fast to track. I turned to Tallulah. "Everybody's got a price, T. Sometimes it's not money, but everybody wants something." I wove our perceptions together so she saw with my eyes as I stepped up to my Altar, taking in the Clergy as Mittens dropped them off in the sanctuary. And when it comes to fulfilling wants? Ain't nobody got shit on my peeps.

Tallulah isn't a specialist in illusions. But that's not the same as not knowing how to do them. I'm almost entirely certain that the prankster in the oubliette didn't think the Revel was actually happening in the hallway above them. But I'm also certain that they saw each and every Priest and Priestess who came up to my Altar wanting, and walked away either fulfilled or in the process of becoming so.

The Revel ran a little later than normal, at least the one in Phileo. Nobody parties harder or longer than hospitality folks when they finally get a chance to cut loose. I'm pretty sure I saw Dana, Dorothea, and Wendell up in the bar singing to Jack. I have no idea if he asked them to, or they just spontaneously did, but he had the closest thing to a smile on his face than I'd seen previously. Karen had all four of Saffron's old Volunteer unit up on the Altar at one point when the cooks from my other Temples asked me to make them dinner. Okay, it wasn't dinner, it was more of a three AM snack, but then, based on what I saw on the Altar at that point, that described Karen pretty well too.

I asked her about it before I left to teach up in Newark for the day, looking around her at the small mountain range of hairy bodies on my Altar. "Looks like you guys worked everything out?"

She shrugged. "We're all satisfied... No, we're all happy with the arrangement. So long as you approve?"

She sounded so worried about that. I smiled, picking her up and hugging her, then gently setting her back with her partners, one of whom reached up and wrapped an arm around her. "You said the only thing I really care about, Karen. You're all happy." I thought for a second, then shrugged. "I mean, healthy is important too, but so long as you're all happy, we can work on healthy, right?"

She smiled, nodded, and I realized she was kinda drifting off. "Wait, how'd you wind up not refreshed at dawn?"

She blushed a little, even through her thoughts were getting muzzy. "Took it off then. Put it on after."

I smiled. "Didn't want the happy ending?"

She half snored, half snickered, "got one then anyhow. But wanted to sleep here. K?"

In answer, I stepped home, grabbed some blankets, stepped back, and draped them over any bits that might not be kid appropriate. "Sleep well, Highest Priestess mine."

Yeah, two Revels, both of them pouring in the Worship, had me pretty pumped for training today. Did some Physical Training myself while I had the Cadets sparring.

As the sun approached the western horizon, Tallulah thought, Goddess? Do you have sufficient reserves to restore me?

One moment, T. I turned to my class. "Okay, Cadets, good work today. Five laps, then down to dinner!" I stepped to T's side as the class cheered the early dismissal, then lifted her to her knees. Well, a little higher than that, but not all the way to her feet, because my long tall Sidhe Lady be tall, and I wanted the Mana to run downhill. When I pulled away, her eyes sparkled a little. "Is that enough?" She nodded, still catching her breath. "So, why'd you need to be topped... Off?"

She caught the innuendo, smiled, and thought, later? as she said, "our guest seems to be ready to talk about our offer of employment."