"Thanks cutie," I smiled as Amy set my plate down in front of me. "It smells amazing."
She smiled back as she took her seat across from me, and we both started to eat. We were sitting at our little dining table for a change, instead of eating on the sofa in front of the TV. And that was because of our furry little guest, who was currently sound asleep curled up in the middle of the sofa.
Dinner was a shrimp and veggie stir-fry with rice noodles, it looked and tasted fancy but Amy claimed it was actually pretty simple to make. And we both had fresh glasses of wine alongside the food.
In between the food and drink I glanced at the sofa then looked at my girlfriend again. I asked softly, "Is it safe to talk while they're here? Actually is it safe to let them stay here?"
Amy stifled a sigh, "I don't think they mean us any harm? On the other hand I'm not sure how long I'm willing to let them stay. And I trust them when they said they weren't spying on us, so it's probably ok to talk while they're here."
"Ok," I frowned slightly. "You said they're a warrior goddess though? That sounds dangerous?"
My girlfriend replied, "Retired warrior goddess. I guess we could try and ask them for a little more information about themself? They certainly don't look or act like what I'd expect for a divine warrior. And I'm not sure about the 'goddess' part? If they're non-binary would they still be a goddess, or should we use a non-gendered term like 'deity'?"
My frown remained as I sighed, "That didn't actually answer my question. But you're right, maybe we should talk to them instead of just speculating. In the meantime though, there's stuff I wanted to discuss with you? Assuming it's safe to talk while our 'guest' is here."
"Like I said I think it's probably ok?" Amy replied with a shrug.
I glanced at the sofa again but as near as I could tell the cat was asleep. I looked back at my girlfriend again and responded, "Ok then. So um, the first thing was about work today? Like I said, Emma invited the two of us to join her and her wife for dinner tomorrow night."
Amy nodded, "You mentioned that, I'm looking forward to it."
"Good," I smiled. Then I got serious again, "Emma's had some experience with the supernatural. She and I were talking today at lunch and she opened up to me a bit? She wouldn't tell me any details, but I'm positive she survived a run-in with a demon."
That put a frown on my girlfriend's face. She admitted, "I don't know much about demons, I've never met one, as far as I know? And according to what Raven said, they aren't the generic evil villains from media. They aren't automatically enemies of gods or angels either. They're just another kind of supernatural being, I think?"
I grimaced, "Emma seems to think at least some of them are evil. Or dangerous? Something happened to her anyways, and I got the impression it wasn't good. And the reason I brought that up is I was tempted to tell her about my own experiences with the supernatural. I didn't, not today anyways. I still might, especially if she opens up to me again? And I wanted to know if that was ok with you."
A thoughtful look settled on her face as she had another mouthful of stir-fry. She washed that down with some wine, then finally responded "I trust your judgement Tess. You already know what details we're keeping secret, but if you want to tell her you're a cleric or you've met a goddess and experienced some miracles, that's fine."
"Do you think this topic is likely to come up tomorrow while we're visiting?" she asked. "Actually, do you know if her wife is involved in any of this stuff?"
I shook my head, "She's been careful not to reveal too many details. I have no idea if her wife was involved or if she knows anything about it. Same with Emma's daughter. I suppose if the subject comes up tomorrow I'll see how it goes? I doubt it's the sort of thing she'd just casually mention over dinner, especially since she doesn't know you."
Amy nodded, "All right Tess. I guess we'll see what happens. She's not still in contact with any demons now, is she?"
"No," I stated. "I'm pretty sure she's got nothing to do with demons, or any other supernaturals now."
"Good to know," my girlfriend responded.
We were both finished eating by then, so she got up and cleared the table. I joined her in the kitchen and started helping her with the dishes, then while we were both standing next to the sink and the sound of running water I moved on to the other thing I wanted to talk with her about.
"I also spoke with April today," I said quietly. "Bev let me and Emma leave about an hour early, and I ended up talking with April on the phone in the parking lot before I came home."
Amy glanced at me, "And? How'd it go?"
I shook my head as I replied, "Not great. She's under a lot of stress, and she's not happy. She's not having much luck finding work, and she hasn't had any luck with her plans to find a new apartment either."
"She and Ada were originally planning to move somewhere central," I reminded Amy, "So Ada could get to her campus in the east end while April wanted to work in the north end of the city? Somewhere central would give them both good access to public transit."
She nodded, "I remember. And I know it's rough finding a place when you don't have a steady job."
"Exactly," I sighed. "And it gets worse. April wouldn't come out and say it, but I have a feeling things are going badly between her and Ada as well. She said Ada didn't write her exams, and they've had some more trouble with Ada's family too."
"Damn," my girlfriend winced. "Did she say what kind of trouble?"
"She wouldn't elaborate," I replied as I shook my head again.
At that point I let out a sigh, "Amy I'm worried about both of them. And I still feel responsible. April wouldn't say it but I can't help feeling like she blames me too. Or maybe both of us?"
"I know," Amy replied quietly. "I feel responsible too Tess. It's not our fault though? We gave Ada exactly what she wanted, and all of us were in a hurry to do it. April and Ada both wanted it as fast as possible, you and I were eager to do it right away too."
"And Ada knew what her family's like," she added. "She didn't say anything about that ahead of time. Neither did April, if she knew what sort of people they were too."
I sighed again, "I know all that Amy. I still feel responsible though. I know April and I were never close friends, but after we helped her it felt like she and I were becoming closer? Then this happened and now I can't help feeling like she blames me."
"I'm also worried about Ada," I added. "If she and April break up, she's got nowhere to go. She definitely can't go home, not when her family are so hostile. I'd hate to think what they'd do to her if they got their hands on her. But if things fall apart between the two of them, she won't have any other options."
My girlfriend took a deep breath, then let it out in a long sigh. She finally said, "Reach out to Ada. Maybe even tonight? Text her, call her, even offer to meet her for coffee or drinks or something? If you can get her to open up with you, ask her if there's anything we can do to help."
I frowned, "You want me to do this by myself? Wouldn't it be better if we both got involved?"
She shook her head, "You're the cleric. As far as Ada knows, I'm just Amy. It's better if you handle this on your own, as my cleric."
"You don't have to solve the problem yourself," she added. "I'm not asking you to try and fix things with another miracle. But if you can get her to talk to you, see if she'll ask for help? See if there's anything the goddess Amethyst can do for her, and let her know she can ask for help if she needs it. I'm not promising she'll get everything she asks for, but... Well, you know. I feel responsible same as you, and I want to try and fix things. I want to help her, but only if she wants my help."
"Ok Amy," I nodded as that last thing she said suddenly clarified things for me. Obviously neither April or Ada had asked for additional help, and without that Amy couldn't or wouldn't get involved.
We'd long since finished the dishes and had the kitchen all tidied up by that point, so I excused myself and went into the office to compose a message to Ada. Meanwhile Amy went to sit down on the sofa and started talking to our fuzzy little guest again.
It took me a minute or two to figure out what I wanted to say to Ada. I played the cleric card like Amy suggested, and said I wanted to follow up with her since it had been about two months since we did the miracle thing. I let her know I'd heard she had trouble with her family, and finally I asked if the two of us could meet up at some point for coffee or drinks or something.
After I sent the message I ended up staying in the office for a while. I could still hear Amy talking to the cat, and I wanted to wait and see if Ada would write back. I was actually hoping maybe she'd want to meet up tonight, although I realized that was probably unlikely.
While I waited I took the opportunity to tidy up my desk a bit. I still had textbooks piled up from when I was studying and cramming. Those went back into my bookcase, and I spent five or ten minutes sorting through notes and papers and things I'd left scattered around. Finally I went into my emails on the computer and killed some more time sorting and organizing that mess.
Eventually my phone pinged and I found a response from Ada. She didn't really answer any of my questions about how things were going, but she did offer to get together with me for coffee next week.
That led to a few messages back and forth as we sorted out a day and time, and since I was working and she didn't have a car it limited our options quite a bit. We settled on next Saturday afternoon, which was too far off for my liking. I knew I'd be worried for the next eight days, but I tried to convince myself that meant her situation wasn't so bad and she didn't need any immediate or urgent help.
With our plans made I finally emerged from the office and went to join my girlfriend in the living-room. Except as soon as I was there I stopped and raised an eyebrow as I stared. Amy was relaxed on the sofa with a glass of wine in one hand, and the little torty curled up in the other. She was cradling it against her chest, and it was purring loud enough I could hear it from where I stood a few meters away.
"So does this mean we've adopted the cat?" I asked. "Do we need to stock up on cat food? Are we going to have to try and sneak a litter box in here?"
"You don't adopt cats. They adopt you," they mumbled happily. "And I've adopted you two."
Amy rolled her eyes, "Nobody's adopting anyone and they're not moving in. I told them they could visit now and then, that's all."
I gave her a sceptical look, "Uh-huh. Why do I think it won't be long before 'now and then' turns into 'congratulations on your new cat'?"
"Not going to happen," my girlfriend stated as she shook her head. "Anyways get yourself some more wine then come sit with me."
A minute later I was cuddled up against my small cute goddess girlfriend, while an even smaller and cuter goddess kitty lay spread out across both Amy's right thigh and my left. Its belly was exposed, and the two of us were taking turns rubbing the soft furry tummy while the cat purred up a storm.
It might have been a cute touching evening if that's how it ended, but instead my girlfriend and the cat made it a bit weird by carrying on a conversation while both of us continued to pet it and stroke its fur.
So I sat there sipping wine and cuddling my girlfriend while I rubbed the little torty's tummy, and listened to them talk about how they basically used to be a tall strong buff warrior woman. They hated it though, they didn't like the conflict and confrontation. Apparently they were forced into that role by the beliefs of their worshippers, which surprised both Amy and I.
The cat continued to purr as they told us how happy they were to finally be free. That left them with a lot of conflicted feelings though, because they were very sad about losing all of their people. On the other hand as soon as they were free they changed their appearance to something they were comfortable with, and adopted their gender-neutral pronouns.
Finally, they described how they discovered it was easier to be around people when they were a cat. It was ironic for a former warrior goddess, but they felt more brave and could talk to people more easily when they were a cute cuddly cat. When they took a human guise it became much harder to deal with people. They got shy and anxious and had to focus on a fidget toy or something instead.
I didn't comment, but it was fairly obvious to me they were some flavour of neurodivergent. I could imagine them having to mask their true self the entire time they were forced into an uncomfortable role, and I was positive they were much happier and more at ease now that they could be themselves.
My fingers continued gently running up and down over their warm soft fuzzy tummy as I finally responded, "Thanks for sharing your story, Sigrun. I'm glad you're able to relax now and be yourself. I know it's stressful having to mask and hide yourself from people."
"Thank you Theresa," they purred. "And you can call me Siggy."
Amy frowned, "I thought you didn't like being called that?"
They actually sounded embarrassed as they admitted quietly, "Siggy is ok when I look like a cat. Sigrun for when I look human."
My girlfriend gave the cat a funny look, "Do the others know about that? Is that why Moira called you Siggy?"
Suddenly the purring stopped and I'd swear the kitty was cringing.
"They don't know I like spending time as a cat," they whispered. "Please please please don't tell them? If they found out they'd tease me for all eternity."
"Don't worry Siggy," Amy replied with a smile, "I won't say a word."
"Amy?" I asked as I gave my girlfriend a look. "What others? Who's Moira?"
She grimaced, "Right. Let me tell you about my afternoon..."
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"Thanks cutie," I smiled as Amy set my plate down in front of me. "It smells amazing."
She smiled back as she took her seat across from me, and we both started to eat. We were sitting at our little dining table for a change, instead of eating on the sofa in front of the TV. And that was because of our furry little guest, who was currently sound asleep curled up in the middle of the sofa.
Dinner was a shrimp and veggie stir-fry with rice noodles, it looked and tasted fancy but Amy claimed it was actually pretty simple to make. And we both had fresh glasses of wine alongside the food.
In between the food and drink I glanced at the sofa then looked at my girlfriend again. I asked softly, "Is it safe to talk while they're here? Actually is it safe to let them stay here?"
Amy stifled a sigh, "I don't think they mean us any harm? On the other hand I'm not sure how long I'm willing to let them stay. And I trust them when they said they weren't spying on us, so it's probably ok to talk while they're here."
"Ok," I frowned slightly. "You said they're a warrior goddess though? That sounds dangerous?"
My girlfriend replied, "Retired warrior goddess. I guess we could try and ask them for a little more information about themself? They certainly don't look or act like what I'd expect for a divine warrior. And I'm not sure about the 'goddess' part? If they're non-binary would they still be a goddess, or should we use a non-gendered term like 'deity'?"
My frown remained as I sighed, "That didn't actually answer my question. But you're right, maybe we should talk to them instead of just speculating. In the meantime though, there's stuff I wanted to discuss with you? Assuming it's safe to talk while our 'guest' is here."
"Like I said I think it's probably ok?" Amy replied with a shrug.
I glanced at the sofa again but as near as I could tell the cat was asleep. I looked back at my girlfriend again and responded, "Ok then. So um, the first thing was about work today? Like I said, Emma invited the two of us to join her and her wife for dinner tomorrow night."
Amy nodded, "You mentioned that, I'm looking forward to it."
"Good," I smiled. Then I got serious again, "Emma's had some experience with the supernatural. She and I were talking today at lunch and she opened up to me a bit? She wouldn't tell me any details, but I'm positive she survived a run-in with a demon."
That put a frown on my girlfriend's face. She admitted, "I don't know much about demons, I've never met one, as far as I know? And according to what Raven said, they aren't the generic evil villains from media. They aren't automatically enemies of gods or angels either. They're just another kind of supernatural being, I think?"
I grimaced, "Emma seems to think at least some of them are evil. Or dangerous? Something happened to her anyways, and I got the impression it wasn't good. And the reason I brought that up is I was tempted to tell her about my own experiences with the supernatural. I didn't, not today anyways. I still might, especially if she opens up to me again? And I wanted to know if that was ok with you."
A thoughtful look settled on her face as she had another mouthful of stir-fry. She washed that down with some wine, then finally responded "I trust your judgement Tess. You already know what details we're keeping secret, but if you want to tell her you're a cleric or you've met a goddess and experienced some miracles, that's fine."
"Do you think this topic is likely to come up tomorrow while we're visiting?" she asked. "Actually, do you know if her wife is involved in any of this stuff?"
I shook my head, "She's been careful not to reveal too many details. I have no idea if her wife was involved or if she knows anything about it. Same with Emma's daughter. I suppose if the subject comes up tomorrow I'll see how it goes? I doubt it's the sort of thing she'd just casually mention over dinner, especially since she doesn't know you."
Amy nodded, "All right Tess. I guess we'll see what happens. She's not still in contact with any demons now, is she?"
"No," I stated. "I'm pretty sure she's got nothing to do with demons, or any other supernaturals now."
"Good to know," my girlfriend responded.
We were both finished eating by then, so she got up and cleared the table. I joined her in the kitchen and started helping her with the dishes, then while we were both standing next to the sink and the sound of running water I moved on to the other thing I wanted to talk with her about.
"I also spoke with April today," I said quietly. "Bev let me and Emma leave about an hour early, and I ended up talking with April on the phone in the parking lot before I came home."
Amy glanced at me, "And? How'd it go?"
I shook my head as I replied, "Not great. She's under a lot of stress, and she's not happy. She's not having much luck finding work, and she hasn't had any luck with her plans to find a new apartment either."
"She and Ada were originally planning to move somewhere central," I reminded Amy, "So Ada could get to her campus in the east end while April wanted to work in the north end of the city? Somewhere central would give them both good access to public transit."
She nodded, "I remember. And I know it's rough finding a place when you don't have a steady job."
"Exactly," I sighed. "And it gets worse. April wouldn't come out and say it, but I have a feeling things are going badly between her and Ada as well. She said Ada didn't write her exams, and they've had some more trouble with Ada's family too."
"Damn," my girlfriend winced. "Did she say what kind of trouble?"
"She wouldn't elaborate," I replied as I shook my head again.
At that point I let out a sigh, "Amy I'm worried about both of them. And I still feel responsible. April wouldn't say it but I can't help feeling like she blames me too. Or maybe both of us?"
"I know," Amy replied quietly. "I feel responsible too Tess. It's not our fault though? We gave Ada exactly what she wanted, and all of us were in a hurry to do it. April and Ada both wanted it as fast as possible, you and I were eager to do it right away too."
"And Ada knew what her family's like," she added. "She didn't say anything about that ahead of time. Neither did April, if she knew what sort of people they were too."
I sighed again, "I know all that Amy. I still feel responsible though. I know April and I were never close friends, but after we helped her it felt like she and I were becoming closer? Then this happened and now I can't help feeling like she blames me."
"I'm also worried about Ada," I added. "If she and April break up, she's got nowhere to go. She definitely can't go home, not when her family are so hostile. I'd hate to think what they'd do to her if they got their hands on her. But if things fall apart between the two of them, she won't have any other options."
My girlfriend took a deep breath, then let it out in a long sigh. She finally said, "Reach out to Ada. Maybe even tonight? Text her, call her, even offer to meet her for coffee or drinks or something? If you can get her to open up with you, ask her if there's anything we can do to help."
I frowned, "You want me to do this by myself? Wouldn't it be better if we both got involved?"
She shook her head, "You're the cleric. As far as Ada knows, I'm just Amy. It's better if you handle this on your own, as my cleric."
"You don't have to solve the problem yourself," she added. "I'm not asking you to try and fix things with another miracle. But if you can get her to talk to you, see if she'll ask for help? See if there's anything the goddess Amethyst can do for her, and let her know she can ask for help if she needs it. I'm not promising she'll get everything she asks for, but... Well, you know. I feel responsible same as you, and I want to try and fix things. I want to help her, but only if she wants my help."
"Ok Amy," I nodded as that last thing she said suddenly clarified things for me. Obviously neither April or Ada had asked for additional help, and without that Amy couldn't or wouldn't get involved.
We'd long since finished the dishes and had the kitchen all tidied up by that point, so I excused myself and went into the office to compose a message to Ada. Meanwhile Amy went to sit down on the sofa and started talking to our fuzzy little guest again.
It took me a minute or two to figure out what I wanted to say to Ada. I played the cleric card like Amy suggested, and said I wanted to follow up with her since it had been about two months since we did the miracle thing. I let her know I'd heard she had trouble with her family, and finally I asked if the two of us could meet up at some point for coffee or drinks or something.
After I sent the message I ended up staying in the office for a while. I could still hear Amy talking to the cat, and I wanted to wait and see if Ada would write back. I was actually hoping maybe she'd want to meet up tonight, although I realized that was probably unlikely.
While I waited I took the opportunity to tidy up my desk a bit. I still had textbooks piled up from when I was studying and cramming. Those went back into my bookcase, and I spent five or ten minutes sorting through notes and papers and things I'd left scattered around. Finally I went into my emails on the computer and killed some more time sorting and organizing that mess.
Eventually my phone pinged and I found a response from Ada. She didn't really answer any of my questions about how things were going, but she did offer to get together with me for coffee next week.
That led to a few messages back and forth as we sorted out a day and time, and since I was working and she didn't have a car it limited our options quite a bit. We settled on next Saturday afternoon, which was too far off for my liking. I knew I'd be worried for the next eight days, but I tried to convince myself that meant her situation wasn't so bad and she didn't need any immediate or urgent help.
With our plans made I finally emerged from the office and went to join my girlfriend in the living-room. Except as soon as I was there I stopped and raised an eyebrow as I stared. Amy was relaxed on the sofa with a glass of wine in one hand, and the little torty curled up in the other. She was cradling it against her chest, and it was purring loud enough I could hear it from where I stood a few meters away.
"So does this mean we've adopted the cat?" I asked. "Do we need to stock up on cat food? Are we going to have to try and sneak a litter box in here?"
"You don't adopt cats. They adopt you," they mumbled happily. "And I've adopted you two."
Amy rolled her eyes, "Nobody's adopting anyone and they're not moving in. I told them they could visit now and then, that's all."
I gave her a sceptical look, "Uh-huh. Why do I think it won't be long before 'now and then' turns into 'congratulations on your new cat'?"
"Not going to happen," my girlfriend stated as she shook her head. "Anyways get yourself some more wine then come sit with me."
A minute later I was cuddled up against my small cute goddess girlfriend, while an even smaller and cuter goddess kitty lay spread out across both Amy's right thigh and my left. Its belly was exposed, and the two of us were taking turns rubbing the soft furry tummy while the cat purred up a storm.
It might have been a cute touching evening if that's how it ended, but instead my girlfriend and the cat made it a bit weird by carrying on a conversation while both of us continued to pet it and stroke its fur.
So I sat there sipping wine and cuddling my girlfriend while I rubbed the little torty's tummy, and listened to them talk about how they basically used to be a tall strong buff warrior woman. They hated it though, they didn't like the conflict and confrontation. Apparently they were forced into that role by the beliefs of their worshippers, which surprised both Amy and I.
The cat continued to purr as they told us how happy they were to finally be free. That left them with a lot of conflicted feelings though, because they were very sad about losing all of their people. On the other hand as soon as they were free they changed their appearance to something they were comfortable with, and adopted their gender-neutral pronouns.
Finally, they described how they discovered it was easier to be around people when they were a cat. It was ironic for a former warrior goddess, but they felt more brave and could talk to people more easily when they were a cute cuddly cat. When they took a human guise it became much harder to deal with people. They got shy and anxious and had to focus on a fidget toy or something instead.
I didn't comment, but it was fairly obvious to me they were some flavour of neurodivergent. I could imagine them having to mask their true self the entire time they were forced into an uncomfortable role, and I was positive they were much happier and more at ease now that they could be themselves.
My fingers continued gently running up and down over their warm soft fuzzy tummy as I finally responded, "Thanks for sharing your story, Sigrun. I'm glad you're able to relax now and be yourself. I know it's stressful having to mask and hide yourself from people."
"Thank you Theresa," they purred. "And you can call me Siggy."
Amy frowned, "I thought you didn't like being called that?"
They actually sounded embarrassed as they admitted quietly, "Siggy is ok when I look like a cat. Sigrun for when I look human."
My girlfriend gave the cat a funny look, "Do the others know about that? Is that why Moira called you Siggy?"
Suddenly the purring stopped and I'd swear the kitty was cringing.
"They don't know I like spending time as a cat," they whispered. "Please please please don't tell them? If they found out they'd tease me for all eternity."
"Don't worry Siggy," Amy replied with a smile, "I won't say a word."
"Amy?" I asked as I gave my girlfriend a look. "What others? Who's Moira?"
She grimaced, "Right. Let me tell you about my afternoon..."
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