Day One Thousand One Hundred And Twenty-Five

Dear Diary,

Y'know, if nothing else I think the difference in outcomes between the times I see opposition as something to be smashed and the times I see it as some kind of diplomatic challenge is teaching me the importance of diplomacy.

Seriously, my first four, no five seasons here, every Season I looked on my opposition as an enemy, whether that enemy was 'the powers that be', New Amsterdam, the Plague, Norfolk's Jarl's, or the Undead. I guess Calverton sort of slipped from 'potential enemy' to 'friends' during that third Season, which probably set the stage for my eventual shift to which I preferred. Then the confusing Season where I wasn't sure who the 'enemy' was, and it turned out that my 'enemy' wasn't anything of the sort, just a poor little Sidhe girl who'd tried to do me a favor. Yeah, The Morrigan wound up setting herself as somebody who needed to be done unto during our first meeting, but thing is, I didn't go into that meeting with that kind of thought in mind.

I also didn't walk away from it unable to walk.

Oh, fuck you, like I make sense normaly.

But yeah, whether it was the influence of Past Me, who while she might be as much of a bitch as Present Me... Nah, I'm not even gonna say that. Past Me was cool. I'm not sure if it was her influence, the object lesson of 'going into things diplomatically produces less traumatic solutions', me growing up a little, or some combination thereof, that firmly put me in the mentality to try negotiation. Which maybe didn't work well with the Mother of Water Panthers, but definitely did with Grandmother's people. Well, with all the locals and local adjacent Spirits.

Mmm... Lily.

Anyway, with the entire thought that diplomacy winds up with better outcomes than aggression, even if mine is often of the 'gunboat' type, since once people see my guns they're usually way more interested in talking, and the surprising number of times taking someone to one of my Revels has lubed up the old diplomatic channels, I really shouldn't be surprised by the results of the past twenty four hours.

Which, to be clear, were preceded by a full day of cooking, teaching Math at the Temple, which included a lot of holding Aisling when she felt insecure, and listening to the interminable bickering over ever more specific wording in the Treaty... Articles of Agreement? Fuck it, contract between the Alliance and the three Captains, wherein they'd act as envoys for us when it came to the rest of the English Pirates. Or really, I ought to call them Thames Pirates, since that's what they call themselves. Not sure why, probably has to do with a lot of them being immigrants like Redbeard.

As we finished up, I thought, halfway done.

At which point Saffron blindsided me with, not even close, sadly.

I noticed a little tension in our guests, and raised one hand asking for patience as I turned to Saffron. Dafuq?

"Pardon, Captains. A moment." Then she turned to me and thought, in the morning we'll begin hashing out how this contract will interface with their previous one with Tallulah.

I very carefully did not facepalm. I... I get how that's important. But after we work that out, and then we finish the contract for them to protect our shipping?

We'll need to review how that contract interacts with each of the other two, and confirm it doesn't change how the first two interact.

Fuck. Me.

She just smirked at me, a smirk that had more than a little Grin hidden in it. I believe you've at least a few Worshippers who are waiting to do just that?

I shook my head, turned to the Captains, and asked, "hey, you guys wanna tag along to my Revel tonight?" When they looked three different flavors of flustered, I just shrugged and added, "no pressure either way. Just figured you guys might want to blow off a little steam, and I'm not sure if the chain of command lets you do that with your crew."

I absolutely ignored how both of the other two glanced over at Anne, who chuckled and said, "different ships and crews have different customs. In my case, the First Mate and I..." She shrugged.

"So I'm guessing you're a no?"

"I didn't say that."

So I gathered up my ladies and the Captains and thought, Karen?

Yes, Goddess?

Bringing some guests. With that I stepped us all to the Temple.

As I settled to my Throne and dropped my Blend and clothes, I asked, "so, who's up first?"

Karen paused, then said, "Furtim?"

A moment later, Furtim Cauda was there, one hand on the shoulder of a guy in a uniform I recognized from the Black Dragon. Not the officer's uniform, but they'd settled on a kind of simple old school 'capris, buckle boots, and shirts' in a super light eggshell. I guessed they decided on that instead of white just because it was easier to make light beige than white.

"Hey there," I said, holding my arms out. "And you are?"

He looked a little hesitant, but Furtim pushed him forward with one hand on his shoulder. "Sailor Dockman keeps Black Dragon's Shrine."

Yeah, her cadence was a little weird, but I nodded him forward. When he stepped up, still looking a little scared, I said, "do I know you from somewhere?"

He stuttered out, "Calverton, Goddess."

That caught me. "Undead?" He nodded, and I looked closer. After a second my Memory caught. "Oh, hey! You're the dude the Master sent to fuck with us back then, weren't you?"

He shrunk away, but stopped when he ran into the tentacles I'd pulled in behind him. "Yes."

I pulled him into a hug. "Dude. That's in the past. I think I told you back then, real second chance. It looks like you've taken that and run with it. In good directions, it looks like?" I glanced at Furtim, who nodded. "So this is your victory lap, man. What did you want to do?"

He stuttered, stammered, and quieted when I gazed into that dark place inside him, laying my fingertips over his lips. "May I?"

He nodded, and I lifted him. Wreathed him in tentacles and my arms. "Sailor Dockman, my Priest. You come here seeking absolution?"

"Yes."

"You come here seeking acceptance?"

"I do."

I rose into the air next to him. "You come here seeking to be formally acknowledged as my Priest?"

"I do!"

"Then be welcome to my temple, Priest Dockman." I pulled him against me and kissed him. Which had a predictable reaction. Not once until he passed out did either of us settle to the Altar, until I laid him there spent.

I smiled at everyone, including the Captains. Anne nodded up to me, even though she kept glancing at Furtim; couldn't tell if she was scared, aroused, or more likely scaroused. Redbeard had a guy on each knee. John was looking real uncomfortable with a couple, one woman one guy, talking to him.

I swooped over. "Hey, you two." They looked up at me, surprised. "The Captains here are all kinda bound by oaths and contracts and things. Also, y'know it's not good to pressure people, right?"

They both looked pretty shamefaced. "Sorry." I nodded to John, and they turned to John and said, "sorry."

As they kinda shuffled away, I turned to John. "Not up for anything intimate tonight?"

He shrugged. "I'm... Perhaps a little conservative in my pairings."

I turned to Karen. "Can you keep him company?" He opened his mouth, and I added, "make sure he's got drinks from the bar, some snacks?"

She smoothly stepped over and settled next to him; I felt her Co-Locating over to the bar while she did. "Of course, Goddess."

I stepped back over and asked, Furtim, "who's next?"

She nodded, looked around, and said, "a request." Then took a long step back.

A little confused, but still game, I asked, "for?"

"Public recognition." I realized she was scoping out the area around the Altar.

"By?"

"Sister."

Yeah, I had about second's warning before she was there. Sister. My Great Kraken High Priestess, in all her Great Kraken glory. I caught her above me, and without thinking about it slipped tentacles around and into her.

"Hey everybody! This is my High Priestess among the Great Kraken. Her name is Sister. Let's give her a warm welcome!" My Worshippers, who'd been cowering back, all oohed and aahed. There were even a few cheers. Sister.

Goddess, she both thought and motion-imaged. The oohs and aahs from the crowd got a lot more real as her skin rippled with rainbow colors. Then a subtle pink hue flickered across her, and somehow I could tell that wasn't anything normal to Great Kraken, but entirely for the benefit of the crowd.

I looked into that dark place inside her, which was simultaneously far closer to the surface and far darker than normal. Yeah, apparently some of the things that Saffron and I had done were both exceptionally kinky by Kraken standards, and recently far more popular among the Great Kraken. It took until the end of the night for her to flicker toward unconsciousness. Did you want me to take you back?

Please.

So I dropped her off near where I remembered Leviathan nesting, where her fellow Great Kraken greeted her with open arms and celebratory motion-imaging.

I hopped back to my Temple and enjoyed Karen and Furtim's dresses greeting the dawn.

Definitely an interesting night. Good one, too.

Much better than the rest of the day, which was spent on more legal review.