Aka Amy

After we left the restaurant I drove Ada out to the east end, and we managed to get a look at all three places on her list.

At first glance the student house reminded me of my old place with Mike, except this was a bungalow with four small bedrooms and a shared kitchen, bathroom, and living-room. The other three roommates were all guys, and two of them gave both Ada and I the creeps so we moved on from there pretty fast.

The apartment building looked ok, and it was a decent location, but the rent was high for a one-bedroom unit. And the biggest disappointment was it wouldn't even be available for another three weeks, which Ada and I both felt was too long to wait.

The last option was a basement apartment, and it turned out to be pretty nice. It was too far to walk to the campus, but it was practically on a main bus route so there was good access to public transportation. The place was nice and clean, the family that owned the home seemed friendly, and the rent was surprisingly reasonable too. And best of all, it was available immediately.

Ada signed a one-year rental agreement while Amethyst took care of the first and last months' rent. Then I offered to help her move in right away, since she had the keys to her new place and I had the car. She wanted to talk to April first though, and by that point it was already late in the day.

The drive back to the west end took almost an hour thanks to traffic, so I ended up just dropping her off at April's place then heading home.

We didn't hear from Ada on Tuesday, but she texted me on Wednesday to thank me again for all my help, and she asked me to thank Tess as well. She promised she was going to be praying to Amethyst to give thanks to the goddess, and she'd be doing the sacrifices of cookies and wine too.

After all that she finally mentioned that she was in her new place, after April helped her move the day before. She also told me that she and April had basically promised to try and remain friends, which was nice.

And sure enough, Wednesday night I got all that information a second time when the pinkette catgirl sent it in prayer to her goddess, along with a boatload of gratitude.

Meanwhile I was still receiving sporadic prayers from other folks as well, and Thursday night I delivered a miracle for a new trans follower. So overall, the goddess stuff was going pretty well.

Ada had been the only real setback, and it was just really unfortunate that whole fiasco came out of Tess's first - and so far only - experience delivering a miracle as my cleric. I just hoped that with Ada's situation resolved Tess would be able to move forward, and maybe she'd start thinking about taking up the cleric work again.

Now it was Friday evening and my girlfriend and I had non-goddess things on our minds.

"Are you going to drive tonight?" Tess asked as she put the finishing touches on her make-up, "Or if you want to indulge I can be the designated driver."

Neither of us were dressed up too fancy, she'd got out of her work clothes but dressed in something fairly similar. She had black slacks and low-heeled shoes, and a pretty green blouse with short sleeves and a plunging neckline. And I was in a sleeveless black sundress and had black two-inch heeled sandals on my feet.

I smiled, "I thought we could just teleport? That way we can both enjoy a few glasses of wine."

My girlfriend grimaced, "Is it safe to drink and teleport? If you get tipsy will I have to worry about the two of us winding up teleporting into the wrong apartment? Or the wrong continent?"

"That won't be a problem," I promised. Then in a mock valley-girl accent I added, "Trust me, I'm like a goddess or whatever? I have like, infallible navigational skills or some junk."

Tess rolled her eyes but picked up her little purse and said, "I guess I'm ready then. Do they know we're teleporting directly there? Or are you planning on startling them with our sudden appearance?"

I had my purse dangling from my left shoulder and a neatly-wrapped birthday gift in my hand as I moved closer and slipped my right arm around her waist. Then I shook my head, "I'll bring us to the lobby, then we'll wait for them to buzz us up like usual."

"All right cutie," she replied as she wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "I'm ready when you are."

Thanks to some subtle divine magic nobody noticed the two of us appear out of nowhere in the lobby of Hailey's apartment building, then I texted my sister to let her know we'd arrived and she buzzed us through.

"Teleporting still freaks me out a little bit," Tess admitted as we got into the elevator, "But I have to admit it sure is convenient. Crossing thirty or forty kilometres in an instant makes the twenty seconds it takes to get to Hailey's floor seem slow."

I grinned, "Next time we can teleport into the hall right outside their door. Or I guess if we warn them first, we can jump straight into their apartment."

As we emerged from the elevator my girlfriend pointed out, "We usually meet them at a restaurant, so maybe next time we'll be jumping into a steak-house lobby or something."

"True," I nodded as we reached the door.

I knocked, and Alex opened it a moment later.

"Amy, Tess, great to see you both!" the tall slim enby greeted us. "Come on in and make yourselves comfortable."

We returned the greeting as we moved past them and into my sister's small living-room where we found my sister waiting.

"Happy belated birthday sis!" I said as I gave the tall blonde a hug. Then I handed over her present as well and added, "Here you go Hailey, I hope that's still your favourite brand."

She smiled as she accepted the bottle-shaped package, "Thanks Amy."

When I got out of the way Tess greeted her as well, then drinks were distributed and the four of us all got comfortable. My girlfriend and I were together on the sofa and we both had glasses of cool crisp white wine, while Alex and Hailey sat across from us on a new-ish love-seat. And both of them were drinking beer again as usual.

"So what's new?" I asked my sister. "How's the job-search going?"

Hailey smiled "Fingers crossed, I have an in-person interview coming up next Wednesday. It's at a government lab in the west end, and I really hope I get it."

"I already had a phone interview a couple days ago and that went really well," she added. "So I feel like my chances are good."

I smiled, "That's great Hailey! Good luck!"

"What sort of work would you be doing?" Tess asked.

My sister spent the next ten minutes talking about all sorts of bio-chemistry stuff, but the gist of it seemed to be she'd be spending most of her time in a lab analyzing various chemicals for various reasons.

When she was finally finished I asked, "What's the commute going to be like? Is it feasible to keep living here if you're working there?"

"We'll see," she grimaced. "This place was perfect for university, right on the subway line and everything. And considering Alex has another year to go I don't see us moving right away? But I have a feeling we'll be looking at that in the future. Then again, it'll also depend on where they end up working too?"

Alex nodded, "I'd try and get work in the same general area, if that's at all possible. Doesn't make sense for us to be going in opposite directions. And if we're both in the west end then I think we'd try and find a place out that way too. Ideally something a little bit larger than this."

"It was more than enough for me when I was by myself," Hailey agreed. "And it's cosy for two of us. But we could definitely use something a little bigger. Anyways that's all another year away yet, and it's all based on me getting that job. So hopefully the interview goes well and maybe in a week or two I'll be employed."

"How about you two?" Alex asked. "Tess, how's work going? And Amy, I guess you're still doing the goddess gig?"

My girlfriend and I spent the next few minutes talking about that. Tess talked a bit about her work, but most of it was just generic stuff. Like she obviously couldn't discuss any patients or anything confidential. And likewise I wouldn't go into any details about my goddess stuff, so I just told them things were going well and left it at that.

Then Tess commented, "Amy and I recently adopted a cat. Or I suppose the cat adopted us?"

"Seriously?" Hailey asked with a wide smile. "What kind of cat? What made you two decide to become pet owners? Actually do you even know anything about looking after cats?"

I grimaced, "They're a very bossy little tortoiseshell named Siggy. And Tess wasn't exaggerating when she said the cat adopted us."

Alex grinned, "A torty huh? I guess you two are learning all about toritude now."

"Tortitude is a very good word," I stated. "And they have lots of it."

My girlfriend agreed, "Siggy's really cute and affectionate, but Amy's right about them having an attitude."

Hailey asked, "Your cat's non-binary? You're using they/them pronouns for them."

"No reason why a cat can't be an enby," Alex stated. "More power to them."

"I'm not arguing that, I'm just curious how you'd know?" my sister responded.

In a completely deadpan voice I explained, "The cat told us they were non-binary."

Alex and Hailey exchanged a glance, and I was honestly a little surprised neither of them decided to question that statement. Maybe even a little disappointed too. I wasn't going to tell anyone our new cat was a goddess, but it would have been fun explaining how they could talk.

Neither of our hosts seemed like they were going to take the bait though, so I decided to change the subject entirely.

"Hailey did you see mom and dad on Wednesday?" I asked my sister. "I didn't hear anything, but I figured they would have invited you over for your birthday like usual."

"Yeah," she grimaced. She paused for a couple gulps of beer then shrugged, "It was awkward. I guess the best news is the arguing was kept to an absolute minimum?"

Alex agreed, "Voices were raised only once, and only briefly. Unfortunately that didn't make the rest of the evening any less uncomfortable."

"Uh-oh," I frowned. "So what happened? Do you want to talk about it?"

Hailey shrugged, "Part of it was my fault I guess? I said it was strange doing a family get-together without my little sister even being invited. That got mom bent out of shape, while dad acted embarrassed and awkward."

I grimaced, "Ah. Do I want to know how that played out? Or am I better off not asking?"

My sister took a deep breath, then let out a long sigh. She finally responded, "I think dad misses you? As for mom, I really don't know what to say. I'm tempted to suggest she get professional help, she's got some issues she needs to work out? But I'm worried that if she starts telling some stranger that her trans child is actually a goddess she's not going to get the right kind of help."

"How would that play out Tess?" Alex asked my girlfriend. "Hypothetically speaking, I mean?"

Theresa's eyes widened for a moment, then narrowed as she seemed to think it over. She finally sighed, "That would depend heavily on whoever she was talking to? It would also depend on how Mrs. Price approached the subject. Worst-case scenario I could see a lot of time and money being wasted with a therapist exploring why Mrs. Price believes her child 'has divine powers' or something like that, while the real issues went unaddressed."

"Nobody's going to lock her up or brand her as delusional," Tess added. "That doesn't happen, not anymore. Not unless your mother was actively threatening to harm herself or others. But yeah, depending on who she sees and how she approaches the issue, I could see them getting distracted by the 'goddess' stuff and completely missing the actual problems."

"It's moot anyways. Mom's not ready to get help either way," Hailey sighed.

After another gulp of her beer she changed the subject, "Anyways enough about that. It's the long weekend, do you two have anything fun planned? Other than hanging out with your awesome sister and her amazing partner, I mean?"

My girlfriend smiled, "We're going hiking on Sunday. We'll get a nice brunch somewhere then we're going on a little drive in the country, then we'll spend a few hours hiking and soaking up some nature."

"And don't forget, Sunday night's an Amethyst holiday. So my goddess girlfriend and I will be celebrating that," she added with a slightly-naughty grin.

Hailey grinned too, "Don't worry, I haven't forgotten. I know Sunday is July thirty-first, I'll be putting out the cookies and ice wine."

"That's not for two more days," I commented. "What's the plan for dinner tonight? I don't smell anything cooking, so I gather we're going out? Or ordering in?"

My sister rolled her eyes but replied, "Alex got us reservations at that little Asian Fusion place up the street. Not for another forty-five minutes though, so we've got plenty of time for another drink."

"Sounds good sis," I smiled.

Alex topped up my girlfriend's and my glasses, then got more beer for themself and Hailey. Then the four of us relaxed and talked a bit more, my sister wanted to see pictures of our new cat which was awkward since neither Tess or I had bothered to take any.

That led to a debate about whether we were even qualified to look after a pet, since in Hailey's opinion a true pet owner would have had several dozen pictures by the end of the first week. And to be honest neither of us had bothered to find out about what it took to look after a cat, since Siggy seemed to look after themself. All they wanted from us was pets and belly rubs and attention.

We couldn't exactly say that though, without explaining that our new cat was actually a retired Norse warrior goddess in disguise.

The conversation lasted right up until we had to head out for the restaurant, and even then my sister wouldn't let the subject drop entirely. She kept threatening to come and visit us to make sure we were taking good care of our new fur-baby, which I knew was only going to lead to more awkwardness if she actually followed-up on that threat.

That was the only real disagreement of the evening though. Otherwise we had a nice dinner, then went back to Hailey's place for more drinks. All in all it was another nice visit with my sister and her datefriend.