…Chapter 8, Committing…
...Chapter 8, Committing...
Okay, I'll admit, whatever I expected the reaction to be, I didn't think it would be that all three of my sisters needed to be fucked as soon as possible. Seriously, that hadn't crossed my mind. But the very first words out of Beth's mouth after I finish reading off my ability are, "You need to fuck all three of us, right now, before mom wakes up."
Luckily, I'm not the only one who's surprised as Madison gasps, "Bethany! I... we... not like that!"
"Yeah," Sawyer agrees vehemently, glaring at Bethany. "Not... like that."
"It'd be the smart thing," Bethany says, frowning, though at them or herself, I don't know.
"The smart thing would've been to know about this first thing this morning. Or last night," Sawyer says, elbowing me in the side. I don't even attempt to block it. I deserve that much at a minimum. "You don't keep key abilities hidden from your party. Not cool."
"Sorry," I mumble. "This conversation is uncharted territory for me. The whole topic is."
"Which is why we work as a team," Sawyer states, kissing my cheek. "Dweeb."
"She's right," Bethany says, causing me to frown and nod as she continues, "But I understand why you didn't want to tell us. Having an ability like this... I couldn't have factored it into my craziest plans. But I'm super grateful for it."
"It does seem pretty useful," Madison agrees with a glance at my crotch. However, despite the subject matter, I'm not very aroused at the moment, so there isn't much for her to see.
"Not just that. It gives us a good reason to... you know, fuck our brother," Bethany says with an absolutely massive smirk. "Which, can I just say, is such a huge relief. Mom can't get upset if we're sleeping with you to stay safe."
Squinting, I quirk an eyebrow at Bethany. "Are you forgetting the time mom got mad at us for using the green hand towel with the yellow plates? She can get mad at anything."
"In her defence, she had a real shit day at work," Bethany says, glancing over at mom. "Though... I guess this might count as a shit day too."
"You think?" Sawyer asks, leaning into my side. I tug her close, inhaling her fresh river scent... when did that happen? "Guess this means I don't get Darren to myself today. At least we had cuddles in the jeep."
"Shit, mom's jeep," I mutter.
With a shake of her head, Bethany's eyes crinkle into a pained smile, "I'm afraid I wrecked it."
"Mom can't blame you," I reassure her, leaning forward to give her shoulder a squeeze. Which causes Sawyer to growl at me.
Kaylie laughs as she says, "Weren't you the one who just pointed out that mom can get mad at anything? And we all know how much she loved that jeep."
We all give a round of solemn nods at that. And at the loss of the jeep.
"I think Sawyer should still get her day. It's not like this is going to be a one time thing. We're... well, I know I don't..." Kaylie starts off strong, but for some reason she's losing her nerve as she struggles to finish her thought. We all wait patiently for her to finish. When she realizes we're all staring at her, she blushes, but then runs a hand through her hair and stands up straight. "I... I want to be with... I'd like to marry Darren. If the rules are different. If we don't have to..."
I can't help but bring her in for a hug after that. "Love you too," I whisper as I squeeze her.
We're joined by our other sisters, Bethany saying, "If... I think we'll be able to make our own rules. But we still have to talk to mom. It's not something we should rush into."
"Just like sex," Madison agrees. "No matter how much I... uh, we want to. It should be special."
"So, I still get my day?" Sawyer asks, which gets her a hand in her hair as I ruffle it. Which doesn't do much with her braid.
"Yeah, though we might all need a bit of affection," Bethany states. "But if we're not just gonna fuck Darren now, I don't see any problem with taking turns."
"So romantic," I tease, smiling at Bethany.
She just rolls her eyes and somehow manages to sneak her hand in to squeeze my butt. Or maybe it wasn't her. It's hard to tell at the moment. As I lay my head atop Kaylie’s I say, “You know, I… think I’d like that. The marrying thing. Not sure how that’d work with all four of you. But it’d be nice.”
I get a little woozy from the sudden pressure of my sisters all squeezing me tighter, but once I recover we all just stand there for a minute, enjoying being together.
"We should take care of mom," Madison says, though I note she doesn't break the hug.
Checking my reserves, I feel like I'm almost at half. Letting my sister's know, I break our hug then move over to mom, limping to avoid putting much pressure on my recently reattached foot. Which pulses with so much pain I almost collapse on my first step. But Madison is there to catch me. Because of course she is. "Thanks Maddie," I say as we move to mom's pallet.
"Anytime twerp," Madison replies, sticking her tongue out at me. So I kiss her, catching her completely off guard. I feel pretty proud of myself, until I feel her push back, her tongue hungrily pressing into my mouth. Her taste fills my mouth for five glorious seconds until I'm pulled away by my ear. It takes me a second of flailing on one leg to turn to the captor of my ear, Sawyer.
I don't even have time to chastise her before she pushes her own lips against mine. Which leaves me even more off guard. We kiss for a long minute before Sawyer pulls away with a smile that I'm sure matches my own.
"Okay, I should-" I start, but then Bethany's lips find mine as well. Her kiss is short, only a few seconds. But it's also full of passion. And tastes faintly of cherry.
When she pulls away, I almost collapse onto mom's mat, but Madison is there again.
Lowering me next to mom, I have to spend almost a minute just clearing my head of my sisters' soft and delicious lips. Once I'm back down from whichever cloud they sent me to, I place my hand on the mark on mom's head. And I realize just how important it is to have close contact with what I want to work on. My understanding of the damage is an order of magnitude better when I touch the injury, if not more. Channelling my Rejuvenation into the affected area is easier too.
Even then, it takes me four full pools before I'm finished. And mom still hasn't woken up. During each break, I found myself engaging in short makeout sessions with my sisters. Even Kaylie got in on it, though Sawyer got most of the time. It was 'her' day afterall. But as I tell the others I'm done, we decide it's too risky to continue. That doesn't keep them from forming a giant cuddle pile as we wait for my energy to regenerate again. I still need to work on mom's burns and my ankle. Bethany has a few minor scrapes as well. I'm pretty sure I could take care of them in a single cycle, but Bethany wants me to take care of the important stuff first.
As my energy returns, I asks, "So, did any of you get stronger after that fight?"
"Donkey's balls, we forgot to tell you," Madison exclaims, her head rather close to my own balls before she sits up.
"I didn't forget, just thought we were going to wait for mom," Bethany states, shifting closer to take advantage of the space left by Madison.
Madison's narrowed eyes almost elicit a chuckle from me as she targets Bethany with a tickle attack. Which is deflected by a curved shield of white light. Bethany sticks out her tongue at Madison, only to yelp when I pinch her bum playfully. Which results in all four girls turning on me. Because that's how the rules always work. Despite being ready for it... I'm not. I'm a helpless ball of laughter as my sisters tickle me into submission. We're all laying there, intertwined in the least graceful manner we could be when there's a cough from across the room.
When I try to sit up, I'm stopped by Kaylie's crotch, which I'm able to identify by smell alone. The sweet smell of strawberries tempts me, and I almost lick her, but think better of it, gently lifting her away instead. Once I'm half free, I find mom sitting on her mat, smiling at us. I wave at her as my sisters right themselves. Bethany is the first to get organized and rushes across the room to hug mom. The rest of us aren't far behind, and soon she's enveloped in a giant group hug.
As we all break apart, mom asks, "So, what'd I miss?"
"You should've seen Bethany, standing over you like a knight against a dragon," I say immediately, standing up and copying Bethany's pose. "She was epic, getting knocked back, only to stride forward, ready for the next blow!"
Bethany turns away, blushing as I continue describing her efforts, much of which is conjecture since I couldn't see her from within the ditch for most of it.
When I reach the part where Bethany stumbled, Madison interjects, "Darren didn't even hesitate. He saw Bethany stumble and charged out. So I followed him."
I nod along, waving my arms at my sisters. "And then when we were going to get stomped on, Kaylie and Sawyer managed to get you away while delaying it."
We continue describing our battle and mom is smiling, eating it up until I mention being an idiot and getting my foot cut off. At that, mom sits forward staring down at my foot. When she sees it's still attached, she flicks my nose then pulls me in for a hug. "Don't you ever do that to me again."
"Sorry," I say, returning the hug awkwardly around her arm.
"Tell me you're okay before you tell me how you were hurt," mom clarifies. "And thank you. All of you. I'm so proud of you."
Mom extends her arms, which leads to another group hug. We stay like that for almost a minute this time before we break it up. Then we reach the point of the story where I pass out and my sisters take over.
"We knew we couldn't get you guys all the way back to the house, but I remembered you mentioning that there were service buildings for the solar farm," Bethany says as I relax into Sawyer's lap while she plays with my hair. "So we hiked you over on Kaylie's plant and bone stretchers. Which she was able to turn into your beds with Sawyer's help."
"I only took a couple bigger bones and the core," Kaylie says, her head in my lap. "Most of it is still out there."
Hard but pleasant tugs of Sawyer's fingers massage my scalp as she says, "Oh, but the most important thing. We got a notification after the boss finally gave up the ghost."
Bethany shifts her legs where they're draped across my chest, her head hanging off the edge of the bed as she turns it towards mom. "Yeah. Apparently we defeated the area boss and claimed the 'Pinnacle of Light' zone. It's ours for the next week."
Mom and I trade looks at that. Mom leans back, staring at the blank ceiling before turning to Bethany. "Did it say anything else? Do we know how big this area is? Or what it means when it says it's ours?"
"Uhm. Not in the notification itself. But there's a node with more information. We couldn't access it though because it takes the entire party."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" mom asks, pushing to her feet.
My sisters and I follow her example, albeit at a slower pace. It doesn't help that I'm trying desperately not to bump my still healing foot. Despite having it reattached, it feels like it's going to take more healing than mom's head did. And I still have her burns to heal too. I don't know how she's not flinching. Now that I'm up, I take the empty shell of my boot, putting it on my foot and channelling Purify. It takes extra effort, but I'm able to extend the effect far enough that it cleans the inside of the boot. Enlisting Kaylie's aid, she secures the top shut with a few roots from the mat, and then we set off for this node.
Madison takes the lead, holding a shield made of Bethany's white light, the shield's glow illuminating our short march into the back of what is a very ordinary building.
"This place has less character than a stucco wall," mom says, frowning as we enter what appears to be a janitors closet. Along the wall is an electrical panel. The outer frame of one, anyway. Cause in the middle is a black surface with glowing pink lines of text.
"Why are we here?" mom asks, looking about the closet and somehow missing the giant glowing box in the corner. Bethany helpfully points it out to mom, but she just squints in response. Then she sighs. "I don't think I'm part of the party."
We all just stare at mom for a second.
"That makes zero sense," Sawyer finally says, prompting a round of nods from the rest of us.
At this, mom just smiles, motioning us forward. "Watch. I bet it activates with just the five of you."
Indulging our mom, we all gather around the electrical box. It's a little cramped, but considering our general lack of boundaries, not to mention our recent annihilation of the remaining ones, it doesn't bother us. And just like mom said, when we lay our hands on the interface together, we get a notification.
"Party confirmed. Darren and his four sister-sluts. Confirm name?"
I just about pull my hand back, yet before I can cancel, the prompt is replaced.
"Party name confirmed, The 4Ds. Please confirm party leader."
Even as I'm reading the list and selecting Bethany as the party leader, another prompt appears.
"Confirmed, Darren set as party leader. Please confirm party duration."
Before yet another prompt can be selected for me, I try to pull my hand back. Only to realize I can't. Because I can't move my body. I'm not even breathing. And before I can process that, yet another prompt appears.
"Confirmed, party duration set to Lifetime. Additional party options available. Options include: Marriage, Partnership-"
My head spins as yet another option is selected without me.
"Confirmed, party type set to Marriage: Polygamy."
I wait to see what else this system is going to do, prepared to apologize to my sisters for everything that happened. Especially the first party name.
Then I’m suddenly free. And my sisters sre all giggling as they hug me tight while bouncing against me.
"I take it that means I was right?" mom asks, causing the storm of giggling to subside.
Scratching my head, I say, "Maybe? I'm not even sure what-"
"We're married!" Bethany declares not giving me a chance to say anything as she stares off into space, trying to look angry. But she's unable to keep the smile from creeping up her face. "The System just started going through and selecting options for us."
Mom stares at us as the other girls giggle behind Bethany. Which makes me suspicious. Which means mom is even more suspicious. She narrows her eyes, looking from one sister to the next, before her eyes settle on Kaylie. She looks at Kaylie for several long seconds until Kaylie steps close to me. I wrap my arm around her protectively without thinking about it.
Then mom sighs again. "You know, I'm grateful you kids waited until we were sucked away from earth at least."
"We didn't..." Bethany starts but trails off as mom raises an eyebrow at her. Bethany gives mom a crooked smile, "Only Kaylie's... you know. With Darren."
"I... oh, that's why they were both still in bed this morning," mom says, rubbing at her forehead. "Well, I always suspected one of you were going to end up with him. Figured it would be Madison or you though, Bethany."
"Really?" I can't help but ask, staring at mom. "You expected this?"
Mom's laugh is deep and genuine. "Of course. With the way you dote on them? And are constantly flirting with them? Like I said, I'm just glad we're not on earth anymore."
Bethany's scowl is so adorable I have to boop her nose. She wiggles it, looking at me, before looking to mom. "I can't believe we could've just told you and it would've been cool. Could've saved us years."
At this, mom's smile droops. "I wouldn't have been 'cool with it' if this had happened a week ago. But now? After everything that's happened in the last day? It's clear you all make each other happy. And I want you to find what happiness you can. Because there's a very real chance that the monster you killed to get in here is only the first of many."
"Oh, there's one more thing," I say, opening my abilities. "And I'm not really sure how to say this, so I'll just read you the last of my abilities. One I got when we crossed over."
If I thought I'd heard our mother laugh before, I was mistaken. Never have I heard our mother laugh as she is right now, collapsed in the corner too weak to lift her arms as rolling peals of laughter fill the room.
It's bad enough, I'm worried that I didn't heal her headwound correctly. I'm tempted to try again, but I can't help but think about what she said.
We're going to need to find happiness where we can.
Not sure if she meant laughing in the corner of a janitor's closet, but, eh, whatever.