Hybridization

Chapter 157 – Insane Delusions

Chapter 157 – Insane Delusions

“While we have come to learn of the existence of many deities, nobody seems to know where ‘everything’ came from. Or, if they do know, they aren’t telling us.” – Professor of History (Western Civilization Pre 1500)

“I see you all have acquired a slave with a divinely enforced contract.” Inari said after taking a sip of her tea. “That is an oddity, especially on your world.”

Val yawned and stretched before shaking and letting the hair on her hackles flop around. “Yeah, not something we were expecting.” She replied then shifted back to her humanoid form for the tenth time that night. “Kurt was pissed.”

“Pissed?”

“Oh, ‘very angry’ is what it means.”

“And why is that?” Inari asked as Val joined her at the balcony overlooking a small courtyard garden.

“I think he really has a problem with slavery or rather anything that takes away a person’s free will.” Val answered and took a sip of her own tea, thinking before continuing. “You should have seen his face when she told us about the restrictions and what happened when she didn’t follow orders.”

Inari raised an eyebrow, arching it in a perfect crescent. “You know I did see that. I can see everything you do. That’s how I know you acquired the, eh, hybrid girl.”

Val blinked. “Her name is Rindi.”

“Yes, Rindi.” Inari’s perfect features morphed into a frown. “What do you intend to do with her?”

Shrugging, Val finished her tea. “I dunno. Free her when we get to Talth. Kurt is really creeped out at the whole thing and if I didn’t know any better, he might want to dismantle the entire practice.”

“I would advise against taking down the courts on that world, they are like the churches of yours, and dogmatic doesn’t begin to describe them.” Inari sighed. “What I was asking was; are you going to just free her then send her packing?”

“I mean, we would probably help her get settled…”

“Perhaps I should explain my reasoning first.” Inari tapped her finger on the table for a few moments before continuing. “You know what she is, right?”

“Half valkyrie and half felitaur.” Val answered.

“Yes, well her mother’s people have a connection to a certain pantheon. A pantheon of which one of their leaders has taken an interest in Kurt. One who has taken interest in him and is known for collecting things that he fancies.”

“So, you’re saying Odi-“

“DON’T say his name.” Inari reached over and put her finger on Val’s lips to silence her. “The old bastard has a way of barging into places when he hears someone using one of his various titles, names and aliases.”

“Right, you are worried he will kidnap her?”

Inari nodded. “That or worse. He might see her as part of the contract they had with the Valkyrie race long ago. From what I have seen, she has certain abilities similar to theirs but not quite the same.”

“Well, that and she’s not quite a felitaur, more like the kitten version.” Val smirked.

“Quite. Anyway, I wanted to warn you that there might be more of us sniffing around now that you all have gotten some renown and seem to be making a name for yourselves. It’s a matter of time before they begin sending more things your way to probe you.”

Val tilted her head and an ear flicked. “More things?”

“That strange rift you had not long ago. That was another god sending it so they could get a good look at you. That’s why it was rather harmless.” Inari explained before refilling their cups. “How is the other one, Kristi?”

“Fine. Why?” Val’s tone was loaded with caution and skepticism.

Inari did a sort of half shrug. “Just checking in. She doesn’t really have a divine ancestor like you and Kurt do so she is going to be doing things on her own a lot. There might be struggles now that she has figured out how to build her personal power.

“Neither should she go seek information. I fear that if she, or you on her behalf, go poking around in the places that would have answers, you might be in for more trouble than you can handle.”

Val chewed her lip for a few seconds before asking another question. “Any places we can look that won’t get us in trouble?”

“If you end up on Talth, you could always visit her ancestral home.” Inari suggested. “Her progenitor likes to collect information and might have something for her. Assuming she is amenable to sharing that is.”

Val nodded. “I think we might have been going there already. Jay mentioned something about it not long ago and I think he wants us to act as a sort of emissary.”

“Let’s us leave that all for another time then.” Inari looked at the garden for a few moments, her eyes tracing the flight of a small bird before she spoke again. “How has your progression been? I noticed you did something… strange. It was during that fight you had with Rindi.”

“Oh, pretty good I think.” Val admitted. She paused to watch one of Inari’s foxes slink around under the deck boards around the garden. “I was practicing manipulating the shadows like you showed me and I tried a spell that my father’s clan knew. I found that I could manipulate shadows ever so slightly to obscure our faces from all cameras.”

“Ugh, such onerous things, surveillance cameras.” Inari made a face. “They have taken much of the mystery from the world and removed some of that natural fear that humans worked so hard to develop. Still, it is good that you found a solution to that. Now, what else?”

“Well, while I was doing that I was kinda attached to all the shadows around me.” Val pantomimed with her hands and gestured as the darkened eves of the house. “That was how I sensed Rindi approaching and it was surprisingly easy to take that away from her.”

Inari nodded. “Indeed?”

Val bobbed her head. “Yeah, like once I felt her it just sorta clicked and I was able to actually enter the same subdimension as her.”

“Subdimension? What do you mean?”

“Um, it’s like a shadowy version of the real world but the people in it are very muted in appearance and you can only see their aura.” Val was trying to explain what she saw from memory since she hadn’t reentered that space.

“Ah, I understand now. We called it something different long ago. Continue, please.”

“Right, so I was in there, looking around when I felt her show up, Rindi that is. She was clear as day, but I could also see her aura overlapping to a greater degree than normal.” Val had to pause for a sip of tea and to organize her thoughts. “I am not sure where to go from here with this ability. I still feel like there are depths I can reach but I just don’t know about them. Thoughts?”

Inari was silent for a while, taking her time to respond. “Experiment a little. Perhaps some practice with Rindi will help and you can bounce ideas off one another.”

“I’ll do that. Anything else I can work on?”

“Yes, I saw your ‘ritual’ that you performed with Kurt.” Inari’s tone was very flat and her face said ‘not amused’. “I think we need to talk about your knowledge on the subject bef- Val, what’s wrong?”

Vals face had suddenly scrunched and she visibly flinched. “Sorry, I think I gotta go.”

“Is everything alright?” Inari had shifted from scolding to concerned.

“Yeah, I think I need to go back to the real world now.” She winced again. “Sorry, gotta go.”

A moment later and Val was back in bed where she was being crushed from behind by a pair of arms made of steel. She was occasionally being softly shaken and felt a wet spot on her shoulder. She tried to wriggle around but couldn’t manage it. She was also feeling an immense sadness and despair from the necklace she wore.

“Hey, Kristi. Hey, come here.” She heard Kurt whispering

Doing the only thing she could think of, Val shifted and slipped into her giant fox form. She was able to duck out from under Kristi’s arms and the dragoness woke in the process.

Val then surged back into the spot she had just vacated. She didn’t bother shifting back and just nuzzled and burrowed her way back to Kristi who was now openly sobbing while Kurt comforted her.

“Shhh, hey. Hey, we’re here, Kristi. Val and I are right here.” Kurt said while rubbing her back.

Now firmly back into Kristi’s arms, Val felt her lover’s fingers running through her fur. She did the first thing that felt natural and burrowed her face into Kristi’s shoulder, making a high-pitched whining and licking her cheek. The entire time she didn’t stop squirming and fought to press herself as close as possible into her. After several long minutes, Kristi eventually calmed enough to talk.

“Ss-ssorry.” She sniffed. “Had a n-ni-nightmare.” She took a shuddering breath and choked back a sob.

“Do you want to talk about it.” Kurt murmured while stroking her hair.

“N-no.” Krisi shook her head. “Juss-sst stay cl-close?”

Kurt helped her lay back down and settle back into position. “Ok, we can do that.”

“V-Val? Can you s-stay like that p-p-please?”

Val didn’t say anything, mostly because she hadn’t quite figured that part out yet. Instead, she burrowed back under the covers and wedged herself with her back against Kristi. She could feel an arm wrap around her and wiggled again to settle herself. She felt fingers clench and bunch into her belly fur a few times before they settled.

Eventually the emotions from the necklace settled enough that Val knew her lover had fallen asleep and she settled down for the rest of the night. She wasn’t sure how much longer they had until morning, but she wasn’t about to go anywhere. They would have plenty of time to talk about it after the sun came up and the dream wasn’t so fresh.

*****

Kurt looked up as Kristi and Val entered the room hand in hand. They were still in pajamas, just like him and looked like they had only diverted to the bathrooms before coming to find him. He held out some blankets to them while picking up his coffee cup.

“Come, it is time.” He said but had to pause as he heard a strange tempo of soft footfalls from the hallway. He looked up to see Rindi stroll in, her human half covered by a very oversized hoodie.

“MOoooorning.” She yawned then seemed to notice the blankets and coffee cups. “What is going on?”

Kurt jus poured another cup and fetched another blanket from the linen closet. “Come on, it’s time for morning meditation.”

The poor felitaur looked very confused but just took her cup and followed them all out the door and around the porch to the east side of the house. She then watched as the three of them folded themselves into the patio furniture, draping the blankets over their laps to fight off the chill morning air.

“What ar-“

“SHhh, just sit.” Val shushed the woman and gestured to the other furniture.

Rindi frowned a little but set her cup down on the end table before laying the blanket on the floor. She then placed her tiger half over it and sort of laid down before folding the remaining half of the blanket over top of her furry body.

“What now?” Rindi whispered, utterly confused as to why they were sitting out in the cold.

“Just… wait. Enjoy your coffee.” Val murmured partly into her cup and creating a strange, muffled effect.

Kurt sighed and looked out over the damp field behind his house. Spring was in full swing, and the temperature was only just starting to get mostly tolerable. On the plus side, most of the bugs hadn’t returned yet. He then wondered if he should screen in the porch, making a sort of three season effect without losing the view.

He put that thought on the back burner as the sky began to lighten slowly. He saw a few of the smaller birds flitting around in the pre-dawn light and even saw a few of the local rabbits at the edge of the field. Apparently, Val saw them to because he felt her legs tense and caught her tracking them out of the corner of his eye.

Sipping on his coffee, Kurt snuggled closer to the girls, pulling the blanket up over his side a bit more. He felt Kristi’s tail coil around his waist under the blanket and scoot him closer as she leaned into him. There they sat for another few minutes, watching the world wake up in a silence only broken by the soft rustle of their clothes as they drank from their cups.

Dawn finally broke and the sun spilled over the treetops to bathe them in its light just as Kurt had drained the last of his mug. He closed his eyes for a moment and just basked in the gentle warmth while looking at the light filtered through his eye lids.

“That was… nice.” Rindi said after a couple minutes, still in a whisper.

Val bobbed her head. “Yeah, I missed this.”

Rindi set her cup on the ground next to her, not yet moving to stand up. “Is this something you do often?”

Kristi answered her before Kurt could. “When the weather is good enough. We stopped in the autumn when the mornings became too cold for even a blanket, and the weather was too nasty.”

“I should like to join you in this morning routine then.” Rindi declared.

“You are welcome any time.” Kurt answered before turning to Kristi. “Want to talk about it?”

“There isn’t much to talk about.” Kristi said. “It was a nightmare, nothing more.”

“A nightmare of what?” Val asked.

Kristi sighed, leaning her head against the wall of the house and closing her eyes. “It’s not of any one thing.” She admitted after a few moments. “It’s like a collection of memories twisted into a single unending nightmare I can’t escape.

“There was the town I lived in on Talth, the one with the vampires. Then there was the raid on that first coven and the… bodies. Separate events that were mashed together into one dream.” Kristi sniffed and ran her sleeve over her face. “I just- I just can’t save them and I-I…”

Kurt squeezed her hand while Val hugged her. Rindi looked a mix between interested and uncomfortable. “Do you have this nightmare often?” he asked.

Shrugging her shoulder, Kristi cleared her throat. “Ahem. Sometimes. Other times it’s just a memory that strikes me when I least expect it. Like when I catch a certain scent or-or some situations that are similar.”

“I get that.” Kurt said. “I sometimes have little flash backs. Usually mine are smell initiated.” He waited for a little while, seeing if Kristi wanted to add anything but she didn’t. “Do you want to talk to someone about it?”

“Like a psychologist or grief counsellor?” Val added. “I was seeing one when I first got to the Order. It was for other reasons, but I thought it helped.”

Kurt was nodding his head in agreement. “I have seen a few over the years. Mostly for depression when my deployments were over. It can be really helpful to talk to someone that is purely a professional relationship rather than having someone emotionally invested.”

“Not that we won’t listen or talk with you about it.” He added a moment later after his brain caught up to his words. He didn’t want her to think she couldn’t talk to them about her issues.

Kristi wiped her nose again. “Yeah. I um. Can you remind me to look into it or help me find someone?”

“Sure thing.” Val said.

A hand raised and Kurt looked over to see Rindi, still sitting on the ground and wrapped in a blanket. “Can I do this as well?”

“Getting mental help or be someone to talk to?” Kurt asked. He was a little confused about what she wanted to do, get help or be helpful.

“Both?” She said. “You said it helped with the nightmares?”

Kurt waffled his hand back and forth. “No but it made it easier to cope with them and the intrusive thoughts. Strategies to help come to terms with things rather than just trying to contain them.”

“Ah… I see.” Rindi sounded disappointed.

“I will try to get you set up with someone. Maybe Penny can help with that since she knows a lot more about the Order than I do.” Kurt offered, seeing her expression.

Rindi looked up at him, her eyes focusing intently on him for a few heartbeats. “Thank you. I-I appreciate the effort, Master. Kurt, I mean. Ahh, damnation.” She slipped and called him master only to catch herself after it was too late.

Reaching over, Kurt put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, it’s fine. I just want you to know I am not like the previous people who have, um, ‘owned’ you. Fugh, nope. I don’t like that, don’t like it at all.” He shuddered.

“Is there something wrong, Kurt?” Rindi looked hurt, the sad cat eyes not helping. “Master, if my service is unacceptable I ca-.”

Kurt held up a hand and Val answered for him. “Kurt was raised here where slavery has a very bad connotation, and he has a lot of strong personal opinions of personal freedom. It is only compounded by his nature as Lupus Rex.”

“Lupus Rex?”

Standing up, Kurt stretched before helping the girls to their feet. “It’s a long story and probably why my soul looks all weird or feels weird to you, however that works. But that is a story that can be told after breakfast.”

Val sidled up next to Rindi as they walked around the porch to go back inside. “Yeah, as much as Kurt doesn’t like the slave thing, Inari wasn’t that thrilled either and asked me about it.”

“Who is Inari?”

“Oh, my patron goddess that I train with some nights via some mystical soul projection or something. It’s weird. Way different than the one Kurt deals with.” Val answered, causing Rindi to stop in her tracks and stare at her.

“How many gods do you people know?” Rindi wasn’t sure if she should be impressed or worried at how flippantly they seemed to talk about the subject.

“Just the two.” Kristi said and nudged her along. “Kurt’s patron is kinda dead, and he only talks to the fragment of him, so I don’t think that counts.”

“Who’s the other one then?” Rindi wasn’t sure who to ask and she voiced her question to the room at large as they entered the kitchen, her eyes darting around to each of them.

Kurt emerged from the fridge with hands full of breakfast foods, setting them on the counter as he responded. “Oh, just Odin, he owes me some information within the next… 9 months? Yeah, some time withing 9 months.”

“Wait, a god owes you?”

Reaching below the counter, Kurt fished out some pans. “Well yeah, I did let him take something and he promised me that he would get back to me.”

“Oh, that’s not even the strange part.” Kristi said. “We also kinda kicked off a war between the entire enchanter’s guild and the Order Stabilitas.”

Rindi suddenly sank to her haunches and her tail thrashed behind her while her front paws kneaded at the ground. “You people are either insane or delusional.” She groaned into her hands before looking up to see Kristi smirking at her.

“Yeah, but now you can be part of the insane delusions since you’re one of us now. But you need to answer one very important question.” The dragoness flashed her a toothy grin.

“What’s that?” Rindi asked, voice filled with caution and suspicion.

“What would you like for breakfast?” Kurt replied while throwing his apron over his neck and tying it around his waist.  He then began listing the things they had to the utterly flummoxed tiger lady as Val giggled behind him. Despite what was going on around him, he was going to do his best to take care of the women in his life, regardless of how they came into it.