"You're not very polite, and If you want to take me, you have to ask my mother first!"
Mother first? This was new, and I would have been perfectly fine with asking her father, but this presents all sorts of new challenges. Normal, I would have to worry about a dad thinking I was just some good for nothing looking to knock up their kid, but now…
"Fine, I don't get to pick my wives very often, but I like your fire and...well, I really like your fire!"
"Really? My fire? That's the best you have?"
"Listen here miss, get the hell off me. I also think you pretty fucking hot, and I might even think of some more, but someone is pinning me to the ground!"
"That word again...fuck...what does it mean?"
Finally, I just sat up and Violet fell backward, with her legs up in the air. I instinctively looked down and got a boot to the face for my trouble. Violet rolled out of my lap and kicked me in the stomach as she got up to glare down at me.
I got up and stood almost twice as tall as her, and then glared down at her.
"Fuck is a descriptive word, you can use it for anything, but it isn't meant to be overused. I also mean the act of...intercourse, like, the two people are fucking..."
Wow, smooth Hyde, If Grip was here he would have had a smart ass comment. I was distracted, and I focused back on the gremlin I was glaring at, but she was gone. I turned around, but I couldn't find her anywhere; Violet had just disappeared. I guess my description must have scared her away, oh well, I was no silver-tongued snake when it came to being smooth.
I walked back out to where the group of Beastfolk was talking with my wives. Mishka was the first to see me and grabbed Arrentia's hand, and dragged her over to see me. I gave them both one large hug and then kissed both, rubbing noses with Arrentia.
"How did it go with the purple-haired demon?"
"Wah? She isn't that bad!"
"That is not what these people say, She is like a slavedriver but no one ever goes without. I guess she is like the better of two evil, and the town is very prosperous, so she can't be all that bad."
I was surprised that Mishka would say that about another person, but now I could see Violet running around wearing a red oni mask. The image of her chasing the villagers with her little arms waving in the air almost made me laugh out loud. The girls looked up at me with puzzled looks on their faces and I just smiled down at them.
"How are things going here with the Beastfolk? Is everyone being treated nice?"
"Yeah, they said the people of the town hide them from nobles and foreign traders."
Arrentia was looking at the group as she spoke with a far off look; it was different for her people and Mishka as well. Looks like I would have to do some more house cleaning, but this time I would let the girls do most of the planning. I was more of the shoot and then ask questions after type of person, and that would just leave another blood lake, and that wasn't productive.
"Does Alex have a plan yet?"
"Oh dear husband, don't you worry about that."
I looked to the sound of Alex's voice and she came over from talking to a group of Pigfolk. She looked radiant in her powder blue dress and the glasses and bun could have melted me into a puddle alone, as they showcased her beautiful face. Suddenly, she was in front of me, snapping her fingers near her face, hehe. I guess I was admiring that spot a bit too much and I looked up into Alex's smirking face, I mean she was my wife, that should afford me certain staring privileges?
"Are you ready to concentrate now? You can look at those when we aren't trying to figure out other things, like all these Beastfolk."
"We will take the Beastfolk."
"And put them where?" In our giant house, for now, we have a lot of room still and once Dreams is started, we will fly back and drop them off quickly. Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy."
"What about the ones that want to stay?"
"The same thing I offered Locksland, but this time I need to talk to the mayor before making any offers. He and everyone else needs to know what that means, and what it will mean in the future. There are a lot of things that I need to talk to him about and something I need to talk to his wife about as well."
"Oh, what about the little fiery girl you went chasing after? Wasn't that the mayor's daughter? Did you net a wife without our help?"
"Kyra, don't make me sound like I can't do anything by myself! I tried, but we have to go work in the fields tomorrow and I need to talk to her mother. Well, I mean whoever wanted to come and help win the field, I would make anyone come, but I think it would be good to help."
Kyra had her hands on my shoulders and her head resting on her right hand, and her ears were tickling my face, but she was being so cute that I didn't want to make a fuss. I turned my head to her and kissed her cheek, before pulling away from all three. I was well into what should be considered lunch and my stomach was starting to growl.
"Can we get something to eat before we do any more exploring? Does the farmers market have food we can buy? I smell freshly baked bread coming from somewhere!"
I felt a shadow near me, and I turned and grew at the same time. This was becoming one of my new favorite things to do, as I took Titania into my arms and kissed her. She looked surprised, but then scowled at me, leaning forward to whisper into my ear.
"I don't like that kind of thing in public, can we save it for at-home around only friends?"
Owo, the pin to my bubble! But I had to respect her wishes, so I nodded as I stood back and shrunk back down.
"Do you know a place to get food?"
"I can see a place selling different kinds of loaves of bread and pies over there."
Titania was pointing over at a stand at the far end of the market, so I herded my wives along, but I caught Xelios as we walked and took her hand and brought it up to my face, kissed it. Xelios started to flash like a rainbow from her cheeks and she tucked her face into my shoulder as we walked over to investigate the wonderful smells in Titania's direction.
The stand turned out to be mostly run by Beast folk, there were two furry cats girls and one otter looking man that were helping make the loaves of bread and pastries. My stomach was doing flips and I pulled out a handful of spheres from my back and asked how much I could get for these. I don't think I've ever seen someone's eyes distend out of their head and not cause permanent damage.
"A-are these...Power cores? How long do they last for?"
"Forever."
"What? That's impossible!"
"Can you test it?"
"I will, but how long will you be in two for?"
"Two days max, we have many places to visit and it looks like your capital requires a friendly visit from me."
"Eat whatever you want from my table until you leave, are these women your wives? If so, that is more than welcome to the food as well!"
"Are you sure?"
"More than sure, even with these only lasting a day, they are worth more than I would makeover an entire moon cycle! You don't know what that means to us, now we can get these scoundrels some proper clothes and stuff!"
"Well, thank you very much, girls let's dig in, but let's leave some for the others okay, hehe!"
I grabbed some fluffy pastries and went to sit on the stone ledge at the pond back at the center of town. As I sat down, Nina merged from me and took one of my pastries. I stared at her incredulously and she started to eat it while looking everywhere but me until she finished my pastry. Then, the woman tried to steal the other one in my hand, but I pulled it back this time and I caught her in a kiss.
Nina wrapped her arms around my neck as we kissed, but then, suddenly she jumped out of my lap. Nina had already eaten half of my second pastry before I even registered that something had just happened. Damn this woman! I was hungry, and now I had to go get more!
"I love you Nina, but did you come here for anything else besides my food?"
"No, those just looked tasty, and I was right! They are very good, you should go get me some more!"
"No, you should go social! You have been spending a lot of time in my head and not even talking to me."
"I know, but there is just so much to read and study in there."
"You mean my head?"
"...Yeah, Hyde, I mean your head, what else do I mean? Is there another place to read all these secrets that I don't know about?"
"Don't be a tart with me little woman or I will put you over my knee!"