Man, life was good.

And you know what? I think I was starting to distinguish the minor differences in the sky as the day went by. Like right now, the sky was a little bluer than it was at night. Of course, the ambient light level was more consistent with a cloudless morning. Super trippy. Anyway, I bring this up because the atmosphere really changed when I entered the house.

“Faaiinnn...” came the intimidating voice.

Yeah... Svilran was sitting at the table with a lamp on and over her like it was a spotlight. The house had windows but... it kind of felt like it was late in the night, and there was a storm outside. Really eerie.

“Uhh...” I waved at her. “Hey... Svilran.” I went over to the kitchen sink and started washing my hands. “You sleep well?”

“I should be asking you that,” she replied, her voice deep and sinister sounding.

“Oh, uhh, yeah, I slept well.” I kept washing my hands... I was being thorough. That was why I was washing them for so long.

“I couldn’t help but notice you weren’t in your room when I woke up.”

“Yup... I wasn’t there.”

Yeah... I was still washing my hands... This was... I wasn’t exactly sure what I was feeling right now. This wasn’t just fear.

“Were you ever in your bed last night?”

... Truth was probably the best answer here.

“I wasn’t.”

I heard a grunt from her. Maybe she wasn’t expecting it. I heard the chair move. Then I heard heavy steps behind me. I was starting to understand this feeling.

“Faaiiinnnn,” she said, dragging out my name like she was a zombie.

Dread. It was dread. I was dreading what she would say. I turned on my heels, a smile on my face, praying I would disarm her.

“Is something the matter, Svilraaaa—oh my god.”

She was looking at me with sunken, wide eyes and an expression that indicated she wanted to rip my head off.

“Fainn, what did you do to that girl?!”

“Whoa, whoa, I did nothing bad!” I said, putting up my hands. “I just slept over!”

“Really?! It didn’t look like a sleepover! Sleepovers are fun, and all your friends are invited, and there’s alcohol--“

“It ‘didn’t look?’ Wait, how do you know—“

“Fainn, that’s inappropriate! You’re her superior! You took advantage of her weakness!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, I did not. I assure you everything was consensual, and it was what we both wanted.”

Svilran wore a pronounced pout and started beating on my chest. “Fainn, they’re our kids! We’re supposed to be raising them to save the worlds--“

I grabbed her wrists, perplexed. “Our ‘kids?’ No, they’re not. They’re... they’re--“

“What are they, Fainn?”

I thought of what Elma and Dorthaunzee meant to me. “They’re my heroes.” Svilran stepped back. “They’re people that completely and utterly inspire me. They’re the people I wish were there when things went bad for me.”

Svilran stepped back. “Erm...”

“Hey, I’m going to level with you, Svilran. I don’t see them the way you might. I’m sure that you, as storied as you are, probably look on a lot of mortals as kids, but not me. I’m not like you. I’m more like them.”

“B-But I picked you...” she whimpered.

I narrowed my eyes at her for a second, and for some reason, a thought occurred to me—I had the strangest feeling I might have misunderstood something about Svilran.

“Hmm...” I took a breath and resolved to be upfront about something. “Listen, Svilran. Look at me.”

She did.

“I...”

“Yes?”

“I really like women.”

Her mouth dropped. “What?”

“Like, I mean, I super really like women. There are no words to describe how much I need women in my life. I cannot understate the massive improvement in my quality of life that women bring about.”

From my perspective, good women were the only thing that could guarantee me a peaceful night’s sleep. There’s a good chance I had become overly dependent on them, but whatever. There are worst things to be dependent on.

“I could die without women,” I said, straight and unflinching.

Svilran, of course, was stunned. Who wouldn’t be after that declaration? I took that chance to lightly move an errant strand of hair from her face.

“I do see them as women. Sometimes, I see them as that first and have to tell myself to chill out.” I looked her in the eyes. Might as well go all out. The confidence boost Elma had given me was going to see me through.

“I see you as a woman and not a goddess too. Or a facilitator or whatever you want to call it.”

Svilran went red. As she did, the atmosphere in the house started becoming less oppressive.

She was still stunned, so I just smiled at her.

“Alright, Svilran.” I walked past her and toward the door to leave the house. “I had just come to get you.”

That was sort of a lie. I came home to relax with her for a bit, but right now, I was riding an adrenaline-high from having to make things clear with her... I could only hope she didn’t realize how flustered I was.

“Let’s go to the <Observatory> and get to work.” I looked over my shoulder after reaching the door. “Svilran? Are you coming?”

She snapped out of her daze and traced my steps. Before we stepped out of the house, she delivered one more whisper.

“Still inappropriate, though...”

Oh, Svilran. You perfect and idealistic former goddess—you would always bring me so much joy... I couldn’t get enough of you. Ahh, I was definitely going to develop some bad dependencies.

Sebas_Guzman

We're chugging along in the good old Hero Hub. The artist will soon begin work on the art from the poll. Also, Monster Girl Archivist has a new chapter out. If anyone's reading that, thanks and hope you enjoy.