Amaranthine

Kennedy woke up, as she often did, smushed between giants. Only it was wrong. Cait and Qi felt heavy, and still. The gentle swell of breath from either was absent. It was only due to that silence that she could hear another pair of lungs, working coolly at the side of her bed.

Part of her knew it was a dream. Just a another in a long line of nightmares. If Cait was as still and dead against her as she felt, it would have to be.

Another part of her screamed. Screamed with all the rage and pain and terror of being in a nightmare that felt real, having your body betray you, taking away all ability to resist.

As her father, because it had to be her father, rolled Cait’s body off of her, the blonde falling heavily to the floor, Kennedy slumped over as well, forced to look up at his face. That condescending, predatory grin he’d always worn just before….

It was all the worse for her body not listening this time. This dream wasn’t new. She’d had dreams where he’d somehow gotten to Cait. She’d killed him herself. But this… well, drugs had been used in the past to keep her compliant.

Even as fear threatened to overwhelm her, she reached for her anger. She tried to force it through an uncooperative throat, to release the kind of banshee shriek that would bring the dream crashing down around her. She couldn’t even open her mouth. She had to watch as her fear and anger just amused her father, like they always had.

He began to lean down over her, Kennedy’s mind preparing to blank out, the only defense she had left, when his head snapped back. His fingers clawed at a golden band across his eyes, before being stuck there by another. One more knocked him back against the wall, binding him there, with the same bands of golden light that had so often stopped Kennedy from struggling herself.

More and more of those bands stacked themselves upon his head, blood beginning to seep from the edges as the pressure built, built, built until crack!. The lump of his head flattened out beneath the onslaught, and his body slumped to the floor.

Almost as much of a ghost in life as she was in death, the woman who had birthed Kennedy floated into view from behind the bed. She looked at the dead man, normally placid features a mask of deranged rage and hate, which softened the instant she turned to Kennedy.

She said nothing. Asked for no thanks or forgiveness, which was good, because Kennedy had none to give. There was a sense of an apology both of them knew couldn’t matter, before her hands went to her throat, flashing gold, and binding her to the ceiling by the neck.

Kennedy woke up for real, sobbing, being shaken to conciousness by Cait, as alive and vibrant as ever. When Kennedy gasped to alertness, the big girl wrapped her up tight, and just held her while Kennedy let the dream leave her. It had been a new one. Worse.

It had been a mockery of what Kennedy had always hoped for. That instead of doing nothing, instead of helping the monsters, her mother would snap, finally putting her powers to defense of her daughter, rather than defilement.

She never had. She’d been fighting faithfully by her father’s side, the very day they were each cut down by Kennedy’s real mother. If anything, that perversion of reality was the worst part of the dream. Everything else was your typical nightmare fare. But that woman didn’t deserve a redemption arc in Kennedy’s subconscious.

The firm strength of Cait at her front was joined by the titanic warmth of Qi from behind, as the dragon woman wrapped them both in a hug. It went a long way. While the memory of their cold, dead bodies was fresh in her mind, the reality of their life was undeniable. She nuzzled her head back between Qi’s breasts, shaking gently as the woman laughed.

“Feeling better?” Qi rumbled, and Kennedy felt her lips touch the top of her head.

“Much,” Kennedy breathed, “god that fucking sucked. Thanks, girls.”

“No worries,” Cait said, hand sliding incontrovertibly downwards towards Kennedy’s ass, “nightmares are just another excuse to grope you.”

Kennedy laughed, and pressed up against Cait’s hand when it reached its goal. Not because she wanted more right now, but because it was good to remind herself how different an advance she wanted felt.

She laid there, basking in their warmth, soft touches and softer words for awhile as her heart rate returned to normal, before finally wiggling free and getting kitted out for the day. It was a big one; returning to DSM, and horde hunting along the way.

“Gaaaahd damn!” Cait yawned, stretching as she rose from the bed as well, “Salad’s for sure jealous he’s not my only cuddle partner anymore, but I’m never gonna complain about waking up like this.”

Kennedy could feel her eyes locked on her ass as she struggled to stuff her cheeks into a pair of jeans. Well good. Those eyes were right where she wanted them. The other girls made themselves fit for public consumption, and joined her as she left the bedroom.

Gwyn sat at the table, looking nearly as worn out as Cait had the night before. That contrasted with her dreamy smile, and given how much effort B-Man was putting into her eggs benedict, Kennedy would bet she’d spent the night comforting him about having the body of a space invader. Gwyn perked up, coming to reality as Kennedy sat next to her.

“Hey!” Gwyn yawned sleepily, giving Kennedy a lazy wave and looking around the room. “I’m only counting three of you, where’s the slutty one?”

“Cait’s by the oven backseat cooking your boyfriend,” Kennedy laughed, “buuuuut you mean Lira, and when we left the club last night she and Councilwoman Impish had been in the bathroom a loooooooong time. I imagine she’s waking up to whatever swanky digs the Council gets right about now.”

The door to the hallway beeped, and Lira bounced in, everything about her making walk-of-shame a misnomer.

“Daaaaaamn B-man,” she said, patting Kennedy on the head as she scurried up to the oven, looking over his work. “This looks delish, Gwyn musta fit like a glove last night.”

A trio of tentacles waved her away as Gwyn accidentally aspirated a little apple juice. Lira patted her back in half help/half congratulation as she took pride of place in Kennedy’s lap.

“Sooooooo did you take BattleBeast girl home?” she asked, eyes bright with glee. Kennedy blushed, and shook her head in embarrassment.

“No….” she admitted, “I thought about it, but I wasn’t sure she was interested-“

Lira laughed.

“Shush you,” Kennedy scolded, “I wasn’t sure she was interested, and when she made it clear she was… well, I’m really used to your touch, to Cait’s, to Qi’s, but when she touched me my pulse hit the stratosphere and not in a fun way. Cait and Qi ran over to check, and she got scared, and I feel bad tbh because she didn’t do anything wrong—.”

Lira cut her off with a cartoony kiss, hands splayed on both cheeks as she pulled her in, topping it off with a cartoony ‘mwah!’.

“Good girl,” she praised, smile as bright as ever. “Proud of you for putting yourself out there at all, and remembering you don’t owe anybody shit. She seemed cool though, you get her number if we’re ever back in town?”

“No, but… I mean, when Cait and Qi showed up, she realized I was Sonder, not just another hit goth chick. She found me on socials. When they got me home I had a…. Let’s call it an apologetic selfie in my DM’s,” Kennedy explained, Lira’s smile growing with every word.

“God I want to see that so bad, but you’d be a dick for showing it to me, so I won’t ask. Nice though?”

Kennedy’s grin grew to match Lira’s.

“Nice enough, I suppose, but Cait and Qi were getting undressed when I opened it, so…..”

“Yeah,” Lira sighed wistfully, “kinda takes the kick out of seeing normal people naked.”

“Speaking of, ‘FiFi’, Lira?” Kennedy asked, feeling her eyebrow arch nearly to her hairline. Lira waved her off.

“Fun, nice, kinda like you just implied though, unimpressive,” Lira said, running her eyes over Cait, who’d just been served a plate of eggs ala tentacle and was digging in voraciously. She nodded towards the display, ‘this lovable idiot’ all but written on her irises. “I think Cait would’ve gotta more use out of her. Never met someone so naturally submissive. I can work with that, but prefer the other dynamic.”

“Did you give her a good time, at least?” Kennedy laughed. “I’m pretty sure if you take a foreign head of state home and don’t at least make them cum, it counts as an international incident.”

Lira looked both shocked and hurt, and only like she was acting both emotions up a little bit.

“Kennedy, who do you think I am!?” she gasped, “Impish had the night of her goddamn life. Just cause it wasn’t the night of my life doesn’t mean I didn’t bring the fuck-ingnoise on that bureaucratic snatch.”

“Of course you did,” Kennedy chuckled, before a purple tentacle placed two delicious plates in front of them and conversation became impossible for a moment.