Life Is Good

John might have thought that an entire day's worth of training wouldn't leave his lovers with much energy... and he would have been entirely mistaken. Whether Orria's healing had been more restorative than John expected or they were simply that pent up, the sun in John's new world had fully set by the time their home was in sight. Vallya had returned to her isolation, not without plenty of goodbye kisses. Sophia and Lerianna followed not too far behind, looking bashful and pleased, respectively.

"I'll cook something up for us all once we get back home. I assume the two of you are starving by now?"

"I think I'm actually too tired to be hungry..." Lerianna groaned. Her steps were uneven, her feet falling lazily, carrying her body side to side as much as forward.

"Well, I could feast for a day," Sophia added. She held herself a little more rigidly, pride lending her limbs strength they should not have possessed. "Though I can understand why you lack an appetite. Your belly must be near to bursting with how many of our Father's loads you swallowed."

Lerianna's stride nearly turned into a tumble as she whirled on Sophia, her face flushed with embarrassment as much as anger. "Y-you can't just say stuff like that!"

"Why not? You should be proud. You haven't had nearly as much practice as the rest of us, yet you earned such a sizeable gift from our Father that you don't even feel the need to eat."

Lerianna went silent after a few more mumbled protests. She still glared at the taller woman, but she seemed to realize that Sophia was not inclined to feel any shame for her words—John doubted she was even capable of shame when it came to pleasing him.

"I'll fix up something that will save well. You can eat it whenever you have the energy, Lerianna," John said as they were on the final approach. He could already see the kittens pressed up against the new windows Yvara had installed, testing the strength of the panes as they vied for position.

"Nnnh. Thank you," Lerianna managed, a soft blush coloring her in a way that gave the impression of a chocolate-coated cherry.

"Papaaaaa!"

"...If I can get five minutes alone in the kitchen, anyway."

"We missed you, Papa!"

"And I missed all of you. Have you been good little kittens for everyone while I was gone?" John asked, alternating headpats and affectionate cheek pinches between the six kittens crowded around him. The smell of food had woken the kittens up, and it had taken every ounce of restraint they had—plus generous bribes of bacon—to get them to delay the mobbing until everyone had eaten and the others had gone off to bed.

"Mmhmm! We napped, and played, and napped," Mika began.

"And played, and wrestled, and napped, and played," Miya finished.

"Sounds like a busy day. I'm surprised you're all still up," John teased, reaching out to poke the little Neko Moira on her nose. "That's only half your normal amount of naps!"

"Nyaaah! We napped extra after Aclysia made us dinner so we could be up when you got home." A few of the words came out slightly skewed as Moira wrinkled her nose, batting at the spot John had booped and shaking her head.

"Will you take us training next time, Papa?" Magnus pleaded, nearly vibrating with excitement. "We wanna train again!"

"Afraid the training we're doing right now is a bit too advanced for that. Have you been this rambunctious all day? I hope you didn't make things too difficult on the others while I was away."

"They were very well-behaved, Lord John." A soft smile played over Yvara's features as she watched the kittens bounce around, alternately nuzzling against John affectionately or pawing at him for attention. "They always get so excited when I tell them you're off training, but they didn't take it out on the furniture this time. I think they may be beginning to mellow out with age."

"Doubtful. Their mothers are still practically kittens themselves."

"Nyaa, care to repeat that?"

The breezy dance of claws across his spine sent a chill along John's nervous system. He chuckled nervously until the claws gently flicked away just shy of his neck, making room for a firm palm to land there instead. Maera twisted John's head around and pressed her lips against his, lingering just long enough to taste him before Mithra snaked her way in and stole another. Some unamused noises came from the kittens, followed by a scattering of feet as the younger Nekos suddenly found the idea of being anywhere else quite appealing.

"Mmm. Didn't realize you'd woken up as well, but thank you, Mithra. That's certainly one way to scare them off to bed," John remarked when Mithra finally pulled away.

"Who cares about them? You smell like sex," Mithra said, a little too loudly for John's tastes. "Not fair. Myaster went and had all that fun with the others after we left…"

"You two were the ones who ran off at the first mention of dinner." John's counter earned him a twin pair of pouts, but nothing in the way of mercy.

"Well, now we found something else to get a taste of, Myaster." Maera's voice was almost threatening as her claws started dancing along his body once again, trailing over the fabric of his shirt and heading directly for the buttons to his pants.

"As much fun as that would be, I think I need to relax a little. Tomorrow is going to be a lot of talking and planning."

John tried to place his hands over Maera's to gently stop them, but the Neko didn't seem to be accepting no for an answer. She first snaked her hands away from his at the last moment, and when he corrected to chase them down, Mithra started to move in, her own greedy paws headed for his waistband.

"Alright, I can see you two are going to be difficult. But even if it wasn't for me needing planning time, I still wouldn't be okay with this in the middle of the living room." John gave the horny catgirls an exasperated look, but they were nigh-invulnerable to shame, especially when it was in the way of what they wanted.

"What you gonna do about it, Myaster?" Maera taunted, wiggling her fingers against his as she tried to pry them free to go for his buttons again.

"Something absolutely diabolical. A punishment so wicked that I save it only for the most disobedient of cats." John released Maera's hands and raised both arms, reaching for Maera and Mithra's heads. They seemed to realize what was about to happen only an instant before it did - too late to stop John's wicked fingers from slipping into their shiny hair and beginning slow, firm scratches right between their ears.

"N-nyooooo," Maera howled, her hands coming to an immediate stop as her whole body threatened to give out under her.

"Nyaaah, he's gotten better at these," Mithra whined, even as she leaned up into John's touch, her eyes drooping shut and her ears twitching erratically. "N-noottt fyaaaairrr…"

As their protests died out into mumbled whispers and coos, John slowly eased the two Nekos toward the couch, gently tugging them along between affectionate head scritches until the two were nestled together on the couch, cuddling against each other while still occasionally murmuring out a half-hearted objection. John stayed there for a long while, tenderly massaging their scalps and occasionally venturing to stroke their ears or gently scratch along their spines, making sure the Nekos were utterly content and completely **** before he finally stopped.

"N-not even Mama can withstand the secret technique."

"Papa is really scary when he wants to be."

"That's why he's our Papa!"

"Does someone else want to get put to bed? I've got plenty of head scratches left for all of you!" Magnus, Moira, and Midoriya were all around the corner in a heartbeat, retreating before the terrifying 'threat' could be enacted. The smile on John's face stayed in place all the way up the stairs... where he found that he hadn't quite escaped the ambushes just yet.

"You're back!"

"Welcome home!"

"Greetings, Creator John."

John wasn't surprised by any of the girls individually, but he certainly wasn't expecting all of them together. Aria, Farrah, and Aclysia were all waiting on the other side, lined up behind the arc of the door, and jumped him the moment he started to swing it shut again. Six arms tangled around each other as much as him, and John was reduced to befuddled laughter at the adorable ambush.

"What on Earth are all three of you doing in here?" John finally managed to ask, once he'd recovered from the overdose of cute. Aclysia's expression was only a demure smile, but Farrah and Aria were shining brightly enough together to blind a lesser man.

"Waiting for you, duh!" Aria explained, poking John's cheek.

"We didn't expect it to take you so long. Everyone else got home hours ago." Farrah pouted.

"What delayed you, Creator John?" Aclysia asked, her fingers stroking along his forearm. "Were there any complications with your training?"

"Oh, there were some complications, trust me," Aria purred, "but I don't think they had anything to do with training..."

"Alright, but seriously," John said, clearing his throat, "what brought this on? Not that it isn't a nice surprise."

"I had a question to ask you, Creator John. I didn't think you would appreciate being bothered while caring for the others after your training, so I decided to wait for you here. Farrah offered to keep me company, and Aria was already here when we arrived."

"We didn't realize you were going to be so far behind the others. You were out of the range of what I can sense, but it seems like Aria here has an idea of what you were up to." Farrah lifted an eyebrow, giving John a judgmental look. "Off having fun while we were lonely here, waiting for you to get home, huh?"

"If you were that lonely, you'd have come downstairs and gotten me while I was cooking," John countered, leaning forward to rest his forehead against Farrah's. "Besides, if the three of you are anything at all, it's certainly not boring. I'm sure the wait wasn't completely unbearable."

"Doesn't mean we don't want in on the fun," Aria chided, reaching out to pinch John's cheek with enough **** to make it sting a little. John winced and pulled back from Farrah, throwing Aria a playful glare. "Seriously, a girl could get offended. I mean, if that girl was an incubus, anyway."

"No need to narrow it down. I think we're all pretty offended at being left out." Farrah and Aria leaned their heads together, brows furrowing in unison. When Aclysia nodded in time with their words, John began to sense how the conversation had gone—and how the tables were now being turned against him.

"This was supposed to be a training day. Why is everyone so horny? Maybe I should start penciling in orgy days instead..."

"Not to worry. I know exactly what the three of you need," John said with a confident nod.

"Oh? Do you really?" Farrah asked. Aria quirked a brow skeptically, which Aclysia emulated after a quick confirmatory glance, the Artificial Spirit's gesture just skewed enough to adorably emphasize her still-sophomoric familiarity with expressions.

"Yes. Something that involves a bed, an incredible amount of intimacy, and hours upon hours of close, skin-to-skin physical contact."

"H-hours?" Aria swallowed, though she seemed far from nervous... if anything, she was close to drooling around the word.

"Hours. All night, even. Until the sun rises."

"F-for our first-?!"

"Cuddle pile!"

With the three girls still wrapped around him, it didn't take much effort for John to cluster them all together. He had planned on lifting and tossing the trio right onto the bed, but the effort of lifting them all swiftly reminded John that Aclysia's body was still mostly made of marble—and that his bed was unlikely to survive the impact.

He settled for hefting the three girls together, all of them frantically clutching at various parts of his outfit for grip and balance, with Farrah and Aria both letting out adorable squeals the whole way. John crossed the room in a few quick strides, cackling maniacally as he carried the squirming pile over to the bed, where he promptly spun himself around and fell backwards onto the plush mattress.

The three girls landed atop him and each other, with John being careful to keep Aclysia's weight on his own body as much as possible, though the bed frame couldn't be shielded so easily. It squeaked and groaned in protest as somewhere around seven hundred pounds of flesh and stone landed in the middle, bowing noticeably under the load.

"Y-you could've warned us," Farrah squeaked, still clinging tightly to John's shirt as if the bed could disappear at any moment.

"You really are strong for a human," Aria purred, still giggling, by far the most delighted by the little trip. "Mmm, you picked up all three of us like it was nothing, huh?"

"Yes, Creator John is very powerful. I fear I may not be of as much use as I had hoped…"

"Hm?" The smoldering embers of John's mirth gave way to curiosity. Aclysia was directly atop him, and the extra height she had on him meant he had to crane his neck, actually tilting his neck back to meet her gaze. "What were you hoping to do for me?"

"I had hoped to assist you with your coming days of training, Creator John," Aclysia responded. She placed her hands on John's chest, her hands soft through his shirt despite the density of her body. "I have overheard you mentioning 'rotations' and needing as many as possible to aid you. And I have already been assisting Yvara with her harvesting of materials."

"Oh? Have you now?" John mused. He considered pulling up Aclysia's sheet, but it seemed risky and rather awkward to do so with the three of them piled around him, his arms still clutching Farrah and Aria at his sides.

"I have." Aclysia's lips ghosted upward, a hint of pride entering her smooth tone. "I asked if she would allow me to accompany her, and she seemed very enthused about the aid. She said even doing low-level dungeons made her quite nervous. In exchange, she's been converting and feeding me anything she can't use for her temple duties or improvements around the house."

"Hard to say without knowing how much stronger she's gotten, but we could use the extra set of hands..." John ran down the list again, and even with Aclysia's help, they'd still be short of three full rotations. "It depends on how much stronger she's gotten. Having another set of hands makes things go faster, but it wouldn't be worth it if I can't do higher level dungeons when she's in the group."

"I'll think about it," John finally said, twisting one arm around. He couldn't reach her head with Aria and Farrah atop his arms, but he managed to caress her lower back, which seemed to bring the Artificial Spirit some comfort. "I'm heading back to Springfield tomorrow to discuss things and get the organization of it properly sorted out with Moira and Kim. I'll let you know what I decide as soon as I get back."

"Thank you, Creator John," Aclysia murmured, lowering herself slightly so that she could rest against his chest. "I would be very happy to be of use to you."

"Just being here is use enough," John reassured her, taking advantage of her lowered position to toy with a lock of her pristine white hair.

"You sure?" Aria asked, nestling into the crook of his arm a little more tightly. "Because I can think of a few ways for you to 'use' us that might be more fun."

"You're so forward," Farrah half-whispered, sounding more impressed than bothered by that fact.

"Why beat around the bush? I know what people summon up an incubus like me for." The purr of Aria's voice turned into a slightly more skeptical one after a momentary pause. "Though this one is a bit more... resilient than I was told mortals usually are. You're lucky I can tell I actually make you happy, you know. A girl like me might get offended that she's been here two whole days without even getting groped a little."

"So forward," Farrah repeated to herself in a hushed tone, giggling as she watched the demoness at work.

"Trust me, you have no reason to be worried about that," John said wistfully. "I long for the day I can forget about the training or wars and just spend all my time here with you girls, doing whatever we want—and we all know what you want, Aria."

Aria laughed unabashedly, teasing along the lines of his abs with a finger while he spoke. "Well, you're not leaving until the morning, right?"

"I'm not," John responded with a knowing smirk, "but still no."

"No to what?"

"To what you were thinking," John replied, quirking an eyebrow at Aria.

"Oh, phoo!" Aria angrily nuzzled herself against his side, as if trying to punish him with her cheek.

"I'm not one for making first times into orgies... and I'm not kicking anyone out to make it special for the others. Sorry, you three came in here together. That means cuddle pile 'til morning."

Aria made a pouty noise as she squeezed her arms a little more tightly around him. Aclysia made a thoughtful sound, one that John couldn't quite identify. Farrah was the only one who didn't at least pretend to be disappointed as she nuzzled into his neck, one arm dangled lazily over his chest and shoulders.