Loyalty... to a Point

John wasn't sure what it was about the long night that had worn away his stresses and cares so thoroughly and efficiently. He hadn't been intending to spend nearly that long. It could have been the love and affection that he felt, the distraction from his wandering mind, or simply the raw hormonal rush and fall from a night of **** exertion. Whatever the case was, only one thing was certain.

There hadn't only been three of them enjoying all of those lovely things. As John found out first thing in the morning, when he discovered a very lightly snoring Lerianna sat outside his door, with her back leaned up against the wall. The rabbit-girl had a very contented look on her face, most likely because of the fact she'd fallen asleep with her hand inside of her leotard, tending to her barely-concealed womanhood. Her face was still flushed, and judging by the smile on her face and the twitching of her ears, her late night had likely given her quite a few pleasant dreams.

This wasn't actually the first time John had found her asleep in an unusual – and suspicious – place, but it was the first time that she had been so consumed with her passions that she fell asleep directly outside of his room. John generally tried to ignore Lerianna's peeping and pretend that he was otherwise oblivious to her voyeuristic tendencies. But the more he tried to avoid any particularly embarrassing call-outs of the behavior, the bolder Lerianna seemed to grow. John eyed the **** rabbit girl with just the lightest amount of sadism, ready to finally break the illusion.

"Tell me, Lerianna, at what point did you think you had to stay outside of the room in order to enjoy the show?" John asked loudly, more than enough to awaken the sleeping bunnygirl. "It's not as though I wouldn't welcome you inside if you only asked..."

Lerianna stirred slowly at first, seeming to be quite dazed from her sudden awakening. Either the feeling of her left hand being trapped within the confines of her leotard or the sight of John standing above her must have finally alerted her to the precarious situation she now found herself in. Lerianna's face flickered through several emotions, before she let out a particularly shrill sounding scream and began to stumble to her feet.

"Seriously, Lerianna, you don't have to constantly hide away, it's not like-"

John reached to hold Lerianna by the arm, hoping to console the embarrased woman before she had a chance to fully flee, but when his fingers made contact, Lerianna's reaction was immediate – and violent.

"Get away from me, you degenerate!"

Lerianna jerked her arm free and in one smooth motion did a spin-kick that connected quite solidly with John's chest. Despite Lerianna's stats not quite measuring up to John's, the surprise of the blow caused John to cough and be thrown against his wall. Thankfully the enchanted wood of his new home was strong enough to take the blow, leaving John to recover as Lerianna bounded off across the hallways. She would no doubt be locking herself up inside her room, though John couldn't imagine why.

"Father, should I chase her down and punish her for daring to strike you?" Sophia asked. John hadn't even heard the Amazonian harpy stepping up behind him, an impressive feat considering her size and physique.

"No, it's fine, she didn't even hurt me," John noted. His reforged armor hadn't even allowed any damage to go through, though that was likely because Lerianna had really pulled her kick, so to speak. "I'm more confused on how I can get called a degenerate by a woman who literally passed out while masturbating outside my room..."

"Perhaps she needs to be taught just what she is missing out on by denying herself your touch so viciously? I could restrain her if you like," Sophia suggested.

"That, uh... we have a word for that, Sophia. And it's not a good one," John said, finding himself once again deciding between laughing or feeling slightly intimidated by Sophia's blunt and absolute faith in his righteousness. John was not unaware of the fact that one of his own lovers had a more steadfast resolution and devotion to his cause than he himself did at times...

"Perhaps a more... 'subtle' approach, as you like to say?" Sophia asked, the word sounding foreign in her mouth.

"Eventually. But for now... we already spent one day here that we could have used out on the road. Lerianna can stay at home while we set out. There are only four seats in the car anyway... you and Vallya can accompany me as my immediate backup, in case something happens or Arista manages to pull something in spite of that collar."

"Understood, Father. Should I gather them?"

John cast his gaze down the hall briefly. He'd situated Arista in one of the empty rooms, giving her only the courtesy of the least comfortable mattress that his Crafting skill would create.

" Get Arista, I'll call for Vallya. We leave as soon as we're all gathered," John said. "This... this is going to be one hell of a road trip."

"Turn left in 75 miles, onto-"

"Enough already," John growled, mashing buttons on the touch screen of their GPS until he was finally able to turn the blasted thing off. It had been useful enough getting out of Springfield and making sure that he was turned in the right direction, but the constant reminders of the distance for their next stop was growing irritating the more it repeated itself. He didn't need a reminder every few minutes that they still had hours to go, especially since the GPS was constantly readjusting itself since they couldn't take the most direct path to the West Coast.

"You should leave it on," Arista cautioned as John disabled the built-in GPS of their sedan. "It throws you off your game, causes you to drive erratically. The kind of mistakes a mundane would make, the kind of uncertainty you don't normally see in the Abyss. It could cause someone to overlook you where otherwise they might scan the car."

"My illusions should be enough for most we encounter," Vallya said from the backseat of the car, grinning deviously. "I've been practicing, though it is hard to know whose spells I would be able to fool since I've been given so few opportunities to test them out."

"Let's hope you don't get an abundance of opportunities," John said, gritting his teeth. "Arista, what are our most immediate threats? Anything we could face in the next hour. I want you to constantly update me when we're within an hour of any new threats I should know about."

"Of course, Master," Arista said. "We should be safe for the next hour, at least. So long as we avoid the territory of the Great Plains Alliance there are few gatherings of mages near Springfield who have the strength to muster a challenge to us, Master."

The venom and sarcasm in that title was the most resistance that she had managed to muster against the collar around her neck so far, but John still wasn't taking any chances. He treated Arista's obedience as a monkey's paw of loyalty – something that could be bent and twisted to harm him if he allowed even the slightest ability for her to misinterpret his commands. Though the collar had never failed him yet, John still refused to fully trust anything Arista said or did for him. Not that it particularly mattered – Arista's punishment was fulfilled merely by wearing the collar and being **** into servility. Any gains he got from the enslavement were a secondary benefit.

"So be it. We'll keep going for a while longer, then."

The car fell back into silence as they drove along, with John biting his lip as he considered the path ahead of them. They were going to take almost forty hours of raw driving time to reach their destination, thanks mostly to the meandering southwest path they would have to trace to reach California without crossing into the territory of the Great Plains alliance.

Truthfully, he would have preferred to continue driving nonstop until they made it all the way to California, especially with his new lack of a requirement for sleep. He'd originally intended to attempt that as such, with his lovers taking turns back in his new world sleeping away the time so that they were always ready for combat... but although he wasn't allowing himself to rely on Arista's guidance, he couldn't fully discard it either. Having her in a sleep-deprived state, especially when they reached Himiko's territory and were potentially in the most danger, was not ideal, and not a risk he could afford to take, no matter how much he tried to talk himself into it.

So he'd had Arista document the most viable spots to spend a night with the least chance of being noticed. John now had a list of spots he could take them in and out of his private world without being spied upon or raided, at least to the best of Arista's admittedly outdated knowledge. It was as much confidence and safety as John could feel in unfamiliar territory... even if he hated every moment of it. A part of him wondered if he would be better off retreating to his new world again. He could spend a few decades training, wait until there was nothing and no one that could stand in his way – not Himiko, not any of the other so-called 'Deities', not even the combined masses of the Northern Ashes.

But every time he thought of that, he remembered the stakes. He recalled the look on Moira's face during their last conversation, and imagined Moira surrendering herself – her virginity, her freedom – in the name of safety and security for her followers.

The thought made John want to retch... but far more importantly, it fueled the fire still smoldering in his chest. The hatred and righteous indignation of that thought alone kept John alert and aware as he drove along the interstate at a painfully slow pace.

"Control yourself, Father," Sophia said. Her voice was not chastising; if anything, it was almost encouraging.

"She's right, John. You're going to need that anger."