-Marty Rubin

The next hour or so was a blur of tears, hugs, and emotion. John was shocked at the words of Moira, expecting disgust, or perhaps **** acceptance… not the vow he got. John was almost as surprised, in fact, as Lord Brighton - who stood wordlessly and marched over to Moira at once, wrapping his arms around the young Warden and whispering soft things that no one else could hear. John retrieved the Neko from Moira's arms when she separated at last from her father, finally setting the redheaded young Neko beside her brothers and sisters.

The total had come out at four baby girls, and two baby boys, all relatively similar in appearance. They all looked something like young human children, except with full heads of hair, very prominent Neko ears and tails, and the very odd fact that they were already up and crawling around. Unlike human children, so frail and useless after birth, the Nekos were actually exploring so feverishly that Seras had turned from midwife into babysitter, trying desperately to keep all six of the Neko babies on the small, well-cushioned area of the floor laid out for them. Several of them playfully batted at the drones that flew overhead, a couple even managing to stand up on their knees long enough to actually connect.

John lost track of who suggested what names. Some seemed to resonate, others did not. Holding each child one by one, he accepted what came naturally to them.

The first young girl, firstborn and by far the largest of the litter, he gave the name Miriam. Her eyes shone with a unique light, an understanding beyond her newborn status, and John didn't want to undersell her with a common name. The second he named was her first brother, only slightly outgrown by his sister, a body and mewling voice that echoed strength. John named him Magnus, and felt certain he would inherit that name with honor.

The third and fourth children, two girls born within seconds of each other if not less, John wanted to give equally close names. Mika and Miya, Nekos with as much spunk as their mother and her own twin sister. Their hair colors were nothing like either of their parents, one bright yellow and the other a burnt orange. Still, John couldn't shake the memory of Seras retrieving one sister only to struggle to catch the other in an open palm before she'd even had a proper chance to set the first one down.

Last to be named, despite being only the second-to-last born, was a young Neko boy with what looked like something between black and dark-green hair. John named him for a reason only he would ever know, too ashamed to admit it, but too hyped up by his own mind. The youngest boy of the litter, Midoriya, seemed almost eager upon receiving the name, crawling frantically around the towels.

Achievement Unlocked! "First a Father, now a Dad." ~ At long last, Mithra has born her litter. I cannot wait to see their futures, they hold great power, great destiny, and- oh, who am I kidding? They're adorable! You let me cuddle one right now, John Newman!
+10,000 Creation Experience
+5 Charisma

"Still watching over me… thank you," John thought, so grateful to have been blessed as he was. First with powers, then friends… now an extended family. He wondered for a moment if he could find some way to tell Brenda that she was now officially a grandmother… but the thought brought too much sadness. John made a resolution to return home soon, then dismissed the sad thought.

Moira and Lord Brighton had taken an odd fascination with the latest Neko after John named it… as everyone crowded around, they all seemed to have their own favorites. John couldn't help but to play with all of them, and in turn, bring each of them before their mother, still seated on the elevated table, exhausted but so eager to reach out and touch each of her children that John could never stand to leave one sitting for too long.

With so much going on around him, John never had a chance to feel the day's fatigue wearing on him until at last the newborn Nekos settled down, gently partaking in a catnap in the middle of the spread out towels, some curling up rather adorably with their siblings. When the last of the Nekos no longer had to be corralled, when they were so exhausted they couldn't even bring themselves to paw at the drones still sweeping overhead repeatedly, John collapsed onto his rear beside them and let himself finally take a breath. Gamer's Body kept him feeling physically fine, but mentally he had already been through a week's worth of emotions… and it wasn't even dinner time yet.

"John, I've… we've prepared a stroller for them that conceals as much as possible. It converts into a carrier quite easily, and should fit snugly into the back seat of your car. It might be cramped, but you should still be able to fit all of them into it."

"Thank you, Tricia… how did you already make one, though?"

"Three-dimensional printing using my drones, nanotechnology, and a few basic crafting spells… mundane objects like this are trivial."

The stroller that Tricia wheeled up was something more like a bed on wheels, no individual seats but rather a fenced-in, padded area for the Nekos to lie around in together. It was otherwise unassuming; it looked pretty similar to some of the strollers John saw around the malls and streets of Springfield in the summer, and despite being made to fit all six Nekos, without the hassle of straps and seats, it was only about as large as your average twin stroller - it helped that the Neko children were a bit skinnier than your average baby, and apparently more sturdy.

"Thank you. Thank you so much, Tricia, you took amazing care of them."

"They have a long and hard life ahead of them," Tricia said quietly, a look coming across her eyes that held more depth to it than John normally saw. "The least that I can do for them is to make sure they have an easy start."

"You never even played with one," John said, pulling up young Midoriya and offering the tiny baby boy to Tricia. The dark-green-haired little man managed to open his eyes wide enough to glisten endearingly at the young Gorbachev before he let out a lengthy yawn and tucked himself as best as he could into his father's hands to try returning to his nap.

"I do not need to play with them," Tricia said quietly, averting her eyes.

"Not much of a cat person?" John asked, though he sensed more. Despite being present, Tricia had barely been assisting with the actual birth, leaving most of the process to Seras and Moira while she observed from the corner.

"…Something like that, yes," Tricia said.

"You must be really upset," John noted. "…I can actually tell that you're lying."

Tricia flinched, then immediately turned her body away from him and the napping Neko child. "Yes. This has been very stressful, you're right that I'm not fully myself right now. I should return to my work elsewhere so that I might stabilize."

A jolt of guilt surged through John, and he caught Tricia before she turned away fully. Her eyes intensified, staring back into his own with annoyance, pulling only lightly to escape his grip.

"Look, Tricia, I don't- I'm sorry," John said reflexively, not sure how else to begin.

"If you were sorry, you would have already released me," Tricia argued, still tugging against John's grip.

"Not for that - well, that too, but hear me out," John pleaded quietly. He eyed the others, but everyone was either staunchly ignoring their quiet conversation or had moved away to give them even more space. Seras had busied herself attending to the Nekos and gently slipping them into the stroller, Lunaya and Sophia were lightly cradling or comforting the Nekos Seras wasn't currently handling, and the Brightons were nowhere to be seen at all.

Moving slightly further away from them all the same, John continued in a quieter tone, "I'm sorry I haven't been around as much. I know you're not happy you're stuck here. Maybe we could look into a place for you out in the public again?"

"I have been looking, but I've also been extremely busy. The kind of security measures that I need to take are not ones to be taken lightly if I seek independence again… I've had that house since before I lost contact with the other Gorbachevs. Ensuring an equal amount of anonymity and protection without the aid of their many shell corporations and expansive…"

Tricia trailed off, her mouth hanging half-open. That look in her eyes approached disgust, but she no longer seemed to be directing it toward John. All the same, he felt a deep responsibility.

"Besides," Tricia said after taking a calming breath, "I am not your responsibility, John Newman."

"No," he whispered back. "You're my very close friend. That doesn't even honor the things you've done for me. With everything that has happened, I just haven't had a chance to prove it very well. Remember my offer from before?"

"Which one was that?"

The response was quick but failed to conceal the familiarity in the Gorbachev's eyes. She remembered it well. When she was like this - riding the edge, so close to showing real emotion - she didn't seem to know well how to conceal herself. When she was fully under control she had the expressiveness of a robot, and was equally hard to read. Still, calling her on it gained John little.

"The offer to let you come stay in my world," John said finally. "I've got time outside the war to train now, I've been trying to figure out what to work on and focus. I could work on my Enchanting ability and finally make a key, something to let you travel back and forth. Then you wouldn't have to worry about being trapped."

"You consider me a friend?" Tricia asked, quietly. "There are few friends and none close in the Abyss, John."

"Fuck the Abyss," John spat, shaking his head. "I want to make things different."

"To change the entire Abyss…" Tricia chuckled, something he almost never heard. "If you would like, I could run my scans of your abilities against known quantities in the Abyss, and calculate the odds of you changing the Abyss given a thousand years to train. The results would not be flattering. The Abyss has been going on for almost the entire written history of man, John Newman… it is rather set in its ways."

"So am I," John said.

"You're… serious, aren't you?" Tricia asked, glancing at John uncomfortably. "You will die."

"Everyone keeps telling me all the ways that I can die in the Abyss," John grumbled. "I'd rather die trying to change the world than die cowering from what it already is."

"That is your choice, and I respect you for being foolish enough to make it," Tricia said, pulling her arm entirely away. "But don't risk yourself for my sake. I have… far too much blood on my hands already."

Tricia strode away, toward the door of the room, half of her drones following her while the other half docked, either for recharging or to upload their new data, he was never quite sure. John tapped away at his menus before the door had even closed, opening up the main screen.

"Evellyn, I need to-"

"Good afternoon, Master Newman."

"Yes, thank you," John sighed at the interruption, "I need to-"

"I'm currently offline for maintenance. Estimated time to completion: Three hours and thirty-seven minutes."

"Wait, offline for maintenance? How do you need that?" John asked, already picking up that this was some kind of prerecorded message but annoyed enough to ask anyway.

"Updates are being performed on my core systems as well as your Skill system and Talent trees. Some of your abilities may function abnormally, and your HUD may experience brief glitches - but I can assure you that critical skills such as Gamer's Body will be prioritized, and so will continue to function within normal parameters. All of your Skill Points have been deactivated at the current time, however.”

"You could have at least asked," John grumbled, shaking his head. Thankfully, even though a few of his menu options were grayed out, Evellyn's information about main systems being prioritized seemed true. Skill, Talent, and stat points were all completely blacked out - or in the case of his character sheet, literally removed - but his health, mana, level, and inventory systems were all up and running.

"Mastah, we've got the strollah ready and rarin'," Seras said, walking up beside John as he waved his menus away. "Gonna probably need to make some cribs for the house, though."

"Yeah, that might have to wait, but we'll make it," John grunted. Seras was about to ask why, he could tell, but John just held up his hand.

"Not here. Let's get home…"

"Gaia, please tell me that one still works?"