Teenagers scare the livin' shit outta me.

The walk from Lerianna’s room to the Nekos’ was rather quiet, but for once it was not in an uncomfortable way. Lerianna was attempting to subtly brush up against John as they walked, her hand grazing against his in a way that might have given John the wrong idea, were it not for the conversation they’d just had. But instead of a flirtatious or affectionate movement, it seemed as if Lerianna had already begun a competition with herself - every time her hand brushed against John’s as they plodded along the lengthy hallway, he saw her smiling to herself - as if proud at the mere action of having touched a man and not being driven into a rutting frenzy. John said nothing, only allowing himself the smallest of smirks. It made him happy to have brought a new joy to one of his creations, but he didn’t need to call out her every movement as she explored her new freedom from lust. Besides, they were nearly at the door to Mithra’s room.

The crack of the door opening slightly was all it took – all that it ever took – to send the entire room into an absolute frenzy.

Seven separate pairs of feet flew into a frenzy, all of them headed directly for John. The Gamer was well aware of the consequences of his arrival, and had prepared properly – with practiced ease he slid into the room and braced himself against the door, giving him more of a foothold to gently catch the cluster of kittens that slammed into him first without having to use too much of his own strength.

Mika and Miya were the first to make contact, slamming into his chest with the fervor only two overly energetic Nekos could manage.

"Nyaa," they echoed in unison, "we missed you, Papa!"

"I missed you too," John chuckled. "Even though it's only been a few hours."

"Too long!" Mika shouted, while her sister nodded in fervent agreement. "We grew another three inches while you were gone! Mama says we'll be full-grown soon!"

"I don't think you grew three inches, maybe only two," John said, ruffling Mika's hair. Truthfully, the rate at which the Nekos had grown over the past year wouldn't actually surprise John if he missed an inch here or there – it had taken multiple reiterations from Evellyn to reassure him that they would stop aging once they reached early adulthood. They already had the appearances of teenagers, and they were continuing to grow by the day.

Magnus' growth was particularly noticeable. Although a little over a year in the Abyss had taught John not to judge the strength of others by their appearance, Magnus had still shown an impressive amount of growth in the muscle department. He resembled some of the jocks that John had attended the Academy with – though his face still showed his youthful age more obviously than his muscular body. Still, he gave John the most impressive hug that he could muster, wrapping his arms around both John and his "little" sisters.

"Missed you, Papa," Magnus said. If his face didn't clue one in to his youth, his Neko-styled speech and the crack of his voice definitely did.

"Missed you too," John replied, opening his arms as wide as he could. He didn't bother to put too much effort into it though – he'd long since given up on managing to fit all of his children into a hug. By the time Moira, Midoria, and Miriam joined into it, it was all but futile to hope to embrace all six of them, particularly now that they were so grown.

"Nyaa, Myaster! So good to see you," Mithra cooed, adding onto the pile as she threw her arms around the massive group hug.

"Good to see you too, Mithra," John said, grinning as he ran his fingers through Mithra's long, ebony hair strands. "I'm sorry that everything has been so crazy the past few days, and I'm not sure it's going to get any better any time soon. I know you aren't used to me being away for so long, and with a war coming up, it's going to keep happening, but I'll try hard not to let it affect all of you too much."

"Don't think about that, Myaster. Think about being here," Mithra insisted, gently nuzzling herself closer to John as best as she could over the **** limbs of their children. John said nothing in return, only embracing the Neko and her "in the moment" style of living.

"Papa, Mama still won't let us train," Neko-Moira said, huffing and crossing her arms. When she pouted, she really did look a lot like her namesake.

"Of course not, you're barely a year old," John said, chuckling. "Why are you in such a hurry to start fighting? Every time I come by here, you're begging to go into Barriers!"

"They wanna get big and strong like me! Like you, Papa!" Magnus said, flexing one of his arms. John fought back the urge to roll his eyes at his proud little child, instead offering an only slightly playful smile. Once again, his children weren't exactly wrong... and John found his eyes travelling to the mirror on the wall of Mithra's room. Between and around the scratch marks left by young kittens discovering – and then often attacking – their reflections, John could clearly see the changes that had occurred in him over the last year.

Ever since acquiring his abilities as the Gamer and tying all of his stats to levels – levels he increased at a rate that impressed even Abyssals – John's body had been undergoing subtle changes. The last of his post-pubescent baby fat had melted away almost immediately. His stats all seemed to have their own impact – subtle, but slightly noticeable when he applied the free points from one of his reincarnations.

Strength increased the size of his muscles, Agility thinned them out somewhat and made them more toned than massive, and Endurance took away what little body fat he had leftover. Intelligence and Wisdom had very little if any noticeable effects, but Charisma itself had some of the most noticeable – though it wasn't really what Magnus was referring to with his comments on John's physique. John's skin had become more flawless and evenly toned, his face more symmetrical and without blemishes or red spots. While John had never been unattractive, he had certainly become more conventionally attractive, although he maintained almost all of the features that made him "unique" or identifiable.

"Papa got big and strong through lots of hard work. You can do it too, without going into Barriers," John said, trying to calm down his children. "Just keep playing with each other, exercise like I showed you. You're a bit too young to be going into Barriers every day!"

"But you and Mama advance so quickly when you train together. It's okay, we don't need you to babysit, we're big kitties! We can go soon, Papa. I can make Barriers now, I can almost make Dungeons like you!" Miriam said, grinning up at him with proud eyes. John was well aware of her progress with her magical studies under Vallya's tutelage, and he wasn't fully in support of it, but denying Miriam in particular had only resulted in long nights of listening to his wailing child throw fits about how much she missed "Aunty Vallya" and how much she wanted to learn to use her magic. He'd eventually given in, though not entirely because of her pleas. It was also because of how little control he really had over things.

"Well, be that as it may, there's no need to rush," John said quickly. Whether because of his past trauma or because of parental worries, the thought of the young Nekos going into combat filled him with apprehension. But he knew there was little enough he could do to keep them from experimenting on their own... and Vallya seemed intent on teaching them whatever they wanted to know.

Midoriya, Miriam, and Mika had all expressed serious interest in Vallya's lessons on magic and mana. Magnus and Moira seemed more interested in physical endeavors – they enjoyed lessons on the mana within themselves, but not so much specific knowledge on magical structure or usage. They were more interested in Barriers as tests of their skill and strength. Miya was the only one who really seemed disinterested in training at all; though she enjoyed playing with the others, she had become a bit more calm in her teen years – she actually took great pride in the small library John had taken to building, both from random loot drops and from his occasional stops in the mortal realm. He still wasn't entirely sure about whether the books that he got from dungeons were copies of real books or entire books created by his abilities. Somehow he doubted that someone had actually written a text called the "Aroused Lizardfolk Tavern Wench" – and he'd been sure not to leave that one out in the open.

"Rush rush rush!" One of the Neko children shouted – then all of them started shouting that in unison as they zoomed around the room, almost as if they had forgotten that John was there at all. It seemed their attention span had still not matured so well as they themselves had. Though that also meant they had forgotten about training, which John was quite thankful for.

"Myaster, I hear you in there!" John heard. "Lerianna says you're in there too! Let us in!"

"Alright, alright, Maera," John said, chuckling as he opened the door. Maera launched herself into his arms eagerly, causing John to swing her around in a wide circle. She was naked, as usual, always foregoing clothing or armor at the first chance she got, so her soft breasts pressed directly into John's shirt as she clung to him.

"You invited me to see the kittens and then locked me out?" Lerianna said, quirking an eyebrow. "I'd have left, but I don't know what the range is on that ability of yours... don't wanna get back to 'normal' just yet."

"Sorry, but I always know what to expect when that door opens... best not to have too many limbs behind me that could get tangled if I fall. Come on inside, they're, uh... they've got the zoomies."

As Lerianna strode in alongside John and the twin Nekos, the youngsters began to adjust their paths as they ran circles around the room – more or less. Some of them got a little too friendly as they dared to dart around the long legs of Lerianna, but she managed to adeptly avoid tripping or stumbling despite any sudden obstacles. Lerianna waited until the young kittens made a third pass at her before she leaned down, grabbing up the young Mika and holding her close. Mika struggled against the rabbit-woman's grip for only a few seconds; a quick nuzzle under her chin and a scratch through her bangs had the young catgirl cooing and nuzzling up for more attention.

"So, how long do you wanna spend here?" Lerianna asked. "I know you don't need sleep, but I do."

"The Nekos are mostly nocturnal... I'll spend the night with them. You can stay as long as you like. I can renew the Siphon when it runs out if it starts causing problems," John said simply, his eyes far away as he glanced over his sprinting children.

"No training tonight?" Lerianna asked.

"Not tonight," John replied. "Things got too serious, too quickly. I was thinking a year would be long enough to prepare myself for going back into the thick of things... but it just reminded me of everything that happened before. Now that my anger is gone, I know the fear will come back. It was... simpler when we were just slaughtering, when we were taking **** on those who had wronged our family. The anger made it easy to feel numb, to trust we were doing right and go with it. Now, thinking about others again, worrying that my family or the Order are in danger..."

John sighed. His emotions weren't going to be dealt with in a night, nor were they something he should dump on his family. Lerianna of all people was barely holding herself together. Besides, apart from Sophia, none of them felt the same calling for justice and vengeance he did in the first place – they had always known that fear.

"Never mind. It's silly, I-"

"Don't say that," Lerianna said, so quickly it surprised John. When he showed that surprise, Lerianna looked almost bashful for a moment, though she quickly hid it behind a wall of annoyance. "Idiot, do you realize what the hardest part of my condition was for me? It wasn't my own feelings, it was seeing all my friends and family so confused why I was even struggling, why I didn’t just give in to my desires. They didn’t just not understand me, they thought I was stupid for even trying. I may not fully understand your feelings, or be able to see everything from your point of view... but don't assume we think your feelings are silly, or that we don't want to support you. We will always be here for you, John. We will always back you up.”

John stood for a moment, his mouth half-agape. "You... you are quite different when you're in full control of yourself. You're actually friendly, Lerianna!"

"Sh-shut up, you idiot!"

Unlike the young Nekos, Lerianna had grown enough for her punch to hurt as it impacted John's shoulder with enough **** to make him stumble backwards. He appreciated the muscular woman’s words more than she knew… but he continued to play it off as light-heartedly as he could manage.