Dear Diary,

I really gotta figure out a way to find Poseidon and express my extreme displeasure at him sending wave after wave of kaiju at our coast. Yeah, I'm not real happy about the idea that if I eat him, I might wind up having to deal with some really fuckin' shitty impulses, but something needs to be done.

Honestly, I've got some ideas about that, but right now I need to focus on keeping my people safe.

So yesterday I watched as the dead kaiju whale sank under the waves. While I stood there with one arm hooked around the mast, the other around Saffron's shoulders, she thought, the first kaiju has arrived, ladies. This one was aquatic, but the others ought not be far behind.

Yeah, call me in when you see them.

"You really shouldn't, love."

I blinked, then looked down at her. "Why not?"

She smiled sadly up at me, shook her head, then said, "hang on."

She slipped her arm more securely around my waist, then hopped down to the deck. Still surprises me when she can do shit like that. I mean, I can, but I'm a full-fledged Goddess. She's not even some kind of acrobatic Hero type. Okay, she's actually a whole assed Hero, which means she's probably getting boosted from that, and from what I remember she's getting physical boosts from that which most Mage types wouldn't. But still, being up in Tier Two means she can hop right down without breaking stride or shifting her grip on me. Fuck, I'm not sure what my own Endurance is, but I didn't even notice the impact.

Okay, that's not quite true, but the discomfort didn't come from my feet, or my legs, or the point of contact under my shoulder or around my waist. Instead it felt like my entire skin shifted just the tiniest bit.

We got inside, into my cabin, and she stepped away from me, turning to look at me. Once we stopped moving in an confined space, I realized that I reeked pretty fuckin' bad. She reached out with one finger, touched my uniformed chest, then shook her head and sighed. "Sorry, love."

A moment later I stood there naked, wondering what she'd apologized for. Then the sensation hit, like somebody'd tried to skin the parts of me my uniform covered, but hadn't really done more than yoink all of my skin at once. A kind of pinching, shifting sensation. A moment later she reached out, gingerly guiding me into the bathroom and turning me to face the mirror.

I looked a little like somebody had marinated me in hot sauce. Every inch of unscarred skin that had been exposed to the interior of the kaiju's digestive tract was a deep, angry red. The parts that had been under my uniform weren't unscathed, but they were more of a pinkish white. The scars themselves stood out in stark white. "Oh. Oh, fuck. Why doesn't that hurt more?"

She shrugged. "At a guess? You're numb. It's why I didn't heal you right away. Are you ready?"

I sighed. "Yeah. Hit me."

I left fingerprints in the sink as the Healing washed over me. It felt the way mint tastes, and every bit of chemically burnt skin felt the way it did when you put salt or spice or alcohol on an open wound. I don't know how long it went on, but I clamped my fingers on the sink, locked my jaw, and endured. I wouldn't let myself lash out, not after all my worrying about hurting allies, friends, and family after eating seahorse boy.

Honestly, that's rude. Seahorses are cool.

After I don't know how long, Saffron reached up and laid a hand on my cheek. "Love?"

"Is it over?" My mouth ached, pain spiking through my jaw as I slurred out the words.

She sighed. "Almost. I think we need to fix your teeth now."

I laughed. I tried to, but it hurt too much. I whined, then held my mouth open. "Ga hed."

She shook her head. "Those Shapes I do not know, and I cannot have Siobhan assist with the process while within the Black Dragon."

"Well. Shit. Ow. Also, fuckin' ouch. Ow, owie, ow, ow, ow."

She stroked her fingers across my cheek, and whispered, "do you trust me?" I nodded, and she reached down and laced her fingers through mine.

She led me back out onto the deck, and between one step and the next we stood next to the Bath. She banished her own dress, then walked me into the Bath proper. Siobhan?

A few moments later Siobhan appeared, Hailee clutched to her like a body pillow. Our youngest just grinned and said, "Mama!"

She held out her arms, and Siobhan gingerly stepped into the Bath, then handed her over. The moment I hugged her to me, the spiky pain in my mouth relented, dying down to a dull ache. She reached up and touched my jaw, and even that receded a bit. Siobhan slipped in behind her, one hand sliding up behind Hailee's, the other reaching up to touch my lips. "Open your mouth please, Mistress."

"T'bitha," I groused, but opened my mouth, stretching it as wide as I could. She winced, then pulled Hailee's hand back just a bit.

"Observe." It took me a second to realize that Siobhan wasn't talking to me. "I'm going to Assess you to make sure there isn't any hidden damage now."

I nodded, and she Shaped. As was normal, I felt nothing from the Assess Health, but a few seconds later something cool washed over me.

"Hailee..." Siobhan drew our daughter's name out, almost like a warning. "I know you want to help, but sometimes one layer of pain can hide a deeper hurt. Look deeper before you soothe away what might be a warning."

Our daughter looked at me, worried, then looked over at Siobhan, her gaze tracking downward, growing more and more horrified moment by moment. "Baby?"

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Siobhan ruffled her hair, and I snuggled her. "S'ok."

"Yes, little one, we've Assessed Siobhan regularly, and her only issue is her misery. Her baby is healthy, and you and you alone seem to be able to keep the misery at bay."

"Kay."

Siobhan looked at me. "Are you ready? There may be some discomfort."

"I help?"

Siobhan paused, then nodded. "You may. But be careful, I will handle the Healing, you focus on your Mama's pain."

"Kay."

A few moments later Siobhan Shaped, and Hailee snuggled into me again, one hand reaching up to touch my jaw. I'd gotten lucky back in the day, didn't need much dental work done, or really couldn't afford too much work on the luxury bones. I don't know if this was better or worse than that. It ached, almost like being punched in the jaw, but in reverse, if that makes any sense. I held my mouth open, and listened as things clicked into place. After maybe half an hour, Siobhan leaned back and said, "that's about all I can do for now."

I worked my jaw, and nothing hurt. "Feels fine."

"Yes, well. Try not to get hit in the jaw, or eat anything too hard until I can do more."

I pulled her in to hug her, then scooped Saffron up as well. "Thanks, Siobhan. Thanks, Kitten." I kissed Hailee atop her head, right between where her fuzzy ears stuck out of her hair. "And thank you, Hailee, my precocious little Healer."

Right about then Marie thought, Little Help?

I didn't stop to think or ask, I just leapt to her side. Okay, the side of the Marie aboard the Worshipping Tentacle, where I immediately realized at least one, maybe two dozen of her swarmed over the gargantuan figure a few hundred feet out to sea. A quick glance showed one of the Worshipping's masts sheared off maybe five feet above the deck, and the rigging looked an absolute mess, but her forward ballista sang, launching a spear out and up toward the giant. It arced down just a bit, then sank into his ass cheek, and a scream of pain interrupted his incoherent screams of rage.

Of course, that also turned his attention from the Maries lacerating every inch of him they could reach to the Worshipping. He stepped toward the ship, and if he stumbled over some underwater obstruction, the water itself only came to mid thigh on him. That one stride cleared half the distance, and he pulled back one fist as he closed the distance.

"Brace for impact!" I shouted, throwing a Ward up as I did. The kaiju's fist slammed down. Where the whale had shattered my Wards with its full weight, this guy wasn't throwing quite that much with a punch. The entire Ward rang, and the kaiju's bow wave rocked the boat, but it held. Of course his other fist was going back, and if he couldn't see very well with a Marie clawing at each of his squinted eyes, the Worshipping Tentacle wasn't a small target herself. I threw another Ward as his fist came down, but layered Wards weren't my best thing. Both Wards broke, and his hand came down through them.

The entire ship heaved as he pulled away, the forward mast shoved right through the palm of his hand. I leapt, Mana Blades out to sever the mast before he got the ship all the way out of the water. As the Worshipping dropped back into the water, I leapt again, this time aiming for the top of the Kaiju's head. I shoved a Mana Blade straight down, but the kaiju's skull did not go the way of most flesh. Instead, it got hot.

"Motherfucker! Marie! Brace me!"

Instead she snatched me away as the giant's hands came down on his own skull, fingers raking the spot we'd just stood in. Right about then I realized that Marie had stepped us out and up, and gravity still worked. "Go Up."

With that she disappeared. The moment before I hit the water, I Translocated directly above the fucker, and poured all the Mana I'd been pulling from the me atop the West Tower in M-Space into a single massive Mana Lance. I dove, fist forward, as the big asshole moved his hands to claw the Maries away from his eyes. I realized the pose I was doing, and all the times I'd worried about being the Bad Guy raced through my head. I sighed, pulled one hand to my chest, and said, "There's no one I'd rather be than me."

I think the shock of impact might have broken my arm. It definitely flash fried my hand when I shoved a fuck ton and a half of Mana into the big motherfucker's skull. Fortunately, for a certain value of fortunate, it did the same to his brains. He tipped backward as steam blew the Maries on his eyes off his face to land somewhere on the far side of the ship. As he crashed backward, Mads thought, Goddess!

I leapt to her side to see another of the humanoid kaiju, this one reaching around behind himself. As I watched, he spun, and I spotted Olga hanging from his hair, slamming her trident into his upper back over and over. Did not help that he had to be at least eight times her height, but right about then I realized that for all their size, these things fought like an enraged schoolyard bully. All size and power and no technique whatsoever.

I sighed, pulled Mana, and that's when Karen laid a hand on my shoulder. "Goddess. Allow us." She turned to Madeline, held out her other hand, and said, "with me."

Mads nodded, took Karen's hand, and the two of them disappeared. A few seconds later Karen's voice rang through the night. "Olga! Pull his head back!"

I'm not sure what exactly she did, but the giant's head rocked backward. He grabbed behind himself, and Olga screamed, "Fuck!" A moment later, two actinic pinpoints of light seared through the night, falling stars that plunged right through the giant's eyes.

Highest, I cannot see. Mads sounded genuinely worried.

Just close your eyes and lash out. Karen, on the other hand, just sounded angry.

But what if I hit you?

You go down, I'm on top.

That got Mads as much as me. I giggled through the pain of my seared, broken hand as she thought, how lewd, with a laugh in her voice.

Of course, then they both mentally shrieked the tiniest bit as the big fucker twitched, jerked, then toppled forward. I threw up the biggest Ward I could, which meant the Plundering lost her bowsprit rather than being completely shattered by the falling kaiju.

My two High Priestesses landed on the deck behind me as Olga popped out of the water, a feral grin on her face. My brain wobbled for a second as somebody pulled a fuckton of Mana. "Four," I muttered. "There were four." Where's the fourth? Does anyone see the fourth?

I'm on it.

I couldn't help it, I leapt to Saffron's side. Then leapt to the lights of the Seeking Tentacle as I plunged into the cold waves. It took me a second to orient, and even then I realized I'd been relying on flashes of light and color when I saw nothing but wireframe of Saffron standing in front of the last kaiju.

Somehow my brain had not really registered that her doing something once meant she could do it again. I also hadn't thought about what being so utterly unskilled meant in terms of one of the big Titan Jotnar Hybrids facing something anywhere near its own size.

Because Saffron wasn't as tall as it was. Kaiju big, yes, but the water came to her waist rather than her thighs. I panted, trying to get my breath back, trying to push my body, to suck in Mana from local tentacles that seemed suddenly bereft, but before I could do jack diddly shit, she moved. It swung at her, a big overhand haymaker, and she stepped into it, closing the gap and hitting it four times before its upper arm slammed into her turned shoulder. She shrugged it off, landing hit after hit into the thing's chest. The world echoed with sounds like cannon fire, both from the impact and from its ribs cracking under the assault.

It made an awful, keening howl, scrabbling at the back of her uniform jacket, but she just glanced upward once, then reached down and said, "you lose."

A crackling hiss drowned out all other sounds, and Saffron drove her fists forward, then swept her arms to the sides, splattering what was once the kaiju's belly over acres of ocean. It stumbled backward, clutching at its belly, and she crouched, leapt, and brought her fist down on its face, two Mana Blades black as the night itself driving themselves through its eyes. Both of them dropped out of sight under the water.

I waited, holding my breath as my lungs burned, for Saffron to surface. I don't know how long it was before I whimpered, Kitten?

I swear I almost jumped right over the side when she calmly said, "yes, Goof?" from about three feet behind me.

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