Family Essence - Deviant - Pt. 02

Even then, it takes me four full pools before I'm finished. And mom still hasn't woken up. During each break, I found myself engaging in short makeout sessions with my sisters. Even Kaylie got in on it, though Sawyer got most of the time. It was 'her' day afterall. But as I tell the others I'm done, we decide it's too risky to continue. That doesn't keep them from forming a giant cuddle pile as we wait for my energy to regenerate again. I still need to work on mom's burns and my ankle. Bethany has a few minor scrapes as well. I'm pretty sure I could take care of them in a single cycle, but Bethany wants me to take care of the important stuff first.

As my energy returns, I ask, "So, did any of you get stronger after that fight?"

"Donkey's balls, we forgot to tell you," Madison exclaims, her head rather close to my own balls before she sits up.

"I didn't forget, just thought we were going to wait for mom," Bethany states, shifting closer to take advantage of the space left by Madison.

Madison's narrowed eyes almost elicit a chuckle from me as she targets Bethany with a tickle attack. Which is deflected by a curved shield of white light. Bethany sticks out her tongue at Madison, only to yelp when I pinch her bum playfully. Which results in all four girls turning on me. Because that's how the rules always work. Despite being ready for it... I'm not. I'm a helpless ball of laughter as my sisters tickle me into submission. We're all laying there, intertwined in the least graceful manner we could be when there's a cough from across the room.

When I try to sit up, I'm stopped by Kaylie's crotch, which I'm able to identify by smell alone. The sweet smell of strawberries tempts me, and I almost lick her, but think better of it, gently lifting her away instead. Once I'm half free, I find mom sitting on her mat, smiling at us. I wave at her as my sisters right themselves. Bethany is the first to get organized and rushes across the room to hug mom. The rest of us aren't far behind, and soon she's enveloped in a giant group hug.

As we all break apart, mom asks, "So, what'd I miss?"

"You should've seen Bethany, standing over you like a knight against a dragon," I say immediately, standing up and copying Bethany's pose. "She was epic, getting knocked back, only to stride forward, ready for the next blow!"

Bethany turns away, blushing as I continue describing her efforts, much of which is conjecture since I couldn't see her from within the ditch for most of it.

When I reach the part where Bethany stumbled, Madison interjects, "Darren didn't even hesitate. He saw Bethany stumble and charged out. So, I followed him."

I nod along, waving my arms at my sisters. "And then when we were going to get stomped on, Kaylie and Sawyer managed to get you away while delaying it."

We continue describing our battle and mom is smiling, eating it up until I mention being an idiot and getting my foot cut off. At that, mom sits forward staring down at my foot. When she sees it's still attached, she flicks my nose then pulls me in for a hug. "Don't you ever do that to me again."

"Sorry," I say, returning the hug awkwardly around her arm.

"Tell me you're okay before you tell me how you were hurt," mom clarifies. "And thank you. All of you. I'm so proud of you."

Mom extends her arms, which leads to another group hug. We stay like that for almost a minute this time before we break it up. Then we reach the point of the story where I pass out and my sisters take over.

"We knew we couldn't get you guys all the way back to the house, but I remembered you mentioning that there were service buildings for the solar farm," Bethany says as I relax into Sawyer's lap while she plays with my hair. "So, we hiked you over on Kaylie's plant and bone stretchers. Which she was able to turn into your beds with Sawyer's help."

"I only took a couple bigger bones and the core," Kaylie says, her head in my lap. "Most of it is still out there."

Hard but pleasant tugs of Sawyer's fingers massage my scalp as she says, "Oh, but the most important thing. We got a notification after the boss finally gave up the ghost."

Bethany shifts her legs where they're draped across my chest, her head hanging off the edge of the bed as she turns it towards mom. "Yeah. Apparently, we defeated the area boss and claimed the 'Pinnacle of Light' zone. It's ours for the next week."

Mom and I trade looks at that. Mom leans back, staring at the blank ceiling before turning to Bethany. "Did it say anything else? Do we know how big this area is? Or what it means when it says it's ours?"

"Uhm. Not in the notification itself. But there's a node with more information. We couldn't access it though because it takes the entire party."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" mom asks, pushing to her feet.

My sisters and I follow her example, albeit at a slower pace. It doesn't help that I'm trying desperately not to bump my still healing foot. Despite having it reattached, it feels like it's going to take more healing than mom's head did. And I still have her burns to heal too. I don't know how she's not flinching. Now that I'm up, I take the empty shell of my boot, putting it on my foot and channelling Purify. It takes extra effort, but I'm able to extend the effect far enough that it cleans the inside of the boot. Enlisting Kaylie's aid, she secures the top shut with a few roots from the mat, and then we set off for this node.

Madison takes the lead, holding a shield made of Bethany's white light, the shield's glow illuminating our short march into the back of what is a very ordinary building.

"This place has less character than a stucco wall," mom says, frowning as we enter what appears to be a janitor's closet. Along the wall is an electrical panel. The outer frame of one, anyway. Cause in the middle is a black surface with glowing pink lines of text.

"Why are we here?" mom asks, looking about the closet and somehow missing the giant glowing box in the corner. Bethany helpfully points it out to mom, but she just squints in response. Then she sighs. "I don't think I'm part of the party."

We all just stare at mom for a second.

"That makes zero sense," Sawyer finally says, prompting a round of nods from the rest of us.

At this, mom just smiles, motioning us forward. "Watch. I bet it activates with just the five of you."

Indulging our mom, we all gather around the electrical box. It's a little cramped, but considering our general lack of boundaries, not to mention our recent annihilation of the remaining ones, it doesn't bother us. And just like mom said, when we lay our hands on the interface together, we get a notification.

"Party confirmed. Darren and his four sister-sluts. Confirm name?"

I just about pull my hand back, yet before I can cancel, the prompt is replaced.

"Party name confirmed, The 4Ds. Please confirm party leader."

Even as I'm reading the list and selecting Bethany as the party leader, another prompt appears.

"Confirmed, Darren set as party leader. Please confirm party duration."

Before yet another prompt can be selected for me, I try to pull my hand back. Only to realize I can't. Because I can't move my body. I'm not even breathing. And before I can process that, yet another prompt appears.

"Confirmed, party duration set to Lifetime. Additional party options available. Options include: Marriage, Partnership-"

My head spins as yet another option is selected without me.

"Confirmed, party type set to Marriage: Polygamy."

I wait to see what else this system is going to do, prepared to apologize to my sisters for everything that happened. Especially the first party name.

Then I'm suddenly free. And my sisters sre all giggling as they hug me tight while bouncing against me.

"I take it that means I was right?" mom asks, causing the storm of giggling to subside.

Scratching my head, I say, "Maybe? I'm not even sure what-"

"We're married!" Bethany declares not giving me a chance to say anything as she stares off into space, trying to look angry. But she's unable to keep the smile from creeping up her face. "The System just started going through and selecting options for us."

Mom stares at us as the other girls giggle behind Bethany. Which makes me suspicious. Which means mom is even more suspicious. She narrows her eyes, looking from one sister to the next, before her eyes settle on Kaylie. She looks at Kaylie for several long seconds until Kaylie steps close to me. I wrap my arm around her protectively without thinking about it.

Then mom sighs again. "You know, I'm grateful you kids waited until we were sucked away from earth at least."

"We didn't..." Bethany starts but trails off as mom raises an eyebrow at her. Bethany gives mom a crooked smile, "Only Kaylie's... you know. With Darren."

"I... oh, that's why they were both still in bed this morning," mom says, rubbing at her forehead. "Well, I always suspected one of you were going to end up with him. Figured it would be Madison or you though, Bethany."

"Really?" I can't help but ask, staring at mom. "You expected this?"

Mom's laugh is deep and genuine. "Of course. With the way you dote on them? And are constantly flirting with them? Like I said, I'm just glad we're not on earth anymore."

Bethany's scowl is so adorable I have to boop her nose. She wiggles it, looking at me, before looking to mom. "I can't believe we could've just told you and it would've been cool. Could've saved us years."

At this, mom's smile droops. "I wouldn't have been 'cool with it' if this had happened a week ago. But now? After everything that's happened in the last day? It's clear you all make each other happy. And I want you to find what happiness you can. Because there's a very real chance that the monster you killed to get in here is only the first of many."

"Oh, there's one more thing," I say, opening my abilities. "And I'm not really sure how to say this, so I'll just read you the last of my abilities. One I got when we crossed over."

If I thought I'd heard our mother laugh before, I was mistaken. Never have I heard our mother laugh as is right now, collapsed in the corner too weak to lift her arms as rolling peals of laughter fill the room.

It's bad enough, I'm worried that I didn't heal her headwound correctly. I'm tempted to try again, but I can't help but think about what she said.

We're going to need to find happiness where we can.

Not sure if she meant laughing in the corner of a janitor's closet, but, eh, whatever.

...Chapter 9, Happiness Here...

As mom's laughter continues, my sisters reveal that the reason all the prompts were completing is because they were the ones confirming the choices. And I was too slow to cast my vote.

"Okay. What was with that first party name?" I ask, my arms resting around Kaylie and Sawyer, massaging both their asses. They'd married me without asking, the least they owed me was some ass fondling. Besides, they were both enjoying it while returning the favour.

"That was... my idea," Madison blushes as my eyebrows try to crawl off my head.

"If not for the chance it could be seen by someone else, we would've gone with it," Bethany admits with no more than a shrug. "Would've been funny."

"You make it sound like you guys were discussing your choices," I say while rubbing the top of Sawyer's head with my chin.

Bethany glances over at mom before replying, "When we came the first time, we got the first prompt. That's why the party name was already there. Thankfully it wouldn't go through without you, so we messed around a bit. The rest of the options, we discussed on the interface. I thought it was weird you were quiet while we were talking."

"Quiet? You guys were selecting the options as fast as I could read the prompts," I say, shaking my head. "How was I supposed to keep up with that?"

Instead of responding my sisters all look at each other for a second before everyone's eyes settle on me. Bethany holds up a finger, asking, "How long... did that feel like it took for you?"

"Uhm. Hard to say. Ten to fifteen seconds, I guess?"

"Whoa, that's some major lag," Sawyer says, pulling away to look up at me.

"Really? We had... a lot longer than that," Kaylie interjects before I can respond.

Madison nods, glancing at the interface. "At least half an hour. I was hoping the name would reset," Madison admits, blushing as she shoots me a small smile. Then in a whisper she adds, "Can you imagine if mom had seen it?"

"That would've been awkward," Kaylie agrees, her eyes drifting over to where mom's still chuckling. "Though maybe she'd have found it funny?"

We all turn to mom then, her laughter finally trailing off to a gentle wheeze. I kneel down next to her, putting my hand on her head where her injury was. But when I attempt to heal it, my energy just travels down her body, tickling at the edge of her burns.

"Hehe, that tickles," mom mumbles, her breathing still shallow.

"Sorry," I say as I pull away.

"Should be. Who knows where that hand's been? Oh wait! Everywhere!" mom laughs out, but there's moisture in the corner of her eyes.

"Sorry," I say again, this time feeling like a crap son. I look over my shoulder at my sisters then roll my eyes to the side in the direction of mom. Madison understands my intent immediately, moving closer to give mom the hug I can't. Not after mom's comment about where my hand has been and everything that's happening with my sisters.

Cause she's right. I was literally just fondling my sisters.

I shuffle back as the rest of my sisters follow Madison's example, surrounding mom with hugs. Mom starts crying as she hugs the girls back, stroking their hair. There are several mumbled apologies, and mom just hushes my sisters saying that it's alright over and over. We stay like that for several minutes before mom reaches up and wipes her eyes. Then she looks over at me with a smile, the tear tracks still marking her cheeks. "I'm sorry Darren. This is just all so much at once."

Not feeling safe to speak, I simply answer with a nod and tentatively return her smile.

"It'll be okay, mom," Bethany states, her blond head buried against mom's back.

"I know, I know," mom nods. "Like I said. It was just a bit much. At least I know you're all going to be with someone who loves you."

"And that we can trust," Madison whispers, so quiet I'm sure it wasn't meant for me. It twists me a little when she says that. But only because Madison's had issues with every guy she's dated. Well, no more of that, at least.

Cause dating all four of my sisters at once is so much better for her, I sigh to myself. Right, not dating. We're... married now.

"Okay, enough of this," mom declares, giving each of her daughters a squeeze before standing up and extending her arms for me. It's amazing how much that means to me as I reach forward and give her the most chaste hug I can. Which is actually my old standard squeeze-hard-cause-I-love-you hug. She ruffles my hair as we let go, her eyes drifting towards the electrical box. "So, what did you guys learn about the zone? Did it say anything?"

"Uhm," Bethany blushes, letting a cascade of blond hair fall in her face as we all look back at the forgotten control panel. "We might have forgotten to check."

"In our defence, we were a little distracted," Madison says, taking my hand and squeezing it.

"Well, go ahead and check it now. Don't worry, I'll wait," mom says, shooing us forward before crossing her arms and staring at us.

With a chuckle, I join my sisters at the panel. It has dozens of options, including upgrades for the zone. It takes us half an hour to sort through the basic features, consulting with mom as we work. One of the first things we discover is a map. But we ignore it at first as mom records every option in the back of a 'Caution, wet-floor' sign by carving plastic out with her power. Even this is uncomfortable to look at.

Most of the options are different ways of upgrading the zone or are only available once we've unlocked one of the zone upgrades. Most options make sense, like defensive walls, monster spawning and increased spawn rates (which are currently disabled) and increased resource production and storage. But there's one that definitely stands out. The ability to teleport to the zone from another under our control.

While we're going through the options, we discover we're guaranteed control of the zone for seven days and six hours. Every day we keep the zone in our control, we generate resources. Not just electricity, but control points that can be used for all the upgrades we've been going through. We can almost afford one of the cheapest, which would let us use spawned monsters as guard animals. But only for our party. Unless we spend even more points to upgrade the zone to a 'settlement' area.

Once that's done, mom's able to vaguely match the map we found on the control panel, going just on verbal cues. It's the crudest map I've ever seen mom draw. And it's still better than any of us could've done. "Okay, so the 'Pinnacle of Light' zone is here, on the north side. And according to the map, there's more water just past the edge of the solar farm, correct?"

We agree, Bethany standing next to the electrical panel as her eyes dart back and forth to mom's copy of the map.

"And the highway is its own zone? The 'Danger Zone'?" mom asks, etching the name in place. Again, there's a round of nods. We continue, mapping off each of the 'zones' until the entire map is properly labelled on the back of the second sign. There are eleven zones on the map in total, only four of which are part of the chunk of land we were brought over on, the last two being 'Unnamed Settlement' and 'Unclaimed Cliff'. Including everything else, our new map seems to indicate an island about four times the size of our initial 'chunk'.

Mom ends up having to break apart a mop bucket to keep the extra information we find on the map screen as we spend another half an hour searching through the interface. No more magical time pause like with the party selection.

While poring over the map, we realize each of my sisters see extra information while staring at the same basic screen. When looking at a zoomed in version of the map, Bethany is able to give the current resources, their income rates and storage for each of the zones. Kaylie reads what the current bosses are guarding each zone. Resource usage is Sawyer, and Madison's extra info fills in any extra features or hazards a zone has, such as the Pinnacle of Light zone providing a power bonus to the owners while they're in the zone. To no one's surprise it's also an energy generation zone. Interestingly, the highway is a training zone which has its boss listed as a Gravel Raptor swarm. The 'Unnamed Settlement' is the entire subdivision. Unsurprisingly, it's a settlement zone. It has no boss, instead having a timer with a little more than six hours left on it. The 'Unclaimed Cliff' doesn't have a boss either. Like with the rest of the zones, we do know the approximate location of the zone's control node. Halfway down the cliff face.

While we've been doing our research, I've been channelling my healing into my foot until I'm down to around half energy, then letting it recharge. By the time we're just about finished, my formerly severed leg is finally healed. As I'm testing my weight on it, mom says, "Okay. Sounds like we've got all we can for the moment. I'd like to take the jeep back to the house and consult my map. I have a feeling we're going to want to be there when the counter runs out."

All our eyes turn to Bethany as we realize mom doesn't know what happened to the jeep.

"Uh, kids? Is everything alright?" mom asks, looking up from her mangled pieces of plastic turned notes.

Deciding Bethany shouldn't have to bear the weight, I step forward. "The jeep kinda got slagged. There isn't much of it left."