Anti-antithesis

Love? Love is many things.

It can be cuddling in front of a heap of antithesis corpses lit on fire with your girlfriend.

It could be admiring the lifelike antithesis ice sculptures with your other girlfriend

It could be making your other girlfriend melt into blissful nirvannah just from find the right spot between her ears, alongside the spot on her spine just above the base of her tail.

Oh wait, the different types of love? Well you have lesbian love, gay love, bisexual love…

-Samurai InqueAbyss after being asked about love and instantly getting sidetracked, 2057

Yerlette yipped as Alice gave a small scream. Cari spun around, shifting into her Slitherian form as two huge gauntlets formed on her fists, and Opal grew rapidly as her hands grew huge claws. Cari punched out to where I stood and I thrusted myself back and to the side at full speed with my long forgotten jump jets as a massive shockwave flew out from her fist, tearing through the air as space warped in its path, drilling a perfect, two foot wide hole through the glass separating the pool area from the common room, then a three foot wide hole through the outside wall. I saw every Scout in the warping effects path was shredded to nothing, giving out static feedback.

I dropped my stealth and shifted my armor back, raising my hands in surrender. “Hey, it's me! Bad prank!” I shouted as Cari wound back to launch another punch.

Cari launched herself at me, throwing another punch, but her gauntlets shrunk back into her outfit. Her fist connected squarely with my right shoulder and I fell over, feeling the joint shifting in its socket. As I hit the ground, her tail wrapped around me as she pulled me into her embrace.

“You stupid fucking- don't ever do that again!” She shouted. I felt my shoulder scream in agony as she tightened her grip on me. Yep, definitely a fracture there, I deserved that.

“Alright, yes. I promise to never do that again. Can you let me go, you broke my shoulder.” I said quickly. I tried my best to school my expression but fail as it's been a while since I have broken my bones.

Cari pulled back slightly, glaring at me but not easing up the pressure. “Do you understand why I am so pissed at you?” She said slowly with a measured, even tone of voice.

I did my best to not move to mitigate the pain in my shoulder. “Because you could have killed-”

“Because I could have killed you!” She yelled, tears forming in her eyes. “You gave me a Class III weapon while you are in armor that is decidedly not Class III! I have only just gotten over my first kill yesterday, and I would not be able to survive if I killed you as well!” her tail tightened a bit, causing me to grimace in pain.

Seeing that, she loosened her grip and shouted. “Synaptic, Nano-restore! Please!”

I nodded, as Synaptic needed my approval for said purchase, and an inhaler landed in Cari's outstretched hand. She placed it on my mouth and I inhaled, feeling sand enter my lungs. I was able to endure the extremely unpleasant feeling as I felt a wave of coolness spread to my shoulder, the pain abating to a dull throb.

I raised my right arm and felt that it is a bit sore now, not easy to move, but not impossible to do so.

Cari embraced me once more, a bit more gingerly this time, burying my head in her chest. I hugged her back. “Don't ever do something so stupid again, do you understand me?” She whispered into my hair. I could feel some tears fall onto my head.

“I fucked up… I'm sorry. I will never do that again.” <Synaptic, please make Cari something so she can keep track of me, maybe a ping when I get within a certain range.>

Done and done, my stupid Vanguard.

I heard someone clear their throat behind Cari causing her to shift, turning bodily to face her friends with me still in her embrace.

Alice whistled. “Damn, girl, maybe you did kill a seven-foot-tall guy.”

I felt my face heat up a bit. They were talking about the corpse in the freezer, not my dick.

Opal stalked over to us, still in her huge werebear form. She raised a hand and poked my nose with a claw. “You are both brave and incredibly stupid, Victor.” She smirked, then turned to Cari. “Sure we can't share him? We never got a definitive no from you last time.”

Her coils tightened slightly as she narrowed her eyes at Opal. “Not now, Smokey.” She whispered.

Alice barked out a laugh as Yerlette covered her face with a fan, giggling. “What happened to sharing the good with the bad among sisters, Mellow?” Yerlette asked.

Cari puffed her cheeks and stuck her tongue out, generating another round of laughter.

**************************************

Now safely nestled in a new blue egg with the living room walls set to private while in Cari's coils, I am still nestled against her chest on top of her, facing up, while Yerlette and Alice in Opal's arms, cuddled up under some of Cari's coils. The new egg Morrigan made for us was considerably wider, allowing for all five of us to lounge comfortably on it.

“Love, what do you mean you saved the corpse of that giant?” Cari asked.

I shrugged my left shoulder. “It was your kill, and considering how… warrior you were that night, I thought… Okay, I wasn't thinking, just going off of vibes.”

Opal nodded, her eyes closed in an attempt to look serious, but it was hard to take her seriously with Yerlette's tail messing with her ears. “No, I understand. The first kill is meaningful to a lot of old tribes and clans. Dad tried his best to keep me away from anything that could involve killing, so I don't know how I would feel about it, but seeing Mellow act this way, I think dad is right.”

Alice did an exaggerated gasp, covering her mouth with her lizard tail. “You just admitted your dad was right? Is the world ending? Are you running a fever?” She placed her hand on Opal's forehead as Yerlette and Cari giggled.

“Shame he's away right now, otherwise I would have sent him the recording.” Yerlette said, spinning her closed fan in her hands.

Opal rolled her eyes at their antics as a look flashed across her face, one of mischief. Then she looked at me and grunted in displeasure? “Seriously, Mellow. I can't even mess around with him here if you don't want to share. Look at him! So cozy in your embrace while I have to contend myself with simply holding these two teases.”

“He's not a thing to share, Smokey…” Cari mumbled into my head.

Yerlette rolled her eyes. “Hey, Victor. In case you are still dense enough to miss everything being said, we are kinda a poly puddle, and we are asking you if you wish to be a part of it. Does this mean we all want to sleep with you? No. I, for one, can't get excited unless I have a deep bond with my partner, which, shocker, I have with these three. Growing up together does that. Opal is a lesbian, or so I thought before today, and Alice is a little shit who just likes to tease people to death, but becomes very mailable with certain pressures.”

Alice snickered. “That said, even if we have some basic decency. Unless everyone in the puddle or room is down for it, we will hold off on doing anything. And since you are quite literally in the puddle, unless you consent, Opal will remain a bundle of muscles, fluff, and need with no outlet.”

A lot of things were just said at me at once, yet my brain latched onto fluff in Opal's description. It was hard to tell considering she was wearing a light brown hoodie and dark brown sweatpants, but I did see her grow a thick coat of fur when she shifted, so maybe she was fluffy under it.

Cari kissed the top of my head, chuckling. “You don't have to answer right away, love, no matter what your body is telling you right now. Considering how much you panicked when I declared myself your fiancé, this is a very large decision.”

Alice went to say something, but Yerlette stuffed her fox tail in her mouth.

I took a deep breath in and held it for a few seconds, then let it out. “You four are all close, right?” I asked, shifting my head to try and look at Cari.

She nodded while smiling softly. “We grew up together, went through puberty together, experimented with a lot together. We made a promise to each other during a camping trip to always be together, to share in the good as well as the bad.” She chuckled a bit, raising a hand to cover her mouth. “I suppose we are already married, saying it aloud.”

I nodded slowly, looking back down. “I… Until two weeks ago, I figured that I would end up dead in the next year or so. None of my siblings or I had any hope or plan for what to do if we got out, because we never hoped that we could." I rubbed my hand along Cari's tail, using her scale's texture to ground myself.

"Once I initialized, we all knew we were done, that we could get out. And the only plan we had was to join The Family, and keep doing what we were doing, but under our own power. And for the next week and some change we were constantly reacting, never really planning. Well, I kinda planned some things, but even those were in reaction to being told I had some opportunities. This building was supposed to be one floor, just big enough for me and my siblings to live comfortably, but then Morrigan decided to expand it, and then expand it some more. The one time I decided to go hunt some antithesis, it turned into a huge mess. When I went to the meeting with Doma and the Family, I was still reacting to a problem I ran into while trying to plan for the future. When I went down in the southern hive, we had a plan, and the plan went so well, up until we entered the cavern. And even then, the plan was working. Until… until the next plan I made got Blizzard killed.”

The room was silent as everyone looked at me, and Cari held me closer, but I kept going. “I felt so lost at the funeral. I hated myself, in my lack of control, in how everything else went well when I was only reacting and not planning. Heracles helped me deal with my immediate sense of loss. I then made sure that I would keep the one plan I made with Blizzard, and go to her Gala. And there, I met you, Cari.” I placed my hand on her arm. “And every day from then after, even the one time I panicked, has been some of the best days of my life. Nothing before has ever compared to how you make me feel. Your touch, your gaze, your laugh. Simply being with you, even if we do nothing but exist in each other's presence, filled a hole within me. Having you here has made me feel brave enough to make plans for the future, to see more than just making it to tomorrow.” I looked at the others. “And if they are just as meaningful to you, if they fill that same hole in you as you do me, then what right do I have to keep you apart?”

Yerlette snapped her fan open, then closed in a rapid movement. She narrowed her eyes on me. “Victor. As much as I'm sure these two,” She waved her closed fan at Alice and Opal, “want you to accept so that they can play around, the reasons behind why you are accepting are wrong. Fundamentally so. You are the man my sister, best friend, and lover has decided to love as deeply as the rest of us. You are not keeping her from us, you don't have that ability. By being acknowledged by Cari, you have earned the right to be loved by us, eventually, just as deeply. Maybe not as physically as Cari, but you will be stuck with us anyways. Do you understand?”

Her eyes were very intense as she pointed her fan at me, placing it inches from my face. I go to nod, but she shook her fan at me. “Verbal response only.”

I felt my throat tighten as I tried to speak. Sands, they were serious. Opal was simply staring with kind eyes at me while Alice pet the tail in her mouth.

“Like she said, we won't jump your bone if you agree.” Opal said softly. “All this means is that you gain some more people who care about you, with the possibility of some options down the line.”

“I… I would love to.” I croaked out.

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