Chapter 26: Chapter 23: Reconciliation

Autumn and I stood outside underneath the light of a gibbous moon. Its lunar beams painted the field with a pale but beautiful silver radiance, shimmering off the stalks and vines of the crops over which my girls and I toiled each day. I smiled slightly to see it, because it reminded me of our common purpose and of how far we'd come in just a couple weeks together.

But this was not a light hearted chat, and there wasn't any time for dawdling and reflecting on our progress. Progress was frozen. "Autumn," I said, sighing dolefully, "It's my HUD. It says my XP is frozen, and the only hint as to the reason that it offers is Daisy."

Autumn gasped shrilly. "Your XP is frozen?! This is bad! This is as bad as it gets!"

"It could be worse," I chuckled. "I could be dead."

"It could be worse, but not by much. Oh, gods, Bucky... Think! Think! Did you do anything to make her feel unsafe? Unhappy?" 

My mind immediately went to the argument we'd had recently. She--and the other girls, too, really--wanted a baby. Desperately. That desperation was what set her apart, and even long after the group had come to a consensus on the matter, she remained obviously wounded and unsatisfied.

Daisy had begged me. She pleaded, she even offered to lie to the other girls and say it was her mistake, that she tricked me, or any other excuse possible. Her profound need for it was haunting, and it made me feel like shit as all I could say was no, refusing her again and again. The sight of her face sinking from determination to misery to open weeping was an agony that visited itself on me whenever I closed my eyes.

"Daisy was angry at me the other day," I shrugged. "She wanted me to impregnate her."

Autumn sighed. "That can't be it. We all want that."

I gulped, hearing that. Fuck me. Was I doing my girls wrong? "I know, but she was inconsolable. She pleaded for the better part of an hour. She cried and wouldn't speak to me all night afterward when I refused."

Autumn's cat eyes went wide. "She can be difficult, but that definitely sounds like an extreme reaction, even for her. Did she say anything about it afterward?"

"The next day she pretended things were normal, but she didn't react when I put my hand on her or kissed her cheek. When I tried to talk to her she brushed me off. I figured she just needed time, but it isn't getting better."

Autumn nodded, excited. "Okay, now we're getting somewhere. That must be it, then. Good, good. At least we know the problem."

"But what's the solution?" I groaned, cursing under my breath. "Fuck, this sucks."

Autumn remained silent for a spell too long for my nerves to stomach. I stared in her beautiful oceanic eyes as she pulled back a wavy strand of her blonde hair. Her ears twitched anxiously, tail all taut and straight, and she finally looked at me and said, "Give her the damn baby."

My shoulders tensed, and I almost took a step back in surprise. "Bad idea. That'll have a ripple effect. If she gets a baby, everyone will want one."

"Then give us all the babies we want, Bucky," she said frankly, crossing her arms. "If that's what it takes to keep Lusteria safe, then that's what you have to do."

"But what if I die?" I asked. "I don't like the idea of leaving behind half a dozen fatherless kids."

"I don't like the idea, either, but you can’t plan your love life and your family around worst-case scenarios. Having children is the highest aspiration of many monster girls, especially holstaurs and bunny girls. Since men are so rare, that need is built into us. To make Daisy and, hell, even me... to make us feel secure, we're going to need it sooner or later."

I sighed. "Did I make a mistake?"

Autumn cocked her head slightly to one side and looked at me carefully, appraising me as though I might be about to utter something treacherous. "What do you mean?"

"I mean marking her too soon."

She scowled at me. "How selfish of you, Bucky. I'm not marked, but I want children, too. Daisy's discontent would still be here if she weren't marked, and she'd probably be even more anxious since you refused to do so. But all you can think is that it was a mistake because she's now posing an inconvenience to you? I'm honestly disappointed."

I blushed with shame. She was entirely correct. It was a horribly self-indulgent thought. "You're right," I said. "I'm sorry. This is just a lot of responsibility. A lot to think about."

The sounds of night were all around us with each pause. The rustling of the trees and our crops, the hooting of owls, the fluttering of bat wings overhead, and the chirping of crickets--it was beautiful, but it made each silence feel excruciatingly long.

"Many heroes don't bother with marking more than their catgirl, if even her," Autumn said. "At least until their quests are done. There is a degree of risk involved in the path we've chosen, and I confess I may have been a tiny bit too eager to see you mark the holstaurs. But there's no turning back, and regretting it now would be unfair to them."

"May Belle was a safe bet," I said under my breath.

Autumn nodded thoughtfully. "True. She is easy to please."

I don't know why, but it made me laugh, and that broke Autumn's serious demeanor as well. We chuckled together under the stars for just a moment before calming down. I took a deep breath and stared her in the eyes pleadingly.

"Tell me what to do," I begged. "I don't think it's the right time to have kids. At least not just yet. I stand by that. But, I also acknowledge how she feels, and how all of you feel, and I am willing to move up the timeline to make you all feel secure, if that's going to keep everyone happy."

"Tell her that," Autumn said, pointing at the cabin where Daisy and the others were settling down for bed. "I spoke with Etherea earlier, as you know. She said that your Breeding Program idea is a good one, and she is eager to begin, but I asked for a few weeks at least."

"A few weeks? I'm surprised you bargained for so much time," I noted, almost shocked.

She smiled weakly. "I know you," she answered. "You needed more time to get used to the idea, even if it was partially your suggestion. Anyway, you have a few weeks. Maybe a bit more. We'll look to you for the final say on when it begins, but perhaps in that time you can consider adding those in your direct orbit to the breeding list after all?"

I smiled, pulling her in for a tight hug. She gasped, but melted easily and readily in my embrace like chocolate in my pocket on a summer's day. "Thank you," I said. "A few weeks. I'll figure something out."

"You don't have even one week to figure something out for Daisy," she pointed out, hugging me tightly. "You need to talk to her tonight."

I nodded, my chin bumping the top of her head. "Alright," I promised.

"What are you going to do?" she asked, curious.

"I'm going to do the best I can," I said, shrugging humbly.

"Then that'll be good enough." She kissed me on the cheek. 

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I turned to head inside, squeezing her hand once as I headed toward the door. "Are you coming back in with me?"

"I'll wait out here until I'm sure you're done," she smiled. "You don't need the room even more crowded when you try to have that private conversation."

I nodded, opening the sliding door to the cabin. I stumbled through it and found myself in our den, almost pitch black. The girls hadn't taken long to settle in. I walked over to the mat where Daisy lay and plopped down behind her, reaching my arm around her waist. I felt her flinch at my touch, and it broke my heart.

"Daisy," I said, whispering so that only she could hear me, my face an inch away from the back of her head. "Are you awake? I want to talk with you."

"If you need sex, just take it," she huffed quietly, reaching back and lifting up her cowprint skirt so that her butt was exposed.

"I want to talk," I said. "It's not about that."

"Oh, so my body isn't really doing it for you tonight," she said bitterly. "Understood."

"Don't be like that," I groaned, already tired. "You know I'm attracted to you, but I need to talk. Can you face me, please?"

She paused. Hesitantly, she turned herself around and positioned her face so that it was looking into mine. Her eyes narrowed in irritation.

"Fuck. It's so much harder to stay angry at you this way," she said, her eyes wavering in their stern approach as they took in the sight of my face.

"Why are you angry?" I asked, stroking her cheek. I felt her resist the urge to succumb to my touch.

"Who said I'm angry?"

"Literally you, just now."

She scoffed. "I have nothing to say to you."

"Then I'll talk. Daisy, you were the first girl that I marked, and I don't regret that. I know you're unhappy with me right now, and I think I know what it's about, but it puts me in a really tough position to see you so miserable. I need to make it right." I decided not to mention the frozen XP as I figured she'd either be stressed out to know that she was the cause of it, or worse, she might interpret that I only cared about her unhappiness for that reason, which wasn’t at all true. "Your happiness is truly important to me."

"Apparently that's a lie," she said, eyeing me coldly.

"It isn't," I said flatly. "But I am also thinking on a different scale, longer term. I am afraid of leaving behind unfathered children if I die on this quest."

"I'm afraid of you leaving behind childless widows," Daisy said, her eyes welling up. "Monster girl children grow up without fathers all the time, Bucky. It's far better than them not existing at all, don't you think? The potential of losing you is exactly why I need a child. I want to remember you. I want to have something to show for our love, no matter what happens."

She called me Bucky. I missed the sound of her voice saying 'honey' already, but I was going to have to earn that back. "I see your point," I said, sighing. "Part of me is just scared. It sounds like I'm going to have a lot of kids, and I want to be there for them all. Especially yours."

She fought back a smile at that but said nothing.

"Do you still love me, Daisy? Have I fucked up that badly?"

She looked offended. "I love you, Bucky, more than anything. But that doesn't mean I can't be mad at you. It doesn't mean you didn't hurt me."

I stroked her cheek again, and this time she leaned into my touch, her brow still furrowed cutely. "Let's make a compromise," I said.

"I'm listening," she replied, her eyes opening a bit more in hope.

"I'm going to wait for the breeding program to start for as long as I can," I said. "Autumn bought me a few weeks, I'm thinking maybe even longer than that. But when it does start, I'm making sure you girls are at the top of my list, not the girls of Tater Town."

"Do you mean it?" Daisy asked, her eyes glistening happily.

"Yes, I do."

She looked upward and chewed her lip. I could practically hear the wheels spinning in her pretty head. "So, let's put it another way. The breeding program has to start with your main girls. So, I have your word that if you get any other monster girls outside of this cabin pregnant, then that means we're next," she declared. "Agreed?"

I chuckled. "That isn't exactly how I phrased it, but sure. I don't see a problem with that," I said. I kissed her on the forehead, and she pressed herself into the kiss, letting it happen.

"Thank you, honey," she cooed. "I feel a little better."

I sighed in relief to hear her call me that again. "I'm glad."

The rest of the night she slept with her head on my chest, held tight in my arms. She snored softly and sweetly, but I found myself awake for another hour or two, dwelling on other matters.

General Darkmaw knew everything. She knew our names and the names of our friends. She knew about the farm and that it was called a sanctuary. And her designs for me were even more nebulous than I had originally considered. I was entirely clueless as to what she wanted from me--but I needed to spend less time thinking about that, and more time thinking about how to put a stop to her. 

My brain puzzled over it for far too long, as brains tend to do when there is something keeping them ridden with anxiety. Soon, I felt the sun creeping into our window, and I realized that I must have in fact fallen asleep somehow, as I didn't recall any transition from night to day. Furthermore there was a notice in my face, my HUD imposing itself in my field of view.

Attention! XP no longer frozen. Marked Girl Daisy is content.

I sighed in relief, and like a pervert I leaned forward and smelled her hair. The delightful scent of her feminine sweat filled my nostrils as she continued to drool onto my chest.

It was a small win, but it was a win nonetheless. In a way, the HUD's freezing of my XP wasn't a curse but a blessing. It was way more important that my girls stayed happy than it was for me to constantly be gaining XP. And I realized that that was the point. It was a well designed system that incentivized keeping the needs of my monster girls at the forefront of my mind, and letting me know when I fucked up. Not a perfect solution, but appreciated.

And then, as I planted a kiss on Daisy's head, another notice popped up.

New Feat Unlocked: Mood Reader. Do you wish to spend a Feat Point on it?

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