Chapter 174

The next morning Old Liberation

I wiggle a bit in my wife’s arms so I can get a better view of everyone else. Sapphire is snuggling me from the other side, so I have to be careful. She’s a light sleeper, unlike her sister. She doesn’t stir, so I think I managed. I see everyone’s naked sleeping bodies. Tina was the one who suggested it, and it didn’t take much convincing after everyone fought together again last night. I see Ruby with her arms splayed to the sides and Tasha sleeping with her head on her wife’s stomach. It’s pretty cute and I can see a few similar couplings, but most people are in large groups like mine.

After some of my daughters started marrying other people or moving to other camps, I’d forgotten how warm it can be. Well, not like heat warmth since I’m probably the hottest one here because of my race. My insides feel warm and cozy being surrounded by my happy sleeping babies. Most of them I don’t see very often, but they were all my first Player children, who I could really talk and connect with. Seeing other groups like Tina, Steph, Sue and their kids, all comfortably sleeping with calm faces, really reminds me of why I stayed.

It was different with my frogmen babies, so I left to explore and go find more fun. No amount of fun or excitement is worth the warmth I feel right now.

Last night the women we rescued were given a different building to sleep in. Mrs. Taylor said they’d be more comfortable sleeping alone, and we didn’t argue. Probably because the sleep snuggles was a part of the party that most of us were looking forward to. It would be different if other people were here too. We aren’t mean though, and stayed up really late last night making sure they all got fed and clothed. They didn’t have Credits for obvious reasons, so I paid for all of their uniforms. A few thousand Credits isn’t a lot for me.

Jessica offered to pay as well, but I didn’t let her since she has a lot of plans for expanding Barrier. I’m only adding stuff to Opal’s Home when I remember to check. Sara, my granddaughter that is in charge of all the new babies in Opal’s Home told me “You know, most people are calling this Citadel ‘The Nursery’ because there isn’t a lot being added, so most people grow up and move to other places.” She seemed happy about it, so I think it’s a good thing. She said a nursery is a place where babies are taken care of. I thought about it, and it makes sense now why the place hasn’t filled up completely.

I came over to guard everyone with my Lofty body since I wanted to be part of the cuddles as well, even if I’m not sleeping through it. Now that I know for sure that Grunt is fine in the dungeon when I’m not there, it was the only real option for a body to use to guard. My Bunny body is in Barrier watching over everyone at Jessica’s office with Citrine. My Eidolon bodies are with Amber escorting the frogmen to the lake. Lastly, my five normal bodies are cuddling with everyone at the other party, and they’re pregnant. It seems like my pregnancies with Morganite are going to be longer like a couple other races, so I hope it’s not too long. We could really use more Shifters for the dop problem.

It was a bit embarrassing walking my Lofty body over here. Most of the trees are still a lot taller than me, even being over twice my normal height. Hopefully one day I’ll have a body that’s taller than them again. Again? Strange, it’s another one of those feelings I get sometimes that I can’t explain. Oh well, the trees are taller and were being smug about it. Sure they can’t talk, but I can tell. Maybe I should talk to one of those Healer elves that says they can chat with the trees, and ask them to be nicer.

“Mmm mom, is it morning?” My blue haired daughter asks, bringing me out of my thoughts. I give her a kiss on the forehead and put a finger up to my lips. Citrine taught me it means to be quiet. Probably. It could have been Cindy, but it’s a human thing and they’re the humans I spend the most time with. Citrine isn’t Human right now, but she likes being called one so I think of her as one sometimes. Sapphire nods, knowing the signal. She then motions with her hands, acting like she’s eating something. I think she means she wants food, or to make food, so I nod. I guess other people will start waking up soon and might be hungry for breakfast.

Sapphire wiggles out of another elf’s arms and carefully stands up, leaving the room. I like snuggling, but I got a whole night of it and should help make food. Probably. My other bodies are cuddling over at Opal’s Home still anyway. I carefully get up and out of Amber’s arms, standing up and walking to the door. Looking back, I see my wife turn over and grab one of her sisters, getting comfortable again. Everyone is so cute when they’re sleeping. I see a couple other people carefully getting up, and head outside.

“Are you coming out to make breakfast for everyone? I can help.” Tina says joining us by the fire pit. “Yeah auntie Tina. I figured people might be hungry when they wake up, and didn’t see anyone else missing from the room.” My daughter responds, and my human friend nods. She tells us “When I was staying at the lake, we’d get attacked by zombies a lot so I became a light sleeper.” Tina told me before about the frequent attacks the frogmen got, and I thought it was weird since we only get them sometimes. Of course Barrier gets attacked all the time like the lake, and I wonder if it’s for similar reasons?

Sue joins us shortly after scratching her head and saying “I see I’m not the only one who has to work in the mornings. Opal, could you help me go get the pigs for breakfast?” I nod and tell her “I’ll help you out with my big body. I can carry more in one trip that way.” My Lofty body can probably carry a big pig with each arm, so it’s the right choice. If people are starting to get up, then I won’t be needed to guard anymore. As she meets up with me at the Pig Pen, she looks me up and down, but mostly up asking “So the Armories can make clothes that big even? Are there any issues?”

I shake my head and answer “I haven’t run into any. I even have a tiny body now and the clothes always fit perfectly.” She asks how big my little body is, and I try to convey it with my larger than normal hands. “Ohhhh so you probably look like a little doll. I have a few ideas if you’d be willing to help me with some stuff.” I think about it and nod. Basically, she’s been buying uniforms to cut up and use for other things like blankets and curtains. She thinks she can do more with a larger base fabric. Sue also wants my help getting little clothing sets to make for dolls for the human babies. Apparently it’s difficult to make good ones using scrap cloth.

I agree to help her out sometime within the next month. Both of us are a bit busy right now. She has to plant new crops and I need to deal with the doppel things. We end up making a Battle Boar for one of the pigs, and Sue offers to take it back to her farm. That reminds me that I haven’t told her about everything that happened with Amber and the other farm, so I start on the way back. It’s kind of fun being so large and carrying big things easily. My Strength is high enough that I can deal with the weight, but the large pigs sizes is what makes it difficult normally.

“Damn slavers, poor kids will probably need some farming education… I tell you what, have your angel daughter fly me down there in a few days. I can make some time to teach them proper ways to take care of a farm. My kids can take care of our place for a few days without me. I joke about them being lazy, but they work hard.” Sue says, and I can tell she likes her children and respects them. I respond “I didn’t even think about it, but I’m sure they’d like your help. The farm there is a bit different than yours, will that be okay?” She laughs and answers “I’ve worked with dairy cows, and I’m not trying to be rude, but they plan on producing more milk still right?”

I nod, and don’t think it’s rude. “Yeah, the bulls haven’t decided what they want to do, but will probably end up being Guards for the Cows. Oh, maybe you could teach them how to plant food and stuff so they don’t get bored!” The cow women decided they wanted to contribute to the family and will be making milk to ship to our other camps and towns. We didn’t really set any of it up yet though. I forgot to mention it to my daughters that are good with that stuff like Ruby and Jessica. Sue might be better for finding a way to get stuff from there to everyone, since she does it with all the food she makes.

“Oh, Opal’s Home has something called Truffles now from a new structure. I just added it recently so we don’t know what to do with them.” I tell her as we’re placing the pigs by the now lit fire. Sue responds “I’ve never had them myself, but they’re like a fancy mushroom right?” I shrug, since I don’t know. We’ve tried cooking them, but they ended up tasting pretty bland. Tina speaks up saying “You aren’t supposed to cook them Opal. Use something to shave off pieces and add to other stuff, kind of like a strong cheese.” I don’t know what cheese is, but I ask her “Could you show Sapphire and me later? You still have time before going back to the lake right?”

She seems to think before answering “I can show you, it shouldn’t take long anyway and I was thinking of coming back after a quick check in with Chair at the lake.” Her coming back soon is new to me, so I ask her about it and she responds “I really want to try visiting Barrier. It used to be Canton right?” I nod and she smiles saying “I went to Canton a few times before all this started and it will be interesting to see what it looks like now.” Maybe I should have Citrine tell me more stories about what humans did for fun before the System showed up.

As we start cooking the food, more people begin waking up and joining us. I notice a lack of women from the rescued people, so I check on them and see that they’re all still sleeping. I guess they haven’t had any good sleep in the orc pillories, and I can’t remember if we were the same. I leave them to sleep though, since they probably need it. We’ll make sure to have some food ready for when they do decide to wake up.

Everyone at the other party in Opal’s Home has already gotten up and eaten. Almost everyone left already, leaving my five bodies, Citrine and Morgan. Sapphire wanted to check on the pack and Cindy is technically here still, but in her room writing. Snag is doing the same. Morgan has promised to show Citrine and me how to make those heart-shaped pillows today. Maybe trying it with 5 bodies will help me learn faster.

Meanwhile, my bodies with Amber and the frogmen are still trudging through the forest towards the lake. The closer we get, the more zombies we run into and I start to realize just what Tina meant when she talked about the attacks. The frogmen are more cautious after losing one of their number last night, and we luckily haven’t lost anyone else yet. If I didn’t have skills, fighting with my tiny body would be really difficult. I just don’t have enough weight for my tiny fists to do much. I think it’s a similar problem to carrying big pigs with a normal body, but I couldn’t decide the best way to describe the connection so I gave up.

I tested throwing my little self, but ended up inside of the zombies a few times and decided it’s better to just use skills. The insides of zombies are gross.