(Wednesday, 4/11/1058)
(Expedition: D-1)
(Start of original timeline: D-16)
(Shira's PoV)
I sighed again. This morning was full of nothing but sighs. I sighed while getting out of bed. I sighed while getting ready. I sighed while Henryk and I brushed each other's hair. I sighed when we were about to exit the room.
"Should we talk before going out of the room?" Henry put a hand over my shoulder gently. There was no pressure, just the presence of that big hand. "I feel like I should've heard this by now"
I sighed.
"Should we?" I pulled his hand off my shoulder, holding onto it and squeezing it for comfort. Our tails... I looked at them, their constant entanglement has become the norm across the past week. Whenever we were close enough, we would subconsciously seek out each other's tail. It made something both warm and hot bubble inside my chest, spreading to the rest of my body.
We went back to the bed. I guided him there. I found it easier to sit where there were cushions, or Henry. Either a cushion or Henry would be comfortable. I still feel self-conscious in public settings to go beyond-... 'After yesterday's display, I think there isn't much to be hidden'
"You zoned out or something?" Henry moved closer, squeezing my hand back.
"Henryk Williams" My calling his fall name made him straighten up. "I wish to remain your only wife. That much is true" When he tried to say something, I shushed him by raising a finger against his lips. If we weren't talking seriously, he may have bit on that finger by now. Instead, he slowly nodded and grabbed the finger with his other hand, lowering it.
"But if you came to want other wives, prioritize me over all of them as requested yesterday" I said as I stuffed my face into his wide chest. "Promise me that you won't put any of them over me at any moment, not unless it was truly urgent or too important" My hands wrapped around him. I could feel myself searching for comfort.
Without saying a word, he pulled me into a hug and laid on his back. He kept me in his arms and started patting my head. When the tension in my body started unraveling, Henry started purring with no control whatsoever.
I opened my mouth to talk but was betrayed. Henry had already reached me and stole my lips at that point.
'When?' I asked myself as I melted into the kiss. I loved the tenderness he treats me with, knowing that I can take a rougher treatment and still be fine. He still treats me as a fragile flower, but in just the right amount that I feel treasured instead of belittled.
(3rd person PoV)
Henryk asked for Artemis's whereabouts. He believed that he was ready to talk it over with the goddess, a person he forcefully shifted his perception of to be that of a woman. He wanted to give her an honest answer.
"We meet again, Artemis" Henryk sat down opposite her after entering the guest room.
"We indeed do, - Henryk" Artemis said, having corrected herself before the first letter of the word "child" was even spoken. That left a clear pause that Henryk chose to not pay attention to. He filed it for later. Artemis, wanting to be polite, paid him her full, undivided attention. When she looked at his eyes, they were not looking at her specifically, but at her general direction.
"If you're looking at my eyes" Henryk paused to give her room to deny it. The deafening silence made it clear that she did. "yes, I'm blind"
'Hold on. Something isn't right here' Her brain racked itself to process what she was witnessing with her eyes. He entered the room and navigated into the seat seamlessly, unassisted. How did he do that while blind? She did not know. She also knew that she should not ask that question.
"No matter the wall a person puts up, pieces of their character seep through cracks in said wall. I know you're concerned about the reason behind my blindness" Henryk smiled knowingly. "I used my magic to exchange my eyesight for something far more important in the long run. Also, I could restore my eyes given enough time. Just like how I restored my sense of touch already"
His words implied that, whatever he did, it needed to cost him both his eyesight and touch to acquire it.
"Moving on" He dismissed it nonchalantly. With a gesture of his hand, he summoned the Arrow of Orion. "A certain little spirit told me that you fell in love for the first time in all of your eternity" He said while wiggling the arrow. While it was not the spirit who initially told him, he did ask it directly. The spirit radiated a positive feeling when asked that question but refused to put it to words.
"Ahh- Um-" Artemis's face burned. No matter what words of encouragement Aphrodite or Hestia gave her, she was not ready for this. She would have never been ready for this for an eternity to come.
"To think the day would come, when I would live to hear the unintelligible, flustered mutterings of a goddess" Henryk made fun of her, holding back a laugh.
"Tasteless jokes aside" He propped the arrow against the armrest of his armchair. "Have you thought about the logistics of being with someone in another goddess's familia?" His question made her go stiff. "Or about the repercussions of breaking your oath as a virgin goddess?" Her breath hitched. No mortal was supposed to be in the know about certain things if not told directly, and the oaths taken by the three virgin goddesses were among those. "Or maybe you do know, and also know about the real possibility of not getting as much affection or attention as Shira, who is currently my only wife?"
"I..." She breathed in and out. Lante prepared her for this kind of situation. She should just accept it and relish in what affection he might give her, if he did not mistreat her that is. What he was doing, she reasoned, was giving most of what he had emotionally to the person who came first. That was fine. "I will be fine if all we did for now was get to know each other" This tactic was also taught to her by the familia's resident romantic.
Henryk raised an eyebrow. While a little unpleasant, she gave him room to breath by not suggesting any relationships yet.
'To think this woman before me is a virgin goddess. Mom would've cackled had she known. Dad on the other hand... A proud pat on the back it is!' Henryk thought with particular fondness of what his parents' reactions might have been if they were alive to see this. He was cupping his chin in a way that his knuckles covered his wistful smile. 'But counting that I already have a wife, they might give me an earful' A hand subconsciously covered one of his ears.
After setting some soft boundaries that Artemis should avoid overstepping, Henryk got up to go to the area where he trained with Rein.
Reaching the spot, he did not question Artemis for why she followed him. When in doubt, blame either Loki or Hermes. He was sure that, in this case, Loki was to blame.
"Yo!" He was proven right when Loki's slurred voice grated against his ears.
'Her voice is particularly unpleasant today' He frowned.
"Come on!" She walked over to him with a devious smile. "You- Umphh!" She did not get to say more when he shoved her aside and continued walking unperturbed.
"You see!" Loki said, unbothered. Rather, she seemed to be as unperturbed as he was. "The more members join the expedition, the better!" At Loki's words, Henryk felt a knot form in the pits of his stomach. It didn't bode well when Loki was this happy all on her own. "Rein's gonna go with the expedition while Artemis handles your training in the following two weeks!" Loki overstretched a hand and snapped her fingers. She truly thought this was masterful of her. Well, if anything, it was unforeseen.
"What happens if I punched her? Would her arcanum send her away immediately?" Henryk asked for confirmation. He promptly ignored the underlying machinations of Loki's plan. Artemis would simply be his training partner, nothing else, for a bit over two weeks.
"No, it won't" Artemis answered. "I train close quarters with my girls all the time and I still stand in the lower realm" She was getting excited. She had to lean away from a sudden jab directed at her face.
"What was that for?" She asked. She was feeling flabbergasted.
"Simulate real combat, Artemis" Something about Henryk dropping the title of lady tickled her ears pleasantly. "Foes take advantage of every opening they think they could use"
Artemis immediately jumped away, taking a stance when her feet touched the ground.
As soon as the thud of her feet reached Henryk, he lunged at her with his elbow pointed at her while holding his hands together.
Artemis leaned back just enough to get out of the way. What she expected happened next. She noticed the tension in his forearm, noting how ready it was to be launched at her. As she raised her hands to intercept the springing forearm, she was kicked in the gut. The kick came out too quickly for her to react to it without using more speed than she was restricted to. She still moved in a way to soften the blow.
She skidded to a halt, pouncing back at him with a punch of her own. With the open palm of her other hand, she used her punch as a feint to deliver a heavy press into his abdomen.
Passing near enough to his forearm, Henryk left his newly instilled instincts trace the trajectory of the hit and take control of his body and react. He elbowed the approaching palm and pushed his own palm strike directed at Artemis's head.
Artemis ducked, dashing forward and holding his presented leg and flipping him off his feet.
She was not ready for him to land back in proper form to kick her in the gut again.
'That might've worked on any other average joe, but not on me' Henryk jumped back and took a proper stance. 'Good thing our stances are modified to deal with much shorter opponents'
Henryk jumped high, confusing Artemis. When he came down with an axe kick, she blocked it with her arms. He smirked and she got unpleasant shivers down her spine.
Henryk's leg bent in a way that let her foot drag her closer as his knee came for her face. When she tried to intercept it, she saw the knee disappear to the side instead of striking her. She had to duck and then roll away before Henryk's arms came down on her neck to choke her.
"Did I mention that Rein was training with me with more than a level 1's strength and speed?" Henryk's smirk widened. He was letting her limit herself far more than she should.
He could not react to the next punch. He doubled over as her felt her stand with her arms crossed and looking away.
Artemis wanted to pout but held it in. 'I should wait on letting everything that is me to come out'
"I'm... not sorry..." Henryk said whilst clutching his stomach. Artemis hit him with the full strength of a level 2.
Henryk took a little bit to recover, casting his spell just in case something ruptured inside of him. His spleen was. He mended it before resuming training.
The sight of Henryk casually mending an injury and treating it as the norm would haunt her for some days to come.
(Later)
Henryk was walking around the city with Shira. He took her out on a date for a change of pace.
They walked with their arms linked, their height difference forcing Shira to stand closer to his arm than a couple of similar height would be.
"You finished with your training?" She said, cheeks puffed against his arm.
Navigating the crowd with his new senses, Henryk had to consciously keep focus not to pinch her other cheek. He believed that was the most appropriate response.
A little section of her tail unfurled from around his and slapped his back.
Henryk's focus and resolve snapped and he pinched her cheek for a short moment.
"Sowwie!" Shira said while pulling his hand away from his face.
"So, the pastry shop I bough your strawberry cake from is just around the corner somewhere around here" Henryk said. Luckily, they walked in front of the shop just as the owner was putting out a fresh batch and saw them through the glass at the front of the shop.
"The giant over there! Wanna buy more strawberry cake?" She waved them over as she shouted energetically over the crowd's collective noise.
"That's the shop" Henryk got drawn in by her voice. He still remembered it.
"I didn't introduce myself because you seemed to be in a hurry back then, sir. My name is Emily. No family name" She said with a smile.
"Hello, Emily. No family name. My name's Henryk" Henryk's attempt at a joke left both women puzzled, their heads tilted while looking at each other in utter confusion.
"The world wasn't ready for that joke, sadly" Henryk lamented the existence of the cultural barrier. Dad jokes were among the best of the best, and this one was apparently flying over their heads.
While dad jokes existed, this particular one seemingly did not.
Emily shook her head clear of Henryk's joke. She went to the back and took out a cake she kept in the magic stone-powered cooler just for them. The cooler was designed to keep everything inside at just the perfect temperature for any given item.
(AN: Magic!)
What Emily brought from the back was a strawberry cake that was almost overstuffed with slices of strawberry and strawberry-flavored cream.
Shira was robbed of her mind, salivating as her arms and tail slowly let go of Henryk's. Henryk had a laugh at her spacing out over strawberry cake. Shira hugged the cake and carried it home, humming her favorite tones, a skip in her steps.