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Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 22 Andy answers the ladies most vulnerable concerns.. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. "So why me, huh?" Sarah asked her. "Why'd'ja choose me to play with you and Andy?" Piper bit her bottom lip, as if she was a tad nervous, before she shyly looked up at Sarah. "'Cause I'm kinda turned on with how you talk, Sarah, and I was kinda hoping you could talk to me that way while I was trying to make our man happy?" Despite all the massive confidence he'd seen Piper bearing almost the entire time he'd known her, she seemed almost nervous that Sarah would consider turning her down, as if her voiced desire was a step too far beyond the pale. Sarah licked her lips as her eyes widened. "I will totally fucking do that as long as you agree to just one fucking condition. If you don't, well, I can just go upstairs and leave you two to it." Andy was about to ask, but Piper beat him to it. "What condition is that?" "You can't, like, get fucking mad at me for anything I say, or anything I call you. 'Cause if I'm gonna fucking do this, then I'm gonna fucking do this, and I can't be all in my fucking head about you thinking I'm being mean or rude or shit. So you can't be all pissed off that I call you dirty things if you're fucking asking me to talk fucking dirty to you," Sarah giggled. "That cool, bitch?" "Not only do I promise not to get mad, Sares," Piper said to her. "I promise to like it." Sarah nodded. "Good, then why the fuck aren't you on top of that cock already?" Piper pursed her lips into a smile. "I was waiting for you to tell me I could, Andy." Sarah's hand swatted over and spanked Piper's ass with a loud smack. "He shouldn't have to tell you, you daft bitch. You wanted to fuck him, he totally didn't say 'not now' or some shit, so that means fucking time is on!" In the middle of Sarah's sentence, Piper reached down to grab his cock and get it aligned so she could slide right down onto it, straddling him to get his cock as deep inside of her as she could, her other hand resting on his shoulder. "That's a good girl," Sarah purred. "Don't you feel so much better without an empty cunt, you athletic slut you?" Piper nodded, leaning over to kiss Sarah again, although Sarah pushed her back after a few seconds, clearly intent on keeping her mouth free so she could talk to her. "I've had like a dozen partners, and not one of them made me feel like Andy does," Piper said, looking at Sarah's face. Sarah slapped Piper's ass again, this time even harder. "So why are you fucking telling me, bitch? Am I the one whose cock is jammed up your stupid snatch?" Piper moaned as Sarah's fingernails dragged against that reddening flesh, shaking her head, turning to look at Andy. "You feel so fucking good inside of me, Andy," she said to him. "Thank you for taking me in." On 'in,' she bounced down hard in his lap. "Thank you for saving my friend." On 'friend,' she did it again. "It's a shame you're on fucking birth control," Sarah teased, "because these are fucking breeding hips, and you'd look super fucking cute with a baby bump, but I guess you need to go and win your gold medal before we can talk about getting you bred like a proper bitch." Piper's tongue swiped out over her own lips, as she nodded. "I'll do it eventually," she said eagerly. "I'll happily bear your child, Andy, but I gotta do the Olympics first, to prove to myself that I can really do it." "You don't  " Andy started but Piper kissed him once more, jamming her tongue into his mouth sloppily, making sure to silence him. "Hmm, I think she likes the idea of you fucking breeding her, Andy," Sarah said with a laugh. "The idea of you pumping her fucking cunt so full of fuck cream that it's practically oozing out of her, so messy and sloppy, like a good little whore. You like that image don't you, Pipes?" The athletic brunette nodded quickly. "I do I do I fucking do so fucking much," she panted, as Sarah reached one of her hands in to pinch one of Piper's tan nipples firmly, giving it a twist, which made the girl groan huskily. "And yet, you're still fucking holding back," Sarah scolded. "You gotta fucking give in like a good girl, otherwise you won't get what you fucking what, what I know you think you fucking deserve, but you don't deserve it until you've ditched all those fucking fears and embraced who the fuck you are from now on." She gave Piper's ass another hard smack before sliding her hand around the athlete's waist, moving her thumb down to rub against Piper's clit, as Andy felt her start to tighten up even more around his shaft. "But I bet, I just fucking bet, that if you just let it out, let it all fucking out, you'd feel fucking better, and you'd get what a good bitch deserves." "Fuck, Sarah, you're so fucking good with those fingers," Piper whimpered. "Damn fucking straight I am," Sarah said. "But I'm gonna stop if you don't cut loose." "I'm, I'm fucking scared," Piper whispered quietly. "We all were, Pipes, but you learn to fucking let go and trust, not just in Andy but in the family, in all the fucking rest of us, that we've got your fucking back, that we're gonna fucking take care of you, so either you're fucking in or you're out, what's it gonna be, bitch?" "I'm in,” she cried, her voice shredded and frantic, clearly about to have an immense orgasm. "I'm in I'm in I'm so fucking in,” "Not fucking yet you aren't," Sarah said harshly. "Gotta let that last fucking guard down, gotta let that last fucking truth out. You'll feel better, bitch, but you gotta fucking say it,” "Andy Rook, I fucking love you!" Piper shouted before she kissed him hard, and she started to have a monstrous orgasm, her whole body violently trembling, and the spasms of her cunt around his cock forced his own release, as he started spewing arcing loads of steaming jism inside of her, the two of them locked together on top and bottom, the intensity of the orgasm cratering them out. As soon as it had passed, Piper buried her face into Andy's neck, laughing a little bit even as he could feel her eyes watering, tears of joy slipping from her face. "I thought I'd never say that to another person as long as I fucking lived," she whispered against his skin, "but I do, I fucking love you, Andy Rook." "And I love you too, Piper Brown," he said, stroking her hair with one hand, his other intertwined with Sarah's. They stayed like that for a minute or so before Piper started to giggle, turning to look over at Sarah. "I don't know how you do it," she said to the tall redhead, "sitting there watching and not demanding to get involved." "Oh I'm happy enough to wait my fucking turn," Sarah giggled. "But pretty quick Imma need you to get off of him so I can fucking get off." Piper's giggle burst from her as she nodded then leaned over to kiss Sarah. "Thank you for that," she told her. "I hate having to ask for help." "That's what family's for," Sarah answered. "But get a little, give a little, so Imma also need you to help me out here." The brunette climbed from his lap, and his cock was absolutely soaked with their juices, and while he was starting to soften, that feral look in Sarah's eyes told him he wasn't done yet, and made him begin to stiffen up again. "Whatever you need, Sares," Piper said, "I got you, boo." "I'll just need a helping hand," Sarah said, getting up off the couch. Andy tried to get up as well, but Sarah shoved him back down once more. "Who told you you could fucking get up?" she giggled. "I need you to stay there and let me run the fucking show this time, 'cause I'm a little fucking nervous, and I want to have the fucking control to do this how I think fucking feels right. I hope that's fucking okay with you, because if it isn't, well, I don't fucking care, now, do I?" Andy wasn't entirely sure what Sarah had in mind, as she turned away from him and moved to straddle his legs, but very quickly, it dawned on him what she was doing. "I can't fucking believe Emily did this shit before I did," Sarah said, reaching one hand back to grab his cock. Her position had her legs spread wide, as she moved to rub the tip of his cock along her cunt before dragging it downward, nestling it against the rosebud of her asshole. "Had to be fucking first to something, I guess." He could feel the tall woman getting his cock aligned right and then slowly started sitting down on it, his shaft pulsing in excitement as he felt her body, tight and a little unprepared, try and resist his cock's entrance before she finally seemed to lose patience with her own hole, as she pushed down to get the head of his cock inside of her ass. Her head leaned back, her eyes looking up at the ceiling, as a guttural, almost paleolithic, moan of pain and pleasure boiled out of her. "Fuck that's fucking big that's big holy fucking shit balls that's a big fat fucking cock and it's fucking going up my fucking ass oh my fucking God what the fuck am I doing?" "We can stop if  "   Sarah looked back over her shoulder at Andy with a wildness in her eyes that he'd never seen before, a deranged grin on her face. "Stop? Are you out of your fucking mind? This is the greatest fucking feeling I've ever fucking felt in my fucking life! Why the fuck would I want you to fucking stop?! I want fucking all of it!" she said to him as she pushed herself down onto his cock until he was buried as deeply as he could get inside of her backdoor, the tall girl's skin covered with a layer of goosebumps that made the fine red hairs of her arms stand on end, her body vibrating in orgasm as she did. "Jesus Fucking Christ, I feel like such an utter fucking whore and I fucking love it! You've got that big fucking cock jammed right up my fucking virgin asshole and it made me fucking cum just going the fuck in, so now you gotta fuck me or I gotta fuck you but somebody's gotta fuck somebody right the fuck now!" Piper had sort of been standing off to the side a little bit, and one of Sarah's hands shot up and grabbed one of the brunette's wrists, yanking her close. "Er, what, what am I supposed to be doing here, Sarah?" "You can fucking rub or you can fucking lick, but you gotta fucking work that fucking clit of mine while he's fucking my ass, so get fucking to it!" she barked, and the commanding tone to her voice made it clear the actress was not asking for input on the matter. The tanned athlete took one of her hands timidly down to rub against Sarah's cunt before moving to stroke her clit, as Sarah began to bounce up and down in his lap, one hand on the arm of the couch, the other on Andy's hip. In this position, Sarah had completely control of the tempo and the force with which she slid her ass down onto his cock, something he'd expected her to use to keep it slow and tender, but instead, Sarah was practically trying to break the couch, slamming her ass down into his lap as hard as she cold each time, while Piper was caressing her clit. "Fuck that's so fucking good oh my god why didn't I ever get fucked in the ass before I love this so fucking much but it's all your ass, Andy, Daddy, it's only ever your fucking ass, you're the only one to ever fuck me this way, and I fucking love that and I keep God! I keep fucking cumming over and over again, so please Daddy, please please please cum in my fucking virgin ass and let me fucking feel it, let me feel you own the last fucking bit of me no man's ever had, because I don't need any other fucking man but you because I fucking love the ever loving shit out of you you big cocked motherfucker you hear me I fucking love you Andy so fucking cum, cum right the fuck up my ass! Fuck! Fuck! Muph!" She leaned her head back at the end onto his shoulder, craning her neck so that she could jam her lips against his, as he felt Piper's other hand cradling his balls, squeezing them gently, and the sensations were all too much, as his body let loose another orgasm, flooding Sarah's rectum with a gusher of an orgasm as their tongues clung to each other before they both slumped back, his back against the couch, her back against his chest, both of them nearly too exhausted to move. Huginn, who had remained completely undisturbed by all of this, finally had had enough, and the black cat got up and hopped down the couch, moving to a different unoccupied couch, hopping back up, curling into a ball and settling down once more, a perturbed look on his face. Then Sarah began to feverishly giggle, waves of curved red hair over her face before she pushed them out. "Em was fucking right. That was totally fucking amazeballs. Thanks Pipes." Piper winked a little bit as she pushed a fingertip inside of Sarah's cunt, causing the actress to gasp a little bit in surprise before Piper slid the finger back out, lifting it up to her lips, licking it in front of the two of them. "We're definitely gonna need a shower before we get into bed," she said, and they all laughed at that. Chapter 38 In a rather unusual turn of events, Andy woke the next morning on November 18th to an empty bed. It wasn't uncommon for him to awake with only a couple of the girls still in bed asleep with him, but a totally empty bed was almost an unheard of experience at this point. He glanced at his Apple Watch and saw that it was around 10:30, which meant he'd definitely slept in a bit. Like most writers, Andy was generally a nocturnal creature, staying up late and getting up late, which had put his schedule at odds with some members of the family, but they'd mostly learned to make it work. He slipped on some boxers, pulled on his jeans and tugged on a t shirt,  this particular one a gift from some fantasy convention he'd been a guest speaker at,  and headed over to the balcony, stepping out onto it with a smirk. Down at the pool, most of the girls were nearly finishing their morning work out, being led by Sheridan, a sea of sports bras and yoga pants, doing the last part of their high intensity section of the workout, and Andy could vaguely hear Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" being played from a portable speaker near them. (Andy still wasn't sure which bothered him more, the fact that they were listening to Vanilla Ice or the fact that Vanilla Ice opened that song with "Stop! Collaborate and listen!" and yet there were no signs of any collaboration going on. In fact, it didn't seem like Ice understood what the word collaborate meant. The writer in him just couldn't bear it.) Lauren and Taylor weren't there as he expected they'd gone in to work today, especially since it was Taylor's first day of working in months. He hoped that she fit in well with the 49ers organization, but at this point, he wasn't entirely even sure who was working there. Niko also wasn't working out as he figured she'd gone to work at the base today. He wasn't sure what her schedule was like these days so he trusted her to let him know when she was coming and going and when it would be important for him to know. She was more than capable enough to manage her own schedule. It was nice to spot that both Fiona and Moira were in the group, between Ash and Sarah in the front row of three, and both seemed to be in good spirits. Moira's unruly mass of red curls had been braided into a tightly woven tail that whipped behind her as she danced to the beat of the music, occasionally slapping against either Fi or Sarah, both of whom laughed wildly when it did. It made Moira look a little like a redheaded version of the original polygon model of Tomb Raider, now that he thought about it. The weather was still mostly overcast, and it looked like rain might even be on the schedule for later in the day, something he didn't mind one bit. California had mostly been in a drought for years, and any rain the state could get was seen as a blessing, particularly since they now lived in more densely wooded areas. The last thing Andy wanted was a wild fire to take his new home. He leaned against the railing, just enjoying looking over both the estate and his family before Sheridan finally spotted him up on the higher floor balcony as the song came to an end. She pointed to Andy to draw the girls' attention to him, as all of them turned to look at him. The words were out of his mouth before he even knew he was saying them. "Good morning, angels," he shouted to them. "Good morning Andy!" they shot back in matching cadence. "You know, you really ought to join us some mornings, Andrew," Emily teased politely. "Hmm. I'd be worried about making a fool of myself." "I can make sure we don't overwhelm you on your first work out, dude," Sheridan said to him with a wink and a grin. "Let's give it a go tomorrow, 'kay?" Andy groaned a little bit. "God help me. Okay, I'll give it a try, but no making fun of me!" All the girls made various catty comments and gestures as he rolled his eyes and headed back into the house. He had a little bit before any of them were back inside anyway, even if they were finished with their workout. While the pool house was being converted into Tala's workshop, it still had a large group shower room, and the girls tended to go and cool down in there before splitting off afterwards. A few of them would go and shower in their own individual bathrooms, but the majority of them enjoyed the communal experience, as it let them all continue to get to know each other. Andy headed down to the kitchen and found that Jenny had made him a mini breakfast burrito that was waiting with a glass of pineapple juice on the little kitchen island, Katie also sort of milling around the room as both women bowed to him when he entered. He'd tried to get them to stop doing that, but he'd learned that attempting to discourage his staff of anything generally only resulted in them doing it even more than they were originally, so he was trying a new tactic now,  let them burn themselves out on it and hope they'd stop on their own. "Enjoy your breakfast, sir!" Jenny said, moving around the counter before dropping down onto her knees. "I know I'll enjoy mine!" Her fingertips unbuttoned Andy's jeans and he was thankful he hadn't put on a belt this morning, as Jenny began to lick and suck on his cock, slowly running her tongue along it while her wife watched on, although there was an unusual expression on Katie's face, something Andy wasn't quite sure of. "What's on your mind, Katie?" he said, feeling Jenny's lips slowly push down around his length. They had told him before that they wanted to make getting their needed dose as low impact for him as possible, and had stressed that they enjoyed this sort of casual acquisition. "You look like you're worried about something." The Hispanic girl sighed and nodded. "I, I wanted to discuss something with you, sir, but I wasn't sure quite how to bring it up. Shit, I'm nervous even thinking about it now." Andy nodded, chewing a mouthful of his food before taking a sip from the glass to wash it down. "Look, you don't have to tell me anything, Katie, but if something's on your mind, you'll probably feel better if you just get it out of your head. No matter how much worse you think it'll be if you say it, letting it rattle around your brain like a cage full of bees is only going to be worse." "I suppose that's fair, sir," Katie said, chewing on her finger nervously. "It's just, this isn't the sort of thing I thought I'd ever say, sir, and it makes me feel strange. I think it's probably just part of whatever the treatment's doing to me, but it's, it feels like it's both a part of me and not a part of me, you know? Like some part of me I didn't know about but was lingering in the dark shadows of my mind the whole time?" Andy frowned a little. "No, I can't say I do know what you're talking about." Jenny's mouth popped off his cock as she made an exasperated noise from his waistline. "Uuuugh! Just tell him already!" she said, frustration in her voice, before she pushed her lips back down around his cock once more. "Sir, I think, I think I'd like for you to fuck me, maybe just the once, maybe just to see if maybe I might like it," Katie said, her voice sounded terrified that he would reject her or yell at her. "I mean, I don't have a problem with if both of you don't, but you certainly needn't do it on my behalf, Katie," Andy told her, as Jenny started to suck harder, as if to pull the resistance out of him. "You made it very clear to me when I arrived that you were a lesbian, though, and I wouldn't dream of asking you to change that." Katie threw her hands up, her eyes widening a little bit, almost in shock at herself. "That's just it! I am! I know I am! I've always thought girls were the only sexy things in the world! The idea of being with dudes just made me uneasy! I imagine I felt about guys the same way you feel about guys,  I don't want to be with that!" "Then why  " "I don't know, alright?! I don't fucking get it! Thinking about any other man just makes my stomach all queasy and nauseous, but the last few weeks, when I've been thinking about what it looks like when I see you fucking Jenny, I don't feel like I do when I think about any other man, and I don't understand what's going on!" The woman looked like she was about to cry, and Andy reached over and grabbed her hand, pulling her over towards him, his fingertips curling around hers. "I am never going to make you do anything you don't want to do, Katie," he said sternly. "But they did tell us that the serum was going to have some side effects, and that it was likely going to make some physiological changes to our bodies, some foreseen and some unforeseen." Jenny had eased off the speed of the blowjob a bit, but hadn't stopped entirely. "If you want to try actual sex with me, I'm not opposed to that, but  " "But you don't want me to think I'm doing it on your account. I'm not, sir, I assure you! I don't even know where these thoughts are coming from, but I told Jenny about a week ago, I had a sex dream with you in it, and we were fucking, and in the dream, it seemed like I liked it quite a lot," Katie sighed. "I know that doesn't necessarily mean anything,” "They say sex dreams generally aren't about sex." "But, but when you were taking Whitney the other day? I found myself getting wet, thinking about what it would be like, what it would be like to be her, to be getting fucked by you, and, and I think I want to try that at some point, not the tying up or collaring or anything but, but I think I'd like for you to fuck me once, just to see, just to see if I really do feel differently about you than I do all the other men in the world,” "And you're okay with this, Jenny?" he said, reaching down to stroke Jenny's hair back. Jenny nodded, popping her lips off his cock with a loud smack. "I still want both of us to be there any time you dose either of us, sir, but if this is a thing she wants to try, well, it would be unfairly judgmental of me to fuck you myself and not allow her to do so as well. 'Sides, she told me about these feelings long before she told you, and that's all that really matters." She smiled at him kindly, then lowered her lips back down around his shaft once more, her eyes still looking up at when she did. "Then it's fine with me, Katie," he said, looking back at the Hispanic woman, one of her hands being held by him, the other being held by Jenny from below. "Thank you, sir," Katie said. "For being willing to do that with me, and for not judging me because of it." "Katie, look. If you want to try it, that's fine. If you try it and you don't like it, that's fine. If you try and do like it and want it more regularly, that's fine. If you change your mind right before we're about to do it, that's fine. Whatever you want here, it's fine. I just want you to be satisfied with whatever decision you made, and I want it made because it's what you want, and not what you think I want, okay? I am surrounded by beautiful women, and I'm just trying to do everything I can to do right by all of you. So whatever you want, you just need to tell me." She nodded, before looking down with a smile. "You were taking your time because I was talking to him, weren't you, Jen?" The curvy girl between his legs giggled a little and nodded, then started thrusting her face into his lap faster and more intently, and Andy could feel that release building up inside of him, even as he finished the last bite of breakfast. He was more than a little taken back when Katie leaned in and whispered into his ear, "My wife's such a good little cocksucker, isn't she? Give us our breakfast, Master, that fucking load of hot cum right into her fucking mouth." The unexpected words made his cock throb and finally he pumped a few squirts of his cum into Jenny's mouth, as she shuddered at his feet. The woman kept her lips sealed just past the head of his cock while her fingers jerked along the rest of his length, making sure to milk out the last of it before she pulled her head back, keeping her lips pursed together before standing up and immediately kissing Katie, swapping that cum between them, Katie's form trembling as she leaned against Jenny, the Latina being held up by her wife for just a moment until the orgasm passed. Both women pulled from the kiss, licking each others lips for just a moment before turning to look over at Andy, almost as if they were ready for a second course right now. Katie winked at him. "You know, I know it's all chemical, but dios mio if that orgasm from tasting your cum doesn't leave one sweet ass high,” Jenny moved to tuck his cock back into his pants, zipping them back up and buttoning them, as she glanced over at Katie. "Don't forget to update the Needs Board, hun," she told her wife, who nodded in response. "Got it, babe. Anyway, sir, let me think about it, but next time, I think I'd like you to fuck Jenny with me there, and then fuck me with Jenny there, so I have some time to let it settle in my brain that I'm going to go through with it," Katie said to him. "You know, actually fucking a dude." "Whatever you want, Katie." "Thank you, sir. Oh, don't forget, you have a phone meeting at 2 with that director candidate, Erica Xiao." He nodded. "Good. Yes. Thank you for reminding me. I might have forgotten if you hadn't." Jenny snickered a little. "Em would've had your balls if you had." "She's got them anyway," Katie shot back. Andy arched an eyebrow at them. "Don't you two start." He drank the last of his pineapple juice then pushed the plate forward. "Thanks Jenny, for everything. I'm going to head to my office. Maybe send down lunch a little after one." "Yes sir. Also, don't forget that Miss Steele will be here sometime today." "Oh right," Andy said, chuckling. "Sometimes everything gets so busy, I can barely remember my own name, much less who's coming and going. Katie, can you set up a large portion of the back yard to fence off, so that Maya's dogs will have a place to run and play without us worrying about them getting into the pool if she wants to leave them outside?" "Miss Steele's got dogs?" Katie said, groaning. "Great. Now I get to start having to watch the backyard for landmines." "That's why I was thinking if we gave them their own area that's fenced off, at least we'd have it clearly marked that it's the part of the yard with occasional hazards, although Sarah insisted that Maya is known to always clean up after her dogs. Maybe put a bin outside for her to toss them all?" Katie nodded. "I can spend the day prepping the yard so we're not all worried about stepping in dog shit when we're walking in the grass." "Good on you." "Did Miss Washington said what kinds of dogs they were, sir?" Jenny asked. "Pomeranians, I think," Andy said. "Those aren't dogs, those are animated dustmops," Katie said with an amused snort. "And here I was worried they would be Saint Bernards or Rottweilers." As he headed down to his office, he was starting to run through the checklist of things he needed to do today in his head. He definitely wanted to talk to Moira now that she was up, but he figured he would let her come to him in her own time, as it had been so long since they'd really talked to one another. He would need to pair with Maya when she arrived, and he also needed to check on Lexi and see how she was doing. As much as he wanted to head over to Xander's and see his friend's new house and meet all the rest of his partners, Xander had asked him to wait until the weekend, so he would have more of a chance to get settled, both into the house and into the household. He was almost at the door of his office when his iPhone began to ring, and he fished it out of his pocket, surprised to see Phil The Younger a.k.a. Lesser Phil a.k.a. Phil Pak (not Phil Marcos), on the screen, as he answered it. "Heya man, long time no talk!" Andy said to him. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" "Nothing good I'm afraid," Lesser Phil sighed. "I'm not going to be able to make poker night on Friday. In fact, I may not be able to make poker night for a while, I'm afraid." "That sucks man. What's going on?" "Well, me and the family were relocated, so we're quite a bit further from you now, and the place where we're at is very strict on quarantine procedures, so if we came and saw you and the rest of the gang for poker, we'd have to quarantine for a week before we would be allowed back in to our house, so while we'll try and do it a couple of times a year, for the foreseeable future, it's probably off the table." "Where's they move you to that's got such strict guidelines?" "They're calling the place Valhalla Shores. They decided that they didn't want to put all their eggs in one basket and have New Eden be the only place for Level Fives in the Bay area, so they built a new one over closer to the coast. We're where Pacifica used to be, basically, although I think they tore almost all the old city down and put up this place, like a giant gated mansion community. It's a little snobby for my liking, personally, but you know how Brandy has always been in terms of keeping up with Joneses, so when the NSA offered to move us over to here, she made me jump on it immediately. It's mostly just spooks and techbros over here," he sighed. "You'd fucking hate it. I know I do, but it keeps peace in my household, and that's about all I can ask." "Wait, techbros and spies crossbreeding? That sounds like a horrible idea, like, just the worst. On the other hand, if your quarantine protocols are that strict, it might mean I never have to deal with techbros again, and that might make the whole thing absolutely worth while. Hey, can I recommend a couple of cockish investors over here in New Eden to get transferred over there?" Phil the Younger laughed. "You fuckin' wish, dude. Whole place is fucking creepy anyway. Brandy says some of the women are kind of Stepford ish, and she feels like they're definitely an in crowd and an out crowd and she has zero interest in joining the in crowd. They keep trying to get her to join one of their hot yoga classes, but she said they'd have to break her legs to get her to do that shit. I hope she was being figurative, but you know Brandy." "That I do. Well, we'll miss seeing you guys, but I get it. You're doing what you have to do to keep your family safe and sound. Keep us posted, but I appreciate you calling to tell me personally." "Copy that, man," he said. "See you on the other side." After Lesser Phil had hung up, Andy wondered how many actual community hubs had formed in the Bay area since the cultural rebuilding had started. He also wondered how hard it would be for him or any members of his family to leave New Eden, even for a short while. He'd been craving an animal style In N Out burger for nearly a year now, and while he could ask Jenny to make something equivalent, there was nothing quite like having the real deal. He was certain Niko would know what the current entrance/exit policy for New Eden was, and he resolved to ask her when he saw her. It couldn't be that strict, he realized, because Lauren had been coming and going to the training camp for over a week now. Maybe he could just get in the Tesla and drive down to an In N Out, assuming he could find one that was open. When he walked into his office, he saw that his two cats, Muninn and Huginn, were curled together in a bundle in his writing chair, the two forming a sort of gray black yin yang symbol. Also, as promised, atop of his desk was a brand new laptop, a silver MacBook, with a Post It note on top of it. It was from Whitney (he could recognize her meticulous handwriting) and said "Try it. If you hate it, we'll get something different. “w" As much as he wanted to move the two cats so he could sit down in the chair where he got his best work done, he decided it was okay to sit at the desk for a while, even though it felt way more formal, although he realized he wasn't doing much creative today, mostly just the assorted busywork that sprung up around the actual creative process. The new laptop was set up with access to his emails and had all of his writing transferred onto it, so he could consult back to other things as he started answering questions from his agent and his editor, losing an hour or so before there was a knock at the door. "Come on in," he said. The door opened and Moira and Fiona slipped in together, closing the door behind them. All of their possessions clearly hadn't arrived from cross country yet, because he noticed each of them was wearing one of his t shirts, the fabric hanging big and loose over them like an overcoat. Moira had on one of his Biffy Clyro shirts, which he found fitting, whereas Fiona had clearly dived way back into the depths of his closet and was wearing a Gin Blossoms t shirt. "It's good ta see ya again, Andrew," Moira said shyly, smiling across the room at him. "I've missed ye something fierce." "How are you feeling, Moira? I knew the serum can react strangely to people who've had complicated medical history, and I imagine dengue fever isn't the only strange bug you've picked up over your wild and crazy life." "I cannae tell ye how great I feel, Andrew," she said, starting to move across the room to him. "An' how thankful I am ye trusted Fi enough t' let her bring me in wit' her. Yer, nae mad, are ye?" He shook his head. "Look, Moira. We had a wonderful time together, but that was decades ago. But I've always trusted Fi, and if you and her were together before now, there's no reason any of that should change." "Of course it'll have t' change, ye big dummy," she giggled. "Ye know she's always loved ye, ye daft shite? E'en when I came inta her life, that has nae changed." "Except she's changed and I've changed, so maybe it has changed too." "You haven't changed that much, Andy," Fi said, "and neither have I. You still trusted me enough to offer me a place in your family, even when I had a condition I wouldn't tell you about." "Were ye surprised when ye saw me?" Moira asked him. "Well, I'd figured it out before I saw you. I figured it out as soon as I heard your voice, and that let me put two and two together. But I was very surprised when I heard your voice, yeah." "Surprised inna good way, I kin hope?" "Naturally, although I was hoping you were going to be happy with me, even with the weight I've put on and the hair I've lost," he chuckled. "I think ye look sexy, ya galoot," Moira twittered. "Hold me hands, Fi. It's all I kin do t' keep from havin' a crack at him right now." Fiona wrapped her arms around Moira's waist, shaking her head. "He's not going anywhere, Moira," she said with a kind ease. "Aye, an' neither are we, an' I don' wannae be too far behind the other gare ruls, an' two of 'em are already in th' lead." "One day at a time, love. One day at a time." "You two want to sit and have a chat?" Andy said. On the other side of his desk were two chairs, so he could entertain meetings in here if he needed, although the chairs held the cats more often than they held people. "Oh aye, let's have a chinwaggle," Moira said, slipping from Fiona's arms, moving over towards Andy's desk, but instead of moving to sit in one of the chairs across the desk, she moved to slide herself up and into his lap, her legs dangling over one of the arms of the chair. Fi then moved across the room, and moved his laptop to one side, so she could scoot her ass up and onto his desk directly in front of him, making sure not to knock anything off. "So tell m  " he started to say before Moira leaned in and kissed him hard, her body light in his lap, but the strength with which she pulled his lips onto her own was more than a bit forceful. "I bloody love ye, Andy," Moira said to him. "And Jaysis, do you smell fookin' amazin'." Andy grinned a bit, arching an eyebrow. "Sounds like you may have picked up a little bit of Piper's superpower along the way. I wonder if that's a side effect of the dengue fever antibodies you have in your system." "I cannae tell ye where it comes from, but Jaysis, you smell better'n any meal I've ever eaten in me life. I want ta breathe ye all day long,” She buried her face against the nape of his neck, as he looked to Fiona for sympathy, but saw only mirth on her face. "So, Moira, tell me what you've been up to since we last saw each other." "School," she said, pronouncing the word like 'skoo will,' "then more school, then residency, then Doctors Without Borders, at least until I ran in ta Fi again in DC. It's no tha' excitin'." "Doctors Without Borders, tending to patients in the middle of warzones? That's the absolute definition of exciting to me." "Then you're a fool," she giggled. "I mean, yeh, I was shot at now an' again, but that's a part o' life anyway, isn't it? I was tendin' to kids who needed doctors, an' while I loved tha' work, when I shacked up with Fi again, she wanted me to be safer, wha'ever th' hell tha' means." "It means you're saving lives without people trying to take yours, Mo," Fiona scolded, kicking the Scottish lass with the tip of her leather boot. "She's still undecided whether she wants to take up private practice here in New Eden, or if she wants to go and work in the hospital they're finishing up alongside the base." "In a few years, anyway," Moira said. "After I've given ye a son." Andy's head leaned back a little bit. "Little early to be thinking about stuff like that, isn't it, Moira?" "Like hell, Andy," Moira said, pulling her face back from his neck so she could look him in the eyes again. "You," she said, tapping his chest with a fingertip, "need children. I," she continued, tapping her own, "want tae have one or two before I get back to the medical life. So all we're doin' is just wastin' fookin' time until you get me ripe." "You still don't need to rush right into it, Moira," Andy said, stroking his fingertips against the back of her neck. "Take some time to get settled and comfortable here in the household before you go rushing straight towards the respawning finish line." "Spoken like a laddie who doesnae realize our clocks 'r tickin'," she grumbled. "But, aye, I'll do me best nae to rush it too much. And all the other gare ruls have bin sooo kind tae us. I didnae know what t' expect, 'specially wit' all th' famous faces y'got around these parts." "They're just people, like anyone else," Andy replied. "Think how I feel, trying not to let anyone down." "Ach, yer daft, laddie," Moira said, tickling him a flash. "Yer a good man, an' tha's all tha' matters." "Emily told us all about her experiences this morning, what with the poker game and how it felt being traded like cattle. She was horrified by what horrible things the few remaining men in power are up to, and Niko explained how she basically had to force you to get into the game to rescue Asha and her mother from Covington," Fiona said. "I'm sure that must've been quite taxing." "You had to risk people to win people, and while I certainly didn't want my ex as part of my life, I didn't want to consign her to a life with someone horrible either," he sighed. "I feel very fortunate that it all worked out in my favor, but it was such a gigantic risk." Fiona tugged his chair a little closer to the desk with her leather boot, shrugging. "Life's one colossal risk, Andy. You've always known that." "You think your mother's going to be okay with you being part of a polypod, Moira? I only met her the once, but she struck me as an especially stern Catholic." "When th' news comes out, she'll come 'round, 'specially since th' Pope's apparently okay wit' it, or so we were told a' th' base," Moira shrugged. "Besides, it saves me th' trouble from havin' t' tell 'er I'm shacked up wit' Fi here. She's still nae comfortable wit' 'th' gays,'" she said, making air quotes with her fingers. "Didnae know how t' break it t' her tha' her daughter's as queer as a two dollar bill." "I hope I'm not coming between you two," Andy said. "Nah," Fiona laughed. "We're both bi, and both need some cock in our life. Yours'll do. It was generally my favorite." "An' mine, although I didnae try tha' many." "Tell him how many, Mo." "I don' wanna." "C'mon." "Fi,” "Mo,” Moira sighed. "Fine, wha'ever. I've only had three cocks, Andy, an' yours was right smack dab in th' middle. Me first was a boy in school, and me most recent was another doctor jus' before I hooked up with Fi again. I generally prefer gare ruls to lads, but ye always felt, felt like home t' me." "She was worried that her piercings were going to put you off her," Fi said. "Between the nose stud and the pierced nipples, she told Niko that she felt too different than anyone else it sounded like you had in the family." "I'll admit, I'm not generally a big fan of excessive piercings, but the whole look works on you, Moira. I mean, if you'd had one of those septum piercings like a bull ring, I might have had some reservations, but who am I to tell someone what they do to their body?" Fiona giggled slightly. "I jokingly suggested she get one of her eyebrows pierced once and she slugged me hard enough that she almost dislocated my shoulder." "Do I look like I wanna join bloody Evanescence?" Moira growled. "Did you two decide if you want a bedroom to yourselves, or one each?" Moira shook her head. "We're wit' you, laddie, no matter where y' lay yer head down." "Although I was thinking I might turn one of them into an office for me to work, if that's okay," Fiona said. "Sort of like your little office here." "Yeah, of course," Andy said. "Whatever you want. At some point, all the rooms will be spoken for, but until they are, they're fair game for whoever wants them." "At some point, some of them are going to have to be nurseries," Fiona stressed. "Especially since you've already got two pregnant ladies in the house. How far along are they?" "A couple of months," Andy said. "So it's still early days, and we haven't really told many people outside of the family yet, since the first few months are the diciest." "When's th' big wedding gonnae be?" Moira asked. "Niko told me her family wouldn't give two shits if the wedding happened after the kid was born, but Ash said her family might have some issues with it, so she and I might have a legal ceremony beforehand and then when the world is open again, when I have the giant wedding ceremony, she'd be part of that too." "Seems a fair compromise," Fi agreed. "It would also mean you have someone to function as Head of Household if you were incapacitated and needed someone to make a decision on your behalf." "Don't go planning to have me put into a medical coma any time soon, Fi," Andy joked. "That's still a few months down the way." "Good thing you've got yourself a doctor in the house now, hmm?" "How're you two feeling about all of this? I know it's a lot to process all at once." "It's a lot of bloody names ta learn," Moira grumbled. "I almost want ta see nametags on e'eryone fer a few months." "You'll pick them up pretty quick," Andy said. "And I was smart or lucky enough to not get any two partners with the same first name, thank god for that." "I dinnae find out if they tol' you, Andy," Moira interrupted, "but jus' so ye know, my cycle's shorter than th' rest of th' gare ruls. They kin go about ten days 'fore they cannae think clearly, but I kin only go about six." "Nobody told me that, no," Andy said. "Any other differences I should know about?" "Nothin' ye need concern yerself with," she replied, kissing his cheek. "I'm sure all th' lasses have got their own quirks so ye need nae concern yerself." "Alright then, I'll try not to worry. Anyway, I appreciate you stopping by to say hello, but I do have an online meeting in just a little bit, so I hate to kick you out but  " "No no! You've got work to do, so c'mon, Mo," Fiona said, hopping off his desk, pulling Moira from his lap. "Let the man talk to the voices in his computer." Moira leaned down and kissed him one final time, resting her face against his for what felt like minutes before she smiled and pulled back. "I love ye, ye daft git." "Love you both," he said, as they slipped out of his office. The meeting went as well as could be expected, and Erica Xiao seemed like she might actually be a good choice for directing the first Druid Gunslinger movie, as she seemed to intuitively grasp the undercurrents of the story without having to explicitly call them out, something that was a refreshing change of pace from the first couple of candidates he'd interviewed. Of course, he didn't get the final say on who was directing the movie, but Working Title seemed to genuinely care that he liked the director, so that they would remain true to the books. They'd gone against authors' wishes before, and it hadn't gone well for them, so now they were trying to make sure the author approved of, or at least understood the reasoning for, any changes that were made in the process of translating it from a book to a movie. After that, he decided he needed to go and check on Lexi. Even though Phil had told him that her imprinting process time would take a bit longer, he thought it wise to swing by and make sure that she wasn't in any pain, but when he arrived by her door, he found Niko sitting on a chair in front of it, a Lee Child book in her hands. "Hey Niko," Andy said, approaching her. "I thought you were on the base today?" Niko shook her head, smiling at him as she tucked a slip of paper in as a bookmark before closing the paperback up, setting it on a table next to her. "With Lexi having a different reaction to the serum, Phil asked me to stay here and keep tabs on her, and report in what other irregularities she was going through, especially since I noticed a few right away." Andy's brow furrowed in worry. "How concerned should I be?" Niko sort of tilted her head a little. "That's just the thing, babe. I don't think you need to be at all worried, but you are definitely going to have a challenge on your hands for the first few days after she wakes up. I think letting Jenny help with that, though, would be a wise move." "What the hell does that mean, Niko?" She jerked her head over her shoulder. "C'mere and lemme show you." After sliding off the chair, she opened the door and they both stepped into the room, and Andy immediately started to panic, but he felt Niko's hand take his and squeeze it reassuringly. "She's fine, Andy, regardless of how she looks." "What, what the hell is happening to her?" There was a large growth on one side of her, a faded white swell over her body, and Andy didn't even know what exactly he was looking at. "She's healing," Niko said. "The reason you're going to want Jenny to help is that by the time she wakes up, I think Lexi's not going to have any scars left. It's almost like she's shedding the scarred layer of skin and replacing it with fresh, newly healed skin, like a snake molting. We've seen it in rare cases on the base. I told you early on that I knew the serum did some basic additional healing when it was first taken into the woman's body, but that level of healing varies a lot from patient to patient, more than anything else about it. When she was injected on the base, I knew there was a, call it ten to fifteen percent chance this might happen, that the serum might go into overdrive with her scars and began repairing the skin and the nerves, but I didn't want to get her hopes up in case it didn't happen, because we still don't know what does and doesn't cause the reaction." "And, and you're telling me her skin will just be back to normal?" "Whoa, easy there. 'Normal' is a very flexible word, and one that we don't like using on the base," Niko told him. "She's likely to be healed but considering all of those nerves will be freshly regrown, they are going to be hyper sensitive, and that means people are going to have to be careful around her, because it'll be easy to overwhelm her until those nerves have gotten accustomed to working again and they know how to moderate their intake. We also have no idea what it's going to do to her PTSD, if anything, and that's what we need to keep an eye on." "But, she is going to be okay, right?" "This isn't going to be a problem, Andy, but it's up to all of us to make sure that the repercussions of her sudden healing don't overwhelm her. But I think it'll be okay." Andy sighed, turning to press a kiss against Niko's cheek. "Is there anything else you aren't telling me?" "Honey, what I'm not telling you could fill up Levi's Stadium, but you just have to trust me that I'm doing it all with your best interests at heart, okay?" He chuckled, shaking his head. "You're lucky you're so cute." "It's one of my natural defense mechanisms," she teased. "C'mon, let's leave her be." They stepped back out into the hallway and Niko closed the door behind her. "I figured I should be here when she wakes up, so I can explain to her all of what happened, and prepare her for what to expect. It's the least I can do." She jerked her chin upward, to get Andy to look behind him. "Looks like you're up." Nicolette was walking down the hall, a soft smile on her face. "Just letting you know, Master, that Miss Steele's ride over just buzzed the gate and she should be at the front door any minute. Miss Washington and Miss Stevens said they would meet you there." Andy kissed Niko again before turning to walk with Nicolette towards the stairs, heading to the front door. "Showtime!" Chapter 39 It was with a little surprise that Andy stepped out of his front door to see a familiar electric blue Tesla parked in front of it, Phil helping Maya remove her things from his trunk. "Hello Maya," Andy said, walking down the steps towards her, seeing Emily and Sarah were already there, Emily talking with Maya while Sarah was crouched down next to the little carrier, giving the dogs inside scratches while cooing at t

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 21 Andy's spirits are lifted by an old friend. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 36 Half an hour later, his phone rang and Andy glanced down to see it was Phil calling, a picture of him with the words "Phil The Elder" superimposed over part of it. The poker group actually had two Phils in it,  Phil Marcos and Phil Pak. The two men were dramatically different from one another, but also remarkably similar in others. They shared the same first name, so the group had given them nicknames when they were talking about them if it could've been either of them. Phil Marcos a.k.a. Phil The Elder a.k.a. Greater Phil was 34, Filipino and worked for Boeing with the Air Force at a base in the East Bay, and was certainly the closer friend to Andy. They'd met at a local comic book store just after Andy had moved out to the West Coast, and had hit it off immediately. When Andy had started his poker group up a few years later, Phil was one of the first people Andy had called. Phil Pak, a.k.a. Phil The Younger a.k.a. Lesser Phil was 32, Korean and worked for the NSA out of San Francisco, and not someone they'd seen as often as they liked. For the last couple of years, Lesser Phil had been trying to convince Andy to come work as a data analyst for the NSA in terms of interpretation and extrapolation. Lesser Phil had been a college friend of Eric's, and had been introduced to Andy only a few months after he'd met Greater Phil. While Andy still typically thought of them as Greater and Lesser Phil, he tried not to call them that out loud, and had them as Phil The Elder and Phil The Younger in his phone. Andy asked if it was a common name, and Eric remarked that he knew at least a couple more Phils but none he knew that well. Andy told him he'd had a similar problem with Jennys in high school. "Talk to me, Phil," Andy said to his friend. "You heard the recording. Should I be worried?" "Concerned, yes. Worried, no," Phil sighed. He sounded exhausted on the other end of the line, but as of late, Phil had always sounded exhausted. Whatever he was doing over at the base, it was certainly taking a toll on his friend. "So the good news is that in the long run, it shouldn't make too much of a difference. But that reaction means that Lexi had been infected with the Orange Variant of the DuoHalo virus before we introduced the serum to her body." "The 'Orange Variant?'" "We started naming them after colors, working our way through the spectrum. The Red Variant was first but it died off very quickly, so this is the second one," he grumbled. "But she isn't our first exposure to it, so we know how the serum's going to generally react to it, and what it's going to do to her. There are only two real major differences you're going to need to worry about." "Is she going to be okay?" "I told you, in the long run, it shouldn't make too much of a difference. The two differences you need to pay attention to are this,  first, her margin of error for recursion is far less forgiving. That means don't ever make her go more than a week without getting some Rook juice, if you know what I mean, otherwise she see temporary cognitive decline set in pretty fast, and she'll be ripping your clothes off no matter where you are, so keep that in mind." "Every seven days minimum," Andy repeated, writing it down on a notepad in his writing office. "What's the other major difference I need to worry about?" "It shouldn't even be a concern, but you should still know about it. You know how other men's semen will typically make an imprinted woman ill?" "Sure?" "Those who've been exposed to the Orange Variant, if they come in contact with the semen of a man other than those they're imprinted with, they go into a violent fit of rage, attacking anyone other than their imprinted man on sight. Those rage fits tend to be relatively short lived,  only a hour at most,  but they're still incredibly dangerous and not the kind of thing you want sprung on you as a surprise." "And this is my bodyguard who has this," Andy sighed. "Oh it's fine," Phil chuckled. "She won't harm you, and you know how to protect your family better than anyone. I think anyone who tried to use it as a weakness against Lexi would probably not live to regret it. She'll also be imprinting for longer than normal, so if she's sleeping for like a day and a half, don't worry about it. That's to be expected." "You doing okay, Phil?" Andy asked. "You look like shit, and I'm more worried about you now than I am Lexi." Phil sighed then laughed a little bit. "You know me. I'll sleep when I'm dead. Lots of long days in the office turning into long nights, and on top of that, Audrey and Linda are making sure that I have several partners as well, so that my immunity to DuoHalo continues to be strong. We're not entirely sure of the science of it yet, but it looks like the more people inside a particular polypod, the stronger the internal herd immunity the male at the center get is. Once we knew that for certain, my two queens made sure I had a good litter of partners in our household. So I'm up to eleven myself now." "I still can't believe I'm a level five and you're not, Phil," Andy said, deliberately testing a theory by trying to bait it out of his friend. "Okay, Andy, you got me," Phil said with amusement. "I'm also a level five. I was lying to you earlier, for security reasons. In fact, I think technically I was one of the first level fives. I've also technically had DuoHalo, but I can't really get into the details of that all that much. Let's just say that when we're finally through this whole pandemic, I'm going to have a bunch of stories to tell you that will blow your mind. I probably have to get clearance for you so that I can tell you some of them, but it'll be worth it." "I've always known you were up to something over there, Phil," Andy laughed. "I just couldn't figure out what it was." "Greater Phil, International Man of Mystery. It's got a nice ring to it." "Speaking of Mystery. Poker, this week. Let's do it." "Yeah, sure," Phil said. "I could use a break, so you call everyone else, and I'll make a point of coming over with as much of the family as I can convince to come out, although it has that weird side effect of making every poker night feel like a giant party where we're all hiding from our wives. Maybe we should see if there's enough interest to set up a second table and we can mix and match, so you can spend a bit more time meeting my partners and vice versa." "Well, you see Niko all the time, what with her being at your work, so you probably know her about as well as I do." "That girl's got secrets upon secrets, Andy." That caught him a little off guard. He wasn't bothered by it, but he was amused at the idea of her trying to hide something from him. "Niko? My Niko? I can't see it. She's open and transparent about everything with me." "Sure, okay. Didn't you feel that way about Erin?" "That was different?" "Was it though?" Phil said in a tone that immediately conjured the Smug Thor meme to his mind. "I mean, sure, Niko's secrets are probably being kept from you for the right reasons, as opposed to Erin's, but secrets are secrets." "The last thing I need is you making me more paranoid, Phil." "Forget I said anything. Oh, one last bit of news for you. Maya won't be there until tomorrow midday. Turns out she's also got the Orange Variant, so we're making sure the serum is getting a good foothold before we send her over to you. It's all just safety precautions, but it'll be over soon enough." "Great. We can do poker night on the 20th, so we can all watch the President's speech and the 60 Minutes story together." "Sounds like fun," Phil agreed. "Hopefully Katie Couric's team caught my good side. See you on Friday." As Andy hung up the phone, he noticed that Whitney was lingering in the doorway. She was dressed impeccably in a white button up shirt and a black pencil skirt with black pantyhose on beneath, and the shirt was just barely thin enough that he could see hints of her red bra on underneath. "Have you got a moment, sir?" "Sure thing, Whitney, what's up?" "Just wanted to go over the set up work I've done for the house so you know what's going on, and to ask you a few questions so I can start the process of replacing your laptop for you," she said, her hands folded together in front of her, her eyes mostly lowered. "Sounds great, but Whitney, you don't have to look down all the time. I know you're more used to a stern hand than I am, and I'll do my best to be what you like when we're intimate, but when you're acting in your duties as the house IT manager, you need to relax a little more and try to fit in." Whitney smirked a little bit, those dark red lips perked up as she lifted her head, nodding at him with a little smile. "Oh, I know, sir. I think I mostly just wanted to see if you would notice. Shall we?" For the next half an hour, Whitney explained to him in good detail all the changes she'd gone about to the house in the last day, getting all the rooms configured to work within the house's larger intranet. As it turned out, there were multiple LAN ports in the walls of every room in the house, it seemed like, and once again, Andy found himself wondering who this house had been built for originally. In addition to making sure all the ports were working, Whitney had also set up wireless hubs and repeaters all throughout the house, enough so that no matter where a person was in the house, they should always have a good signal to the internet. The house's security systems ran on an entirely separate network, one with minimal external connectivity, and Whitney said that she would work with Lexi to make sure the system was up to whatever standards his new head of security had in mind. They walked while they talked, and outside in the back, Andy could see Katie astride her riding lawn mower, zipping in lines across the monstrous amount of green grass in his back yard, making sure to get all of it cut even and levelly. He could also see Tala hauling things into the back house with the help of Nicolette, who had ditched the maid outfit for the time being for a more practical set of blue jeans and a baggy t shirt covered in paint splotches. All of the changes, Whitney assured him, had been done with minimal disruption to anyone's work in the house, and she'd been trying to get as much of it today, as it was a Sunday. The last thing they talked about was his replacement laptop, something that Andy was remarkably picky about. Oh, he didn't care about the things most people cared about,  when it came to processors and memory, Andy insisted none of that mattered to him,  but the thing he was adamant about was that the keyboard feel as close to the one on the laptop he was currently using, an eight year old IBM ThinkPad. Too many keyboards were difficult to use for long periods at a time, and considering how many words Andy found himself putting into his laptop on a daily basis, if the keyboard was unwieldy, the laptop might as well be non existent. Whitney made a special note that "keyboard feel" was of the utmost import, and she insisted to him, she would do her best to get him a good replacement within a week or so. She had already begun backing up all the files from his existing laptop to the house's master network, as well as to a backup kept in a fire safe, so that even if disaster struck, he would still have his work in a safe location. Andy did tell her that she didn't have to work full time on the weekends, and that she should make a point of getting settled into her own room, and spending some time catching up with her friend Nicolette who had brought her here. Whitney had smiled at that, and agreed to go get changed so she could help Tala move in, and then they could all help Whitney get moved in afterwards. He was starting to walk back towards his office when he ran into Lauren, clearly just back from a jog around the neighborhood, sweaty and out of breath, a big smile on her face. "Hey there, fella, just the bloke I was lookin' to have a moment with. Got a snip?" He grinned, leaning against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. "Sure, what's up?" "I've been thinking, and I think maybe we should let Taylor off the hook now," she said, looking down at her feet for a second. "I know, I know, I was the one who set the whole month punishment in place but, strewth, seeing her walking around naked all the time is starting to make me feel bad. I'm thinking she's learned her lesson, and she knows she's got lots of trust to earn back from me, so I'm only keeping her from getting to spend time learning more about all the other amazing sheilas you have in this house, and that's not fair of me." "I agree," Andy chuckled, "but I didn't want to be the one to tell you, seeing how fire and brimstone you were about the whole thing when you set the rules in place." "Strewth," she muttered. "Was it really that much a dunnybrook?" "I was a little worried the heavens were going to part and you were going to call down lightning bolts from the skies," he said, the smile wide on his face. "Real wrath of god type shit." "Bugger. Anyway, you should tell'er that you've talked me down, and that you laid down the law, and you decided, and eventually I relented, that she is done with that punishment and should just join the family like all the other birds. Make it clear you decided, not me, so I still get to keep a bit of that big scary reputation." Andy rolled his eyes but nodded. "Sure sure, you'll look mean. You'll look really scary. Anyway, I'll go find her and tell her while you're hopping into the shower." "Stink that bad, do I?" "Your sweatstains have got sweatstains, Lauren," he said with a laugh as he was backing away from her, while she mimed punching motions in his direction. He wasn't certain where he'd find Taylor in the house, so he decided just to go wandering the halls and see where he stumbled into her. He found her in Hannah's room, where she, Asha and Hannah were sitting on the bed, gossiping. Asha and Hannah hadn't bothered to change out of their pajamas, enjoying a lazy Sunday, while Taylor sat nude with her back against the wall. One of his two cats, Muninn, the Russian blue, was sitting on the bed near Asha, who was petting him idly. All three girls tensed a little bit when he entered the room,  Taylor wasn't supposed to be sitting up on furniture unless Lauren or himself had told her to do so, but Andy hadn't really followed the rules at all, and had made it clear multiple times that Taylor's 'punishment,' such as it was, was mostly for Lauren's mollification, and that if Taylor slipped on the rules from time to time while she wasn't around, he didn't particularly care. "No no, don't get up, Taylor, it's fine," he said, coming into the room. "In fact, it's what I came to talk to you about." "You need to get Nicolette to turn up the house furnace, babe," Asha said to him. "If I'd ta walk around all day in me skivvies, I know I'd be freezin'." "Totally, Daddy," Hannah said. He'd repeatedly told her that she didn't have to call him that (in fact, going so far as to hint that it made him a little uncomfortable when she did) but she had repeatedly answered that she liked calling him that, so she wasn't going to stop any time soon. At least she knew enough not to do it when other people were around the house. "We're just talkin' anyway, so I told her to hop up here, so if you gotta punish someone, it should be me." "You look far too eager when you suggest that, Hannah," he told the Asian teenager. "Anyway, I had a talk with Lauren just a little bit ago. I told her this is my house, and I'm in charge, and that I've decided you've served this part of your punishment long enough. You're free to get dressed, wear clothes around the house, sleep wherever you want, sit wherever you want. You can get your phone back, and you can start working with Lauren at the 49ers camp whenever you feel like you're ready. You're a full member of the household now, and there's no reason for this silly punishment to go on any further. And you can certainly take off that ridiculous dog collar." Taylor's bright blue eyes had been focused on him the entire time he'd been talking, and she slipped off the bed quickly to throw her arms around him, pressing those impressive tits of hers against his chest as she hugged him very tightly, clinging to him, even as he could hear her sniffling back some tears. "Thank you, Andy," she said quietly. "I know Lauren's still mad at me, but this has been really hard, being made to feel like less than a person." He wrapped his arms around her, patting her bare back. "I know, and I get that, but you also have to realize that cheating on her hurt her in a way she'd never been hurt before, and that won't go away fully for a long long time. Just because you're done with all of this doesn't mean you're done with all of that. I know you know that, but it doesn't hurt to be reminded that you're going to be repairing that damage between you two for years to come. You screwed up, but there's a way back from that, as long as you're willing to put in the work and learn from your mistakes." Taylor pulled back, looking at him as something just dawned on her. "So, wait, all the rules have been lifted? Like all all of them?" He tilted his head a little. "Yyyyes? Why, is there one in particular you're asking about?" "So, like, next time, y'know, when me and you, then we can,” He bit back a smile and nodded. "Yes, yes we can. And if you want to masturbate again, you're welcome to start doing that too." She shook her head over dramatically once then leaned in to kiss him. "After we've had our first time together, our first real time together, then I will, but I want the first thing inside of my cunt after all this time to be your cock. If that's okay," she said, biting her lip nervously. "Of course it's okay. I think your next day in the rotation was going to be the 20th, but if you want, we can try and find some time before then instead. It can even be just the two of us, without Lauren around, if that's what you want." She pouted again for a moment. "Anything I want?" "Well, within my usual limits, but sure." She slipped her arms away from him, and turned back to look at Asha and Hannah, extending a hand to each of them. "I want the four of us together, for my first time normally with you, Andy," she said, as Asha took one hand and Hannah took the other. "Oh rrrrreally?" Asha said, dragging the sound out, her London accent dripping through the word. "All four of us together? Sounds like a spot of fun. I'm game if you are, Whiskers," she said, looking over at Hannah with a smile. "Anything you can throw at me, I can totally handle, Goldfish," Hannah shot back at her friend. Clearly the girls had developed nicknames for each other when he wasn't around. "I was supposed to have tomorrow night, Daddy, so instead of it just being me, it'll be all three of us, if that's totally cool and shit." "Yeah, that's, ahem, totally cool. And shit." He leaned in to give Taylor a quick kiss, but she kissed him back harder than expected, and it lasted longer than he'd planned, not that he minded. "And you, young lady, should get some clothes on, and maybe unpack your stuff, whether that's in your own room or in Lauren's room, that's up to you." "Oh it totally all goes in with Lauren," Taylor said. "I don't even want my own room. Either I'm in her bed or yours. You want to come help me move in, girls?" "You couldn't stop us, love," Asha said. "Last one there has a smelly cunt!" Hannah said as she bolted towards the door, Asha and Taylor just a step or two behind her. "Y'know," Andy said to himself and the cat, "I feel like I should've yelled that there's no running in the house after them, but I just know it wouldn't have done any good." "Meow," Muninn said to him in response. "Oh hush," Andy said. "What the hell do you know?" "Meow," Muninn agreed. "Damn straight." After leaving Hannah's room, he was halfway down the hall when he ran into Sarah, who was wearing one of his t shirts, one for a band called Stereophonics, and sweatpants beneath it, her hair done up in the least stylish ponytail he'd ever seen from her, as if she'd just put her red mane up to get it out of the way for a while. "Hey you," she said, her pearly white smile beaming at him. "Maya should be here any minute, and I know you're just gonna love her." "I actually spoke to Phil a little bit ago, and she's not going to be here until tomorrow, but she's still coming, don't you worry." He explained the Orange Variant to her, and while she was a little disappointed that her friend's arrival would be delayed, she understood that Maya's health was the most important thing, and the base didn't want to let her out of their sight until she was ready. "What've you been up to today?" She rolled her oceanic blue eyes at him with a big harumph. "Reading screenplays that my agent sent over, trying to pick my next project. It's looking like everyone's going to want to do serialized television right now, because they can get more content out of smaller budgets, but so many of these stories are just so boring," she groaned. "It's like my agent's only sending me the same stuff." "Well," he said, taking her hand in his as they walked down the hallway, "tell your agent what you want then, whether that's more drama, more action, more comedy, more whatever it is you want more of. They only know what you want when you tell them. I had to learn the same lesson with my literary agent early on." She squeezed his hand thankfully. "My agent really should know better, but you're right. I can get her on the hunt for the kinds of things I want to be doing. You know there aren't really any good spy stories on television right now? I should see if she can get me something like that. I'll give her a call tomorrow, see if maybe she can reach out to the production companies, see who's already got projects winding up I can try and piggyback onto." They walked past the door of Emily and Sarah's workspace, and Andy noticed it was closed. He pointed with his other hand at the closed door as they kept on walking. "Em in some kind of meeting?" Sarah nodded. "London based production company wanted to reach out to her, so she's taking the call today, but she should be out in an hour or so." The doorbell rang, and Sarah arched an eyebrow in surprise. "I thought you said Maya wouldn't be here until tomorrow." "That's what Phil told me," he said, as the two of them started to head downstairs, although Andy could hear someone answering the door, followed by a loud squeal of recognition. When they came down the stairs, Andy could see it was Piper who'd answered the door, and she had her arms wrapped around a short blonde girl, hugging her tightly. "Andy! Sarah! Brooke's here!" Piper said to them, swinging the shorter girl around a bit. "That's great, but I thought she was  " "Surprise, man!" Xander said as he stepped in through the doorway. Andy let go of Sarah's hand and rushed down the rest of the stairs, suddenly stopping about six feet away from the door. "Are you...?" "Paired with three people this morning, so I'm 100% safe as houses," his tattooed friend said. Once he'd gotten the word 'paired' out, Andy had continued rushing his best friend, wrapping his arms around the burly guy, giving him a hell of a hug. "Oh Jesus, it's good to know you're safe, man," Andy sighed. "And it's so fucking good to see you. I know we hung out last December, but fuck, these eleven months have felt like five fucking years,” "Glad to see my mouth's rubbing off on you," Sarah laughed, closing the distance to meet them. "Xander, these are my partners Piper Brown and Sarah Washington, both of whom you've talked to a bit through FaceTime. Piper, Sarah, this is my best and oldest friend, Xander Baker, whom I've known since we were both, like, what, 6?" Xander laughed, nodding. "6, 7, something like that. However old we were in kindergarten." "Not very," Andy said. "Not enough!" Xander replied. "Anyway, Andy, Sarah, this is my soon to be partner Brooke Maloney, whom I have your partner Piper to thank for." "Well," Piper laughed, "I'd originally pitched her to come here and be Andy's partner, but he realized she'd be a much better fit for you, considering how much you both love classic cars, although really, I think it was just so he didn't have to hear her singing Vince Gill songs around the house all the time, 'cause she does that a lot, and I hope they warned you about that, Xander." "She can be singing Vince Gill while I'm singing Wu Tang Clan, and somewhere in the middle, over the engine of a Dodge Charger, I think we can make it work," Xander said. "Honestly, Pipes," Brooke said to her, "the only reason he said soon to be is because I wanted to come over and say thank you to y'all, and let Xander have a bit of time with his friend before we got to bumpin' uglies. But all the other gals in his house have just been so sweet, y'all, I can't wait for you to meet'em." "Why don't Piper and I give you a tour of the place, Brooke," Sarah said, "and the boys can do a little bit of catching up. You want me to have Jenny bring drinks to you out on the patio, hun?" "Yeah," Andy said, "I'll take a pina colada. Xander?" "Just a Corona." Sarah nodded. "Drinks coming up! This way ladies!" she said, marching them down towards the kitchen first. "Jesus Andy," Xander said quietly. "You really bagged Sarah Washington. I mean, I know I've talked to her vidchat, but seeing her in person like this,” "Seriously, I don't deserve this much luck," Andy said with a chuckle as he started to lead his best friend towards the back patio. "Oh fuck you," Xander teased. "You deserve exactly this much luck. Our entire lives, I've been watching you do good things for people left and right and never asking for so much as a thank you in return, and this is what karma has brought you, dude, so live a little. Enjoy it." As they moved out onto the patio, Xander shook his head. "I will say, however, that my house isn't quite as big as yours is. Don't get me wrong, it's still a fucking palace compared to that one bedroom shithole I lived in back in Ohio, but I'm just saying,” Andy rolled his eyes with a smirk. "You know I didn't pick the places myself, right jackass?" "I guess so," Xander said, as the two men moved to sit down on deck chairs near the pool. It was cool for November but not so cold that either man felt like they needed to add layers, both having grown up in the Midwest, where California winters would be considered nice spring days. "God, I'm really here. It's wild, man." "It's great having you out here, Xander. Jesus, the stories I have to tell you. You're here early, though. I didn't expect you out here for at least a few more days." "Turns out these DuoHalo Variants are pretty intense," Xander sighed, "and since they were pairing me up with someone in the military, they wanted to make sure I got hooked into the system as quickly as they could, so everything got very rush rush rush. When you told me to be ready to go at a moment's notice, you weren't kidding. As soon as we finished up that conversation, I started packing, and just barely got done before they showed up to cart me away. They're even taking care of selling my house for me, although I suspect it's just going to become government housing or something." "Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me," Andy agreed. "God, it's good to have you here, man." "Well if it isn't my favorite hoodrat," Fiona said, carrying out a tray with three drinks on it, setting it down on a table as Xander immediately got up and hugged him hard. "How you been, lunkhead?" "Better now that I know you made it here okay, muckraker," he teased back. "How the hell you been Fi?" "Better now that I know you ditched that crazy ex of yours," she laughed. "Can I say it?" "Oh I think you've earned it." "I told you that girl was no good." "You did indeed tell me that," Xander agreed, taking his bottle of Corona from the drinks tray, as Andy grabbed his pina colada and Fi grabbed a tall glass of wine. "Hey hey hey, the gang's all back," Fi said with a smile. "To old friends and new flames." "To life, liberty and us getting through this fucking plague together," Xander toasted. "To family," Andy corrected. "To family!" they all toasted together, clinking glasses. Piper has a confession to make.. Chapter 37 The conversation had gone far into the evening, with members of the household coming in and out several times, joining for a while before leaving the trio to their own devices once more, mostly anyway, a couple of Andy's partners choosing to remain longer. Sarah and Aisling in particular were intent on getting as many stories about Andy's youth as they could, and he felt a little like they hoped either Xander or Fiona would tell them embarrassing tales from their college years. While Fi had been mostly coy about the years they'd spent at university, Xander, by contrast, had been eager to tell at least a handful of hilarious and ridiculous stories about the troubles they'd found themselves in during their misspent youth. Despite how flustered he got a couple of times, it was a wonderful night of reminiscing, and a chance for the girls to see Andy in a different light. A piece of advice Andy had never let go of was that as you got older, it was almost important to keep people around you who knew you when you were young and fearless. At least a few times, he'd managed to deflect the conversation off himself and onto other people, a detour letting both Sarah and Emily talk about their experiences making movies, and Xander talking about the process of being relocated from Ohio out to California. Xander's trip had been surprisingly surreal, and he told the group about it in explicit detail. He'd been loaded into an isolation chamber on a cargo plane along with twenty other men, each in their own little plastic bubble tent, although each of the tent also had curtains that could be dropped for privacy. Xander told them he'd found that odd but understood why eventually. The plane had been mostly full of men when it picked Xander up in Ohio. The little isolation chamber was like a emergency field hospital's clean room, with a mattress on the floor as well as a few days of rations, both food and water, and a little sealable chemical toilet. Nearly everything was ziptied to weights to keep it steady. There was also a little headset that connected to a series of voice chat channels all the men could use to talk to one another. The main channel had been too hectic for Xander to stay in for more than a handful of minutes, but he'd eventually peeled off a couple of the men in the plane into a separate channel, and was able to both give them some information and get some on his own. All of the men on the plane had been gathered from cities in the central and eastern United States, and were being ferried out to partners, generally military but some in other branches of the government, and they weren't being let out of their isolation chambers until they'd been paired up with at least one woman, thus, the beds and the privacy curtains. At least a couple of the pods had not only men in them, but also a woman in the middle of the imprinting process . The government didn't want to risk the life of any man, so this was an emergency plan decided to keep as many people as they could safe. The two men Xander spent the afternoon talking with were Klaus, a 26 year old Master Sergeant from Georgia that Xander felt like was probably in special ops of some kind, and Bill, a 34 year old schoolteacher from Tennessee who was being paired up with a prominent Silicon Valley businesswoman he'd dated back in high school. Klaus clearly knew far more than he wanted to share with Xander and Bill, but he'd done his best to give the two men some information to make their journey a little less panic stricken. There were two women in the isolation chamber with Klaus, a twenty year old blonde named Olivia and a twenty two year old Korean American named Naya, or so Klaus told them, as both women were still in the middle of the imprinting process. The man was part of the security forces for the flying hospital that was transporting men and women around the country. He knew what he could and couldn't tell Xander and Bill, and just having a conversation with Klaus had made Xander feel more safe in their travels. He had a calm and casual demeanor to him while discussing how everything had been carefully planned, even if it all felt pretty slapdash. He couldn't answer all of their questions, for security reasons, but he told the two men that the airplane had basically been in motion nonstop for the last three weeks, doing its best to ferry people around the nation. Xander had asked him if it was truly necessary, only to be told how high the casualty rate was for men around the nation. Klaus had seen the stacks of bodies, and the man sounded rattled when he described the hundreds of empty apartments he'd seen in his native Queens, as the corpses had filled up dump trucks, and they'd had to conceal the bodies as they were taking them out in the dead of night. Klaus told them he'd been in a biohazard suit for most of the last week, but now that he had two partners, he would be able to go out and provide an escort for everyone going to and from the plane, although he planned to return to his isolation room with his two partners in between each stop they made. From Ohio they flew down to Nebraska, stopping at Offut Air Force Base, where they picked up a handful of soldiers and dropped off a handful of women. Bill had asked Klaus how long they'd been running these routes. Klaus said they'd been running for a few weeks now, and they were only one of five planes that were crisscrossing the nation. Olivia and Naya had both been brought into the inoculation center in Denver earlier and then swapped planes to meet up with him in New York, where they'd met up after he'd returned bringing in another stable of surviving men. All privacy had basically gone out the window. Klaus told him that most of the men had the option to wait until they were in a house or an apartment or something, but Klaus had been told by his commanding officer that they couldn't spare him that much time, so he needed to just get on with his business on the plane so he could get back to work as soon as he was done. By the time they'd touched down at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas, Bill had been just about ready to break out into full fledged panic, between the constant shift in air pressure, the take offs and landings done without proper seatbelts and his inability to go anywhere that wasn't his little sealed off compartment, but a quick talking to from Xander had gotten the man to cool down at least a little bit. They were barely on the ground in Nevada an hour, taking people off and bringing new people on, as well as refueling the plan, before taking off again, landing at Oakland airport a few hours later under the cover of night. Their cellphones had been taken from them when they'd arrived at the plane, so Xander had been forced to guess at the time, but he would've placed their arrival in Oakland at something around 2 a.m. or so, although the lock in had made it impossible to use traffic as a gauge. In Oakland, everyone had been taken from their individual compartments and loaded onto a large troop transport truck, with no caution given to cross contamination or infection, as they were all told they would be getting paired up within a few hours, so even if they caught DuoHalo now, it wouldn't matter. Xander had been concerned by that but he had decided to go along with it, because Klaus seemed to consider the whole thing fine, and he was the one loading people onto the trucks. The trucks had ferried them from Oakland up to a staging area next to the lab near Mount Diablo, just adjacent to New Eden, and once there, they'd been introduced to their new partners and from there, sorted into where they were going to go. The building they were using as a staging area felt like a converted aircraft hangar, with a high curved metal ceiling and big fluorescent lights hanging high above them. Although there were some tented parts of the space, similar to what had been inside the cargo hold of the airplane that had brought him here, most of the space was open, with long painted striped lines on the ground, leading people through the processing. Men weren't being given any injections, something Xander had thought was odd, until all the men were given a five minute lecture on "Your New Reality," something that the men were told to take deadly seriously. The lecture included basic things like how they would be receiving their vaccinations (sexually transmitted from their new partners), how their partners would need sexual satisfaction about once a week or so, how their semen would be toxic to any woman they weren't paired with, and how if they ever felt like they were coming down with the symptoms of DuoHalo they should have sex with one of their partners immediately, which would resolve them. At the point when the men had been told that their semen would be toxic to any woman they weren't paired with, a handful of the men had quietly jeered and rolled their eyes, but the next slide in the presentation showed a wound on a woman's arm that had silenced all that nonsense quickly. The end of the lecture included a video message from President Pelosi, urging the men to consider fatherhood like a new version of the World War 2 draft,  every man needed to do his service to help save the country. Extensive tax breaks and financial aid would be provided to families with multiple children, it was stressed. The country needed to be rebuilt. As soon as the lecture was done, they'd been marched single file to a series of processing windows, over a dozen clerks taking people's names and social security numbers before assigning them a holding area to head over to, where they would meet their partners. A sticker was placed on their chest before they were sent on their way. It had all felt very assembly line, as if there wasn't time for kindness or courtesies, and people were simply being pushed through the grinder as quickly as possible. Klaus had joked around with them on the ride over that while it might seem rough, it was being done for optimal performance in getting people in and through the system and into their new lives, wherever they may be. Xander had heard several different locations mentioned,  the San Jose highrises, the Stanford campus, the Berkeley campus, the SF towers, the Altamont sprawl, the Tracy ghosttown,  but when it came time for him to be told where to go, he was told he wouldn't need to go far, as he was being assigned to Dos Eden, the first expansion zone to New Eden. He'd been given four partners on site, with one more to be waiting for him at the location. They'd been waiting for him in the holding area assigned to him, each having arrived sometime over the previous day, so they'd all had a chance to get to know one another. Letting the women have some time to bond in advance of the man's arrival seemed smart to Xander, as they could size each other up without having to worry about keeping their new mate's attention. The women had also been given their injections in the holding area, and so Xander assumed the spaces had also doubled as observation areas, making sure none of the women had suffered any adverse reactions to their injections the day before. Captain Betsy Ross had turned out to be a complete knockout, a blonde pint size pocket rocket dynamo who was training men nearly twice her size in hand to hand close quarters combat, and they had clicked immediately, almost as if they were custom made for each other. She'd kissed him hard enough to nearly knock him off his feet before he'd even been able to say hello. The second woman had been Serena Ortiz, a Latina woman in her late twenties who was a U.S. Marshall, and had built a career out of tracking down fugitives. Tall and statuesque, she had a certain grace to how she'd moved, he'd noticed immediately. She'd spent the past few hours talking with Betsy before Xander's arrival, and the two already had a friendly relationship, having bonded over the fact that they could both kick Xander's ass if needed. The third was a slender blonde woman in her late 30s who had looked hauntingly familiar before her introduction, but Xander had struggled to place her, even after she identified herself as Alicia Geller. When she'd told Xander that he would likely know the role she'd played in her youth, Rascal Rachel, that had made it all come together immediately. Alicia was a child actress who had been the star of a popular kids show until she'd grown out of it and the show had been canceled. Instead of continuing acting, she had retired from show business and gone into education, teaching history to high school students. She seemed a little shy, but had assured him that once they'd had time to get to know one another, she would come out of her shell. The final one on site had been Brooke, and she'd detailed the story to him how her friend Piper was paired up with Andy, and that they had recommended Brooke pair up with Xander, so she had. She'd been wearing a Shelby GT Cobra necklace when they met, and Xander had known it was going to work out just fine. A second sticker was placed on his chest and the girls were told to stay with him, as everyone was sorted into lines and sent towards trucks. Most of the trucks were large troop transports, but Xander had been surprised to see that the vehicle he and his partners were set to was much smaller, and they were the only group loaded up onto it. He'd felt a little bad, since really they could've just been loaded up into an Escalade, him, his four new partners and the MP driving them over to their new home. On the way over, the MP delivered the final set of instructions to Xander, as to why his fifth partner hadn't been waiting for him at the base and was, instead, at the new home. Her name was KC Kadrey, and she was a 20 year old Vietnamese American student over at Stanford, studying mechanical engineering. She'd needed to get her injections a couple of days prior, and there had been some concerns that she might simply just grab the first man she saw and go after him, so she'd been taken to their new home and allowed to settle in. But, the MP warned him, it meant that she might be a bit intense when they arrived. She'd also brought her golden retriever with her, and keeping the large dog at the staging area had seemed problematic. Xander, like all the men who'd been on the airplane, had been forced to travel light, a single wheelie suitcase all he'd been allowed to bring with him. All of his things that had been picked up in Ohio would show up at some point within the next few weeks as the truck conveying them drove cross country, but until they, he would have to make due with the things he had. Xander had been forced to argue with the people picking him up that the one car he'd been restoring, a black 1970 Barracuda, would be part of the things taken to his new home, and while the discussion had gotten a little heated, eventually the people picking him up had relented and loaded it into the truck with the rest of his stuff. Each of the women had a similar amount of things with them, and when they arrived at their new home, they all felt woefully unprepared. Dos Eden was technically part of New Eden, but it was an expansion to the original enclave, and the dwellings there were much more of nice houses than they were the sorts of mansions and manors that made up New Eden itself. The MP driving them over had said she lived in Dos Eden, and she was incredibly thankful, as it meant having a family was a distinct possibility, while the people in many of the other locations were going to be doing lots of relocating and readjusting over the next few years. Those in the tower condo buildings were generally being given an entire floor to themselves, and as needed walls would be knocked down and units combined as families expanded. The views were nice, the MP told them, but it just didn't feel like a home. When they pulled up to the house just around dawn, Xander was a little surprised by it. They had told him not to expect a grandiose mansion, but the home was far nicer than any place he'd ever lived in before, a two story building with five bedrooms and four bathrooms, so not enough that each person had their own bedroom, but they would make it work, all of them agreed. It was mostly glass walls, and Xander found himself thankful for the ring of trees, and the high fences, that would provide him with at least a little privacy from his neighbors, who were only a short walk away on either side. It had a three car garage, and Xander was told there were new Teslas charging inside for them. (Xander immediately planned to turn one of the three garage spaces into his own little workshop where he'd continue restoring the Barracuda.) The driveway was long enough that they would be able to comfortably fit at least four more cars out front if needed. The place had its own pool with hot tub, however, something Xander was astonished to find. He'd never lived in a place with a pool before, and now his home had one. They'd barely gotten in the door before KC had rushed Xander, practically mauling him with love in the entry way to the home. She'd been coherent enough to talk with him, the two of them moving into the master bedroom before he'd had sex with her and she'd fallen into her imprinting process. The other girls had moved into the bedroom somewhere in the middle of their tryst and Betsy had immediately insisted on going second, having stripped down while watching Xander and KC. Alicia had gone third, leaving him with only Serena and Brooke conscious. The three of them had taken a shower together, and somewhere in the middle of the shower, Serena had decided she couldn't wait any further, and had gone through part of the process in the shower and the rest bent over the bathroom countertop. As much as he wanted to, he told Brooke that he was going to need a while before he could imprint her, his entire body more than a little exhausted, as the chemicals from the four women had been flowing through his bloodstream, giving him immunity from DuoHalo and doing some rather significant changes to his body. Brooke had laughed and just suggested they go over to visit Andy and Piper, which brought them up to now. "Fuckin' hell," Andy laughed. "No fucking wonder you look exhausted, Xan. How much have you slept in the last two days?" "Oh, we took a nap after we settled into the house, and I slept a bit on the plane while it was hauling our asses through the skies," his best friend said with a chuckle. "So yeah not as much as I should but more than I do some days. Was your experience similar, Fi?" Fiona's journey had been very similar, with her and Moira catching an earlier flight out of Washington a few days ago, although their plane had made only one additional stop before landing in Oakland, their plane having gone straight from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles, where many of the men in the chambers had been unloaded and several women had been loaded on board. Because Fi and Moira had been traveling together, they'd had each other to talk with and neither had felt especially lonely during the voyage. Fi even admitted they had spent much of the time talking about Andy, speculating how much he might or might not have changed over the years. As the hour grew late, Brooke returned to the main room with Piper, suggesting she and Xander head home, reminding the two old friends that they now lived less than fifteen minutes apart, and could see each other as often as they wanted to, but Andy and Xander still hugged for a long minute, thankful to have reconnected on the other side of the disaster, before they walked the two to the door and sent them home. Several of the girls had peeled off and gone to bed over the course of the evening, and at the end of the night, the only people still awake were Andy, Piper and Sarah. Aisling had been the very last to go to bed before reminding Sarah not to stay up too late, otherwise she would be too tired to talk to Maya when she arrived tomorrow, but Sarah had laughed it off and dismissed it. After closing the door behind Xander, he walked back down stairs, intending to clean up the remaining empty beer bottles and glasses left behind in the living room, only to find that Nicolette had beaten him to it, having cleaned it all up and then disappearing into her room for the night, so he couldn't even say thank you to her. "I swear, we've got a ninja for a French maid around this house," he muttered to himself with amusement. Huginn, his black cat, stood up from his perch on the back of one of the couches, stretched by arching his back, then moved to sit back down exactly where he was. "I feel ya, bud," he agreed with the cat. "We should probably see about getting to bed, don't you think, ladies?" Piper shook her head, pushing Andy back to sit down on the couch. "Not for a bit. You can sleep when you're dead," she said with a grin. "Don't you agree, Sarah?" "Oh totally," the tall redhead said, moving to slide in to one side of Andy on the couch. "You lose one third of your life sleeping, well, I mean I guess you don't really lose it since you have to sleep otherwise you'll go insane, but it's, like, a lot a lot of time to be spending doing just one thing." "Besides, I have to say thank you for making sure you brought my best friend to be nearby so I didn't feel so lonely all the time," Piper said, peeling her shirt up and over her head, tossing it aside, leaving her in a sports bra and tight fitted blue jeans, her toned stomach bared to the cool night air. "We've been kinda dancing around each other for the last few weeks, Andy, and I don't want you to think I'm not grateful, because I'm very thankful for all the things you've done for me since we've met." "Piper, you don't have  " he started before she lifted her hand up to cover his mouth, "Andy, enough," she giggled. "You can just say 'you're welcome' when you're being thanked for something, you know. You don't have to try and play down the work that went into it." He smirked a little bit, as she pulled her hand back. "I just don't want you to feel like you owe me anything." "Oh, but Andy, I do owe you," she said, bending down to press a kiss to his lips, just a soft and quick one. "You got me away from that asshole Covington. When I couldn't think straight, you did everything you could to bring me back to being me again, and that's not something anyone would do." She inhaled the scent of him, and he could swear he saw her pupils dilate a little in response. "You remember how I told you I could smell you from far away? I still can, but the raw musk of you is even more intense up close, and I fucking love how you smell, you sexy bastard. It makes me feel warm and safe and gooey and sticky and protected all at once. And I know that at least some of that is just the chemicals flowing through my brain bonding me to you, but you know what?" She leaned in and nibbled on his earlobe a little bit. "I've decided that I don't fucking care why I feel how I feel. I feel how I feel and that's all that fucking matters. You've kept me safe. You've given me space when I wanted it, and been happy to talk with me when I needed that. You helped me get my friend here and kept her safe, and as soon as you thought it was time, you pushed my ass to get back to work and reminded me not to give up on my dreams. So don't you dare fucking tell me I don't have to repay you, because even if you don't think that I do, I do, and I want to." "You're the only one of the girls who says she can smell me anywhere in the house, Piper," he told her. "I hope that's not a sign that anything's wrong because Covington held off so long on letting you get imprinted after the injections." "Oh, there's nothing wrong with me, Andy," she purred, unbuttoning her jeans before pushing them down to her ankles, not having bothered to put shoes on earlier, stepping out of them and her panties, leaving her in just the sports bra. She had such an athletic body that it had a tendency to make Andy feel a little ashamed of how out of shape he was. "I'm just different, that's all. Being able to smell you when you're in the house? I consider that a benefit, not a side effect. I get a little anxious when you leave and I can't smell you, not so much that it bothers me, but just enough that I notice the feeling of longing I have that you aren't on hand. And I've reread that letter you left me over a dozen times, because each time, I think I fall for you a little more." She grinned, grabbing her sports bra, pulling it up over her head, tossing it aside. "So yeah, I was scared of saying that, but I'm definitely falling for you, Andrew Rook. Falling in love with you. That's why I was so deep in thought the other morning. You didn't do anything to make me upset or angry. I just was worried about how to tell you." "Piper, Why would you be worried?" Andy said with a kind smile. "You've got so many beautiful women here, Andy," she said, gesturing back to the house. "I mean, shit, you've got Sarah Fucking Washington with her arm around you right now! I know I'm fit, but I'm not beautiful like she and Em are." At that, he raised a single finger, pointing at her. "How dare you," he said, his tone evening a little bit. "You are fucking stunning, I mean beautiful like you cannot even imagine and I do not want to hear you saying you're not beautiful ever again, okay? Because whatever dumb ass boyfriend or athlete you met who said you weren't pretty was the biggest fucking moron you ever met, and you shouldn't give whatever that prick said another thought ever again. Tell her I'm right, Sarah," he said with a soft laugh, shaking his head. "Yep yep yep," Sarah said with a giggle. "Stop being fucking stupid because you're not just pretty, you're fucking hot, and every girl in this house who likes girls thinks so. Shit, I heard Katie telling Jenny that if she wanted to give her a hall pass for her birthday, she'd want to use it on you over all the other girls in the house." Piper giggled, shaking her head, her dark hair covering her eyes for a minute. "You're fucking lying, Sarah." "Cross my fucking heart, swear to fucking God, may she strike me the fuck down if I'm lying. Katie thinks you're the hottest bitch in the house, so you need to shut the fuck up about saying you aren't fucking pretty because that's the stupidest fucking thing anyone's said today, and people talk, like, the worst amount of shit in this house when they think people aren't listening," Sarah said, rolling her eyes, as if she found the whole thing hilariously sad. "Well, that's something I wouldn't have believed if you hadn't told me," Piper replied with a smile. "And I was talking about us dancing around each other, Andy, and I want to apologize for that. I know we've had a handful of encounters, but I've been, guarded, and I'm sorry for how guarded I've been emotionally. I think maybe I was a little hurt that you didn't want to bring Brooke into this house, even though I know you said you thought she'd be a better match with Xander. I thought maybe that was a polite way of you trying to duck out of meeting her,” She looked down at her feet. "I feel a bit guilty about that right now, having spent a bunch of the evening talking with her. I have known that girl almost half a de

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 13 Decisions are made on who's being added to the Rook family. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 27 For most of the next day, Andy kept to himself a bit, staying mostly in his office with the cats. Jenny had swung by to bring him lunch midday, and after he finished it, he decided it was time to talk with his best friend Xander Baker. While Andy was a little chunky, Xander was the whole damn brick. Xander wasn't so much fat as just a mountain of a man. But also a bit fat, if people were being blunt. Xander stood some four inches taller than Andy but was at least a hundred pounds heavier, maybe more, a weird combination of muscle and blubber, much of his skin covered in tattoos. And god help him, Xander was still rocking a mullet, as out of fashion as ever. Much of the time, the back of the mullet was pulled into a rattish ponytail, but today it hung free over his shoulders. He and Xander had grown up together, best friends since they were seven. They'd met playing Little League, something they'd both hated. The two of them had quit playing the next year, but they'd never stopped hanging out. They'd been roommates throughout college, and when Andy had moved to the West Coast, Xander had driven with him and then flown home one way. For years, Andy had been trying to convince Xander to abandon the Midwest, and it always felt like Xander was considering it, though it just never seemed to happen. There had been a two year period where they'd stopped speaking, because Xander had gotten married and gotten divorced all within those two years. Xander's ex wife had hated all of his friends and had driven them away, insisting none of them be invited to the wedding. She'd actually been living with Xander and Andy for the last year Andy lived in Cleveland. They'd gotten married six months after he left, and divorced two years to the day afterwards. On the very day that Xander had decided to divorce her, the first person he'd called was Andy, to apologize for the two years of radio silence. Andy hadn't been mad, and had welcomed his oldest friend back into his life with welcome arms. Xander had drifted from job to job for a couple of years until he'd seemed to find his natural calling as an auto mechanic, one specifically focused on restoration and maintenance of classic and vintage cars, although he did work on pretty much anything to keep the bills paid. Some of Xander's restorations had won awards at car shows, though, and he'd done a few special commissions for some well known people that was starting to get him a little national recognition. For the last six months, Xander had been living vicariously through Andy, when he wasn't working on cars. Thankfully, Xander's work backlog had been more than enough to keep him occupied for a couple of years. He'd even had a 3D printer delivered to help him make molds so he could smelt custom parts when he couldn't find what he needed via mail. It had been a frustratingly solitary life, so his contact with Andy had been what kept him going. They generally talked via FaceTime for an hour every week, like clockwork. When Andy had first gotten Aisling in his life, he'd called Xander the next day to introduce her to him first, and they'd gotten along perfectly. Since then, generally the day after someone had been added to the household, he'd called Xander the day after to introduce them, although it had been about a week or so since they'd talked, simply because between the poker game, his brother's death and all the various arrivals. It had been an overwhelming week, and for the first half an hour of the videocall, Andy had literally simply relied all the various information. Xander had been sad to hear about Matty's death, and had also told Andy that his Xander's own brother, Randy, also passed away, along with his father. Both of them had lost a lot of family in a very short period of time. So the two of them had shared a little cry for a bit, before they'd decided to just plow on. From there, Andy had to inform Xander that not only was he getting married, he was getting married to multiple women, including two that he hadn't even been introduced to yet, but Xander had been laughing at that point. He'd also asked Xander to be his best man, something he'd readily agreed to, even if he was a bit jealous of some of the women lined up to wed Andy. He had sent Xander the group photo shortly before the call, and Xander's immediate question was how the hell he'd ended up hooking up with not only Sarah Washington, but Emily Stevens as well. That had turned into Andy relaying the entire poker story to Xander, who went through a roller coaster of emotions while Andy talked him through it. Xander had long been a Daggerfall Academy fan, not just of the movies but of the books as well, so he was understandably a little jealous of Andy's connection to Emily, but promised not to get too hung up on it when they finally did meet. Xander had still never forgiven him for not meeting E.F. Winston, but Andy had explained to him over and over again that she was simply too big a person to show up to conventions and do meet'n'greets. And then, of course, Andy had needed to tell Xander that he was also going to be a father, and that both Niko and Aisling were pregnant, which resulted in the oddest moment ever, because Xander had just been grinning. Apparently, Niko had called Xander to tell him about it before they'd even told Andy, just to make sure that he'd really be cool with it. Andy found himself a little annoyed with Niko and Aisling, but the moment was fleeting, and in the end, he also found it a little funny, knowing that Xander had had the news about the girls' pregnancies before he did. The last thing they had to talk about was the previous day where the girls had spent hours pitching their friends and colleagues to him, and how overwhelmed by it all Andy was. That was why he'd called Xander, because while Andy had done some thinking about whittling it down, he wanted to talk it all over with his best friend, the person who knew him best in this world. For the next hour or so, Andy and Xander had talked through all of the pitches one by one, covering all of the women, Andy's pros and cons (because of course Andy had made a pros and cons list) and where his head was at with each of them. The call went on long enough that both men had been forced to plug their phones in and let them charge while they continued talking. Internet calling was truly a wonderful thing. It helped his state of mind, being able to talk it all out with someone. He'd thought about talking it all over with Aisling, but he felt like involving any of the girls in the actual decision making process might put undue stress on their relations, and he didn't want to put any of the girls in that kind of awkward position. Xander had proven to be an excellent sounding board, as he always was, and Andy was able to talk himself through all of his decisions over the course of their conversation. At least a couple of times, Andy had joked that maybe it would be better if he didn't invite anyone in, to which point Xander had threatened to phone Niko, so she could slap Andy in the head for him, since Xander was still in Cleveland. He didn't doubt that Xander would do it in the least, and Andy joked that his friend was getting too reliant on one of Andy's soon to be wives to do his dirty work for him. Which, of course, led Xander into dropping a bombshell of his own on Andy. As it turned out, once the quarantine was lifted, Xander was likely going to be moving out to Fresno, a city about an hour away from the Bay area, which meant the two best friends would be able to hang out and see each other regularly, something that made Andy cry a little more. Xander also said, however, that there was also a decent chance the relocation might happen much sooner than that. One of the women he was getting paired up with was a Major in the Air Force, and so she was leaning on people to get him safely relocated across the country, where she could protect him. He'd laughed, saying it was weird to be treated as such precious cargo when just a year ago he was getting turned down by nearly every woman he approached at a bar. Xander, like Andy, had lost most of his roots, especially after the deaths of his brother and father, so he didn't really have much keeping him in the Midwest. In fact, he'd actually been told to pack all of his things immediately, so that if the relocation came through, he'd be ready to move. That was why he felt like the relocation was going to happen much sooner than the "after quarantine" he'd originally been told to expect. If anything, Xander seemed a little annoyed by his lack of information or control in his own relocation, but Andy gave him just enough information to make it all make sense, and after that, Xander seemed a lot more prepared to get to safe ground as fast as possible. Andy had asked to see pictures of the women Xander was getting paired up with, but his friend didn't have those yet. Once he did, though, he would inform Andy and the two could hash it out then. Xander had originally been marked as a level 1, but what with the incredibly high male mortality rate in the country, even level 1s were suddenly moving up in terms of importance for protecting. His friend had some excellent points about some of Andy's initial thoughts and in a few cases, was able to help Andy put his finger on what had been bothering him about a few of the pitches, as well as helping him get out of his own way on a few personal quirks. The thing Xander had stressed to him, above all else, was that he needed to trust his instincts about whether or not the women would personally get along with him, and that if they wouldn't, that he would be doing them a disservice by mixing them into his family. He already had a couple of women whom he knew weren't very much into him beyond their needs, and the last thing he wanted to do was compound that problem. His friend tried to settle his worries about disappointing some of the women, noting for him yet again that any of the women who didn't want to come would have the option of declining his invitation, something that Andy had to keep reminding himself of. The last thing he wanted was to be someone like Covington, abducting women against their will for his own desires. He didn't need any of that shit. With the list finally settled on, and Andy caught up on all the news that Xander had to share, his best friend had asked him if he'd given much thought about who he was going to use his one personal choice on, which had made Andy smile. Andy pointed out that he suspected his invite would be turned down, but that he would be kicking himself if he didn't extend it to the one and only obvious choice, which made Xander punch the sky and cheer. "She's going to say yes," Xander told him, the grin from ear to ear, while he danced around in his bedroom in Cleveland. "You know this. I know this. Everyone knows this. Why are you pretending to yourself that she won't?" "Because," Andy said, in between laughs, "she and I haven't spoken in, what, ten, fifteen years? She could be married for all we know." "Liar!" Xander cackled. "You and I both know you're lying, because we are both Facebook friends with her, and if she had gotten married, we absolutely would have been invited to the wedding, or at the very least heard about it! She's the kind of person who would've had that all over her social media, but she hasn't, which means she isn't, which means she's going to say yes to you, because she's still pining for you like you're still pining for her! I fucking knew you weren't over her, you goddamn liar! How many times did you tell me you were okay with it? How many times did I tell you that you were full of shit? She's going to say yes to you, my most righteous dude, " "It's not just me she would have to say yes to, Xan! She's been living in DC for a decade now! I'm sure she's put roots down." "She's hated living in DC for a decade now, you mean. She would hook up with a lemur if it got her out of DC. I doubt she's put any real roots down so that if she wanted to bail on that shithole cesspit of political vipers, she could." "She works in DC. Her entire job is in DC. She's a political reporter. She may not be working at the White House any more, but she's a congressional reporter. She needs to be in DC to do that job." Xander rolled his eyes. "She will take another option if there's one available, and if she moves out there with you, she'll just get into some other kind of reporting. Or maybe she'll just start writing political books. Or historical novels. Or fucking anything else. I never understood why you two didn't stay together in the first place." "She wanted to be a White House reporter, and she actually got the job with the bureau, so she moved out there, and I got the job writing for Netflix and had to move out here," Andy said with a shrug. "We talked about trying long distance, but it was the entire length of the country, and I didn't want to be a burden on her." "You two have unfinished business, Andy," Xander said to him. "Extend the invite, and then we'll see who's right in the long run, huh?" "That's what I'm going to do, Xan," Andy said. "Let her make her own mind up. My money's on her still being upset with how we ended things." "Willing to make a little wager on that?" "Sure, what did you have in mind for stakes?" "Since you're mister moneybags now, when I win, you buy me a Tesla." Andy laughed and nodded. "And if I win?" "Then I owe you one complete restoration of a car, no matter what the state it's in, but it's never gonna happen." "I'll remind you that you said that when you're having to completely rebuild a Ferrari from a busted frame." Xander waggled a finger at him. "We'll see then, won't we?" He sighed a little bit. "Shit, brother, we've been talking for hours. You should probably get your list done and tell your girls so you can start that whole process, since your buddy Phil seemed to think you should get it started as soon as possible. How much shit are we going to be in next week?" Andy shrugged slightly. "Let's just say if they show up to move you soon, Xan, let them. The sooner you can get settled in your new home, the better off you'll be." His friend nodded. "Yeah, most definitely. Hey, you think you've got enough clout that you could get me and my ladies to move into New Eden with you guys?" Andy rolled his eyes. "I doubt it, but shit, I can ask Phil. What's the name of the Major you're getting hooked up with? Maybe Phil can get her reassigned to the base here." "Okay look, I'm gonna tell you, and you're gonna laugh, so get all your laughing done now, get all your jokes off your chest, and then do not tease her about it when you meet her, okay?" Andy shot his best friend a dirty look. "C'mon. I'm usually above that kind of thing. You really think I'm going to take pot shots at her name?" Xander looked at him dead on and said. "Her name is Captain Betsy Ross." While he waited for Andy to say something, he lifted both hands into the frame of the camera and flicked his fingers inward in a 'come at me' gesture. Andy did his stoic best to hold as long as he could, but finally he couldn't hold it back any more. "Does that make you Xander Washington? Is she going to wear a flag for your wedding? Oh my god, are you going to take her last name and become Xanderous?" "Finished?" "Yeah, 'kay, I won't say shit about it to her, but I will talk to Phil and see if I can get all of you brought here. She's stationed in Fresno you said?" "I assume so, considering that's where they're relocating me." "Got it. I'll give you a call in a couple of days when I know what's going on." "Cool. Cool cool cool. Anyway, congrats on all the things,  the engagements, the pregnancies, the sudden wealth and the influx of beautiful women. Your life is such a struggle." Andy chortled at the serious tone with which his friend Xander had delivered that. "Fuck you too, buddy. Hopefully I'll see you in person soon." The two hung up and all that left was for Andy to write up the list. So he opened up a fresh document in Word and started typing. At the top of the page he made a clear note that anyone he hadn't chosen would be recommended over to trusted friends, to see if they could be brought into the community at the very least. He also stressed that just invitations were being extended, and that if anyone didn't want to join the family, they certainly were not going to be compelled to on his behalf. Beneath that, he wrote that the names were in alphabetical order, not in order of preference. The list did include one alternate, in case anyone said no. If multiple people said no, well, then they would have less people than originally planned. He also said that anyone who was a friend of someone listed below had until tomorrow morning to craft an invitation video for their friend that would be delivered, along with a video invitation from Andy himself, to the women in question. Phil would be by for lunch tomorrow, so the deadline on recording an invitation video was hard set and non negotiable. Finally, if anyone was upset by his decisions, they could come and talk to him about it, and he would explain his reasoning to them, but he also hoped the girls would trust in his judgment on the matter and not try to convince him to change his mind, because as he wrote on the sheet, his decisions were final. The List,  staff Alexis Coleman (security) Dr. Morgan Fitch (pediatrics) Whitney Wells (technical support) The List,  family Fiona Smith Larissa Cotton Maya Summer Steele Tabitha Jefferson Tala Jordan The List,  alternate Jade Dillon Andy looked over the list on his screen for a few minutes, making sure all of his decisions were final in his head, before he finally muttered to himself, "Yeah, fuck it." He hit Control P print, and a minute later, his laser printer hummed to life. As the printer vomited its single page, he considered for a moment the people he hadn't chosen. He'd decided to pass on Olivia because she just felt like she and he wouldn't have had anything in common. He'd never say it aloud to Asha, but her friend struck him as a little vapid and self centered, at least for his tastes. She did, however, seem like someone his friend Eric's first partner Lily could whip into shape, or at the very least would mesh well with Lily's friend (and another of Eric's partner) Jenny, who was not to be confused with his own chef, whom was also named Jenny. Piper's friend Brooke had practically been tailor made for his best friend Xander, and since Xander was on his way out to California anyway, Andy was going to see if he could maneuver the two of them together. Their mutual love of classic cars would be an instant tie binding the two together. Of course, he hadn't told Xander about that, but he figured it didn't hurt to put some good into his friends world when he had the chance. Taylor's friend Natalie had seemed nice enough, but she was also young, and Andy had to be honest with himself that he needed at least a few more women who were closer to his own age, people whom he could relate to a little better. He also fully suspected at least one or two of his invitations would be declined, and that Jade would end up being extended an invitation in the end. He'd put her as an alternate simply because he liked the other options slightly better, but if (or rather when, he figured) someone said no, Jade would be invited and no one would ever mention that she hadn't been a first choice. Although, if he thought about it, considering Jade's relentless positivity, she might not even care. All of the staff pitches had made sense, and while he was a little nervous about how Dr. Fitch had been described as overly blunt, he had hopes that they could make it work, or if they couldn't that she would decline the invite. Lexi and Whitney had been slam dunks from the second they'd been presented. Once the sheet was printed out, he opened the sheet of paper that Aisling had given him with her predictions, not having looked at it before then. It read: "In: Maya, Tabitha, Lexi, Jade, Whitney, Natalie. Alternate: Tala." When he came out of his office with the paper in hand, he couldn't see anyone around, but was fairly certain he heard someone shuffling around a corner behind him as he started to walk down the hall towards the stairs. He strode down the stairs and then down another hall before entering the downstairs living room area, where Aisling was sitting watching TV. She'd clearly been waiting in the room for him, to his amusement. That meant he still had the ability to surprise her, and he found himself delighted by that. However confident she'd pretended to be in her predictions, obviously she hadn't been that confident if she'd rushed to look at what the list said. "That the list?" she asked him, as he strolled over towards a highly exposed section of the wall. "It is." "How'd I do on my predictions?" "75%, so very well," he said, as he taped the list up to the wall, hearing the sound of some footsteps near the entrances of the room. Aisling scooted over quickly to read it, as other girls were standing in the doorways, not yet ready to rush into the room. She nodded, then started walking with Andy out of the room, as the room was suddenly flooded behind him, various members of the house swarming in to read the list. "Passed on the stripper, huh?" the redhead teased, as they headed back up to his office. "I suppose I'm not surprised, just a little disappointed. I wanted her to teach me some of those pole tricks." Andy smirked. "I needed to make sure some of these women I can have a conversation with, Ash, and I just don't know that me and girls barely out of college are going to connect on that much. I'm going to recommend Natalie over to Eric, or, let's be honest, I'm going to recommend her over to Lily, and Lily will decide whether or not to bring her over for Eric." The Irish girl snickered, nodding fiercely. "I'm sure Lily will bring her in, if for no other reason that to see Eric get all bashful about it. I wasn't sure if Tala's kink might have been a bit much for you, so I put her in as an alternate." He waved a hand in the air. "I don't care about that one way or another, but she's a musician, she makes puzzle boxes and she's got a wicked sense of humor. How did you not think that would be a shoo in for me?" She grinned, shrugging. "I guess I gave a bit more weight to the virgin sacrifice, although I did see she was an alternate." "Yeah. I'm betting either Tabitha or Larissa, or maybe both, will pass on joining the family, for whatever reason, and that Jade will get an invite in the end, but I have to admit, I'm a little nervous about the idea of being someone's first and only male partner." "You'll do fine, love," she said, as they stepped into his office and closed the door behind them. "So now you have to tell me: Who's Fiona?" Andy moved over to his arm chair, picking up the cat that had settled there, sliding in to sit down. He was about to put the cat into his lap, when Ash slid to sit on his lap, then took Huginn from his hands and set the black cat atop her own lap. "Fiona's my choice. She lives in Washington D.C." "But who is she, Andy?" "She's my ex. My college ex. So you know that Xander and I were roommates all five years of college, but for the last half of it or so, both he and I had girlfriends living with us. Annie was living with Xander  " "Wait, psycho bitch 'I found her cheating on me with two guys on my birthday' Xander's ex wife Annie? That Annie?" Andy laughed and nodded. "Yep. Annie never much liked me or, hell, anyone Xander was friends with. But she's gone from his life now, so thankfully you'll never meet her, because she's insane. Did I tell you that she tried to argue, in court, that Xander's lack of attention to her forced her to cheat on him with those two dudes?" "What a cunt," Aisling groaned. "Awright, so forget her. Tell me about Fiona! Why haven't you ever mentioned her before?" "I haven't talked to her in at least a dozen years!" he chuckled. "She going to say no anyway, but if I had any major regrets in my life, it's that Fi and I split up, even though I don't see any way my life could've gone in which we didn't. We met as sophomores in a political science class together, and she was dating my boss at the newspaper at the time. She dumped him like two weeks after that, and just after I got back for Christmas, she asked me out and we started dating." "Awww!" "About a year and a half or so later, her two roommates bailed on her like two weeks after the spring semester started, and she couldn't find someone to take their places. With no roommates she couldn't afford the rent on the three bedroom house she was renting, and breaking the lease was going to put her hard into debt, so she invited me and Xander, who were renting out a shitty apartment month to month, to leave our place and move into hers." "Why is this the first I'm hearing of any of this?" "I didn't think it was important! It was a long, long time ago!" he sighed. "Anyway, when we graduated, Fiona had gotten a job offer to work in the DC Bureau of the Associated Press as a reporter, and I had gotten the offer to come out here for Netflix. I visited DC with her, and she visited SF with me, while we tried to figure out what we were going to do about it. Neither of us really liked DC all that much, but she very much wanted the job. I loved the Bay. I asked her to move out with me, but she insisted she wanted to give the DC job a chance, and so we parted ways." "What? Just like that?" "Well, we tried having a long distance relationship for a few months, but this was like fifteen years ago, and after about six months, we agreed it wasn't working, and sort of fell out of touch. About three months later, I started dating Erin, and you know how that worked out, and she started dating some cop named Sam. After that, we basically just stopped talking to one another, although about two years ago, both Xander and I got Facebook friend requests from her, which we both accepted, although neither of us has had a conversation with her yet." "Why not?" "Shit, Ash, I dunno. How do you even start that conversation? 'Hi, remember me? I know we were talking about getting married at one point, but we didn't and then we moved across the country from one another. I'm getting married to at least four women now and wondered if you might want to join us. Oh, how've you been?'" "You have to start it somewhere, Andy." "Well, she's not married, at least she doesn't have herself marked as married on Facebook, and Xander's done a little internet stalking of her, I'm sure on my unwilling behalf, and says she doesn't even seem to have a regular boyfriend, and that she's spent most of the last several years bitching and moaning about how she hates living in DC, although considering she's more liberal than I am, I'm not all that surprised." "Do you think she's going to accept your invitation?" "Ye ” n  , I really don't have a fucking clue, Ash," he said with a laugh, which made her laugh as well. "I guess we'll just wait and see." Over the rest of the day and into the evening, the girls all came to thank him, even if he hadn't chosen the girl they'd put forth, and to see how he was doing, making sure he hadn't been too stressed out by the whole process. The rest of the time, everyone was recording their invitation videos. Each of the girls made a video for their friends, although a few of them recorded multiple videos, one for the person they'd put forth and one for someone they also knew. Andy himself recorded a unique video for each and every invitation, and also made sure to record one for Jade, in case it was needed. The next day, Phil showed up for lunch, and had a bit of a grim look on his face. "Why the dark cloud, friend?" Andy asked him, as the two walked out onto the back patio, where Jenny had set up a nice lunch for them. "So we had our first death in New Eden yesterday," he sighed. "And it was absolutely unnecessary." "I thought only vaccinated people were allowed into New Eden?" "They are. A woman decided she didn't believe all the warnings we give them at the base about not partaking of a man's cum that she isn't paired with." "Wait, what?" "So some woman decided she wanted a bit of strange, so she was fooling around with some guy other than the one she was paired with." "What the fuck happened? I thought there were early warnings that would've discouraged her." "Apparently they were using a condom, and they were convinced because that seemed fine that everything we told them must be utter bullshit." "Goddamn it." Niko had filled him in on some of the details of how the vaccine paired people just after they'd arrived in New Eden, at least as how she understood it. If a woman came in contact with semen from a man other than the one she was paired with, it would cause her to break out in a violent rash. The rash happened almost immediately on skin contact, so even a tiny bit of precum would be enough to discourage anyone from going further. "So she took off the condom right before the dude popped, and then swallowed his load, and it ate her open from the inside." "Fuck, Phil!" Andy said, wincing a little. "I hate to say it, but you may need to show pictures of that to people so they understand what kind of danger they're in if they're unfaithful." "I so don't want to, but it's up to the mayor now, and he's considering it." "Who were the people?" "Don't think it's anyone you know. The guy's name is Brian Morrison, a banker. He's in custody right now, because he might be guilty of manslaughter or murder, nobody's really sure." "And who was the woman?" "Veronica De La Cruz. She was part of that bastard Arthur Covington's house." "Oh shit," Andy muttered. "I met her, briefly. She was supposed to be the dealer at the poker game. I thought it was particularly in poor taste that Covington made her be topless in front of a bunch of strangers, but I didn't realize she was quite that unhappy there." "This new world is so utterly fucked up some days. Oh, also Audrey's pregnant, so I've apparently picked the best time to bring a new life into the world." "You and me both, friend. Ash and Niko are both pregnant as well." Phil grinned a little at that. "Well, at least our kids will grow up with good friends nearby. Anyway, you get your list and videos done?" Andy slid across a thumb drive to him. "All on there, including contact information for everyone we have, or at least general location for the ones we don't. I'm not going crazy and asking for a bunch of celebrities like Covington did." "Seemed like his requests worked out pretty well for you, though." "Can't blame me if the dude's a shit card player." "Well, I can but I won't, because fuck that guy. Anyone I might recognize on the list?" "A couple of people. And, uh," he said before lowering his voice to almost a whisper. "Fi's on there." "What was that? I believe your pride was stuck in your throat, or maybe that's just your foot," the Filipino engineer laughed. "I'm sending Fiona an invite, okay?" "Good for you," Phil said, as he finished his sandwich. "I've been telling you to reach out to that woman ever since she added you on Facebook, but you just kept avoiding it. Nothing like an apocalypse to get you to get off your ass, huh?" "Yeah yeah, Phil, go fuck yourself." "Anyway, tell all your girls about the death, and prepare them that they may be shown some rather graphic autopsy photos in the near future if the mayor decides to go ahead with his discouragement campaign. I don't think any of your girls would fool around with other guys, but I think they're just gonna show everyone." "Oh, you know Xander, right?" "Your friend from Ohio? Sure." "Apparently he's paired up with Captain Betsy Ross," he said, raising a finger. "No jokes." Phil was struggling not to laugh, but managed. "He was wondering if maybe you could relocate them to New Eden." "I'm not a goddamn genie, Rook." "You know you'd like having him around here. Besides, I've got a few recommendations for you and Eric on that thumb drive as well, so don't say I never gave you anything. There's also one in there who might be a great match for Xander. Plus, look at it this way,  you get him out here, and he'll probably build you a classic car as a way of saying thank you." Phil smirked for a bit, picked up the thumb drive and walked away humming the "I Dream of Genie" theme song. Chapter 28 As Phil had promised, things moved incredibly quickly from there. The next morning, Andy got a call from Xander, informing Andy that Xander was being relocated to New Eden, and that he would see him in just a few short days. He also told Andy that he'd heard Andy had lined up some kind of welcoming present for him, and that he hoped he'd enjoy unwrapping it. It was clear that Xander didn't actually know what was waiting for him, but Phil had already sent word that Brooke, Piper's friend, had accepted the offer for her to be paired up with Xander, all without Xander's knowledge. It would make for a hell of a surprise when Xander showed up. Andy intended to make sure he was there to greet his friend upon his arrival, and it was nice to help his best friend out. Andy was quickly learning how to trade in on favors, so having Xander owe him a few was bound to pay off sooner or later, even if he wasn't sure quite how. But it also just felt good improving his friend's life. Later that day, Andy also found out which of his offers had been accepted and which had been rejected. He was surprised to find that he'd been rejected not twice, but three times, which Niko teased him not to take personally. The first to decline his offer to join the family was Dr. Morgan Fitch, Katie's friend and ex girlfriend. Dr. Fitch had said in the video message she'd sent back that she appreciated Katie thinking of her, but that living in a house with one of her exes simply did not appeal to her, and that she had sworn off men regardless. Katie seemed more bothered by it than Andy did, but Andy assured her that if Dr. Fitch had been having reservations about it, it was best for her to decide that now than after she was locked in, to which Katie reluctantly agreed. The second to pass was Larissa Cotton, which came as no real surprise to Andy. As it turned out, Larissa had in fact gotten married years ago, and she and her husband were doing well in lockdown. The complaint she'd had to Sarah about not having gotten laid recently months ago had stemmed from an accident that Larissa's husband had endured, which left him temporarily impotent, but which he had thankfully recovered from since then. She also mentioned that she didn't always think to put on her wedding ring, so she admitted she might not have been wearing it the last time she'd video chatted with Sarah, so she could see where the misconceptions might have sprung from. Larissa also offered Andy her sincerest congratulations on his partnership with Sarah (as well as all the others) and insisted he call her up some time so that they could gossip as only colleagues could. Finally, she promised to be more thankful if he would give her another first edit pass in the future. His final rejection of the day came from Hannah's former cheerleading instructor Tabitha Jefferson. She had also declined to take the Rook family up on their offer, not because she wasn't intrigued by the idea, but because in the past two weeks, she had relocated up to Portland, where she had moved in with her former lovers Dom and Mike. With her mother no longer around, Tabby had simply decided California no longer held any sway over her, and she reached out to her previous partners, who had welcomed her back with open arms. The two men had been living in virtual isolation, and had taken their quarantine deathly serious, so they'd both remained completely uninfected. Tabby also sent along a message just for Hannah, encouraging her to make the most of her new situation, and giving her a contact number so they could remain friends moving forward. Hannah had been a little saddened at first, but after hearing that the reason was that Tabby was now reunited with her throuple and extremely happy once more, she brightened immensely and skipped out of the room to go and call Tabby so the two could catch up. There had also been one more call for the day, a complication that only intrigued Andy even further. Late in the afternoon, Phil called to inform Andy that the women who had accepted (which included Jade) would be arriving in a few waves, with those who were already local being delivered to his house tomorrow, and those who lived further out coming in one or two more separate waves. But that hadn't been why Phil had been calling. The videoscreen suddenly split into two, with Phil on the left, and the still achingly beautiful Fiona on the right. "Hey Andy," she said, that sly, lazy smile he was all too familiar with on her face, the smile he knew could hold a thousand different meanings in its subtext. "Hey Fi." He stopped there, because for once in his life, Andy was at a complete loss for words. "So, about this offer of yours," she said, trailing off a little. She didn't just look good; she looked fucking great. Despite the fact that it had been fifteen years since they'd been a couple, she had shrugged off the signs of aging far better than he had, only a few scant wrinkles around her distractingly deep green eyes, the shade of newly clipped summer grass. Her brown hair still had reddish highlights in it, as it had when they'd been dating what felt like lifetimes ago. It currently hung down to her shoulders, like it might have been a bob when the pandemic started and she'd just let it grow out. She'd grown up in Georgia, and while she'd lost almost all of that southern accent, Andy could still hear very faint hints of it, just around the edges, like she'd never quite been able to shake it fully. It was certainly less prominent than it was back in college. "I have a couple of questions, and that'll determine my answer, if that's alright." "Yeah, sure, go ahead." "Hi Fiona!" Niko chimed in, poking her head into the camera's view, giving an enthusiastic wave. "I'm one of Andy's partners, well, one of his fiances, actually, so you can ask me anything as well." Andy wasn't sure, but he felt like he saw Fi try and stifle a slight smile, but whether that was at Niko's interjection or Andy's blushing in response to it, he couldn't tell. Fiona didn't choose to acknowledge Niko's comment, and instead focused intently on Andy. "Alright, first, why haven't you reached out to me before now Andy?" He sighed and shrugged, a sheepish smile on his face. "I wasn't sure what to say, or even how to start, Fi. When you sent me that friend request a couple of years back, I assumed there was something you wanted to talk to me about, so I accepted it, and then, nothing." "Did it ever occur to you that maybe I wanted you to make the first move?" "You know me pretty well, Fi, or at least you did," he laughed, arching one of his bushy blonde eyebrows at her. "Did you honestly think I'd come to that conclusion on my own?" She openly smiled that time, nodding. "Alright, you've got me there. I suppose that's fair. Second, why didn't you ask me to come with you when you moved out to California, all those years ago when we graduated from college together?" "I did ask, Fi. You know I did." She scowled at him, shaking her head a little. "You gave it one half assed try at best, Andrew," she said, the use of his full name definitely feeling like it was meant to belittle him a bit, or at the very least scold him. "You asked just the one time, I said no, and you never brought it up again, which isn't like you at all. Why didn't you really try and convince me to come out west with you?" He bit his bottom lip for half a second, but decided too much had gone unspoken between him and Fiona for too long now, so he came to the conclusion that he should just be upfront and direct. "Because I was afraid I would've gotten you to say yes." She started to speak, frustration plain on her face, Andy could see, so he raised a hand to silence her for a moment longer and continued. "And that would've made me the happiest man in the world, Fi, I promise you, it really and truly would have. But I knew that it would come with dire consequences you couldn't see yet, things that I could. I knew, I mean really knew, that if you moved out to California with me, it would've been preventing you from chasing your dreams, the ones you'd had since you were a little girl. I would've always been worried that you resented me for keeping you from that life, even just a little bit. It probably would've eventually led to us breaking up over it, and you wouldn't have known why, and I wouldn't have been able to fix it, no matter how hard I tried. You wanted so desperately to work in the White House; I didn't want to give you any excuse at all not to go chasing after that dream. I felt like you were trying to use me as an excuse not to go and do the thing you really wanted." "I wouldn't have resented you, Andy," she sighed. "I wanted you to talk me out of it. I did. I really, really did. DC has been nothing but a decade and a half of frustration and disappointment." "Sure, but you only know that now, Fi. You couldn't have known that back then. There's no way you could've know that then. You needed to see it through for yourself, to have the experiences needed to make that decision. And if you really wanted me to talk you out of it, you should've said something back then. If you thought you were hinting at it, you were far too subtle for me to pick up on it. I'm not a mind reader. Wasn't then, and I'm still not now. I can't just guess that you're looking for me to help sway you one way or another." Fiona looked like she wanted to object further, but then nodded once more, as if coming to grips with all of that in her head, like a million puzzle pieces were suddenly falling into place, and she could see the entire picture for the first time. "Okay then. I have one more thing, though. A condition. I have a condition for me coming to join your household. Well, two conditions, actually." "Sure," Andy said, "fire away." "The first is that you have to actually marry me. I know you said in your message said that you're marrying some of your partners and not others, but I absolutely insist I be one of the people that you do marry, if we're going to do this. You know that I'm Catholic. I also know you're an atheist, and that's fine, but my religion still means something to me, and you've always respected that, so I need you to respect that now. Because I'm going to want to get pregnant, if we do go through with this, so I have to be married before that happens. We lived together for two years, so you know we're both compatible in sharing a home and a bed together. So that's the first thing. Are you okay with that?" Andy smiled a little bit shyly. "More than okay, but I think you knew that already, as long as you're still alright with me not going into church every week with you. I imagine you're going to have a harder time convincing the Catholic church that polygamy's okay, though." "Are you kidding?" she snorted. "When word gets out how many American men are dead, they're going to be desperate to get every good Catholic boy and girl out there to be doing as much being fruitful and multiplying as they can get." Niko began to quietly hum Monty Python's "Every Sperm Is Sacred" until Andy swatted her on the thigh and she stopped, although her grin had only widened. "Hey, it's your religion, not mine," he said to Fi. "If they're cool with it, so am I. What's the other thing?" "The other thing is that you need to agree to something, one specific thing, not knowing what it is or anything about it." He blinked in confusion. "Er, what?" This was uncharacteristic for Fiona, being deliberately vague, and Andy wondered what was behind it. "I have another condition but you need to agree to it without knowing anything about it. You just have to trust me and either agree to it, or I'll have to pass." Andy paused and considered for a moment, perhaps even a moment longer than Fiona had expected him to. He could give Fiona an almost complete blank check, almost, but he decided he needed to clarify one thing. "Assure me that this condition that I can't know anything about won't harm or injure anyone. Since arriving here in New Eden, I've learned first hand that people can be capable of some truly terrible things, and while I don't think that you are, Fi, I just want to make sure I'm not getting anyone else hurt because of this. I couldn't live with myself if it was." "The only thing that might be injured is your pride, that's all," she said, a playful smirk resting on her face. "I might bust your balls a bit for ditching me, but I'm not going to do anything you'd always regret over the long term. So what's it gonna be, Chuckles?" The fact that she still remembered her old nickname for him told him everything he needed to know. Of course he was in. He was all in. "Fine, you got yourself a deal, Peaches," he replied, using his old nickname for her, which made her smile widen a little more on the other end of the video call. "Great," she said. "I'll start packing and we'll see you in a few days. Later skater." She tapped the button and ended her portion of the call, leaving just him and Phil on the line. Phil had been quietly watching the entire conversation with a bemused look on his face, like he was supposed to be doing or saying something, but couldn't tear himself away from the drama. "You're an idiot, you know that, right?" he said, rolling his eyes a little at Andy's naivety. "Based on just a few minutes worth of watching you two talk, I don't think either of you ever fell out of love with the other." "As much a surprise to me as it was to you, Phil," Andy chuckled. "It's been a long time." "You did hear what she said though, right Andy?" Niko said to him, poking him lightly. "Wait. What did I miss?" "She said we'll see you in a few days," Niko giggled. "I somehow don't think she was talking about the royal we." "Ah hell. Well, I did agree to anything, so we'll burn that bridge when we come to it." "Pretty sure that's not how that line goes," Phil joked. "Anyway, I'll be by tomorrow to drop off your locals. Jade, Tala and Whitney are on their way here to the base, and will get their injections tonight so they'll be ready to meet you tomorrow. You know what they're like when they're newly injected, so be prepared to take care of them for their initial imprinting within a few days. Also, you can tell Taylor her friend Natalie will be in New Eden tomorrow as well, just over at my house." "Decided you just couldn't pass her up, huh? I thought you were going to ship her over to Eric." "Audrey's always wanted to take pole dancing lessons, so I figured why not have an in house teacher?" "Having an overly flexible eager teenage stripper in your bed is just a bonus, huh?" Phil's grin spread from ear to ear. "Oh, sure, sure. I mean, I'll learn to live with it, I guess. If I have to." He rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. "We all make sacrifices. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" "You got it, man. Stay safe." "You know it, brother." "So that's the girl who took your virginity, huh? Your first true love? She didn't look at all like I expected her to look like, Andy," Niko said to him, as he stood up from the couch, stretching his arms over his head. "What did you expect her to look like?" "I dunno, but under possible things this mythical mysterious ex of yours might look like, I don't think I ever considered 'a lot like a young Gina Davis' to be anywhere in the vicinity." Andy smirked a little bit. He'd heard the comparison more than a couple of times back when they were dating, what felt like a lifetime ago. "I take it that she meets with your approval then?" "Hell, she called you Chuckles. For that alone, the woman immediately earned a place in my heart. I'm sure there's a story behind that." "There is," Andy said, not elaborating further. "You gonna tell me what it is?" "I am not," he said, smugly. "You can dig it out of Fiona yourself when she arrives." He rolled his eyes with anticipated dread. "She probably still even has the photo, knowing her,” "Did you keep up on her coverage of politics after you two split up?" He shrugged. His emotional state after they'd split from one another had been messy at best, and his mind had been a whirlwind of emotions. "I mean, I'd see her name on a byline from time to time, but I didn't go out of my way to find her work. After we'd split up, I figured she wouldn't ever want to talk to me again. Ending a relationship sometimes does mean things to a person, and despite the fact that I thought we broke up pretty gracefully, one day about fourteen years ago, we ended a phone conversation and she said she'd call me in a week, and she never called again." "And you didn't call her?" "After about a month, sure. But by then, her phone number had been disconnected, as she'd apparently moved, so I figured it was a none too subtle way of telling me to fuck off." "Or a test to see if she still mattered enough to you for you to track her down." "God," Andy groaned. "Maybe. Probably? Maybe. Fuck, I don't know. But that's a shitty thing to do to a guy, especially one who's always dealt with low self esteem. It's like I told you, like I've told each and every one of you who've decided to stick out your lives with me,  sometimes you're just going to have to come right out and say what it is that's on your mind, because if you're expecting me to guess it, I'm probably gonna make a few giant mistakes here and there." Niko giggled a little, nodding. "We women can be needlessly cruel from time to time, but you have to realize, we don't even know we're doing it sometimes. It's just something we've been indoctrinated into making second nature. At least you can see that it might have been a mistake now, though." "Yep. And then she went and complicated things further by adding me and Xander on Facebook as friends a couple of years ago, which we both accepted. But neither of us felt comfortable messaging her first, and she never messaged us either, so it's just been one long detente." Niko shook her head in mock disappointment at him. "You can definitely be an idiot some times, you know that, Chuckles?" "Hey hey hey," he tsked. "You can't call me that until after you get the story out of Fiona." "You should've reached out to her, Andy," Niko said with a sigh. "It sounds like that's what she very much wanted from you." "Should've, would've, could've. We're here now, so I'll just have to live and learn. And when Fiona gets here, I'll give her the 'speak your mind speech I gave to you, so we're all on the same starting point." The house had mostly kept itself busy today by the girls getting all their things moved in, as well as adding some décor to the house that wasn't purely Andy's. Sure, the publicity posters for all of his novels were still hanging on the walls, but now they'd been joined by movie posters for both Sarah and Emily's movies, framed photographs that Asha had taken before leaving London, framed posters from Sheridan's Cirque Du Soleil shows, a couple of framed articles detailing Piper's rise in the volleyball community, a framed sand painting done by Niko's mother and a few original paintings that Aisling had done as a break from her more commercial work. It helped make the place feel less like his house and more like their house. He would encourage all the girls to make sure they left some kind of a mark on the house as they arrived. He didn't want any of them to feel lesser that the girls who'd arrived first. Emily and Sarah had also converted one bedroom into a makeshift studio for them to use, lining the walls with sound dampening foam, setting up cameras and microphones, so the room could be used for them to record lines for voice overs, or to film video auditions. There

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 4 A pandemic survivor's harem continues to thrive amidst chaos.. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 11 For the next hour or so, Andy explored the house on his own while the girls moved things from the car into the house, as well as letting the cats loose into their new environment. He wasn't sure who was more overwhelmed, himself or the cats. The building was immense, feeling both warm and alien all at the same time. Mostly, though, the space felt incomplete. It was a home that had been decorated by a real estate agent, not by someone looking to live in it. Everything was arranged for show not for actual use. He wandered into the gym first and found it stocked with free weights, resistance machines and a small aerobics area, all the machines in pristine condition, never used. Looking at himself in the mirror, he wasn't even sure he recognized himself in this new home. Andy strolled out of the gym and found himself in one of the three living rooms, with a wet bar off to one side. There were several couches arranged around the middle, as well as a handful of lounge chairs. Without warning, Muninn, his Russian blue cat, hopped up from behind one of the couches onto the back of it, which startled the hell out of Andy. As soon as the cat saw him, however, he sauntered over Andy's direction. Andy moved closer and pet the cat, who gave a healthy purr in response. "Yeah, I know, Mun, it's weird for me too. But we live here now, so explore away." "Are ya freaked out?" Aisling said to him as she moved into the room. "It's just a home." "That's just it, Ash," he sighed. "It's a home, but it's not my home, not our home. Not yet. I'm sure I'll get there at some point, but for right now, it's just reinforcing how weird all of this is. I mean, yesterday, there were seven of us crammed into that little tiny condo, and now Eric lives down the street, and we live, here. In the kind of place I never even dreamed about." Aisling moved over, a soft sympathetic smile on her face, as she wrapped her arms around him and held him in an inviting hug for a long moment. "The world's changing, and we have to change with it, Andy. That means we're all going to be a bit out of our comfort zones now and then, but think of it this way,  you can make one of these bedrooms into a full on study, and line the walls with bookshelves, like you said you'd always wanted to do. We'll put your desk in there, and you can turn it into a writer's cozy, a space where you can go and work on your next book and nobody'll bother you. What's wrong with that?" "There's nothing wrong with that, Ash. There's nothing wrong with any of this, except for the fact that I didn't really earn any of it." "Luv," she said to him, "most of the people who get lucky in life, it was right place right time, and all they did was have the good sense not to muck it up. That's what you're doing here. You were in the right place at the right time, and you had the good sense to let me into your bed. And I've been good to you, haven't I?" "Oh god, Ash, you and Lauren and Niko have all been amazing, far better than I deserve,” "There'll be none of that, mister," she scolded, slapping his shoulder. "You've been grand to all of us, and you've helped Eric and Lily get their shit sorted out. I know Jenny doesn't have her head sorted out yet, but when she does, I'm sure she'll thank you. You could've been a right shite about alla this, but instead you've been a stand-up guy. So take a deep breath." Andy stopped and took a deep breath. "It didn't help much." "It helped a little." "Okay, it helped a little." "Are you more bothered by the house, the staff or the fact that there's going to be a lot more women moving into our lives?" "It's a lot of women, Ash." "It will be a lot of women, Andy. Yes, that's absolutely true, but we'll manage it. Besides, the house is nice isn't it?" "Understating things a bit, aren't you Ash?" "Fine," she said with a wry grin, rolling her eyes in his direction. "It's a bloody magnificent place. Just in the tour alone, I wanted to strip down to my knickers and socks and play 'Risky Business' so if you hear 'Old Time Rock'n'Roll' blaring from the hi fi, look both ways when walking through the hallways." "You're changing the subject." "It'll be fine, Andy. Just stop worrying and enjoy this." She moved to sit down in the couch, and picked up a remote control from the coffee table in front of it. She looked around the room for a moment before she finally just pressed the power button on it, to see what happened. From a small overhang across the room, a giant television dropped down and turned on, as concealed speakers all around the room hummed to life. "That is hell of a television." Andy moved to slump down onto the couch next to her, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "And just think, this isn't even the theater room. Let's just relax for a little bit and watch some TV." Apparently whoever had set up their house had given them a deluxe cable package, with every optional channel Andy could think of, and loads he'd never even heard of. They settled on SpikeTV, which was in the middle of a James Bond marathon. They were showing "Goldeneye" and they'd had the luck to turn on right at the beginning. "I've always loved Brosnan as Bond," Aisling said to him a few hours later, as the movie was over. "I don't know that he's the best Bond, but he's my Bond. You?" "He was great, but I've always been a Connery man myself." "You Americans, you all have your own Bond, much like those of us across the pond have our own Doctor. You a fan of Doctor Who, luv?" Andy smirked wryly. "Tom Baker, but if I'm honest, I could watch David Tennant in anything. I watched "Good Omens" last year at least three times. I'm guessing you're a Capaldi girl." "Chris Eccleston's my Doctor," Aisling said. "But I'm glad you didn't say I should be a Matt Smith girl, just because he had a ginger companion." Andy shook his head. "So did Tennant, but neither of them were Irish. Catherine Tate's British and Karen Gillan's Scottish. I'm not an idiot, love." "Bless, Andy," she whispered, as she kissed his cheek. "It's so strange. I feel like I'm missing time, what with all the holidays we've basically skipped over. I was getting my first injections on July 4th, but I didn't even hear any crackers in the sky. Were there any?" "None that I could see, Ash. Halloween's just around the corner. Maybe now that we're in a gated community we'll get trick or treaters." "You think there's children in the estates?" "No idea. I'm not really sure what to expect here. We've barely seen the house, much less the small town that's formed up around it." "That's going to be just as strange, people we can sit and talk with, restaurants we can go and have dinner in, a movie theater filled with people, guaranteed not sick people. It all sounds so wonderful." "I'll talk to Eric, maybe we can get a Halloween costume party together." Aisling cooed at him. "That sounds wonderful." She glanced over his shoulder. "Looks like your maid in here." Andy looked back over his shoulder and saw Yvette standing there, nervously shifting back and forth, before he chuckled and curled a finger in her direction. "C'mon, Yvette. You look like you've got something you want to say." "Simply a request Master. I and the rest of your staff, well, we are having trouble keeping our heads clear. We do not wish to pressure you, naturally, but the longer you wait before imprinting us, the more difficulty we will have executing our responsibilities around the home. It is getting hard to focus." He removed his arm from around Aisling and rose to his feet, a wry smile on his face. "I'll say. I can't help but think about something Groucho Marx once said to his brother Chico." "I'm sorry, I don't know who those people are, Master." "Comedians. Groucho is the one with the bushy eyebrows and greasepaint mustache. Chico used to pretend to be Italian. Groucho would occasionally say to him, 'Chico, I think your accent is slipping.'" Andy grinned as he approached her. "Is your name really Yvette?" The maid visibly blanched. "Am I trouble?" "Answer the question," Aisling said, getting off the couch, heading to join them. "No, ma'am. It's Nicolette." "Are you actually French?" Andy asked. "Second generation, but I was putting on a show. Mr. Marcos seemed to think you might enjoy it." Andy shook his head and laughed. "Fucking Phil." "So you're not angry, sir?" "You don't have to lie to me, Nicolette." He gestured to the maid's outfit. "Do you really enjoy this kind of thing?" She smiled, almost coquettishly, and nodded. "I do, Master. I'm naturally submissive, and this is what I wanted to do in the new world." "Are you bisexual, Nicolette?" Aisling said. "I am, madam, if that's alright." Aisling leaned over and grabbed the girl by her mane of hair and pulled her into a firm, intense kiss that made Andy's breath catch a little. Nicolette seemed caught off guard only for a moment, before she leaned into the kiss, and pressed her busty body against the Irish girl. After they made out for a minute or so, Aisling pulled back and grinned at Andy. "Well, we should make sure the girl gets what she needs, but mama has needs too." Aisling pulled Nicolette with her over towards one of couches. She reached up beneath her skirt and pulled down her panties before stepping out of them. Then she laid back onto the couch and spread her legs, exposing that ginger cunt to Nicolette. "Tell you what. You lick my cunt, and I'll make sure he fucks you good." "Yes madam," Nicolette said as she moved down onto her knees, before Aisling pulled over a footstool. "Thank you madam." The maid moved up to kneel down on the footstool, her hands pressed on the couch, as she moved her lips down to press against Aisling's exposed snatch. Andy walked over towards them as he watched Aisling's fingertips move to get lost in the girl's thick blonde curls, rocking her hips up against the maid's mouth. "Shit, Andy, she's fucking good at this." "Umm, it certainly looks that way, but what if I wanted to see if those titanic tits of hers were real, hmm?" He unbuttoned his jeans, slowly unzipping them. "Oh, I can fix that," Aisling said with a laugh. She pushed Nicolette's face back. "Lay down and turn over. Are those enhanced or natural?" Nicolette rolled over, laying on her back on the footstool before she pulled the top off one shoulder then the other, tugging it down to her waist so her massive tits spilled free, thick and curvy. "All natural, madam. Any excess weight I put on seems to go straight to my tits or my ass and nowhere else." She curved her fingertips around her left tit and pulled it upward, bringing it up so she could lick her large pink nipple while Andy watched. Then she reached down and dragged her skirt upwards, as she moved to push her head onto the couch while Aisling moved up onto her knees, straddling the girl's face. "Come on, Andy, don't keep the poor slut waiting." Andy tugged his jeans and boxers down enough for him to fish his cock out, moving to step out, rubbing the tip of his cock across the maid's twat, finding it was still soaked. "Remember when I told you I never showed my cock to anyone I hadn't kissed, Ash?" "She doesn't want you to show her a good time, love. She's only got one thing on her mind, don't you whore?" "Yes madam," the maid said between licks at Aisling's cunt. "And what is that?" Aisling's question caught the maid off guard. "Ma'am?" "What is the one thing you've got on your mind?" "Being imprinted, ma'am." Aisling reached down and pinched one of Nicolette's nipples hard enough to make the maid yip audibly. "The master likes a dirty mouth on his girls, Nicolette. Maybe Phil didn't tell you that, but as Andy's first girl, it's my job to make sure everyone in the house knows exactly what he likes. So let me ask you again,  what's the one thing you've got on your mind?" "Getting the Master to fuck me, ma'am." "Why?" "So I can be imprinted, to be owned, to belong to him, and be part of his house." "Then tell him." "Yes ma'am." Nicolette pulled her head back for a moment to look up at Andy, and the look on her face was one he was starting to get quite familiar with, a heady mix of need and lust. "Sir, let me offer you my body, my drenched holes for your use. I need to be fucked to belong to you, to feel your jizz blasting inside of my cunt or asshole, marking me as yours, imprinting me, claiming me. Take me, sir. Own me. Fuck my tight young snatch and brand me as your slut, your maid, your little French fucktoy. It hurts, sir, aches. I can't think straight. I'm a rutting bitch in heat, needy for a cock to clear her head. Can I serve you, Master? Will you grant me that privilege? Fuck me, sir. Do it." "Put your mouth back to work, Nicolette, and I will," Andy said, as he pushed his cock along her cunt, feeling her shiver, her body instinctively trying to line it up so his wood would penetrate her. "Yes, Master. Of course, Master." Nicolette slid her head back between Aisling's thighs, pressing her face up against the redhead's cunt, her tongue pushing into the girl. Aisling leaned forward a little bit, reaching a hand forward to grab Andy's face, pulling him closer, kissing him as Andy pushed his cock inside of Nicolette's cunt. Beneath her, Aisling could feel the girl already lost in the throes of her first orgasm, muffling the scream by pressing her hips down against the maid's face. "How is she?" "I think I might have killed the poor girl." One of Nicolette's hands lifted and offered a thumb up gesture to them, which made Andy and Aisling both laugh until Aisling kissed Andy hard again. She reached down and grabbed Andy's hip to pull him hard into Nicolette, slamming his cock hilt deep into the French maid with enough force to make those heavy tits of hers jiggle and bounce. "That's it, Andy. Just rail the girl." "You're trying to make me cum inside of her, aren't you?" "It's working, isn't it?" Aisling giggled a little bit. "I'm giving up my load for the day to her. I want you to fill her cunt so full of cum that there's enough for me to lick a little bit out of her gash when you're done. You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Andy groaned a little bit. "You're wicked, Ash." " Umm, just like you want me to be. I have to admit, I'm a little addicted to it, seeing a new slut fuckdrunk on your spunk for the first time, her eyes rolled back in her head, the orgasm so intense that she's trembling like she's been struck by lightning. It make you seem so powerful." "I don't think I can last long," he mumbled. "She's fucking tight." "Then why wait? She wants your jizz. I want you to jizz inside of her. You want to jizz inside of her." She kissed his cheek and then moved nibble on his earlobe. "Go on. Give your newest slut her nut. Fill her up with that hot spunk and claim her. Your girlfriend is telling you to do it. Cream her up. In your house. Make her your slut, your maid, your personal fuckhole. Give to us. Please Master, she fucking needs it. I need it. Cum for us. Flood the little bitch with your cum. Show her who the lord of the house is." Aisling licked her tongue along the shell of his ear, then breathed hot onto his flesh, before whispering, "Own her. Cum!" Nicolette's heels pressed into the small of his back as he pushed his cock hilt deep inside of her cunt and began to erupt inside of her. As soon as the first blast of his jism hit the back of her cunt, Nicolette began to thrash, her heels lifting off his skin as her legs pointed straight up into the air and began to practically vibrate, quaking like she had her own personal earthquake. Eventually Andy's release ebbed back, and Aisling leaned to kiss him once more, her hand reaching up to brush sweat from his face. "Another one bites the dust," she giggled against his mouth before he pulled his hips back, letting his cock slide out from Nicolette's snatch as the girl's legs moved to slump down on the footstool, her whole body lying ragdoll limp, her lips very quietly mumbling that familiar word over and over again. Aisling lifted her hips up and moved back to her feet, shifting Nicolette to move the maid's entire body up onto the couch, cradling the girl's head against the pillow on the armrest. Andy was starting to adjust to tuck his cock away before he felt Aisling's hand stop him. "Just wait there, mister." The Irish girl grabbed a blanket and moved to lay it over Nicolette's unconscious form, covering her up, making sure the maid looked cozy. After Nicolette was properly tucked in, she turned around and kneeled down to lick his cock clean. It had still been glistening with a bit of his cum, as well as juices from Nicolette's cunt, but Aisling gave it a spit shine. Andy could feel himself struggling to get hard again, but as soon as Aisling had his cock clean, she tucked it away. "Tomorrow you can take care of the gardener and the cook." "Fucking this many people is exhausting, Ash." "Awww. Poor baby. Do you know how much sympathy I have for you, half a dozen women craving your cum so much they'll fling themselves at you?" "Very little?" "Not even that much." Andy chuckled, helping Aisling to her feet. "Yeah, I guess that's fair." Chapter 12 Andy awoke the next morning much earlier than he normally did. It was the fact that the bed beneath him was new to him. New bed, new house, but the house itself didn't change as much of his perspective as the bed did. Sure, the four of them had fit in his old bed back at the condo, but the new bed had plenty of room for them to sprawl out if they wanted, and yet, he still awoke with all the girls basically pressing up against him, Aisling and Niko on either side of him, and Lauren mostly draped over Aisling. The cats were nowhere to be seen, although he wouldn't be surprised if they wandered across the bed several times during the night. He did his best to extricate one arm free so he could look at his watch, only to find it was actually nearly nine a.m., far later than he'd expected. The girls remained zonked, and he had to admit, they'd all been up a bit late into the wee hours of the morning just wandering around and exploring the house. He still felt like he didn't have a great handle on the layout of the place, but he figured that would come in time. Determined not to wake anyone, he wriggled his way downward, disentangling the gilded cage of arms and legs he found himself wrapped in. Once free, he was pleased to see that he hadn't woken any of the trio, so he headed into the closet to grab a change of clothes. Immediately, he feared he might have made a terrible mistake, as the walk in closet was larger than the old condo's living room, but thankfully, most of his t shirts were hanging on clothes hangers directly in front of him, and a dresser there seemed to have his pants, boxers and socks. In fact, as he glanced at the walk in closet, he was a little amused to see how little of what he saw was actually his own clothes. Sure, all of his clothes were there, but they took up a fraction of the amount of space the walk in closet had on offer. Each of the girls had carved up their own section of the closet space, although if the Major was to be believed, this wouldn't be enough room eventually. The Major had even suggested each partner consider taking one of the bedrooms of the manor as their own, simply to have their own space, and their own place to keep their clothes. "Personal space is going to be important," she had told them yesterday. Andy had immediately decided it was advice worth heeding. He grabbed a change of clothes and headed towards the bathroom. After stepping foot inside of the bathroom, he closed the door behind him, doing his best to keep the noise volume down, so as to not wake anyone. He imagined the girls would be up any minute now, but saw no reason to get anyone up before they awoke naturally. Some nights they all wore pajamas, but last night, they'd all just piled in one naked mess into the new bed, so the only thing Andy had to take off before he got into the shower was his watch and glasses, setting both on the counter next to his clothes. The shower space was just about the same size as the bathroom in the old condo, but it was a thing Andy had decided he was just going to have to come to terms with. Everything in the new home was going to be bigger, because it had more people to accommodate. It did, however, give him plenty of room to maneuver as he attempted to get the water's temperature to a level he was comfortable with. He hadn't even thought to ask how the utilities of the new home were going to be paid for. He made a mental note to ask someone about it as he stepped under the soothing warm water. Ten minutes later, he'd finished the shower, dried himself off and gotten dressed. As he passed through the bedroom, he could see that while none of the girls were awake yet, they had shifted to make up for his absence, now lined up like three little spoons, with Niko's ass pressed against Aisling's hips, and Aisling's ass against Lauren's hips. The cats had also joined them on the bed, sitting at either corner of it, almost like they were on guard duty. Andy reached down to pet Huginn, and the black cat leaned his head up to lean into Andy's touch. He smirked as the cat slowly pulled away from Andy's hand, but it was only to roll onto his back, exposing his belly, hoping Andy would give it a rub. He patted the plump cat's tummy briefly, but not long enough so that Huginn would think it was a game of Attack The Hand. He didn't want to remain long enough to wake the girls, so he grabbed his phone from the charger on the nightstand, moved to the door of the bedroom and slipped out, closing it shut behind him as he moved into the hallway. The layout of the house was still fuzzy in his head, but he knew for certain that if he wanted to grab some breakfast, he needed to head downstairs. As he wandered downstairs, the cook, Jennifer, he thought her name was, awaited him. She still had on the same apron from the day before, but the clothes she had on beneath it had changed to warmer colors. The t shirt was a light green and the slacks a cream color. "Good morning, sir. Would you like some breakfast?" she asked, a smile beaming at him. She was fidgeting, he noticed, and he was certain that the effects of the vaccine were starting to claw at her. He would have to make sure to take care of both her and the gardener today. "Sure, Jennifer, that'd be nice. Is it Jennifer, or do you prefer Jen or Jenny?" he asked her, as she started to lead him towards the dining room. "Whatever you'd like, sir," she said, demurely. "No," he chuckled, "I'm asking you what you prefer to be called. I don't mind being in charge of the house and all that, but I'm not about to go around deciding what people are called. What do you prefer to be called?" "Jenny, sir," she giggled. "Sorry, sir. What would you like for breakfast today?" "Just, like, a croissant or a bagel with egg, cheese and ham on it? I don't need anything special." "Give me five minutes and I'll whip something up for you." Andy moved to sit down at the dining room table. The chairs were aimed at a much more formal environment, something he was going to have to make sure got corrected. He felt a little bit like Michael Keaton as Batman, sitting at a massively empty table all by himself. He opened his friend group's Discord chat channel and typed in a message to Eric “ you okay in your new place, man? “ but he saw that Eric was off line and didn't respond, so he figured he'd hear back from him later in the day. Phil was up, though, and the two chatted for a little bit while Andy waited for breakfast to arrive. Jenny poked her head in. "Did you want juice or milk, or should I make coffee?" "God, the girls made drink coffee, but I can't fucking stand it. So it wouldn't hurt to put a pot on, but none for me, thanks. I'll just have some orange juice or pineapple juice or whatever." "Got it," she said, dipping back into the kitchen, the swinging door closed behind her. Phil was in good spirits, and let Andy know that he would be behind the wall in the gated community before the end of the week, which meant they could all hang out again. Phil insisted that on Saturday, they should all get together and play poker while the new families intermingled, something Andy agreed to immediately, and suspected Eric wouldn't have any problem with. "Sir, can I talk to you for a minute?" Jenny said, as she brought out a tray with a bagel filled exactly as he'd asked and a glass of orange juice on it. "I don't mean to be rude or impatient, but,” "No no, Jenny, I know. You're having trouble thinking clearly, and would like to get imprinted as soon as possible. Let me eat my breakfast, and then we can go take care of it if you like." "I would like, sir, but that's not it." The girl looked at her hands as she wrung them together nervously before she looked up at him. "May I speak freely, sir?" "Jenny, you're now and forever under orders to always speak freely in the house, okay? What is it?" "It's my partner, sir, Katie." "What about her?" "Well, she, ah, she lied on her forms. Sir." "About, what exactly, Jenny?" Andy wanted to know what was going on, but he was also famished, so he took a bite from his breakfast sandwich, as if encouraging the girl to continue speaking. "It's, well, it's a bit embarrassing, sir, but, you know that Katie and I are partners, right?" Andy swallowed his mouthful and took a sip from his orange juice before he spoke again. "You did mention it yesterday when you introduced yourselves." He gestured to a chair across the table from him. "Sit, sit. Now tell me what's up?" Jenny looked at the chair like it might bite her, but then nervously moved to sit down, her hands still folded together on top of the table. "So, uh, while I'm bisexual, Katie isn't. Sir. She's strictly a lesbian." Andy tried to keep his face blank. "Alright." "So while she's going to need to intake your jism regularly, she's, uh,” "She's going to be a pain in the ass about it," Katie said, moving into the room, clearly sounding cross. "Is that what you were going to say, Jen?" Katie was dressed in work clothes, having been outside working in the gardens, and had dirt on her knees, although she'd been careful not to drag any loose dirt into the house. "We're so fucked." "Baby, no! I just wanted to explain,” "You just wanted to explain that I wasn't going to do my job to our new boss. That's just great, Jenny! Now we're going to get hauled out of here and thrown in jail!" "Katie, please!" "We're fucked. We're so fucked, just because you had to grow a fucking conscience! I could've faked it! I could've pretended and just gotten through it, but no, you had to,” "Ah Hem!" Andy said, loudly clearing his throat to get both of them to settle down. "Can I interject into this, or do you two want to go on arguing about what I'm going to do without actually knowing anything?" Katie moved to nervously sit down in a chair next to Jenny, looking a little taken aback. "Sorry, sir." "Sorry, sir," Jenny echoed. "Thank you." Andy took another bite from his sandwich, which was delicious, while he let the two women sit in silence a moment, as if almost daring them to start arguing again. They made it past him finishing the sandwich without speaking again, but he was on his last sip of orange juice when Katie, the Hispanic girl, couldn't help herself and spoke again. "I love my wife, sir, and I want to remain faithful to her. And you seem like a nice enough man, but I'm just not attracted to you in any way. Sorry, sir." Andy smiled and shook his head a little bit. "Good lord, they barely told me anything, and somehow I still know more about all of this than you two do. Jenny, are you bisexual, or are you also lesbian?" "Bisexual, sir, but I'm married. To Katie." He nodded. "Look, I get that. So here's your options. If you want, I can tell the army you've changed your mind, and you can go back there, but if you've already been given the vaccination, you're unfortunately going to have to get paired up with some man." "That part's actually true?" Andy nodded. "I'm sure you're already feeling it, that unfamiliar blaze in your body. It'll get worse, a lot worse, until it's harder and harder to think, and you're just a raw, rutting creature, yearning for male sperm of some kind." "How horrible," Jenny whispered. "Better than the disease, Jenny," Katie said, patting her arm. "So what are our other options?" "The obvious one is, naturally, that you both continue to be here, do your jobs, and I simply provide sperm for you to consume. I mean, I could just bring you in towards the end of a session with me and one of my partners, or with Nicolette,” "Who?" Katie asked. "He knows," Nicolette said, standing in the door, leaning against the doorframe. She was wearing another maid's outfit, but it was subtly different than the one she'd worn yesterday. "And he wasn't mad. He even thought the whole Yvette thing was funny." "Or I could just agree to always use the two of you together, but the only person I touch would be Jenny, and Katie could touch Jenny. It's not strictly what you had in mind, but,” "But it would satisfy Katie's insistence that she remain faithful," Jenny said. "Would you be okay with that, baby?" "Okay?" Katie said, rolling her eyes. "Well, I might be able to get to okay eventually, if that's okay with you. Sir." "Come on," Andy said, rising to his feet. "Take me to your room and we'll get you both imprinted." "I'd, I'd rather you not come into our room, sir," Katie said. "If that's okay, sir. I'd like that to be just our special place, mine and Jenny's." "That's fine, but we'll need to have some place to lay you both down once you're done." "I did just fine on one of the couches, Master," Nicolette giggled. "Maybe we should use one of the living room spaces again." "Alright, but let's use one more off to the side." "There's always the lounge out in the pool house," Katie suggested. "I have a pool house? Y'know what, forget I asked. Of course I have a pool house. Fine, let's go out to the pool house. Nicolette, if the girls wake up, let them know I'll be back in a little bit, okay?" "Of course Master," she said with a curtsey, as Katie put her arm around Jenny's waist, and the two started to lead him to the back yard. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful, sir," Katie said, as they walked past the pool. Sure enough, on the other side, there was a small house, which Andy could see had showers, a sauna, bathrooms, a small bedroom, and a little lounge. Hell, by itself, it was bigger than the old condo, and clearly this was a little guest house. "But I don't think your sperm is going to do anything for me." "Mentally, sure, probably not, Katie. But on a biological level, you'll find this whole thing is a little surreal. When you meet Niko, you'll get to know what sort of state she was in when she came into my life. She'll tell you the story herself, I'm sure, but from my point of view, she practically assaulted me before I even got her name." Jenny grinned impishly, as she closed the door behind Andy. The lounge had three couches in a U shape pointing towards a massive television, with a picture window on the side wall facing the pool. "I have to admit, that sounds kinda hot." "It was," Andy said, as the two girls pushed him to sit down in the middle of the couch. "A little terrifying, but kinda hot. So how do you want to do this?" Katie leaned up and pressed her lips against Jenny's, as Jenny's hand smoothed down her wife's hip. The kiss intensified and Andy could see the tongues dancing together, as Katie's hand moved to cup one of Jenny's plump tits through the apron before reaching behind her to untie it, pulling it up and over her head, tossing it aside. "I'm thinking Jenny here'll blow you, and I'll just share it at the end, so you have to tell us when you're close. If that's okay. Sir." "That's fine, Katie. If you always want to do it this way, that's fine, or if you want to switch it up now and again, we can do that too." Katie nodded, and reached down to pull Jenny's t shirt up and over her head, exposing the brunette's overabundance of titflesh that had actually been quite concealed by the apron. "We, uh,” She blushed a little bit before continuing, pushing Jenny down to her knees. "We've had threesomes before. I don't mind if Jenny gets a little cock now and then, as long as I'm always there, but it's hard to get men to understand I don't want any. They usually try to pressure me to join in." "Well I won't ever do that, Katie," Andy said. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do, although,” Jenny had unbuttoned his jeans, and unzipped them, as the other two continued to talk. Katie smirked, rolling her eyes a little. "As long as you don't care if I say no, you can always ask, sir." "I was just wondering if you wouldn't mind taking your top off as well, so we're all at least a little exposed here." "No, I can do that," she said, unzipping the top of the worksuit. "My tits aren't anywhere near as nice as Jenny's, though." She peeled the top down to her waist, exposing a perky caramel colored pair of tits, capped with darker tan nipples. "You've got excellent tits, Katie," Andy said to her, as she tied the arms of the top around her waist to tie it in place. "And don't you ever take shit from anyone who says otherwise." "Aw, you're sweet, Andy," she said before looking down at her wife. "How's it look, hon? Something you can work with?" Jenny nodded, having fished out Andy's cock, her fingertips stroking up and down it slowly. "It's a good size. I may want to have a ride on it now and again, if that's okay, baby." "Let's take it all one step at a time, okay?" Katie said. She moved to sit down on the couch next to Andy, laughing softly. "She's always been over eager. But I'll probably let you fuck her now and again. And I know she's a very good cocksucker. Her old boyfriend used to brag about it all the time." "Pig," Jenny said, before she wrapped her lips around the head of his cock, letting her tongue brush over it slowly, evoking a shiver from Andy. "Oh! Not you, sir, him." "I figured that one out, Jenny." Andy glanced over at Katie. "So are you both really submissive? Did you really want to do this, be a gardener and a cook?" "Jenny's mostly submissive, and I'm a switch," the Hispanic woman said. "And these were the jobs we had in the before times, just at different places. I was the gardener for some tech millionaire, and Jenny worked in the kitchen at the S F O airport Marriott, so we'll do our jobs well, and the other thing reasonably well." "I just want to make sure I'm not forcing anyone to do anything they don't want to." "We will be sure to tell if you're pushing it. Sir." She laughed slightly at herself, as if chiding herself not to forget to call him that. "Remember, you're going to have to tell us when you're close, sir," Katie said. "I'm a man of my word, Katie." "I hope so." Jenny pushed her head down onto his cock, sliding her lips down a few inches before pulling her head back up. "Oh, if you're going to do it, just fucking do it, Jen." Katie took her hand and pushed on the back of Jenny's head, forcing her face down hard into Andy's lap, until he could feel the girl's lips around the base of his cock, her throat twitching as she was struggling not to gag. Katie leaned in to whisper into Andy's ear. "She fucking loves shit like this." After a few seconds, Katie pulled Jenny's head back, and the girl coughed, laughing throatily, spit dripping from her mouth onto his cock, tears running down her eyes, a crazy smile on her face. "Oh god, I think I fucking came when you did that, Kat." "Well, not to take credit for it, but that was my precum. You're starting the imprinting process now." "I call bullshit," Katie said. "Prove it." Andy decided the best way to do this was to mostly remain out of it, so he took Jenny's arm by the wrist, rubbing her palm over the tip of his cock, which oozed out a little bit of precum, then lifted it up towards Katie, palm facing her face. "Lick. Prove me wrong." Katie cocked an eyebrow at him, then leaned forward to run her tongue along Jenny's palm. As soon as her tongue slurped in that precum, she leaned back suddenly against the back of the couch, pulling up her knees to her chest, her face scrunched tightly as she spasmed violently. Andy was fairly certain that Katie's panties were drenched, but didn't want to embarrass the girl by looking. After a few seconds, Katie's eyes opened again, and she groaned, a sultry wanton sound. "Oh you utter bastard," she moaned. "I know that's all physiological, but fuck was that good,” "You're going to get that same sensation each time you get any of my cum. Both of you. Ash's been with me the longest, about two months now, and she says it's never gotten any less intense, and from time to time, it's even way more intense than that." Katie pushed Jenny's head back down into Andy's lap, forcing her mouth back onto his shaft, as she wriggled in her seat. "How often do we have to have it?" "We've experimented around a little bit with trying to wean a girl off of it, but after about a week or so, it starts impairing logic. Not a lot, at first, but a little bit. It's harder to think clearly, you find sex popping into your head unwarranted more than usual. And by ten days, it's like a painful gnawing hunger. Lauren wanted to try and go two full weeks without, but on day eleven, ah,” Katie laughed softly. "Go on. You said we have no secrets here." Andy nodded with a slight shrug. "She, uh, when I went to take my shower in the morning, she followed me in and forced me to fuck her by trapping me between the wall and the sink. She bent over the sink and braced her hands against it and pinned me. I mostly just stood there, my ass pressed against the wallpaper while she thrust back against me hard and fast. She's, ah, she's a lot stronger than I am." Both girls laughed, although Jenny's laugh was a bit muffled, as she still had most of his cock in her mouth. "I think once a week or so is something we can make work," Katie said, brushing her hand along the back of Jenny's neck. "See? I told you she was good." "Fuck, her tongue keeps teasing against the bottom of my balls. I'm not going to last long like this. You may want to,” "Sure," Katie said, sliding off the couch and onto her knees, off to the side of Andy's right leg. "I know how we can do this." She pulled Jenny's head up and free of his cock before pushing her over to the other side of Andy's legs, his legs pressed together. "C'mere, babe." Katie pulled Jenny close, and then the two women kissed with the length of his cock between them, blocking their lips from reaching each other until they both slid up and kissed with the head of his cock between them. Jenny reached down to fondle his balls, and he felt a second hand join, a little surprised that it was Katie's, as the two tongues danced against each other, and over the head of his cock, and he couldn't resist any longer, his body tensing up as he had a hand resting on either of their shoulders. When that release hit him, he could see Katie's other hand on the back of Jenny's neck, as if holding her in place, as he saw Jenny suddenly reach up and do the same, helping each other to stay locked in place around the tip of his cock, as he blasted a hot load of spunk into their mouths. He felt like he gave at least a few pumps of jizz into each of their mouths, and certainly they were both affected, as each of them began to tremble, the clasp of hands and necks keeping them all in place, as both of them swallowed mouthfuls until finally they could resist no longer and both girls slumped their heads back and to the side, the full weight of their unconscious bodies pressed into the couch. Each of them trembled and vibrated a little, the aftershocks of the process clearly still coursing through their veins. Both girls were quietly murmuring that familiar word, imprinting, over and over again. It took Andy a few seconds to regain his composure, but once he finally did, he tucked his cock away beneath his boxers and jeans, zipping them up and rebuttoning them before he stood up and extracted himself from between them. He moved to lift Katie up onto the couch first, laying the girl out on it, before picking up Jenny, pushing her onto the couch with Katie, draping one arm over the Hispanic girl. Then he picked up an afghan laying in the room and covered them both up, for warmth as much as modesty. It wasn't freezing cold, but Halloween was next week, and California in October could get cold. He assumed the guest house had heating, but didn't even have the slightest idea how to turn it on. He was about to leave, then decided to scout the pool house out a little more. Sure enough, he found a thermostat, and noticed it was set to off, so he set the temperature to 70F and turned it from Off to Auto, hearing a heater kick on along the far side of the building. His work done, he decided to head back inside. He stopped to look at the pool, marveling the fact that he had his very own swimming pool, something southern Californians might have in spades, but certainly came at a premium in the northern California area, where real estate was a scarcity. He'd had dreams of his works being optioned, turned into movies or some such, and hoped that they would make him oodles of money, but the books hadn't developed a big enough audience where Andy would've felt comfortable enough letting someone adapt his works while remaining faithful to what he'd written. A producer had once offered him ten grand for the rights in perpetuity for everything, offering Andy no creative influence, no backend profits and no altering of the deal if things performed well. Andy had, in response, made a Berry Gordy joke that he was sure went over the producer's head, then politely declined. He'd jokingly referred to it to his friends as the "you'll take our money, shut your mouth and like it" deal. But he didn't, he wouldn't and so he didn't have to. In the end, he'd still ended up with a pool. He continued heading towards the house, seeing Niko, wearing just one of his over sized t shirts, although he suspected she probably had panties on underneath. Her arms were crossed over her chest, so he couldn't be sure, but he thought that it was one of his Catherine Wheel t shirts. It looked like the orange corners of the "Ferment" album cover peeking around her arms. "Morning, sleepyhead," he said, as he walked up towards her. "Everyone else up?" "Ash was toweling off when I came downstairs and Lauren was just heading into the shower, so she should be down in a little bit," Niko said to him. If Aisling had fallen into the role of his girlfriend, Niko had worked herself into becoming his right hand woman. Aisling took care of him emotionally, and Niko seemed to enjoy making sure everything was humming along. She'd been the one to structure their packing, and made sure Andy didn't forget anything he would regret leaving behind. Sure, all of that stuff was being brought over, but Niko had made certain that Andy hadn't left anything truly important to other people. "Also, your newest girl is here. She's waiting in the living room. Well, the front living room. One of the front living rooms. The one closest to the door. I signed for her, figured you wouldn't mind. That's her car parked out front, and the Uhaul attached to it has the rest of the stuff from the condo." "Nice." Andy was surprised another girl had arrived so soon, but the Major had made it clear that they would be coming at a steady rate until he was at capacity, which meant at least another nine or so, maybe even as many as thirteen more, although Andy had stressed to the Major that stopping early was absolutely fine. The Major had seemed to think that was funny. They'd walked inside of the house and headed towards the front living room. "What's her name?" "Her name is,” "Taylor!" Lauren's voice shouted as Andy and Niko walked into the room. Sitting on the couch was a young blonde, barely five feet tall, in a white muscle t shirt that didn't cover all of her toned stomach, and a pair of jeans that looked like they were practically painted on. A denim jacket was draped over the back of the couch. The girl's hair was platinum blonde, bordering on white, clearly dyed or bleached, but had dark eyebrows, and Andy could see dark hair down at the roots. She had a gold belly ring and heavy Doc Martin shoes. Small diamond earrings adorned her ears, and around her right wrist was a gold bangle bracelet. Her lipstick was a bright pink. In fact, it was clear that the girl, who looked like she was in her early twenties, had spent a decent amount of time on both her outfit and her makeup, like she wanted to make a good first impression. It was also worth noting that she was more than a little buxom for her small height, the top strained over her large tits enough that Andy could make out a white bra on underneath it. If not for the dark roots, she almost reminded him a little of a smaller version of Lauren. Both girls had a bit of that 'I'm showing off for Instagram' vibe to them, although Andy would never have said it that way to Lauren. "Andy, no fucking way! I do not want that bitch in this house!" The girl on the couch looked like she was about ready to break down crying, as Lauren loomed over her. His Aussie partner had put on a bit more than Niko, in that she was wearing yoga pants and a sports bra. "I'm sorry, Lauren," the girl, Taylor, said. "I'm so, so sorry, baby." "Don't fucking 'baby' me, you whore!" Lauren shouted, turning to walk towards Andy. "This is intolerable! Figure it out!" Lauren kept walking right past him and headed towards the stairs, each step heavy, almost like she was trying to stomp her anger out. "Figure It Out!" she shouted from upstairs, just before he heard the bedroom door slam loud enough to rattle the house. "I take it you know her?" Niko said to Taylor. "Yeah," Taylor mumbled. "I'm her ex girlfriend." Chapter 13 Andy looked at Niko, then at Taylor, then back to Niko, unsure of what to say to anyone. "Look, Niko, can you figure out her side of the story?" he said, gesturing to Taylor. "I'm going to go talk to Lauren and find out what the hell is going on." "Good luck, babe," Niko said, kissing his cheek. "Tell her," Taylor said before stopping, biting her bottom lip in a pout, then starting again. "Tell her if she'll let me, I'll spend the rest of my life apologizing to her." Andy didn't know what to say to that, so he walked out of the room and started heading to the stairs, trying to follow the sound he'd heard a minute or so ago of Lauren stomping off. Clearly there was bad blood here, but talking to Taylor first would only hurt Lauren's feelings, so he needed to check on his partner. Once he got to the top of the stairs, he saw Aisling leaning against the outside of the master bedroom door, which was closed. "What's all this then?" she said, jerking her finger to the door. "Lauren stormed in here crying a minute ago and told me to go away." "We just had a new girl show up, and apparently she used to be Lauren's girlfriend. I'm going to go talk to Lauren about it right now." Ash raised her hand. "Are you sure about this, Andy?" He shook his head with a sigh. "No, but I'm not going to sit around and do nothing, so I'm going in there." "You want me to go in with you?" Andy shook his head again. "No, better let me go in on my own." "Don't have to tell me twice. Who's keeping an eye on the ex?" "Niko's down talking to her. You're welcome to join her." "I'll do that," she said, moving to kiss his cheek, much as Niko had done. "You're a good man, Andy Rook. I'm sure you'll figure it out." "I think my spaceship knows which way to go. Tell,” "She knows," Aisling giggled, as she strolled past him and headed to the stairs. Andy moved to the bedroom door and considered knocking, but decided that it would only encourage Lauren to tell him to go away, so he simply opened the door and stepped in, closing the door behind him. He saw his Aussie partner sitting on the bed, her knees drawn up to her chest, her arms folded atop of them, her face buried against her arms. "Okay, Laur, tell me the whole story," he said, moving over to sit down on the bed. "Taylor and I dated for about a year. She was even living with me for a few months, until one day I came home from work early and found her banging some guy in our,” She paused, wiping her eyes. "She was fucking some fella in my bed. I threw her out that night, and told her to pick her shit up the next day. I packed it up and left it in the hallway for her so I didn't even have to look at her. I haven't even seen her since." "Okay. What do you want me to do here?" "Do?" She curled her fingers together into fists before forcing herself to relax them. "What I want you to do is throw the bitch out on her ass and leave her to rot in the sun." "I somehow think the Air Force will come pick her up and take her back, if that's what you want." "She deserves a lot worse." "Well, she's already been injected with the vaccine, so the urge for male cum is probably eating away at her pretty badly right now, and you know what that's like." Lauren's face scrunched up. "It's a need, but it's not punishment." "And if I send her away, I'm pretty sure the Air Force is just going to give her to someone else in New Eden, so it's not like I can make her just disappear," he said, sighing softly. "But you're the one with the history here. So you tell me what you want. Should I throw her out? Is that what you want?" "What I want? What I want is for her to be punished and learn some fucking loyalty." "Do you want to be the one to do that?" Lauren rubbed her eyes again, then reached to take one of Andy's hands that had been resting atop of her knee. "What do you mean?" "Phil told me that if a woman partakes of the cum of a man other than the one she's imprinted to, it can have, consequences. Dire consequences. Which means she's going to have to be loyal to our family, if you want her to be a part of it." "She can't just come in without some retribution, Andy," Lauren said, shaking her head. "I won't let her just walk all over me like that." "Lauren. Love. At this point, you have the upper hand. You hold all the power right now. Your ex is here, and more than anything she wants to stay here, it looks like. Right before I came up here, she said she'd do everything she could to spend the rest of her life apologizing to you, to try and make it up to you. Have you talked to her at all since you threw her out?" "I didn't even talk to her when I threw her out, Andy!" Lauren said, tossing her

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 3 A New family. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 7 That evening, Andy and the girls decided to curl up in bed and watch some television with Niko asleep next to them. At first, Andy was worried that the volume would be high enough to wake up their newest addition, but Aisling assured him nothing was going to stir her from her slumber. Sure enough, despite the volume of the show “ a Spanish Netflix crime drama called La Casa De Papel “ Niko didn't budge an inch. Andy fell asleep with Aisling pressed up against his right side and Lauren pressed up against his left, both of their heads resting against his chest. When he'd first started sleeping with Aisling in his bed, he'd had trouble falling asleep easily. It wasn't something his body had any regular experience with, so it had to be trained. He'd had similar trepidation when Lauren joined them. But now, having had both of the girls for nearly three weeks, he'd grown comfortable with their bodies nestled against his. In the middle of the night, he was in the middle of a strange sex dream only to be woken to find Niko bobbing her head up and down on his cock, her lips latched around it firmly. Neither Lauren or Aisling had woken. Andy couldn't see Niko well in the low light of the wee hours, but her head was feverish, her mouth suctioning on his member until he popped a load against the back of her throat, a thankful, almost vulgar moan coming from the woman, as her tongue lathered over his cock to make sure no droplet remained. She was still spasming in orgasm long after he was done. Once she'd finished licking his cock clean, she crawled back up into the bed, and moved to lay against Lauren's side, folding one arm over the Aussie. Andy fell back asleep almost immediately. When dawn broke, Andy awoke to find Niko straddling his hips, his cock lodged up inside of her snatch. He often woke up with a hard on, but Ash and Lauren had agreed to let him at least wake up in the morning before having a go at him. Clearly no one had informed Niko. He didn't feel bad taking a better look at her now, her tits pressed together between her arms as her hands rest against his chest, while her hips snapped back and forth. Her skin was a deep tan, her nipples a chocolate brown, her hair a jet black. She wasn't tall, about the same height as Aisling so half a foot shorter than Andy, and a full foot shorter than Lauren. She was muscular, toned, a life of military training having kept her very in shape. His orgasm wasn't strong, but it came on quick. By this point, Andy was a little surprised he wasn't cumming dust. As soon as his orgasm hit, she fell forward against his chest, burying her face in the crook of his neck. Aisling and Lauren were both already awake, each with a hand on one of Niko's thighs affectionately. "God damn, sorry about that, sir," Niko laughed, breathy and still shaking. "2nd Lieutenant Niko RedWolf, reporting for her new life, sir. I think my head's finally clear again." "Wasn't it before?" Andy asked. She shook her head, lifting her head up enough so she could look down and smile at him, her hair threatening to spill out of her ponytail at a moment's notice. "Would you believe this is the first time it's actually registered to me what you look like, sir?" She had a mischievous smile and kind brown eyes. "They may have told me your name, but I don't think it cut through the fog. Who are you?" Andy blanched. "My name's Andy Rook. What do you mean, you don't think it cut through the fog?" Niko looked over at Lauren, who scooted a little bit to one side, so Niko could slide off of the top of him and in against his side. "I serve on the Air Force base where they were testing the vaccine, and I agreed to be a test candidate. The two men who were injected with it died immediately, but I and the other female officer seemed fine. At first. Within a few days of it, I started feeling, well, pardon my saying so, sir, but I started feeling horny all the time. The other female officer as well." Aisling smirked over at Niko. "Permission to swear freely is habitually granted in this home, 2nd Lieutenant. In fact, Andy likes a girl with a filthy mouth," she giggled, slapping his thigh. He wilted a little bit, but then nodded in confirmation to Niko. "It's true." "Duly noted, sir," Niko answered. "Anyway, they didn't know about the side effects during the early testing stages, but it started to become pretty fucking apparent to them when I would continually get all fidgety. I tried to resist as long as I could, but eventually I was jilling off in bathroom stalls every chance I could get. Within a week or two, they had an answer, and the program was born." "The Air Force developed the vaccine?" "You think those morons in private research were going to do it this fast? Hell no." Niko snuggled in, trying to get as comfortable as possible pressed up against his chest. "So they figured out that they could introduce the vaccine to men by sexual contact with a vaccinated woman, and that it seemed to help quell the insane need to fuck all the time that women given the vaccine were feeling." "If you were one of the first people to be given the vaccine, then why weren't you partnered up with someone immediately?" Lauren asked. "I wasn't fond of being subservient to a man, so I told them I wanted someone who would keep me on equal ground. But because the nature of my work with Air Force, I also needed someone who would have Top Secret level clearance." Andy's eyes widened. "I sure as hell don't have that." "No, you don't, but you'd mostly been vetted for it Your friend Phil Pak has been trying to get you to come and work with him for a long while, so they'd done all the legwork, and decided to call it good enough." "I also happen to have a mess of partners, Niko. Are you sure that's going to be okay?" "It's all been taken care of, otherwise they wouldn't have sent me here." Niko's eyes suddenly widened. "Oh my god, I haven't even introduced myself to your other partners." Aisling winked at her. "You had hard fucking to do, love. I'm Aisling Blake, I'm from Dublin originally. Everyone around here calls me Ash. I do graphic design." She shook Niko's hand, but Niko pulled her over Andy's head and pressed a kiss against Aisling's lips above him, one which Ash was perfectly happy to reciprocate. "And who's the giantess surfer behind me?" Niko said, pulling back and turning around. "Lauren Herron. I'm a personal trainer for the '49ers." "An Irish girl and an Aussie. About time you got some American blood in this mix." Andy laughed. "That's what my roommate's partner Lily said." "Where are you from, Niko?" "The Rosebud reservation in South Dakota. I'm half Lakota, one quarter Mexican and one quarter Japanese. I know, it's quite the cocktail, but we've all got stories." It was nearly noon when they all got out of bed. Niko was the youngest of all of them, only twenty two. Ash was twenty seven, Lauren thirty five and Andy himself just shy of forty. Andy was worried that Niko might consider him too old, but Niko assured him that his age was not a concern for her. As a matter of fact, she liked older men. She found younger men too emotionally volatile for her tastes. She'd actually read one of his books, but the problem was that it was "The Trouble With Were Bears," the book he was least proud of. She'd said she found the main character interesting, but the plot rather confusing. He assured her the other ones were better, and she seemed eager to read them. The fuck lust, as Niko described it, would be with the girls for the rest of their lives. The longer they went without reconnecting with Andy, the more their judgment would be compromised, the harder it would be to think clearly. They would become like junkies in need of a fix. They would be easily agitated, quick tempered and even violent if they felt it would get them back to their pusher “ Andy. When Niko had arrived at Andy's condo, she had been so out of it that even now she couldn't recall the events he related back to her. Her first memory in weeks had been being in bed with him this morning, even as she crawled atop of him. She knew that he was her mate. She wasn't sure how she knew that, but she could feel it, sense it. And when he'd had his third orgasm inside of her within less than a day, the imprinting had finally settled in and peeled back the cloud from her consciousness. While Lauren was on leave until the pandemic had receded, Niko would be working from the condo. Although she was a qualified pilot, her service in the Air Force was as a data analyst, and a secure connection was being set up on site for her to use. Until then, she had a bit of a break. It was a Saturday, and the girls decided they wanted to work on their tans. The condo had a small back yard that was fenced off. While the neighbors in the condos on either side would be able to peer down and see them, the girls had decided to sunbathe topless. Lily had even decided to join them, although she bitched about the heat, which was pushing over a hundred. Andy spent the afternoon filling Eric in on all the information he'd gotten over the last two days “ what Phil had told him, what Niko had told him, all of it. Eric, in return, had filled in Andy with what he'd learned from work over the last few weeks. While Lily, Andy and Eric all knew who Eric worked for, they'd been a little bit vague with the girls, always joking that Eric worked for a think tank that didn't do anything interesting, but soon they were going to have to fill them in. Eric worked for a company called Long Thought Research and Development, but the truth of the matter was that they were a remote analyst cell for the CIA. Long Thought handled problems that were overwhelming in the abstract and deadly in application “ they were responsible for terrorist profiling, weapons migration modeling, political theater simulations and a whole lot more. Over the last few weeks, they'd been working on building a new model, one which had Eric worried. Theoretically, every member of Long Thought was supposed to be sectioned off, working on only a singular aspect of the problem so that no one analyst could get an idea of what the simulation was intended to determine. It was supposedly to avoid confirmation bias, but Eric had considered that explanation bullshit as of late. So he'd done a little bit of data gathering from his coworkers on the sly, and come up with a working theory. The model was designed to see how the world's new normal would pan out if 37.5% of the male population of Earth died out to a pandemic. This pandemic. Niko had wandered in before the rest of the girls, while Andy and Eric stood in the kitchen, staring at one another. Then she'd offered her own information, to help talk Andy out of what he'd been thinking about. Because Andy had been thinking about going to the press. She'd explained to him that for the time being, all of the information had to remain secret, or a nationwide panic would ensue. The vaccine that the Air Force had developed was starting to be deployed to major metropolitan areas on a very specific basis. And when a mayor, a governor, a representative or a senator had put up a fuss, Niko hinted that that particular politician had been exposed to the virus and then offered a choice “ they could take the vaccine, and be mated for life to one (or in some cases many) person, or they could deny the vaccine worked, and would be allowed to die. Only one governor had chosen to decline the vaccine, and while the Air Force had respected their wishes, they didn't allow the governor to tell anyone about the vaccine and its side effects. They did allow the governor to die, though. Niko explained to the two men that there were probably only a hundred or so people in the country with the full picture of what was going on, and that was by design, because already the virus was starting to take its toll on other countries. While some countries had done excellent jobs at containing the spread of it, others were on the verge of collapse. And the CIA was debating on what countries were worth saving and which weren't. England, Ireland and Australia were already in the process of being brought up to speed about the vaccine, but the complete details were only being given to them on an as needed basis. The pairing program had been confirmed to the outside world, but the side effects of the vaccine had been kept hush hush. On some level, the Air Force was convinced that foreign governments would laugh themselves at being told that the vaccine had crazy sexual side effects until they had gotten a chance to experience them for themselves. "Shit," Andy grumbled. "The ex-journalist in me feel like I'm sitting on the story of the century here, and I can't tell anybody." Niko squeezed his hand softly. "You're a good man, Andy Rook, which is why I'm happy to be mated to you, but you have to consider the ramifications of what would happen if you revealed all of this to the public." "The whole goddamn world would explode," Eric sighed. "I know. I've seen the data. And that's not the worst of it." "What's the worst of it then?" Andy asked. "The worst of it is that we're going to have to let a billion men die off for the planet to stabilize. It's going to be the biggest culling since World War Two, and even that wasn't a drop in the bucket compared to what this is." The three stood in silence for a long time. "How does anyone make these kinds of decisions?" Andy whispered. "You don't have to. We don't have to," Niko said, wrapping an arm around him. "You can't save the whole world, Andy, but you can save us. Hell, you've already saved those two amazing women out there. And they've been so nice to me, even though I apparently fucked you at your desk before even introducing myself." She blushed a little. "I still don't remember that. Did you watch, Eric?" Eric laughed, lifting the Collins glass full of scotch to his lips. "Are you kidding? Lily would've kicked the shit out of me if I did." "Oh, I dunno," Andy chuckled. "If you asked, she might let you watch." "Well, I don't intend to ask. She already has me waking up sore most mornings." "That's just the exercise from all the fucking you're doing," Andy said. "You're out of practice, just like me, and hell, I've got three women to satisfy." "Soon to be four," Niko giggled. "I'm sure it's every man's dream." "I'm just waiting for the first big fight to occur, because I know it's coming sooner or later." "That's future Andy's problem," Niko said, turning his face down so she could kiss him for a moment. "Besides, Ash made it pretty clear just because you're tired of giving me my medicine doesn't mean you get to skimp out on your promise to her." Andy groaned playfully. "I'm going to be running dry in a few days at this rate." "Oh I wouldn't worry too much about that, Andy," Eric said with a laugh. "The fall will probably kill you." "Yeah, well, you just keep thinking, Butch," Andy countered. "That's what you're good at." "What are the cats' names?" "The Russian blue is Muninn, and the black one is Huginn." "Odd names." "It's the name for Odin's two ravens, thought and wisdom," Eric said. "We were on a Norse mythology kick when we got them as kittens." "They friendly?" "Oh sure," Andy said. "They're just getting used to this many people being in the house at one time. If you put out their food enough times, they'll start cuddling up to you any chance they get. Ash decided she was going to befriend them right after she got here, and Muninn'll hop up into her lap when she's working at the table some days and just settle there. That's why Eric built her the foot rest, so she can put her legs up and Muninn'll sit there quietly." Niko looked back and forth between the two men for a minute. "How the hell were you two single before any of us showed up?" "Women don't like nerds," Eric grumbled. Andy raised a finger, arguing the point. "No, they like nerds alright, but they don't seem to understand that nerds like aggressive women and are terrible at making the first move. So nerds don't get the love they deserve." Niko looked out into the back yard, where the girls were gathering up their things, wrapping towels around their waists. "I dunno. You two seem to have done pretty well for yourselves at this point." Andy smirked, cocking his head to one side. "Sure, but luck is like the weather. Wait a few minutes and it'll change." A storm of bad luck was, indeed, just over the horizon. Chapter 8 The next few days involved a lot of time getting settled, as Andy learned more about the girls who now shared his life. They also spent time learning about each other. Andy spent time trying to get some writing done on another Druid Gunslinger novel, and when he got into a zone, the girls made a pact not to disturb him, especially if he started typing away badly. That gave them plenty of time to dig into each other's history, and the girls began to scheme and plan. They took great fun in learning each other's turn ons and offs, and to figure out how to quell their own wild desires, to try new experiences. The girls also took an interest in reading the seven books Andy had written in the Druid Gunslinger series, with Aisling going so far as to even mock up a movie poster for one of them, which delighted Andy to no end. It was starting to become obvious that the condo wasn't designed to hold this many people, however. At night, things were fine because everyone was packed in their beds, but during the day, people were having to work around one another. Aisling and Niko set up their laptops at the dining room table, while Lauren spent much of the day either working out in the backyard, or reading in a deck chair. Andy and Eric each had their own desk, Andy's in the dining room and Eric's in the living room. Lily seemed perfectly comfortable coding in the living room on the couch. When Andy's last partner showed up, she would have to either share space in the backyard or the couch in the living room. The dining room table might fit a third workspace, but it would be a very tight fit. There had been nice surprises, however. Both Lauren and Aisling were excellent cooks, each with radically different styles. Lauren focused on healthy cooking, while Ash was the master of lush, savory cooking that threatened waistlines just from the very smell of it. The cats had taken well to their new housemates, keeping themselves entertained while everyone was working. From time to time, they would hop onto people's laps, or walk across their laptops, but for the most part, they were just happy to have people to be around who might be willing to pet them in a spare moment. But they were starting to feel the limitations of the condo, and the heat wasn't helping. They had fans running nonstop, but the condo didn't have centralized air conditioning. When it had just been the two of them, they were able to manage by closing the windows and drawing the drapes, because the condo was nicely shaded by trees. But with six people, that wasn't holding up as well. By the time it started to cool down in the evening, a light funk had started to fill the place. And there was still one more person to show up. The camaraderie between them all had helped diffuse the tension, even as they delved into each other's past. Andy had gotten to know some of Aisling's siblings, especially Dermot, who had refused to let Andy off the line the first time they'd talked until he'd promised to send him an advance reader copy of "High Noon At Stonehenge," the upcoming Druid Gunslinger book that had started Andy down this whole journey. Turning on the news every night had been hard to watch, simply because it didn't jibe with the information they had at their own fingertips. As Phil had predicted, the government was doing its best to downplay the casualties, reporting false numbers to make it sound like everything was under control. And while reports of the vaccination program were starting to get out to the masses, nobody was talking about the side effects. Why, Andy kept asking himself, why oh why was nobody talking about the side effects? They were wrapping up a day's worth of work when Niko looked over at Andy with a soft smile. Aisling and Lauren had headed upstairs a few minutes earlier. "I've sort of been monopolizing you for a few days, Andy, so Ash and Lauren have a little surprise cooked up for you while I work late tonight. I'll be up in a few hours to crawl into bed, but you should go up to your room and enjoy what they've got up their sleeves." "You okay with that?" Andy said. He'd been navigating a whirlwind of emotions since the girls had come into his life, and was doing his best to make sure nobody ever felt left out, and that everyone also got a turn being the center of attention. "Oh relax. If I wasn't, I wouldn't have said so. And I did demand a mess of attention when I got here, so it's only fair I tap out of a couple of play sessions. Gimme a kiss and then go have your fun." She tilted her head upward as he smiled and leaned down, pressing his lips against hers. He'd meant to give her a quick kiss, but she folded her hand against the back of his neck and pulled him in to make it much more intense, practically searing him with the heat. "And Lauren's going to be a little nervous, and you're going to want to go easy on her. Don't, okay? She wants what she's offering, so don't deny her that. You'll know what she wants. Give it to her." "Yes ma'am." He offered her a mock salute and she reached over and swatted his ass. "Don't be a smartass. Now get your butt upstairs." Andy shutdown his desktop and then headed up the stairs. The door to his room was closed. Eric and Lily had been in their room for about an hour already, and he could hear the sounds of moans behind their closed door. Lily and Eric both started and ended their days earlier than Andy and his girls. Whenever a door was closed in the house, the rule was that you always knocked. So there was Andy, once again, knocking on the door to his own bedroom. "Come on in, luv," Aisling said. Andy stepped into his own bedroom, and saw Aisling sitting on the corner of the bed. On her knees on the floor next to her was Lauren, with her hands folded together in front of her. She wore absolutely nothing, except for a collar attached to a leash, the end of which was in Aisling's hand. He closed the door behind himself, feeling Huginn skitter in just before he did. "So what's all this then?" "Well love," Aisling said, "Lauren has a request. A couple of requests, actually. Don't you, slut?" Lauren licked her lips nervously, not speaking, but nodding in agreement. Aisling took the leash by the midpoint and used the end to give Lauren a smack on the back like a mock lash. "I asked you a question, Lauren. Answer me." "Sorry, Mistress," Lauren said. "Yes, Master, your slut would like to make a coupla humble requests, if that's good." What Niko had told him just a few minutes rung in his ears once more before he spoke. "You may ask. Whether I'll grant them or not remains to be seen, but if you don't ask, you risk nothing, you gain nothing. Speak." "Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. The other birds and I were talkin', and Aisl, Mistress Aisling was telling' us about her first time being taken in the back, an' I wanted to have a go at it." "Taken in the back?" Aisling gave her another playful smack with the leash end. "What did I tell you, whore? Speak plainly and dirty, otherwise he's not going to know what you want." "The ass, sir. I wanna be fucked in the ass." "That's one request. What's the other?" Andy said, moving a little closer to the two women. "You've been so wonderful and kind with me, Andy, but I want to see the other side of ya. I wanna rough go at it. Pull me hair, spank my ass, pinch me nips, ride my hard, pound me hard, make it hurt. Don't break me, but take me right up to that edge." Andy reached down and pinched one of Lauren's nipples between his fingertips, his grip holding firm and clamping even tighter than he would've normally. He expected to hear a whimper of pain from Lauren, but instead, a deep throated moan poured from her, and her hips almost rutted forward. "That what you're looking for?" "Fuck yes, Master." "If you want to be fucked in the ass, Lauren, you're going to need to get my cock good and slick. Going in dry would do some damage." Aisling giggled a little bit, and reached behind her, grabbing a tube of lubricant, handing it down to Lauren. Andy peeled his shirt off and felt Lauren's hands prying his jeans open, nearly ripping them down his legs. It wasn't until she'd gotten them down there that she realized he was still wearing his shoes from having walked out to the mailbox earlier. "Oh, you useless cunt, girl," Lauren said to herself. "Forgot to get his runners off." He certainly didn't go easy on her, and she certainly seemed to enjoy herself. Niko had slipped into bed with them an hour or so later, and the four of them drifted off to sleep. But it wasn't going to be a long and restful night for Andy. There was a knock on the door in the middle of the night. Aisling and Lauren were on his left and Niko was on his right, so he only had to move past her to get to the door. He saw her stir a little when he crawled out of bed, but he was able to avoid disturbing her too much. He pulled on a pair of boxers, tugged on a t shirt and opened the door to his room to see Eric and Lily standing outside. Eric curled his fingers at Andy to come out of his room. Andy nodded and stepped out into the hallway, then followed Eric and Lily downstairs to the living room. "Andy, we," Lily started, then paused, then started again, "I need your help." "Help?" Andy said, looking over at Eric. "What kind of help can I provide? I'm a writer, for fuck sake." "My roommate, well, my former roommate, she was given the vaccine, but,” Lily motioned for Andy to sit on the couch, so he did. "Look, Jenny's a nice girl. She's a little naive, and occasionally she's a bit daft, but she's a nice girl. She wasn't prepared for this." "Prepared for what?" Andy said. "What's happening?" "They delivered her to the man who was supposed to be her partner, and he took a swing at her, said he wanted to put her in her place before he'd let her have a taste of his seed. He tried to hit her, the fucking bastard. But Jenny's been studying aikido since she was six, and she broke his arm defending herself and ran. Even as horny as she was, she wasn't going to let someone push her around. So she fled and she's in hiding, and I can't let that stand, so we need to go and get her." "Go get her? Go and get her? And do what with her?" "I don't know, alright?" Lily said, raising her voice for a second. "I'm thinking we can take her to one of my coworkers and pair them up." "Isn't the government doing match ups? Aren't they going to be pissed that she isn't with who she's supposed to be?" "Look at me, Andy," Lily said, pointing her fingertips at her eyes. "Do I look like I give a shit what the government thinks? They didn't even do a proper check on the guy they were connecting her to. They paired her up with some abusive asshole with a history of violence towards partners. That isn't going to fly, okay?" "Let's go get her, and then we can figure out what to do with her, okay?" Eric suggested. "I'm sure one of us is going to regret this," Andy said, heading back upstairs to grab his socks and shoes. Before the plague had hit, even at three in the morning, there would've been at least a few cars on the road, but now, everyone was staying at home nearly all the time, which meant the freeway felt like a ghost town. That was for the best, because despite it not raining that much in the Bay Area, tonight it was pouring like a flood was coming. And people in the Bay were terrible drivers in the rain. It wasn't a short drive, and after a bit, Andy started to get a bit nervous. "How far up into the hills are we going, Lily? We're more than half way up to San Francisco at this point." "She's up here in Hillsborough, camped out in someone's vacant house since she fled from the asshole. I'm more worried that the cops have shown up to haul her ass to jail." "Or us," Eric said., They're gonna arrest us for being out under curfew." "Quit whining, baby," Lily said to him. "Right up there, on the left, 2885." There were in a very posh neighborhood in Hillsborough, with mansions on either side of them. There was plenty of space in between the houses, something that was mostly at a premium in the Bay. "You wait here with the engine running, Andy, in case we have to bolt quickly. Eric and I will be right back with her." Lily and Eric hopped out of the car, closing the doors and heading over to the house, and left Andy to wait. A minute or so later, a helicopter flew overhead, low and with a spotlight shining down, but it was off to the side and the beam of light cut through some back yard three or four streets over. Andy wasn't sure if they were looking for Lily's friend Jenny or not, but he hoped the police had other things on their mind. The wait was nearly unbearable. After ten minutes, Eric and Lily came back out of the house, a third person between them, hanging on, covered in a blanket it looked like had probably been stolen from whatever house she'd been hiding in. Eric held open the door and Lily loaded the woman into Andy's back seat before Lily ushered the girl into the car, crawling in after her as Eric slid into the front passenger's seat. "I think the cops are close, Andy," Lily hissed at him. "Fucking drive already!" As soon as both doors slammed shut, Andy's foot was off the brake and the car was in motion. It was hard to look back behind him, but after a few blocks he had to stop at a red light and glanced over his shoulder as he had to wait, and saw a familiar face resting her head in Lily's lap. "Jesus Lily, you didn't say your roommate was Jenny Carnero!" "Who's Jenny Carnero?" Eric asked. "She's the goddamn weather forecaster for channel 2." "How the hell would you know that?" Lily asked. "Neither of you strike me as Fox News watchers." "It's the only thing they had on over at 24 Hour Fitness when I went to work out, so I saw her all the time." "It was a job, Andy," Lily said. "I also didn't expect you to hold a grudge." "It's not that, Lily," Andy sighed. "She's going to be noticed missing. It's not like she's somebody we can just keep hidden without people knowing where she is. The minute she goes into work, the guy she's supposed to be with will know where to fucking find her, and that means they'll come for her." "By that point, she'll already be imprinted on someone, so it won't fucking matter," Lily growled. "And it won't be that asshole who tried to hit her." The girl whimpered, her head squirming in Lily's lap. "Lily," she whined, "Lily, it hurts. Need cock." "Soon, Jenny, soon. It won't be long." "Not long, Now," Jenny said, her voice starting to sound almost violent. "Give cock." "Oh shit, her nose is bleeding," Eric said, his eyes back on Jenny's face. "Just pull over and Andy can fuck her." "Excuse me, but I've already got three girls, and supposedly one more on the way. Why don't you fuck her?" "Because Lily says I can't." "Andy, stop the car," Lily said. "Eric, get back here." "But you said,” "I know what I fucking said, you little shit, but I'll have to fucking learn to deal with it, won't I? Get back here and let her suck you off while Andy's driving us home." Andy brought the car to a stop at the next red light, and Lily swapped places with Eric. As soon as Eric was sitting in the back seat, Jenny was practically ripping his pants off, fishing out his cock before slamming her mouth down on it. "Lily, are you sure about this?" Eric said, nervousness apparent in his voice. "Give it to her, Eric. She and I were good friends, we will be again. It'll just be an adjustment." Andy kept his eyes pointing forward for the rest of the drive as Eric got blown in his back seat. Chapter 9 The next day Andy was struggling to figure out a plan. He'd been running it around in his head for hours, trying to see some easy way through this, but he kept coming back to the same inevitable point “ he needed Phil's help. God, he was tired of having to ask Phil for help. "You're vexed, Andy," Niko said to him, placing her hand on his shoulder. He'd been sitting at his desk, and he looked back over his shoulder to her. "How can you tell?" "You've been looking at that computer screen for almost an hour and haven't typed a word, babe," she said, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. "That's vexed. We haven't been together long, but I recognize when you're vexed. I do the same, when I'm thinking very hard about something. I stare and I fret, while I'm vexed." "You seem rather like a badass, Niko. You sure you're going to be okay, being saddled with a square like me?" She laughed. It was a sound he was quickly learning to love, confident and yet still somehow a little cheeky. "You've been keeping this house together despite all the chaos. That doesn't seem square to me." "You know I'm like a dozen years your elder, right?" "I won't tell anyone if you won't. So how can I help? What are you vexed by?" "Last night, our little voyage out, we brought back a new girl for Eric. She's Lily's former roommate. She was supposed to be with someone else, but apparently the man she was paired up with has a history of domestic abuse, and so Lily insisted we rescue her and paired her up with Eric so no one could pull her away." "So you're trying to figure out how to tell the government about how she's paired up with someone different? What makes you think they're even going to notice?" "She's a weather reporter on one of the local news stations, so people are going to notice. I think I've got a solution, but I just hate to do it. I feel like I'm always leaning on this friend to help us out." "Oh? Someone you've told me about?" "Phil. I've mentioned him. In fact, you should probably meet Phil. I'm just tired of constantly asking him for help." "Do you really ask him for help a bunch, or does it just feel like it and you're overreacting?" she grinned. "Probably the latter, but it doesn't always feel like that." Andy grabbed his phone and loaded up the Signal messenger app. He and Phil used it to keep their communication private. “Meet up in an hour at the usual spot? Almost immediately he got a response. “Make it 2. "Okay, looks like I've got a meeting set up. Phil's been our man on the inside for this whole pandemic. He works for a company that contracts for the military, and while he can't tell us exact details about what's going on, he can help paint in some of the corners. Phil will know how to get all this sorted out." "How long have you two known each other?" "Nearly 20 years? He's good people. Why don't you come with me?" "Sure, lemme go throw some pants on." A couple hours later, Andy and Niko had headed back to the park to meet up with Phil, who didn't bring Audrey with him. He was dressed wrapped in head to toe, much like he was the last time, a mask over his face and goggles over his eyes, with a ball cap pulled down over his jet black hair. Andy was dressed much the same. Niko didn't feel the need to wear goggles, and had her hair drawn back into a ponytail. Phil kept a good distance from them, pushing his vape pen behind his mask to take a drag from it, then tugged the mask down briefly to blow out a cloud of vapor into the air. "So what's the 911 call about, Andy?" "First, let me introduce you, "2nd Lieutenant Redwolf," Phil said, cutting him off. "Mr. Marcos," Niko replied. "Didn't know your name was Phil." "I'm surprised you even remember me, Redwolf. You were pretty out of it when I sort nudged you towards Andy." Andy cocked his head. "You sent her my way?" "She's part of our tribe, Andy. Geek cred through and through, and I figured it wouldn't hurt to have her kept in the family, so I just made a connection in the system. She had decent odds to end up with you anyway, but why take a chance, right?" "Guess I owe you one then, Mr. Marcos," Niko said. Phil swiped his hand in the air. "Then I'll call in that favor to insist you never, ever call me Mr. Marcos unless we're at work. Deal?" "I can make that promise." "This what you called me about, Andy?" Phil said, finally stepping a little further back, pulling off his mask so he could just continually draw from the vape pen. "Nah. I've got a bigger problem. So Eric's picked up a runaway." Phil frowned a little bit. "How do you mean?" "So Eric's partner, Lily. She had a roommate before the whole pandemic, name of Jenny. Now apparently Jenny was set up with some guy." "That's how it works, Andy." "I get that, Phil. But it turns out the guy she was set up with was some kind of domestic abuser." "Wait, what?" Phil scowled. "That sort of thing should've shown up before he got paired up with anyone." "I dunno. Maybe it didn't get reported before, maybe this was his first time and he was trying it on. But before Jenny could get imprinted on him, he tried to take a swing at her." "Fuck. She okay?" "She's got some self-defense training, so she got away from the guy unscathed and went into hiding." "You get the guy's name?" "I can have Eric send it to you. But that's not the big concern. The big concern is that once we rescued her, she imprinted onto Eric. And she's a talking head." "Shit," Phil said, taking another drag. "News?" "Weather." Phil swiped a hand back in the air again. "Send me her name. I'll get it taken care of. Don't even trip about it. That's the least of our problems right now." "Shit getting bad, sir, I mean Phil?" Niko asked. "You have no idea." "How bad?" Andy asked. "We're looking at ten to twenty before it's all done." "Ten to twenty million people dead? Jesus!" "No, percent. We're talking ten to twenty percent of America dead, mostly men. We're guessing it'll end up around sixty million dead before the vaccine's in full effect in the middle of next year." Phil took a heavy drag, and the news hung in the air like a guillotine's blade. "The news is going to break any day now how fatal the new mutation of the virus is getting, and then everything'll be crazy. The army's going to be deployed here on US soil and martial law's going to go into effect. President Pelosi's at least been quick about it, and she's bunkered down. News hasn't broken yet, but the orange gooomba died on the operating table a couple of hours ago. Looks like milquetoast will be next in a couple of days." "Forty or fifty million men dead? That's nearly half of the male population!" Niko said. "How the hell are we going to recover from that?" "We're going to have to pair up a lot more women with the remaining men, and encourage them to have a whole shitload of kids," Phil sighed. "But even with that, it's going to be a fucking mess for a generation. Which reminds me, when you go home, I want you to start packing up your things." "Packing?" Andy asked. "What do you mean?" "I mean, start figuring out the absolute minimum you would need to take with you if you had to leave in a hurry, and then get anything that might take a few minutes packed up. Anything else, just have it at the ready." "Should I be worried?" "Nah, but it wouldn't hurt to be a little prepared." "What's happening, Phil?" "I can't tell you that yet, but the world's gonna keep on changing, and it doesn't hurt to be ready for it." "Yeah, okay." "You'll actually be very happy after it happens, man. Trust me." "If you say so." "Trust Big Daddy Phil." Andy rolled his eyes. "I trust you about as far as I can throw you, and that ain't very far." "You'll see." His watch beeped and Phil turned it up to look at it. "I gotta get back into the office. Send me Eric's new girl's name and the guy she was supposed to be hooked up with, and I'll make a few edits into the system." "You know Phil, there are days it feels like you're seriously into some black bag shit." "Only some days?" Phil said, taking one final drag off his vape pen before blowing a huge cloud up and into the air. It smelled vaguely of cinnamon buns, Andy noted. "Then I gotta up my game again. I'll see you soon, brother." He pulled his mask back up and headed back to his car. Andy and Niko watched him go, stretching out a little bit. "So you worked with Phil, huh?" Andy asked her. Her face scrunched up a little. "I was part of their security detail until I got exposed to the virus and then got quarantined. When the symptoms started to get severe, they used us as test cases for vaccinations and tried to pair us off. They were having trouble finding someone to match me with, based on my stated preferences before I got drugged." Andy smirked a little behind his mask. "I knew I wasn't exactly what you were looking for." "You're a little older than I initially wanted, Andy, but I don't have any complaints now that I'm with you. I was also a bit leery about sharing a partner with anyone, but it seems like that's going to be S O P moving forward." "S O P?" "Standard Operating Procedure. If Mr. Mar” if Phil's right about those casualty numbers, they're going to have to pair up a Lot of women to individual men. I bet you're going to get a bunch more than just the one more you're expecting." "Jesus, that's a whole lot of personalities to keep in balance," Andy grumbled. "I dunno if I'm up to that." "You don't have to do it alone, stupid head," she teased. "You've got Ash and me to help manage the cavalcade of women you're going to be saddled with. We'll try and keep everyone from killing one another and manage your time, although we're definitely going to have to continue getting you into better shape." "Lauren's started in on that, but frankly, I probably need to eat better." "And cut down on the soda. You've got a full nest to look after." "This scares the shit out of me," he sighed, leaning his back against a tree. "You know that, right?" Niko strolled over to him, a coy playfulness to her stride, as she moved close. "I know how to relax you." Andy arched an eyebrow beneath the goggles. "What, here?" "Who's going to see?" "We're in a public park, Niko!" "Ask me if I give a fuck," she said, as she dropped down to her knees, nuzzling her face against the crotch of his jeans. "Alright," he laughed, "Niko, do you give a fuh " His sentence was cut off as she pressed her mouth down along the length of his cock until the head of it was pressed against the back of her throat. She held it there for a good moment, long enough that he could feel her suppressing her gag reflex, straining back tears before she drew her head back and gasped in a deep breath of air. A playful giggle rolled from her lips, saliva dripping from them. "No sir, I fucking do not. But the faster you give me what I want, the faster we can go home," she said, moving to kiss at his balls, suckling on his nuts for a moment before moving her lips back to wrap around the head of his cock. "Now hold my hair back and fuck my face." Andy reached down and grabbed her silky ponytail with one hand, the other moving to curl his fingers against the back of her head as he pushed her face back down onto his cock. In response, she let out a wanton moan onto his cock, her hands reaching back to grab his ass, helping push her lips down to the base of his shaft, his balls pressing right against her chin. His hand holding her ponytail pulled her back, sliding her lips back to the head of his cock before pushing her face back down again, feeling her fingernails sinking into his jeans a bit more in response. He could swear he saw her hips thrusting forward beneath him, her legs spread wide, her knees almost pressed to the inside of his ankles. The pace quickened, as he thrust forward into her face while tugging her down onto each shove, whimpers that sounded delighted shivering across his skin between the sloppy sounds. He finally pulled her head back, letting her pop her head off his cock, just in case she wanted to tell him to stop, tell him she'd changed her mind, or whatever. Instead, she turned her eyes up to him. "Don't fucking stop. Fuck my face. Gimme that load of hot cum right against the back of my fucking throat. Please?" Her brown eyes were peering up at him as she licked her lips, and he could feel her struggling to try and lean even closer to him. He started to pump his cock into her mouth again, and suddenly he felt one of her hands slide away from his hips. He could see it push down the front of her jeans, and almost immediately, it came back up again and raised into the air towards his face. Her fingers were glistening, practically soaked, and he could smell her cunt on them as he leaned forward to lick them clean. Just as he did, he felt his balls draw up and his hand on the back of her head pressed her face down to the base of his cock as that orgasm shredded through him. He knew his cum was blasting into her throat, and could feel her spasming and trembling against him. It still boggled his mind, knowing that his orgasm triggered one immediately in his partner, and far more intense than he'd ever been able to bring a woman to before. His hands let go, giving Niko back control as she drew back, groaning in a carnal sound he hadn't yet grown accustomed to. Instead of pulling away, though, she started licking up, making sure to catch any loose jism or spittle from his shaft, her gaze never once leaving his, as she smirked while her tongue slathered him up. "See? Don't you feel less vexed?" He couldn't help it and started laughing, and it was infectious, because she immediately began giggling with him, even while she was lapping up the last of his spunk. "Okay, yes, you got me, I am certainly less vexed. How about you?" Niko smirked a bit, giving his cock one final lick before she pulled his boxers and jeans back up, rezipping and buttoning them up for him. "By now, you have to understand that your sperm is like a magic formula to us, your partners. It's exactly what we need and want every day. It's like giving a junkie a fix. Of course I feel better." She tugged up his shirt and kissed his stomach before pulling herself back up onto her feet. "I'd have kissed you but, "I don't mind that you just blew me, Niko," Andy chuckled. "Oh, that's not it at all. I just didn't want to share," she said with a wink, tapping one of her fingertips on his nose. "Girl's gotta keep every drop to herself any chance she can. Normally we try and pass a little of each load around, but here I get one all to myself. So I'm savoring that taste lingering on my lips. But we should get back to the house." "Fair enough." As soon as they got back to the house, Lily was waiting for them by the garage door. "Are we okay?" Niko smiled at her and gave the plump girl a huge. "Andy's got you covered, don't worry." She rubbed her spiky hair and then headed into the house, leaving the two together. "So get me the jackass's name from Jenny, and I'll get it to our friend Phil, who'll make sure it gets entered into the record that he's a domestic abuser." "Hopefully that means he won't get paired with anyone then." "Well, based on what Phil said in the Discord channel a week or so back, it's more likely they'll pair him with someone who can beat the shit out of him," Andy sighed. "Or, someone who's into that kind of thing. People are into all sorts of weird things out here." "You don't have to tell me twice," Lily said, exhaling a deep breath. "Jenny's been nuzzled up to Eric all morning, practically unwilling to let him go. I wasn't planning on sharing him with anyone, but if I have to share him with someone, I guess Jenny will be okay." Andy realized a second later, his face must have given something away. "What's with that look? You heard something else from Phil, didn't you?" "Yeah, it's pretty fucking scary out there, Lil." He shook his head then looked up. "You're probably going to be sharing Eric with quite a few other women. Men are dying left and right, and they're going to have to figure out how to keep the country afloat. That means the traditional family unit design is out the fucking window." "How bad can it really be if they're keeping it quiet?" "It's about to boil over. The estimate is we're going to lose nearly half the men in America." Her eyes looked to him as if she was waiting for the joke. When it didn't come, and the silence had hung in the air an uncomfortably long time, she finally spoke again. "Half? Fucking half? Fucking Half?" "Yeah, I can't say I'm thrilled about it either, Lily. I've got a lot of guy friends, and the idea of half of them just being fucking gone isn't exactly news I wanted to hear when I got up this morning, but I got it anyway." Andy tossed his hands up into the air. "And we can't fucking tell anyone! The news will out in a few days, but we have to be quiet about it until it is. Also, apparently we need to start packing." "Packing? What for?" "I guess we're going to be moved at some point. I guess we'll find out soon enough." Soon enough came the very next day. Andy and his usual gang of friends had a Discord channel they hung out on regularly, and they'd been using it for news on each other. And Phil poked his head in just before noon with a simple message: "@DruidGun 15 minutes." The household had spent part of the da

Rimein i Refur Narrator wcielają się w Muninna i Huginna - kruki Odyna Wszechojca. Bracia znaleźli wspólny język i kontynuują pościg za porwaną przez najwyższego z bogów Astrid oraz... Własnymi skrzydłami. Gramy w uniwersum inspirowanym grami video God of War oraz God of War Ragnarok.Gramy na autorskiej nakładce na mechanikę systemu Mroczny Graal.

Rimein i Refur Narrator wcielają się w Muninna i Huginna - kruki Odyna Wszechojca, najwyższego z bogów, który poświęcił w Jotunheimie bliską sercom obu bohaterów Astrid. Teraz czas, aby zapłacił! Gramy w uniwersum inspirowanym grami video God of War oraz God of War Ragnarok.Gramy na autorskiej nakładce na mechanikę systemu Mroczny Graal.

C'est un duo que les lecteurs de la grande période Valiant des années 2010 connaissent forcément. Raùl Allén et Patricia Martin ont ravi les lecteurs avec des titres comme Secret Weapons ou Livewire. Depuis la fin de Valiant, le duo s'est attelé à une entreprise ambitieuse : la réalisation d'une adaptation en trois albums du roman Dune de Frank Herbert. Un travail de titan (disponible en VF chez Huginn & Muninn) qui valait bien quelques questions, et ça tombe bien :le duo était présent à la dernière édition de FACTS à Gand en Belgique, où nous sommes allés les retrouver !Un duo de choc dans le podcast !Nous sommes donc ravi de vous proposer cet entretien en compagnie de Raùl Allén et Patricia Martin afin d'explorer leur parcours, leur façon de travailler à l'époque chez Valiant, puis de revenir longuement sur leur travail et les choix artistiques faits sur Dune. Une discussion que vous pouvez également retrouver à l'écrit (et en français) via Comicsblog.fr si vous préférez ce format.Vous pouvez découvrir Dune Tome 1 / Dune Tome 2 / Dune Tome 3 à ces liens !Si vous appréciez notre travail - et vous rendez compte de tous les efforts que ça demande, alors nous avons besoin de vous. Faites entendre votre voix ! Vous pouvez commenter et partager l'émission un peu partout, en débattre sur notre DISCORD, vous pouvez aussi nous soutenir via notre page Tipeee. Merci à toutes et tous de votre écoute en tous les cas, et à bientôt pour le prochain podcast !Soutenez First Print - Votre podcast comics (& BD) préféré sur TipeeeHébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Rimein i Refur Narrator wcielają się w Muninna i Huginna - kruki Odyna Wszechojca. Braci poróżniła kobieta, ale dziś muszą zjednoczyć się aby ją ocalić.Gramy w uniwersum inspirowanym grami video God of War oraz God of War Ragnarok.Gramy na autorskiej nakładce na mechanikę systemu Mroczny Graal.

Rimein i Refur Narrator wcielają się w Muninna i Huginna - kruki Odyna Wszechojca. Czy możliwe jest, aby cokolwiek zachwiało ich braterstwem? Gramy w uniwersum inspirowanym grami video God of War oraz God of War Ragnarok.Gramy na autorskiej nakładce na mechanikę systemu Mroczny Graal.

L'émission Front Page est une revue d'actualité qui s'intéresse à tout ce qui touche le monde de la bande dessinée américaine (comics) du côté des Etats-Unis comme de la France, ainsi qu'à ses adaptations tous médias confondus. Le podcast est une série régulière chez First Print et revient au rythme de trois épisodes par mois, hors contenus spéciaux. Ce Front Page est le premier podcast consacré à l'actualité comics du mois de mars 2025.Le podcast est sponsorisé par Pulps et on vous propose un "Focus Pulps" chaque mois ! Découvrez une sélection de comics VO à prix de lancement !Le Focus Pulp's de mars 2025 : Supergirl #1/ Free Planet #1/ Sleep #1Si vous appréciez le travail fourni par l'équipe et que vous souhaitez soutenir le podcast, vous pouvez partager les émissions sur les réseaux sociaux et vous abonner à nos différents comptes, laisser des notes sur les différentes plateformes d'écoute, ou encore nous soutenir via notre page Tipeee. Très bonne écoute à vous, et à bientôt pour le prochain podcast !Le ProgrammeCOMICS - 02:18A soutenir : Den 3 chez Delirium Tiens donc : du comics chez Huginn & Muninn (Stan Lee par Tom Scioli) ?Miles Davis et la quête du son arrive chez Glénat Un réédition Deluxe du Godzilla de James Stokoe à venir chez VestronSilver Surfer Black, Conan et All-New Venom annoncés chez Panini ComicsLe plein d'omnibus pour les FF chez Panini ComicsEt surtout : IT'S JEFF !!!La SDCC s'exporte cet automne en EspagneDe premiers noms affichés pour Ignition PressMagic dévoile son set Spider-ManLe titre Emma Frost : The White Queen confirméTV - 1:08:00Matthew Lillard rejoint Daredevil : Born Again saison 2On a vu ce qu'aurait dû être le reboot des Super NanasCINEMA - 1:22:00Un documentaire Kirbyvision en développement pour le cinémaJustin Li (FF) embauché pour réaliser le film BRZRKRSoutenez First Print - Podcast Comics de Référence sur TipeeeHébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Olá camaradas! Neste episódio João Eduardo, o mestre Pepino, junto com Matheus Gansohr batem um papo com Matheus Herpisch (@ideiasarcanas) e Diogo Arakis (@diogo.arakis) para falar sobre o rpg de Fallout, produzido pela Modiphius e trazido para o Brasil pela parceria entre Retropunk (@retropunkgd) e Huginn & Muninn (@huginnemuninned). Fallout é um jogo de sistema 2d20, que fala de um futuro distópico onde o capitalismo deu certo e o sonho americano ficou cristalizado, venha com a gente e explore esse universo repleto de senso de humor e crítica ácida (ou será que não?). slava Curte nosso trampo, camarada? Nos apoie através do: apoia.se/lenindragonsrpg Conheça nossa loja em parceria com a Geek Paralelo: https://montink.com/geek-paralelo/?produto=lenindragons Use o cupom LENINDRAGONS e ganhe 10% de desconto em nossos produtos Conheçam nossos parceiros da Diadoramas: https://diadoramas.com.br com o cupom CAMARADORIM ganhe 10% de descontos em toda a loja. Acessem: www.101games.com.br com o cupom lenindragons10 você recebe 10% de desconto. https://universosimulado.com.br com o cupom universolenindragons você recebe 10℅ de desconto. Quer apoiar o Fallout rpg? https://www.catarse.me/falloutbr

Libra is the bringer of the fall equinox and denotes serenity, beauty, and balance. Associated with the mentally and emotionally wrought Tarot cards 2-4 of Swords and its Queen, we are reminded to cultivate inner sanctuary through life's difficulties.To feel at home in the world, and to know that the land and the sky nurture and guard us, that we are held and protected. Perhaps we need to stand still for a moment to allow ourselves to feel the gift of peace that is ours. -Julia Jeffrey*Episode Art: The 2 of Swords from The Fountain Tarot superimposed over Esmerlize's 4 of Swords*Correction: Eliza here. I must be raven mad calling Odin's Huginn and Muninn crows. Oops. Apologies to all corvid folk.Acknowledgments & Mentions: Pholarcos Tarot, Carmen Sorrenti; Blood Moon Tarot, Sam Guay; The Crone Tarot, Ellen Lorenzi-Prince; The Carnival at the End of The World Tarot; Mary-El Tarot, Mary White; Shadowscapes Tarot, Stephanie Pui-Man Law & Barbara Moore; Spiritsong & Phantasma Tarots, Paulina Cassidy; Medicine Woman Tarot, Carol Bridges; Witch Sister Tarot, Julia Jeffrey; Harvest Moon, Neil Young8th House Healers Podcast is Eliza Harris and Sarah Cole-McCarthy. All rights reserved. Find us on Instagram and Eliza's Tarot in her Etsy shop. We'd love to hear from you! Send your questions, comments & suggestions to us at: 8thhousehealers@gmail.com. Podcast cover photography, ‘The Lovers', by Eliza/Esmerlize (esmerlize.com). Original podcast theme music, ‘Languid Stars', by Dylan McCarthy (dylanmccarthymusic.com).Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/8th-house-healers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's easy for mythical birds to capture the imagination, whether it's the phoenix rising from the ashes, or Aethon eternally pecking Prometheus' liver. And let's not forget Odin with his ravens, Huginn and Muninn, or Memory and Thought. In Norse myth, they travelled out into the world and flew back to Odin to report on what was happening. Not all mythical birds are benevolent, or even particularly well-known, as we shall see. Let's explore the phoenix, the Firebird, the martlet, and the Nachtkrapp in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the images and references on the blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/mythical-birds/ 'The Fire Bird - Russian Fairy Tales' by Irina Zheleznova: https://archive.org/details/the-fire-bird Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Enjoyed this episode and want to show your appreciation? Buy Icy a coffee to say 'thanks' at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/ Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social Tweet Icy at https://x.com/IcySedgwick

Jonas Lihaug kan i år feire at det er 10 år siden han startet YouTube-kanalen "Baibai & Huginn" sammen med kompisen Henrik Hildre. Siden da, har Jonas smykket seg med nye titler som både programleder, realitydeltaker, komiker og skuespiller. I dag er han på besøk hos Morten, og skal svare på noen fordommer. Er Jonas fortsatt bitter på NRK? Har han noen gang vurdert å selge "Clone a willy" som merch? ..og kommer han noen gang til å legge seg under kniven for å motvirke alderdommens tegn?Forslag til kjendiser og fordommer kan sendes til oss på Instagram

L'émission Front Page est une revue d'actualité qui s'intéresse à tout ce qui touche le monde de la bande dessinée américaine (comics) du côté des Etats-Unis comme de la France, ainsi qu'à ses adaptations tous médias confondus. Le podcast est une série régulière chez First Print et revient au rythme de trois épisodes par mois, hors contenus spéciaux. Ce Front Page est le premier podcast consacré à l'actualité comics du mois de mai 2024.Répondez à notre GRANDE ENQUÊTE ICILe podcast est sponsorisé par Pulps et on vous propose un "Focus Pulps" chaque mois ! Découvrez une sélection de comics VO à prix de lancement !Le Focus Pulps de mai 2024 : Aliens vs Avengers #1 / Hello Darkness #1/ TMNT #1, oh et puis Spider-Man : Reign II #1Si vous appréciez le travail fourni par l'équipe et que vous souhaitez soutenir le podcast, vous pouvez partager les émissions sur les réseaux sociaux et vous abonner à nos différents comptes, laisser des notes sur les différentes plateformes d'écoute, ou encore nous soutenir via notre page Tipeee. Très bonne écoute à vous, et à bientôt pour le prochain podcast !LE PROGRAMMECOMICS - 04:45Dédicaces à venir chez Album, Alan Davis invité d'honneur de Japan ExpoExposition LUG par ses auteursLes séries d'horreur de Huginn & Muninn de retour en librairieTankers et ENIAC arrivent cet été aux éditions BlissHack/Slash : Back to School prévu en novembre 2024 chez HiComicsSomna et Barnstormers annoncés pour 2025 aux éditions Delcourt404 Graphic annonce déjà sa première sortie de 2025 : AnzueloRemote Space : Cliff Rathburn se la joue SF brutale chez ImageUn titre Jenny Spark par Tom King annoncé en DC Black LabelJeff Lemire annonce trois projets pour DC et une pause pour le Bone Orchard MythosJonathan Hickman et Greg Capullo sur Wolverine : RevengeRob Liefeld fait son baroud d'honneur sur DeadpoolTV - 1:38:20SyFy annonce une adaptation TV des comics Revival de Tim SeeleyChez Amazon, on abandonne Silk mais on commande Spider-Man NoirDes dates pour Agatha All Along et Daredevil : Born Again (et un changement de logo)CINEMA - 2:05:20Edgar Wright en discussions pour réaliser le Barbarella de Sydney SweeneyUn scénariste trouvé pour le reboot des X-Men chez Marvel StudiosSoutenez First Print - Podcast Comics de Référence sur TipeeeHébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Cela fait maintenant une douzaine d'années que l'auteur Jeffrey Brown a réinventé dans ses bandes dessinées l'univers de Star Wars, avec les séries Dark Vador & Fils ou l'Académie Jedi qui reprennent des moments du quotidien, de la parentalité et de l'enfance, dans l'univers de la Guerre des Etoiles. A l'occasion de la sortie de Le Mandalorien et l'Enfant aux éditions Huginn & Muninn, l'auteur couronné de deux Eisner était présent à Paris. Nous sommes donc allés à sa rencontre afin de lui poser quelques questions sur son travail, et la façon dont il est passé de ses comics underground à travailler sur une méga-licence telle que Star Wars.L'entretien est également à découvrir à l'écrit en VF pour les non-anglophones, via comicsblog.fr, et nous vous invitons à partager cet article ou le podcast si vous appréciez le travail que tout cela représente. Remerciements : Marie Fabbri.Hébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

I dette afsnit snakker Hasse og Lasse om Andreas Mogensen som endelig er vendt hjem fra den Internationale Rumstation efter sin Huginn mission. Snart er ESA's 2022 klasse af astronauter færdig med deres basis træning og SpaceX's StarShip lettede og det gik da egentlig meget godt.  Du er altid velkommen til at skrive ind med spørgsmål, ris og ros, og hvad du ellers havde af tanker til modstjernerne@gmail.com   StarShip som kommer ned igennem atmosfæren:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX1LTw48ymQ&pp=ygUUc3RhcnNoaXAgM3JkIGxhdW5jaCA%3D Andreas der landede på Jorden efter 6 måneder:  https://youtu.be/uPczNBIIrK4?si=k1BQBG9vpBJSanpI    

This is the first response episode for my new segment "Ask Jewells Anything About Iceland". Thank you to everyone who sent in questions and if you would like to submit a question, you can do it here. Questions sent in from the listeners of the All Things Iceland Podcast 1. Can you please discuss some of the history of Ravens in Iceland. I was delighted to hear about some mischievous Ravens by Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, who were working in tandem to collect and confiscate tourist's goods. Do we know when they arrived in Iceland and how has their presence impacted Icelandic culture? There are several stories relating to Iceland that involve ravens. The first that pops into my mind has to do with Óðinn, the Norse God, that had two Ravens. They were named Huginn (thought) and Muninn (memory or mind). They flew around the world (Midgard) and brough back information to Óðinn. Because Norse people settled in Iceland, the belief and worship of Óðinn came with them.Another story that comes to mind is of Hrafna-Flóki. He was a Norse Viking that is said to have given Iceland its name. He didn't stay in Iceland because he encountered a very harsh winter where he almost didn't survive. However, before he left he went on top of a mountain in the fjord and saw that the fjord was packed with ice. Due to that, he called this place the land of ice or "Iceland". 2. Hello. We are taking a cruise out of Reykjavik with NCL and looking to arrive a few days early to explore. We will be renting a car with Go Car Rental and wanted to know the best way to get from their Reykjavik office to the cruise port in September upon our rental return? The cruise port is Skarfabakki. Thank you for your input! The easiest way to get from Go Car Rental Iceland's Skógarhlíð location in Reykjavík to Skarfabakki is to take a taxi. It is about 9 minutes by car, so it will not be very expensive. The name of a taxi company to use is Hreyfill. 3. If there was only one beautiful place in Iceland you could visit which one would it be? This is such a tough question. I know that only one place was requested but I will provide two. One is more remote and that is Eldgjá in the Icelandic highlands. The other is the Westman Islands, which is much easier to access. To learn about all of the places I enjoy around the country, including hidden gems, check out My Iceland Map. 4. Thank you for your informative entertaining podcast. Do you need to drive in order to fully enjoy Iceland? I'm a passenger princess and don't know how I would get around if I don't come with someone who drives. You can definitely be a passenger princess and still see Iceland. I suggest taking tours that are for small groups. It is more intimate than the big buses and you see as much of the country as you want. On this website you can find many day tour and multi-day tour options. 5. How do people in Iceland view the political climate in the US??? The answer to this can be long because it involves so many layers. In short, the Icelanders I have spoken to have often been confused about what is happening politically in the US. Not that they don't understand how the system operates but wondering why it is allowed to be the way it is. An example is that politics in the US is dominated by two parties. There is also a lot of extremism and it seems that politicians often want to pass laws or vote for laws that undermine the safety and rights of their constituents. 6. Can you please slow down and maybe even spell out that names of places you mention in your podcast? It's a wonderful podcast but it is so difficult to understand Icelandic names without seeing them in print (and even then it's difficult)! I totally understand that it can be hard to listen to the podcast and not understand how to spell the words I am saying in Icelandic. One of the reasons I write a lot of notes here on my website is so that you can reference it to see what the words look like...

Léna et Faye se retrouvent pour Discuter de la saison 3 de The Mandalorian, la série Star Wars disponible sur Disney +. (épisode enregistré en avril 2023) Previously on The MandalorianOn commence par faire le point sur les événements se passant avant la saison 3, notamment dans la série TV Le livre de Boba Fett. Vous aurez tout le contexte pour aborder les nouvelles aventures de Din Djarin et Grogu. La saison 3Nous partageons ensuite avec vous, notre sentiment sur la saison. Celle-ci nous plonge profondément dans la culture mandalorienne, la politique et la famille. Un programme qui plairait beaucoup à Vin Diesel ^^. Du divertissementLa saison trois est plutôt divertissante. Il est agréable de voir un côté un peu plus feuilletonnant plutôt que du stand alone. Montrer une nouvelle république en pleine paranoïa, ayant du mal à oublier la guerre est une bonne idée. Mandalore et ses habitants nous ont offert de bons moments de bravoures et d'émotion. Cependant, les épisodes sont trop courts et certains des éléments de l'intrigue ne sont pas assez développés, en particulier ce qui concerne l'antagoniste. On note également un problème sur le choix des titres qui sont parfois trompeurs. Un peu de lecture :Nous vous conseillons en fin d'émission la lecture de Tout l'art de The Mandalorian qui vous parle de la construction de la série et Star Wars, la revue qui propose différents dossiers autour de l'univers. Ces ouvrages sont à retrouver chez Huginn & Munnin: http://huginnmuninn.fr/fr/collection/huginn-muninn-star-wars Vous pouvez aussi écouter la Discussion de Faye et Diane enregistré aux Castors à l'occasion du 4 mai : https://jamesetfaye.fr/retour-vers-les-etoiles-heritage-de-leia/ Écouter et suivre Geek en série sur : https://linktr.ee/geekenserie Retrouver Lena : https://linktr.ee/lenainlive? Découvrir nos autres productions : https://linktr.ee/jamesetfaye Nous soutenir grâce à :Tipeee : https://fr.tipeee.com/james-et-faye Et retrouver toute notre actu sur :Le site internet : http://jamesetfaye.fr/

@Jason.Sobkowicz professional life is marked by his 19 years of dedicated service with the @OntarioProvincialPolice , a tenure that speaks to his commitment to law and order. However, his career has not been without its challenges. Currently in a phase of recovery, Jason is bravely navigating the mental injuries incurred from the stresses of his demanding job, showcasing his resilience and strength.Outside of his police service, Jason immerses himself in the fulfilling world of hobby farming. His journey into homesteading reflects his desire to connect with the land and lead a self-sustaining lifestyle. This endeavor is complemented by his role as a devoted husband of 8 years and a father to three children, illustrating his dedication to family and home life.Martial arts play a significant role in Jason's life, where his avid passion is evident. This discipline not only serves as a physical outlet but also as a mental and spiritual practice, contributing to his overall well-being. Jason's commitment to martial arts mirrors his broader interest in physical fitness, as he is also a lifelong outdoorsman, athletics enthusiast, and an avid runner.Jason's intellectual pursuits are no less impressive. A heavy bookworm, his interests span consciousness, reality, the human mind, physics, and the nature of everything. His deep passion for these subjects positions him as a wisdom seeker and an amateur philosopher, always eager to explore and understand the world's complexities.In his latest venture, Jason steps into the world of podcasting. His first endeavor, #Talkingtohorses, has now evolved into ‘The Raven Chronicles with Muninn and Huginn', co-hosted with John.Through this platform, Jason aims to help others overcome mental health trauma and inspire them with his own path to greatness. His goal is not just to share his story but to empower others to become the best versions of themselves.

Undanfarna daga hafa staðið yfir menningarátök um ævintýrið um þægu kóngsdótturina Dimmalimm. Nú í mánuðinum kemur út hjá bókaforlaginu Óðinsauga ný útgáfa af ævintýrinu þar sem hinar klassísku myndir Muggs hafa verið endurgerðar í nýjum stíl og nýjum myndum bætt við við upprunalega textann. Í tilkynningu frá forlaginu segir: Ný útgáfa er óður til sögunnar um Dimmalimm eftir Guðmund Thorsteinsson, bæði textans og myndanna sem þessi stórsnjalli listamaður skóp. Fljótlega eftir að fréttist af útgáfunni sendu ættingjar Muggs frá sér yfirlýsingu þar sem þeir lýstu yfir óánægju sinni með útgáfunni - og sögðu verkið brjóta gegn sæmdarrétti höfundar. í þætti dagsins ræðum við við Geir Rögnvaldsson, dótturson Guðrúnar, systur Muggs, Huginn Þór Grétarsson hjá Óðinsauga og Önnu Magnúsdóttur Eirúnardóttur, sem skilaði BA-ritgerð í vor um Samspil mynda og texta í nokkrum útgáfum Sögunnar af Dimmalimm eftir Mugg. Sigríður Regína Sigurþórsdóttir rýnir í þrjár myndir á RIFF, The Settlers, How To Have Sex og Tilverur, frumraun leikstjórans Ninnu Pálmadóttur. Við fáum að heyra áttunda og seinast þátt Guðna Tómassonar og Þorgerðar E. Sigurðardóttur, Nokkrir dagar í frjálsu falli, frá árinu 2018. Yfirskrift þessa þáttar er Ræðan.

Undanfarna daga hafa staðið yfir menningarátök um ævintýrið um þægu kóngsdótturina Dimmalimm. Nú í mánuðinum kemur út hjá bókaforlaginu Óðinsauga ný útgáfa af ævintýrinu þar sem hinar klassísku myndir Muggs hafa verið endurgerðar í nýjum stíl og nýjum myndum bætt við við upprunalega textann. Í tilkynningu frá forlaginu segir: Ný útgáfa er óður til sögunnar um Dimmalimm eftir Guðmund Thorsteinsson, bæði textans og myndanna sem þessi stórsnjalli listamaður skóp. Fljótlega eftir að fréttist af útgáfunni sendu ættingjar Muggs frá sér yfirlýsingu þar sem þeir lýstu yfir óánægju sinni með útgáfunni - og sögðu verkið brjóta gegn sæmdarrétti höfundar. í þætti dagsins ræðum við við Geir Rögnvaldsson, dótturson Guðrúnar, systur Muggs, Huginn Þór Grétarsson hjá Óðinsauga og Önnu Magnúsdóttur Eirúnardóttur, sem skilaði BA-ritgerð í vor um Samspil mynda og texta í nokkrum útgáfum Sögunnar af Dimmalimm eftir Mugg. Sigríður Regína Sigurþórsdóttir rýnir í þrjár myndir á RIFF, The Settlers, How To Have Sex og Tilverur, frumraun leikstjórans Ninnu Pálmadóttur. Við fáum að heyra áttunda og seinast þátt Guðna Tómassonar og Þorgerðar E. Sigurðardóttur, Nokkrir dagar í frjálsu falli, frá árinu 2018. Yfirskrift þessa þáttar er Ræðan.

L'émission Front Page est une revue d'actualité qui s'intéresse à tout ce qui touche le monde de la bande dessinée américaine (comics) du côté des Etats-Unis comme de la France, ainsi qu'à ses adaptations tous médias confondus. Le podcast est une série régulière chez First Print et revient au rythme de trois épisodes par mois, hors contenus spéciaux. Ce Front Page est le second podcast consacré à l'actualité comics du mois de septembre 2023.  Si vous appréciez le travail fourni par l'équipe et que vous souhaitez soutenir le podcast, vous pouvez partager les émissions sur les réseaux sociaux et vous abonner à nos différents comptes, laisser des notes sur les différentes plateformes d'écoute, ou encore nous soutenir via notre page Tipeee. Très bonne écoute à vous, et à bientôt pour le prochain podcast !   Soutenez First Print - Podcast Comics de Référence sur Tipeee   Le Programme  COMICS - 04:30  A soutenir : La cité des Merveilles chez KI, Den chez Délirium  Jeff Lemire présent à Paris en novembre 2023 !  Echolands gagne le prix comics ACBD  Les suites des titres horrifiques de Huginn & Muninn arrivent en octobre 2023  Charles Soule se met aux vampire de l'espace avec The Bloody Dozen  Liam Sharp au travail sur des comics Spawn avec un air de Conan  Rick Remender signe en exclusivité chez Image Comics !  Marvel tease beaucoup de titres pour janvier 2024  Fables : le grand duel entre Bill Willingham et DC Comics  TV - 1:23:40  Une bande annonce pour Kite-Man, le spin-off d'Harley Quinn  CINEMA - 1:29:30  Lion-Girl : mais qu'est-ce que c'est que ce truc ?  Le film El Muerto annulé pour de bon ?   Le point grève (Steven DeKnight et syndicat des VFX)  Enfin un premier trailer pour Aquaman & Le Royaume Perdu

Uden mad og drikke, dur astronauten ikke – og i denne første episode i sæson 9 ser vi nærmere på rummad. For på trods af udviklingen de sidste 50-60 års tid er der stadig lang vej endnu før rumkosten er både holdbar, næringsrig, mættende og ikke mindst velsmagende. Der bliver dog arbejdet på sagerne, også her i Danmark. RumSnak har været på besøg hos Thorsten Schmidt, der er kok og ejer af restaurant Barr på Christianshavn. Thorsten lavede for 8 års tid siden en tre-retters middag til Andreas' første mission og har også været involveret i at lave noget særligt til Huginn-missionen i år. Udover rummad har vi selvfølgelig også korte rumnyheder og bonus – denne gang blandt andet om rumturisme, solvejr og Marsbaser. LINKS NYHEDER Russisk rummission til Månens sydpol (https://www.space.com/russia-luna-25-moon-mission-launch-success) Virgin Galactic sender nyt hold rumturister afsted (https://www.space.com/virgin-galactic-galactic02-launch-success) Masser af energi fra Solen (https://www.space.com/sun-blasts-highest-energy-radiation-ever-recorded-raising-questions-solar-physics) Rapport fra "Mars"-mission i Texas (https://www.space.com/nasa-chapea-analog-mars-mission-one-month-interview) Sådan laver de holdbare underhylere til fremtidens astronauter (https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/Keeping_your_underwear_clean_on_the_Moon) BOG

Des vacances ? Quoi ? Comment ? Vous le savez, le mot est quelque peu absent de notre vocabulaire, et on ne voudrait pas que vous vous ennuyiez à la plage ou la montage. Aussi reprenons-nous nous micros pour la revue d'actualité comics qui est votre rendez-vous incontournable sur le podcast : Front Page ! Au sommaire, des comics, beaucoup, et un peu d'adaptations, et pas mal de discussions sur des sujets plus transversaux avec des questions de grèves et de syndicats.  L'actualité comics au plus chaud de l'été  On ne vous la refait pas : il y a toujours de quoi discuter même dans les temps a priori les plus calmes des industries culturelles. Aussi, on vous laisse avec ce podcast auquel vous êtes habitués, en vous rappelant que si vous souhaitez garder cette habitude, il est important de le faire savoir en soutenant le podcast, en commentant, en partageant sur les réseaux sociaux ou en contribuant à notre Tipeee. Merci à toutes et tous de votre écoute, et à bientôt pour la prochaine émission !  Le Programme  COMICS - 03:10  Abyss à soutenir sur Komics Initiative   Madman : la 2e intégrale arrive chez Huginn & Munnin à la rentrée  Moi ce que j'aime c'est les monstres Livre 2 arrivera assez rapidement en VF  IDW tue dans l'oeuf plusieurs projets “Originals” faute de pouvoir les publier  It's lonely arrive début 2024 chez HiComics  Image Comics abandonne définitivement Diamond Comics sur le marché américain  Marvel annonce des polars (en prose) pour adultes plutôt que de relancer Marvel Knights  Alien repart encore, encore et encore au #1 à l'automne 2023  Spider-Man : Reign 2 annoncé pour 2024  TV - 1:05:10  Un ultime trailer pour The Chosen One avant la diffusion sur Netflix  I am Groot revient pour une mini-saison 2 !  The Franchise validée pour une première saison chez HBO  CINEMA - 1:14:30  Grève des scénaristes et acteurs : de multiples retards chez Marvel Studios et une absence d'entente pour le moment ?  Les artistes de VFX votent pour la formation d'un syndicat  Wonder Woman 3 : le capotage de Gal Gadot ?  Soutenez First Print - Podcast Comics de Référence sur Tipeee

In this episode, I sit down with Ryan Smith, author of The Way of Fire and Ice and Spinning Wyrd, to discuss the mysteries of Wyrd and heathenry practices! Join us for this powerful conversation! Music is from Epidemic Sound. Books mentioned in the episode: *Some links below are affiliated links and help me continue producing content. The Way of Fire and Ice: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3rW8u1H Spinning Wyrd: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3KuXaA6 More about Ryan: Author of The Way of Fire & Ice: The Living Tradition of Norse Paganism and owner/editor of On Black Wings, Ryan Smith (he/they), has been a practicing Pagan since his teens with over a decade of experience in inclusive and anti-racist Heathen spirituality.  He has been published at Huginn's Heathen Hof, Patheos Pagans, Truthout, and as part of the Bringing Race to the Table anthology, presented talks and rituals at Pantheacon, Hexenfest, and Many Gods West, and is currently creating a Heathen podcast, the Wayward Wanderer.  He can be found online on Facebook, Twitter, and his Patreon page. Where to connect with Ryan: Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RyanSmithFireAndIce/⁠ Website: ⁠http://www.onblackwings.com⁠ Patreon: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/waywardwanderer⁠ Podcast: ⁠https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-wayward-wanderer-85892149/⁠ Heathen Cookbook: ⁠https://www.onblackwings.com/the-heathen-cookbook⁠ Between the Veils: ⁠https://betweentheveils.org/⁠ Thank you to my subscribers! Want to support the growth of Pagan's Witchy Corner? Become a Subscriber! Subscribers get access to bonus episodes only for them! https://ko-fi.com/paganwolf If you would prefer to listen to it in video format, you can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqzU2hMxfT3CS_rSWWrmEEw Subscribe to Pagan's Reading Nook:⁠⁠⁠ https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pagansreadingnook⁠⁠⁠ For more homesteading articles, recipes, reviews, meditations, podcast episodes, and store: https://www.witchycornerproductions.com Join me for Witchy Wednesdays: https://discord.gg/9jRs5SgvQa Follow me on social media: https://linktr.ee/witchycornerproductions --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paganswitchycorner/support

C'est encore nous ! Nous ne prenons que rarement des vacances, et ce n'est pas cet été que nous allons en prendre, visiblement. Au moment du lancement de la SDCC (pour laquelle nous reviendrons dans un podcast dédié), nous faisons un nouveau point sur l'actualité comics du mois de juillet passé, avec moult, moult choses à discuter. Alors en route !   Une actualité comics bien chargée  De nombreuses annonces à détricoter à la fois dans la VF et dans la VO, et une actualité écrans plutôt intéressante à analyser, c'est le programme de ce nouveau Front Page, notre format régulier de revue d'actu'. On espère comme toujours que ces amples émissions vous plaisent, et si c'est le cas, n'hésitez pas à le faire savoir avec vos partages, commentaires, soutiens voire dons sur notre Tipeee. Merci en tous les cas de votre écoute, et à bientôt pour le prochain podcast !  Le Programme  COMICS  A soutenir chez Komics Initiative : Grizzly fucking Shark !  Dave McKean et Laurence Campbell à Lille pour le Festival des livres d'en haut  404 Comics propose de découvrir l'entièreté de son catalogue avec le sampler “Canicule”  Les détails du retour de Sin City cet automne chez Huginn & Muninn  Skybound annonce un titre Dracula par James Tynion IV et Martin Simmonds  John Ridley IV à l'écriture de The Ministry of Compliance chez IDW  Scott Snyder et Hayden Sherman se retrouvent pour Dark Spaces : Dungeon  Un revival de Flash Gordon en comics, qui l'eut cru  L'annonce trop bizarre de “Stan Lee Comics”  Zoe Thorogood annonce une suite à It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth  Comme prévu, Ms Marvel revient à la vie cet été  Un relaunch pour Carnage avec Torun Gronbekk, pour Thunderbolts et pour The Sensational She-Hulk  TV  Un nouveau trailer de gameplay pour Hellboy : Web of Wyrd  Un jeu vidéo mobile Invincible : Guarding the Globe annoncé par Ubisoft  Le studio Polygon Pictures au travail sur Spider-Man : Freshman Year  CINEMA  Le reboot live action de MotU abandonné par Netflix  Un nouveau trailer pour Blue Beetle (et ses projections catastrophiques)  Un quatuor d'annonces de casting pour Superman : Legacy  La grève du syndicat des acteurs votée également : des retards à prévoir ?  Soutenez First Print - Podcast Comics de Référence sur Tipeee

Avec l'été et une période peut-être (insistons sur le "peut-être") plus calme, on a un poil plus de temps pour vous faire nos retours sur des lectures comics VF, avec des sorties ma foi plus ou moins récentes. Qu'à cela ne tienne, l'important c'est que Back Issues soit de retour une fois de plus ! Alors on vous invite à vous détendre, écouter l'émission et qui sait ? Passer en librairie par après ?   Vous lisez quoi, vous, cet été ?   Au programme, un ensemble de comics d'horreur sortis chez Huginn & Muninn, et deux titres d'auteurs remarqués chez Urban Comics. Ne vous inquiétez pas : on variera les plaisirs dès la prochaine émission (qui arrive tout bientôt) puisque notre but est toujours de montrer la diversité des genres et des albums parmi le plus grand nombre de maisons d'édition. N'hésitez pas à nous faire part de vos retours sur les comics VF présentés, nous dire ce que vous avez lu ou ce que vous recommandez, d'ailleurs, et on espère que l'écoute vous sera agréable !   Si c'est le cas n'hésitez pas à le faire savoir simplement en partageant l'émission, en mettant des étoiles sur les plateformes d'écoute, et pourquoi pas en nous aidant à pérenniser le podcast avec Tipeee ! Et surtout : lisez des comics !   Le Programme  Les liens vous renvoient chez notre partenaire Comics Zone. Une commande chez eux marquera votre soutien à un libraire indépendant, et nous filera aussi un petit coup de pouce !  Killadelphia Tome 1 - 03:08  The Silver Coin Tome 1 - 15:20  Plot Holes - 25:35  Ice Cream Man Tome 1 - 38:40  Primordial - 47:35    Soutenez First Print - Podcast Comics de Référence sur Tipeee

Scott Pelley is given access to Google's campus in Mountain View, California, and its AI lab in London to examine its new slate of technologies. Actor Nicolas Cage invites 60 MINUTES into his eclectic Las Vegas home to meet his African crow Huginn and discuss his over 40 years of making movies, including his latest role as Count Dracula in Renfield. Sharyn Alfonsi speaks with Cage about his love of cinema, his wide-ranging catalog of inspiration and the ups and downs along the way.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dans ce nouvel épisode de La Pause Enchantée je reçois Amélie, éditrice des produits Star Wars au sein d'Huginn et Muninn. Ensemble, nous revenons sur la création de la Revue, un MOOC dédié à l'univers Star Wars et dont le second numéro sort aujourd'hui ! Bonne écoute et au premier lundi du mois de juin pour un épisode assez personnel qui me sortira de ma zone de confort ! 

After catastrophic earthquakes devastated war-torn northwest Syria in February, Scott Pelley travels to the battleground to meet an American medical charity and volunteers for the White Helmets who braved the odds. Pelley speaks with healthcare workers, survivors and first responders about the earthquakes and the constant attacks on healthcare ordered by Syria's Bashar Al-Assad and his ally, Russia's Vladimir Putin. Bill Whitaker meets with Ray Epps and his wife Robyn. Epps is notorious among consumers of right-wing media as the man who initiated the January 6th attack to undermine President Trump. The convoluted theory posits Epps was a secret agent of the "deep state,” and it has been promoted by members of Congress. Death threats and harassment forced Epps and his wife Robyn to sell their Arizona ranch and go into hiding. So who is Ray Epps? Actor Nicolas Cage invites 60 MINUTES into his eclectic Las Vegas home to meet his African crow Huginn and discuss his over 40 years of making movies, including his latest role as Count Dracula in Renfield. Sharyn Alfonsi speaks with Cage about his love of cinema, his wide-ranging catalog of inspiration and the ups and downs along the way.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Heathenry, a modern movement drawing on pre-Christian pagan religions, has become associated with the violent, racialized politics of the alt-right. Less well known is the fight to make heathenry — and the progressive values it can promote — inclusive and open to all. Guests: Robert Schreiwer, Heathen activist, founder of the Heathen tradition of Urglaawe, Manager of Huginn's Heathen Hof and Heathens Against Hate, and Steer of the Troth (2016-2019 and again in 2020). Founder of In-Reach Prison Services. Michael Strmiska, associate professor in global studies at SUNY-Orange and author of Modern Paganism in World Cultures. Lauren Crow, co-host of the Heathen History podcast. Ben Waggoner, co-host of the Heathen History podcast. Thomas Engelmann, outreach specialist at Life After Hate's ExitUSA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Les jours s'enchaînent et l'actualité comics ne tarit pas, bien au contraire. Entre les annonces venues de multiples maisons d'édition françaises - parfois même de celles dont on attend pas forcément à voir des comics - et les adaptations qui n'en finissent plus de se présenter en image, il y a toujours de quoi faire, entre analyse et simple discussion. Aussi, prenons donc joyeusement les micros pour une nouvelle émission du format Front Page, voulez-vous ?  Actualité comics, quand tu nous tiens  Des albums à venir un peu partout, histoire d'y voir plus clair dans le programme comics de 2023, des trailers à décortiquer, de l'évènementiel à préparer, il y a un peu de tout dans cette nouvelle analyse de l'actualité comics de ce début d'année, et on espère que l'émission vous plaît toujours sur la durée (comme les macarons). Si c'est le cas, pensez à le faire savoir, que ce soit par retour dans nos espaces commentaires, par vos partages sur les réseaux sociaux ou en apportant votre soutien financier sur notre page Tipeee, puisque c'est grâce à vos soutiens que nous pouvons continuer l'aventure First Print depuis deux ans ! Merci à vous toutes et tous, très bonne écoute et à bientôt pour la prochaine émission. Spoiler alert : restez bien jusqu'à la fin du podcast. La toute fin.   Le Programme  COMICS - 01:20  Invités Paris Fan Festival : Ram V, Mike Perkins, Xermanico, Timothy Zahn  James O'Barr arrive au 33e Paris Manga   A soutenir : l'artbook Multiverse d'Aleksi Briclot !  Découvrez Raiders aux éditions du Delf  Sleeping Beauties à retrouver chez Le Livre de Poche  Forgotten Blade (TKO) arrive chez Ankama  Un trio de comics d'horreur chez Huginn & Muninn  Tortues Ninja : les chevaliers d'écaille arrive chez Vestron  Combo, nouveau label de BD hybride à venir chez Dargaud  Les Icônes de Marvel, troisième revue trimestrielle de Panini Comics  Une énorme vague de licenciements chez ComiXology  Eve L. Ewing et Chris Allen reprennent Black Panther en juin 2023  The Avengers : le relaunch acté par Jed MacKay et CF Villa  TV - 58:40  Un teaser pour Invincible saison 2 qui arrivera fin 2023  Un nouveau trailer pour la série Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur  Un trailer pour Gotham Knights  Sex Criminals et Bitch Planet en voie d'adaptation chez Prime Video  CINEMA - 1:09:10  La Chine réautorise la sortie de films de super-héros Marvel/DC  Soutenez First Print - Podcast Comics de Référence sur Tipeee

Heathenry, a modern movement drawing on pre-Christian pagan religions, has become associated with the violent, racialized politics of the alt-right. Less well known is the fight to make heathenry — and the progressive values it can promote — inclusive and open to all. Guests: Robert Schreiwer, Heathen activist, founder of the Heathen tradition of Urglaawe, Manager of Huginn's Heathen Hof and Heathens Against Hate, and Steer of the Troth (2016-2019 and again in 2020). Founder of In-Reach Prison Services. Michael Strmiska, associate professor in global studies at SUNY-Orange and author of Modern Paganism in World Cultures. Lauren Crow, co-host of the Heathen History podcast. Ben Waggoner, co-host of the Heathen History podcast. Thomas Engelmann, outreach specialist at Life After Hate's ExitUSA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

It's bird time! The witches are talking about the magic of birds (hell yeah), plus getting into some specific celebrity birds - Huginn and Muninn (AKA Odin's Ravens). Shannon discusses Clary Sage, which is an underworld loving plant, and might be a good alternative if you're feeling antsy about working with chthonic deities! To keep up with the witches, follow them on Instagram @wandsandfrondspod. They're always happy to hear from you (and take topic requests). You can also email them at wandsandfrondspod@gmail.com. If you've wanted to see the video podcast recordings, you're in luck! Since the Patreon is on hiatus, check out the youtube channel for never before released episodes, and live video recordings of the last 30+ episodes!

Allez, on reprend notre série de podcasts SuperFriends puisqu'en 2023, nous n'aurons définitivement de cesse d'aller à la rencontre des personnes qui font vivre la pop culture par leur travail ! On démarre la cuvée de l'année en allant à la rencontre du prolifique Aleksi Briclot dont vous avez très certainement pu admirer les travaux au cours des dix dernières années, que vous soyez amateurs de comics, de cartes Magic, que vous ayez joué à Remember Me du studio Dontnod ou que vous regardiez les films de Marvel Studios. Tout ça ? Hé oui !   Aleksi Briclot est sur First Print !   L'artiste français est un véritable touche à tout opérant dans de multiples domaines du divertissement et des imaginaires : illustration, bande dessinée, cinéma, jeu vidéo, concept art, on pourrait retracer l'ensemble de ses travaux pendant des heures, mais c'est déjà avec ce podcast d'1h30 que vous pourrez vous faire une idée de la façon de fonctionner d'Aleksi Briclot.   Un podcast que l'on lie pour sa publication à une certaine actualité, puisque l'artiste propose en ce moment même une campagne pour le financement d'un énorme artbook dédié à ses dix dernières années de travail, Multiverse : The Art of Aleksi Briclot, qui arrivera aux éditions Huginn & Muninn, spécialisées dans l'édition de beaux livres.   Pour soutenir le projet Multiverse : The Art of Aleksi Briclot, c'est par là !!  On vous rappelle que vous pouvez de votre côté soutenir le podcast et faire découvrir les travaux de ceux qui y passent en commentant les émissions, en partageant les podcasts et en nous soutenant à votre mesure sur notre page Tipeee. Très bonne écoute et à bientôt pour la suite de nos émissions !    Soutenez First Print - Podcast Comics de Référence sur Tipeee

Aldebaran, Betelgeuse, Antarès, Les Survivants, Neptune, le podcast revient sur l'univers d'Aldébaran imaginé par Leo aux éditions Dargaud. Découvriez les coulisses de cette franchise culte de SF avec le journaliste Chistophe Quillien.  Bien plus qu'un univers  Débutée en 1994 avec La Catastrophe, Aldébaran continue de conquérir le cœur des amoureux de la science-fiction depuis bientôt 30 ans. Écologiste, féministe, mais aussi familiale, cette saga, qui répond au genre du planet opera, surprend par son imagination débordante. Rarement une bande dessinée aura été aussi loin dans sa représentation de la faune et la flore. Les animaux, souvent monstrueux, inventés par le dessinateur Leo restent en mémoire. Avec sa science-fiction humaniste, mais aussi politique qui parait totalement crédible, l'œuvre du brésilien fait penser au travail de Kim Stanley Robinson, mais aussi d'Ursula K. Le Guin. Divisés en 26 volumes de 6 cycles (Aldebaran, Betelgeuse, Antarès, Les Survivants, Retour sur Aldébaran, Neptune), Les Mondes d'Aldébaran narrent les aventures de Kim, rare héroïne du 9e art à ne pas verser dans le manichéisme.  Dans son encyclopédie illustrée disponible chez Huginn & Muninn, le journaliste Christophe Quillien interroge Léo sur sa façon de découper les histoires : "Le découpage est l'étape que je préfère : j'assiste à la naissance d'une histoire. Celle que j'aime le moins, c'est l'encrage. Même s'il donne son style définitif à la planche c'est vraiment fastidieux. Mais quand je reçois l'album imprimé, c'est magique ! Lorsque je suis sur le point d'achever un cycle, je suis déjà en train de réfléchir au suivant. Je jtter quelques idées sur le papier, j'attaque le découpage pour voir si ces idées tiennent la route. Il m'est arrivé une fois de mettre à la poubelle tout un scénario et de repartir de zéro. C'était pour le troisième tome de Retour sur Adélbaran. J'avais passé deux mois à réaliser les crayonnés avant de m'apercevoir, en relisant les 60 pages d'une traite que l'histoire ne prenait pas. La fin n'était pas satisfaisante. J'ai donc tout réécrit et je n'ai gardé que trois ou quatre planches crayonnées. La sorte de l'album a été retardée, mais le plus dur pour moi, c'était de jetter deux mois de travail à la poubelle." 

Lancée en 1998, la revue Comic Box, spécialisée sur le domaine des comics, avait connu une fin que l'on pensait définitive en 2017, à l'issue de 104 numéros publiés (sans compter les hors-série). Cinq ans plus tard, le magazine est de retour sous une forme mook aux éditions Huginn & Muninn. Pour célébrer cette nouvelle résurrection, nous ne pouvions manquer le passage récent sur Paris de son rédacteur en chef, Xavier Fournier (avec qui nous avions déjà pu nous entretenir sur les questions de la presse spécialisée comics en France), pour un nouvel épisode de notre format SuperFriends !  Nouvelle aventure pour Comic Box  Confortablement installé dans notre studio/salon, Xavier Fournier a pris de son temps pour nous expliquer les rouages et les coulisses du retour de Comic Box en 2022, cinq ans après son dernier arrêt. On abordera notamment les questions de la temporalité de la presse papier par rapport au web, la façon de travailler avec toute l'équipe rédactionnelle, les contraintes ou au contraire les nouvelles libertés offertes par le format mook (croisement entre magazine et book) et la façon dont il faut penser les sommaires avec un rythme de parution tel que celui de la revue.   Si vous appréciez le travail fourni avec le podcast First Print, n'hésitez pas à le faire savoir en partageant et commentant les podcasts, mais aussi en apportant votre soutien sur notre page Tipeee, ouverte à toute contribution, partout et tout le temps ! Très bonne écoute à vous et à bientôt pour le prochain podcast !  Soutenez First Print - Podcast Comics de Référence sur Tipeee

Thoughts and memories abound as ravens follow a lad to high school; woodland critters come across a secret village; we take a peaceful pause from our stressful lives; a character has the best day of his life, again; and two brothers go on a quest for freedom. From symbolsage.com- Huginn and Muninn are the two black ravens most commonly associated with the wise but also war-frenzied god Odin. Their names roughly translate from Old Norse as Thought and Memory (intellectual thought – hugr, and emotional thought, desire, and emotion – muninn). Stories begin around the 7:25 mark.

In this episode, I sit down with Ryan Smith, author of The Way of Fire and Ice, to discuss living Norse Paganism and how we can fight fascism inside of all forms of paganism. Join us for this powerful conversation! Music is from Epidemic Sound. Books mentioned in the episode: *Some links below are affiliated links and help me continue producing content. The Way of Fire and Ice: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3RMeHWK Author of The Way of Fire & Ice: The Living Tradition of Norse Paganism and owner/editor of On Black Wings, Ryan Smith (he/they) has been a practicing Pagan since his teens with over a decade of experience in inclusive and anti-racist Heathen spirituality. He has been published at Huginn's Heathen Hof, Patheos Pagans, Truthout, and as part of the Bringing Race to the Table anthology, presented talks and rituals at Pantheacon, Hexenfest, and Many Gods West, and is currently creating a Heathen podcast, the Wayward Wanderer. He can be found online at Facebook, Twitter, and his Patreon page. Where to connect with Ryan: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RyanSmithFireAndIce/ Website: http://www.onblackwings.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/waywardwanderer Podcast: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-wayward-wanderer-85892149/ Heathen Cookbook: https://www.onblackwings.com/the-heathen-cookbook Between the Veils: https://betweentheveils.org/ Thank you to my subscribers! Want to support the growth of Pagan's Witchy Corner? Become a Subscriber! Subscribers get access to bonus episodes only for them! Subscribe today at one of the links below! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/pagan https://ko-fi.com/paganwolf If you would prefer to listen to it in video format, you can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqzU2hMxfT3CS_rSWWrmEEw For more interviews, reviews, meditations, and podcast episodes: https://www.revelatornetwork.com Check out my blog on Paganism and Homesteading: https://www.hearthandseed.com If you would like to purchase my art, a divination reading, reiki session, or visit my occult shop: https://www.walkthehedge.com Follow me on social media: https://linktr.ee/paganwolf13 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/paganswitchycorner/support

Í þessum þætti förum við yfir grunaða og skoðun fingur og putta. Einnig yfirheyrðum við þá Huginn og Herra Hnetusmjör.

Vous savez ce qui n'attend pas ? L'actualité comics. Elle ne peut pas se passer de nous, et attend avec impatience, trois fois par mois, que nous prenions nos micros pour en faire le tour. C'est donc le moment de vous replonger dans notre émission régulière Front Page, afin de ne rien louper de tout ce qu'il s'est passé depuis notre dernière fournée !   L'actualité comics toujours aussi brûlante  On repart donc sur une émission d'un peu moins de deux heures afin de faire le point sur les sorties comics à venir en France, les dernières annonces venant des Etats-Unis, mais aussi ce qui fait le sel au niveau des adaptations des comics, quels que soient les supports. Le tout dans la joie, la bonne humeur, avec un peu de sel et une touche d'humour : en fait, une recette que vous connaissez bien et que, je crois, vous appréciez. Si c'est le cas, n'hésitez pas à le faire savoir ! Vous pouvez réagir aux différents sujets dans l'espace commentaire, et surtout pensez à partager le podcast sur vos réseaux sociaux si notre travail vous plaît. Vous pouvez également contribuer à le pérenniser en nous soutenant sur notre page Tipeee, afin d'assurer la meilleure vie au podcast. Très bonne écoute, et à bientôt pour la prochaine émission !   Le Programme  COMICS - 01:34  Tim Sale n'est plus  Les trading cards X-Men de Jim Lee à l'honneur chez Huginn & Muninn LowReader Tome 2 (Label 619) se trouve une date de sortie Le Batman/Catwoman de Tom King arrive en novembre 2022 chez Urban Comics Plot Holes de Sean Murphy également au programme automnal d'Urban 21:40 Delirium prépare une réédition du Bloodstar de Corben et Howard Le podcast Batman : Autopsie reconduit pour une seconde saison Briar : la belle au bois dormant façon post apo chez Boom! Studios Retour des Tortues Ninja de 1987 en comics Titan Comics récupère les droits de Conan le Barbare aux US J.M. DeMatteis à l'écriture de Spider-Man : The Lost Hunt Tim Drake s'offre une nouvelle série solo Marvel acquiert la licence Planète des Singes Miracleman fait son grand retour avec un one-shot Warren Ellis de retour à l'écriture en 2023 ?   TV - 1:16:20  Une série Wonder Man par Destin Daniel Cretton pour Disney+  CINEMA - 1:24:22  Un film animé Batman Azteca : Choque de Imperios en préparation pour HBO Max Le film Harbinger se trouve un nouveau réalisateur Lady Gaga en lice pour jouer Harley Quinn dans Joker : Folie à Deux Tom Hardy à nouveau co-scénariste de Venom 3 Warner Bros est bien embarrassé du bordel Ezra Miller  --Soutenez nous sur Tipeee : https://fr.tipeee.com/first-print  Ne manquez aucun rendez-vous : https://podcast.ausha.co/firstprintfra   Retrouvez nous sur Facebook : https://facebook.com/FirstPrintFRA  sur Instragram : https://www.instagram.com/firstprintfra  et sur Twitter : https://twitter.com/FirstPrintFRA

The third episode from BattleTech, is about MechWarrior Sergeant Odin Sigurd, and his personal Raven BattleMech Huginn. Fighting for the Free Rasalhague Republic Huginn plays a decisive role. Just a short one this week, without SFX as I wanted a more natural tone to this one. Hope you enjoy! The original text can be read here: https://web.archive.org/web/20190513123127/https:/mwomercs.com/forums/topic/154610-%E2%80%9Chuginn%E2%80%9D-raven-hero-mech-now-available/ If you have any favourite stories you want being told, hit me up and I'll see what I can do. If you did enjoy then why check out my insta where we do more battletech, behind the scenes etc. Or pop on over to my YouTube Channel. Follow me on Insta : https://www.instagram.com/battletopia_stories/ Check out my Channel : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5MHTCuBCQx6M94fY1-JBug :::::::::::::::::::: Sound effects and music obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com :::::::::::::::::::: Music: Hero's Theme by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...) Source: http://www.twinmusicom.org/song/280/h... Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org Support by RFM - NCM: https://youtu.be/RZL2LSbTenw ::::::::::::::::::::

Le retour des beaux jours ne signe pas la fin de l'actualité comics, loin de là ! Les annonces émanent de tout le secteur, qu'il s'agisse des Etats-Unis ou de nos éditeurs français préférés, alors reprenons les micros, voulez-vous bien, pour un débrief en bonne et due forme de ce qui a fait le sel de cette actu au cours du début du mois de mai 2022 !  L'actualité comics à chaud (même si elle est fraîche)  Comme toujours avec le format Front Page, la plus régulière de nos émissions sur First Print, l'actualité comics sera au coeur du sujet avec de nombreux sujets qui prêtent à discussions, afin de voir venir de quoi sera constituée nos bibliothèques dans les prochains mois. Mais aussi de savoir ce que l'on pourra découvrir tôt ou tard sur nos écrans. Vous connaissez la formule, et notre talent à l'improvisation fait qu'il n'y a jamais de routine, mais trêve de bavardages écrits : passons plutôt au programme !  Comme toujours, si le travail que nous vous fournissons vous plaît, n'hésitez pas à le faire savoir en réagissant à nos différents sujets dans l'espace commentaire du site et sur les réseaux sociaux, où vous pouvez également partager nos podcasts afin de leur accorder une vie la plus longue possible ! Rappel également que notre page Tipeee vous permet de nous soutenir sur le long terme, afin de pouvoir continuer à vous proposer autant de podcasts. Pensez-y : c'est réellement important pour que First Print puisse perdurer, et à terme, se développer encore plus ! Merci à toutes celles et ceux qui nous soutiennent, et certains depuis le début ! Bonne écoute à vous !  Le Programme  COMICS - 01:50  Le FIBD revient en janvier 2023 pour sa 50e édition ! On ira pas au Lake Como Comic Art Festival mais on aimerait bien Deux projets The Crow annoncés chez Vestron La suite des comics Dune arrive à la rentrée chez Huginn & Muninn Metal Hurlant change de rédac'chef pour son 3e numéro Primordial de Lemire/Sorrentino cet automne chez Urban Ameziane annonce sa biographie sur Quentin Tarantino Cyberforce fait son grand retour aux Editions Reflexions Christopher Priest annonce Entropy Garth Ennis retrouve Russ Braun pour Jimmy's Little Bastards  TV - 51:15  Le second spin-off de The Suicide Squad consacré à Amanda Waller Pas de saison 2 pour Moon Knight ? Un trailer de gameplay pour Gotham Knights  CINEMA - 1:04:50  Un premier trailer pour le film animé Green Lantern : Beware My Power Un nouveau trailer pour Krypto et les Super-Animaux Une suite de Darkman serait en préparation chez Universal  --Soutenez nous sur Tipeee : https://fr.tipeee.com/first-print  Ne manquez aucun rendez-vous : https://podcast.ausha.co/firstprintfra   Retrouvez nous sur Facebook : https://facebook.com/FirstPrintFRA  sur Instragram : https://www.instagram.com/firstprintfra  et sur Twitter : https://twitter.com/FirstPrintFRA 

L'avantage du temps qui passe vite, c'est que vous n'avez pas beaucoup à attendre pour retrouver nos formats Front Page, votre rendez-vous trimensuel pour décortiquer avec passion et humour l'actualité des comics ! On reprend les micros et on vous emmène une fois de plus dans l'une de ces émissions que vous appréciez tant (si, si, on le sait) !  Qui a dit qu'il n'y avait pas d'actualité comics ?   Certainement pas nous, et vous le savez ! On trouve toujours plaisir à vous faire une sélection de ce qui nous plaît (ou déplaît un peu) dans l'actualité comics et adaptations, avec ce nouveau numéro du Front Page ! En compagnie de Sire Corentin, nous espérons que cette émission (un poil plus courte qu'à l'habitude) saura vous contenter pour aborder sereinement le quatrième mois de cette année 2022 ! Si le travail et les efforts fournis vous parlent, alors sachez que vous pouvez tout simplement a) le faire savoir b) partager les podcasts autour de vous et sur vos réseaux sociaux et c) contribuer à notre avenir en finançant le podcast sur notre page Tipeee. Chaque geste compte, et nous comptons sur vous. Mais en attendant : bonne écoute, merci de nous écouter, et à bientôt pour le prochain podcast !  Le Programme  COMICS - 01:50  Une exposition autour de l'anthologie Punch! de Kinaye Editions Black RIver, nouvelle maison d'éditions comics chez Editis Usagi Yojimbo va être réédité aux éditions Paquet 25:21 La série Doc Frankenstein des Wachovski disponible chez Huginn & Muninn 27:34 Un relaunch pour le Batman Bimestriel d'Urban Comics Zestworld, le concurrent de Substack, dévoile son line-up DC annonce une nouvelle compétition “Round Robin”  TV - 58:00  La série Samurai Rabbit arrive fin avril sur Netflix Pourquoi existe-t-il une version light de Falcon & Winter Soldier ?  CINEMA - 1:12:40  L'adaptation de Nova se met en branle chez Marvel Studios Le projet Black Hawks n'est toujours pas éteint chez Warner Bros Sharon Stone a le rôle de la méchante pour le film Blue Beetle L'adaptation de Black embauche Gerard McMurray à la réalisation  --Soutenez nous sur Tipeee : https://fr.tipeee.com/first-print  Ne manquez aucun rendez-vous : https://podcast.ausha.co/firstprintfra   Retrouvez nous sur Facebook : https://facebook.com/FirstPrintFRA  sur Instragram : https://www.instagram.com/firstprintfra  et sur Twitter : https://twitter.com/FirstPrintFRA 

Today's guest deejay is Damián Schneider, one-half of Munknörr. I discovered Munknörr by way of Heilung. In the beforetimes, a friend posted a link to Heilung's new album, Futha, on Facebook. I listened to a few songs and scoffed that Heilung was a Nordic version of Enya. But Heilung's costumes captured my imagination, and I went back and listened to their album in its entirety and became a fan. So much so that I went to perform when they were in Los Angeles. Heilung we're excellent! I was transported to an age undreamt of for the next hour or so. Heilung looked like Nordic shamans and cheiftans. Aside from the band, there were a dozen warriors and shield maidens. Antlers adorned microphone stands. Some of the audience dressed almost as provocatively as I saw on stage. Spotify started to serve up music much like Heilung on my Discover Weekly playlist within a few weeks. It dawned on me that what Heilung called amplified history was a genre. And that's how I came across Munknörr. Munknörr means “the ship of the mind,” and this music on today's show will transport you to other worlds and times. If you're new to Munknörr, today's show is an excellent place to start. Damián's mix explores their many singles and albums. Join us next week when our guest deejay will be Darren McClure. See you then. Munknörr “Sigel” Munknörr “Laguz” Munknörr “Uruz” Munknörr “Deyja” Munknörr “Andi (feat Sigurboði)” Munknörr “Huginn and Muninn" Munknörr “Heimdallr” Munknörr “Othila” Munknörr “Wolf Spirit” Munknörr “Thurisaz” --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/soundwavemix/message

„Vignir er sennilega ekki með cruise control á bílnum sínum en Fram og Höttur Huginn er með það“ „Vignir hendir í þrír sem geta ekki klikkað í boði Netgíró“ Ofurdeildin tekur upp í Nóa Síríus stúdíó-i Podcaststöðvarinnar og er auðvitað í boði Netgíró.

„Hver er tilgangur lífsins? Eru til einhver sameiginleg markmið?“ Þetta eru stórar spurningar sem heimspekingar hafa velt fyrir sér um aldir. Í dag höfum við fengið  Dr. Hugin Frey Þorsteinsson, heimspeking, til að ræða við okkur um hvernig heimspekingar í gegnum tíðina hafa rætt um þessar grundvallarspurningar.    Telos markþjálfun & mannrækt, Skútuvogi 13a. FB:https://www.facebook.com/teloscoaches IG: teloscoaches

Herra Hnetusmjör og Huginn gáfu út sitthvora sólóplötuna á síðasta ári, Huginn með plötuna Eini Strákur og Herra með plötuna Hetjan úr Hverfinu, en gefa núna út sameiginlega plötu sem ber titilinn KBE kynnir: Dögun.