Really Strange Stuff - Ch.22 - Disciples (Patreon)

=::= Callie's PoV =::=

"So what do y'all think?" I asked as I paced back and forth in front of the studio sofa. "You figure she's finally ready to make us her prophets?"

Serenity's ears folded back then she reminded me yet again, "Like I keep telling you Callie, we need to carefully consider whatever offer she might have for us. We're not diving into anything blind, we need to know all the details up front."

I rolled my eyes but kept pacing, I was too excited to sit still. "Yeah yeah I know that, but that's probably why she's coming, right?"

"Whatever it is we'll find out in about two minutes cutie," Bailey pointed out. Then she added, "Why don't you come sit down with Serenity and I? All that nervous pacing isn't going to get her here any quicker."

My tail swished around as I shook my head, "Too excited to sit still."

It was nearly one in the afternoon on the first Sunday of May, and almost two months had passed since her last visit. Then last night Kid Chaos texted us to ask if it was ok for her to come by today for another visit. And needless to say, all three of us responded immediately to tell her yes. She texted back to say when she'd be here, but apart from that the only other thing she told us was this meeting was not to be filmed or recorded. So even though we were waiting to meet her in our studio, all our A/V gear was switched off.

"Maybe we should've got some refreshments ready," I frowned as I turned and started walking the length of the studio once more. "Do we even have anything in the house that's suitable to offer a Goddess? I don't think dumping a bag of chips into a bowl is good enough."

Sere smiled, "Seriously Callie just relax ok? I doubt she's going to be offended if we don't have a bunch of fancy snacks laid out for her. She really doesn't strike me as the type to demand or expect that kind of thing."

Before I could respond all three of us were distracted by a swirl of magic that filled the nearest guest chair. A moment later the light faded, to reveal the Goddess of Chaos herself. And no sooner had she appeared when a second swirl of light formed in front of her.

That resolved into her girlfriend Kaylee, who was grinning happily while all her tails swished around. I was about to greet them both when something caught my attention. Back at our March live stream Kaylee was a three-tailed foxgirl, but now I counted five big bushy tails behind the small not-kitsune.

It seemed like both my girlfriends noticed that too, and all three of us were caught staring while the little demon hopped up onto her goddess girlfriend's lap.

"Hello again Bailey, Callie, Serenity," Cassandra greeted us. "I trust you've been keeping well?"

Serenity responded first, "Yes thank you. Busy as usual, working on our channel."

Then Bailey asked, "How have you two been doing?"

"Can we get you anything?" I finally chimed in. "Drinks or some food or something?"

Kaylee shook her head, "No thanks! We actually just ate, we came straight here from a brunch meeting."

The goddess added, "Like you, Kaylee and I have both been busy. You recall we mentioned we're both attending school during the interview? Now we're heading into the last six weeks or so of classes for the year, so there's projects coming due and exams to study for."

Sere tilted her head to one side as she replied, "I remember you said that, but now I'm curious? Why would a goddess and a demon need to go to college? Or are you attending some kind of special supernatural school?"

"There's supernatural schools?" I asked as my eyes widened and my tail stood up. "How do we get in on this?"

Cassandra smiled as she shook her head, "It's not a supernatural school. I'm not even going anywhere that special, just the local community college in the little town you visited last year."

"And I'm attending a normal university," Kaylee added. "Majoring in history."

The goddess continued, "As for why? I suppose one reason is to pass the time. And learning is always a good investment."

"Perhaps we can talk more about that another time," she added. "There was actually something else I wanted to speak with the three of you about."

I quickly moved to join my girlfriends on the sofa as I grinned, "Of course! We've been looking forward to seeing you again since the last time you were here."

"I know," she smiled. "I have heard all of your prayers by the way, so let me answer a few of those questions right now."

Kid Chaos paused briefly as if to organize her thoughts before addressing the three of us, "I am indeed here to offer you all a gift. You've been using the term 'prophet' but the word I've been using is 'disciple'. Perhaps 'acolyte' might work as well? To be honest I'm not sure the actual term even matters, so you can all use whatever works best for you."

My heart was already racing before she was even halfway through all of that, while my ears and tail all stood up in excited anticipation. I couldn't help noticing both Bailey and Serenity looked excited too, despite all their talk about being cautious and taking it slowly. Even Kaylee seemed interested, all of her tails were swishing around behind her while her ears stood up tall and proud.

Meanwhile the goddess continued, "As for the details, what you'll get and what it'll cost you, that's pretty straightforward? There's no cost as such, I'm not demanding your souls or asking you to sign some sort of onerous contract. It all works on faith, basically. If you want it and you're faithful enough and devoted enough, then you'll get it. If you lack faith or devotion, you won't get it no matter how much you want it. And if your faith or devotion ever wane or you change your minds, then the process will be automatically undone."

"So now on to the gifts," she smiled. "First up you'll all be immune from any mundane sickness or disease. Your bodies will be more resilient, you'll resist injury, and if you do get hurt you'll heal faster. You won't be immortal, but you will be tougher than normal humans, and you'll retain your youth longer. And most importantly, you'll have some supernatural protection as well."

Kaylee interjected at that point, "So if you're spending a lot of money on health insurance you can probably go ahead and cancel that. You really won't need it once you've got divine health care."

Cassandra frowned, "Oh right. I forgot they don't get free healthcare in the USA."

That definitely got both Serenity and Bailey's attention. I knew we spent a good chunk of money on insurance, but I was still more interested in the supernatural side of things rather than the mundane accounting stuff.

"Also," the goddess added with a grimace, "I don't know for sure if my gifts will prevent a repeat of what happened in March? I don't know if it extends to your computers and your work. It's possible, but for now it might be safer not to test that."

Her smile returned as she moved on to the next point, "Another benefit you'll receive is none of you will need your plushies anymore, although I'm sure you'll want to keep them anyways. You won't need them to transform though, you'll be able to do that at will whenever you like. In addition, while you're in your animal forms you'll be able to speak and communicate normally if you wish."

My ears perked up yet again, while a wide grin settled on my face. I had an idea so exciting I couldn't help blurting it out, "We have to set up another kitty tower down here in the studio! We can do the show in our cat forms! Heck we could even do interviews like that! Can you imagine how cool that'd be?"

"Heck yeah!" Kaylee agreed with a big smile of her own.

"There's one more thing," Cassandra added. "Everything I've said so far will be common to all three of you, assuming you all want to go ahead with this. In addition to those benefits you'll each receive something unique, that I think will benefit you in your line of work."

She addressed our foxgirl girlfriend first, "Bailey, you'll gain the ability to defeat locks, both mechanical and electronic. So closed doors won't get in the way of RSS uncovering the truth."

"Speaking of the truth," she turned her attention to me. "Callie, you'll be able to recognize when someone is speaking lies or telling the truth, which I'm sure you'll put to good use as an investigative reporter."

Finally she looked at my ravenette cohost, "And Serenity. In reference to your name, you'll be able to soothe or arouse emotions with your voice and words. So that you can talk your way out of any confrontations the three of you might find yourselves in."

By that point all three of us were staring wide-eyed at the goddess. Sere's and my tails were both standing straight up, while Bailey's tail was thumping against the back of the sofa as it tried to wag. And all thee pairs of ears were angled forward, focused on the goddess.

"These gifts do come with some caveats," she warned. "Primarily, they only work in person. And Serenity, in your case the effects will only last a few minutes after you've stopped using it."

Her tone remained serious as she added, "There's one other caveat, or call it a catch. I'd prefer you all to keep the details of your gifts a secret, at least for now. You can tell people you're working with Kid Chaos and you've received my blessings, but it's best if you don't tell people what those blessings are."

"So what do you think?" she asked after a slight pause. "Are you all still interested in becoming disciples of chaos?"

I started nodding immediately, while Bailey looked like she was ready to sign on as well. Serenity did too, but she seemed to catch herself before agreeing.

"I think it's safe to say we're all very interested," my best friend replied. "If it's ok though, could I ask some questions first?"

The goddess nodded, "Of course."

Serenity asked, "Last time you were here you said that we were hacked in order to silence you, that you were the target. We already figured out you must be at odds with another god, but can you tell us which one? Who is it you're fighting? And will we be dragged into that conflict as well?"

Cassandra and Kaylee were both quiet for a moment, and the two seemed to exchange a little look. Then the Goddess of Chaos stated, "This conversation is not to be repeated anywhere, ever. It's not another god, it's more of a concept. But it draws power from all the major gods out there."

"We call it the Status Quo," she continued in a solemn voice, "And it's pretty much the antithesis of chaos. Where the Council policed mortal supernaturals, the Status Quo primarily keeps most gods and goddesses in check. It benefits the handful at the top by suppressing knowledge, belief, and faith in all the smaller deities. Much like capitalism props up the filthy rich at the expense of everyone else."

Bailey frowned, "But... How can something like that work? What does it do?"

"It has a number of weapons in its arsenal," the young goddess replied. "One of the most powerful is also the most subtle. Think of it almost like a kind of anti-magic or anti-belief, that blankets the world like an invisible fog. When a person sees your obviously-real ears and tail, the Status Quo is what tells them it's just cosplay. Encourages them to look the other way. Tells them to keep quiet. Reminds them it's none of their business. And helps them to forget any doubts or suspicions to the contrary."

Her tone got even more serious as she added, "It's the same thing when a normal person witness real magic. The Status Quo helps them convince themself it was just sleight-of-hand. Or special effects. Or a trick of the light. A hundred years ago it would have been convincing people that you were demons, or that someone who used magic was in league with the devil. The Status Quo was the driving force behind countless witch-hunts, and led to the deaths of innumerable supernaturals in the past. It's usually less violent nowadays, but not always."

Serenity asked, "What's the point though? Whatever it is, why go to all that trouble to get people to look away or refuse to believe in the supernatural?"

"Gods need faith," Kaylee stated with a shrug. Her ears were folded back and her tails all hung down low as she continued, "It robs smaller gods and goddesses of faith and suppresses belief in them. That keeps them weak, oppressed and scared, so they won't risk challenging the big religions."

"Ok but what's stopping other gods from going public?" I asked. "Why aren't they all hosting their own live streams, or doing mass healings, or handing out miracle plushies like you did back in March?"

Cassandra sighed, "If they tried they'd be snuffed out. Banished to the heavens and cut off from the mortal realm, left to slowly starve in isolation without any faith at all. That can't happen to me, I'm immune. But my friends aren't, which is why I have to be careful and move slowly. The interview was a test, and we learned a lot from it. But it isn't safe to repeat that any time soon."

I frowned, "What about our idea for a new channel, Praise the Chaos? Can we still go ahead with that?"

"Yes, I'd be very happy if you did that," the goddess smiled. "I'll also be happy to provide your efforts with more behind-the-scenes support. Even financial support if you like? I know all this equipment isn't cheap."

Her smile faded as she continued, "Appearing on screen is another matter, one we'll have to think about before making any such plans or promises."

Then she asked, "Does that answer your questions?"

My girlfriends and I all nodded, and my ears and tail stood up in excitement again as I replied, "Yes ma'am! I'm ready and eager to become your prophet. Or disciple, I mean."

"Me too," Bailey agreed.

"I'm ready and willing as well," Serenity added. Then she asked, "How does it work? Or what happens next?"

Kaylee hopped off her girlfriend's lap then jumped onto the other guest chair, where she sat crosslegged and sideways facing the three of us on our sofa. At the same time Cassandra got to her feet and moved to stand in front of my girlfriends and I. Or more specifically, she stood directly before Bailey who was sitting on my right.

"Bailey," the young goddess addressed my foxgirl girlfriend, "Do you accept my blessing and my gifts?"

Bails nodded, "I do."

Without another word Cassandra leaned forward and gave my girlfriend a gentle kiss on the forehead. And the moment she did that, Bailey let out a little gasp then almost slumped back against the sofa with a happy fox-purr and a blissful look on her face.

That got my heart racing even faster, as our Goddess shifted over so she was standing before me.

"Callie, do you accept my blessing and my gifts?" she asked me.

I nodded, "Yes ma'am I sure do!"

Even though I sort of knew what to expect I still wasn't ready for the rapturous feelings when she kissed my forehead. And like Bailey, I slumped back purring loudly, with a dazed happy smile on my face.

A half minute later, Serenity was purring up a storm as she cuddled against my left side. It was done, my girlfriends and I were all Disciples of Chaos.