"You?! You created them?!" May Hawthorne gasped as she stared wide-eyed at us. Then she shook her head, "No, that's not possible. Those toys first turned up in April last year, that's long before..."
Her voice trailed off, and we figured she was about to say it was before we replaced her daughter as goddess of chaos. She told us not to divulge that though, so it made sense she'd hold it back for the same reason.
Apart from that, it was hard not to be amused by May's reaction to our 'big reveal'. So we might have had a little smile on our face as we replied, "I know exactly when they first appeared, I loaded the toys into the vending machines myself."
It looked like May didn't even know how to respond to that, she just continued staring at us in shock.
Meanwhile Amethyst had already gotten over her surprise. She frowned slightly as she said, "Based on what I've learned from the various demi-humans I've helped, when you switched to mailing the plush toys you began to include instructions in the capsules, which was a good start. Maybe you should have done that all along though? And for that matter, why not include your name as well? Why not let people know who to thank? And why haven't you been helping them with the other problems that I mentioned? Like updating their ID?"
"I have helped a few like that," we replied with a small shrug. "Those who have directly asked. As for why I haven't been more open and forthcoming about who I am with regards to the toys, that is a matter of timing. The short answer is I'm not ready yet. You and May both know what can happen if gods like us push too hard against the status quo."
Amethyst sighed, "Yeah I know all about that. I still don't understand why you haven't been more proactive about helping those people."
"I'm a goddess of chaos," we replied with another little shrug. "Stirring things up is what I do. But like I said, if anyone directly asked for that kind of assistance then they would have received it."
The conversation paused at that point because the waitress was back with our meals. There were three identical plates, each containing a good-sized personal meat pie along with a large helping of thick hand-cut fries. It all looked and smelled amazing, and even though Cassandra and I weren't actually that hungry it quickly got our mouth watering.
The waitress also had another bottle of that wine, she opened it and refilled our companions' glasses. We hadn't actually touched ours, we were just drinking our water.
All three of us got started on the food, and it tasted just as good as it looked. The fries were perfect, hot and crisp with just the right amount of salt. And the meat pie was even better. The pastry was flakey and buttery, and the inside was stuffed full of tender chunks of beef in a thick dark gravy.
The conversation resumed after another minute or two, when Amethyst looked to us and asked "Enchanted plushies aside, I'm curious why you wanted to meet me? May said she arranged this get-together on your request."
"Mostly out of curiosity," we replied. "When May told us how she was changing her ways I was very interested to meet the goddess who helped her change course."
Miss Hawthorne actually blushed slightly at that, while Amethyst raised an eyebrow. She looked to our former teacher and asked, "I didn't realize I had that big an effect on you. What happened after our last meeting?"
After a deep sip of her wine May replied, "I went back to my prior residence and met with some of the girls I'd been working with last year. So I could apologize to them, for how I acted and the way I treated them."
"Oh," the silver-haired goddess definitely seemed impressed, but also kind of happy to hear that. "Did they accept you back again?"
Miss Hawthorne shook her head, "They did not, but I didn't expect it and I didn't ask them to. They've kept the club running without me, and as far as I'm concerned it belongs to them."
"I won't be starting a competing club either," she added. "I'll still teach girls about magic and witchcraft if they wish it, but I'll be much more open and up front about who and what I am going forward."
After swallowing another mouthful of the delicious meat pie we addressed Amethyst, "We're still curious to hear more about your idea of working together?"
"Right," she nodded. "Like I said, I'm goddess to trans and gay people, or basically queer people in general. I've expanded that definition to include demi-humans as well, since the majority of those I've met are trans. And anyways they've been experiencing some discrimination and are definitely a marginalized minority."
She continued after a sip of wine, "And that's where I thought maybe I could work with Kid Chaos? It was pretty clear to me that the plush toys were being distributed through online trans communities, they're obviously meant to help trans people? And since that falls under my purview I wanted to meet the person who created the toys, and see if there was a way we could pool our resources for the benefit of trans or queer folks."
We had another forkful of the yummy pie as we considered everything the silver-haired goddess just said. Then we finally responded, "You're correct that I'm focusing on trans communities, and my primary goal with those toys has always been to give trans people an instant magical transition. So now you know that I'm the one behind the plushies, and you know my domain is chaos. How do you envision the two of us working together?"
Amethyst replied, "Well for one thing, if you're not telling those people who you really are or that you're a goddess, they can't exactly become worshipers right? So that's something you could look into changing? Maybe start letting folks know their transition has come courtesy of Cassandra, goddess of chaos?"
"Like I said earlier, I'm not quite ready to associate my name with the toys yet. On the other hand, that hasn't stopped me from drawing worship from those who use my plushies," we stated, before enjoying another bite of meat pie.
May Hawthorne figured out what we meant by that comment almost immediately. She turned and frowned at us, "You condemned me for secretly drawing worship from Club Luna, now you're doing the same thing through those enchanted toys?"
"No," we replied in a calm level tone. "I condemned you for lying to Melanie and I, for withholding important information from me, and generally manipulating Mel and myself for six months. But this isn't the time or place to go into those details."
Without waiting for a response from May we looked across the table and added, "I don't have a problem sharing those worshipers with you, Amethyst. I don't think there's anything inherently incompatible with supporting both chaos and trans or queer rights simultaneously. Ditto for chaos and demi-human rights."
The silver-haired goddess drained the last of her wine then smiled, "Amethyst is my official 'goddess name', but it's kind of a mouthful. My friends call me Amy, and if we're talking about working together then I think we should be friends. Don't you?"
"All right Amy," we smiled back. "In that case, Cassandra is likewise my 'official goddess name', and as I said Kid Chaos is one of my epithets. My informal name however is Cass."
"Thank you Cass," Amy replied as she set her wine glass down.
All three of us were quiet for a bit after that, as we continued to enjoy our meals. Then after munching on a couple of the chunky hand-cut chips we spoke up again, "So back to the subject of collaboration. I don't have a problem with you taking care of the bureaucratic requirements of people who've used my plushies, and I don't mind you drawing faith or worship from them. As long as you don't steer them away from me when you do it."
The other goddess frowned, "It's pretty hard for me to steer them away from something they don't even know they're doing. Or something they don't even know exists."
"Of course," we conceded that point. "They probably will in time, but until then suffice to say that their worship revolves around their use of our plushies. Some people use it just once and never again, but others use their toys on a regular basis."
May nodded slowly, "Of course. The act of transforming themself with the toy is where you draw your power."
"It's one of our sources, yes. Triggering the enchantment is a rite performed in my honour," we explained.
Amethyst was frowning again, "I really can't condone that. Especially not after having helped May change course from doing the same thing with high-school girls and witchcraft."
"But I won't try and interfere," she added. "And I won't try to steer people away from it either. Like I said, I've met quite a few folks who've used those toys, and every single one of them was happy with the result."
We couldn't help smiling, "That they are. And that's one of the tenets behind my interpretation of chaos? I want to make my people happy, I want to empower them. I don't want to hurt people or cause them distress."
"That's good to know," Amy responded. Then she suggested, "Why don't we exchange contact information? So the two of us can continue talking about this stuff in the future without having to trouble May?"
We agreed, "That sounds like an excellent idea. I'm not sure yet when we'll be ready to begin working with you, but we certainly don't need to bother May just to arrange another meeting."
Amethyst got her phone out of her purse while we did the same, and the pair of us exchanged all sorts of contact info. Like email addresses, social media handles, and phone numbers.
As we finished entering Amy's number into our contacts we commented, "That's a southern Ontario area code. Are you from around Toronto?"
"Yeah," the silver-haired goddess nodded. "My girlfriend and I are in a small town a little ways north-west of the city."
We couldn't help smiling, "Same. Although I assume we're not talking about the same small town."
Amy seemed to hesitate a few seconds, then she went ahead and told us where she lived. To our surprise it turned out Amy was currently staying in the same town where we'd been meeting our therapist Miss Fuller.
"That's close," we replied. "We're only about thirty kilometres north of you. Small world."
Amy laughed, "Small world indeed."
After a sip of water we asked, "You mentioned a girlfriend, is she another goddess?"
"No," she shook her head. "She's mortal, but she knows who and what I really am. And she's ok with that, she actually asked to become my cleric or high priestess."
She had another bite of her dinner then asked, "How about you? Got anyone special at home?"
We smiled as we nodded, "Yes indeed. My girlfriend and I just moved in together last month, we're sharing a house with a few other friends. No other goddesses, but we're all supernaturals."
"Our girlfriend is a small three-tailed kitsune," we added with a happy smile.
"Seriously?" Amy stared at us. "Huh. I had no idea kitsune were real."
We shrugged, "Neither did I. Maybe we can all meet up at some point, considering we all live so close together..."
Our voice trailed off a moment there. Then we turned to May and frowned, "So you've just moved back home and Amethyst only lives thirty kilometres away. Why did all three of us have to travel over five and a half thousand kilometres to meet in south-east England?"
"It seemed like a good neutral location for a first meeting," she stated. Then she gestured towards her plate and added, "And they do make an especially nice steak and ale pie, after all."
Amy agreed, "They really do. I'm enjoying it."
"I suppose I can't argue with that," we replied with a smile.
All three of us focused on our meals again, while Cassandra and I actually started thinking about maybe coming back to visit the little pub some time with Kaylee. It might be a fun date, especially after she learned the teleportation spell. She'd probably be really happy to be able to make the trip under her own magic, after all. It also occurred to us that perhaps the whole club might enjoy a field trip overseas.
Amy and May were both nearly finished their dinner by that point, while we were still slowly enjoying ours. We were only about halfway through the pie when our phone buzzed with a text message. At first we ignored it, but a second one arrived a few seconds later. And a third came a half minute after that.
Getting three messages all at once like that left us thinking it might be something important, so we pulled our phone back out of our purse again and had a look. All three were on the club's group chat, and all three were from Cerys. And as soon as we saw them both Cassandra and I felt a jolt of adrenaline and worry.
The first message had a photo attached, depicting an old light-blue pick-up truck with British Columbia plates. And the text read, "Me & Melanie came across this in the parking lot at work. Might be the werewolf hunter's vehicle?"
The second message read, "Just saw a guy matching the wolf hunter description coming out of the cafe. Positive this is the guy, he's here @ the plaza where we work."
"Me & Melanie are back inside the store now," Cerys added in her third text. "Gonna hang out where there's lots of people around. Hopefully the guy won't try anything in full view of the public."
Two more messages appeared as we were looking at the first three.
Willow wrote, "Just got out of work, I can be there in 15 minutes. Have you contacted Belinda & her people yet?"
"Same," Kaylee added. "Me & Sasha are on our way!"
We tucked our phone back into our purse then addressed the other two goddesses, "You'll have to excuse me but there's a minor emergency back home, and it requires my immediate attention. Amethyst it was nice to meet you, I'm sure we'll be in touch again soon. And May, thank you for arranging this meeting, and for the delicious meal."
Before either of them could respond Cassandra used her divine magic and we teleported away right there on the spot, while sitting at a booth in a busy pub surrounded by normal human customers.
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"You?! You created them?!" May Hawthorne gasped as she stared wide-eyed at us. Then she shook her head, "No, that's not possible. Those toys first turned up in April last year, that's long before..."
Her voice trailed off, and we figured she was about to say it was before we replaced her daughter as goddess of chaos. She told us not to divulge that though, so it made sense she'd hold it back for the same reason.
Apart from that, it was hard not to be amused by May's reaction to our 'big reveal'. So we might have had a little smile on our face as we replied, "I know exactly when they first appeared, I loaded the toys into the vending machines myself."
It looked like May didn't even know how to respond to that, she just continued staring at us in shock.
Meanwhile Amethyst had already gotten over her surprise. She frowned slightly as she said, "Based on what I've learned from the various demi-humans I've helped, when you switched to mailing the plush toys you began to include instructions in the capsules, which was a good start. Maybe you should have done that all along though? And for that matter, why not include your name as well? Why not let people know who to thank? And why haven't you been helping them with the other problems that I mentioned? Like updating their ID?"
"I have helped a few like that," we replied with a small shrug. "Those who have directly asked. As for why I haven't been more open and forthcoming about who I am with regards to the toys, that is a matter of timing. The short answer is I'm not ready yet. You and May both know what can happen if gods like us push too hard against the status quo."
Amethyst sighed, "Yeah I know all about that. I still don't understand why you haven't been more proactive about helping those people."
"I'm a goddess of chaos," we replied with another little shrug. "Stirring things up is what I do. But like I said, if anyone directly asked for that kind of assistance then they would have received it."
The conversation paused at that point because the waitress was back with our meals. There were three identical plates, each containing a good-sized personal meat pie along with a large helping of thick hand-cut fries. It all looked and smelled amazing, and even though Cassandra and I weren't actually that hungry it quickly got our mouth watering.
The waitress also had another bottle of that wine, she opened it and refilled our companions' glasses. We hadn't actually touched ours, we were just drinking our water.
All three of us got started on the food, and it tasted just as good as it looked. The fries were perfect, hot and crisp with just the right amount of salt. And the meat pie was even better. The pastry was flakey and buttery, and the inside was stuffed full of tender chunks of beef in a thick dark gravy.
The conversation resumed after another minute or two, when Amethyst looked to us and asked "Enchanted plushies aside, I'm curious why you wanted to meet me? May said she arranged this get-together on your request."
"Mostly out of curiosity," we replied. "When May told us how she was changing her ways I was very interested to meet the goddess who helped her change course."
Miss Hawthorne actually blushed slightly at that, while Amethyst raised an eyebrow. She looked to our former teacher and asked, "I didn't realize I had that big an effect on you. What happened after our last meeting?"
After a deep sip of her wine May replied, "I went back to my prior residence and met with some of the girls I'd been working with last year. So I could apologize to them, for how I acted and the way I treated them."
"Oh," the silver-haired goddess definitely seemed impressed, but also kind of happy to hear that. "Did they accept you back again?"
Miss Hawthorne shook her head, "They did not, but I didn't expect it and I didn't ask them to. They've kept the club running without me, and as far as I'm concerned it belongs to them."
"I won't be starting a competing club either," she added. "I'll still teach girls about magic and witchcraft if they wish it, but I'll be much more open and up front about who and what I am going forward."
After swallowing another mouthful of the delicious meat pie we addressed Amethyst, "We're still curious to hear more about your idea of working together?"
"Right," she nodded. "Like I said, I'm goddess to trans and gay people, or basically queer people in general. I've expanded that definition to include demi-humans as well, since the majority of those I've met are trans. And anyways they've been experiencing some discrimination and are definitely a marginalized minority."
She continued after a sip of wine, "And that's where I thought maybe I could work with Kid Chaos? It was pretty clear to me that the plush toys were being distributed through online trans communities, they're obviously meant to help trans people? And since that falls under my purview I wanted to meet the person who created the toys, and see if there was a way we could pool our resources for the benefit of trans or queer folks."
We had another forkful of the yummy pie as we considered everything the silver-haired goddess just said. Then we finally responded, "You're correct that I'm focusing on trans communities, and my primary goal with those toys has always been to give trans people an instant magical transition. So now you know that I'm the one behind the plushies, and you know my domain is chaos. How do you envision the two of us working together?"
Amethyst replied, "Well for one thing, if you're not telling those people who you really are or that you're a goddess, they can't exactly become worshipers right? So that's something you could look into changing? Maybe start letting folks know their transition has come courtesy of Cassandra, goddess of chaos?"
"Like I said earlier, I'm not quite ready to associate my name with the toys yet. On the other hand, that hasn't stopped me from drawing worship from those who use my plushies," we stated, before enjoying another bite of meat pie.
May Hawthorne figured out what we meant by that comment almost immediately. She turned and frowned at us, "You condemned me for secretly drawing worship from Club Luna, now you're doing the same thing through those enchanted toys?"
"No," we replied in a calm level tone. "I condemned you for lying to Melanie and I, for withholding important information from me, and generally manipulating Mel and myself for six months. But this isn't the time or place to go into those details."
Without waiting for a response from May we looked across the table and added, "I don't have a problem sharing those worshipers with you, Amethyst. I don't think there's anything inherently incompatible with supporting both chaos and trans or queer rights simultaneously. Ditto for chaos and demi-human rights."
The silver-haired goddess drained the last of her wine then smiled, "Amethyst is my official 'goddess name', but it's kind of a mouthful. My friends call me Amy, and if we're talking about working together then I think we should be friends. Don't you?"
"All right Amy," we smiled back. "In that case, Cassandra is likewise my 'official goddess name', and as I said Kid Chaos is one of my epithets. My informal name however is Cass."
"Thank you Cass," Amy replied as she set her wine glass down.
All three of us were quiet for a bit after that, as we continued to enjoy our meals. Then after munching on a couple of the chunky hand-cut chips we spoke up again, "So back to the subject of collaboration. I don't have a problem with you taking care of the bureaucratic requirements of people who've used my plushies, and I don't mind you drawing faith or worship from them. As long as you don't steer them away from me when you do it."
The other goddess frowned, "It's pretty hard for me to steer them away from something they don't even know they're doing. Or something they don't even know exists."
"Of course," we conceded that point. "They probably will in time, but until then suffice to say that their worship revolves around their use of our plushies. Some people use it just once and never again, but others use their toys on a regular basis."
May nodded slowly, "Of course. The act of transforming themself with the toy is where you draw your power."
"It's one of our sources, yes. Triggering the enchantment is a rite performed in my honour," we explained.
Amethyst was frowning again, "I really can't condone that. Especially not after having helped May change course from doing the same thing with high-school girls and witchcraft."
"But I won't try and interfere," she added. "And I won't try to steer people away from it either. Like I said, I've met quite a few folks who've used those toys, and every single one of them was happy with the result."
We couldn't help smiling, "That they are. And that's one of the tenets behind my interpretation of chaos? I want to make my people happy, I want to empower them. I don't want to hurt people or cause them distress."
"That's good to know," Amy responded. Then she suggested, "Why don't we exchange contact information? So the two of us can continue talking about this stuff in the future without having to trouble May?"
We agreed, "That sounds like an excellent idea. I'm not sure yet when we'll be ready to begin working with you, but we certainly don't need to bother May just to arrange another meeting."
Amethyst got her phone out of her purse while we did the same, and the pair of us exchanged all sorts of contact info. Like email addresses, social media handles, and phone numbers.
As we finished entering Amy's number into our contacts we commented, "That's a southern Ontario area code. Are you from around Toronto?"
"Yeah," the silver-haired goddess nodded. "My girlfriend and I are in a small town a little ways north-west of the city."
We couldn't help smiling, "Same. Although I assume we're not talking about the same small town."
Amy seemed to hesitate a few seconds, then she went ahead and told us where she lived. To our surprise it turned out Amy was currently staying in the same town where we'd been meeting our therapist Miss Fuller.
"That's close," we replied. "We're only about thirty kilometres north of you. Small world."
Amy laughed, "Small world indeed."
After a sip of water we asked, "You mentioned a girlfriend, is she another goddess?"
"No," she shook her head. "She's mortal, but she knows who and what I really am. And she's ok with that, she actually asked to become my cleric or high priestess."
She had another bite of her dinner then asked, "How about you? Got anyone special at home?"
We smiled as we nodded, "Yes indeed. My girlfriend and I just moved in together last month, we're sharing a house with a few other friends. No other goddesses, but we're all supernaturals."
"Our girlfriend is a small three-tailed kitsune," we added with a happy smile.
"Seriously?" Amy stared at us. "Huh. I had no idea kitsune were real."
We shrugged, "Neither did I. Maybe we can all meet up at some point, considering we all live so close together..."
Our voice trailed off a moment there. Then we turned to May and frowned, "So you've just moved back home and Amethyst only lives thirty kilometres away. Why did all three of us have to travel over five and a half thousand kilometres to meet in south-east England?"
"It seemed like a good neutral location for a first meeting," she stated. Then she gestured towards her plate and added, "And they do make an especially nice steak and ale pie, after all."
Amy agreed, "They really do. I'm enjoying it."
"I suppose I can't argue with that," we replied with a smile.
All three of us focused on our meals again, while Cassandra and I actually started thinking about maybe coming back to visit the little pub some time with Kaylee. It might be a fun date, especially after she learned the teleportation spell. She'd probably be really happy to be able to make the trip under her own magic, after all. It also occurred to us that perhaps the whole club might enjoy a field trip overseas.
Amy and May were both nearly finished their dinner by that point, while we were still slowly enjoying ours. We were only about halfway through the pie when our phone buzzed with a text message. At first we ignored it, but a second one arrived a few seconds later. And a third came a half minute after that.
Getting three messages all at once like that left us thinking it might be something important, so we pulled our phone back out of our purse again and had a look. All three were on the club's group chat, and all three were from Cerys. And as soon as we saw them both Cassandra and I felt a jolt of adrenaline and worry.
The first message had a photo attached, depicting an old light-blue pick-up truck with British Columbia plates. And the text read, "Me & Melanie came across this in the parking lot at work. Might be the werewolf hunter's vehicle?"
The second message read, "Just saw a guy matching the wolf hunter description coming out of the cafe. Positive this is the guy, he's here @ the plaza where we work."
"Me & Melanie are back inside the store now," Cerys added in her third text. "Gonna hang out where there's lots of people around. Hopefully the guy won't try anything in full view of the public."
Two more messages appeared as we were looking at the first three.
Willow wrote, "Just got out of work, I can be there in 15 minutes. Have you contacted Belinda & her people yet?"
"Same," Kaylee added. "Me & Sasha are on our way!"
We tucked our phone back into our purse then addressed the other two goddesses, "You'll have to excuse me but there's a minor emergency back home, and it requires my immediate attention. Amethyst it was nice to meet you, I'm sure we'll be in touch again soon. And May, thank you for arranging this meeting, and for the delicious meal."
Before either of them could respond Cassandra used her divine magic and we teleported away right there on the spot, while sitting at a booth in a busy pub surrounded by normal human customers.
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