EVERYONE'S A CRITIC
.30-06
This story contains scenes of death. They are bereft of gory details but are too numerous to highlight with color without disrupting the story itself. Swirl, swirl, dapple, slide... swirl, dapple, swish... swirl, swirl, slide...
My eyes followed the creamy-mocha fur and black pads of my goddess' toes as they flowed across the canvas. Her digits flexed with a versed dexterity, the soft bean beneath Her claw squishing slightly as the dollop of black paint smeared in an arc across the already thickly coated canvas. Everything around me but Her glorious paws might as well not have existed as I drifted away in a haze of imagination, relishing the idea of feeling my entire body and soul given up to decorate the wondrous body of my goddess. My mind must have glazed over, as I felt my sister nudge me and realized that our goddess was moving Her foot towards us. I admonished myself for allowing my attention to lapse into my own head rather than focusing all of it on Her, but my cold sweat thawed as I saw Her toes dip into more paint from the dish nearby. Not yet.
Tip-tip-tip... swish, swirl, slide... swirl, dapple, slide... swish, swish, swish...
Watching Her paint was my life's zenith, and I was rapt with zeal whenever I gazed on Her works, just as I was while washing betwixt Her toes and treating Her pads with sacred oils and shampoos. I quelled a rush of emotion as I watched Her work, patiently and mindfully awaiting the wordless command to begin my sacrament. A satisfied smile crossed my and my sisters' faces as our goddess' paw lifted from the canvas and She leaned forward to admire Her own work. This was literally what I was made to do; my heart never failed to race, my skin never failed to flush and tingle, my spirits never failed to rise when I was picked from amongst the ranks of my siblings to participate in this divine ritual. I watched Her feet sway as She turned in Her seat and tried not to look too far up Her legs lest I become enthralled by Her beauty and slip into that solemn trance again.
I took a deep breath as I glanced across the floor to the other squad of my siblings and saw our goddess' paw raise away from them. She moved it towards the dish of paints that lay off to their side and I readied my rags and cleansed my hands in holy turpentine as I watched my goddess' next movements closely. I reveled lightly in the cool burn it left on my skin as it slipped through my fur, and I wiped my hands on the stark, silken loincloth graciously afforded me as the only cover necessary when I was finally shipped off to Heaven. Above, shadows blotted out the light as She swung Her foot towards my three siblings and me. I tried not to gaze too long at Her slender calves before the empty space in front of me was suddenly occupied by a divine footpaw five times my size that smelled strongly of paint and holy wash.
Immediately we got to work. Each one of us gently guided Her large pad to a basin of holy water, dipped it in the liquid for a moment before it was raised up again. Two of my sisters dove beneath the divine paw to hold it in place and clean the underside which left my last sister and I with the four holy toes. I clicked my teeth and sighed, relished the burn of the holy vapors as penance for being too slow to be beneath Her paw; I would not be so slow next time. I took my rag in hand and began to soak a black bean the size of my head with blessed turpentine. I worked quickly and efficiently, gently ran my hand beneath the two digits to drain holy wash out and away by my elbow, back into the basin along with the black paint, now liquefied. It was almost difficult not to let my mind wander into the realm of fantasy as Her cream-colored fur, smooth black pads, and cloudy-clear claws encapsulated me in the majestic aura of Her body heat and the overwhelming scent of holy wash and sacred oils combined with the natural musk of my goddess to nearly send me into visions. She flexed Her toes in order to allow us access between them, and I marveled at the divinity that She held in just one digit. I could see every fiber of Her soft fur in between Her toes as I firmly washed the black paint out with more holy turpentine from a cup dipped from the basin. I felt the rigid, powerful muscles of Her toes as I scrubbed them clean of any foreign pigments. I shivered as I ran my fingers over the plush skin of Her pads, relished each tiny bump as I double-checked for paint on Her paw. Flawless, supple black flesh, clean as a whistle, just as I had been raised to make it so. I allowed myself a sprig of pride in my work.
With my job mostly done I took to drying the fur between Her toes. I also took a moment to glance up Her pale-furred legs to behold Her beauty. She was as stunning as the first time I laid my eyes upon Her, perched on Her plump derriere atop a vast wooden stool the size of my family's home. My eyes went up to Her floppy ears draped over Her auburn bob of ever-so-slightly wavy hair that fell gracefully from Her viridian beret to frame Her cute, plump, rounded snout and deep amber eyes. Beneath that, I gazed upon Her neck and shapely shoulders, around which two thin white spires of cotton were held taut as they widened to cover two perfectly smooth, round hills that looked (and felt, as I had come to know) as though they were sculpted from the clouds themselves. My eyes lingered adoringly on Her modest bust that to me seemed so much more magnificent than my memories of the marble icon of Her from the cloister down the hall from my childhood dorms, before being snatched by the barest sliver of light from the patio window cast across Her soft belly as She twisted about on Her stool. Her backside wiggled beneath Her, trapped by a suggestion of daisy dukes, more of a denim brief of modesty than actual shorts, that was wrapped tightly around Her hips and stuck to Her rump and nethers such that little imagination was needed to picture Her divinity. Her hands were clasped the sides of the stool on either side of them to steady Herself as She painted, one foot administering paint to the canvas while the other rested upon my siblings and me. I watched Her perfectly-toned legs as She worked, Her thick, cream-colored fur, accented with hues of warm brown on Her ears and around Her eyes, wrists, and ankles, scattered the evening light captivatingly as She shifted slightly with every swish of Her toes across the canvas. Her tail swayed lazily behind Her as it gently flicked droplets of green, oily paint that leaked naturally from the tip whenever She focused, and the warm colors of Her painting seemed to spring forth from the canvas as though alive. I turned my head to look upon the other goddess in the room, and the subject of my own goddess' work.
The other goddess, Reah, no doubt close friends with the one I served, was one of fierce cruelty and fiery passion, and seeing Her always made me love my typically kind and calm goddess Samantha all the more for it. She sat nude on Her own padded stool, Her soft, black-furred legs playfully positioned to cover Her most intimate parts while still revealing the slope of Her mons pubis, tucked beautifully beneath the slight paunch of Her belly; She clearly enjoyed eating. Beneath Her hearty rear lay the long-since stilled, purple-furred lower body of one of Her attendants, who had been rather lively up until about an hour ago, not unlike the other young lady that She held in Her mouth. She idly twiddled with the girl's foot as She sucked on her, remaining still as She modeled for Samantha with a divine elegance I could not fathom being within my kind's ability. The hand that played with Reah's esculent servant was supported by Her left forearm, covered in an angelic white fur that reminded me of Sister Saint Marina from my days in The Order, and it rested against Her torso, also draped in white fluff, pushing Her plump breasts closer together. I could see that Her right hand, out of sight from my goddess' perspective, held several more of Her servants by leashes. A faint snap was suddenly heard, resulting in pitiable squeaking from within Reah's mouth. As She callously slurped and swallowed, I sighed deeply and smiled, glad and impressed that five of Reah's servants so far had been granted the honor of The Rite of Resolution.
I watched the firey fox goddess' tongue slip out from betwixt Her teeth to clear Her chops and felt a shiver of longing desire as I recalled the first time Samantha had administered the Rite of Resolution since my time in Heaven. Two of my sisters (what divine lottery they played and won without my knowledge!) were selected from amongst us and placed within our goddess' stockings, one in each. She had walked on Her toes, careful to avoid crushing them, taking turns putting pressure on them and grinding them into Her paw pads as She prepared Herself for a party She had been invited to. We watched on in envious rapture as She slid Her silk-laden paws into Her platform boots and stood to full height. Even through the leather the crunch could be heard, and Samantha's face was alight with pleasure as She shifted in Her boots, smearing them across Her insoles. I still remember the lamentations of my sisters that night like any other; we all wished it had been us instead. Even now, as I watched Reah replenish Her mouth's attendant, I fought back a tide of envy that I hadn't yet met my chance at Unity with Samantha. I blinked, my gaze upon Reah piercing a thousand yards past Her as I tried to remember that I was here in Heaven with my goddess to serve Her and that once I had served Her well enough I would surely receive my reward.
A hiss from beside me roused me from my stupor and I turned to see my sister, again with wide eyes, gesturing for me to pick up my fan and release Samantha's divine paw. I immediately did as much, thanked her with a glance and whisper, eternally grateful that my goddess had apparently been too preoccupied with making small talk with Reah to give my indolence much mind. Her silky voice floated through the air above my head and I stood attentively, listening to Her words.
"Look, all I'm saying is that Piper is too cruel." I tried to focus on what was being said so that my mind would not wander. I had heard of the goddess Piper before and had mixed feelings. Apparently She was a goddess of death and deception, and Her devotees came from outside of The Order that raised me. I didn't even know there was a world outside of The Order before I had already gotten to Heaven, and had only seen Piper once, while the maid, Jane, had been returning us to our quarters. Piper had tried to follow but been chastized and led away by the head of staff.
I shook my head to avoid falling back into memories as Samantha continued speaking. "You might do some awful things to your micros but at least they're raised for your tastes. Piper just grabs random micros off the street and does that kind of stuff to them."
What luck those mundane micros must have had to have found their own way to Heaven! Part of me wondered if Piper's domain was actually a Heaven or something closer to the Void, as She had never sounded like someone who valued worshippers. But to think, even though they had never taken the Rite of Helotry they found themselves saved from the Numb! Surely that was a good thing. Again, I tried to focus on my work and shake the thoughts from my mind as Reah replied, gesturing with the young Vulpix boy in Her hand.
"Exactly. I have enough trouble with micros from the Breedery and it was a million times worse getting street micros to do anything I wanted them to." Reah's voice was sultry but bore a youthful smugness to it that soured the maturity it could have held, "If Piper can deal with the attitude of those little shits then she should be able to do whatever she wants with them." She bounced nearly imperceptibly on her posterior as She returned to Her pose, quietly slurping the young servant back into Her mouth like a lozenge.
Samantha rolled Her eyes, dabbing Her toe a few more times onto the canvas before making one final scrape in a zigzag pattern. "We're finally done with this one, now it just needs to dry." She turned towards a large towel and short rack sitting beside a water basin that had been set aside before we began and clapped Her hands together.
Having already begun moving, the eight of us attendants were beside Her paws before they had even settled into the soft terrycloth. I could almost smell Her scent behind the pungent stench of the turpentine in the holy wash and the dizzying odor of oil paints as we rinsed Her paws using water (apparently drawn from a place called "Lavaridge Springs", if the elder sister who could read was to be believed) that rested, chilly and pure, in the basin, in order to remove all traces of either holy medium. As we finished the rinsing, I took another moment of reprieve to steal a glance up at my magnificent goddess. My eyes took a spiritual journey across Her fluffy calves and thighs, flowing like consecrated cataracts of cream out from Her denim modesty that split the greater surge of divine cream that was her trim tummy and tits. I looked back to her paws, the subtle flexing and curving of her fluffy foot and toes tickled my mind and I melted inside; looking up from between Her paws was the greatest sight a lowly Sentret like me could ask for. I remembered my years of training and felt the tremendous weight of all of the slow healing scars and chemical burns and sleepless nights from my childhood in The Order fade away in an instant. Belonging to Samantha made it all worth it.
Another hissed rebuke from my sister and I realized that I had allowed myself to slack in my duties yet again. Guiltily flushing, I joined my sisters as we each soaked our hands in holy oils before returning to Samantha's paws and beginning the post-painting purification ritual. A shiver ran down my spine as I ran my fingers underneath the sparkling crystalline claw that jutted out from Her toe, feeling the downy-soft fur that edged Her beans again. My stomach fluttered with a ticklish feeling as I rubbed oil over the silky soft skin of Her paw pads, devoid of any cracks or imperfections. I felt the subtle bumps across Her flesh with my fingertips, pushed gently but firmly into Her pads, my sisters doing the same. We dutifully massaged out all the stress and tension that only our specially trained hands could detect.
As we attended to Samantha's resplendent paws, I saw Reah's servants quickly scrambling over one another in a frenzy to service their own goddess. She had donned a simple but elegant robe from Samantha's wardrobe and tipped Her bag over, spilling several ragged Vulpix micros across the waxed tile floor. The sun, even dimmed by late clouds as it was, shone in from the huge patio windows behind us and made it evident from the state of their fur that, while they were not dirty, they had not bathed in several days. They seemed tired but alert, as if they were being hunted, and they roughly spread lotions and oils across Reah's admittedly beauteous paws. I sighed again to myself, feeling ever more grateful for the kindness afforded me by my own goddess, though even this was tinged with a dash of envy for the ease with which Reah allowed Her servants Unification with Herself.
Shaking the image of Reah's glistening pink beans from my mind, I returned my full attention to my work as Samantha's foot moved to give us access to the whole sole. I drew some expensive, lotion-like shampoo into my hands from the siphon of the waist-high bottle I shared with my closest sister, and began to push my forearms into Her heel. My sister did the same to the other side so that our arms formed an arrow shape. I worked the slick shampoo into Her soft footfur, being sure to take care of Her roots as we pushed our way towards Her paw pads. With more shampoo drawn out, we slathered it over the top of Her paw and in between Her toes before She suddenly ground them together, grasping our arms in the warm embrace of Her toes. The sticky shampoo squelched and my mind left my body as it automatically tuned out everything but the feeling of pressure squeezing my forearm. Pure bliss. When She let us go we both filed over to the water basin in a sort of stupor, smiling to each other past flushed cheeks as we grabbed brass jugs and climbed back onto Her paws and poured the water over them to soak Her fur and wash away the shampoo and excess oils. Finally, all eight of us grabbed blow-dryers from a nearby rack to dry Her fur with warm air.
As Sam's silky paw fur swayed in the wind from my blow-dryer, I turned to glance at the Vulpix squad servicing Reah. She was squeezing one of them with Her middle toes on Her left paw while the rest of them panted, exhausted from the effort of their ministrations on her right. Clumsily, torridly they massaged Her paws, as if they were trying to arouse Her more than remove tension and relax Her muscles. One of them fell off and found his head grasped between the beans and pad of Reah's left footpaw, lifted from the ground and brought up to Her hand, where She looked him over before grinning madly and smushed his face into Her toes. The servants left behind by Her momentary distraction seemed more relieved to have a moment without scrutiny than enraptured by Reah's show of power. I turned away from the display, switched off my blow-dryer, and hung it back up on the rack with the rest of them before Samantha flexed Her toes open and smiled down at us. We each stepped forward, visibly eager for what came next.
"Thank you all for the wonderful paw pampering you've given me!" My brain seemed to overflow with gooey, sticky joy as my vision swayed at my goddess' soft, heavenly praise. "You may now have your reward."
With those words, Samantha grasped my sisters and me with Her toes, each of us being squeezed, some alone and some squished together with another sister, between Her powerful beans. After Her hug, we looked up to Her and She nodded to us, granting us permission to begin worshipping Her at our will. I immediately crawled underneath Her paw pad beside the sister who had snapped me out of my trance earlier as it rested on the tile, and She lifted it slightly before letting the weight of Her leg rest again on Her paw. The pressure was immense, and sent my mind reeling into another dimension of pleasure. My face was fully surrounded with the silky-soft fur between Her toes, and as it brushed around my face I surrendered myself to the feeling of my goddess' paw becoming my entire world. The gently bumpy flesh of Her pad pressed down onto my torso, seemingly deadset on pushing me deep into the earth below while the ground pushed back, equally determined to prevent me from knowing its depths. I cried out in ecstasy and my lungs seared with pain as they forcibly deflated, my voice wholly consumed by Her toe fluff as it enveloped my face further. Her beans pressed in towards my head and massaged my tensions away as I had done for them mere moments ago. In a moment of relief, I inhaled the fruity musk of Her shampooed toe fluff before the pressure resumed at full force, my breasts heaving as my breath faded to the feeling of numb nirvana that began to swell over my body. Just as I believed myself to be blessed in becoming one with the essence of my goddess, of having finally achieved Unity, Her paw was lifted, and I and my sister who had joined me beneath the divine sole were left as hot, gasping, soaked messes, barely clinging to the last strands of this world by only the means of our bodily instincts.
As I heaved in the now seemingly freezing air, my mind snatched slices of consciousness. The mild disappointment of being denied my spiritual Unity with Samantha faded in the presence of the knowledge that this meant I would eventually service Her again, and I regained my senses slowly. I sat up and realized that I had temporarily gone blind; my vision swayed violently with the motion and my efforts to stand found me flat on my face with my rear in the air. The less fortunate of my sisters stifled either giggles or pouts at my flop, their voices ringing in my head like the bells of Rite of Helotry as the pounding of my heart slammed my head with a migraine while I recovered from my reward. Once I had found my orientation and could look around again, I stood up and saw Reah giggling as She grabbed two Vulpix micros from Her gaggle of attendants as the rest of them bowed before Her. One was limp and the other, twisted and whimpering, I recognized as the one She had smished into Her toes earlier. She shooed the others into Her bag and set it upright again, tossing the limp one into Her maw. As She swished the limp servant around on Her tongue, Reah regarded the whimpering Vulpix in Her hand.
"I have no use for a servant that will never walk again," Her voice, despite being calm and sweet, sent chills down my spine and I surmised what was coming next. "Whatever shall I do with you?"
The Vulpix stammered a creaking, raspy reply, though all I could hear of it was "sate Your desires." Reah gave a sultry chuckle and placed the twisted Vulpix on Her tongue, holding it in place as She swallowed the limp servant She had already slurped up before turning to face my goddess. She suckled lovingly on the one, and the legs dangling from Her swayed gently as She did so.
"It's crazy how you get your servants to be so submissive, Reah," Samantha's honeyed voice chimed, Her eyes shining with admiration, "I have to buy mine from The Order of Helotry but somehow you can just make stock micros work."
Reah slipped Her tongue out of Her mouth and rolled it between the limp legs that dangled from her mouth, pulling the Vulpix in before she grinned, tilted Her head back, and swallowed. The bulge in Her throat had never been quite so apparent to me, and I grimaced, grabbing my own. My sister, knelt beside me, whispered, "Their devotion is quite admirable. They probably don't even know that they're going to spend eternity as a part of their goddess and they're still willing to be claimed by Her."
Looking to Samantha I realized in an instant that I would have no qualms about meeting my Unity down the trap of Her gullet, and instantly felt a pang of shame for my unfair judgement of the Vulpix servants Reah employed. Even if they lacked the faith instilled in us at The Order, they knew somehow that their place was squarely in the service of their goddess, and I felt a newfound respect join the pity I had felt earlier.
Reah spoke, Her voice smug as always, "It takes a certain authoritative spirit," She closed Her eyes and shrugged, "it's almost like I'm a goddess that demands sacrifice. Heh, maybe I should start my own Order of Helotry."
Samantha sneered lightheartedly, and pinched Reah's paunch "I feel like you would just make hundreds of horny little perverts desperate to become snackrifices!"
Reah narrowed Her eyes with a grin, rubbing Her belly as She walked closer to get in Sammy's face. "Ha, you know it. Micros exist to satisfy my desires." She scoffed good-naturedly, "You'd make a bunch of little weirdos that go around worshipping everyone's paws." She gestured to my sisters and I, hovering a black-furred paw over my kneeling sister's head. I was close enough that I could see blood stains coating the black fur between her toes and my mind went numb with a stomach-tossing mix of fear and desire.
"Eheheh, when I tried training stock micros I wound up burning through several dozen of them inside of a week because I lost my temper too much," my goddess stood up, blushing, "The blood drained into the floors and we had to change them. I... actually got enrolled in anger management after that one."
Reah raised Her eyebrow and smirked, "Wanna make another stain?" She and Samantha looked down at my sister beneath Reah's paw, pausing. I saw my sister's eyes wide with fear as tears flowed down her face. She and I had spent months in Heaven already and not yet recanted our Rite of Resolution and now she was going to receive Unity from Reah instead of her own goddess. I knew she must be experiencing pure torture, and I fell to my knees in sorrow, unable to move as I merely watched her stare into those pink pads.
Samantha must have noticed our reaction and gave a careful reply, regarding us with narrowed eyes, "No, the Order told me that these micros were specifically trained to worship me and that if I expose them to other macros it could mess up some of their training. They said it doesn't matter if I step on them but that you shouldn't or it could upset them." She paused, Her tone more casual now, "Besides, I thought my dad was gonna rip his face off, he was so mad. You know how he gets about micros."
Reah rolled Her eyes and lifted Her foot. I saw my sister's breasts heaving as she hyperventilated, and I ran to embrace her. Our other sisters crowded around the one who nearly lost her chance at eternal peace with our goddess and whispered assurances of "Shh, sister, it's alright." and "That was very noble of you." and "You'll be Unified with Samantha, as was promised." Samantha watched from on high. I felt every ounce of envy I had had for Reah's servants evaporate instantly under the circumstances, and I found myself wishing that Samantha would just sit on us all right then and there. Just grind us into paste beneath Her divine ass so that the threat of losing our promised end could be averted. I shook my head and hugged my sister closer, such thoughts were dishonorable.
"See," my goddess said, "Even threatening them like that has them scared half to death, Reah." We looked up at Her and She smiled benevolently at us for a moment before turning to Reah again. "Besides, they're all super expensive and I went through so many from the Breedery that they suspended my account for a year."
Reah walked over to the countertop in the corner of the room and poured Herself a glass of something I couldn't see, "And so your dad's friend told you about some weird micro cult that would sell you inductees? You sure you weren't scammed, babe?"
Samantha smiled, "Actually, The Order goes really in depth with their training. Apparently they've been trained for their entire lives to worship me and they use a special index based on my profile with them to cater them specifically for me. That's why they're all girls now, I didn't like how the boys would get distracted so easily and then not snap out of it." Her voice was warm and kind as She regarded us, looking down and beaming a radiant smile at us. "They were literally made for me!"
The words of my goddess brought me back to my days in The Order yet again. I had chosen which goddess I wished to Unify myself with before I had left my mother's side, and She was right. From the moment I chose Her, I had only ever known other siblings (rather, other sisters, as it was true: only females could become devotees of Samantha) that wanted nothing more than to serve Samantha Perrali. Everything we had learned had been ingrained deeper and deeper with every bloodstain left on the floor by Sister Saint Dawn, every sibling that disappeared into Sister Saint Marina's morning oatmeal, every sister who spent her last night trapped within the confines of Sister Saint Marlow's nethers. Every sister that faltered in her faith was made to settle for Unity with the Family, to lose out on Unity with our goddess, and that was the only thing that mattered to us. Samantha was my culture, my religion, and the only thing I cared about, as it should be for someone of my stature. I felt a warm peace inside of me at the acknowledgement of this fact by my goddess. It felt as if She had reached through the Void and chosen me from my birth to drag me out of the maw of oblivion and into Her own.
Reah snorted and laughed, "Beh, The Order is too expensive, even for me," Reah smirked and looked at us, licking Her chops, "They're delicate things, micros. I just can't help but run through so many. Especially when I get hungry. Nothing feels as good as stuffing myself full. The wriggling tickles across every inch of my stomach! Shame it only lasts a few minutes at most though."
My siblings and I moved closer together, and Samantha giggled above us, swinging Her paw around to rest beside us. "I don't think I could ever bring myself to eat these ones. They're too cute to terrorize!" We clambered on top of the paw, hugging it for comfort, though the sister whom Reah had threatened stared at the divine paw pads of our goddess and laid beneath Her sole instead, hiding under Her toes. Sammy looked back to Reah, "Thanks for modeling by the way."
"No problem! I love your paintings, they always make me look..." Her smile stretched into a grin, glancing at the drying painting, "...wilder."
Just then, I heard a loud pinging noise sound from the ceiling of the parlor we all occupied. It echoed around me and reverberated through my skull and I cursed my sensitive ears to myself. Never would I get used to this doorbell compared to the thick air that buffeted the quiet rapping knocks of the Sister Saints approach. Above me, my goddess began squealing with delight and hopping up and down, nearly crushing my catatonic sister as she tumbled out from betwixt Her toes. I stepped away a bit as my ears stopped ringing and She rushed to the hall, disappearing around the corner. With Her went the light of the room and it felt as though the color drained from my sight. My siblings and I began tidying up the materials of the purification ritual from earlier as we waited for Her to return while Reah stood in the portal of the hall, allowing Her robe to fall open as She checked Her phone. The sister of mine who had been so close to being stolen from us stood and helped us as well, seemingly having recovered a little from her time tucked in Samantha's toe fluff.
Soon after, She returned, picking Her painting of Reah up from the floor and setting it on an easel She had brought back with Her. As She did this, the maid, who bore a striking resemblance to my mother, came in from the hall and stood off to the side as Reah set Her phone down and stepped closer to Samantha. Behind the maid trailed a macro Gothorita wearing a white gown and carrying a tablet that displayed a Gardevoir in a black dress, apparently a video call, regarding my goddess's childhood with fondness.
"Sammy, Sammyyy! How are youuu?" The Gardevior's voice was seductive, but cheerful and energetic, "You look sexy in that outfit, honey. You've grown so much from the first time we met!"
My goddess smiled and blushed, "Thanks, Aunt Marie! And yeah, I remember! I was hanging from Dad's arm while you were talking with him, appraising his gallery without knowing it was his work."
"And a good gallery it was! I especially loved his dream-inspired surrealist landscapes; they're almost as if he pulled them from the mind of Cresselia herself." The Gothorita gestured to Reah as the Gardevoir spoke, "Oh, who's this?"
"Ah, I'm sorry I forgot to introduce you!" Samantha gestured to Reah, "This is Reah, my close friend and model. We met ages ago at a big social dinner hosted by the Feifstat family." She now gestured to the Gothorita and Gardevoir on the screen, "Reah this is Marie, a friend of my father's and an art critic. The Gothorita is..."
Marie spoke up, "Gina, my intern. Sorry I couldn't be there in person, sweetie! I'm running late and won't be able to meet with your father to come for a real visit until tomorrow."
My goddess waved Her hand in front of Her face, "No trouble at all."
"Well, you said she's your model. Let's see the painting you've made of Reah!"
I watched in awe as my goddess turned the massive easel effortlessly, the pillars of wood so big that I couldn't wrap my arms around them swung through the air with a surreal speed before clunking to a sudden stop. I stood enraptured by Samantha's excited grin as Marie's own wide smile turned into mild confusion, and then determined intrigue. I stopped paying much attention to the conversation as I heard Marie begin to ask questions I didn't understand. My ears filled with the whispered admiration of my sisters as we watched our goddess proudly explain Her work. My siblings and I leaned on each other for several minutes, all entranced by the beauty of our goddess's artwork, how it captured the raw firey confidence that Reah exuded. We heard the tone of the conversation change, and we were snapped back to our senses by some kind of primal instinct. I recognized it, I had felt it often enough, and had just felt it under my goddess' paw not fifteen minutes ago. Self-preservation. A biological drive to fight, flee, or freeze. I clung to my sisters. One look at Samantha and I knew why my spine tingled, heart shuddered, and legs had tensed up.
"Sammy, it's not a bad piece, you just have a lot to learn, ab-" Marie was speaking, Her tone annoyed and frustrated.
Samantha's nose flared, said to be the key tell to Her rage, "What exactly is wrong with the piece, then?" Her voice was stony and cold, devoid of the warmth and kindness I was used to. It shocked me to my core; I had never borne firsthand witness to Samantha's divine temper, and I wondered if today would be that day.
"Well, your anatomy needs the most work, Reah's legs are too short and her hips look blended together with her thighs, not to mention her waist is far too thin. She seems as if she's morphed into some sort of... monster. You're also going to have trouble shading anything in this piece with this sort of layering. The background should have been shaded long before Reah was even put to canvas."
I reeled as my goddess reigned in Her divine wrath. For as long as I had lived in Heaven, I had only heard of this once before. My siblings that had arrived before me had spoken of a day where Samantha had ordered some of us to massage Her paws, and it ended with twelve of my brothers finding Unity beneath Her paws after a long ordeal that left them as a dozen red streaks across the tiles. The maid had somberly cleaned up the mess on the floor while my siblings cleaned what remained of our brothers' worldly bodies from our goddess' soles, and every single tiny mistake made had them starting over as Her toes greedily claimed another sibling. After that, no males were allowed to serve Samantha. I remembered hearing of the purge that had happened in The Order, a third of my dormitory were Unified between the toes of the Sister Saints that evening as Samantha's divine wrath extended to even her cloister. As I watched Samantha's rage boil in person, I felt the sheer awe and terror of realizing at that moment that Samantha's temper was so powerful it reached beyond Her Heaven and into the midworld.
"I've inherited my father's talent for capturing a true spirit of art," Samantha raised Her voice, "I've been working hard every week for years to hone this talent using my own special processes." Reah stepped away from Sammy, not wanting to be burned by the flames of Her fury. "I won't be insulted in my own home, Marie!"
Reah and the maid exchanged glances. The maid's composure was stalwart but I knew She had witnessed our goddess' wrath before and had seen enough of her to know that the nervous flick of her eyes to my siblings and I meant She expected Samantha to lose Her temper. Meanwhile Reah's smug disposition never left Her face, and it was clear She merely intended to watch whatever happened next. I and my siblings stayed glued to the spot, our legs unable to move, despite our collective desire to sate our goddess' rage beneath Her paws.
Marie spoke sternly, "Sammy, I never meant to insult you, I was just-"
Samantha cut Her off, stepping forward to get in Marie and Gina's face, "Just what?"
"-juuuust saying that everyone interprets art differently," Marie's voice softened, "You need to calm down, sweetie."
"Calm down? I am calm. I'm about to stop being calm."
Marie sighed, "Sammy, I don't know what to say." Gina fidgeted nervously and Reah simply watched, Her raised eyebrows betraying the attempted projection of confidence in the slight smirk on Her face.
Samantha opened her mouth to shout but the maid spoke first, "Mistress, if I may?"
" What? " The question dripped with quiet malice.
"The counting exercises?"
Samantha raised Her hands to Her head and gripped Her ears as Her face contorted with rage and my blood ran cold. I clutched my sisters as we watched our goddess morph from a bright, lovely young woman to the very picture of divine wrath for a single moment before Her eyes clamped shut and She forced Her face to relax. She lowered Her hands and clasped them together, silent for another moment before She took a deep breath, smiled sharply, and calmly asked Marie to describe everything wrong with the painting. I watched Sammy pace as the woman on the screen spoke, still clinging tightly to as many of my sisters as possible as my mind was fried with a cascade of fear and more, my body assaulted with hands groping for safety and more. My instincts demanded that I stay as still as possible, but everything I knew told me to run beneath the pads of Her paws as She paced furiously while Marie spoke the list, and my only reflex was to cling tighter to my sisters, their hands grabbing and limbs wrapping around me and each other wherever they could find purchase. The thought of being smushed beneath Sammy's paws, crushed between Her and the earth with every angry stomp until finally achieving Unity with Her led my hand to find its way beneath my robes, but ice cold fear drove me to huddle tighter and tighter with my sisters, and with every footfall of Samantha's, I saw Sister Saint Dawn's foot rushing down to crush any sister that didn't cling together on Fear Days. I tore my eyes from my goddess for a moment and felt comfort as I saw that some of my siblings were troubled by the same complex mix of fear and arousal. Some were touching themselves and each other as covertly as possible, all of them no doubt having the same thoughts as I. I gave in and began doing the same as Marie finished speaking.
"-now if you were going for an abstract sort of, er, expressionism, I could understand the choices made here but you told me you were aiming for a realistic stylization. So, I'm trying to give you advice on how to improve and, frankly, I feel as though your overreaction is wholly unwarranted."
Samantha stopped pacing, took a deep breath, and turned to the fox goddess, "Re, what are your thoughts?
Reah's raised eyebrows lowered, and She replied simply, "I really like it. It gives me a sort of exotic vibe that I can't find anywhere else and I can't wait for the next session."
"Um, actually, I really liked it too..." I turned to Gina, hearing a meek, raspy, cute voice come from Him.
Marie sighed, "Like I said, it's a good beginner's piece. Something I'd expect from someone who has only been painting for a year or two, which is just about right for your skill level, Sammy."
My goddess' back was turned to me, and I could feel Her rage from where I stood as She balled Her fists.
"Most of the things I just listed could become non-issues with some more practice. Maybe try taking a step away from an attempt at realism and let yourself be more abstract, you're good at that."
Samantha spun on Her heels and threw a punch at the tablet screen, screaming, "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
My sisters and I watched as our goddess' fist connected with the screen, the punch pushing the tablet back into Gina's chest and knocking Him off balance. We all gasped as He seemingly shimmered through the air and disappeared with a sparkling afterimage that quickly faded away. The tablet cascaded to the floor, sending what looked like a spiderweb across the face of the shocked Marie, and causing a scream of shock and fear to rattle out from right beside it, where everyone in the room's eyes fell as the tablet clattered to lie flat on the floor. Reah was the first one to make a sound, as She chirped out a chuckle and a sultry "ooooh~" while the rest of the room besides Samantha gasped. There, standing at the same height as the eight of us Sentret sisters, stood Gina. Our Goddess had apparently sapped from him his divinity!
"What's going on? What happened?" Marie swayed Her head as She glared at the camera on Her end with concern and annoyance, "Someone pick up the tablet, please!"
Reah tried to turn Her open mouthed surprise into a smirk, "What happened, indeed?"
Gina replied, his voice now barely audible to me, "I was using photokinesis to project myself as a macro; it makes it easier to interact with people who aren't my size."
Samantha grinned darkly, and my sisters and I writhed a bit as we groped ourselves and each other, "Jane, grab the tablet." She stepped closer to Gina, holding Her paw over the top of him.
Gina yelped in fear, "Wait-what are you doing!?"
The Furret maid immediately picked up the tablet and cast a glance towards us before She scooped us up as well. My sisters and I barely fell apart, so intertwined were we, and by the time She had set us on the counter next to Reah (and out of the path of our own goddess' wrath) we had writhed even tighter together. The firey fox goddess watched us with interest for a moment, narrowing Her eyes as She saw us clinging and fondling one another, before scoffing and picking us up, bringing us to Her bosom and whispering to us.
"Enjoy the show, little ones. It might be the only time you get to see her so angry." It was whispered with venom and mischief, but sounded sincere, and whether it was a good idea or not, we trusted Reah enough to untether ourselves and peer over the edge of Her fingers.
The maid held the tablet up and Marie was bent forward on the screen, grasping the edges of Her own screen. A look of sheer dread crossed Her face and She gasped when the maid pointed the screen at Samantha. I followed Her gaze to my goddess' feet and saw Her paw positioned over Gina, who was pinned by Her heel to the floor despite struggling to escape. His face was flushed, and he cried out, begging his goddess to take him, to save him from the Numb. Apologizing for not choosing Unity when She had offered it before. I was shocked, he was from The Order! I hadn't even remembered my brothers having the option to choose Marie as their goddess, but here he was, clearly going through the Rite of Resolution and trying to commend his spirit to Unity with... Marie...
Snapped from my thoughts I looked up as my goddess spoke. "You have five seconds to take it all back," Samantha looked dead serious, "Five."
I expected fear and respect to cross Marie's eyes but instead I saw fury, "Sammy! This is no way to-"
"Four."
"Goddess Marie, please, take me!"
"Stop being such a child, Samm-"
"Three." Samantha's smile grew darker still.
"To be Unified with you is my-"
"Now listen he-"
"Two."
"She's going to ki-!"
"Samantha Perrali! Don't y-"
"One."
Marie screamed and looked away as Samantha pressed Her paw down onto Gina. Reah laughed aloud, Her breasts pressing into my sisters and I as She leaned forward to get a better look. I heard Gina's scream from where I rested for a split second before it was cut short with a wet splortch sound. I looked to my goddess' face and saw the same smug power that constantly coursed through Reah's aura as Marie cut the call from Her own end. Samantha walked over to Her stool and looked around before Her eyes landed on us in Reah's hands. Reah walked forwards and set us on the floor as our goddess lowered Herself onto the stool, placing Her dirty foot before us. We wordlessly began cleaning it, making sure to scrub the gore from between the bumps on Her padflesh and reshampooing Her toe fluff with the holy wash from earlier. I noticed Reah frantically typing on Her phone as we went about our holy duties.
Jane spoke, her voice refined and professional, despite what she had witnessed "Mistress Samantha?"
Samantha turned to her, sighing as She rubbed Her temples while we massaged Her paw, "Yes Jane?"
"I have just received a message from your father. He's not happy with your behavior and wishes to speak with you when he gets home tomorrow."
My goddess groaned and suddenly stood up, smishing me and causing me to choke from the pressure. I felt two of my ribs crack and my hip pop out of place in the half-second before She walked off. I was left lying on the ground, coughing and sputtering, gasping for air. I cried out as my siblings as they lifted me up to see if I was OK, and all the air leaving my lungs seared through me like nails in my lungs, which only made me cry more, before my sisters began soothing me with their nuzzles and gropes, the same way we had learned to null the shock on Fear Days.
Samantha paid us no mind. "Just clean up the mess, Jane." She gathered her things and stripped with Reah, heading out to the patio towards the pool, completely nude.
"Yes, Mistress."
Jane kneeled as Reah followed Samantha out of the room, grabbing Her bag. I turned my head wearily to look through the kisses and hugs of my sisters and watched our goddess walk out to the patio, Reah yapping a few words to try to cheer Her up as She ran to catch up with Her, jiggling lewdly as she did so. The sway of Her hips and the supple cream color of Her fur looked so pure and good against the backdrop of evergreens in the gloomy evening air outside, like She was a beacon of light before a nasty storm. The maid came and gathered us up, apologizing softly to us for having to see Samantha's temper in action and that we should try not to let Gina's passing scare us. What Jane didn't know was that all eight of us were thinking a different thought about Gina, the same thought about Gina. Jealousy and pity, in equal parts. Denied his goddess, but allowed full Unity with one nonetheless. With ours.
My sister spoke, "Jane, have you ever taken anyone for Unity with yourself? You're a goddess too, aren't you?"
The maid sighed and smiled softly, her brow etched with concern as she gently petted the one who had spoken, "Darling, I've told you before, I'm no goddess. I'm merely a macro. Just big, like anyone else." I believed her the first time. Jane had no divine aura, and she regarded us as equals.
"We seek nothing but to serve our goddess Samantha so that she will grant us Unity with her. Gina felt the same about Marie..."
Jane bit her lip, chewing on her words, "Yes... and um... isn't it good that he was... Unified... with the mistress... then?"
My sister who hissed at me, who had very nearly been stolen from Samantha by Reah's pink toe beans, replied, "Everyone should be Unified with their own deity though..." Several sisters mumbled their own thoughts to each other too.
Another sister shakily raised her voice, "Jane, I'm scared already. I'm... I'm scared every day..."
Jane cooed as she held us closer to her cheek, offering a nuzzle that she couldn't really deliver for risk of hurting me further. She offered comfort, "Don't fear, darlings, the Perrali family will protect y-"
The shaky voice interrupted her though, "No." A pause as Jane looked at us with concern, before my other sister continued, "You're a macro, that means you're a goddess, whether you like it or not. Will you please take me? To be Unified with you is my purpose, and-,"
My close sister hissed at her this time, "Idiot, you would doom yourself to the Numb!?"
"I'm allowed the Rite of Resolution from any deity on my deathbed! We're all going to die here! Is this then not my deathbed!"
A third sister retorted, "Death with dishonor Numbs the soul! Unity in Resolution belongs to all Helots who serve in Heaven with honor. To request remission from your duty is to dishonor yourself and the Family! The Rite of R-"
The maid raised her voice over us, it was now her turn to be angry, "Enough of this. I don't know what to think about you little ones speaking like that and I won't stand for it." She looked painfully down at us, a depth of empathy in her eyes that sunk into my soul. "Just... don't let what happened to Gina affect how you feel about Mistress Samantha. She's a good girl at heart. Think of this as a dream, and when you wake up tomorrow it will be a new day."
I, for one, thought about how I had, almost immediately after him, taken the exact same path Gina had when he achieved Unity with Samantha. I thought about him reciting the Rite of Resolution before panic overtook him as his goddess let him be claimed by another. I thought about his scream, so mercifully cut short by the soft, angelic paw pads of my goddess as Jane delivered us to our quarters. I thought about those same paw pads nearly claiming me as I was carried swiftly to the infirmary. I thought about Unity and what it meant as my sisters laid me to bed, the eldest of us setting my ribs and relocating my hip, wrapping me with bandages and offering small blessings that the scars might remind me of our Family's honor. I finally spoke my thoughts aloud when my sister who had hissed at me before came in by herself late that night to ask me how I was feeling.
"What a poor, pitiful, wretched, lucky little mite."