Dear Diary,

Y'know, it's weird. Back in the day I didn't really think of myself as 'neurodiverse'. I mean, ADHD as fuck, yeah, but then I didn't even think of myself as that. 'Bad kid' was about as far as my brain carried that ball before dropping it and running off. But I've come to realize that not only am I just, y'know, different, not bad, maybe, but that there are all kinds of other types of brain out there, each of us doing our own thing, none of us any better or worse, just different.

Like, okay, I'm, as noted, ADHD as fuck. I veer wildly from hyperfocus and hyperfixation to utter inability to focus and lack of motivation of any kind. Menace is a little like me, only way more social. Saffron is so fuckin' focused it's not even funny; she's even commented on how it's hard for her to just, y'know, chill. Yeah, my ladies and I can team up and get her there, just piledrive her overclocked brain into the mattress over and over until her mental transmission disengages and she drifts. Marie is Very Big Cat. Like, I've talked about how Wife she is, but that's almost like, hunting mode for her. She's got a goal, whether that goal is clean clothes, good food, or satiated partners, and once the goal is complete, she just lies back and lazes. Lots of fun watching her do that for the past month or so. Siobhan is probably the closest to 'normal' of us; she's got a job she does and enjoys, but she also has partners she does and enjoys too, but when the work is done she can set it aside. I mean, she's as susceptible to getting wrapped up in shit as anybody, I guess, but that's normal, right?

Fuck if I know. But then there's the ones who really drew this to my attention. Ria, who is so very focused and serious, although some of that may be her trying to imitate the only role model in her life. She's gotten a lot less restrained since she moved in with the horde hoard, but she's still the most composed and serious of them. Her mom, though, is the most, I dunno, stereotypically functional on-the-spectrum person I know. Like, I can't tell where the mask ends and the Tallulah starts. I'm not sure she knows. I'm literally in her head, and I can't tell, so I guess she can't either.

So, after spending all day yesterday thinking about how weird the night before had been, not to mention musing on the ethics of sending Tallulah in like some kind of Mata Hari to seduce Lily, especially when the goal wasn't so much to get information as to fuck around with Lily's whole 'I like men' thing, I wound up coming home with French toast. Okay, they didn't call it French toast here. Interesting conversation with Marie, where I described the process of making it, and she just nodded and said, "Fried Custard."

Which... I dunno, I guess. The toast came out more than a little custardy. Which is not nearly as good as the light, fluffy, crispy Lancaster House waffles I sort of wanted to compete with. I made tendies to go with, but they came out a little overdone. They were not, despite what lies Menace may tell you, 'all burnt up'.

Of course, with the Big Planned Outing, Tallulah and Karen both came to visit for dinner. She at least had the manners to tell me my tendies were edible.

Then she hit the Bath with us and spent some quality time with the kiddos. Really heartwarming to see Ria look so hype to have her mom there. I mean, I don't think she's really interested in being part of the fam, but like I told her, we've got a kid together, so the invitation's open.

I got a lot of open invitations to my house. Fuck it, I'd rather be welcoming than exclusionary, y'know?

I did not expect Tallulah to whisk me away to the Bedroom after the kids fell asleep. Uh, Kitten?

Have fun, love. Siobhan and I need sleep to rest up for tomorrow.

Meanwhile my Murder Mittens just lounged there on the divan with some knitting. Smiling that smug little smile as Tallulah kissed me.

"Uh, yeah, um, is this going to be a regular thing now?"

She tilted her head. "At least until our mission to Muscogee is complete. Or for longer if you wish it, Goddess."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, no. I mean, if you're into it, I'm not gonna kick you out or anything. If it makes you feel some kinda way that we don't. But I thought you were into, y'know..." I shapeshifted into boy mode. Which had the unfortunate effect of sudden acknowledgement that Tallulah wasn't unattractive, and interest is always the most attractive feature in a partner.

She shook her head, but more in confusion than denial. A moment later boy Tallulah stood in front of me. "If this is your preference, I suppose we could." She leaned in and kissed me again. Which was really weird. I mean, yeah, still down, but unlike boy mode Saffron, Tallulah was just... I mean, not unattractive, but very lean. Very...

"Ah fuck it."

In the morning, I split myself across the Academy, because laundry and lunch weren't gonna do themselves, unlike Murder Mittens. I guess she's a Yaoi fan? Anyway, brought everybody a big breakfast of spicy eggs and jalapeno scrapple. Both Ria and her mom enjoyed the eggs, but were completely at a loss how anyone could eat the scrapple. Which, to be fair, I guess they could both tell what was in it, which none of the rest of us cared enough about to stop nomming.

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Then I left one of me to wrangle the kids for the day and hopped down to Muscogee for the day. We arrived in the main aft cabin of the Questing Tentacle, and Marie handed out our casual outfits for the day. Tallulah took one look at hers and said, "am I to be a man today as well?"

At that point, while Murder Mittens snickered and Saffron and Siobhan choked down laughter when they realized that neither Tallulah nor I were laughing, I sighed and said, "no, Tallulah. Women can wear pants."

"Strange." Then she shrugged and put on the jeans, the blouse, and the vest Marie made for her. Gotta say, it showed off her long, lean form really well. Saffron got a tight stretchy shirt and a knee length skirt, which had Siobhan and I both kinda entranced until Saffron, laughing, told me to get dressed and turned to help Siobhan with her own casual wear. Siobhan wound up in a full length skirt and a halter top.

When she made squeaky Siobhan noises about her bare midriff, Saffron lay a hand on it and said, "please, Darling?" Marie's claw laying across Saffron's hand sealed that deal.

I got a sundress. Bright red, which wasn't really traditional for sundresses, but I liked it anyhow. It cinched at the waist, then flared out to just below knee length. Plenty of material, loose and airy, both above and below the waist. Of course, if I spun I'd be showing my panties to the world, but I really wasn't worried about that. Yes, Marie made panties, and yes, I wore them. Not like I'm gonna disappoint my Murder Mittens.

Who, for her own part, decided to go full on 'fuck you' to anything approaching modesty or tradition. Halter top and booty shorts. Which looked particularly hilarious and adorable, what with everything above and below her clothing basically being normal Maenad, and everything between being big old baby belly. Babies belly? Baby bellies? No, that doesn't make sense, there's only one baby. I mean only one belly. Lots of babies. So Babies belly. When she had her minimalist nod to coverage on, I pulled her down, kissed her, then pulled her belly up and kissed that. "You look fantastic, Marie."

"You Too."

I reached out, took her by the hand, then reached for Saffron. Got a bit of a shock when Saffron, one hand around Siobhan's waist, took Tallulah's hand in hers, and Tallulah grabbed mine. At that point Saffron turned to Karen and said, "lead on, Ambassador."

Karen sucked her teeth, then laughed. "Just Karen today. We're all on leave and visiting a new town where we're just 'tourists', right?"

"Just so! Lead on, Karen!" Saffron looked both surprised and surprisingly eager to be about our day. I laughed, nodded to Karen, and followed her out onto the deck, then the dock, then into the City.

Weird day today, but a good one. I tried to keep my mind on our mission, but it had been so fuckin' long since Saffron and I had been able to get away from everything and just be a couple. I mean, we still weren't a couple. We were a... fuck, what even is the right word for five adult women in a relationship? Even if Tallulah is maybe not really part of our little whatever yet, that's still four. Four isn't a throuple. It's a quouple. With Tallulah we'd be a quiouple. None of those words made any sense, and I'm pretty sure Tolkien's ghost will rise from his grave, leap across time and space, and throttle me if I dare to say anything that awkward and awful sounding out loud. Which is probably where polycule comes from. No fuckin' clue what it means, but at least it sounds nice.

Despite having a nice day walking around, shopping a little, seeing a few scenic vistas by the ocean, eating lunch at a neat little outdoor cafe, and even watching a weird little, I dunno... The closest thing I remember seeing like it was those Japanese kabuki theater jobbers, but this wasn't that. They had masks, and it was clear the folks behind the masks were representing, like, historical figures, but I think there were some allegorical things too, and most hilarious to me was watching the masked figure which was obviously supposed to be Lily. Like, the mask even looked like her a little. But there was a dude behind the mask. Either that or the world's least endowed, least hippy woman. Like, Tallulah was a model of curviness next to the dude under the Lily mask. I swear, I did not laugh when the chick in the 'hero' mask 'seduced' her. I may have laughed when the 'hero' betrayed her and 'Lily' throttled him to death with her own hair. Which was part of the mask.

Weirdest part had to be the song and dance routines. Like, straight out of Bollywood. Really well done, clearly well choreographed, the music wasn't up to Apollo standards, but at least as good as anything else I'd heard here and now. But, like, really jarring for somebody not used to having a song and dance routine in the middle of an otherwise dramatic scene.

I'm not sure I'm describing it well, but that might be because I had no fuckin' clue what was going on. Not sure any of my ladies did, either, but we kinda went with the local audience's lead, applauding when they applauded, trying not to laugh too much at the bizarre bits. Weird, but entertaining. Also, can't complain too much, what with me sitting between Tallulah and Marie, with Siobhan on Tallulah's lap and Saffron on Marie's. Karen shapeshifted to fit on my lap, which was weird, but that was par for the course today.

As sunset drew near, we found a place to stay for the night. A hotel, or inn, or something like that. They served dinner, they had rooms, and we all decided that we'd stay the night.

As we sat down to dinner, I realized something. So much of what I'd seen today seemed weird, but I'd chalked it all up to the oddity of having Karen and Tallulah along. As we all settled in to eat some surprisingly recognizable and unsurprisingly good tamales, I thought, you guys notice anything weird today?

Later, love. In our rooms. When any who look on will be distracted.

Distracted by what?

Saffron just Grinned at me, which told me exactly what our distraction would be.

Oh. No. Whatever shall I do?

Oh, right. Whatever the fuck my wife tells me to do. Woof.

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