Dear Diary,

Gotta say, I am not copacetic about tomorrow.

Seriously, part of me is still probably in denial about what's going to happen, even though it's happened twice already with no noticeable difference. I've lived through two All's Hallows's Eve here and now, and each time I've wound up frozen in place, utterly immobile, completely insensate. I guess maybe I dreamt a little the first time. Maybe the second, I'm not sure, I don't remember that one as much. But the fact remains that for almost exactly twenty four hours I'll wind up incapable of responding to emergencies.

Given that we've been facing cyclic kaiju, and by the number of dead bodies I saw in Tartarus, there are twenty-five more to go, I think it's understandable why I'm not thrilled at that idea. Shit, that's probably why Saffron's been pushing everybody else to pitch in, because if a kaiju shows tomorrow, at the very least they've got to hold it off for up to twenty-four hours. I definitely do not like thinking about how many times over the past kaiju attacks an entire ship full of people has avoided casualties entirely because I threw an overpowered Ward.

Yeah, I think Saffron can throw Wards at least as well as I can. She can pull on my Mana, and she's way more efficient than I am. Tallulah can do that as well, I think. Maybe. She's also an Archmage, and she's got a couple thousand years more practice with her Mana Shaping, and she's also got access to my Mana. So that's two people who can no-sell a kaiju trying to stomp one of the Tentacles.

Thing is, there's only three more people in the Alliance who are currently able to access my Mana who I have any intention of allowing near a battlefield. Siobhan doesn't belong on a battlefield when she's in perfect condition, and multiple months of morning sickness have not left her anywhere near perfect condition. Not that I'd want a pregnant woman on a battlefield anyhow, and she is still very much with child. Marie might not be able to Shape; yeah, she Translocates, but I don't remember seeing her Shape anything else. Even so, if it were just her, and by her I mean as many of her as she felt like throwing at them, against a single kaiju, I'd put money on her, but just to get out near them she's got to be on a boat, and other than massed feline distraction she's really got no way of keeping that boat safe.

Karen... Karen I think might be able to Ward a ship. Maybe. She's not an Archmage, she's not my Kitten, but she's got my Mana, and she's got the right amount of ruthlessness and aggression to maybe pull off a zero casualty win. Maybe.

Mads... Mads is doing better, but I gotta remember that this time last year she was low key suicidal. Yeah, that might put her in the right mindset to win by going balls to the wall aggressive, not unlike a certain Goddess who will not be named at the Battle of the Walls, but I think if she killed a kaiju and lost her ship with all hands, that might do bad things to her psyche.

But after that, everybody going up against one of those big bastards is doing it without help from yours truly. Which, like I said previously, does not leave me copacetic with the idea of being a life sized statue of myself for a day.

So after spending a day preparing every 'treat' recipe I could, which came down to a few different flavors of hard candy, a few different kinds of cookies, and after a lot of deliberation some little cakes and sweet rolls, I stepped home with a short handful of those, a big bowl of fried rice, and two dozen paninis, because they were sorta easy.

I didn't tell the girls there were treats to taste test, because I am not an idiot. Instead, I waited until all the food was gone, then told everybody to wait before bringing out the basket I'd brought the treats home in. Yeah, I splurged with that. I know it's stupid, but I went to M-Space and copied one of those cheap assed plastic pumpkin baskets. I figured if the kids liked it I could make a bunch more like it. Oddly enough, I think it took more Mana to make that than it did to make the forty of malt liquor back when I rechristened Loki's Prize. Maybe as much as it took to make the spray paint, although it's hard to say, I'm pretty sure I can handle more Mana now than I did then. Which would make sense if I could pick up Mana Shaping Skill, but I can't, so I've got no fuckin' clue.

Yeah, they loved the hard candies, although they only got one each, so that might have been scarcity or something. I very carefully did not say anything when some of the girls traded candies, either, because I'd put in a few different flavors, and they wanted to try them all, I guess. The cookies were almost as popular, although in that case they mostly broke them into pieces to share, so everybody got to try each kind of cookie. The cakes were all the same, and honestly by then most of the girls weren't all that hungry, so most of those wound up inside Isnomi and Isadora. Finally the sweet rolls, which none of them complained about, but none of them were too eager to eat, wound up with the adults in the room.

After putting the girls to bed and explaining what was going on to the ladies, mostly to Saffron and Tallulah, I stepped over to the Workshop.

"Son?"

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Yeah, not sure how he popped out of the floor behind me, but he did. "Yes, Mother Dearest?"

I held out a hand with samples of treats in it. He took one, and when I shook my hand a little, took the rest. "Wanted to make sure you got some to try. Also had a couple questions, if you've got a second?"

He looked at the candy, cookie, cake, and sweet bread, sniffed, and said, "you need not bribe me for answers, Mother."

I shook my head. "Nah. Not a bribe. Seriously, the girls all got some, and you deserve some too." He opened his mouth to argue, and I cut him off, saying, "am I your mother or not?"

So help me, I almost bought it when he looked down, abashed, then surreptitiously slipped the hard candy into his mouth. "Yes, Mother."

I nodded. "Okay then. Uh, your High Holy Day is tomorrow, right?" He nodded, eyes slipping closed as he worked the candy around his mouth. "I'm out of commission for that day, right?"

He made a face, and I waited patiently until he'd moved the candy to the side of his mouth to speak. "Not 'out of commission'. A more accurate way to phrase it would be that your greater self takes control."

I thought about both years for a bit. "I remember a little of the first year. Don't remember anything of the second."

"Your first year here you had only just escaped captivity. The second year, though?"

That's when I remembered, "I was amnesiac, and high as fuck on raw Fae Grain."

"There you are then. From Sundown to Sundown, your greater self is ascendant."

I frowned. "My greater self seems to let me sit there like a particularly stubborn rock." He just sucked on his candy until I said, "can you maybe do me a favor tomorrow?"

He raised an eyebrow. "What would you have of me?"

"If the kaiju or Poseidon attack, could you help out? Buy some time until I'm upright, at least?"

He shook his head, but said, "I am not a fighter, Mother Dearest. Still, I strive to please my True Mother, and I will do what I can should your chosen people come under attack."

I held out my arms, and he stepped into the hug. "Thanks, son."

"Of course. Thank you for the sweets."

I hugged him, then stepped back to the bedroom. I leaned over to Saffron and whispered, "Kitten?"

"Mmmyes?" She wasn't entirely asleep yet, because she sounded way more coherent than she normally did waking up.

"I'm gonna go do more prep for Isnomi and the girls and trick or treating, okay?"

She frowned just a bit. "I don't want you slowing your recovery from the last battle."

I shook my head. "I'm gonna get a full day of rest tomorrow, so I figure I ought to get some work in before then."

She sighed. "I'd almost forgotten. Thank you for the reminder. I expect you back here no later than an hour before sunset."

"Yes, Ma." She gave me a look, and I stepped away before that look could turn into anything further.

I might have maybe stolen some chocolate bars, mostly so I could avoid having to spend all day to make substandard chocolate. Yeah, Marie could help me make actual ones, but she was still focused on costumes. I melted them down and put them in the same molds I'd made the hard candy in. Didn't come out perfect, but still tasted good. Duping them was easy, as was duplicating all the treats I'd made. After making sixteen pumpkin baskets, I decided to go for something a little less strenuous, given my intentions, and stole a delivery box.

That was the easy part. The hard part I'd done twice now on my birthdays. This time I had to do it without an ongoing influx of Worship, and that let me realize exactly how relatively easy it had been before. Or how stupid hard it was when I wasn't plugged directly into my entire Worshipper base, more or less.

I've gotten better since the Battle of the Walls. A thousand of me, more or less, is still a bit of a hell of feedback, but five hundred of me wasn't too bad, especially split half and half between M-Space and the Mortal Realm. Over the course of almost three hours, two hundred fifty domiciles at a time, I dropped off box after box. I had no idea how widespread the 'guising' or trick or treating would be, I had no idea how far afield my girls would wander, what with Marie and Diana both probably being roped into the deal tomorrow, but at some point after midnight every place I could think of or find had one of those boxes sitting outside the door with a little note saying, 'do not open until sunset'. In Standardized Celtic, even.

Not sure if the folks in Grandmother's Village could read that. Not sure if Loki and Sigyn spotted me Blending and dropping off their box. Not sure about a lot of things, except that the night took a shit ton of Mana, and everybody in the fuckin' Alliance would have some treats to give out, not to mention some to taste test for quality and safety purposes.

Wound up back at the Homestead not long after sunrise, as most of the fam were downstairs eating breakfast. "Welcome home, love. I thought you'd be out all day?"

I shrugged. "Took some shortcuts. Figured I'd do what I could to get ready early. Just in case." Conrad says if the kaiju attack while I'm down, he'll try to help.

"Well then, I suppose today you can stay home and help prepare this lot? Maybe get them all to take naps, so they won't wind up melting down halfway through the night?" That's good to know, although outside his Workshop I'm not sure how much sway he has.

No idea myself, but even a little help might be useful. "Okay, kids. Who wants to go outside today and play in the snow?"

Yeah, it snowed last night. So some of the earlier boxes might have gotten buried, but at least nothing melted, right? But after running around all morning, the kids offered only pro forma complaints about naps after lunch. I even laid down with them, because after the night before I was absolutely tuckered out my own self.

Woke to the feel of Saffron's fingertips on my face. "Love? Shift a bit please?"

I shuffled myself around, "why?"

"I'm just trying to get you comfortable. Are you comfy?"

I worked everything just a little bit. "Yeah. Yeah, I am, although where are the kids?"

"Getting their costumes on."

"Aww. I wanted to see that." A moment later, I did, through Marie's eyes. "Thanks, Kitten. Thanks, Mittens."

You're Welcome.

Before I could even really stare at them much, Saffron's lips descended onto mine. Rest well, my love. I'll see you in twenty-four hours.

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