As I hung limp in Astrael's arms I could hear her scolding her sister. My body wouldn't move and my lips wouldn't form words, my ears rang but I remained strangely aware. "Sister! What the hell did you do... Mo-" She was interrupted by a loud crunch from my body.
At first she panicked and dropped me, thinking she had crushed me further whilst arguing with her sister, but as I hit the ground she realised the lower break had simply realigned and repaired. Another loud crunch sounded as neck did the same. "Gah! Ehbigurr!" The nonsensical vocalisations born from the incredible (and I have no other word to describe that feeling) "icky-ness" of the sensation.
"Adam, you're OK! I thought I was going to have to tell Eve and Quatal she killed you and that would be awkward."
"Awkward... Hm?... Look I don't even care, can someone tell me what I did to deserve that though." I asked, still shaking off the memory of what had just happened.
"This is one of those can't ask questions moments... Like I said, they are emotional." Astrael squeezed out the last bit, knowing that was not even close to a good description.
"No, no, no, that's fine." I sighed. "The last quirky deva to show up means the world to me, I'm sure you two will too." My words seemed to inspire a sense of jealousy in the newcomers, along with smugness in Astrael which earned her a completely ineffectual flick to the forehead that she pretended mattered.
"Look. Seriously welcome, but let me make it clear that if you harm one of the people I care about, being Astrael's sisters won't protect you and none of the others are a fraction as sturdy as I am. treat them as you would a dandelion you wish to keep whole." My eyes blazed with a very real danger, that I was surprised to see, genuinely intimidated them.
With that we walked back to the cabin just as Eve came down. "Welcome girls, not sure what happened to make him so grossed out, but sure he deserved it for being a dummy. Why d-"
"Actually we are pretty tired Eve..." Astrael lied blatantly, whilst performing the fakest yawn in history. "Why don't you two get to bed and we will go camp outside, we need to talk mortal realm manners anyway."
Eve was not hesitant in the slightest at taking that absolutely awful fabrication as gospel, wasting no time in saying good night and dragging me upstairs for motives as painfully obvious as Astrael's acting.
Luckily the incredibly timed interruption curbed most of Eve's desires and she was so distract by the triplets arrival she was able to keep herself in check for the most part. That said she didn't exactly satisfy herself any easier, she just stuck to kissing and a bit of playful nibbling.
Then when she was tired she told me to start meditating so I could look over the days measurements, calling me back over when she got a second-wind suddenly, but only after hiding the display which i was still forbidden from observing
"I have all the keys, now I just need to find the door." She said after releasing me one final time. "Then I can win completely."
"You know I'm right here right?" I asked, not wanting her to say something that she didn't want me to hear.
Her face lit up, then she seemed to space out for a bit, then she replied. "Yes.. You are! Isn't it fucking great!" She exclaimed suddenly, throwing me off as she spoke like Ever.
"Yeah, it's great. Eve." I said flatly as I looked her.
"What's up?" She asked innocently. "I feel you feel a bit down all of a sudden." She threw her arms around me a bit more Eve like and I shook off the strange uneasiness.
"Nothing, think the day just caught up with all at once." I sighed before kissing her, it was just my imagination.
"I know, it was another eventful day and tomorrow will be as well so do me a favour and sleep tonight. Please..." She asked before kissing me and laying me down to fulfil that wish.
"If that's what you want, then of cour...." I drifted off even as I spoke.
Come morning, I awoke to the smell of eggs cooking and woke Eve up. "You don't think?..." Scared Quatal had decided to cook for the deva alone, we rushed downstairs, she may have been a divine beast but she was still a clumsy girl and her human form was as vulnerable as any other for the time being.
When we reached the kitchen our fear gave way to relief when we saw Astrael cooking the eggs, Quatal was helping, but she wasn't unsupervised. It was great, really really great, except I was not thrilled about the state of the kitchen.
"Oh thank god, we thought you were cooking alone girl." Eve sighed as she ran over to hug Quatal. "So what's this for?"
"Auntie Astra wanted to show off for Aunties Celesael and Cosmael, I smelled food, when I saw Papa wasn't with her, I thought he might get mad when it tasted bad or got burnt so I helped."
"And you are a very smart little girl, Quatal. Cosmael and Celesael was it? I see Quatal approves, welcome to the family." My words seemed to make them strangely emotional, but in fairness that was how Astrael described them, even if the Celesael made that initially seem a tad understated.
"You girls ok?" Eve asked, her eyes seemed to linger on the two a bit and I started to wonder if she knew about the greetings slap so I tried to change the subject.
"I'm sure they will be after a good meal, on that note, let me see how it's going." I said with a greater volume than usual to pull attention. "Not bad actually... Keep going and try to add some seasonings in while its still cooking, but not raw, that will help seal in the flavours a bit."
The two newcomers started asking Eve if I was always like that and she told them that food was sacred to me and should be treated with respect, briefly outlining the strict rules regarding the subject.
When everything was plated up they gave me a test bite to see if it was table worthy, when I put it in my mouth though, I was amazed. I didn't, don't and will likely never know whether it was her self-improvement, Quatal's early observation, or my nudges and advice, but that omelette was as divine as the ones who cooked it.
"Is the paprika? Well played, kept it simple with a singular seasoning you knew you could manage, evenly distributed. Not really a breakfast omelette but truly it's delicious, what kind of eggs even are these? They definitely aren't chicken eggs like I use."
"Don't really know... Received them in the domain of white when we went to visit my darling nieces namesake, he says "hello" by the way and he was the one that gave them to me when I mentioned making omelettes."
We all ate up after that and everyone had the same opinion, her recipes definitely weren't breakfast choices, but each one was sublime and definitely worthy of note.
"Yesterday you mentioned needing me to do something this morning, what happened, find that girl you want dead?" I cracked my neck at the mention of her and Eve and Quatal naturally came to hug me as they were brought up to date on everything.
We were all surprised at how angry the deva got on my behalf, then I slapped on the table startling them all. "Sorry... Drop it, please. Right now the phoenix is my concern, can you handle it?"
"Sure we can, if you want we can make her human again too!" Cosmael declared, coming out of her shell just a little before retreating.
"Sorry. Did I make you nervous?" I asked, softly and with a hint of guilt, after her display of killing intent which surpassed the other two I had forgot she was a generally timid girl.
"Papa, isn't scary, just give him a big cuddle and he cheers up. Just, like, this." She added as let her serpentine instincts to wrap around as much as possible win out.
"Idon="
"Ok! Just a hug, right?" Cosmael asked as she stood up.
"Sit down idiot, Pa... Adam doesn't want you clinging to him." Celesael responded, almost calling me "Papa" as Quatal does.
"You two are embarrassing me and yourselves, please be normal." Astrael said to them both.
"Don't worry, you're family, you want a hug just hug, you'll either get hugged, or told no." Eve laughed, sincerely enjoying the vibrant life the presence of the three girls seemed to inject into the home.
That was all the motivation Cosmael needed to ignore her taller sibling and come over to hug me. As she did I noticed her hair hadn't been styled as it had been the day before and decided to do it for her so we could leave as soon as she was happy.