"Now sweetie, you need to get going. You shouldn't keep Kelli waiting, and I have to get ready for a big night," and my mom giggled as she helped me grab my bag and snuck me out the back door without our dads seeing me.
"I love you mom, and thank you so much for everything," I nearly cried.
"I love you too my dearest one. Now go to Kelli, and love her with all you have and never let her go," my mom whispered and I dashed off with a wave so that she wouldn't see that I had noticed the tears that had filled her eyes yet again.
I moved quickly through our back yards, with my small overnight bag in my hand. The air was slightly chilly and my outfit really didn't make it any better. On the plus side, when I got to the cabin my nipples would already be as pointed as they could be for Kelli, and that thought made me grin mischievously. I had to slow down some as I entered the wooded part of our parent's property, but my better eyesight and other senses made it relatively easy to move unhindered through the lightly forested area. If I had not been a Neko then I probably would have missed it, but a short time after passing the tree line I noticed some light coming through the trees off to my right. I turned a bit so that I could pass that way and check it out, in case Kelli had some surprise planned or, worst case, someone else was on our property without permission.
I did my best to stay silent as I approached a very small clearing where the light I had noticed was coming from, and as I looked around a tree I saw Ali sitting in a lawn chair, reading a book. She seemed to know the moment I recognized her, and she looked up from her reading.
"Come on over Myka," Ali said. "I thought you would get here a little bit sooner."
I came out from the cover of the woods and joined her in the clearing, wondering what she was doing there. As I walked into the lighted area I watched as her eyes widened when she took in what I was wearing. It may have just been a trick of the light, but I could have sworn that she subtly licked her lips at that point, but I really couldn't be sure.
"I must say, Myka, you certainly wear it well."
"And I need to ask what it is you are doing here Ali," I replied.
"Oh, Kelli asked me to meet you here before you went back further into the woods. I think I am part of your Valentine's gift," she said with a smirk.
"Umm, I don't think that Kelli would..."
"Oh, no," she interrupted with a bit of light laughter. "I'm not that kind of present. Here, I think you should just open this,"
Ali handed me a small present at that point that was wrapped in a deep maroon paper with white trim, and I eagerly tore the paper off and opened the box that was inside. I gasped as my eyes fell on a silver heart, just like my nipple piercings, complete with the encrusting of pink gems that they had. It wasn't a nipple piercing though, and I realized that Kelli had purchased me a navel piercing to go with my other hearts, and I practically swooned at the thought that Kelli put into this gift. I was still a bit confused as to what Ali had to do with it, however, and I told her as such.
"Well Myka," she replied mater of factly. "While I do work with mom and the rest of the Circle a lot, I had to cover part of my costs while I was in school. I worked in a tattoo and piercing parlor part time to help pay for everything, and I am here to place your new jewelry."
"Really," I exclaimed. "You can do that safely here, outdoors?"
"Of course I can," she answered and pulled out a small container of Cassandra's yellow paste that I remembered so well.
She then directed me to sit in a lawn lounge chair and to lay back and relax. She pulled out some gloves and sanitizer and began to clean her own hands and my belly where she would pierce it and she gave me a confident smile.
"Oh don't worry yourself Myka. I was the best at the shop at piercing," she said while laying out her equipment on a small table. "And with mom's healing salve you won't even know that it's been done."
"Yeah, I remember using that on my nipples and my butterfly tattoo the night before the party. It is pretty impressive stuff."
"Yeah it is," she replied. "I just wish that I was better at mixing potions and other magic draughts, but we work with what we have. So, anything new with you?"
"Well, I was talking with my moms before I came out here, and something strange happened while talking to them."
"Oh? What was it?"
So I proceeded to tell her about some of the talk with my mom, and of the energy pulse when I hugged her. I described to her what I could now sense, and how I thought of it like seeing, but not really. I talked about how I could tell, just by concentrating, who each of the cords that connected to both of my moms belonged to. I even told her of how I had subtly manipulated the bonds between our moms and dads, and what the night had in store for them, though I felt that I needed to be really careful about this kind of thing going forward, because I sensed that I could tear bonds apart almost as easily as I could make them stronger.
"I can even see some cords coming from you, Ali," I told her. "Though I will not touch them without your permission."
"Thanks for that, and I think you are right to be cautious until you know better how to use this power. Though I think you will figure it out soon enough," she replied and then picked up what looked like a medical clamp and a big needle.
"Umm, that is a really big needle. My nipples didn't get one that big that I remember."
"Actually, they are pretty much the same size. Now just breathe."
She then grasped the upper portion of my navel with the clamp and tightened it down just enough to be uncomfortable and then lifted up and drove the needle through the raised portion of the skin. While it wasn't terribly painful, it did hurt and I was not really thrilled about it. It hurt enough that I had to work really hard to keep from squirming in the chair. Then just as fast, Ali slid the post of the connector over the needle and through the hole she had made, and screwed the mounting closed and adjusted the piercing so that the heart directly covered all of the bellybutton.
"You know, this really kinda hurts," I said. "Are you almost done?"
"Quit whining you baby," Ali responded, and scooped out some of the yellow paste from the vial she had brought.
"Oh wow," I exclaimed as she rubbed the paste over and into my new piercing. "I forgot how good that shit is."
"I know, right?"
It had taken all of five seconds after Ali had rubbed Cassandra's ointment into my skin around the piercing for the sting and the deeper pain to go away completely. I looked down and just like with my nipples and the tattoo, the yellow paste had healed the wound and it looked like I had had this piercing for years.
"Ok, that should be it," Ali said, and started packing up her things to go. "So, you are right, that you could probably tear apart the bonds as easily as you could intensify them. You also don't know what the long term effects of manipulation of these connections will be either."
"God, I hadn't thought about long term issues. What do you think could happen?"
"Well, since this is new to all of us, all I can say is that we will research what we know for anything that can help you. Best I can offer at the moment. As far as what could happen, just be aware that every decision you make effects the future and can change what is possible. I'm just saying you should start really small and be careful, and definitely don't try to bring about world peace for now. That could end badly."
I looked at her stunned for a moment, and then realized that she was kidding about that last part and we both broke out in laughter at the same moment. She was right about being careful and I decided right there to start small until I knew what I could do, and how to do it right.
"Anyway," Ali said as she gave me a quick hug. "I have to jet, so go enjoy your night with your Valentine."
And with that she grabbed her folding chairs and the bag of supplies she had brought and blew me a kiss. Then she made a gesture with her hand and spoke some words that I did not recognize, and I was surprised at the purple and orange glowing circle that appeared suddenly at her feet. The glow increased in intensity and the sigils in the circle started to spin around Ali for a couple of seconds and then with a flash, both she and the circle disappeared.