Patreon LogoYour support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)

The Only Rules That Matter: Bloodlines (Corsair&Madam Mim)

Jack stared at Max’s hand for a moment. “That’s... that’s mighty white of you, man.”


He followed along behind Max and May, puzzling over the leash. It, well, it explained the ring on the choker, he supposed. But in doing so it raised any number of other questions - what the fuck chef among them. It looked more like some sort of kinky sex game than any sort of religious rite, although it seemed hard to draw that line with Max’s church. May didn’t seem bothered by it, though, so he held his peace. Maybe this was how they always ministered to the “dispossessed”?

Still, first chance he got, he’d have to ask May about it. Away from Max.

Kinky sex shit notwithstanding, it felt pretty good to hand the plate of food off to someone who needed it. The guy he chose, some old dude sitting on the corner mumbling to himself, flinched when he first approached. “It’s cool, man,” he said, handing him the plate. “You get some food in you, y’hear?” The old man blinked in surprise, then smiled and started eating, and Jack felt ten feet tall as he strode into the women’s shelter.

The rest of the church waited inside, looking disappointed at Max and May and puzzled at Jack. Still, a stack of phamphlets got pressed into his hands, Black and white mimeograph with a lotus flower and a title inviting the rcrowd after to “Embrace the Love of the Universal God-Soul”. “We're on the third floor today,” Max told everybody e else before looking his way. "You can come with us, if you want. See how we minister."

“That’s what I’m here for,” Jack agreed. “Lead on, my man.”
 
Max lead the way to the third floor where some of the longer-term residents were. At the top of the landing there were two doors, and behind each door were two long bays, each with three rows of tidy, metal-framed bunk beds and lockers around the walls, though the middle row had footlockers. It would have looked very similar to the accommodations Uncle Sam had provided Jack during Basic Training. The two bays each adjoined a day room with several couches and a small television, though with the number of residents many of the women not working during the day stayed with their children near their bunks. Bathrooms and showers were on the second floor.

"There's a lot of shelters nicer than this," Max informed Jack, "but this one's in need of the most help. They're almost always at capacity and they always need donations. We figure the least we can do is help them out spiritually, maybe lighten their load a little if the women are moved by the All." The others spread out, mostly men, while Max led Jack through the bunks while handing out pamphlets. "We give out pamphlets to everyone, but we find that the women most open to leaving the shelter with us tend to be on the younger side, no kids to worry about, stuff like that. People like what's safe and familiar, and becoming connected to the All isn't familiar, so a woman with kids has more inhibitions. Hey there, little sister."

Max smiled charmingly to a pretty but mousy-looking young woman with short-cropped brunette hair. Her bruises had faded to yellow already and she looked up shyly through her bangs at Max. "You look like you're about ready to get up on outta here," he said with a smile, kneeling in front of her. "It can be hard to know what the next step is, especially if you've got nowhere to go. Have you meditated on your purpose in the Universe lately?" She shook her head mutely, politely taking the pamphlet he'd handed her. "Well y'know, sometimes the Universe sends out signals to you, guiding your way...all you gotta do is find a quiet place to listen. Do you know how to connect to the Universe?" Again she shook her head. "Would you like to learn?"
 
"Hey there,* Jack said, addressing a young woman - a teenager, really - with mousy brown hair hanging stringy over her hollow fact. She jumped when he spoke, flinching away, and he backed off a step. "It's cool," he said, holding up his hands. "Just here, trying to spread the good word."

"Good word?". Her voice would have been a sneer, if she'd had any life in it. "Bible stuff?"

"Uhm..." he glanced at the pamphlet and shrugged. 'Kinda? I guess?"

She made a sound that was the ghost of a laugh. "You guess? You're pretty bad at this."

"Yeah, well, I'm new.". Squatting, he peered at her. "Name's Jack. You?"

"Fuck off."

Jack snorted. "You got hung with a hell of a name, Fuckoff.". He grinned at her involuntary laugh at the stupid joke. "See? I ain't so bad. How'd you end up here?"

She sat silently. He waited and, as he was about to leave, she started talking. Her voice was soft and distant, as if she were speaking to herself alone. "My folks threw me out. My boyfriend. He... he got me drunk, and... and...". She fell silent, and her voice was hollow when she started speaking again. "When I... told my parents. They, they said I'd tempted him. That if I hadn't dressed like a whore, if I'd been a nice girl, he wouldn't have..." Wrapping her arms around herself, she began rocking back and forth. "He, he, he... raped me. But they, they called me a, a slut. And threw me out."

"Sheeit," Jack breathed. "Look. You don't know me, but let me tell you something. It ain't your fault."

"But, if I'd..."

"No, no buts," Jack interrupted. "It don't matter, girl. Don't matter how you dressed, or what you drank, or what. You didn't do shit wrong. He fucking did, and it's a goddamn sin and a shame anyone ever told you different.". He looked at the pamphlets, then handed one over. "Here, take it. Maybe there'll be something in it, helps you start believing that."
 
Max watched Jack as he spoke to the woman who had been kicked out for getting raped. Personally he was with the parents; if she had been more responsible about the way she dressed and how much she had drunk, her boyfriend wouldn't have been tempted and it probably wouldn't have happened. But he knew better than to say that to her yet, and Jack for whatever he believed did much the same. The boy would need help identifying likely converts--women who had recently been raped, in Max's experience, were generally hesitant to do what was required to join the church--but he seemed to have a knack. Whatever it was about him, girls seemed to trust him. The girl took the pamphlet with a word of thanks and Max put a hand on Jack's shoulder when he stepped away.

"You got a gift, brother," he said, steering him down the aisle toward the next bed. "I think the God Soul has plans for you, Jack. Big plans. Why don't you keep on talkin'; I've got a sermon to give in the day room. There's a few girls we've got interested who aren't quite ready to take that step yet. It's scary leaving the shelter, y'know? So they listen and sometimes that's enough to help nudge 'em in the right direction." With a friendly squeeze on the shoulder Max turned and walked back down the bay. About a dozen or so women, all young and attractive, waited for him in the dayroom to hear his sermon.

"You really do have a gift." The blonde he'd met the other day leaned against the post of a vacant bunk bed. She smiled and stuck out her hand. "I'm Rayne. I think we met at the rally the other day, but we weren't ever really properly introduced." After shaking Jack's hand Rayne looked around at the women still in the bay and sighed. "It's a damn shame, all these women in pain...I just hope they can hear the call of the God Soul in their hearts. We need more person-movers like them, and Max says the greater the pain in their hearts the greater their connection to the All." She smiled sadly, then looked back at Jack. "I heard you're going to be joining us. Seeking Ceremonies are always just so beautiful to experience, and I'm really excited to have you with us."
 
“Hey, Rayne,” Jack May rmured, shaking her hand and feelings by really relieved that she’d introduced herself. Sure, they’d met. But chatting with your clothes on was a really different set of circumstances. “Yeah, I’m joining up. Seems like a thing to do, and it sure seems like people could use the help.”

That last part was true, sure enough. Much as he wanted to believe the woman he’d been talking to was a rare case, he knew she really wasn’t. Max might be full of shit or he might not, but a lot of people still needed help. But then... “I gotta ask, though. I mean, person movers. That’s like a priest, right?” He waved his hand around. “Does Max just, uhm, minister to women? I mean, May talked about come g to the shelter as well. Do we make a circuit, hit some homeless shelters and soup kitchens and the like as well?”

Leaning back against a wall, he bought about that. Max’s Church sonded woman-friendly, if he’d followed What May had told him. Maybe he figured women just didn’t get the same sort of help men did, and so he focused on them? Maybe. “And is it all just preaching? I mean, maybe there should be more outreach. Teach some classes, help them get their GEDs if they didn’t finish high school, or self-defense, or something.”
 
"Person movers are priestesses" Rayne clarified. "The Ascenders are like priests, and Max is the High Ascender so the God Soul speaks directly through him. The rest of the congregation, we call them Seekers, since they seek to become one with the All." She smiled, happy that Jack was so curious about their work and throwing himself into the church whole-heartedly so soon. "We minister at the homeless shelters on alternating Fridays, and every Saturday we volunteer at the soup kitchen, usually in four or five-hour shifts so we've got some people there helping out all day. That's when the Seekers who don't live at the chapel come and volunteer too. Then we all have a brotherhood supper on Sundays at the chapel."

She leaned against the wall as well, watching Jack as he thought, standing rather close to him. He suggested outreach and Rayne smiled, leaning in to kiss him and lean against him. "I think May was right about you," she said cheerfully. "Those are some really good ideas. We could teach them how to grow their own food and live in harmony with the earth. I dunno about those self-defense classes though..." She bit her lip attractively, thinking. "The God Soul is a nonviolent entity, and each act of violence brings us farther from being one with it. It's a little counter-intuitive. But community outreach beyond ministering is a great idea, Jack." She leaned her head against his shoulder and smiled up at him. The blue-green of her eyes were much more noticeable than they had been at the church, partly because then her pupils had been dilated with hallucinogens, but also because now they were so small they were so constricted they seemed barely pin pricks.
 
“I don’t know about farming,” Jack replied, feeling oddly uncomfortable as the blonde leaned against him, “I mean, we’re in a city and all.” Rayne was hot and all, but still merging about her eyes was weird. “But, Hell. Maybe that could work. But hell, just help them find jobs, you know? Being able to earn a living helps with turning your life around. Way more than living in a shelter on handouts.”

The blonde snuggled against him in a distracting way, but Jack was still thinking. “And... nonviolence?” He snorted. “May be the hardest thing for me to accept. You grow up a black boy on the rez in Texas, you learn to fight pretty quick. Sure sounds nice, though.” Looking to change the subject, he shifted and pushed away from the wall. “But hell, let’s go check the sermon out. I’m curious about what Max has to say.”



“Ministering to the Disconnected,” Jesse said, shaking his head pityingly as he led May out onto the street. “Damn - Sorry.” He forced a grin. “Didn’t mean it like that. It’s just... well, I suppose it’s a good way to reconnect to the God-Soul and maybe touch a life or two. Still, it’s good that you’ll be living at the sanctuary now.”

Looking up and down the street, he chose a likely corner and led her there. “Now don’t worry,” he said, unhooking the leash. “I’ll be right over there, and I’ll be following along if you go anywhere. You just have faith in the God-Soul and do as Max ordained, all right?”
 
"I'm doing good work," May insisted, though she felt nervous as they walked out onto the street. "It's not just ministering; I'm collecting donations for the church. It's penance, and one of the best ways to reconnect to the All and show repentance. Besides, worst case scenario I do touch a few lives and maybe find new souls to connect to the God-Soul." She smiled reassuringly and touched Jesse's shoulder. "I'll be alright." She kissed him and squeezed his shoulder, leaning against the wall as he left.

She had never done this before. Before Max had picked her up, May had made a meager living busking on a street corner by day and crashing at the shelter or on a park bench at night. She had a decent eye for those willing to give donations, she'd just never collected donations in exchange for cleansing before. It felt disingenuous to offer cleansing to the uninitiated, to someone who wouldn't understand or appreciate the realignment of his negative energies into being with the All...but that's why it was charity work, she supposed. Max had explained it to her before, the way the God-Soul had explained it to him, but she still wasn't entirely clear on the details.

A good number of Disconnected passed, eyeing May but never approaching or making eye contact. One man, however--much older, maybe in his sixties, but reasonably handsome and clean-looking nonetheless--flicked his eyes over her body, lingering at her tits then her collar, before making eye contact as he neared her. This was the sort of person, she had learned while busking, likely to make a donation.

"Hey Mister," she said as he approached, "I'm collecting donations for my church. Help out a fellow human in need?" May pressed out her chest a little as she pushed herself off of the wall.

~*~

"Oh you'd be surprised," Rayne insisted when Jack said he was uncertain about farming in a city. "You can raise food on rooftops, on medians, just little strips of dirt nobody even looks twice at you can raise more food than you'd think."

"But, Hell. Maybe that could work," Jack admitted. "But hell, just help them find jobs, you know? Being able to earn a living helps with turning your life around. Way more than living in a shelter on handouts."

She frowned at this. "Corporate America is destroying our souls, Jack," she said seriously. "The rat race disconnects us from the God Soul, and we work hard to come into contact with it as little as possible. Finding them 'jobs,'" she used finger quotes, "doesn't help these people; it only hurts them more. Some few of us, like May, have jobs that limit our contact with the Disconnected and Corporate America so that we can buy things we can't make ourselves, like toilet paper, but we try to avoid it altogether. You can exist without taking 'handouts' and without participating in the poisonous corporate culture of the world. Hopefully once you join us you'll come to see that." She debated whether to tell him about Dawnlight--Esther, she supposed, as her Disconnected parents had called her and how she had chosen to call herself--but decided against it. It would only bring conflict.

Then he expressed doubts about nonviolence and Rayne started wondering whether he would be a good fit for the Church. "Well you won't have to worry about that with us," she promised. "Nobody's going to judge you for the way you look, and we don't do fistfights or guns or anything. And knives are for cooking and, like, cutting rope and stuff." She, too, was relieved with the change of subject and took his hand to lead him toward the dayroom where Max was preaching.

"--with the Universe." Max was sitting cross-legged on a table where a half dozen or so women were hanging onto his every word. Some who had been there at the start had wandered away to other parts of the dayroom or gone back to their bunks, but this handful sat close together on the couch and on chairs or the floor, listening raptly. These women had been the ones to come to his sermons each time they came here and stay for the entire thing, so he was feeling good about his timing. His eyes flicked to the door as it opened and he inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement before returning his attention to his audience. "Can you imagine something like that? Can you imagine a world where you don't have to struggle for basic necessities like food and water, where you don't have to worry about getting fired or fear for your safety as you walk down the street? This is the peace that connection with the Universal God-Soul brings." He smiled benevolently at them as they leaned forward as though that would help them understand better. "But now comes that question, that serious, heavy question I talked about a couple weeks ago: who among you is willing to become one with the All?" He paused for a moment.

"It isn't easy. In fact, it's downright scary. When I was called by the God-Soul to proselytize Its word I was a law student at UC Davis. I mean, I was about as Disconnected as they come: trust fund kid who wanted to be just like his parents, wanted the three cars, trophy wife, 2.5 kids and a picket fence around my mansion, all of that. But then I was called to start my Ascension toward the All. Everyone thought I was crazy when I sold all of my belongings, dropped out of school, cut off contact with my family because they didn't understand--in fact, they were angry that I chose to follow this path of living with less--and started hitchhiking my way across the country. And I'll let you in on a little secret." He smiled and leaned closer to them. "I had no idea what the hell I was doing, man." This elicited giggles from the women. "But the All provided for me! As long as I did as I was called to do It provided me with clothes and food and shelter from the kindness of strangers, or inspiring ingenuity within me. And that's all we really need, isn't it? Some threads, a place to sleep, and enough food to keep us fueled until the next meal. Of course, now that it's been a few years we're more than just surviving, we're prospering. We have more than enough, enough that we can even donate some of our surplus to those who don't have enough. Leaving everything behind is scary as hell, man, and I totally get that...but wouldn't it be worth it to feel like you're a part of something bigger? Like you've got an actual purpose? To feel safe and loved all the time and to have all that you need guaranteed without worrying about where your next meal is coming from or how you're gonna keep the lights on?" He hopped down from the table and held out both hands to them as though for a hug. "Who among you is brave enough to take that leap of faith with us?"
 
Jesse watched carefully as May approached the Disconnected. This wasn’t the first time Max had called him to serve as Guardian of the Penitent, after all - Esther had been sent down that road before - and he knew it could be dangerous. The Disconnected didn’t have the same respect for communion, after all. So, as May made her approach, he patted the hilt f the switchblade in his coat. The Universal God Soul disapproved of violence, he knew, but sometimes you had to speak the language the Disconnected understood.

Still, it didn’t look like he’d need it. Not this time, at least.

“Yeah,” the man said, staring at May’s tits, “I can manage a donation. How much? And, you got a place round here?” He glanced round nervously. “If not, my car’s just up th block.”


Something about Max’s sermon screamed “horseshit” to Jack. Well, maybe that was too strong. Maybe “polished but llshit”, like a good salesman. He’d practiced it a whole hell of a lot. But... maybe he was being unfair? A preacher would practice, after all.

“Uhm...” the silence was broken by a hesitant voice. A brunettein a pink sweater raised her hand diffidently. “My, my name’s Janet. Janet Klinger. And...”. She swallowed nervously as Max turned his gaze in her. “And... I’d... like to...”

“Praise the All!” Max declared, leaping by forward and enfolding h r in a hug. “Welcome home, Sister Janet! Brother Jack! Sister Raven! Come and meet our lost sister!”
 
Rayne stepped forward and hugged Janet as well. Max kissed each of their foreheads in turn before looking back to the handful of women. "Does anyone else wish to join us?" he offered, extending his hand as though to help them up. After some hesitation a pair of twins looked at each other, then stood and took his hand before promptly also being enveloped in hugs and kisses. Seventeen-year-old runaways, if he remembered correctly, escaping some unspecified (but highly suspect) form of abuse at the hands of their guardian uncle. He thought he'd seen the pictures before, but they were younger in them.

"We're coming with you," one announced. "I'm Katie, this is my sister Tara."

"Welcome, sisters," Rayne giggled gleefully, hugging them both again for good measure. "We're so excited to have you with us!"

Max looked at the remaining three on the floor. "There's no obligation," he assured them gently, "but we can give you three hots and a cot and a sense of purpose, if the All is calling to you." One woman chewed her lip, then shook her head and wrapped her arms around her knees. "That's alright, sister," he said. "But if you ever change your mind, if the All calls to you, we'll still be here. Anyone else?" The other two avoided his gaze, looking uncertain and not wanting to commit. Max smiled charmingly and nodded. "Go in peace then," he said, "and may the God-Soul guide you in your journeys." He shepherded the others out, measuring the pace of his steps carefully. 3...2...

"Wait!" A brunette in her late twenties jumped up and ran to them. Max had given her just enough pressure to force her to make up her mind then and there. "My name's Claudia Antwell," she said, twisting the hem of her shirt nervously. "I um...I wanna come with you."

"Praise the All!" Max grinned. "Welcome home, Sister Claudia." He pulled her into a hug and kissed her forehead as well.

~*~

A place? There was the shelter...and May knew of a few abandoned buildings she'd squatted in before coming to the church...but that wouldn't have been very pleasant. Even if he didn't believe, cleansing should be a spiritual experience, and it was difficult to do that with the rats watching. The man looked impatient as she chewed her lip and looked around.

"We can go to your car," she said finally, taking his arm as though he were escorting her. "Donations depend on what you want, but usually fifty to a hundred." She slid into the passenger's seat of his car, not commenting on the patriarchal nature of his gesture of opening the door for her. When he got into the driver's seat she turned to him and smiled. "So...we going to your home? Or are you from outta town?"
 
Give the man credit, Jack decided. He's good at this.

He decided to hold off from initiating any hugs. These ladies were all in a shelter for reasons, after all, and they might just get freaked out if a strange man hugged them without warning. Particularly a strange big black man. Instead he smiled and nodded at them, and joined in an awkward-feeling hug with Claudia when Ravyn made sure to pull him into it. The brunette stiffened a little, but seemed reassured by Ravyn's presence. "So," he said, joining the rest of the church and the new recruits in the hall, "you ladies got anything we need to pick up?"

"We've... we've got backpacks," one of the twins said. Katie, maybe? He'd have to work on remembering names. "And I've got a satchel," Claudia added, still looking nervous.

"Cool," Jack said with a smile. "You need help with any of that?"

"Naw," said the other twin. "Ain't that heavy, really. Gotta travel light, you know?"

"That's a wonderful spirit to embrace!" Ravyn assured the woman. "You'll learn that possessions are an anchor, a thing that keeps us from communion with the Universal God-Soul."

Max nodded agreeably, and Jack tried to look confident as he nodded as well. "We done for now?" he asked as the ladies went to fetch their things. "Need me to go tell May and Jesse?"



"Think I'll donate a hundred," Jesse heard the man say as he led May down the block. "We can discuss what I need at my car, though."

Jesse drifted along behind them, keeping far enough back to hopefully not look like he was following. His heart thudded in his chest when they turned down a narrow alley between a bar and an abandoned bakery and tenement, and he picked up his pace a little. Sure, May needed to purify and reconnect by ministering to the Disconnected. But there was a huge difference between that and getting hurt. He relaxed a little when he discovered the man had just parked down there to stay off the street. Then, with a quick movement of some tools he carried, he let himself into the abandoned bakery so he could watch without being seen.

From inside he couldn't hear what they were saying. But he could see the man peel off some bills that May tucked into her pocket as the man opened the door for her. From there it looked like they spoke for a minute more, before the man turned in his seat and placed a hand on May's shoulder. She disappeared from view for a moment, then he could watch the back of her ginger head bobbing up and down as the Disconnected rolled his head back and seemed to sigh.

Not good. He needed to see what was happening, just to make sure. So Jesse moved through the kitchen of the abandoned bakery, finding a boarded up window he could peer through. With his eye pressed to the crack he could see May had changed position, straddling the old man in the car. Absently he undid his pants, stroking himself as he watched May's bare ass moving up and down, swallowing the Disconnected cock as she moved on him. The old man's hands roamed her body, encouraging her to go faster, and Jesse's hand followed suit. Within a few minutes he bit his lip, masking his grunt as he climaxed, his seed splattering the wall as he watched the Disconnected cum.

Hurriedly he wiped his hand on the wall and did up his jeans. He'd need to be back out at the mouth of the alley, waiting for her.
 
None of it had been unexpected, really. He hadn't been dirty or drunk and his car was clean even if it did smell faintly of the tobacco and nicotine of cigarettes past. May had gotten into the back seat as instructed, had undone his pants and slid her lips down his throbbing cock. She had occasionally slept with much older men, especially before joining the church, typically in exchange for a hot meal or a place to sleep, but not quite as old as him. He pulled her off of him at one point and readjusted in the back seat, half laying down and half seated, before tugging off her shorts and pulling her legs to either side of his hips.

"You're so goddamned beautiful," he groaned as she moved up and down his cock, his hands pulling at her hips. "You remind me of my stepdaughter, you know."

"Oh yeah?" May panted and braced herself with her hands against the roof. "How's that?"

"Beautiful little redhead like you. Smart too." His hands slid up to her breasts, pushing aside her vest and fondling them. "You got better tits, though...Ooooh and a tighter cunt..." He thrust into her harder, moving his hands back to her hips to grip them tightly. "Call me Daddy," he grunted, holding her hips still as he got closer.

~*~

May ached as she walked away from the car, pulling the cash out of her pocket. He had slipped her an extra twenty for calling him Daddy and "begging so sweetly" before calling her a whore and telling her to get out of his car. Her neck ached from the awkward position, and her hips ached from straddling him at a slightly cockeyed angle, and mostly her cunt ached in need for not having reached her own climax. But that was part of penance for an All Goddess: she had to consider the needs of others before herself, which meant denying herself communion with the God-Soul for the benefit of all others. In this way she could bring the Disconnected just that much closer to the truth. With a tight hug she handed Jesse the money and went back to her corner, waiting for another lost soul to seek the All through her.

~*~

"They'll come along when they're done," Max shrugged off Jack's concern when he offered to go get May and Jesse. He didn't believe that Jack would accept the terms of penance like the others did, so there was no sense in kicking up a fuss about it if he saw. Instead he sent him to round up the others in other parts of the shelter before leading them all down the street where various vehicles had been parked at meters. Max made sure that Jack wound up in a VW Bus with Raven, Janet, and a few of the men, while Rayne, Claudia, and Nate took his ridiculous little ten-year-old Goggomobil, and made sure that the twins wound up in the truck with him.

The newcomers were shown around the chapel and familiarized with the rules--which Max didn't call rules, but 'principles'--mostly centered around the communist idea that all property belonged to the collective. Meals were prepared on hotplates and over a fire on the roof, and the communal dinner had long passed by the time Jesse and May got home nearly four hours later. Her knees were red and dirty, her hair slightly more disheveled than usual, but she appeared to be in relatively good spirits. Jesse ceremoniously handed the leash back to Max, who received it then unclipped it from the collar. May was allowed a few bites of cold leftovers before Max whispered in her ear and pointed, then produced a little tab on the tip of his finger. She glanced at Jack with something like excitement before slowly taking his finger into her mouth, the blotter gone when he pulled it out, disrobing, then obediently going and kneeling on the group of mattresses referred to as the altar.

"Brothers and sisters!" In the chapel Max's voice echoed and boomed, easily grabbing the attention of the scattered church members talking, singing, playing games, or reading. "We have a new member who wishes to begin his Ascension today!" This was followed with enthusiastic applause. "Jack, come on over to the altar, brother." He directed Jack to go and kneel across from May.
 
Once they got back to the ‘church’, Jack passed the afternoon helping with the cooking. Mostly peeling and chopping vegetables while talking to the other members who were pitching in. Dinner looked to be soup of some sort, corn and beans and carrots and potatoes and onions all boiled together, with a bit of chicken for flavor. “Didn’t see that one coming,” he remarked. “I kind of had you folks pegged for vegetarians.” Idly, he scratched his head. “Don’t know why, though. May ate pork without worrying about it.”

“No,” Ravyn giggles, “we’re not. But we believe that the animal should be raised kindly, and killed painlessly, and should be honored for her sacrifice.” She gestured upwards with her knife. “We keep a coop on the roof, and raise them ourselves. It’s where we get some of our eggs, too.”

He glanced upwards. “Really? I’ll have to check it out. Feeding the chickens was one of my chores back home.”

May looked tired and rumpled, like she’d been exercising or fucking while she was gone. And she was still doing that collar thing. Jack watched Max talk to her while she ate, then turned his attention back to washing dishes. He was getting into a zone, beginning to enjoy the rhythm of scrubby by and dunks by, when Max spoke up, voice echoed by around the warehouse. “Brothers and sisters!"

He looked up. Max was standing in the middle of the room, arms raised. And May was kneeling, stark naked except for that choker, on a three-high stack of mattresses. “We have a new member who wishes to begin his Ascension today!"

As the congregation applauded, Jack wondered who that was. One of the ladies from the shelter, perhaps? The answer startled him. “Jack, come on over to the altar, brother."

“Wait, What?”

Jesse tapped him on the shoulder, and gestured. “Yeah. Max was telling me about your work at the shelter.” The man looked him over. “He thinks you’ve got potential. That you’re already deeply connected to the God-Soul than you realize.” He gestured again, echoing Max’s directions. “Go on, man.”

Slowly, aware of the eyes on him, Jack crossed the room and knelt on the altar. “All right,” he said, failing in his attempt to not stare at May’s bare tits. “Now what?”
 
May smiled comfortingly when Jack asked what to do. "Now you take this," she said, producing a blotter, "and repeat after Max. This is how you join the church. It's kinda like getting baptized, but better." What was unspoken was the reminder that this was his only chance of a roof over his head, at the very least for tonight but at all. Disconnected weren't allowed to profane the chapel. Once he had taken the acid she clasped both hands with his, lacing their fingers and holding their hands up at about shoulder height.

"Repeat after me," Max instructed, standing behind the altar so that the congregation could see. After each phrase he waited for Jack to repeat: "I pledge myself to the Universal God-Soul, to the High Ascender, and to the Great Person-Mover All Goddess. I pledge to follow without question the teachings of the High Ascender, to shun the Disconnected and the world of the material, but to do my utmost to ease the suffering of my fellow man. I pledge to seek the highest truth and only truth. I recognize that the truth of the High Ascender is the highest truth, and lean not on my own understanding. I pledge to live in peace and to do violence to none. I pledge to follow the guidance of the Great Person-Mover All Goddess in seeking to become one with the All, to give myself over to her entirely for my karmic wellbeing. Just as I am bound to the All, so I bind my soul to hers. I understand that to break this oath is to break with the goodwill of my brothers and sisters, and to break with their goodwill is to suffer the death of the soul ever after. All of this I swear." Once Jack had finished his oath May leaned forward and kissed him hard. It hadn't hit hard yet, but it had been long enough that she could feel every line in his lips, could feel his skin against hers the way she never could when she wasn't high: texture and light were beginning to become more noticeable and meld together. "All Goddess," Max said quietly, a tone of warning in his voice, and she pulled away slightly embarrassed.

May had done this a number of times, so she didn't need to repeat after Max. She cleared her throat and looked Jack in the eyes. "I pledge myself to the Universal God-Soul, to the High Ascender, and to this Seeker Of Truth," she announced in a loud, clear voice. "I pledge to lead this Seeker through this world as he seeks the highest truth, to ease his suffering when his soul encounters pain, and to life him up whenever he may fall into darkness. I pledge to guide his union with and understanding of the All, and I understand that his karmic wellbeing is in my hands. I pledge to safeguard that wellbeing to the best of my ability, and to follow the teachings and guidance of the High Ascender in my safeguarding. I take this Seeker as my own. Just as I am bound to the All, so I bind my soul to his. I understand that to lose him to untruth, should he break the goodwill of our brothers and sisters, is to lose forever a part of myself to eternal separation from the All. All of this I swear." May grinned and kissed Jack again. "And now we take communion," she whispered, finally unlacing their fingers to pull his t-shirt off over his head.

Max didn't stop her this time, but stepped away to join the circle around the altar. Some members struck up drums or chimes, others sang quietly. May's hands and lips moved frantically over Jack's body, sliding from his shoulders down his abs to unfasten his pants and reach in to stroke his cock. How was he supposed to be truly of the church, after all, if she couldn't cleanse him after giving their vows.
 
Jack hesitated, then opened his mouth and let May place the blotter on his tongue. It didn’t taste like much ch of anything, just a little paper and May's fingertips, and hecwondered if there was really anything on it at all. Still, he’d picked up pretty quick that it was this or crashing at the Y, so he swallowed and let May take his hands. Then Max started talking and Jack began repeating the words without paying much attention. He was too busy paying attention to May. Damn, but she looked good. Sounded good, too, the way she was repeating what Max was saying. And her skin seemed to glow, spreading up his own arms.

Then she kissed him, and it was unreal. It was like he could taste her skin, smell the radiance coming off her. And damn if he wasn’t getting hard as she pressed against him, opening and intensifying the kiss with promises he knew she could deliver until he heard an annoying warble of speech in the background. Max, sounding irritated as he grumbled “All-Goddess.” Which she certainly was, even as she pulled back to say something else he didn’t follow. So me sort of pledge, but he was mostly just watching her lips and body move and wanting to feel both against him.

She kissed him again. “And now we take communion," she whispered, pulling his t-shirt over his head and going to work on his pants. He pulled her against him, gasping not at the electric feel of her bare body against his, the feel of his rock-hard dick surging into her hands as she got his fly open.

“Oh, I plan to,” he murmured, sliding his hands down her bare back to squeeze the firm flesh of her ass. “A couple of times.” He kissed her, tongue moving in time with the rhythm of her hands on his shaft, in time with the rhythm of the drums around him. His lips moved lower as he gently pushed her back, tracing a line of fire down her throat and over one breast. “All goddess and all woman,” he breathed, suckling at one nipple. “How does someon like that want her Seeker to fuck?”
 
May breathed in sharply when Jack pulled her against him. This communion...it felt unlike the others she had performed both upon the induction of other men into the church and during the biweekly communions the High Ascender had selected her for. Here she felt safe, absolutely safe, as though the large, strong arms encircling her were walls of steel nobody could break through. Trails of light followed her fingertips as they slid over his skin, and his hands followed the meridians of her body, leaving sparkling lines of qi in their wake. Jack smelled of the sea and of the earth, and the drums became the drumming of a powwow, then of some lost African ritual, the beat of the waves swirling around the bottom of a ship, then the top where men sang in unison as they hauled line. Heave-ho, haul together... But above all the noise and the light his voice rose in a low rumble in her ear, lowering her to the mattress then kissing her. May's fingertips tingled as she worked his shaft and his tongue tasted of light and time.

"All goddess and all woman," Jack breathed, suckling at one nipple.

May gasped and arched her back up to meet him as his lips wrapped around her peaked nipple. She could feel the light, the qi, the karma, the knowledge of good and of the All flowing from her root chakra, opening her sacral and solar plexus chakras, flowing through her heart chakra from her breast to his mouth where it filled him with goodness and light. It wasn't like anything she had ever experienced before and Jack's skin glowed in an alternating green and yellow aura. A symbol traced itself in bright, beautiful canary yellow light over his heart and though she was surprised, May understood. She understood everything.

"How does someone like that want her Seeker to fuck?"

May shook her head. Perhaps he didn't understand yet, but that was what communion was for. "Not fuck," she breathed, her meridians sparkling and pulsing to the beat of the drums which were, by now, the same drums everybody else heard if not a little more cacophonous with the subtle audial tracer. "Seek." Her hands roamed over his bare scalp to press his lips to her breast once more, then across his shoulders, along his back wherever she could reach, leaving lines of fire and light. "Seek in me the way to the Universe. Cling to me to pull yourself out of darkness and be one with this beautiful light around you."

Even if it hadn't been an inherently sexual ceremony, the experience would all the same have had her aching for him. She had been with him before, obviously, but she had never truly understood, and now May wanted desperately to become one with this Seeker. She wanted to feel Jack inside her, to receive him fully, to take her first step together with this...this Savior. Her breast heaved as she took deep gulps of air, aching to receive him.
 
May seemed to glow, and he was finding it really distracting. Horny as he was, he kept wanting to stop and stare - watch her freckles, or the contrast of his dark skin against her liuminous flesh. “Be one wth the light?” he murmured, cupping both her breasts so he could move his lips back and forth between them. “Yeah, I can do that.”

Her hands roamed his body, tracing fire over his shoulders and back as he finished laying her down on the mattress. For a long moment he just stared at her, drinking in her luminous curves and the way she seemed to dance to the drums even while lying still. Then he leaned over her, slowly circling one erect nipple with his tongue as he slid his hands over her hips. She responded by opening her legs, caressing his thighs with hers.

“All... goddess... baby,” he groaned as he slowly pushed into her, his tongue caressing her lips a he felt her inner walls stretch around and then grip his length. She hooked her legs over his thighs, riding to meet him, taking him until he filled her completely. “Holy... fuck...” he groaned again, slipping his arms between her back and the mattress, gripping her shoulders as he began to move within her.
 
May smiled as Jack stared at her, his eyes glowing an almost florescent green. Her cheeks hurt from grinning so widely. One hand found its way to his cheek though she didn't remember putting it there as they stared at one another in their moment of perfect harmony and perfect bliss. She was overcome again with the smell of the ocean when he leaned over her and brought his tongue to her nipple again, although they were far from the harbor. His hands tingled and sparked against her hips when they touched and May responded by opening her thighs, longing for unification. His sides were warm and smooth and even the denim of his jeans as her thighs settled over his felt like satin. Reaching down she slid his jeans and underwear down over his hips to make things easier then returned her hands to his face. It felt very important to touch his face.

"All one," she whispered breathlessly as he slowly pushed into her. May hooked her legs over his thighs, crossing her ankles at the small of his back, and pressed her hips up to meet him, to take him entirely, leaving only her head and shoulders on the mattress. She groaned, reveling in the warmth of his thick shaft inside her, unafraid as their bodies melded physically together until it was impossible to know where he stopped and she began. She always became one with new Seekers, though sometimes in horrific Cronenbergian ways which left her resolute to do her duty but trembling and seeking out the High Ascender or his acolytes for comfort. But this...this was beauty and nature and life incarnate. This was nothing to be afraid of.

"Holy...fuck..." Jack groaned, slipping his arms between her back and the mattress and gripping her shoulders.

May couldn't help but giggle. "That's the idea," she teased.

She opened her mouth to say more, but Jack began to move within her and her jaw dropped open and all that could come out was a low moan. She rose to meet him, their hips--were they hips anymore?--undulating and moving as one. He filled her over and over, pulling groans of sweet, luxurious pleasure from her throat. Still her hands stayed on his face, holding it and keeping eye contact with him as they moved together. When she tightened her legs and flipped them his back landed in the sand, though whether the sand of a beach or a desert she couldn't tell; present were both the buzz of cicadas and the smell of the ocean. The sand was soft on her knees as she knelt over him, touching her forehead to his.

"Make love to me," she whispered, slowly riding his cock, moaning as it filled her. "Make love, Holy Seeker, and find the truth I see in you." She paid no attention to Max, who looked surprised and cleared his throat lightly at this foreign new title. Instead she focused on how his shaft stretched her inner walls, how she gripped him even as she felt his head press against her cervix. The Universe had spoken and it had chosen Jack; she was going to savor this first communion. "Fill me with your energy and take from me my truth and together we will be one." She pressed a hard kiss to his lips as she slid down his cock, tasting rum and juniper berries, plantains and opium, the dust of the desert and the salt of the sea. This was the man who could save them all.
 
Make love to me," she whispered, slowly riding his cock, moaning as it filled her. "Make love, Holy Seeker, and find the truth I see in you."

Acid was, it seemed, a trip. The thought made Jack laugh a little, right before he groaned as May began sliding up and down his shaft. “Sure... baby...” he grunted, before grinning up at her. “I mean... All-Goddess...”. It was a little hard to concentrate, though, as the acid was fucking up his perceptions. Because damn she felt good on him, but he was having trouble figuring out where she ended and he began. He could feel her clenching and stroked by his cock, feel her hips and stomach and breasts as he ran his hands over her body, but there was a blurring sensation. Like she was moving in him and through him and with him. When he pulled her down to hm, tasting her lips and running his hands over her back, she seemed to melt right into him.

“God... Goddess, baby...” he gaspe, gripping her hips and beginning to move her body on him. “You feel... so good...”. Then he stopped for a moment, feeling eyes on him. Not the church members, all of whom were alternately watching him with May and making out themselves, but... something else. A presence, ancient and powerful, drifting around the room and May’s lips were on him again and he stopped worrying about it.

“I’m... close...” he grunted, biceps bulging as he slid her up and down his cock. Something she’d said tickled his fancy. “Almost... almost ready to... go fill you... with my... my energy...” he gasped, hips rising to thrust deeper into her as he pulled her down. “Gonna... gonna...”. The last word was lost in an inarticulate cry of pleasure, his cock driving up into her and pulsing within her, coating her inner walls with his seed.
 
Light and knowledge and goodness still leaked from her breast as she rode him and May pulled his lips to her nipple again as he gasped and groaned. Jack stopped for a moment--not long, but just long enough for her to notice his hesitation--and she grinned and kissed the top of his head. His eyes had flicked around the room and his skin had tingled under her hands and that only convinced her more that he had been chosen. Only Max and Jesse's skin had ever felt like that before.

"She loves us," she whispered in his ear before briefly nibbling the ridge of it, "and blesses our union. She's a holy One and the All." May had never seen anything, of course, but could occasionally feel various aspects the All in the room with them when she took communion or otherwise got high. Sometimes it didn't feel quite so wholesome, but it was the nature of the All to be the nature of all, even that which she would want to deny, so she sometimes had to suppress her instinct to shy from it. Then Jack grunted that he was close, nearly ready, and she moaned in the ecstasy of anticipation. "Fill me, Holy Seeker," she begged. She gasped as he pulled her down on him hard and filled her with light, his third eye opening briefly. Her fingers dug into his shoulders and she rocked her hips forward, close to seeking her own opening.

"Goddess."

The stern word came yellow and dripping and hauling responsibility in a heavy sack upon its back as Max spoke from the sidelines. It reminded her of her impurity, of her transgression. Frustration tasted bitter and poisonous as she swallowed it, choosing instead to lean down and kiss him with the sweetness of strawberries and sunshine on her lips, taking from him his old life of unknowing, of disconnectedness and discontent, and releasing it back to the Universal God-Soul, purified and wholesome. The meridians along her skin that Jack had revealed with his holy touch pulsed, glittered, glowed, snaked along her arms and legs, but began to fade as they were no longer one and she edged away from her divine connection.

"Let the Person-Movers commune with this Holy Seeker who has been taken into the arms of the God-Soul," she announced as she slid off of him, "and work to purify him as our brother in connectedness. Let them and the Seekers take him as our own and treat him as our brother in humanity. Let the acolytes," she looked to the women who had been brought home from the shelter, along with several men who had last week come home from the homeless shelter but not yet taken the vow, "look to him for guidance, and let them help one another on their journeys to oneness." Rayne and Raven crawled onto the altar with Jack, tracing kisses along his body and working their hands over him. Raven curled her fingers around his slick, tender shaft with the hope that he could continue his first communion.

May drew aside with Jesse and Nate to continue her part of the ritual. It was law for the All-Goddess to draw the negative energies from the Ascenders and purify them along with that of the Seeker, followed by the same with the High Ascender, to symbolize her power and responsibility as gatekeeper to the All. Nate watched her as she rode him, her pupils wide and growing wider, wider, until her irises disappeared. His heart pounded with fear as her pupils continued to grow until there was no white left to her eyes and they were the liquid black of pools of ink. But then, all of a sudden, they shrunk back until they were pinpricks and then gone, leaving her eyes the steely blue-grey of her irises. Stars and nebulae exploded into her whiteless eyes and glimmered, eliciting a gasp. He saw incomprehensible truths written there in the stars in her eyes, even as he felt the backs of Jesse's hands against his chest as he groped May's breasts.

"All-Goddess!" he gasped, gripping her ass to move her up and down on his dick.

"All-Goddess," Jesse murmured in agreement, placing kisses across the tattoo between her shoulder blades. "All loved and all loving." He grunted and shuddered with pleasure when he felt her ass clench gently around his shaft.

Jesse didn't poison his communion with acid, not since that afternoon he'd found himself with a cock in his ass in an empty classroom of Sacramento Community College. He and Max had sat in the back of a class they didn't belong in, exchanging glances and trying not to laugh when the biochemistry professor during his lecture put his foot squarely on the cum stain Jesse had left on the carpet. Neither of them had brought it up since--they weren't a couple of faggots, after all--but once he'd come down Jesse had realized that acid wouldn't get them to the high they'd been chasing since that weekend in Yreka. They had touched the divine and they both knew that, and had been trying to find it again since. Max had long since lost his way, and the sanctimonious hypocrite had been arguing with him over the heroin he'd bought in an alley when they'd seen her strumming a guitar, singing, hoping strangers would drop a coin into her hat, and looking so very much like The Woman that it had seemed like fate to him. Of course, that was back when it was just the two of them and Esther when they'd taken her in, and he would never mistake May for The Woman, not with that tattoo. The Woman had slit her wrists--her arms, really--open from her palms to her elbows and the wounds had closed (or so he had seen, anyway) in a matter of minutes, leaving only the gushed blood behind. She had told them that it was a poppy tea she'd given them, something she had learned to make while traveling through China, and nothing had come close to that experience of the divine since. Still he tried, preparing the tea or sometimes just shooting up if he was in a hurry.

"Your third eye..." Nate panted, touching a point in the middle of her forehead.

"Yes," May moaned, letting her head loll back onto Jesse's shoulder. "Oh God yes!"

"No," Jesse murmured against her skin, leaning down to bite her neck as he came close to his own release. "You're a penitent. You must remain pure." She whined in protest, earning another bite, this one more punitive. "You know the cosmic law."

"Yes, Ascender," May sighed. "I--ah!" She gasped and gripped Nate's shoulders as he finished, followed closely by Jesse, and bit her lip, closing her eyes and breathing deeply to concentrate on her duty and not on her own connection with the Universal God-Soul.

The shower felt nice after such an active evening and the drops of water sparkled and created little ripples on her skin. The lines of her meridians had faded the longer she was disconnected from the Savior, but now they sparked to life again as she communed with the High Ascender. It had once been a decontamination shower for the workers before the factory had been abandoned, but now it was a communal shower rigged by a few church members with some skill in plumbing. The water only ever seemed to run hot, truly hot, for Max; another sign of his having been chosen by the All. He grunted as he gripped the corrugated steel surrounding the shower for privacy, May's legs wrapped around him, her hands gripping his shoulders to hold herself up as they washed themselves of impurities both physical and spiritual. Yet again she groaned and had to focus on her responsibilities, to remind herself that there were things more important and higher purposes than her own personal connection with the All.

Most of the church was asleep by the time she had brushed out her hair and pulled on some panties, allowing the rest of her body to dry in the chilly night air. The weather was finally getting warm enough at night that she could walk around barely clothed (if clothed at all), and the Counsel of Ascension could generally be found to be more amenable if she appeared in the form the God-Soul had given her. She couldn't blame them, really. Their church's mission, after all, was to bring people more in touch with the Universe through acceptance of their natural forms, and some Person-Mover All-Goddess she would be if she didn't adhere to her own beliefs. With a pounding heart she stepped into what had once been a manager's office but now served as the counsel room where the Counsel met with individuals and with each other to discuss church decisions. The tiny room was hung with tapestries around the walls and a thick oriental rug Nate had happened upon in a thrift store, with cushions and throws tossed all about the room. Max sat upright, with Jesse on his right and Nate to his left, when May sank to her knees on a pillow and pressed her hands into a prayer position in the center of her chest.

"Namaste, Ascenders," she murmured with a respectful bow.

"Namaste, All-Goddess," Max returned, inclining his head. "What was so important it couldn't wait? The acolytes need training so that they may join the church as your fellow Person-Movers." He didn't sound terribly impressed.

May kept her eyes cast down, nervous now that she had mostly come down off of her high but resolute in what she had seen and what she now knew. "The Universal God-Soul was gracious enough to grant me a vision during first communion with our new Seeker," she said after some thought as to wording. "He opened my meridians and I saw his chakras open more quickly and completely than I've ever seen before. The sign of the All appeared over his heart and I had a vision of the past and the future all at once, and Max...he opened my chakras." This time she dared to look up and Max and Jesse looked concerned, while Nate leaned forward with rapt attention. "It's true! And he felt one of the holy Aspects in our union!" She dared to venture a grin. "Ascenders...High Ascender...My vision foretold of a Savior and it's him! Jack is...he's going to save us all, bring us all into the light of oneness with the Universal God-Soul! He needs training, instruction, guidance, but he's more than just a Seeker. The words High Holy Seeker were spoken into my ear, and I'm sure with your guidance and my cleansing he'll become a great man and lead us all into complete harmonious union."

After a long, pregnant pause Nate moved forward and enveloped her in a big bear hug, the two of them grinning and laughing like a pair of delighted children. "What joyous news, Goddess!" he laughed, cupping her face in his hands and kissing her hard. "What a wonderful vision the All has sent you! Was there any more about the journey to come?" She shook her head and he waved a hand dismissively. "No matter, I'm sure the God-Soul will send you more as it becomes appropriate. It's just...miraculous that the All should draw Jack into the fold, just to save us all. Isn't the Universe good, brothers?" He wrapped his arm around May and adjusted to look back at Max and Jesse, who both looked solemn. "Wh...what's wrong? This is fantastic news!"

"No, brother, it isn't," Jesse said seriously. "May has been sent a vision by the world of the commercial, of the physical. This is a false prophecy."

"But it was given to me from the All!" May cried in dismay, not really meaning to argue but unable to help it.

He sighed and nodded. "That's how the world of the Disconnected work, Mayflower."
 
Jack’s eyes went wide as he climaxed, staring hard at May as he pumped his seed into her. She seemed... it was hard to describe. For an instant she seemed something more. Something luminous and distant and piwerful, a blazing flame capable of reshaping or destroying everything. And then he sagged back, gasping as his pleasure was spent. Fuck, he decided blearily, shivering as May limbed off him and her body heat dissipated. Fucking stay off the acid, man.

“Let the Person-Movers commune with this Holy Seeker who has been taken into the arms of the God-Soul," May intoned, and to his drug-addled ears it sounded like she spoke with two voices: her own, and a sweet, terrible voice of power. “And work to purify him as our brother in connectedness.”

“Huh?” he managed, trying to work out what was going on. As May continued, though, Rayne and Raven, both bare-ass naked, crawled across the mattress and began exploring him. Lips and fingers caressed his body as they worked down his chest and over his abdomen. By the time they reached his cock he’d settled back, perfectly content to let their mouths and hands stir him back to life. “For could... he whispered.

Rayne let his dick slip from her lips with a giggle. “No,” she corrected as Raven began licking his hardening shaft. “But that’s part of it...”

The rest of the evening passed in a haze of sex and sweat and weed. Bits of it could be recalled to mind. Raven on her hands and knees, praising the All-Goddess as he gripped her hips and thrust into her. Rayne riding his face, her cunt dripping into his mouth as she moaned and made out with the unseen woman riding his dick. The sight of May taking Jesse and Max at the same time. Finally, utterly exhausted, he collapsed into sleep.

Light streaming through a high window dragged him into consciousness, burning his eyeballs until he blinked and rolled over. “Watch it,” a soft, sleepy voice grumbled.

Blinking rapidly and yawning, he managed to sit up. Someone had thrown an olive drab wool blanket over him last night, and over the three women snuggled up to him and each other. It took a little work, but he managed to wriggle out without waking them, but then it took a little more effort to find his foot. It had, it seemed, worked loose during the evening’s festivities. As he strapped it back on, Rayne woke up. “Mornin’,” she mumbled, blowing hair out of her face as she peered at him.

“Mornin’,” Jack replied, looking around. “There any showers round here?”

“Yeah,” she said, grinning. “Come on.” Sliding out of the blankets, she walked naked as a jay bird across the concrete floor. “Follow me.”

After a moment’s hesitation, mostly from looking for his pants, Jack followed. The shower turned out to be an old emergency unit, used for chemical spills. And the water was lukewarm at best, as he discovered when Rayne pulled him in. “Gyah,” he gasped as it sluiced over him. “That’s cold!”

“I’m not,” Rayne replied, rubbing her slick body against him and kissing him. She grinned as she gripped his stiffening Vick. “And it can’t be too cold for you...”. Then she stopped talking as he kissed her back. Soon she was gripping the shower head, moaning and gasping as he gripped her ass and drove his thick cock into her, and her climax was heralded by a sharp cry of pleasure that presaged his own gutteral grunt of release.

“It always this cold?” he asked later as he toweled off. “The shower, I mean?”

“Oh, we got lucky,” Raven grinned. “If you get to it late, all the hot water’s gone.”

“Lucky,” Jack muttered, staring at the shower head. “Maybe I can do something about that.”
 
By the time Jack and Rayne had returned from the shower most of the congregation was stirring, making up beds, bringing produce down from the rooftop garden, or preparing breakfast. May caught the look in Rayne's eye and smiled brightly, glad that she was getting the opportunity to know Jack better. By the time she had left the Counsel office he had been bunked up with three other women, and feeling dejected she had shared a mattress with Nate, whispering with their heads together until Max had emerged from the office and claimed her waterbed--the church's waterbed, now--with several acolytes now training to be Person-Movers. She had never disagreed with Max or Jesse on anything before, and for the most part neither had Nate...but she knew what she had seen. Without the acid she could no longer see the sign of the All over Jack's heart, but she just knew it was still glowing there.

"Mornin'," she greeted cheerfully, whisking eggs from the chickens kept on the roof while acolytes chopped vegetables. "Last night's communion was...incredible. I didn't get a chance to tell you how grateful I was for it. Hope you're ready for another long day's work."

"The soup kitchen?" Rayne asked. When May nodded and poured the eggs into a pan warming over a hot plate, she explained, "Saturdays we alternate the homeless shelter and women's shelter, but on Sundays we always help out at the soup kitchen for a couple hours. Mayflower here always seems to be able to make something incredible, even with the canned food they have."

"Yeah well, gonna have to do without today," she put in, pushing the eggs around the pan and adding a handful of onions and tomatoes. "Jesse and I are going to be gathering contributions from the Disconnected."

Rayne frowned and tilted her head. "Why...? I'm sorry, that's none of my business." With a brief, one-armed hug she took the plate of scrambled eggs and toast from May and handed it to Jack, then received her own and led him to a spot on one of the dilapidated second-hand couches. She still seemed concerned, but decided instead to focus her energies on Jack. "I'm really glad you're gonna be staying with us," she smiled. "It's always good to watch someone step into the light."
 
“Yeah well, gonna have to do without today," she put in, pushing the eggs around the pan and adding a handful of onions and tomatoes. "Jesse and I are going to be gathering contributions from the Disconnected."

Rayne frowned and tilted her head. "Why...? I'm sorry, that's none of my business.”

“You gonna need any help with that?” Jack asked as he took his breakfast. “I mean, I’m not a bad cook, but most of what I know is way too damn hot for you Yankees.” He grinned, but the grin faded as May just shook her head and turned back to making breakfast. Can ncerned no, he watched her as Rayne led him over to a spot on a ratty old couch pushed against one wall.

“I'm really glad you're gonna be staying with us," she smiled. "It's always good to watch someone step into the light."

He formed up a bite of eggs, then washed it down with some sort of weak herbal tea. “Yeah, well, I’m still sort of learning what’s going on. Like, does Max or one of you, uhm, People Movers..?”

Rayne giggled at that. “Person-Movers.”

“Hey, I was close!” Jack protested. “But do you preach sermons as well, or hold Bible Study - well, not Bible Study, I guess, but you know what I mean.” He bit off some toast. “Gotta be more than just drugs and sex and community service, right?”

“Ah?” a new voice asked. “It seems like a perfectly good way to run a religion to me.” Mate stood nearby, balancing his own breakfast on one hand and a large mug and silverware in the other. Reluctantly, Rayne scooter over to let him sit. “I mean, I grew up Pentacostal, before I found the Dark nicersal God-Soul. Sitting in church every Sunday and listening to a sermon was the fucking worst, don’t you think?”

Jack shrugged. “My grannies took me to church a few times. They said I should see what it was like, because it’s what most people did.” Another shrug. “I see your point, though. But there’s gotta be some sort of teaching I’d think, just so people know what they should be doing.”

“Oh, that,” Nate replied, off-handedly. “We gather your n the evenings and talk and sing, and sometimes one of the Person-Movers will have a vision of the God-Soul and then Max interprets that vision for us.”

“Really? That’s interesting.” He craned his head, looking at Rayne. “You ever done that?”

“No,” she said, then added impishly, “But I’m pretty sure I touched the God-Soul in the shower.”

“Hush, you,” Jack laughed, then turned his attention back to Nate. “Speaking of Person-Movers, May’s collecting from the, uhm... Disconcerted?”

“Disconnected,” Nate corrected, suddenly looking wary.

“Yeah, from the Disconnected. I offered to help,” he glanced over at May, who was talking to Jesse now, “but she wouldn’t even respond. What’s up with that?”
 
"Because you can't help," Nate said shortly. He chewed his toast pensively, trying to think of the best way to explain it and remind himself that even though Jack was the Savior he was still learning their ways. He didn't realize the mistakes he was making, the taboos he was breaking, and it was his duty as an Ascender to teach him.

"We don't talk about it," Rayne said meekly, but Nate shook his head.

"Nah, it's alright," he said, squeezing her shoulder and playing absently with her hair. "He's new. But she's right, we don't talk about it," he added to Jack before giving Rayne a look, to which she looked properly cowed. "Collecting from the Disconnected is a very private, personal thing and we don't want it getting spread around. The collar May wears is the mark of the Penitent. A church member unburdens their transgressions to the High Ascender, and if Max deems the transgression severe enough they are sent to collect contributions from the Disconnected as a way of putting back into the church what they took without asking. Evening out their karma, if you will. A Guardian of the Penitent--usually Jesse but sometimes myself if he has a higher calling to the God-Soul at that time--accompanies them to ensure no harm comes to them and that they stay on their path, to make sure they aren't tempted by the Disconnected to stray even further from the All. May was right to be ashamed; it's a very shameful thing to have to go among the Disconnected and to rely on them."

"What..." Rayne hesitated, then decided to take the plunge anyway. "What did she do?"

"Not that it's your business," he chastised, then glanced over her head at Jack; as the Savior, it was his business, "but she had contact with Esther." Rayne's eyes widened. She gasped and clasped both her hands over her mouth, glancing over at May still serving food then back to Nate, who nodded solemnly before looking over her head at Jack. "Esther was our Great Person-Mover All-Goddess, but she's Fallen now. She ah...left the church. The Disconnected are to be pitied for not seeing the light of the All, and are to be either assisted or avoided, but the Fallen are dangerous. They know the truth and deny it, break from the Universal God-Soul willingly and endanger everyone else's connection in the process. Contact with the Fallen is absolutely forbidden, and May not only had contact but then she failed to unburden without Max's prompting. She has a lot of giving back to do; it was a major betrayal, especially for the Great Person-Mover All-Goddess." He took a sip of coffee to punctuate the severity of May's crime.

"Do you think she can...?" Rayne looked disturbed and upset, but Nate smiled gently.

"Of course she can," he said, brushing a lock of hair out of her face and tucking it affectionately behind her ear. "May's a faithful follower of the God-Soul, and she has a very strong connection to it. Everybody wavers from the path every now and then, that's all; we're only human." He kissed her forehead reassuringly then looked back up at Jack. "But this isn't to leave the three of us, understand? I shouldn't have even said this much. What's said in an unburdening is confidential, but it was information you needed to understand our ways--your was too, now. May has a lot of faith in you, and I have faith in her, so it's my duty to help you understand." He examined Jack's features, trying to divine whether he truly understood yet.
 
Jack ate a few more bites of his breakfast, thinking over what Nate had just said. “So,” he finally said, “let me see if I’ve got this right. May talked to someone that left the church? And that’s such a terrible sin that...”

“Not sin,” Nate corrected. “She tainted her karma by breaking an oath to the Universal God-Soul.”

“Right,” Jack replied, sounding unconvinced. “But it’s bad enough that she had to wear a dog collar and...”

“The Mark of the Penitent,” Nate corrected again.

“And go, what? Ring a bell like the Salvation Army? Go door to door like she’s collecting for the March of Dimes? And is there a dollar amount, or...”

“The amount isn’t important,” Nate huffed, clearly annoyed. “It is the sincerity of the Penitent as she moves among the Disconnected.”

“Right.” Jack finished his eggs. “Sincerity. Sincerity and a dog collar.” Rising, he looked down at Nate. “Well, I’m gonna go have a look at that shower, see if I can get more hot water out of it. Let me know when we’re heading for the soup kitchen, man.” He shook his head as he walked off, just managing to keep from saying ‘fucking dog collar’ out loud.

“I’m sorry,” Rayne murmured fearfully, suddenly aware of how much trouble she could be in. “I... i didn’t mean to, to tell him. I just...”

“No, no,” Nate said absently, watching Jack thoughtfully. “But come see me tonight, after we turn the lights off. I think you need to unburden yourself.”
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom