The one thing I didn’t anticipate in the wake of yesterday’s post, was questions. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with questions, I just wasn’t expecting them.

Valkyries wants to know if Master Levi would object to us both showing him where we got married, so we can both share our memories of our big day. I thank him for considering that, and for suggesting it. I also asked Master if that would work – he agreed.

Really, there were three places that Master wanted kept for just us: the estate where we got married, the park where we got engaged, and the aquarium. The aquarium I don’t understand: what big thing happened there?

I also don’t understand it given the science museum is completely fine, and so is the historical museum and art gallery. Yet, we’ve been on dates to both of those places, so why is he being so possessive about some fish?

Is it the mood lighting and the chill, underwater-sounding music, creating a more intimate atmosphere? Oh no! How dare the aquarium be all… atmospheric.

But okay, if he’s going to be possessive over some fishes then I suppose I can deal. Actually, there was the time Master pointed out the piranha tank and provided a voiceover for their thoughts, saying that “that one in the navy top looks tasty”  – it took me too long to realise that I was wearing a navy top!

So last night, I let my feelings on the matter be known. I said that I wasn’t happy about not being able to go to the aquarium without Master Levi, but I can deal with it. If I’m taking both of my wind–up merchants to look at some aquatic beings, then let’s roll.

“I just hope the sharks are hungry’ I tease.

There were a few other things that I accidentally missed off from my walk with Mum yesterday as well, that were kind of significant in some way. Please bear with me briefly while I go back over them.

The first is that they’re building an outdoor gym on the estate, and I had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand it’s a beautiful area, and what better view while you work out? On the other, and just as Master Levi also concluded: how long before some little darlings vandalise it?

Mum spots an installed arm bike in the construction site. She can’t understand how it works.

“So it’s for your arms and shoulders,” I explain, “you sit on the seat, then cycle with your arms.”

“It’s like the one I have at home, that I don’t use nearly as often as I should,” I add. It’s a confession of sin – I don’t work out nearly often enough.

The second thing was that the dogs lost their squeaky tennis ball, and knowing that Mum’s not as nimble as what she used to be, I’m quick to intervene.

“I’ll do a quick recce under that tree,” I say, heading towards the ball’s last known location. While I scout the area with my feet, I take command of both dogs, instructing them both to “seek on!”. The pair of idiots acted like they’d never seen a tennis ball before.

While I search, I mentally berate myself: a “recce”? Really?! Take some time off,  Cadet!

So other news from yesterday – I met A, a software developer who lives about 20 minutes away, on Slowly. The letter delivery time between us on Slowly is 35 minutes, so it tickles A that he could reach me and we could be talking in person before his letter arrived. I laugh out loud – he’s not wrong!

Also, speaking of all things weddings, perchance last night Master stumbled upon the email that I’d sent him, confirming the paperwork for our big day. I’d forgotten that I’d interjected parts of my goofy self throughout.

Next to his full name, in brackets I’d written “eww!” – a longstanding joke between the pair of us. It implies that the other one has cooties – well it’s true: boys do have cooties!

Further down, where I’d confirmed our chosen wedding vows, next to the “in sickness and in health” part (and again in brackets), I’d written “in helfs and pookies”. “In helfs and pookies” was just our daft, Cheezburger-speak version of “in sickness and in health”, and because we’re little more than a pair of idiots in love.

Yet, all of this wedding talk had me thinking again about Valkyries and me, and about a question that comes up on my ethical non-monogamy review with Master Levi: how would you feel if I got ‘married’ to someone else?

Looking at that question now, I realise it may need a little rewording. “Married” implies weddings, and both Valkyries and I have already done weddings with other people. So any “wedding” we had would have no legal standing, but let’s not dismiss the idea just yet.

I realised that question is only really there because W almost forced me to “marry” him, purely out of envy. Looking back I don’t know how that would have possibly worked, but you don’t consider these things when your partner is pressuring you – you do what you have to do to make the pressure stop.

And now that he’s gone, I can ask myself that question: would I want to get married again? To that, the answer is “maybe”, but also “not exactly”. 

There’s a significance to a ceremony, obviously – the joining of lives and all that. But the formalities, the hen party (that basically wasn’t) and all of the extravagance? No thanks. Anything we did would have to be low-key.

Yet, commitment ceremonies are a thing, even if they’re not official weddings. Collaring ceremonies are a thing too, even if collars aren’t something I wear.

So then I fell down a rabbit hole, imagining what our “ceremony” might be like. It’s not something I’d ever really considered before, but then what I have with Valkyries doesn’t feel like it’s just for a moment; it feels like this is for life.

And I know that, for Valkyries, it would be a dream to have something that says he owns a share of me — perhaps not-legally, but at least in theory. To become one of my Masters.

At first I wondered if we might have something Strange Magic-themed – perhaps a late evening mystical garden, lit up with festoon lights and scented by midnight jasmine. Perhaps a luxury hotel with a nice forecourt. I gathered this song might be fitting, even if this one was more tempting.

Then I thought about who and how we are together – the Admiral and the Cadet – and I figured we might have something a little more nautical-themed. Something laced with formality, but equally filled with fun.

Of course, all of this is nothing more than a flight of whimsy right now. Valkyries and I haven’t actually met yet, and I may sink his fleet so abruptly tonight that he may never want to speak to me again. Life is full of uncertainties, but hell, it’s always good to dream.