Chương 1009: Day One Thousand And Seven

Dear Diary, Yeah, I think maybe it's a good thing overall that my schedule has shifted from 'Revel all night then teach Math to kids' to 'Revel all night then teach PT to Cadets'.

I'm not in any way embarrassed about what goes on at my Revels, and if I keep telling myself that I'm sure I'll believe it one of these days, but while the white Holy Garb is baller in its ability to clean everything up afterward, on occasions where it does so while I'm still maybe on the anxious side of things I wind up maybe a little fragrant afterward.

Which, given my natural odor is still pumpkin pie spice, isn't a horrible faux pas, but explaining where the scent is coming from to a room full of pre-K through twelve is not something I want to do every Friday for the rest of my life. Meanwhile if the Cadets want to ask, they can deal with the results. Then again, I don't think any of them are really unaware of who and what I am.

At this point, after having done two weeks with me running around behind them out in the sun, I don't think any of them are really unaware of how I smell, either. Yeah, that's definitely something where I'm not duBois. I remember he used to stand there in the middle of the Practice Yard, not really moving much unless his immediate presence was required, like to catch somebody falling on their skull or to intervene between Cadets who'd forgotten that the Practice Yard is for, y'know, practice.

Not actually trying to kill one another. Makes me very glad that I'm not in charge of Combat Training. Apparently most of the Academies has their own Combat Trainer, just like they've got their own Physical Trainer.

'Most', because just like with Physical Trainers, Camden Yards and Newark are still playing catch up. Then again, I don't think they're really upset about it, what with getting the Champion of the Alliance to run around putting them in shape. From what I've heard from them, the Cadets in the Yards are getting their Combat Training from duBois, which makes a lot of sense with him being right across the river and all. The big surprise for me was Newark, where they're also sharing a Combat Trainer.

With New Amsterdam, of course, what with them having the same kind of 'right across the river' situation. The surprising part is who exactly that Combat Trainer is, because with New Amsterdam being short of experienced Heroes due to Sudden Tabitha at the Battle of the Walls, they decided to look outside New Amsterdam for a Combat Trainer.

They didn't have to look very far, what with Alliance HQ being right there, and Grand Councilor of the Alliance and High Priest of Odin to Atlantis, Lord Leonard Lancaster apparently being okay giving up two days a week to put his own personal mark on the Cadets. Yeah, apparently while he's given up racism as a stupid idea, what with his boss being Bag, his nominal religious subordinate Weyson being an Elf, which is apparently different from a Sidhe, and Mrs. Driver being a Bag of the Faun variety.

Not sure if he quite realizes that unless George considers himself Human, that makes things tied between Human and Faun in terms of Grand Council positions. Okay, yeah, Kitten isn't a Grand Councilor, but Imperator is still a Grand Council position. Kinda weird, what with me basically appointing all the early Grand Councilors, but each of the Cities has wound up with it's own method of choosing who represents them, I think. Apparently Lenny won an election, as did McCann and Mrs. Driver.

Meanwhile Weyson and Cailyn are both appointees of the local dictator. Okay, 'Monarch' probably applies, since one's a Queen and the other's an Overlord. Ophelia... Shit, I'm pretty sure Ophelia is the closest thing to a 'government' in New Amsterdam at this point, and she's also a Grand Councilor, but I think she's smart enough to have landed square in the middle of 'enlightened despotism' all on her own. Seriously, if she goes after anybody I care about, her best case scenario is dying painfully.

If she fucks with any other Cities in more than a general 'healthy competition' sort of way, Saffron's gonna feed her to the Kraken, and with New Amsterdam being the biggest City in Atlantis if things go too sideways there she's gonna wind up hanging from a lamppost. Which means she's apparently focused her not inconsiderable political and diplomatic talents on boosting people up rather than shoving anybody down. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Yeah, that's definitely a sign I've grown up a lot. I can look at somebody I have, on multiple occasions, hated with a burning passion, and acknowledge that they have Skills and talents and might be better for the general well being of everybody in Atlantis working in management than fertilizing cropland. I say hated not because getting a good hate on is difficult right now, but because honestly she just hasn't fuckin' impacted my life in a meaningful way since the whole thing with her dad and brother.

At any rate, two thirds of the Cadets I'm training have duBois for Combat Training, and the other third have Lenny Lancaster. Part of me kinda wants to set up some kind of competition between them, like Squadball or something, but I'm really, really not confident about that.

'Healthy rivalry' is a thing, but not every rivalry is healthy. Also, I'm vaguely worried that the New Amsterdam Cadets would want in, and wind up wiping the floor with everybody I've trained. Having Lancaster's Cadets beat the Marshall's would be bad enough, but having somebody else's Cadets beat mine would make me feel like I'd failed personally. Just to be clear, I honestly think the New Amsterdam Cadets have kind of an edge, mostly because of Citron.

It's not that he's not a solid choice, or that he didn't earn his spot. Kinda the opposite; he's one of the more talented Cadets in Newark, and I think he chose the Newark Academy because he wouldn't have made the cut in New Amsterdam. They do have a bigger pool to pull from, after all. Anyhow, got home yesterday after a day running Cadets around to find my ladies all in a mood. Okay, the mood was 'mischievously playful', which I'm always down for, but the presentation of the mischief was them quacking.

Not, like, loud enough for the kids to hear and wonder, but just quietly whenever I wasn't looking at them. We got up to the Bath, and they immediately decided that with the steam coming off of the water, obscuring anything going on underwater, they'd continue the duck play. Y'know, 'calm and sedate on the surface, crazy action underneath'. Once the kids quieted down enough, I carried everybody downstairs.

Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy that I can do that, which is weird I guess, what with me carrying most of them with tentacles. Slightly fuzzy tentacles, I guess, because just like I was furry when I dropped my Blend, some of my tentacles, especially any bigger than a normal sized limb, wound up being a little fuzzy. Once we got the kids in bed, I scooped Siobhan up and stepped to the Bedroom, where she smiled up at me.

"So will I be experiencing that interestingly shaped member?" I chuckled.

"Okay, sure, if you want, but before we go there?" She made the worst fake pout I'd every seen her do, "yes, Mistress." I laughed, sat down next to her, and put one arm around her and laid my other hand on her belly.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there."

"But you were, though?" I shook my head.

"I mean, yeah, I came when you called, but I wasn't there to start with." She smiled and laid her hand atop mine.

"I know this is silly to say to you, Tabitha, but you cannot be everywhere." I snickered, snorted, then went silent.

"Y'know, I hadn't even thought about it, but I haven't really been Co-Locating much since... Since New Year's."

"Since your injury." I shrugged.

"Are you still able to?" I Co-Located to her far side, arms slipping around her.

"Looks like."

"Are you comfortable like this?" I thought about it. After all this time, I'd kind of gotten used to the feedback.

"Yeah, I guess?"

"Would you like to...?" I chuckled.

"Late pregnancy hormones kicking in, huh?" She smiled.

"Perhaps." So tempted. But I held myself back.

"Can we talk first?"

"Of course, Tabitha." I remember what I'd meant to ask about.

"Hey, Canta's like, a surrogate father to you, right?" She smiled shyly, but nodded.

"I... I'm not sure I would say that." I smiled.

"You look up to him like that."

"I do."

"Yeah, I think he sees you kind of like a daughter, too." She just smiled and blushed.

"Uh, your parents..." She slumped a little.

"Ah, shit. What happened to them?" She quietly said, "the Plague."

"Fuck." Then I thought.

"Wait, fuck, what are the odds?"

"Odds of what?"

"Of all of us being, y'know, orphans." She chuckled.

"We're not precisely orphans, Tabitha. You and Saffron, perhaps, but the rest of us all simply outlived our parents." I snuggled in next to her.

"You're... Have you visited them?" She shook her head.

"The Plague victims in their village were burned. I... I mourned, Tabitha. I see no reason to revisit it. Not yet." I snuggled her.

"If you need to, you tell me, okay?"

"I will." We just sat there for a while, until Siobhan nudged me.

"Mistress?" I grinned at her.

"Would you like me to?" She stuck her tongue out and nodded. So I did. Put a smile on my face that stayed there all the way through my day of teaching Math to kids at the Temple.