Chương 543: Day Five Hundred And Forty-One

Dear Diary, Yeah, yesterday went remarkably well for a sleepover with seven kids. Then again, we had three adults overseeing it, including two of us right there in the room. One of whom was capable of true multitasking, which could make things a lot easier. Of course then the kids had decided to up the ante on the whole sleepover thing by not only wanting another one, not only wanting another one on an active Alliance warship, but wanting to use that as a way to take their newly acquired Steeds home.

Who I just remembered are literally called Nightmares. Like, okay, Fates, I get that you've thrown over your crack rock habit for the much healthier option of THC, but someone needs to explain the difference between high grade cannabis and wet. That shit will give you brain damage, ladies.

Yeah, since dealing with The Morrigan and Balor, who I'm still worried is gonna wind up giving me some kind of literal death glare which I'll find out about by accident when I'm playing with my kids or something, life has been remarkably copacetic. Yeah, minor little ups and downs, but 'discovering my imposter syndrome is not, in fact, gone' is way less of a 'holy shit, fuck fuck fuck' situation than 'I have forgotten everything that happened to me since Day One'.

Which, given where I'm from, not to mention how I've yet to spend a Season here without some shit going down, leaves me sort of perpetually waiting for the other shoe to drop. Fortunately, I am not nearly as dumb as I look. I'm also not nearly as isolated or antisocial as I used to be. Possibly because I've found a trio of kind, competent, intelligent women who for some inexplicable reason enjoy making my naughty bits feel nice.

So after Marie and the kids returned the Nightmares to their stable, then at Ria and Isnomi's insistence trooped everyone through the Overlord's throne room for hugs and kisses good bye from Tallulah, I set about helping Marie with feeding our horde hoard. Of course, before I even had a chance to drop my Blend at home, Tallulah tagged me. Goddess, how would you have me respond to such things in the future? You seemed to do pretty well right there. Hugs, kisses, farewells, then back to work.

While I no longer fear appearing weak, will it not encourage some to take advantage? I thought about that for half a second. Then spent another ten count carefully letting go of the rage at the thought that someone might target my kids to get to me. Or Tallulah. Or anybody else. Or even to get to them specifically. Yeah, there are gonna be idiots who want to try shit like that. But right now most of what you've got going on is politics, right? Favors and slights and all that shit?

Yes, although some might see targeting our child as an acceptable 'slight'. I shrugged, knowing she'd get the emotion even if she didn't see the gesture. Carrots and sticks. I mean, you're probably way better at this than me, but the long and short version is that you let people know that our kids are off limits. If some jackass tries to push that boundary, cut them off short. I felt her hesitation. If you can't for some kind of political reason, arrange for me to find out, and I'll cut them off at the knees.

Literally if I have to. As you wish, my Goddess. But on the flip side, if somebody there drops a dime on someone who's planning some shit with the kids, much though I hate to say this, be nice to them. Give them the carrot rather than the stick. Reward them. She chewed that over for a second. That would be my inclination, but what is your hesitation? Snitches ought to get stitches. But for my kids? Our kids? Fuck that noise. As you wish, my Goddess. I thought about that while eating dinner. Then while soaking.

I realized right then that maybe some of the folks who followed that line of thought weren't quite thinking right. Like, yeah, you don't turn on your own, or turn your own in. That's just common sense, not to mention the kind of code I could get behind. At the same time, if somebody's gone so far out into left field that they've climbed over the fence, left the stadium, and are vandalizing the cars in the parking lot, maybe it's time to cut them off, to no longer consider them 'one of your own'.

I'm pretty sure a universal 'kids are off limits' overrides everything else in that case, whatever kind of kid abuse we're talking about. When I finished soaking in the Bath, the ladies pulled me off to the Bed room and gently yet firmly removed anything resembling consciousness from your girl Tabitha. Dreamt of them gently setting themselves and each other afloat across my Maw, singing quiet hymns as they did. Still do not understand how a being made of tentacles and a maw with no discernable sexual...

y'know, I'm gonna stop myself right there, because holy shit Mimic is a mass of tentacles with a mouth. Like, I get it now. Also, very me, I guess. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. In the morning after distributing hugs and kisses to all the kids, I headed to the Academy with my ladies, fully intending to talk with them about both outing opportunities and possible pets.

First I followed one of Marie around the place in a Maid uniform, pretty much just acting as an extra set of hands for her. Some of the Maids gave me a little side eye, but more of them seemed kinda approving. Not sure which of those were OG Maids and which were new hires from Europa, but honestly, if Marie likes it, that's good enough for me. Early in the day, I asked her, "So, what do you think?"

"About?"

"More sleepovers and the Nightmares?" We made a few beds while she pondered. Okay, I mostly handed her clean sheets and held the dirty ones, but still.

"Good."

"Which?"

"Both." I thought about that for a bit, but I guessed if I hadn't actually intuited some positive outcome I wouldn't be asking. Still, I wanted a little more.

"Why?" Her immediate response was, "Travel." Followed, in the next room, with, "Responsibility."

"Thanks, Mittens." I sat with Siobhan and Grandma Aetos in the Infirmary most of the day, helping them with Healing. Okay, mostly doing the Healing, since most of the day to day issues coming in weren't hard to figure out or Heal. Cuts, bruises, broken bones, all of those responded well to overwhelming amounts of Mana dropped into a Heal Injury.

"You guys mind giving me some advice?" They looked at each other, set their pens down, and looked at me.

"Uh, okay. Um, two things. First, the kids want another sleepover, but this one on the Black Dragon. What do you guys think?" Grandma just nodded and said, "get 'em out of the house. Do 'em some good." Siobhan nodded as Grandma said that. When I looked at her, she laughed a little and said, "I would hardly argue with Mother Aetos. She's far more experienced with children, after all." I laughed a little at that too once I realized, then turned fully to Grandma.

"Okay, second thing. Apparently Menace has tamed some Nightmares. Now she wants to keep them as pets." The two of them just stared at me.

"No, seriously, she and the kids rode them down to the docks and back the other day. They all behaved themselves. Like, kids and Nightmares both." Grandma sucked at her teeth and tilted her head.

"Welp. Nobody with sense will try anything with a child riding a nightmare." Then she nodded.

"Get 'em out of the house, too." I laughed a little more.

"You're really into getting the kids out of the house, aren't you?" She glanced around, then lowered her voice.

"How else do you make more of 'em?" Never seen Grandma make Sister Siobhan blush. Still cute. I played seat cushion for Saffron all day. After our bento box lunch, I said, "the kids want something. Somethings." She paused in putting her coding windows back up.

"I take it from your phrasing that they want something of which I might not approve?" I shrugged, continuing to massage her shoulders, legs, and back.

"Not sure. Wanted to talk to you about it before I even talked to them." I paused, and she nodded with a 'go on' gesture.

"First, they want another sleepover, this time on the Black Dragon." She frowned, but nodded.

"I suppose there's no harm in it, so long as they sleep in your cabin aboard. She is a working warship now, though."

"Still want to know how you got her flying." Saffron smiled at me.

"Perhaps a tour is in order. Also, I'd like to get her out of the James. Perhaps bring her back to Phileo, or maybe Norfolk or New Amsterdam, since their ports are a little deeper." I sighed.

"I'd really like to dock her in Camden Yards at least once." When Saffron just looked at me inquisitively, I said, "nostalgia. BB sixty two, the New Jersey, the battleship she's based on? Is docked in Camden. I'd like to see her in the same spot here and now at least once."

"So be it. We take the children to the ship and give them all a grand tour as we fly her back to Camden Yards."

"Sweet!" Then my Kitten proved she's smarter than two of me put together.

"That was first. What's next?" I frowned.

"They want the Nightmares." It took her a second. Then her eyes got a little white around the edges.

"The children. Our children. Want to lay claim to Fae Steeds?"

"You're considering allowing our daughter, who is a bite sized for a Nightmare, to claim seven of them why?" I snorted out a laugh.

"Sweetheart, I think they're all terrified of her."

"Our... no, you don't mean our children. You," her train of thought slid to a stop sideways, and I watched as she carefully picked it up, put it back on the rails, and shoved it back into motion.

"The Nightmares are terrified of our daughter."

"Mor Primordial of Predators." She closed her eyes and nodded.

"I strongly suspect she uses her Blend regularly to make me forget that. Or perhaps it's simply my own denial manifesting. You're certain they can be trusted?"

"How smart are they?" She laughed, a brittle thing.

"Apparently smarter than most Gods, since they chose not to contest with the will of a Primordial."

"Okay then. I'll have a chat with them. If I can come to an understanding with them, can you arrange for some stables up at the Homestead?" She nodded, then laughed again. When I looked a question at her, she said, "I'd worried a bit about the children being able to play outside, or beyond the courtyard, with Dire Bears and other potentially Draconic wildlife in the area. But I suppose any Dire Bear stupid enough to tangle with Maenads and Nightmares deserves exactly what happens to it."

So for the rest of the afternoon the one of me who'd been running laps and doing calisthenics in the Practice Yard took stock of the equipment sheds. Gotta make sure we had the right stuff to facilitate a discussion with my daughters' would be pets. Realized after looking for a couple hours that there weren't any of the things I wanted, and that we really ought to have dedicated equipment at the Homestead anyhow. So I went to visit Conrad in his workshop and explained briefly what I wanted.

I don't know if he misunderstood me or was trolling, but he sure as shit damn near made me swallow my own tongue with his one question.

"When will your ladies be in for their fittings then?"