Chương 946: Day Nine Hundred And Forty-Four

Dear Diary, Yeah, I fucked up. Not with making the assumption that anybody from a civilized part of the world I grew up in would have made, because that's just inherent cultural bias. Yes, I know fancy words. Despite being a dumbass of epic proportions, I am not actually stupid. Nobody who read as much as I did back in the day is gonna have a shitty vocabulary.

We might mispronounce shit or miss some connotations or even have the denotation weird because we learned it in context and not from a fuckin' school vocabulary list, but big vocabulary is still big. Back in the day my tits were impressive, my ass was iconic, and my vocabulary dwarfed both of them. That's even if you remove the forty percent by volume that wasn't safe for work.

At any rate, everybody's got cultural bias, and I'm not apologizing for mine in this case, because it comes from a decent Value; that kids are supposed to be cherished. Protected, which means not exposed to shit like executions. I know there are always exceptions, like if some kid got molested by a dude, and he's gonna be executed, you let the kid watch so they know that the person who molested them is dead as fuck and won't be hurting them or anybody else again, ever.

But you don't take all your kids on a field trip to a mass execution. Okay, I wouldn't, because I'm from where I'm from, and you don't do that shit there. Apparently Marie would, but it comes from the same core Value; cherishing our children. Just in this world that means showing them that evil fuckers can in fact die, not to mention maybe showing them the best ways to do unto said evil fuckers if they're ever stuck alone with them.

On the one hand, I know that being beaten down and raped is still going to be traumatic, but maybe if they've got the memory of fighting back they won't feel like they deserved it or didn't say 'no' forcefully enough or any of the dumb shit I heard my friends hit each other and themselves with. Yeah, being able to hide in my house instead of working a part time job, whether at a bodega or on a corner, was a huge benefit I never really understood until just now.

Also, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe if they fight back hard enough the dude who wants to molest them will just kill them. I don't ever want my kids going through that, but the fact is that I can fix dead. I can't fix molested. I mean, I can give them justice and closure and whatever, but I can't wave a wand and give them back whatever innocence was stolen from them. On the other hand, I can, as noted, make them Not Dead if they wind up that way. Yeah, Marie would.

Tallulah and Saffron agreed with her. Siobhan might not be thrilled at the idea, but it's not as shocking to her as it was to me. That's kinda where I fucked up. Not in making different assumptions, but in flying off the handle and acting like Marie would put our kids in harm's way. Shit, from what Saffron said, all of the Maenads were there, and even with our large and ever growing horde, that's still like a dozen Maenads per kid.

Enough that they might have been safer there at the execution than anywhere except right under my watchful eyes. Okay. Yeah. Maybe even safer than there, because while I would never knowingly let my kids be hurt, I am easily distractable, whereas the Maenads do not appear to be. Maybe if they got in the 'nip, or if somebody had a space based laser light for them to chase, or maybe I should shut my brain mouth because I think I might be going on a bit of a racist rant there. Then again, maybe not.

They really are very fuckin' feline in every other way, after all. At the end of the day teaching, I gathered the horde, checked if any of them had friends who wanted to pay the Homestead a visit, and stepped us all home. Just to clarify, they did not, but only because they hadn't thought of it, and I insisted on parental approval before stealing one or more extra kids for the night.

On the other hand, Karen, Cherry, and Giselle took me up on the offer, although more as chaperones for the little band of orphans who lived at the Temple of Love and decided they wanted to see where we lived. Three of them; Sophia, Olivia, and Noah. Olivia, the oldest, wasn't much bigger than Davey, and unlike our brood, these three hadn't had Marie and Saffron boosting their egos for the past couple years. Then again, they felt secure enough to ask, and I sure as shit wasn't gonna tell them no.

Especially with the whole 'Tabitha's Children' thing going on. The final member of the little group was Giselle's little one, who bore the egregiously bad moniker of 'Tabson'. Yeah, Giselle definitely meant well, but seriously. I'm not sure if it's better or worse than all the little boys in Lancaster named 'Tabitha', but still kinda wonky. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Yeah, all the weird shit going on, and it's people naming their kids after me that hits the weirdest. Not hardest, not worst, but definitely weirdest. Marie had made multiple bisques at Siobhan's request. They were a little over salted, because apparently that's what Siobhan kept down easiest. That seemed weird to me, but as long as it got food into Darling, I wasn't gonna argue with it.

Kinda funny, Cherry had taken to wearing very cropped crop tops, and even if his belly henna had lost most of its glow, it still had enough that all the kids gathered around and quizzed him about it once they saw it. Funniest one had to be Isnomi, who stomped right up to him, hands on her hips at her tallest height, which given how short Cherry was meant she could stare right at his belly. Which she didn't, instead she glared at him.

"Hello, Isnomi!" She blinked.

"How'd you know my name?" He chuckled.

"I could say something about all good Priests knowing the names of their Goddess' daughters, but it's way simpler than that. I help with the school sometimes."

"You did na teach my class."

"No, no I didn't. I don't teach. I just help out. Carry things, maybe sit with children who need someone to sit with them. You've never needed my help, though." She reached out and poked him in the belly. Not hard, but enough that nobody could miss it.

"Mama did dis?" He glanced at me, and I nodded and shrugged.

"Yes, she did."

"Why?" He half choked at that.

"Because I asked her to?" Menace turned to me.

"Why you did dis?" I smiled at her, squatting down enough that I could look her in the eye.

"Because an important part of being a Goddess is being there for your Worshippers, especially when they need something they cannot get any other way." She chewed over that for half a second, while the rest of the room kind of held their breath. I'm sure some of them just worried about a normal little kid tantrum, but I noticed where Karen's hand drifted over to snatch Cherry away to safety if need be. I'm guessing maybe stealing him away to Phileo, or maybe New Amsterdam. Muscogee, maybe; Menace didn't really...

No, she'd been there. Compton? Thankfully, she nodded, smiled, and said, "oh tay!" Then she turned back to Cherry, but instead of talking to him she laid a hand on his belly.

"No bean noddy like Shawan's baby, kay?" Siobhan took that opportunity to splutter out, "my baby is not naughty!"

"She maked you sick. Das nod nice." At that point I figured it was time to intervene.

"Babies in bellies don't have choices, Menace. All they can do is grow. They can't even eat yet, let alone breathe or talk or make decisions." She frowned.

"Can dey heaw?" I shook my head, but said, "at this size?" I laid a hand on Siobhan's belly, only to get my palm kicked.

"Yeah, kinda, although it's sorta like what you would hear under water if somebody above the water was talking. Because the baby in there is surrounded by amniotic fluid." At her confused look, I said, "it's kinda like ocean water. Or maybe like blood, but it's clear. It helps keep the baby safe, but it would mess with their hearing just like water." She pouted a little, then I laid a hand on Cherry's belly.

"At this size? They're literally like a bean. No ears yet, even. So no, they can't really hear you." She pouted a lot, but nodded.

"Tay." Then she got close to Cherry, laid a hand on his belly, and said, "still beddah be good, baby!" After she and the other kids had spent a few minutes grilling Cherry for as many details as they could about his pregnancy and how he got that way, they eventually succumbed to the lure of bisque, and I quietly said, "sorry about the belly touching."

"Why?" The sheer confusion in his voice caught me and reminded me of the whole cultural bias, cultural difference thing.

"Because that's kind of an intimate place to touch someone." Yeah, did not expect the eyelid fluttering or the, "it absolutely was; even more when you touched it from the inside." Thankfully, he murmured that. After I rebooted my brain a little, I said, "yeah, okay, but Menace shouldn't be touching pregnant bellies willy nilly." He shrugged.

"She's a kid. And... A Goddess?" I nodded.

"Kids are curious. I was. And who knows, maybe she'll give my kid some kind of blessing? Couldn't hurt, anyhow." I couldn't help it, I just laughed.

"Okay, okay. Just try the bisque. Marie makes it special for Siobhan, it ought to be good for pregnant wo... people." Kinda funny, we almost filled the bed again tonight. Karen had to return Cherry to the Temple in the morning, because he had work, but Giselle stayed to help look after the three orphans, not to mention Tabson. Gah. Awful name. Which I can never let either of them know. Or who knows. Maybe it will grow on me.