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"How was school, honey?"
She tries to make the kids' favorite meals on their first day of school, but when she asked Iomedae's favorite meal the girl first stared at her blankly and then after some extended clarifications proposed that they could roast a pig, and she can't actually roast a pig, so dinner is pork chops, and potatoes, and salad from the farmer's market. Iomedae is not a picky eater.
(The girl is in fact clinically obese. The doctor suggested they talk with her about cutting back on junk food, but the social worker said that was a bad idea, with a kid new to care - don't restrict her food access at all, just get her more exercise. So Jenny signed her up for swim lessons at the YMCA and for track and field at school. Iomedae balked at the swimming lessons on the grounds that swimsuits were immodest, and they do actually make hijabi wetsuit things but apparently not in her size. Hopefully track and field she'll actually enjoy.)
"....I no sworded any people but Martin, and Martin I warn, no hurt these people I am a holy warrior, and no hurt him until he hurt me, and when he stop hurting me I take him to church. I think swording people is good if they do what Martin tried and you are not strong to stop them some other way. Killing people is ...a thing that makes a very bad thing happen, and only do it if even more bad thing happen if you do not do it, but that happen."
"....I mean yes it sounds like you did really good with Martin, swording people is good if they are trying to assault innocent people, but taking him to church was insane and usually when people say they are holy warriors they mean they want to blow up a bridge or something and kill hundreds of innocents.... And I do not think you would openly admit to that but I have to stop you if you want to do that?"
"Maybe holy warriors does not mean...person God choosed to sword evil, keep people safe, must be obedient and good and never do any evil thing?"
"Um. I don't think it means that at all. Usually I think it means someone who wants to kill everyone who believes in different gods to them? I.... obviously neither of us are knights but, if you subtract the bit where God chooses you, your thing sounds like someone who's a knight or is trying to be a knight? But I - probably shouldn't get into this at practice but I don't believe in God anyway."
"I don't know what you mean believe in. A holy warrior no is a knight because Sir Gabriel lied to Jenny."
"Maybe I do not have English to understand you. You do not think God is friend of America?" That is ....possible and at least conceivably consistent with other things people have told her.
"I - have you not encountered an atheist before ever? God would sure love America if he existed but I don't think he's real. Like if I said to you, oh I have an uncle who is twenty feet tall and bright green and he breathes fire and is king of the Moon, you'd be like, no you don't, I don't believe you."
"If someone says they have an uncle who is twenty feet tall and bright green they are definitely lying."
"...or they have an uncle who is twenty feet tall and bright green! ....anyway, maybe some people lying. But every priest of God lying? To the - man in charge of world??"
"Iomedae, nobody has an uncle who is twenty feet tall and bright green. Nobody anywhere in the world. Like zero people, nada, zilch, nope, no twenty foot tall uncles and no green people."
"Ah, you talk to everybody in whole world? I no talk to very many people, so I not know how tall or green people other places are."
"No I just know what things are possible and not possible and -" okay it's not strictly true that people can't be green or that you can't have at least humanoids who are twenty feet tall, Lucy is very new to the whole thing where she knows about magic and keeps forgetting - "people's uncles can't be twenty feet tall. I think they'd die because they couldn't support the weight of their lungs or something. We would have records."
"When I go to church, the priest reads from Scripture, yes?"
"I don't know, I don't go to church. But Scripture isn't true. Things aren't true just because someone two thousand years ago wrote them."
Iomedae is starting to suspect that Lucy is just not very clever. Which is not her fault; no one chooses how clever to be. "The thing you are saying, do all people think it, or you?"
"It doesn't matter how popular something is. Lots of evil things are popular. People used to think the Sun went around the Earth. It matters what's true."
"....Lucy. I am a foster child. To see my friends, to see Maria who I try to protect from Martin, would be disobeying. To carry a sword, to have money, to go to Costco, all would be disobeying. I no can go talk to everybody in the world, to learn if any person is twenty feet, or green. I can only talk to people who Robert and Jenny bring me to see. When you say a thing, I have no way to say, is this a thing all Americans think, is this a thing just Lucy thinks. All the priests are lying, that is a very big thing. If Lucy think all the priests lying, that is a different big thing than if all Americans think all priests are lying."
"Uh, I think about... one in twenty people are certain there's no god, one in six think probably not, one in three don't want to belong to any church, another one in twenty belong to some other religion, - wait a second you're not allowed to have money and go to Costco? Why won't your parents let you have money and go to Costco? They shouldn't be stopping you going and asking teachers at school or talking to anyone - do you, like, need money for food?"
"One in twenty is not very many," says Iomedae. It is still a confusing state of affairs for any people to think there are no gods but one in twenty people think all kinds of things, and the priests don't do channels here, so maybe it is much harder to be sure they're not just some strange kind of sorcerer. "...there are poor people, you should give them money not a holy warrior. I was trying say why I no can go see this. Of course I do not want to be a foster child but if people think holy warriors are evil then it makes sense they foster child them if they find them."
"...did they take you away from your parents because your parents were in a religious extremist cult or something? Because, wow, that explains a lot and I'm really sorry for being mad at you and - you should be allowed to go to Costco whenever you damn well want to. I'm happy to give you a lift if that's the problem."
