Heri thought such an explanation was very sweet but wouldn't it have made more sense if Ceres stopped being so sad after a while when it became obvious Proserpina would always return to her? Of course, that would mean the seasons would be drastically changed again, throwing off the process of food production, so Heri supposed everyone was better off with Ceres continuing in her moping.
Another goddess that Heri found funny was Juventas — Hebe — either a goddess or personification of youth depending on what book Heri read. Her name was where 'juvenile' came from, and despite being a goddess of a pretty important part of a person's life, she had only been a sort of serving maid for the gods before she tripped and made a fool of herself, thus getting replaced by her father's boyfriend. (The last fact about Juventas' father's boyfriend was not a part of the school-edited reading of course.) One would think that one of the only two daughters that Jupiter and Juno had together would be treated better, but she was pretty much shoved off to the side until Hercules came along and married her.
Heri was bemused that the one who could be argued as her current patron goddess was married to her namesake. She would have been miffed at being named after a boy if it wasn't for the fact that boys were often named after the Greek equivalent of the goddess Diana, Artemis.
Reading up on the Greco-Roman gods became a hobby of Heri's. Outside of being part of what she was learning in school, it was all very fascinating in its own right. She would find herself thinking how the individual gods would react to situations and what she'd do if she had their powers. It was a great distraction from the drudgery that was dealing with her relatives.
She became uneasy when she discovered stories that mentioned giants monsters with only one eye. The story of Odysseus and Polyphemus reminded her a bit of the fiasco at the supermarket. A cyclops; they had both blinded a cyclops. Of course, in Odysseus' case, he didn't kill it. She had tried to put the memory of running and fighting for her life out of her mind when it was obvious she was the only one that saw any of it, but finding written history — albeit history that was accepted as mythical — talking about the creature and its origins pooled dread in her belly.
No, no! She wasn't going to think about it! Odd things happened around her, yes, but believing that Gods and monsters existed was insane. She was going to put such thoughts completely out of her mind and focus on reality!
Still, even as she put the book away and threw herself into translating a parable about Apollo and the sun, Heri's perception of reality stretched to include things many considered impossible.
Heri loomed angrily over a bigger boy curled up on the ground at her feet, groaning in pain. He glared at her and tried to grab at her ankle, but she pulled the limb in question back and aimed a kick at the offending hand. Said hand was retracted with a shout and cradled to the boy's chest.
Keeping her snarling face pointed in his direction, Heri backed away from him. She wasn't going to let him get the jump on her again.
"I warned ya, O'Toole!" Heri growled. "I told ya that if you touched me again I'd tan yer sorry hide from 'ere to kingdom come! Did ya think I was kiddin'?"
Loosely surrounding the two who had just been fighting were students hanging out on the playground instead of going home immediately. It was after school on a Thursday and this had been the most exciting thing they had witnessed in weeks.
Heri had earned a bit of a reputation after it became blindingly obvious that Dudley couldn't do shit to intimidate her anymore. Hell, he hadn't been able to catch her once since first-year. The dimwits that thought themselves tough shit took her continued freedom from bullying as a challenge. They got it into their thick heads that successfully cowing her would make them the big boss of the school. Bunch of morons. They were in sodding primary school.
Only a few of them had gotten physical with her, the rest weren't cocky enough to actually beat on a girl. Even the few that tried physical intimidation like pushing her around and tugging on her hair had backed off when she socked them good in the gut. O'Toole was a dog-faced imbecile who was the only one that tried fighting with her.
The first time, she had twisted his wrist for trying to grab her and told a teacher on him. Heri had warned him that if he ever did such a thing again, she'd take him out proper. Obviously, he thought he was a match for her. Now he was crippled with pain from Heri knocking him off his feet and nailing him in the groin. How pathetic.
"Violent bitch!" O'Toole groaned, scowling weakly at her.
Gasps of scandalised shock followed. These were kids from good families, words filthier than 'stupid' and 'bloody' were a mortal sin to them.
Another kicked nailed him, this time in the shoulder.
"I asked if ya thought I was kiddin', not what yer mum shoulda named ya."
"Don't talk about my mum, Potter!"
"Who was talkin' about yer ruddy mum? I was talkin' about you. Or are yer ears as lousy as yer brain?"
"You―!"
Another kick, this time the forearm.
Heri heard titters and chattering. She sent a glare at the gawking crowd.
"Anyone else want some of this?"
The onlookers startled and bumped into one another in their haste to disperse.
From across the street, a figure had stood watching the entire confrontation.