It’s after dinner sometime on Monday, so I’ll be covering the weekend, as well as today. Let’s start with Saturday, ok?
Nightmares again. I don’t think there’s any question whether or not this is a Danny thing any more – everyone had them. Billy and I seem to be the only ones able to function properly this morning, so in an effort to get everyone calmed down and centered, Billy leads everyone in a meditation, which seems to really help. Afterward, Billy announces he’ll make breakfast, and he ropes the guys into helping.
I’m still kind of tired, and my head was still full of throughs from early morning writing, so I just head upstairs and shower, then dress and come down in time for breakfast to be done. There is a huge stack of french toast waiting – and I do mean huge. While eating, we discuss plans for the day. Initially, I don’t say a whole lot – just that I had something I wanted to take care of this morning. When pressed about what that something is, I lie, and say that I want to observe some of those classes at work. Truthfully, I wanted to look into the therapy services, but I didn’t want to say anything to anyone about me seeking that just yet.
Billy makes a joke (I think it’s a joke?) about how I’m the leader, and I need to give them orders. I’m stumbling over processing this, trying to gauge how serious this comment is and how others feel while also trying to figure out an answer, when he starts calling me Captain Mom, and at least one of the other guys chimes in with the same nickname.
Am I really seen as the most responsible one out of the five of us? I know I’ve been called the mom of the group by a couple different people a few times already, but…really? No protests on this? I suppose it’s all in jest, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t bother me a little. Being called Captain Mom just kind of made that feeling worse. I mean, on the one hand, I don’t know that I can help the way I behave necessarily – it’s who I am. On the other hand, I kind of just wanted to run off and do a string of stupid, reckless things.
After the mini chorus of Captain Mom comments, I go ahead and dole out responsibilities, just to see what happens – and no one protests! I told them that I wanted to make progress on one of the things on our plate, and since the only thing we can really do right now is the werewolves, I want to try and work on that, and hopefully we can negotiate. It’s suggested that just the pack will go and try to talk to them sometime after lunch, but beforehand we’ll try and gather info. I assign Sayuri to go talk to her mom, and learn what she can about werewolves from her. I task Billy with tapping into his ancestral memory thing to try and learn what he can. I have Dave go talk to Tony’s parents, and as for Tony, I don’t assign him anything. He and Sayuri are fairly attached to the hip at times, so I figured he’d accompany her, and I was right.
With all that settled, I head to the work training facility, where I run into Steve. Truthfully, I’m happy to see him. Sure, his appearance is off putting, but that just kind of doesn’t matter anymore once you start talking to him. He’s really easygoing, and easy to talk to, so we talked for a bit. I mention that Dad remembered him, and he was flattered by that. We talked a little bit about his family and werewolf advice, as well as our (the group’s) bit of fame due to the video of us witht he thunderwyrm circulating, before getting to the crux of the matter. He can tell something is bothering me, and offers to listen, offers to take me to the chapel even so I can sit in on a service or just contemplate. I thanked him but declined, stating I was hoping to see about therapy services. He goes ahead and shows me the way, but before he leaves he asks if I minded if he prayed for me. As I really don’t, I tell him to go ahead before thanking him, then head into the offices.
I speak with the secretary, who informs me that I could be seen than day if I wanted, so I opt to do that, and am assigned a Dr. Gerald to see. He’s friendly and personable enough, so I sit down and try to offload. It’s not easy to do that, but I manage to do so, covering the bulk of what’s been preoccupying my mind recently, save for anything regarding Raeyr. Mostly, just the personal relationship stuff, and the things looming over me. When I speak about Dave…well…he asks a couple of times if I have considered erasing his memory, though also suggests I break things off with him, stating that it’s not good for my mental health, or my work performance, for things to continue in the state they’re in now.
Not saying I don’t agree, but…I still have worries and fears about doing that at all. Maybe another opinion? I don’t know who I’d talk to though – Raeyr is on the same page as Dr. Gerald, and Billy and Sayuri weren’t super helpful, more of a ‘whatever makes you happy’ kind of answer from them. Tony, maybe, though I feel like he’ll be biased and take Dave’s side. Dad is the only other person I can think of to talk to about it. Machiko, maybe.
In any case, I get some surprise advice about werewolves from the doc…apparently, he is one, and used to be aligned to their way of thinking. So, so far, the advice I’ve been given is that it’s useless to try and negotiate with the wolf pack. To help me out, I’m prescribed a sleep aid (because yes, I discussed the nightmares – both Danny and not), as well as an anxiety med. I wait around to have them filled, then head home.
At home, Sayuri announces that she figured out that the flowers are from Maddie, though doesn’t really detail how she figured it out – at least not that I can recall right now. I mention that we’ll have to thank her, and ask how the talk with her mom went. Essentially, Machiko thinks we should all just run away and not deal with the wolves. Oh, and quit the company. I’m not about to quit – I took this job to protect my Dad, and what’s to say Dad would remain safe if I quit? Nothing, that’s what…so I was a little irked at Machiko’s opinion, but she is a mom after all, so I guess it’s reasonable.
Sayuri goes to tap Billy out of his trance and we wait for Dave to get home, and once he does we discuss lunch. I attempt to suggest that we just pick up something for lunch and eat at home, then discuss things, but apparently I wasn’t clear or something, as instead Sayuri suggests we go to the food court at the mall and discuss things while we eat. No one seems to mind that we’ll be in public talking about this stuff when we shouldn’t, so rather than argue the point I excused myself to head upstairs and hide my meds in my nightstand drawer before heading back down and then out to eat at the food court.
We’ve managed to get a few bites in and discuss a bit of news before things go sideways. Sayuri recounts her mom’s opinion to the group, while Billy relays that from what he was able to learn, negotiation is unlikely to work. I add to that what I learned from Steve and the Dr, but don’t state who told me, just that one of them was a werewolf. Dave says his talk with Tony’s parents went fine – they wanted to keep Dave and catch up for a while since they hadn’t really seen him in some time, but the important thing is that they are willing to come to a family dinner. Tony is nervous about this, but I remind him that we are all there for him.
I had just set down my drink when I feel sudden pain in my chest. Looking down, there’s about three daggers sticking out there. Looking around, Is ee Danny across the way. Before I really have time to act, Sayuri reaches over and yanked them out before healing me up. Then …then time seems to slow down, though I know I didn’t do anything – it’s just the perception of events at the time. I try to freeze her in time, but it couldn’t have been remotely successful, since the next thing that happens is a dark wave of energy emanates from her and out toward Billy, knocking him over. I was scared he might be dead, but I tried not to think about it as Tony ran over to check on him.
Dave ran up and tried to attack, but he wasn’t very effective. Sayuri tried to keep everyone healed, and then eventually Danny closed the distance. I used magic to give me a faster reaction time, and attacked a few times in quick succession, trying to cause damage with some joint locks so she couldn’t hurt anyone else. Unfortunately, she was still up and going. Sayuri is her next target, and they fight, with Sayuri shifting her hands to her fox claws to cause damage, meanwhile, people around us are running and screaming.
Danny still isn’t down though. She’s badly hurt – this is evident. But with this utterly malicious look in her eyes, she utters the phrase “kill them – kill them all!” and all hell breaks loose. Geysers erupt from the fountains, while the fryers burst into columns of flame. Plants animate and flail around, wrapping some tendrils around Billy and they slowly pull him in as fissures and cracks appear, and debris falls. I’m fortunate to be quick enough to dodge most of it, but Tony gets impaled through the shoulder by a spike jutting from the ground, and shortly thereafter falls into a fissure, clinging to the edge. Dave is unconscious somewhere, and Sayuri rushes over to help Tony while I try and track Danny.
Danny decides to attack while Sayuri is helping Tony, though isn’t completely in time to get her while she is distracted. They fight again, and this time Sayuri tears into her, ultimately finishing her by throwing her over the edge into a fissure. I leave to go rescue Billy from the plants that are trying to drag him away, knowing full well that she’ll take care of Tony before anything else, grabbing a dagger on the way to cut him free. While doing this, she heals the guys, and when I get Billy free we all work on getting out of there, Billy coming to along the way, angry and wondering where she is, but we tell him it’s already over.
I’m driving home when I notice Frank trying to catch up to us, so I pull over and let him into the car. He explains that we need to head to the tree, so I head in that direction. Once there, he digs around, and retrieves a letter that I read to the group. It was penned by Danny, and in it she apologizes for her behavior, and lists her regrets. Most importantly, we learn that she was rarely, if ever, in control of herself. In the end, I think we all forgave her. I know all of us have some level of guilt over this, but I try to look at it from the approach that she’s free from the prison those dark forces caged her in.
All of us exhausted, we head home. Sayuri is especially drained, as well as injured (she and I both are – while she was able to heal Tony and Dave, and Billy is regenerating, she can’t heal herself, and I was injured again after her initial healing), and she requests that one of us call her mom, so I think one of the guys went to do that. At roughly the same time, there is a knock on the door, and the person on the other end is Danny. In wariness and disbelief at her being there (as well as her unusually mature sounding voice), I try to read her mind and figure out what the hell is going on – only to feel like my brain is being seared by a holy light and get a major migraine for my troubles. This does lead me to figure out that it is Jasper in Danny’s body, however.
I prepare the others in the room for this encounter, and no one is sure how to handle it. Sayuri recoils when he tries to help, but she’s exhausted and can’t process properly at the moment. He thanks us for helping him be able to come back – apparently my praying for him had a lot to do with that – and he leaves for now. Now sooner is he gone then Machiko arrives, pushing people aside to get to Sayuri and try to heal her, all while asking questions. On her way out, she tells all of us to get sleep, and make a comment to me about how she needs to let my Dad know that I’m ok. When I inquire about just calling to let him know, she quips with asking if I want to be yelled at, to which I say no.
She leaves, and my phone rings. It’s a nervous Larry, letting me know that people at work want to know what happened – especially the part where they caught on video Danny crawling out of the fissure. I tell everyone else to go rest, and I spend the next couple of hours filling out the tedious, head-spinning, jargon filled report they need filled out. I mention what happened, as well as via my capabilities I was able to confirm that the thing that crawled out is not Danny, but am unable to clarify as my skill isn’t that high to determine that at this time. People wake up a couple hours later, and we have a small welcome back party for Jasper, and spend the rest of the evening relaxing and unwinding, though for my part I call it an early night.
On Sunday, Sayuri goes to recharge at her place in the tree, and since that’s going to take several hours, the rest of us head to work to collect the requisitioned equipment and try to get used to it, as well as observe and practice – Sayuri will join us later. In an effort to make things swing more favorably for us, I spend over an hour meditating over the equipment, trying to make it more lucky for us. I do get in touch with Johnny at one point, the guys I assume is the leader of the werewolf pack we had worked with, to ask if he can meet us out at the track later that night, telling him I need to give him some info, but don’t want to do so over the phone. He’s going to have one of his packmates show him the way, so we set up a meeting time for nine that evening.
That gives the group plenty of time to try and get familiar with things, head out, hide the transport vehicle, and hide everyone but me. When they arrive, Sayuri extends the mental link to include Dave and Tony, and I spin a mostly true story about how the company is on the hunt for them. Near the end of the conversation, I signaled Tony to fire the tranq gun, intending for them to get hit before they turned their backs and walked away, though that didn’t turn out to be the case. Admittedly, I wasn’t happy about this, as it’s less than honorable, but it happened and that’s all there is to it.
Johnny goes down immediately, but Tom goes on the defensive, immediately shifting. Sayuri races out in her small fox form and bites, managing somehow (probably through one of her special abilities) to knock him down. There’s a brief fight, and gets knocked down, and lays unconscious. The guys toss us manacles, and I go to cuff Johnny while Sayuri tries to get Tom. As she leans over, he leaps up to go for her throat, having been playing dead. He misses, and takes off running before she can react. He’s fast, but not so far away that I still can’t see him, so I use magic to blast his mind, and he falls unconscious. We cugg him, haul them into the vehicle, and take them to the holding center, where we were greeted with cheers and congratulations.
Some others at the facility lead Johnny and Tom away, and put them in cells. Johnny gives me a look of pure hatred and betrayal. I shrug at him, mentally relaying that I have a family to protect as well. His response is to tell me that when he gets out of there, I’m dead. I pretend as though I didn’t hear, though I’m sure he knows I did. Does it bother me? Of course it does. But I didn’t say anything to the group about the threat. Instead, we tried to think of ways to take out the rest of the pack. The only two options we could come up with, is to try and lure them out by faking a mental link, or to just head to where we knew they were. In an effort to figure out which path might be best, I tried to look ahead into the future, but all I got was blackness and a headache for my trouble.
We decided to go home, get some food (we hadn’t really eaten since lunch), and think it over. As we approach the house, however, we see smoke coming from the backyard. I don’t’ approach the house, instead stopping some distance away, and have Sayuri check to see what’s going on. After waiting several minutes, she relays that it’s Jasper, so I pull into the driveway and we head into the house. In the backyard, we find Jasper, a bonfire, and roughly half a dozen bodies – three of which are the remainder of the pack.
Jasper took care of this for us in an effort to help us out, though he admits he may have been misguided, and apologized, offering to make it up to us. I told him we understood, and appreciated..but it was a bit jarring to come home to. I had him leave the pack members so I could explain to work, and he took care of the remaining bodies. Once he was gone, Sayuri and I tried to get the wounds to match our weapons, and I called for a clean up crew. Of course, there was paperwork to fill out for that, but not nearly so much or mind numbing, so I took care of that before getting a shower and calling it a night.
Today was fairly uneventful. I spent most of the day just trying to relax and not worry about things, though that was difficult. Oh, I did forget to mention that I spoke with Vanderbilt last night, and he mentioned that his spy (for lack of a better term) had gotten a better idea of where Blackthorne was, but was still working. I told him that’s more than what he had, and thanked him again.
When I got tired of just laying around, I went downstairs and made use of our gym, as well as what martial arts equipment we had. Honestly…it was nice to just focus on perfecting my strikes. While doing so, I was remembering times that I practiced with my grandfather, or those rare times I was able to practice with my father. They’re good memories.
The only other thing I figured out is the family dinner idea. It’s set up for tomorrow night, and I even have a menu planned – a pasta dish. I figure maybe like a grilled chicken fettuccine – have Dave cook the chicken, Sayuri make the pasta, Billy make the sauce, Tony make the garlic bread, and I can make a dessert. Everything from scratch, of course. This way, everyone has some contribution to the meal.
Tomorrow will be a busy day, if for nothing else than to get the house in order, and all the prep work for dinner done – and the actual cooking, of course.
It’s been nice to relax today though – the workout, catching up on some manga, and now writing a little bit. With any luck, tomorrow night’s dinner goes smoothly. I really hope Tony and his parents can patch things up and have a relationship again.