People are complicated. They can surprise you with maturity one moment then ruin it seconds later without missing a beat. Events unfold including but not limited to: John putting his arm possessively around Hannah's waist (not by invitation either!) And Hannah gains a gardens worth of flowers with the adoring public to go with them.

 

“Mom? Everyone’s packing up to go, are you ready?”

My shoulders still slumped a little at being called ‘Mom’ so casually.
I’m kind of getting used to it from Eris, she’s become my little shadow since the mood stabilisers kicked in, but that doesn’t mean I have to LIKE it..

It turns out mages can use normal drugs by the way?
That was news to me honestly.

I always figured that, when normal painkillers did nothing for me, my body did the same ‘overly cautious’ thing with drugs that it did for sun-bathing and skin cancer.. basically, eliminate any affects you would normally expect to see before they even had a chance to kick in?

I didn’t know what drug it was they gave me at first, they convinced me to swallow the pills when I was in a ‘happy/cuddly’ phase where I pretty much did whatever anyone said as long as it would make them smile at me.
Kind of embarrassing now that I’m ‘sober’ really..

Afterwards things settled down a bit and I could focus a little better, which just made me more determined to keep taking the pills regularly.
I should probably be worried that I’m taking the same drugs they give people that are Bipolar or manic-depressive but honestly.. they help?.. and I really can’t be bothered to argue about it at this point.

I.. I just want to go home?..
This city is.. I don’t like ‘New Avalon’!

I dislike it possibly more than I dislike Medford, which is scary in itself.

New Avalon is the last ‘mage colony’ in the United States.
There’s a REASON it’s the last colony here, the people who live here are just.. weird?

You’re either ‘traditionalist’, robes, wands, broom, pointy hat, black cat, the whole stereotypical ‘witch’ setup with the fifteen-hundreds mentality to go with it or you’re just not welcome here.

It’s kind of depressing seeing all these people just cutting themselves off from the world like this?
People that live in New Avalon.. they LIVE in New Avalon.
They never leave!

I don’t know if they could leave if they wanted to honestly, the worlds probably a pretty scary place if you’ve grown up living effectively over five-hundred years in the past?

When everything settled down, or more specifically when I settled down, John went out and bought me a robe to cover up with and blend in a bit better.
It’s kind of necessary around here anyway, the whole ‘cave ceiling full of star-like lights’ thing may look pretty but being underground is COLD!

I never thought I’d miss the sun so much or so quickly.
If we can just get home I’ll be happy..

John and Apollo managed to get in contact with Gran so I don’t have to worry about Mum and Sarah getting angry with me more than necessary at least.
Sarah’s still pretty pissed off at me for leaving her behind again though apparently.

THAT’S going to be fun to come home to!
Even with that little talk on the horizon, I still can’t wait to get home.. just getting away from HERE will do honestly..

“I’ve not exactly got much to pack.”
Eris raised a little red eyebrow at me suspiciously.

It’s kind of scary how many of my mannerisms seem to be present on her face most of the time.
We’ve only just met but it’s like she’s been watching me for years?
I SWEAR she’s even picking up on some of the twin-speak twitches that I let off automatically when I’m talking!

“Aren’t you bringing your flowers?”

Ah.. yeah.. THOSE..
Apparently word’s got out that ‘THE Arista’ is visiting New Avalon.
Even before I was prescribed the mood stabilisers yesterday, bouquets of flowers with little ‘get well soon’ cards started turning up.

It seems that gossip travels fast, even in this backwards little time-capsule of a city.

The front entrance of the compound is practically a flower garden at this point.
John had Thanatos, the big guy I choked out in my post-Theodora mood-swing haze yesterday, act as a gate guard to keep people from coming in to try and get a glimpse of me.

The big guy is surprisingly gentle outside of a fight.
He tried to apologise to me when he saw me again after he woke up but I had to override him and apologise for my actions instead.
I really didn’t mean to hurt him.

He reminds me a bit of Tor honestly?
I kind of like that, I can relate to him better because of it.
I can kind of see how he became known as the Greeks ‘nice’ god of death.

In the later years of the Greek Empire he was seen as the more gentle ‘passing of life type’ of death god, a big contrast to most of them, especially when compared to his mother ‘Nyx’ who it was said even Zeus himself feared.
As a side-note, it turns out storyteller wasn’t COMPLETELY lying the first time I met him.. as annoying as it is to accept that idea..

While I don’t remember BEING her in the slightest and I’m still worried about that fact.
It’s kind of hard to argue that I WASN’T Nyx when Thanatos calls me ‘Mother’ and assures me that his siblings Aether, Hemera, Moros, Ker, Oneiroi, Momus, Oizys, Nemesis, Apate, Philotes, Geras and his twin brother Hypnos have all contacted him for information on my condition in the last twenty-four hours.

Doubling down on that problem is the presence of Eris.. who happens to be ANOTHER child of Nyx.
She told me this morning that, while she hasn’t heard from the ‘Moirai’, more commonly referred to as ‘The Fates’ these days, she HAS been in contact with the ‘Hesperides’.

The Hesperides are a clan of Nymphs, half-human half-fae, that apparently have their home colony somewhere in North Africa and consider ‘Arista’ to be their Leader?.. Mother?.. Honorary Queen?
No-one’s really been clear with me on that one.

People seem to be happy with just saying that ‘they love Nyx’ and leaving it at that, which is kind of frustrating.

OH!.. and just to add to the overload of evidence that I must have, in some way, BEEN Nyx in a past-life we apparently received a disturbing messenger bird last night in the form of a ’Strix’.

The ‘Strix’, while looking like rather odd owls with long golden beaks, red wings, yellow pupil-less eyes and four black legs each, are connected with ill-fortune, recorded as having eaten human flesh and sucking the blood of infants regularly.
It arrived while I was sleeping last night so I didn’t have to see the creepy little thing lucky but the moment it turned up everyone knew who it came from.

There’s only one group on earth that keep Strix birds as pet’s and familiars, the ‘Keres’, another group who name Nyx as their ‘Mother’.. although in this case I think it’s more of a religious ‘we follow you’ kind of Mother.. I hope so at least?

Otherwise that’s a LOT of daughters for one woman to have had.. even while ignoring the kids she ALREADY has!

I hope the Keres decide to stay home through all this..
Their note wasn’t exactly helpful one way or another, they basically just wanted Eris to tell them if I was alive and ‘awake’.

It brings another worrying possibility to my already full plate as well.
I might attract the interest of what’s left of the Valkyries now too?!

That should be fun, considering Rosemary and Trudy are both un-awakened Valkyries themselves and everything.. the Keres are what the ‘Valkyries’ were eventually reborn into.. sort of..
Ugg! Reincarnations are hard to explain!

Okay.. the Valkyries were scary warriors, that’s well known but at least they were slightly reasonable about the whole ‘killing people’ thing, demanding a reason to do it before turning their blade on someone at the very least.

A lot of them were reborn in Greece centuries later.. it happens a lot with awakened mages..

Obviously I can’t speak from personal experience but Nyx must have been pretty ‘inspiring’ in a twisted way because a lot of the scary and powerful, but overall noble Valkyries joined the literally bloodthirsty horde of the Keres in the space of one generation!

From what I’ve read and been told, their numbers have thinned a lot over the years.
That’s somewhat of a relief.

At a guess I’d say that a lot of mages have had new incarnations and decided to leave the group for any number of reasons?
Personally I’d go so far as to say it’s because ‘being crazy gets boring after a while’.

..THAT one I can give you from personal experience!..

As someone who went from the insanity, bloodshed, power-lust and the mind-games of Theodora and, only a few incarnations later, coming out the other side as a nun living the pious life with pride and joy until her dying day.
I can categorically state that sometimes..
Sometimes, you just need to take a step back and re-evaluate your past-incarnations actions before following in their footsteps when you’re an awakened mage?..

Not many mages actually DO that obviously but I guess experience shows through eventually considering how many nice ‘Not-Arista’ incarnations I have hiding from her in my head at this point.

======

“Mom?”
I jerked out of my thoughts and offered Eris a weak smile.

..yeah.. that whole ‘spacing out’ thing is back again..
It’s back with a vengeance actually?.. I blame the drugs..

The mood stabilizers must have some kind of side effects on a mage, even more so with my messed up head.

I can live with spacing out if that’s the only side-effect I end up stuck with in exchange for not flip-flopping between emotional extremes every five seconds though.
That gets EXAUSTING after an hour or two!

“Can you go find your dad and ask him to bag up all the flowers for me Eris? I’ll try to find somewhere to put them when we get home..”
She nodded and smiled brightly at me before running off to find John.

Its awkward referring to John as her ‘dad’ but it’s also a lot less complicated then calling him a specific name around Eris.
More than once I’ve asked her to get John for me and received a completely blank look of confusion in exchange.

If I didn’t know any better I’d swear she’s doing it on purpose!
You would think she’d have worked out who I meant after the first few times it happened, right?!

Kids can be a bit picky about things like that though.
She’s made it perfectly clear through her actions that her ‘Dad’ is her ‘Dad’ and her ‘Mom’ is her ‘Mom’.. nothing we say will sway her on EITHER of those points sadly.

She’s a good kid.
She reminds me of some kind of hybrid between me and Sarah at her age honestly?
She’s got my brains, she knows how to use them like I did at that age too, although she seems to know WHEN to use them as well which is something young Al never really picked up sadly.

I’ve witnessed her go from an innocent, rather shy but curious child to a yelling little miss who’s convinced she’s right about whatever topic is up for discussion and, annoyingly for the people involved, she’s usually right about it in the end as well.

My brains and young Sarah’s personality.. if she wasn’t so clingy and cute I’d be terrified honestly?

She’s growing on me though.
I know that’s a weird way to put it but I’m trying to keep the idea of us forming some strange, cross-incarnation mother-daughter relationship from being in any way a possibility in my head so ‘growing on me’ is about as far as I’m willing to admit at the moment.

It’s bad enough that my new body is screwing with my emotions, I REALLY don’t want to become some sappy little twit who coo’s at babies in the street and plays homemaker all day.

Reluctantly I can accept that I’m female.. for now.
That doesn’t mean I have to become some nineteen-fifty’s stereotype ‘June Cleaver’ monstrosity!

My Mum works.
My Sister works.
Aunt Lily works.
Fena works.
Even Edith works!

Every important female in my life so far is independent and strong willed, often to a worrying degree!

I will NOT be the feminine one out of that long list of women.
I REFUSE to be the girly one!

No matter WHAT stupid mixed up signals my brain and hormones may be throwing at me randomly..

======

“He’s done packing the flowers and ‘Dite is getting impatient, apparently she wants to get started on decorating her new room.. when she gets a place.. IF she gets a place.. stupid cow-uddered bimbo..”

Eris snapped her mouth shut when she saw my warning look.
I don’t think she expected me to catch that last part but I’ve come to expect snide little comments when it comes to Eris speaking about Aphrodite.

I’m tempted to say it’s just plain old Jealousy.. with a Capitol J..
She has a worrying tendency to drop into rude comments and nasty mutters when the unfortunately over-endowed but worryingly innocent girl is involved.

At first it seemed like understandable sibling rivalry between the more mature girl and poor insecure little Eris, but after talking to John it seems that it’s just a pure and simple good-old-fashioned ‘Rivalry’.

I tend to forget, but Eris hasn’t ALWAYS been a sweet little girl.
She’s awakened, even younger then John did this time, and apparently that had an effect on her mental development.. but she’s still awakened.

When I’m not around she’s apparently a little monster that uses her older mind and intellect to get what her younger personality and instincts demand.
She once tracked down her cheating ex-husband a few centuries ago and at the tender age of ten took revenge on the then old man in a series of cruel ways that left him heartbroken and practically wishing for death.

Personally.. I find it hard to see?
She’s usually so sweet and nice about everything to me, Aphrodite aside.

According to John, she’s something of a ‘Mommy’s girl’ which is why I only tend to see her ‘nice’ side.
She’s one of the children who hunt’s for each Arista incarnation almost as diligently as Max did, which should say a lot for her mental stability and possible ulterior motives.

Despite John’s advice I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt for now though.
The same with all the other kids of Arista, both those that I’ve met and those that are yet to turn up.

I’ve learnt over the years to not completely trust my past-incarnation memories.
There are too many flaws and missing patches present for them to be fully trustworthy if I’m going to judge someone by them.

The fact that I can’t even remember a past incarnation that was a mother at all, considering how many kids Arista seems to have had just in one incarnation with JOHN of all people, should show just how bad of a problem rushing to judgements like this could be..

So I’ve decided to wipe the slate clean.
I’ll judge people on how they act or don’t act rather than what I’m told about them or read in the history books.

According to the history books, I’m a monster myself.. multiple times over.. so they hold about as much weight as my past-life memories do at this point.

======

“Mom.. Mommm...”
A little hand came out and poked me in the forehead, finally jerking me back into the real world again.

Oh yeah.. the spacing out thing is DEFINITELY worse than before!
..stupid defective brain..

Eris seemed happy to have my attention back on her judging by the bright grin she gave me.
I couldn’t help returning it with a smile of my own.
She really is adorable.. Felix at his fluffiest kind of adorable..

..yeesh..
Female brain chemistry and biological imperatives towards ‘cute’ things!
I’m tellin’ ya, they’re one hell of a drug!

Its honestly kinda scary how hard I have to fight down some truly stupid little impulses now, it’s not really been THAT bad all week.. aside from a bit of extra vanity and interest in clothes that I THINK comes more from past-incarnations bleeding through then some kind of ‘female’ related thing.. but NOW?!

Sometimes Eris just LOOKS at me and I have this sudden urge to pick her up and squeeze her in a big hug.

I’m NOT a ‘hug’ sort of person.
I never HAVE been and I never really PLANNED to be.

That ridged determination kind of went a bit lax when it came to Mum this week, just because I’m glad to have her back and.. ya know.. not all angry and bitter at me..
That was ONE exception though!
It’s not a new rule brain!
Get that through your thick.. brain..

Damn it.. even my ‘talking to myself’ is getting confusing and stupid now!

======

“Hannah?”

Another violent jerk and another frantic blinking session left me back in the real world again.
John squinted at me uncertainly for a moment but seemed to come to some kind of decision about my sanity that he found comforting enough to glance away from me at least.

Judging by the worried look on Eris’s face she was the one who went to get John to help me.
I must have gone all ‘blank faced’ and unresponsive on her this time.

We made eye contact and she practically ran over to dive into my arms for an uncomfortably tight hug.
I would complain, but honestly she’s shivering a little?
I’m kind of worried that she gets like this so often, it’s like she’s afraid to cry or something so she just bottles it up and tries to hide it.

While I was out of it she apparently became so frantic John had to put her to sleep until I showed signs of stability from the drugs, just to stop her from trying to in some way ‘heal’ me herself.

I’m no expert but at a guess she’s got some kind of bad experience of a mother figure, possibly a past me, becoming ill before her eyes?
I could be way off base though, I’m no psychologist after all..

======

My hand came up and caught John’s before he could pat my head.
I practically have a sixth sense for when he’s going to do that.
I used to HATE it in school, it was so embarrassing, but now it’s just one of those things I missed having while we were ‘disagreeing about my identity’.

“You’re really bad at the moment aren’t you?”
I glared at him and shifted uncomfortably, dropping his hand with my free arm while holding Eris close with my other one.

“You try having Theodora shove your brain back in sideways, see how well you cope with it.. I’ll be okay eventually, just.. just try and avoid asking me any provocative questions, okay?”
He grinned and perked up a suggestive eyebrow.

..not THAT kind of provocative.. stupid perv!

“If you ask me something which is going to draw me into thinking about it too deeply I’ll just drift away like I’ve been doing.. maybe there’s a problem with my short-term memory or something? I dunno, I just seem to get stuck on recent events and overthink them at the moment.”

He nodded in acceptance of that theory for what it was but took the time to turn and gently steer me towards the door so we could finally leave this stupid backwards little city.

It took me a moment to realise that the pressure on my side as I stepped forward was Eris.
I’d kind of forgotten she was there honestly?
Having her tucked into my side like this feels worryingly ‘normal’ for some reason.

When my next step was awkwardly timed between the three of us I sighed and in a quick sweep scooped her onto my hip to carry her out.
She smiled to herself almost proudly as if that was what she’d wanted all along.
Without a word she settled her cheek on my shoulder and looked up at my face from the side.
..kids!..

John seemed entirely too amused by the whole thing.

A warning look from me wiped the smirk off his face surprisingly.
I seem to be giving a lot of ‘warning looks’ at the moment.
All of them seem to be surprisingly effective too, no idea why?

“You’re public awaits..”

Another warning look was sent his way for that one but he didn’t seem quite as affected this time.
Maybe he’s building up an immunity already?
..stupid John..

======

The whispers are getting to me.

It’s not THAT long a walk to the waypoint from John’s little Greek hideaway in the city but the traditionalists, that glared at me so openly a few days ago, are practically bowing down in worship now!

One guy actually did JUST that!
John chased him off quickly with little more than an angry look but it still HAPPENED!

Our group, consisting of Aphrodite, Eris, Thanatos, John and me was bound to catch some attention.
Even with me wearing a hooded robe to blend in when I’ve even, reluctantly, agreed to keep the annoying hood up to cover my face.. word travels fast with mages.

Aphrodite’s eye-catching curves, Eris’s over the top cute-factor, Thanatos’s sheer SIZE and John’s commanding walk all add up to the social equivalent of a big neon sign pointing directly at us.
If anything my low-key robe makes me standout even MORE just because I don’t look weird compared to everyone around us?

“This is stupid.”

Before anyone could stop me I hooked a thumb into the wide neck of the robe and yanked it over my head.
It got caught a bit on my messy, partly loose, hair and on my boobs but that was barely an annoyance in the grand scheme of things.

I hate wearing robes.
I hate trying to blend in with all the traditionalists even more!

Blending in would be normal except for the fact that traditionalists painfully AREN’T normal.

They’re IDIOTS, they’re PEOPLE!
Sheep in all but name, too afraid to go out and see the world so they cling to their ideas despite everything around them showing just how stupid it all is!

Seeing them walking around with their wands and their robes on their stupid rough cobbled streets.. it kind of makes me see what’s annoyed John so much when he’s been trying to show me his ideas about magic lately?..

He was right.
I can’t deny that now.

Just like how the traditionalist’s think that casting spells through a wand is the only good way to do magic, despite how LIMITING it is.
I was doing the same thing with my lines.
..blind, wilful ignorance?..

You can’t BREAK magic!
No-one can.
John was just using it better than I can, in a different way that works SO much EASIER than normal.

I’m not normal.
I’ve accepted that.
I’m also not going to ignore this anymore.

I made up a spell on the spot, completely ignored my lines, while throwing out a nonsense word and MADE it work!
John said it best, ‘if you’re powerful enough the rules don’t apply’..

I don’t know HOW or WHY but I did it and it worked!
I forced my magic to do something that the golden rules of magic say is impossible without great cost to yourself and those around you.

I raised the dead!

There’s a REASON Lich’s are so deranged and walk around looking like living corpses.
Death doesn’t like to be denied it’s due!
I didn’t just deny it, I COUNTERED it!

“John?..”

He turned his head and slowed from his marching pace at the front of the group to offer me a curious smile.
Eris moved a little from her position tucked into my side at the sound of my voice too but she quickly settled down to just walking normally again and ignoring everyone to focus on holding loosely to the belt loop on my shorts.

“Can you teach me.. teach me how to do magic like you?”

His smile seemed to almost dim for a moment but it must have been my imagination because, while it definitely wasn’t as bright as before, his whole face took on a warmth that I’ve not seen in him before.
With a casual shrug he turned back to the front of the group and threw an answer over his shoulder.
“Sure, when we get back home and have some free time.”

The others didn’t seem to get what we were talking about luckily.
I was trying to be a bit obscure in case it was a secret or something but John’s casual answer eased what little curiosity they had about the whole thing.

We finally reached the waypoint area and aside from a crowd of people trying to look like they WEREN’T following us and an angry glare from the guard, everything went relatively okay.

“Jones, party of five, I booked this morning.”

The guard grunted and shot me another glare.
Obviously SOMEONE hasn’t forgiven me for puking on him the other day?

I cleaned it up and said I was sorry!
What more does he want?.. asshole..

“The beacon’s clear for departure at both ends if you’re ready now sir?”

Oh sure, JOHN gets respect!
I just get nasty looks.
That’s SO not fair!

John’s arm went around my waist and settled with worrying ease on top of Eris’s head.
The movement was so smooth it almost seemed like a practised motion or long used habit more than anything?

I don’t think I’m ready to think too deeply about THAT idea right now..

Without a word he steered us over to the waypoint safety zone and we all huddled up.
Simultaneous warps are awkward but no-one would get anywhere if we didn’t do it this way sometimes.

I pulled in my magic as best I could.

I could feel John do the same thing with his.
It didn’t matter too much for the others, while they’re powerful in general they’re also worryingly outclassed in the power department by both of us.
If anyone’s going to mess the warp bubble up by overpowering part of it, it will be either me or John.

“Three.. two.. one.. Jump.”

We all hopped at the same time and slipped into warp.
The world turned blue and for an annoyingly long time we had to go through the unsettling feeling of having our atoms bump randomly against each other which is both a lot weirder and also a lot more boring than you would expect.

When we finally got out of warp at the other end I collapsed to my knees within seconds.
I REALLY hate warping!

Eris became rather frantic for a moment as she tried to find out what was wrong with me but John put a calming hand on her head which actually stalled her with a mix of surprise and worry on her face.

Aphrodite looked like she wanted to come and help me too but she was holding herself back for some reason.
Thanatos was understandably reluctant to come too close to me, I think he learnt his lesson when he tried to restrain me the other day.

..good for him..
Always nice to know when someone’s a quick learner!

“Move it along folks, next pa-”
With a look John managed to stop the guard mid-sentence.

I’m not sure if he used magic or if just the look on his face was enough, but I’m glad he did something at least.
With a grunt I pushed myself up to a kneeling position and one more heave had me back on my feet somewhat stably at least.

“You okay?”
I shot John a confused look but nodded anyway.

He knows I don’t do normal warping very well, why’d he even bother asking?
Maybe it was just him trying to calm down the others.. that’s something he’d do, it’s easier to show people I’m fine then just tell them.
No-one ever believes you unless they see it directly from the source anyway.

“Come on then..”
He cupped his arm around my waist again and lead me outside with the others following behind us like three rather large ‘little’ ducklings.
“Oh.. try not to attract attention?”

It was more for the ‘kids’ benefits then mine but he’s got a fair point.

If my guess is right then we’re in the one place where we DON’T want to get too much attention as we leave.. not that I think hiding’s even possible considering we have Aphrodite with us.. and Thanatos..
Neither of them particularly ‘blends in’ if you get what I mean?

We made our way through a few more dim corridors and finally reached the shop floor.
Of all places, John had us warp to Medford!

I’d recognised the hallways already but I kinda hoped I was wrong honestly.
No such luck though, nowhere else is stupid enough to put their waypoint in the back of a Sears at the mall!

There are a few more people in here this time.
Judging by the light outside it’s about mid-day so that’s not exactly a surprise.
I kind of lost track of time in New Avalon, it’s constantly dark because it’s underground after all..

Eris’s little hand slide into mine.
I almost let go instinctively but a glance down at her worried face stopped me.

I don’t think she likes crowds?
How odd.. another thing we have in common I guess, huh?..

It was awkward trying to walk through Sears with John wrapped around my waist and Eris clinging to my hand.
In the end I gave a huff and scooped her up to settle her on my hip again.

Like always she seemed entirely too pleased to be in her new position and quickly settled herself comfortably against me.
If we were getting weird looks before they got even worse now.

We must have been a sight to behold.
A seemingly young ‘mother’ with a child on her hip, a possessive ‘boyfriend’ on her other side, a possible Barbie doll ‘big sister’ behind and a walking wall of muscle beside her.

Rather than put up with the cool, judging stares of the Medford mid-day Sears shoppers I quickly moved us outside.
The moment we stepped out into the hot sun I sighed in relief.
..I REALLY hate Medford..

“Where to now then, oh fearless leader?”

John shot me a light glare for my sarcasm but stepped forward and took command anyway.
It’s pretty funny to see how quickly the ‘kids’, big strong Thanatos specifically, seem to instantly fold to his will if he steps up and starts giving orders.
I’m probably the only one in our group who’d be willing to honestly call John out on being an idiot if he tried something stupid..
..that’s kind of worrying actually?..

“I’ve got a truck in storage a few blocks away, we can take it back to Klamath Falls for now and I’ll return it when the waypoints back up.”

A solid plan.. I didn’t realise that he had something other than his car to use though?
It seems kind of silly in retrospect, it’s not like he’s poor after all, he’s got access to all of Max’s money which must be QUITE a lot considering how many lifetimes he’s had to collect priceless items to sell or trade on a whim.

Hell, even I’M not poor!
While I can’t exactly access most of my accounts at the moment, ‘Al’ was very good at his job and got paid good money for it with very few living costs involved.

As much as it annoys me that it was Storyteller playing me so well back then, that’s not enough to put me off of using the money I unwittingly earned fair and square.

I really will have to sort out my banks at some point.

I held off before, at least partly, out of guilt for taking ‘his’ money.
Now that I can see we’re not REALLY separate people, even if we ARE separate versions of the same person, I don’t feel so bad using the cash anymore.

If nothing else I need to go on a shopping trip for some magical items.
Portland’s magic district should probably have the few important bits I need, I know a selection of good traders there too so it’s probably worth going there instead of one of the bigger trade districts down in So-Cal at least.

I’ll give it a few days for things to settle down obviously.
Who knows, maybe John and Sarah will want to come with me or something?
I’m sure Sarah will be up for it if she’s not working, she loves seeing the magic districts when she can.

“How big is this ‘truck’?”
Even I jerked in surprise when Thanatos spoke.

He’s a pretty quiet guy and surprisingly good at fading into the background somehow?
I can guess why he’s asking about the truck though, someone of his sheer MASS probably has problems with most kinds of normal travel like cars and trucks.

“Don’t worry ‘Tos, you’ll fit no problem.”
John actually moved over and patted the big guy on the arm in reassurance.

The whole movement seemed somehow odd to my eyes, not normal ‘John’ behaviour at least.
A bit too ‘nice’ in general honestly..

Thanatos looked surprised.
It took me a moment to rewind back and work out the probable reason for that look.

John called him ‘Tos’?

Obviously a shortened version of his rather awkward full name, but again, not characteristic of John in general..
He’s not the type of person who usually uses nicknames for people.
Even if he was, I doubt he’d do it for someone he pretty much just met?
..somethings going on here that I’m missing?..

“Which way is it then Daddy?”
Even I cringed when the words slipped out of Aphrodite’s mouth.

She may BE sweet and innocent but her voice REALLY shouldn’t be used to say the word ‘Daddy’ in any context, it comes across as being pretty dirty, even when I KNOW that there’s an actual valid reason for her to be saying it.

The poor girl.. I know she’s biologically older than me but I just can’t think of her as anything BUT an innocent little girl in a far too large body.
She acts younger then Eris does sometimes!

John tried to not let how uncomfortable he was at hearing her speak like that show but I can feel his magic just fine, his surprise and embarrassment went through the roof for a moment there.
With the slightest of hesitations which spoke volumes if you know him well enough, he waved us down the street in the opposite direction to the route I usually take when visiting the Mailbox.

======

He wasn’t joking about it being two blocks over.
I can still kinda see the front of the parking lot outside the mall from here..

John led our little group along East Jackson Street, past a bakery on the right.. not that I’m obsessed with food or anything.. although I am KIND of hungry now that I think about it?

Anyway, we passed that bakery with its enticing smells without dropping in for a doughnut or three sadly and went on a little further, taking a left on Howard Street and a right onto an unnamed back-alley between the suburban sprawl until we reached a strange looking ‘extended’ two story house that seemed to have been converted into some kind of low budget apartment block.

We slipped through a slightly hidden side entrance and came out in a wide, mostly deserted, parking lot tucked in-between all the other buildings around it.

With barely a glance I could tell we were in the right place.
Sitting on its own, on the far side of the lot was a big bulky old Ford pickup truck.

It looked like something out of a fifty’s movie.
I’d even go so far as to say it reminds me of the car from the movie ‘Greece’.. ya know.. just.. a truck version instead of a car?..
..that’s possibly the worst description I’ve ever heard..

Oh, what does it MATTER!
It looks old to the point of being slightly funny when JOHN’s the one who owns it and the back of the pickup looks like it could hold Thanatos’s mountainous frame easily so that’s the important parts about it covered!

I still cringed a little at the signs of rust around the wheel arches and faded red paint in annoyingly splotchy patches across its hood and sides.
John obviously doesn’t look after this thing very well.

“Dib’s on the front seat.”

Eris’s head swung up from my shoulder to glare at Aphrodite.
She probably didn’t actually care about who sits where, judging by how disinterested she was a second ago, but the moment ‘Dite started claiming things it got her full attention.
It would be funny if it wasn’t so worrying.

I hope things don’t keep going like this?
I don’t like being in the middle of people fighting and it’s looking pretty obvious that at some point, sooner rather than later, Eris is going to snap at poor oblivious ‘Dite again.

Jealousy and a child’s brain with an adults intellect REALLY shouldn’t be mixed.. EVER..

To get her attention back off of it all I jostled my hip a little and bounced her slightly.
Her eyes cut back over to me sharply but the tension seemed to leave her the longer she looked at me.

Finally her little lips shifted into a slight pout that unnervingly reminded me of a young Sarah and her head drooped back onto my shoulder in defeat.
It wasn’t really a battle of wills but if it had been then I would have been the winner by her reluctant acceptance and obviously forced annoyance at having me stop her picking on Aphrodite.

“We’ll take the window seat, Eris can sit on my lap. Are you okay in the back Thanatos?”

The big gentle giant blushed and ducked his head a little in a slight nod.
I smiled at him and almost turned away to head for the front of the truck again when he spoke up.

“Tos.. you can call me 'Tos.. if you want?”

He actually sounded worried?
As if I might refuse and that my refusal would have some damning weight to it?
..poor guy has some serious self-esteem issues..

I smiled at him and nodded in agreement.

He still reminds me a lot of Tor?
I guess it can’t hurt to have both of the worryingly huge but surprisingly gentle men in my life go by three-letter nicknames with only a single letter separating them.

Who knows?
Maybe I can get Tor to have a chat with ‘Tos’.
Tor seems to have himself pretty well put together, maybe he’ll have some advice for him or something..

..wait.. Tor.. Tos..
Tor-tos.. Tortoise?
I had to quickly spin on my heel and bring my free hand up to my mouth to cover the sudden burst of laughter that wanted to escape.

It’s not even funny!

Just something about merging their two names and coming out with a slow moving animal that hides shyly in its shell a lot made me instinctively want to laugh.
I could TOTALLY see a Tortoise being either Tor’s OR Tos’s spirit animal!

From the amount of times Tor became all shy and hesitant with me, just on our journey to the Temple through Bolivia, I could imagine his big head slowly sinking into the neck of his T-shirt with every awkward bit of small talk he tried to start with me.
It didn’t last long into the Journey thanks to John’s ‘ill feelings’ compulsion making us both uncharacteristically angry at each other but for the beginning of the journey at least it fitted him well.

Tos is the same way!
He really doesn’t seem to like being the center of attention.
He must have a lot of practice at hiding in a crowd if even I can forget he’s there sometimes, following behind us like a walking wall.

When I finally had my laughter under control I took my next step forward and, trying to ignore the confused but slightly amused look on Eris’s face, turned to shoot ‘Tos’ a warm smile.

“Come on big guy, hop in the back.”
My head turned again to face Aphro.. to face ‘Dite’, who appeared to be standing by the passenger door watching our little byplay uncertainly.
“You too ‘Dite, we don’t have all day. The faster you get in, the faster we can get home and free of this rust bucket of your fa-”

I had to cut myself off and blinked furiously in confusion.
Luckily ‘Dite didn’t notice my surprise, she’d already turned to start getting into the truck.

Now where the HELL did THAT come from?
I almost called John her ‘Father’ in a worryingly maternal way!
My Mum used to talk EXACTLY like that to us when she was discussing Dad.. before the Alice mess and the divorce at least..

My head shook from side to side in a weak attempt of clearing it a bit and I carried on my walk towards the trucks passenger door.

The suspension sunk visibly as Tos moved almost delicately into the flatbed and shifted himself around to get comfortable.
I’m just being silly, paranoid.. paranoid AND silly!

I’m not a bad person and they aren’t either.
I’m just being friendly!
That’s all there is to it.

No point getting myself worked up over such stupid nonsense.

I’m NOT their mother!
Nothing’s going to change that in the slightest thank-you-very-much.

“Uppsi-daisy!”
I slid Eris off my hip and passed her over to a reluctant ‘Dite to hold while I hopped into the truck cab.

The poor girl got a rather annoyed look from little Eris in the time it took me to get settled and she honestly seemed a bit relieved when I reached out to take her back.
Eris settled easily in my lap and leaned lazily onto my chest, her ear lying somewhere near my heart, if you ignore the boobs in-between of course..

“Did you really just say ‘uppsi-daisy’?.. that’s something your Mum would say..”

I turned my head sharply and gave John a warning glare.
His amused smile went up a notch and he cocked a challenging eyebrow at me in response.

I was trying to ignore that those words tumbled out of my mouth thank-you-very-much John!
How would you like it if I started going on about the time you called our first grade teacher ‘Mommy’ by mistake huh?!

We all say stupid stuff without thinking sometimes so just DROP it!
I have enough anecdotal evidence on stupid stuff you did when we were kids to fill a filling cabinet so don’t even START with me Mister!

Naturally I didn’t say any of that to him but he seemed to get the gist of what I was thinking when my glare didn’t soften in the slightest for a painfully long time.

With a huff that was more of an acknowledgement then a sign of his annoyance he turned back to the steering wheel and turned the key to tick the engine over.
The truck gave a rather unhealthy sounding groan and something inside it started clacking away loudly.

“Seriously?”

John turned his head and shot me another questioning eyebrow in response.
He can’t seriously expect us to drive to Klamath Falls in this thing can he?!

It sounds like someone put a Mariachi band in a blender!
Eris has her hand up against the ear that’s not pressed to my chest to try and keep the noise out for powers sake!

“You know what?.. I’ve got this.”

His eyes went a little wide and he tried to reach out to stop me but ‘Dite being sat awkwardly between us got in his way long enough for me to dip into my lines and vent a roughly car sized dome of my magic.

The golden wave washed over everyone.
I felt the urge to giggle come out of nowhere, as usual when I vent, but it was surprisingly easy to suppress for some reason.

I don’t normally tend to catch other people in my magic on purpose but the effect on the truck was worth it.
This thing’s purring like it just rolled off the lot now, despite obviously being at least sixty years old just from its design.. possibly more?

Naturally a few other things happened as well..

The slight ache on my hip from carrying Eris around so much today faded, my hair decided to fluff itself up annoyingly again into thick curls that went all the way down my back.
Eris was staring at me in some kind of awe while ‘Dite had dived quickly into her pocket and pulled out a small mirror so she could inspect her now-fluffified hair with a look of obvious joy on her face.
Even Tos moved in the back and let off a quiet little surprised sound to himself.

“Don’t do that again! My truck was perfectly fi-”

Before John could finish his little tirade at me for fixing this hunk of junk for him he was cut off by an excited squeal from ‘Dite.
My head was pulled to the side by surprisingly strong arms and my face ended up smooshed into her cleavage yet again.

“I LOVE IT! Thanks Mom, how did you DO that?! That’s like, the BEST magic EVER!”

I almost slid sideways when ‘Dite dropped me without any real warning, much to Eris’s annoyance judging from the sound she made as I moved to straighten us up again.
Dite didn’t seem to notice any of that though.
Her eyes were already back to her mirror, her hands trying to push and move her hair around while she pouted to herself, obviously trying to look ‘sexy’ which came off as something closer ‘childish play-acting’ then an actual serious attempt.
..she really is worryingly innocent about some things..

“..stupid bimbo..”
My eyes cut down to glare at Eris in warning.
That’s not a nice thing to say.
I’m reluctant to admit that she may.. possibly.. kinda.. maybe.. have a point?..
..BUT it’s STILL not a nice thing to say!

“No calling people names.”

My free hand came up to tap her on the nose lightly as a playful warning.
I don’t know where the movement came from honestly but for some reason it made little Eris’s eyes go wide in shock.

Before I could ask what was wrong she blinked furiously and practically buried her face back into my chest as if she was hiding from the world in some way.
..kids?..

I sighed loudly and shot John an apologetic look.

I probably should have thought through my little magic outburst better, or at least given him a chance to object properly before doing it.
I just kind of got caught up in the moment and the annoying sounds that the rusty old wreck was making.

Eris’s reaction to it probably didn’t help either.. not that I did it just for her or anything but I’m just saying it was probably a factor too, ya know?

John noticed my look and sighed loudly in response.
With one last worried look over at ‘Dite, who appeared to be trying to move the mirror into a higher angle so she could somehow see the back of her head too, he turned the wheel and gently rolled us out of the little parking lot.

I tried not to feel too smug at the slight smile that came to his lips when he revved the engine and it roared back at him like a brand new muscle-car.
Obviously I DID feel smug about it but I TRIED not to feel like it at least.. kinda..

He shot a glance around the cab to make sure everyone was secure and even reached back to pat Tos on the shoulder, getting a thumbs up in the mirror for his troubles.
With one more rev he pulled us onto the road and off for the relatively short trip from Medford to Klamath Falls.

Honestly, now that it’s not full of rust and holes.. I kind of like this truck?..

Maybe I just like how stable and calm John’s magic feels now that he’s driving it?
Oh well, it’s not important I guess.

I settled myself a bit better into the nice ‘good-as-new’ leather seats, stuck an arm out the window to wave in the breeze while keeping my other one wrapped tightly around Eris’s waist.

If this is going to become a ‘thing’ then we’ll have to look into getting some kind of booster seat for her or a secondary lap belt or.. just something so she’s a bit safer on my lap.
It’s not like John’s driving like a maniac or anything but there’s always a chance we could have a crash, going like this once is fine but I’d feel better if she was a bit safer the next time..
IF there’s a next time obviously..

“Does the radio work in this thing John?”

He shot a quick awkward smile at me before turning back to the road.
His lips twitched up a little higher into a soft smirk.

“Technically..”

Great.. he’s feeling playful!..
With a grunt I shifted a bit into ‘Dite’s personal space and looked at the middle console properly.

Oh.. now I get what he means..

Is ‘AM’ radio still a thing?!
The.. I’d hesitate to call it a ‘stereo-system’ but.. the noise making box built into the truck is so old that it doesn’t even have a tape-deck in it, let alone ‘FM’ radio, CD’s or a bluetooth connection for my phone!

“..if you’re keeping this thing, we’re getting you a better radio..”
John’s eyebrow perked up yet AGAIN.

Don’t even TRY it John, I know the look on your face for what it is!

Now that this big truck actually runs well and looks like more than just a scrap pile, I wouldn’t be surprised if he trades in his car because he doesn’t need it anymore.
He’ll never admit it but I fixed his little ‘never actually going to do anything with it’ hobby project into a nice working vehicle for him and he’s pleased about it.

..the least he can do is put in a nice stereo-system for me..

“..yes dear..”
ASSHOLE!!

======

The truck pulled up at the crossroads leading to the private little cul-de-sac that we share with the Martials.
John grimaced and shot me an awkward look.
I cringed too.

It looks like the family decided to follow Mum and Sarah home?.. ALL of them.
Every spare bit of rough sidewalk along the worryingly long road leading to our house is full with some kind of car.

John cautiously pulled us around onto the road and we crawled along peering into each car as we went.
It’s kind of creepy honestly, like some kind of abandoned highway from a horror movie?

As we got closer I started recognising some of the car’s, the Audi on the left is DEFINITELY Uncle Joe’s new one!

We finally came to a stop in the only clear space on the street, right in the middle of the round space between our house and the Martials place.
John sighed and leaned back against the leather seat heavily.

“This is going to be a pain in the ass, you know that right?”

I nodded and squinted my eyes shut at the headache I could already feel pre-emptively forming.
Even MY huge new extended family doesn’t have THIS many cars.

There must be more than just family visiting.. considering I covered most of the mid-west in a ‘solar flare’ the other day it’s probably not a bad guess to say that the Hub, the MPA and possibly the normal government are PISSED at me for it!

With a fortifying sigh I popped the door open and carefully slid out.
Eris grumbled at having to be moved but she settled down quickly enough once I had her back on my hip again.

“Did anyone get my bag?”

I’d forgotten about it for a while there honestly but my phones in there AND that stupid mailroom door of Arista’s.
I’m not going headfirst into a possible crap-ton of pissed off government types without my phone to hand!

If nothing else it’s got an auto-record function built in so I can get an audio recording of everything said if they try to arrest me or something equally stupid.

John slid out of the car too and made his way around to me.
From his back pocket he pulled out a tightly folded cloth sack.
When it unravelled properly he dived a hand in and pulled out my ‘not-a-purse’ bag, good as new.

I squinted at him angrily for ‘breaking’ the rules of magic again by making an expanded bag that appeared empty to the point of being foldable while in use.. well, either that or he made a portable pocket-dimension just for storing stuff?
..I’m not sure which option is worse actually?..

I really couldn’t put too much heat behind it though, he kept my bag safe for me and he’s not taken his chance to run away while he still can, leaving me alone to face the wrath of whatever’s waiting for us indoors..

“You two coming?”

Dite looked up from her mirror and shook her head at us before looking back at it again and primping her hair a little more.
I’m starting to get worried about her..

Tos rolled his chest over slightly so he could see us past the cab of the truck and shook his head too.
I think he’s somehow managed to get comfortable lying in the back like that?
Takes all sorts I guess.. I’d definitely not be able to get comfortable like that though.

With one last sigh we turned to face the house and started walking.
When we reached the path to the front door I hitched Eris up a little bit so she sat better against my hip.
John took the chance to step ahead of me and ring the doorbell.

For a long awkward moment nothing happened, then fast moving feet could be heard coming from inside.

The door finally opened to show Mum stood there looking a bit overwhelmed and tired.
Her eyes drifted from John and settled on me.
The moment we made eye contact she lit up with obvious relief to smile at me.

Slowly her eyes slide to the side and focused on Eris a moment later.
All I could see was the little red-haired top of her head resting against my chest but her face was turned towards Mum so I guess they could look at each other in some way.

“Who’s..?..”
She didn’t even try to finish the sentence.

It wasn’t hard to work out what she meant.
It’s not like I turn up every day with a little girl on my hip or something.

Before I could say anything John shifted slightly.
My eyes and Mum’s were drawn to him.

His eyes had a mischievous twinkle to them all of a sudden.
He took a step to the side into my personal space and wrapped an arm around my waist like he keeps doing lately.
..that’s not good..

“She’s our daughter, the other two are still in the truck.”
He waved vaguely over his shoulder but he really didn’t need to, Mum was a bit too busy gaping at him in shock.
“We had a big family reunion of our own a few days ago and Hannah wanted to introduce them to their Grandma..”

..WHAT?!..

My spare hand that wasn’t busy holding Eris fisted into a tight ball.
A growl rumbled in my chest as I realised what he was doing.
He’s SUCH an ASSHOLE!

Eris didn’t seem to like the growl but she DID turn her face up to me in confusion.
With a look of total and complete innocence which, if I hadn’t already fallen for it once before, would have had me tripping over how adorable she was she opened her mouth to speak.

“Is she my Grandma, Mommy?”
I glared at her and the side of her lip currently not facing Mum twitched up in an evil little smirk that was just PURE John!

Damn it John.. this is all your fault!
My eyes pulled towards him angrily but stalled when a muffled ‘thump’ came from in front of us.

“Mum?”
My head turned slowly to face the front door again.
I already knew what I’d see.
It’s just how my life works sadly..

Mum was lying, spread out on the floor.
She’s breathing fine but her eyes are shut and she obviously fell awkwardly.

She bloody FAINTED!

DAMN IT JOHN!
This is all YOUR fault!

Sarah started moving towards the front door curiously.
I could hear her voice and footsteps easily.

“That was fun, can we do it again Daddy?”

Painfully slowly my head moved down to fix little Eris with a warning look.
Her lips slammed shut and the grin on her face faded away into an ‘innocent’ pout.

“I fully intend to blame you for being a bad influence John.. now go help your ‘mother-in-law’ up before I HURT you, BADLY!”

With a jolt John moved over to check on Mum while I held on to Eris and tried to not squeeze her too hard in annoyance at the pair of them.
He’d managed to prop her up a little by the time Sarah rounded the hallway and stopped dead in her tracks in surprise.

I sighed and brought my free hand up to rub between my eyes to ease my growing headache.

DAMN IT JOHN!
THIS. IS. ALL. YOUR. BLOODY. FAULT!