Chaos Precip

TJ loved her companions. She couldn't imagine not travelling with them, but sometimes...sometimes she needed an hour or two alone. There were times when she just needed to sit and watch the night.

It was easier for her than for most, one of the things that Marluxia did to her was changing her eyes so that the dark wasn't so much dark to her, and the glow from bio-luminescent eyes was something she didn't even notice any more, not when she was out in the Illinois countryside, watching the glimmer of stars far above herself and listening to the dull roar of the city an hour or so's ride behind her. Sure it was dangerous to be out like that, alone, anywhere other than with a group of people, but...

It was beautiful, too. She could take the coat off, sometimes even her clothing, and simply sit with nothing between her and the weather but her fur. She could re-braid her hair, and not worry so much about keeping her sister and her ... friend ... entertained. She was a born entertainer, she loved her life, but sometimes it was too much.

She had to think, and she thought best alone and in the quiet. Sure, she could try to stay up late and think, but then she got into the sleep deficit of an Olia trying to under-sleep a Katzu and that just didn't work worth a damn. So taking a ride and thinking alone, it worked. She didn't do it more than once a month or so, not enough to make her travelling companions worry, just...when she needed it.

So that's where she was. Sitting on a hillside, wearing nothing but braids and fur, and thinking at the universe.

Clarice had been humming and singing to herself for at least a few miles now, and it was because they were close to Chicago. It made her horse (Which TJ was riding) lift her clawed feet and prance a bit. What, the fanged little beauty liked to dance! "Five more miles my loves!" Chicago had been a 'non-teleport' zone the moment they started seeing the storm clouds on the horizon.

No need to toss folk around on random teleports today after all.

"Do we need a lunch break now or after we arrive?"

TJ was having a good night. It was warm, her fur was ruffling in the wind, someone else had the kids. Honestly, what more could a person ask? She'd heard rumours about disappearances in the Kentucky area but that was all they were; nobody had asked her or Clarice to do anything and she was just fine with the downtime.

It was really good to get to spend time with the family. Mr. Creed had been through briefly in the middle of the night, and she'd had a chance to catch up with him before he went on another mysterious mission. Soon enough another job for the sisters would come up and they'd drag poor Havelock along into trouble again.

For now? Fuzzy blue Water settled on a large rock next to a small river, brushing her fur.

The letter looks battered, the once cream envelope smudged and creased, evidence of many stops along the way. The outside simply reads 'TJ of the Organization'

Ms. TJ,

I'm very sorry to be contacting you without a formal introduction, but my partner Cloak mentioned you to me. He smiled when he spoke of you, which is a high recommendation as to your good nature. I do not want to impose upon you but I do find myself in need of a healer with a good nature, as the town we have been resting in has gotten...darker than I care for.

The town we are staying in is called 'Hope' in Arkansas, but it's rather far from the truth I think. Many of the better people we met upon our arrival are no longer alive, or in residence, and that does not set me at ease. It may seem paranoid but I'm not entirely trustful of the healers here. If it is not too much trouble would you mind if Cloak and I came to meet you?

I look forward to your reply,
Dagger

It was horrible for TJ to know that Clarice was out and in danger without her. She knew it was just as hard for her sister when the situation is reversed, but this time she was with the kids and Clarice was in danger and it was enough to make her fur fluff out. She had been doing her best not to let her worry bleed into the kids' lives, and she was pleased to be with them.

It was just hard.

"VICTOR WADE CREED YOU GET OUT OF THAT TREE RIGHT THIS MOMENT YOU DO NOT HAVE YOUR AUNT'S POWERS AND I AM NOT HEALING IT IF YOU BREAK THAT LEG AGAIN!"

Happily having little boys meant there was never a shortage of legitimate reasons to be bellowing. Of course having Larxene Clarice attached to one breast meant that she couldn't be actively pulling the boy out of the tree, no more than she could keep Wade Victor physically out of the mud. TJ Larxene was fed, sleeping, and blessedly quiet.

Honestly TJ was torn between worry over her sister and jealousy that her sister isn't trying to deal with all four kids at once.

The shadows were what woke L up; they always were, playing against the walls and flickering in smooth, familiar contrasts against his closed eyelids. No two were alike, but they were something he knew, something that had passed from an alignment to a mastered subject. At eighteen years of age, he had accomplished much, had learned everything his Olia master had had to teach him as an apprentice.

Not that L was young, by any means. As an 18 year-old human, his life was dwindling quickly; healthy humans could expect to live to be maybe 50, if they were lucky, and L had never been robust. He was a wispy, insubstantial thing; ironically, for a master of shadows, he didn't cast much of one. Even less so, now that his caretaker of 13 years was gone. The winter had been harsh so far, in the northern climates, and even though the Olia had been stronger than L in his youth, his years had been many and the last blizzard had left the comparatively fragile human alive and the very old Olia dead.

He'd been on his own for an entire week, for the first time in his entire life. He'd started out as Watari's tool and become his partner as his mind aged and sharpened, and though L's brain was the superior one, the Olia had actually been the mastermind, the link to the world, the one who organized and arranged and initiated. Understandably, the human was a touch adrift after he'd walked away from the body that would never warm up again, no matter how much he'd wanted it to. As things stood, he needed to eat, he needed to be warm, and it was getting difficult.

Currently, he was at a Duty Town, uneasily avoiding the expectations that came with his arrival. He didn't want to breed, and spent much time brushing aside his hair to prove that he did, indeed, have a daughter. He had replaced himself, bred with someone stronger, and produced a valuable female who would outlive him by half a century or more. They had no right to ask more of him. He hovered near a food stand, debating whether he should try to barter or try to steal. He had a satchel containing Watari's valuable possessions: a gold watch, a pair of spectacles, a pair of sturdy shoes and a set of silk handkerchiefs. There had been food, a week ago, but L had long since run out.

There is a long, dark figure in a long, black coat wandering around the very edges of town where she won't be seen. Much. TJ just can't stand being cooped up, even if it is for a very good reason, so she slipped away from the rest of them for a while to take a walk.

She is trying to stay out of the way. It's just...walks are awesome.

It's been one heck of a long day and Bill comes into his kitchen looking for something to drink and a quick bite to eat before he settles in for the evening.

Things have been going okay in town, but sometimes the job just gets tiring.

The girls and Havelock have been wandering around without much goal for a while, now. They'll stop at this town or that city and engage in a bit of trade, some healing, whatever they need to do in order to make sure that this place isn't going to burn two of the three of them at the stake, or make life harder on the third one.

Medicine Lake is, unsurprisingly, a lake with a small trapping town near it. Herds of wild gillydeer and fur flounder bask under and around it, and it's a popular destination for people more likely to trust water than water Masters and Aligned. The water itself, perhaps due to the plants that grow under it, perhaps just as a quirk brought on by the Solution itself, is good for mild pain relief and antiseptic properties.

Whenever they're in the area TJ likes to stop there in order to pick up a load of it for her own personal use as well as to trade and sell if needed. Clarice has contacts amongst the trappers and fishers to trade grains for meats, and while she does that TJ offers her services for whatever ills the people of Medicine Lake have to admit that the water of their home just isn't up to.

This time she dragged Havelock with her, thanks to an outbreak of a fairly nasty illness hitting the local human population like an angry gator.

It's while in the house set up as temporary sick-ward that she says, "So. About that letter Clarice got yesterday..."

Havelock whistles a low tune as he walks down an old road in need of repair. His overcoat is buttoned up against the elements and the hood covering his face. He's hoping for someone going his way to come by, but he hasn't seen anyone in days. The last group he came across had been some crazy folk coming out from the West, and he could only take so much pointing and paranoia before excusing himself and going on his way.

He lifts his head to glance at the sky. Still a couple of hours left until dark; he could keep walking.

"Guh..." Clarice stumbled out of the portal and doubled over sneezing. The last place they'd been had been an evac job, getting people away from a monsoon that had been swamping a part of Florida. She'd swallowed enough water just by opening her mouth in the wind that she'd almost drowned. "I don't feel goooood." She whined to her sister.

When she finally stopped sneezing she glanced around. They...weren't home. She really had been aiming for home, there were hot showers there! "Are we in Kansas?" Mister Creed had read them the Wizard of Oz books often.