The Universe's Mixer

The conference had given Thomas Townsend feelings. There wasn't any one feeling; there were so many, and he wanted very much not to feel many of them. He'd given answers; he'd set some minds at ease. He'd done what he'd set out to do; only he'd pissed off one of the more worrisome tenants. The Cowboy God was not at all happy, not even close. The Amazon hadn't exactly left pleased with him either. She could be trouble, too, if she were to hint something to the Cowboy God, yet she could also be useful. She'd kept the Cowboy God from causing trouble, hadn't she?

Thomas paced outside Beauty's home; it had been his home, and he had never thought he'd call one little building a home. He'd make it up to her somehow. He'd make her understand just how much she had meant to him, yet he wanted to protect her somehow too. He couldn't go to the Cowboy God for help, not that he thought that man would ever endanger such an innocent as Beauty.

With a determined set to his jaw, he headed out to find the damned - a word he'd heard before when people were determined, frustrated and so many other things - Cowboy God. He needed some assurances that Beauty would never get caught in their struggle. That was it. That was what he would do. Of course, he had nothing to bargain with, but he'd figure it out. He'd learned so much after all, hadn't he?

Jo had dispatched with the bones of the ghost in that house. She'd left Ted a message that it was all clear, though she was a little bit disappointed that she'd only gotten his voicemail. She'd also left him her number if he wanted to call back, though she wouldn't have blamed him if he didn't.

It seemed that she had a whole laundry list of things to look into in the City because her next stop was the park. She'd heard a lot of odd stories about a house on chicken legs, and that sounded like something that might need looking into.

She didn't exactly know where to start, so she just picked a path through the park and began to walk. A giant chicken house couldn't be that hard to spot, right?

Zoe didn't say anything after she left the conference room; she hadn't even stayed to see if there was indeed an answer. She simply walked out. Perhaps she should have run, but she thought she'd give Jesse a little room to calm down. Just a little.

She caught up quickly though, for all the room she gave him. She didn't touch him until she was at his side, making sure he could see her. The Amazon took his hand, not slowing him down, not stopping him. She walked with him wherever he had thought to go; walking without stopping didn't exactly mean she wouldn't say anything.

"You asked more than one question." It was a small joke, and she was risking making him even angrier. "Don't think you're going to get your answer out here."

Charlie was on his own for the evening, and that could mean any number of things. This particular evening meant checking out a bar he'd heard about. Supposedly there was karaoke and fortune telling. He wasn't sure he needed his fortune told, nor was he all that sure he wanted to sing; but, he was curious. He gave in to curiosity and hoped he wasn't the cat in the box with the possible poisonous gas. Dead, yet not dead. That was a thinker.

He stepped into Caritas, his badge in a pocket not out to be seen, just always there. His off-duty piece stored at his hip under a light jacket. The blade was stored in his pocket. He didn't plan on doing anything with them, but he didn't go anywhere without any of it. He also was curious to see how a certain riotous type was doing. He knew Logan Echolls worked here; he wanted to know if the kid was still working and doing well. He knew this could end badly, but he wanted to know all the same.

The detective headed slowly toward the bar, pausing when he thought he saw someone with a horn? He knew some people liked putting things under their skin to give themselves an interesting profile. Everyone had control, for the most part, of his or her own body; if they wanted to augment, it was their choice, wasn't it? Even if he always thought that extreme augmentation was...extreme. Charlie wasn't much for extremes.

The City Hall was chosen because it held a room within it that was big enough to accommodate the droves of people that were sure to come. Plus, being inside space, there were no worries over weather that couldn't be controlled. The people could sit and listen and not have to try to hear past traffic or wind.

Even with the late notice, everything was done well before the scheduled start time, which Thomas was proud of. He was glad that the ones who were born here weren't entirely useless without him around. They were keeping their heads together, doing what needed to be done. Of course, it also could have been the fact that they believed Thomas was who he claimed to be, and with his presence there with them, they felt better about the situation they were currently in.

Thomas looked at the stage. That's where he would be standing, talking to the people he had brought here. He had no doubts that they would be the ones with the questions, the ones who demanded answers. He was ready. He could do this.

He sat in a seat hidden by a curtain, where he could still see the stage and the rows of chairs beyond, and waited.

The brainy Texan curled up under her covers; it'd taken her a while to fall asleep. She'd fallen asleep staring at the phone she was actually waiting for it to just disappear. They always disappeared, always went away. Of course, she never saw them disappear; it was usually when she was asleep or not looking. They always went poof. She didn't want to wake up, open her eyes, and see that the small phone was gone. She didn't want to see the pager sitting there all by itself.

She groaned softly and finally gave up waiting. Plus, she was really needing to slip to the ladies'. She squeezed her eyes closed tightly and, with another grown, opened her eyes. She had to blink a few times to make sure she was seeing things clearly. She nearly whooped in excitement, but instead, she took care of the usual wakeup routine, a bounce in her step.

Pocketing the pager and the phone, she checked the time. She's slept that long? The day was halfway over; it was after lunch already! She didn't know if she should call him or not; no, she'd surprise him. She stopped long enough to pick up a couple sandwiches, two bottles of coke (or pop), and a few cookies. Yes, that would be nice.

Fred bounced a little in the elevator as she rode it up. As soon as it let her out, she smiled brightly.

"I bring food!" Yes, that seemed like a good way to open it.

Jack was extremely busy these days. This business with Thomas/the City had taken up just about all of his time. He'd been organizing the press conference and quietly searching for the witch responsible for trapping the City.

While he had left a voicemail for Zatanna the day after their date to let her know that he'd had a good time, he really needed to do something more. He'd spent the night, after all. And what a lovely night it had been.

He would have happily made another date with her sooner, but there were things that needed his attention now.

Which was why he sent over a dozen white roses along with a small strawberry cheesecake and a note.

Zatanna,
Thank you for the lovely evening. I would like to see you again soon. Are you available for dinner next week Saturday?

Yours,
Jack

The crone felt...pretty damn good. Or she had as she slipped out of the lab in one of the blue boy's t-shirts. It looked like an awkward dress, and the crone didn't seem to mind that it wasn't exactly the most decent thing she could wear walking about town. She didn't bother changing or showering as she headed to her possible home away from cabin. She knew he'd be in.

On her way she paused as she caught a headline of newspaper as someone walked by. She blinked, and with little effort, she had the paper and was quickly walking away, reading. A brow rose. So, he was going to answer questions. Every question answered. She actually smiled, but not from happiness.

The crone was not prepared for what greeted her as she entered the vampire's now unnecessary hideaway. The place looked like someone had been dancing, or trying to. There were clothes on the floor, discarded along the way to the...bed. And there was a very large male on the bed who looked like he had had a rough time of it before losing hold on the living world. Somewhere among the tangled sheets and vampire limbs there was a sweater; the crone had no idea she was sitting on it as she settled on the bed to stare at him.

Her hands rested on her knees; her eyes moved over his body. It was rare she took time to just take him in like this. Him or anyone else for that matter. She could and would wait for him to waken. They needed to talk...about many things. So there she sat on a fairy's sweater, wearing a mutant's shirt, all upon the vampire's bed.

The City Calls a Press Conference
by Lois Lane

Today Mayor Heart announced that Thomas, the embodiment of the City has called a press conference. The conference is open to all residents of the City with the promise that "all of your questions will be answered."

Whether this means that the City plans to explain why he's brought so many of us here or not isn't clear, but it would seem that now is the time and place to ask any questions you may have.

The press conference will be held on Monday, April 23rd in the City Center. It's sure to be crowded so get there early!

Warning: Slightly adult content.

Frustration was not the word for it. Anger wasn’t either. Sadness, loss, so many other emotions warred within the little body. There was a definite need for satisfaction; the meeting with the girl had not gone at all how she had hoped or expected, and she still didn't know what that was. That she felt anything at all would set off the emotions once more, and she’d feel lost. This was not how she should feel; this was not what her path dictated, even when she was the one choosing the way.

Rather than go back to her cabin, which had showed but could feel its mistress’ anger, the crone started off across the park. She didn’t run; she didn’t fly. She walked. Rather determinedly. She knew where she wanted to go, and while it took longer than she liked, still, she found the damn tower where the heroes liked to stay. She didn’t need the City to know this.

She didn’t pay attention to any security measures, cameras or otherwise. A little bit of magic could short circuit much, and she had no problem doing so. It helped matters that this was not her first time to here. ( She wanted to see her bouncing blue beauty of a boy. )

There was going to be a press conference. Thomas was going to have a chance to answer all their irritating questions all at once. This made him feel happy. Perhaps the first true and whole happiness that he had felt since being put inside this stupid body.

He had been staying at Beauty's home. She had given him the bed, and he hadn't known better to insist that he be the one to sleep on the blanket pile on the floor. He had, instead, just taken the bed and enjoyed it very much.

Thomas trekked his way to the little cottage from the Mayor's office. He had to walk because he didn't have the money to pay for a cab, and wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to be in one again anyway. The night had fallen on his way, and he was enjoying it, despite the much cooler temperatures. Perhaps because he was so happy. Perhaps nothing could sour his mood now.

He opened the door and went inside, and sat at the little table.

The shop was slow today, so Annie was organizing everything. Whomever had run the shop before had just kind of put things on the shelves randomly, and there was hardly anything entered into the computer at all. Not that she minded, really. She could find things by speaking to them. Or speaking to things near them. But it did make it hard on the customers, who always had to come ask her if she had something.

She had music on very loud, some band that had been around way before her time but was popular here. All Annie knew was that it had a nice beat and the singer had a nice voice. Which, she supposed, was all music really needed to be good anyway.

She was also dancing. Not something that she ever did when somebody could see her. Her shop shades were pulled because of the way the sunlight hit directly into the windows when the afternoon came around, so she figured that she was safe.

Annie went from section to section, sorting and placing. Entering items into the computer.

She probably should have expected to be fired when she made an entire coffee shop full of people hallucinate and took off with no notice. It still stung, though.

Megan let herself have one day of full-time moping, where she didn't even change out of her PJs and bathrobe and ate cereal and ice cream and watched movies. It didn't really make her feel better, and the sugary cereal and ice cream made her feel sick at the end of the day, so one day was really all that was needed.

What she really needed, she decided, was to actually cheer up. With friends. A friend. She hadn't seen Rufio in a while, since she'd been busy with work, but--well, it wasn't like that was a worry right now, was it? Fanged sniffy guys, on the other hand, were. She doused herself with Febreze just in case and teleported from her living room to Rufio's fort.

"Hello?" she called the second she was fully there. Outside, because she didn't want to just 'port directly into somebody's house with no notice. She knocked on the door. "Rufio? Are you home?"

Ted was checking out houses and condos for investment purposes. He'd had an idea shortly after Lois Lane had left his office for keeping the City in money and helping it's residents at the same time. City housing. The City would buy the houses and keep them maintained, while the rent would be cheaper so that the poorer and disabled residents of the City could afford to be in nicer areas with better resources around them.

Property generally only rose in value. Even when the market failed, the property itself didn't really lose it's spot, just what one could charge for it did. But it always rose again eventually.

He'd decided to scout some locations and draw up a proposal before going to the Mayor with it. A vague idea wasn't any good, you had to have numbers to back it up. Evidence that it was a good idea. Ted knew this. He also knew that the mayor was a busy guy and that bothering him with the very beginnings of a plan would probably only cause more work for him. He liked the mayor, he didn't want to add pressure to a job that was already difficult with the things going on.

There were already spots that Ted liked, his list was growing, but it was all condos and co-ops so far. No actual houses. He felt that having a house, some place that could have more than one person in them at a time possibly, would be a good idea too. There was a bigger side to this plan, of course, in the name of buying a whole apartment building, but that had to be worked up to.

Seeing an address without a door number attached to it attracted Ted and he skipped down several spots to visit that one next. He'd get to the others, he was sure. But houses went quickly. He wanted to see this one before anybody else had a chance to put a bid on it.

And it was a big house. He could see that from the outside when he arrived. But it looked so empty. Like nobody had lived there in a really long time. It wasn't so much neglect. Somebody was coming around to cut the grass and trim the hedges. But there was dust in the corners of the windows. The door knob looked shiny and untouched. The lock, when he got close enough to see, seemed freshly oiled.

But the door opened smoothly enough. He stepped inside and began to take notes on the things that he saw. Sure, every listing provided square footage and number of rooms. But seeing stuff for yourself always provided a much different view. A room with large footage might actually not fit a bed because it was an odd shape. Or a kitchen that seemed spacious might be so stuffed with cabinetry that you couldn't move.

Ted saw none of these issues. It made him all the more curious as to why nobody was living here, and why it seemed nobody had for a very long time.

He thought he heard something fall in another room and went to investigate, but found nothing. Then there was a scraping noise that he could feel into his bones, followed by a very disturbing giggling.

In a place where nothing could be ruled out anymore, Ted felt immediately suspicious and afraid. He went to the front door to leave, but discovered it wouldn't open. As he turned to try to find the back door, something flashed by him. Something unpleasant. He got a vague sense of blood and maybe a missing half of a face.

Ted became very still.

Sued. She was being sued. For libel. Lois wasn't sure whether to take that as a compliment or be completely pissed off.

She settled for a bit of both. After all, if you weren't making someone angry in journalism, you probably weren't doing your job.

There was the smallest part of her-the part that still sometimes indulged in Rocky Road at night and wished she had at least one friend in the City-that was sad about this. But that part was pretty much buried under the layers of armor that Lois was very good at wrapping around herself.

So instead, she had her head held high and was ready to fight this lawsuit when she let herself into the office of the lawyer that had been recommended to her.

She'd called ahead to make an appointment. While she might be pretty good at bursting in on people unexpected even she knew that there were some times when it was better to simply make an appointment.

She had a dinner date tonight with the mayor she had been pissed at. It was part of the whole making it up to her for making her pissed at him to begin with. It had been her suggestion but Jack seemed amiable enough with it. Surprisingly, Zee found herself agreeable to the idea as well. More than a little, too. Weird! Gods, she needed a better social life, apparently!

She wasn't nervous. Nope. Not one bit. That was so not the reason why she was running late. Nor was it because she couldn't decide what to wear. And her makeup wasn't giving her fits and looking bad so that she had to magically etch a sketch the whole thing and start over. Twice. Shadowcrest was becoming amused at her and was tempted to show her what she wanted to see in the mirror, but the last time it had done that to her and she found out she put mothballs everywhere. It hated mothballs!

Needless to say she wasn't ready when Jack showed up to pick her up. She had insisted on that instead of just meeting somewhere. The front door opened on its own when he got to the porch, inviting him to wait inside where a steaming cup of tea was waiting for him in the foyer.

Fred woke up that morning with a plan. She’d found out finally something she felt she should have somehow known. While she’d never had a kid, she had lost people; it was a wonder sometimes how she got out of bed sometimes. Then again, the very reason she might not get out of bed was why she was getting out of bed: Dinah had lost someone. Or more someone had been taken away. She didn’t know how one of the great leggy women of JLC was doing, but she she had decided she’d find out.

The plan was simple, consisting of very few steps.
1. Get up, do the morning thing, be presentable to go out in public.
2. Coffee.
3. Call Jensen to say ‘hi’ and ‘may not be round much today’ - she had a mission.
4. Get food.
5. Get sweets, which do not count as food.
6. Lug all the edible goodness to Dinah’s.

( The plan went well, more or less. )

Jack was just as busy as ever. The City was still not moving, and panic was at an all time high. He couldn't give up eating entirely, but he'd taken to just quick snacks for an energy pick-me-up when he could get them.

He was still looking forward to the night he'd arranged to take Zatanna to dinner, however. He'd arranged to delegate some responsibilities during that time and he intended to give her his full attention.

At the moment, he was in need of a sugar rush. His vision had gone slightly blurry while looking over papers at his desk. While he could have asked someone in the office to go out for the frozen yogurt, he supposed that a quick break might do him just as much good as the calorie intake.

Which was why he was currently sitting in the corner of Yo-yo's Fro-yo's, half hiding behind a paper as he ate his vanilla frozen yogurt and tried to collect his thoughts before he returned to the nonstop pace of his overflowing inbox.

The crone was still keeping hidden away, or more she wasn't becoming involved in many lives as of late. She felt stronger and stronger everyday, and she was beginning to think it time to find a certain wayward creation, to see how he was spending his time and if he had learned his lesson. Never stick her where she did not want to be. Never try to control her. Or, don't piss off the magical old woman; she could be a bit of a bitch.

Having kept something from the City's new body to find him later, she had decided it was time to do the location spell. Without the City to tap into, finding someone took a little more than just focusing. She entered the Park in order to retrieve what she needed from the cabin, but the cabin was not at all where she'd seen it last. It had become fond of a small spot surrounded by trees, and yet it did have a habit of going for a walk to stretch its legs. Either way, the crone was not in the mood to hunt for it.

She sighed softly, sending out the silent command for the cabin. Since it had come to the City, it had become more and more its own creature, and there were times the crone wanted the damn thing gone. But, the most recent events had made it more of a boon than a bane. She couldn't fault it for growing, could she?

She didn't stay in one spot; the cabin could find her even if she were on the move. She came to how people were taking the stillness as much as gather a few special ingredients. The park was one of the better places to watch.

When she'd moved back to her townhouse, Alfred had sent her home with tupperware containers filled with meals to last about a week. Dinah had finally managed to wash all of those and put them in bags to return to him. She appreciated the butler making sure she was well fed, especially because she'd barely had the energy to order takeout lately.

She'd left a message to let him know she was coming to return the tupperware, but it might not have been received. Whatever the case, Dinah had been expecting to find Bruce, perhaps, at home or to find just Alfred. She certainly hadn't been expecting to find anyone else at the Manor.

She parked her car on the driveway looping in front of the sprawling house and walked up to the door to ring the doorbell. She was planning just a quick visit, though she wouldn't be surprised if Alfred took one look at her and lamented how thin she was as per usual lately.