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--- wod:hunter:recap:34_chapter_1 [2021/04/05 22:52] – verbena76
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 title = Hunt 34: Chapter 1
 ~~
+//Game was 12/19/20. We had a short time jump and instead of Beats and Experiences, I just awarded the characters with a specific advancement. Abby and Anita each gained +1 Synergy, while Leta got +1 Legacy (her 'power stat'). The others all got Attribute increases: Josh and Veltis got +1 Composure, William got +1 Strength, Mick and Doctor Ranjip got +1 Intelligence, and Polly got +1 Manipulation.//
 ====== Hunt 34: Reprisals - Chapter 1 ======
-//Coming soon...//
+===== Interlude =====
+==== Redesigning the Wards ====
+Two weeks have passed since the hunters destroyed Elisa Mae and captured Helen. For Sin-Eater Anita Perez-Montoya, these two weeks have been consumed by two events. The first is rebuilding the wards that protected the Montoya Botanica; her //abuela// and her sister Del continue to pitch in all day Sunday and Monday while her geist, The Witch, assists as well. To Anita's amazement, The Witch and //Abuela// come to a working relationship and //Abuela// even changes her plans as The Witch points out to everyone, //"While this is a tragedy, there it is also an opportunity. The old wards were ninety years old and only protected against specific threats. Now, you have a much greater depth of understanding, and should expand the wards accordingly."// //Abuela// is forced to agree, even though she still detests The Witch.
+Anita decides to recruit more help and calls the changeling ritualist Cuthbert from the Bostonian Molasses Court. Cuthbert feels guilty about the destruction of the wards protecting the botanica, but Anita makes it very clear that if he had not linked the two sets of wards, The Purveyor would have killed them all. This helps Cuthbert a bit, and he starts providing various items and spells to weave into the wards to protect against the True Fae. As the Montoya clan had no knowledge of the True Fae before, this is a major redesign of the wards, but one that is absolutely vital in light of recent events.
+As the day passes, Anita, //Abuela//, Del, and The Witch continue to lay the foundations of the new, expanded wards. Cuthbert calls throughout the day, to provide additional ideas and techniques. The biggest problem is the Montoya women are trying to combine three different occult styles; the original wards were based on a mix of Catholicism and Santeria, while The Witch has a colonial New England Protestant flavor to her work.
+Those two styles mesh together reasonably well, but the real challenge is incorporating Cuthbert's styles and ideas; the ancient changeling has amassed of great deal of expertise in many different occult styles, which does make sense considering Boston is a hub city. The women do what they can, and Anita laughs aloud when during one phone call, Cuthbert refers to //Abuela// as, "//You youngster."// A few details Cuthbert provides or remarks on lead //Abuela// to realize that Cuthbert is in fact older than she is. Anita meets with Silas Black as normal on Monday morning, and the mobster is reasonably polite.
+==== Putting Carlos To Rest ====
+Things go awry Monday night; the Springfield Police Department releases Carlos's body, leaving the family to deal with his wake and funeral. The return of the body triggers Del's anger at Anita, as she still firmly believes that Anita is partially responsible for Carlos's death. The two sisters descend into heavy sniping and arguing, while //Abuela// absolutely refuses to consider the very idea that Anita would have had something to do with her grandson's death. Anita allows //Abuela// to take the reins in terms of Carlos's burial. //Abuela// arranges for the wake that Friday and the funeral the following Sunday at the Cathedral of Saint Michael the Archangel. During the next few days, Anita continues to work on the wards alone; //Abuela// is busy with the funeral arrangements and Del won't help.
+The family gathers for the wake on Friday and are quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of well-wishers. Anita quickly realizes the Springfield Police Department once again hyped Carlos as a hero to cover for their own corruption. This leads to a heavy police presence at the wake, much to the women's collective discomfort. However, several of Anita's supernatural friends do arrive. David Klein, Peter Sweets, and Isabel Vanora from the X-Krewe are amongst the first to enter. The Sin-Eaters from the Rich Man's Hand krewe and the Waterfront krewe also arrive, as do the members of the Troy cell. The death-mage Gothi arrives separately but she and Peter sit next to each other.
+It becomes quickly obvious that Peter is stuck between being there as Anita's friend and the demands of the SPD. He does his best to be there for Anita, but unfortunately politics are at play. Then, to Anita's surprise, the mages TJ, Johann, and Atiyeh of the Shield & Crescent cabal drop by. TJ grabs Anita in a full-blown bear hug, nearly breaking her ribs! //Abuela// eyes the muscular TJ and murmurs, "Hello..." Anita rasps, "He's is not your type, //Abuela//. He has more than four brain cells operating!" //Abuela// eyes Anita and hisses a warning in Spanish, but TJ proudly announces, "I have six brain cells operating, thank you very much!"
+Anita snorts but is deeply glad that the mages are here, and her friends are showing so much support for her family. To her surprise, Director Austin Templeton and Special Agent Chelsea O'Malley from Task Force: VALKYRIE also arrive. //Abuela// also eyes William appreciatively when the Troys go down the receiving line, and she murmurs to Anita, "Josh's father is quite handsome." Anita gags and retorts, "Also not your type. That one has five brain cells working." The wake passes as best it can, and Saturday Anita opens the botanica as normal. The funeral on Sunday is at the Gate of Heaven cemetery and is a smaller affair, but once again the three krewes and the cell do attend. Like Friday, Gothi comes alone but joins Peter. Carlos is laid to rest, and the city believes he died a hero.
+==== The Second Week ====
+As Anita only sipped her drink from Tim L'Ereux-JÃ¤ger, the arcane effects last longer and The Witch remains manifested in the mortal world for a full week. However, she starts to fade away during the weekend, and by Monday morning she is gone. Sadly, any progress they made together crumbles, but Anita is comforted with knowing the woman The Witch used to be.
+That morning,((Monday November 15<sup>th</sup>, 2010
+)) Anita meets once again with Silas Black to hand over the information money. To her surprise, Black counts out half the bills and passes them back, saying calmly, "My donation to your funeral expenses." Normally, Anita would argue, but today she is too tired and simply accepts the money. Also, to her surprise, the mechanical cat is present and rubs its head against Anita's thigh. It climbs into her lap and purrs like a diesel engine for several minutes, which Anita finds calming.
+After Black leaves, Anita opens the botanica for a new day. As this is the week before Thanksgiving, Anita expects a slight uptick in business. However, as the week passes, several different gang members loiter nearby, never coming onto the property, but making their presence known. This provokes an almost immediate reaction from Black's new syndicate, and soon sharply dressed //Mafioso// are on the other side of the street, eyeing the gangers. Rumors start swirling that the Montoya botanica has gotten into bed with the Italians. Anita ignores the rumors but notes with amusement that they do lead to a slight uptick in foot traffic, despite the weird ganger/mafia standoff happening outside. This situation lasts the entire week, and Anita has no idea why. After the initial surge, the situation depresses business a bit, but she does what she can while still repairing the wards.
+Strangely, during the week the botanica suffers no shrinkage at all, which is deeply unusual for being in Springfield. Also, during the week, Lila of the Ascending Ones drops by the botanica to inform Anita that Ahmed and Samir are still recovering, but the conspiracy has put out a few unofficial overtures to the Aegis Kai Doru. The entire conspiracy war is in a weird state of limbo, as when Athens moves to mobilize, Washington D.C. and Milan do the same. Anita joins the X-Krewe in going Down Below on Friday night. Last week, the night of the wake, Peter, David, and Isabel went down alone. Although Abby is absent this week again, the Sin-Eaters very much understand why she's not joining them. Anita asks about Gothi; Peter informs her, "That chick is into some kinky shit!" Anita congratulates him on his journey of self-discovery, leading Peter to flip her off.
+==== Leta Loses Veltis ====
+For Lucifuge hunter Leta Mackenzie, the two weeks pass in a weird sort of limbo. The day after the death of Elisa Mae Curran, Leta reached out to the pack totem, The Academitrix of Classical Studies at Smith College for Women, and asked if the proposed demon escort is acceptable. She admits that it is a minor demon-imp, raised as food for greater demons in Hell, but just wandered out of Hell accidentally. It is an incredibly weak demonic entity, but the Lucifuge find these types to be great at surveillance; they find humans fascinating and they're easily entertained. They are demons and are malevolent, but that usually starts and stops with poking people. The totem replies, //"Two conditions. The first is that this demon must be an observer only. The second is that the Shadow is not demonic turf, and while Veltis is under my protection, the imp is not."// Leta agrees and reaches out to Milan for their assistance. The invisible imp arrives shortly thereafter, and Leta leaves it next to Dean Curran on the couch to watch cartoons.
+The totem arrives a few hours later to collect her comatose demon-familiar Veltis and the imp. She severs the connection between Leta and Veltis and then vanishes into the spirit world. The loss of that connection haunts Leta deeply, so she throws herself into helping at the Troy household. Ray and Dean Curran are currently staying with William and Josh, and Leta does her best to assist. Things get onerous when corporate fires her from her Dunkin' Donuts job; this leaves Leta without a disposable income unless she asks Milan for more money or dips into the Mafia money that she hasn't touched yet. She decides to push that decision off for a few days and focuses on what's in front of her. Sin-Eater Abby Henderson recovers enough that she and Leta relocate back to their apartment by the second week, but both go back to the Troy household frequently to help. Leta also learns that Officer Michael 'Mick' McManus covered for her after he called the ambulance two weeks ago and her name does not appear on any reports about the incident.
+==== Indiana William and the Monastery of Dead Monks ====
+For William Troy, the two weeks also pass in a strange limbo. During the day, he finds himself primarily caring for Ray and Dean, and gives them Serena's room to sleep in. He brings up a cot for Ray, leaving Dean the bed, but most nights the Curran boys end up in the bed together, curled up next to each other, a scene that William is forced to concede is rather adorable.
+William receives regular updates from the Northampton Firestone regarding his beloved 1986 Buick Skylark, and finds out the mechanics are enjoying working on the twenty-four-year-old car. A few parts had to be improvised due to the age of the car, and the garage does offer to throw in a few upgrades. William decides against it and wants his car back in as close to original condition as possible. As for the suitcase, William closes it and slide into his closet, deciding quite firmly that this is a low priority right now.
+Unfortunately, during the first week William has another intense, vivid dream. This time he is basically Indiana Jones running around a pre-colonization African city, fleeing from the natives after having stolen a gold and emerald encrusted egg that does not look like it was created by the people of this era. He manages to get away from the natives, and then wakes up. He immediately realizes that his left shoulder is stiff from a graze from a thrown spear, and then looks down to find the fedora he wore in the dream lying on his lap! The fedora is old and clearly well used, and William grabs it and places it next to the suitcase in the closet.
+There is a second dream during the second week, this time William is a Viking raiding a monastery along what he thinks is the English coast. Wielding an axe, he butchers several Northumbrian monks while he searches for some text he is driven to find. He also realizes that somehow this monastery has been defiled, although he does not know how or why. He kills the abbot in charge of the monastery with an axe stroke to the head and then takes the text. This time, the dream does not end until after the Vikings have set the monastery on fire and retreated to their boats, laughing about the fact that these foolish people will rebuild the monastery with plenty of gold items just so the Vikings can return in three years and repeat the process. William wakes up from this dream soaking wet with the Viking axe right next to him in bed! Once again, William takes the axe and puts it in the closet.
+William also runs into some strange financial troubles as his insurance is denying all his claims regarding the destroyed bay window and the damage to the roof. He also learns multiple noise complaints have been filed with the NPD, supposedly by his neighbors. While he struggles to get the money for the house repairs and to try to find poor Trevor's head from the hole in his backyard, he continues to care for the two Curran boys.
+==== The Other Troys, By Blood or Adoption ====
+Task Force: VALKYRIE informs William and Josh Troy that Helen Mansfield, the Blind Oracle, has been incarcerated at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women's Correctional Center down in Chicopee; they basically rented a few rooms and threw federal dollars the prison's way. Over the past two weeks, Helen has undergone several surgeries to repair her battered body, and she remains in a medically induced coma. However, TFV is very transparent about everything they do, and usually uses MacLeod as the liaison. They are also fully upfront about taking samples from Helen. For Josh, the two weeks pass as he cares for Abby, Ray, and Dean, completely ignoring his own physical and emotional trauma. He keeps up to date about his great-aunt's condition but is not surprised when MacLeod tells him one day, "So your great-aunt has no ocular nerves at all!"
+Josh's attempt to ignore his own physical and emotional pain comes to a screeching halt when Doctor Amar Ranjip arrives in the second week. The changeling doctor is relentless in terms of care and is not above supplying Josh secretly with a sedative to get him to rest. Josh spends what little free time he has establishing groundwork for the arrangement with Task Force: VALKYRIE and spends time with Leta. However, he receives a letter from UMass Amherst in the mail Friday night((Friday November 19<sup>th</sup>, 2010
+)) that tells him he has been withdrawn from all his fall classes due to nonpayment of his bill. Josh is very much aware that he has paid his bill in full and realizes this is something he's going to have to deal with on Monday. A quick text to Abby reveals she got the same letter.
+For Ray and Dean Curran, the two weeks pass at the Troy household with some awkwardness. Being so young, Dean simply accepts that these nice people helped his parents, and he is staying with them until Mom and Dad get better, but Ray is much more self-conscious about the arrangement and goes out of his way to not be a burden. Everyone who drops by to help realizes Ray's plan from the very beginning, but they decide to leave him be for the moment. Whatever entity or entities that is mucking around with the cell's individual financial systems seems to ignore the Curran boys entirely. The Troys bring the Curran boys to see their parents at Cooley Dickinson Hospital a few times; thankfully, Mr. and Mrs. Curran are never fully lucid.
+==== The Other Cell Members ====
+For Officer Michael 'Mick' McManus, the two weeks pass as he goes back to work. Thanks to Doctor Ranjip's care, his arm is fully healed, and his cast comes off. The NPD puts him back in rotation without asking questions, as they are still severely short-staffed. He spends his time split between the NPD and Task Force: VALKYRIE, specifically in training Richard MacLeod. He also informs the rest of the cell that the Smith College campus garage is now free of all explosive devices, and the subbasement filled in with concrete. However, he runs into some financial difficulties with his condo. Meanwhile, Detective Polly Wagner spends the two weeks working and she receives a long overdue promotion in the NPD; she goes from detective to a detective-sergeant. She keeps tabs with the rest of the cell, spends time with her girlfriend Hope, and also runs into issues with her mortgage.
+Doctor Ranjip continues his work at Cooley Dickinson Hospital but also checks in with the cell regularly. Mick's arm has healed completely, while Leta and Josh heal most of their wounds during the two-week hiatus. By Saturday, November 20<sup>th</sup>, their wounds are fully healed, but that night a young vampire breaks into Doctor Ranjip's home in Haydenville. The vampire is clearly not expecting to deal with another supernatural creature, and Doctor Ranjip destroys it completely. This leads the good doctor to conclude that their recent financial issues, including some troubles with his own mortgage, are the work of the vampires, likely angered by the death of Elisa Mae Curran. Despite the late hour, he texts the rest of the cell, although their hell phones function as normal phones without Veltis. Task Force: VALKYRIE is more than happy to take the vampire's corpse, just as they took Elisa Mae's body.
+===== Sunday, November 21st, 2010 =====
+==== William Sees the Future ====
+Sunday morning dawns cold but clear, over the little bit of snow and slush still on the ground. William has a third dream, this time he is himself running around some version of Northampton looking for a crown, but zombies are everywhere! During his search he runs across Leta, Veltis, and Doctor Ranjip, who seem initially surprised to see him. William has a hard time gauging their age, as he is aware that all three of them don't age as normal humans do, but he does note that Leta is more emotionally mature. This leads him to wonder how many decades in the future he is, but he finds out that Leta and Doctor Ranjip are the leaders of a small colony of the living here in Northampton.
+Doctor Ranjip informs William, "You believe you are having a dream, aren't you?" William nods and insists on the correct date, but the doctor retorts, "You're not dreaming. This was the price you paid for the bargain with the Judge from Duat. It sends you bouncing through time, hunting artifacts for it, and you wake up with a souvenir, don't you?" William resists the idea and argues back, leading Leta to comment, "I haven't missed his stubbornness."
+Doctor Ranjip agrees but asks William sweetly, "By the way, do you want to meet your great-granddaughter? How about your great-great-granddaughter?" William refuses to even consider that idea and tells them that he is here hunting for some sort of crown. They groan and Doctor Ranjip tells him, "I know exactly which crown you're looking for. The good news is I know exactly where it is. The bad news is, said crown is on Gothi's head in her bone-citadel across the river in Hadley." William looks utterly lost, and the doctor replies, "Gothi sort of went insane when the Veil was ripped open." William demands to know what year this is, and Doctor Ranjip replies, "2042." Leta tells him, "Quick tip, buy stock in Lysol. And hoard toilet paper! And also invest in a company called Zoom, around 2019. Trust me on this one."
+William remains confused and demands to know how this happened in such a relatively short period of time. Doctor Ranjip replies, "The Veil was ripped open in 2030, and the living dead rose almost immediately after that. Now almost every city is infested with zombies, which has led to a strange alliance with the vampires as the zombies threaten their food supply. Although the werewolves aren't happy about this, most cities now function independently in a feudal state. Sin-Eaters are ignored by the dead, so they are incredibly valuable to every faction; Anita is still around and is an important player down in Springfield. Unfortunately, the living dead make travel a lot more difficult, although we do stay in touch. Also, most Death mages went insane on the Veil ripped open, like Gothi."
+The rest of the dream is Leta, Veltis, and Doctor Ranjip helping William to cross the river into Hadley and infiltrating Gothi's massive bone-citadel. They fight their way through a bizarre amalgamation of death and sex paraphernalia before William can steal the crown. As they fight to exfiltrate, at one point Leta throws him her knife so he can protect himself. After successfully fleeing the bone-citadel, the dream ends, and William jolts awake.
+It's 8:00 o'clock in the morning and William feels utterly exhausted and sore as if he just run a marathon, like he did in his dream. He rolls over and stares in shock at Leta's knife, which is sitting next to him on the bed! This version of the knife is older and stained with the blood of the living dead, but William realizes he can no longer keep any of this a secret. He slides the knife in with the suitcase, the fedora, and Viking axe and resolves to tell the others tonight at dinner. He goes downstairs and does his best to have a normal morning, albeit one with extra coffee. Josh wakes up about the same time, and after he showers, he helps William make breakfast. The rest of the morning and afternoon are relatively quiet as William does a bit of housework while Josh collates all the documents and e-mails that he needs for tomorrow's fight with the UMass bureaucracy. Dr.Â Ranjip shows up around 4 o'clock to start cooking dinner.
+==== Secret Shoppers ====
+Anita wakes up around 8:00 o'clock as well, and finds no crises demanding her attention. Immediately suspicious, Anita gets out of bed and hits the shower. After her shower, she heads downstairs to join her family. Much to her consternation, //Abuela// keeps pumping her for information on Josh's 'father.' Anita insists, "No touchy! Also, he is Joshua's grandfather! Weird angel shit." This doesn't seem to dissuade //Abuela//, leading Anita to ask, "Are you doing this because you actually like him, or because you're trying to piss off The Witch?" //Abuela// shrugs and admits, "That is part of the attraction."
+The Montoya woman have Sunday breakfast, and Del continues to ignore Anita. Anita is fine with this reaction right now, and after breakfast she heads out to open the botanica. Normally, on Sundays she has a pre-church rush and then a post-church/brunch rush but otherwise the day is typically quiet. This Sunday starts off like that, with the pre-church rush, but surprisingly she gets a fair amount of foot traffic during church. A collection of unfamiliar young brown and black people come in, look around, and buy something that's about $40. This occurs several times during church time, and Anita makes about $500 on these sales alone.
+Anita is deeply suspicious, as these strangers just seemed to buy things at random, leaving a lot of holes in her stock that just simply don't make sense. However, she runs a quick check of her inventory, and finds once again there is no shrinkage whatsoever. The post-church/brunch rush hits and by the time things settle down in the midafternoon, Anita is sitting pretty with over $2,000 in the till. Some of her regulars are confused about the holes in her stock, and Anita directs them to other places as best she can.
+==== Return of The Veltis ====
+Leta wakes up around 9:00 o'clock in the morning when she realizes something else is in the room with her, and then she feels Veltis draped across her head, drooling on her! Although deeply overjoyed to see her familiar again, Leta is less enthused about rat testicles in her ear! She calls his name, and he grunts, and then she moves Veltis to the bed next to her. Veltis grunts again and promptly goes back to sleep. A little while later, she hears Abby get up and start rustling around the kitchen, so she gets up, dresses quickly, and shoves Veltis into the pocket of her hoodie.
+Leta steps out to find Abby making breakfast and asks, "Eggs now?" Abby insists Leta use her words in the proper order, so Leta says, "Eggs for Leta, please!" Abby grumbles but is surprised when Leta pops Veltis out of her pocket and puts him on the table. Leta asks, "Veltis, want egg?" Veltis licks his lips and then falls back asleep. Abby makes an egg for Veltis just how he likes it, and then puts it on a tiny plate right in front of him. Veltis wakes up, and then immediately consumes the egg! He then has a seizure, but as Leta reaches for him he suddenly shapeshifts into a raccoon!
+Abby and Leta stare at the raccoon-Veltis for a few moments before Abby make some another egg and place it in front of him. Veltis immediately wakes up and consumes the second egg before asking Leta, "Who's that?" Leta stares at him in surprise and replies, "Abby?" Veltis asks, "Who? And why does she smell dead?" Both women are shocked but Leta replies, "This is Abby. She's our friend. She is also a Sin-Eater." Veltis grunts, "OK," and then falls asleep again.
+Abby looks down at Veltis and gently touches him. Veltis twitches but doesn't react otherwise so Abby gently checks his heartbeat. She tells Leta, "Well, his heartbeat seems strong anyway." The two women spend the morning watching television and relaxing, while Veltis - still in raccoon form - sleeps on Leta's lap. Leta nudges him at lunchtime and asks, "Lunch?" Veltis sleepily replies, "Food?" Abby sighs but makes them lunch and again Veltis hoovers it up almost immediately. He then undergoes another seizure, and suddenly grows to the size of a bear! He falls asleep in the middle of the living room, and Abby announces, "Not my familiar, not my problem. I'm not cleaning up raccoon drool." Leta grumbles but grabs a mop; she pokes Veltis awake and demands, "Why are you a raccoon?" Veltis mumbles, "Hungry," and then falls asleep yet again.
+By late afternoon, Veltis is a toddler-sized raccoon, and Leta gathers him up and asks Abby to make a side trip to Stop & Shop to get extra protein for dinner. She then texts Josh, //"Veltis is back, but weird, can't pass as a normal rat."// Josh turns to Ray and asks him how to keep Dean away from a talking rat, but Ray shrugs as he has no clue and he replies, "I will deal with that when it comes."
+==== Adventures with Magical Animals ====
+The hunters gather at the Troy household around 7:00, but Anita is running a bit late. Abby, Leta, and Veltis are the second group to last to arrive, and Leta places the raccoon-Veltis down on the couch. Dean immediately wanders over to see the animal and he asks softly, "Can I pet him?" Leta nods but says strictly, "Be gentle!" Dean takes that very seriously and carefully pets Veltis. After a little while, Veltis starts drooling again, but then wakes up suddenly and calls out, "Put more salt in that!" and then he falls back asleep. Dean stares at Veltis in wonder and Ray hurriedly claims, "That's my friend's magic raccoon!" Veltis suddenly doubles in size, leading Dean to gasp aloud in wonder and he whispers, "Will that happen to me?" Leta replies, "You're a normal human boy, not a raccoon. You'll have normal growth spurts during your life. Now, I need you to be super quiet about this, because my familiar is special, and I don't want people coming to try to find him and hurt him! I'm trusting you with this, Dean." Once again, Dean takes this utterly seriously and nods solemnly.
+Doctor Ranjip is cooking dinner, and utterly ignores Veltis's suggestion about more salt. As the smell of delicious Indian food fills the house, Anita arrives about fifteen minutes late. She hurriedly explains that she had to make a larger than normal night deposit but then stops dead when she sees the raccoon drooling on the couch. Dean insists, "He's special!" and Anita whispers in shock, "I didn't know they got this big here!" Leta groans and replies, "That's Veltis." Anita demands, "Wait, why isn't he a rat?" Leta shrugs but Veltis wakes up enough to raise a paw and flip Anita off.
+Anita shrugs and says, "So I'm supposed to give you this." Leta starts to protest until Anita rubs Veltis's belly and says, "This is from Kirk." Veltis's eyes snap open and he demands, "Who are you? And why do you smell dead?" Leta quickly says, "She's a Sin-Eater, like Abby. This is Anita. She's a friend as well." The hunters quickly realize that Veltis seems to remember Leta and thinks it's 2008, right after Kirk's death. However, he immediately recognizes Mick, but no one else in the room! As Leta and the others try to figure out what happened, Dean comes over and starts petting the raccoon-Veltis again. Veltis has another seizure, and suddenly shifts into a panda bear! Dean jumps up and down in sheer joy while the others stare in shock. Anita concedes, "He's cute," while Leta admits, "Honestly, I agree with Dean's reaction." Veltis asks suddenly, "Is Amaranth here? I'm supposed to stay away from her."
+Leta assures Veltis that Amaranth has been gone for a while, and Veltis dimly remembers Overman. However, he continues to insist that Mick was with them when Kirk died, even though Mick hadn't even met them yet. Veltis suddenly shapeshifts into a koala, and once again Dean squeals with joy. Leta demands, "Turn into something with hands!" so Veltis concentrates... and turns into a fox with hands! Leta grumbles, "Close enough," and they gather at the table. Doctor Ranjip start serving food, but once he serves Veltis and moves on, Veltis hoovers down the food, leaving a clean plate! This causes Doctor Ranjip to backtrack a few times before Leta says, "Just give everyone else their serving, and come back to Veltis." At this point Veltis is once again a toddler-sized raccoon, and as he shovels food into his mouth he demands, "How do we know these people?" Leta explains that this is their cell, and their family.
+==== Memories and Testicles ====
+After dinner - which is the first time ever when Doctor Ranjip cooks that there are no leftovers - and dessert, Ray brings his little brother into the living room to play video games to allow the hunters to talk freely. Veltis is still clearly addled, and the hunters talk about their vampire problem. Josh makes a reference to Veltis's dimensional pocket and Veltis demands, "Wait, how do you know about that?" Leta assures him that the cell is all aware of his pocket and that he lost access to it a while ago before regaining it.
+Veltis frowns but mumbles, "Wait, do I have a vampire in my pocket?" Leta looks pained but replies, "Yes you do. He's in a bubble." Josh asks, "Why do you have a vampire in your pocket?" Veltis replies, "He wanted a place to safely sleep away about fifty years. But I forgot about him." Josh asks, "What year did you put him in the pocket?" Veltis frowns and replies, "14-something... no wait, 13 something?" Josh raises his hand and says, "Never mind. It's been well over fifty years."
+Veltis eyes William suspiciously and demands, "Why are you older than you look, and why are you covered in Iremite runes?" William replies, "Those are two very good questions," and Anita mumbles, "Six brain cells." The others look at her strangely, and she adds, "Oh by the way, you want to keep your back to a wall whenever you run into //Abuela// again. Dat ass, yo." William groans but Veltis suddenly shouts, "Testicle! That's how I know Mick!" Anita eyes Mick in confusion while Mick slides down his chair and reddens in embarrassment.((Mick did (inadvertently) help him regain a testicle, after all.
+))
+Veltis says slowly to Anita, "Wait, do you have an idiot sister?" Anita nods and Veltis admits he remembers something about dressing her up? The hunters quickly fill him in, but he starts arguing with William over something. Anita sighs but Leta points out, "That seems to be primarily how they communicate." Veltis looks confused but William nods. Veltis then points to Josh and demands, "OK, does that one over there just shit sugar and sunshine?" The others look at Josh and nod, and even Josh just shrugs.
+Veltis suddenly gets angry at William and declares, "You were the Pope!" The others look utterly confused while William dodges the question but Josh says, "I'll be right back." He leaves the table then returns with the Papal hat, which leads to most of the others just staring at it. Anita demands to know what's going on, well Veltis hisses, "Pope Honorius III! I shit in that hat!" A brief argument ensues, which ends up with the hunters assuring Veltis that this is the year 2010. Josh returns to the bit about his grandfather being the Pope and asks, "Wait, were you the Pope in a dream? Were you the Pope for a while, or did you just pop it up a bit?" William jokes, "For a limited time only!" while the others all stare at him.
+==== Lesbian Tentacles and Eating Babies - And the Future ====
+The conversation veers again and somehow the botanica's basement crops up. Anita insists nothing strange like an orgy has ever happened in the basement, but Veltis mumbles, "Your sister would disagree." Anita glares but then reveals how the demon Bob was looking for him to get the tallies of babies eaten and priest defiled. Veltis mumbles, "Do you have any idea how little that narrows it down?" but eventually figures out she's referring to Robert the demon and not Bob the lesbian tentacle. Anita refuses to believe about Bob the lesbian tentacle, but Josh jokes, "You're exactly her type! She also really liked Polly." Abby counters, "No, she's not. Bob didn't like me because I'm dead, so she's not going to like Anita."
+Desperate to change the subject, Anita asks Veltis, "So why do you eat babies anyway?" Veltis shrugs and says, "I haven't had a baby in at least five years; they're tasty but they're small. They're like Pringles, once you pop, you can't stop." Doctor Ranjip turns the conversation back to William's dreams, and William suddenly reveals his dream and how Leta, Veltis, and Doctor Ranjip were there, and the good doctor warned him that it wasn't a dream. Doctor Ranjip is confused, but William says he had a dream that he was about thirty years in the future and Leta was basically the same. He also makes a cryptic reference to his great-great-granddaughter and how Gothi went mad with power after the Veil was ripped open. William adds, "Be right back," and runs upstairs.
+William retrieves the knife from his closet and stuffs it into his pocket. He returns to the kitchen and asks Leta, "Do you have your knife?" Leta stares at him and retorts, "I always carry my knife!" William says simply, "Right now, so do I." He then places the knife on the table. The other hunters stare at the pocketknife while Leta examines it and grudgingly concedes, "This is mine." She pops open the battered knife and stares at the stained blade before demanding, "What is this?" William replies, "I'm not entirely sure. The undead roamed Northampton freely, and Gothi wielded tremendous power because the dead gained power." Leta retorts sarcastically, "What, did she have a sex-citadel?" William grudgingly admits, "Basically, yes. It was across the river in Hadley. Doctor Ranjip asked me if I wanted to meet my great-granddaughter and my great-great-granddaughter." Mick frowns as he starts putting two and two together and reminds everyone that mummies seem to covet artifacts. Leta agrees as she recalls Hakim's obsession with the statuette.
+==== More Souvenirs ====
+Mick wonders if these dreams are William somehow collecting artifacts from different periods in time. He jokingly asks, "Did you get any other souvenirs?" William reveals, "Actually, I did. Let me go get them." He heads back upstairs and opens his closet; he places the fedora on his head and then grabs the suitcase and the Viking axe. He walks downstairs and into the dining room before placing the suitcase and the axe on the table. The hunters stare mostly at the Viking axe as William briefly describes the other dreams.
+Leta demands know if there was anything in the suitcase and William admits that he clicked it shut and put it in his closet after he found it, as there were other problems that needed their attention. Leta immediately opens the suitcase and starts feeling around; she finds a catch and pops it open. A false bottom pops free and she lifts it to reveal a hidden space stuffed with newspapers. She pulls out the newspapers but finds nothing else in the suitcase. The hunters examine the newspapers and find they are all from Chicago and date from September 1922. Leta grumbles, "Veltis let you play with the Tommy gun once and look what happens." Veltis asks, "I did?" Leta nods and replies, "Yeah, you gave William a Tommy gun from your pocket and then you shot a guy with a musket! CSI must have had a field day with that!" Both Mick and Polly grumble in agreement.
+Now curious, William takes off the fedora and examines it. There's nothing hidden inside but he does note a tiny tag that proclaims the hat was stitched together in 1900! Leta jokes, "Did you //Temple of Doom// it?" William shrugs and replies, "Basically, yes." Veltis lifts the Viking axe in his small paws but seems to wield it unhindered; he pronounces, "You murdered a lot of people with this axe!" William shrugs and then Veltis licks the axe! The others shudder but Veltis declares, "Northumbrian, I believe." William nods but says nothing further. Polly jokes bleakly, "Did you get any tips?" William admits, "Yeah, I did. Stock up on Lysol and toilet paper, and invest in something called Zoom?"
+==== Vampiric Interference ====
+Doctor Ranjip turns the conversation back to the vampires and reminds everyone that their allies have stressed that the vampires' collective power is the social influence they wield. He admits he's run into some issues with his mortgage and Josh admits he's surprised that Doctor Ranjip still has a mortgage! Doctor Ranjip replies, "I actually remortgaged the house a few years ago to pay for some repairs. Unfortunately, the house is showing its age." William winces as he considers the cost of repairs to his home! Polly and Mick also reveal their mortgage issues while Anita brings up the weird gang activity around the botanica. Mick points out that gangs would fall in the social influence the vampire supposedly wield, and Anita admits that Silas Black's syndicate is also poking around.
+Leta reveals that corporate fired her from her job at Dunkin' Donuts and predicts that without her, the store will close and become a Subway within a year. Anita adds the strange shoppers earlier today and Josh asks, "Do you have any of their money with you?" Anita replies, "No I don't. That's why I was late, I had to make a night deposit. I made two grand today and I definitely don't want be walking around with it! I think about a fourth of that was from all the new faces and I haven't had shrinkage in several days."
+Josh is aghast at the thought of anyone stealing from the botanica but Leta, William, Polly, and Mick all snort in disbelief. Anita tells Josh gently, "I have what is essentially a retail business in Springfield. Shrinkage is a fact of life and we built in a margin for it." Josh points out, "That money could be counterfeit!" That brings everyone else up short, and Anita admits, "That is actually a valid concern." Mick agrees and suggests Anita call the bank first thing in the morning to report a possible counterfeit. Anita nods and admits she was just thinking the same thing.((As revealed in the next session, the money is legitimate, and Silas Black was behind it.
+))
+==== Some Plans Are Made ====
+Doctor Ranjip shifts the conversation once again and informs the others that the Curran parents are recovering and will likely be released sometime this week. The hunters are glad to hear that, but Polly opines, "Until they're home, the boys are safest here." William immediately agrees, despite the additional hardship. Mick asks, "Does anyone have any ideas on how to deal with the vampires?" Anita jokes, "Ask Uncle Obadiah to stop?" Although said in jest, Josh takes the suggestion seriously and replies, "We don't know how to find him!"
+Mick agrees and says, "Other than this Obadiah Troy, we know of two other powerful vampires operating in this area: The Monsignor and Elisabetta. We also have a dead True Fae to worry about." Anita shudders but William points out, "Be that as it may, I think the vampires are our more pressing concern right now." The others agree and Mick laments, "Unfortunately, we've learned that Springfield is thick with vampires, which means Anita is on the front lines, again!" Anita reluctantly agrees but decides that she will speak to Gothi and TJ as the two mages have been helpful so far. That leads to a few jokes about Peter and Gothi and Anita insists, "That is not my fault!" None of the hunters actually believe her.
+==== The Academitrix Arrives ====
+Before the conversation can continue, the totem spirit suddenly appears in the kitchen! Josh immediately thanks The Academitrix of Classical Studies at Smith College for Women for her assistance and the Academitrix reveals, //"Veltis suffered extreme mental trauma, so the spirits I brought him to carefully sealed away some of his memories so that his subconscious mind will have time to actually process them. His memories are jumbled now but will return gradually."// Leta is grateful but asks about the companion imp that went with Veltis.
+The totem's face twitches with annoyance and she grumbles, //"The demon-imp now works for me as an assistant librarian at Smith College. This was not my idea, but the politics of the Shadow are ruthless. It is a malevolent little thing, but so far it just seems to like pinching the students' butts."// Leta snickers and replies, "That sounds about right. Also sounds like The Witch!" Anita sees her geist make a rude gesture to The Academitrix, but the totem spirit whirls, stares directly at The Witch, and growls, //"Sit. Down."// Much to Anita's surprise, The Witch grudgingly complies.((The Academitrix is a higher Rank that The Witch. Although they are totally different entities (spirit vs.Â ghost) Rank seems to be universal.
+))
+Veltis absorbs this information and mutters a profanity under his breath. Then the Academitrix turns on William and snarls, //"What did you do?"// William insists that he didn't do anything, but the Academitrix jabs him on one of his hieroglyphics and snaps, //"You are removing items in time!"// William insists that he is doing so in his sleep and has no conscientious memory of it, but the Academitrix isn't having that argument. Leta slides the axe away, out of the spirit's reach, and suggests that the Judge maybe taking advantage of William. Josh suggests, "Maybe we can summon the Judge for a conversation?" William isn't keen on that idea, but to be fair, no one else really is either.
+The totem berates William for making more work for other people, and Leta interjects, "He is a Troy, after all." Before things can get too heated, Josh asks the Academitrix about the vampires in Springfield. The Academitrix tersely reminds him that her territory is primarily the Smith College campus, and almost everything that happens outside of the campus is unknown to her. Josh looks contrite, and the Academitrix concedes, //"There is a vampire who does visit the campus semi-regularly. She was a former student but still performs research in the library. I will let you know the next time she arrives."// Josh thanks her profusely and then makes a joke about the demon-imp pinching a vampire's butt.
+The Academitrix turns her attention back to William and tersely demands more information. William describes the four dreams again, but this time in greater detail. He seems especially concerned about the future Northampton, and the Academitrix snaps, //"I am aware of some possible futures for the campus. However, you are the second Troy to visit that particular fragment."// William looks surprised and asks who the first Troy was; the Academitrix replies, //"The idiot."// Josh immediately realizes that she is referring to his strange vision of the shattered future-Northampton where he met is evil future-self and he immediately looks pained. The Academitrix mutters, "//He looks like a puppy. So adorable somehow, even after he pisses on the floor."// The others agree and Josh just shrugs in acceptance.
+Leta suddenly points out, "Oh no! This means that Doctor Ranjip, Veltis, and I will be the ones raising Josh's spawn. That is a bad idea!" Doctor Ranjip immediately agrees although Abby goes totally silent. Leta suggests semi-jokingly, "Veltis, should we put William in your pocket?" Veltis immediately moots that idea, and William certainly isn't a fan of it either. Doctor Ranjip suggests, "There's an easier solution here. We just fob William off on //Abuela//, and the Judge will be too scared of her to make William dream-hop!" William also doesn't like that idea either, but Josh brightens with joy at the thought of an expanded family. Anita insists that she is not prepared to have the Troys as immediate family. The Witch pats William on the head and Anita yells at her. The Academitrix sighs and vanishes.
 ----
 <WRAP group>

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