No rambling Confucius-like comment this time.. which probably makes a statement in itself? There's a time to be lazy and a time to be proactive, we all just need a bit of help working out which is the right reaction every once in a while I guess. Hannah's worked it out for now, from the looks of things at least? Events unfold including but not limited to: Eris cooking beans. John getting told off again (he still deserves it of course) and Hannah reluctantly gets naked!

 

My body hit the floor hard with a worryingly loud ‘thump’.

People moved frantically around me for a few seconds, hands brushing against me on all sides.
My head throbbed painfully and it seemed to take ages for my eyes to clear enough for me to see anything again.

“John?”
I could feel his magic more than see him at first but eventually his tight worried face hove into view above me.

“Your name is Hannah Cooper, you think I’m a dickhead sometimes but we’re friends?”

Why is he.. what’s he going on about?..
Of course I’m Hannah, he IS being a dickhead now that he mentions it!

“Wha’ are you goin’ on ‘bout?.. stupid John..”
It was a struggle to make my lips work for some reason?
Something I muttered must have been at least slightly understandable though because he leaned back and sighed heavily in relief moments later.

“She’s fine, I can’t think of any other incarnation that would call me ‘stupid’ that casually.”

Huh?.. did I say the ‘stupid John’ bit out loud?
..my head hurts..

“She’s not fine Johnny, she’s obviously recovering from one hell of a vision.. you don’t get nosebleeds from the simple stuff..”
John’s Mum sounds worried too?
Something about that.. something..

Urrgg! I can’t concentrate!

With that burst of frustration my control slipped slightly and a moment later my magic broke free to let off a big golden dome of healing.
In seconds my head cleared completely.

I sat up from my awkward position on the floor, apparently I fell off the chair at some point?.. that’s probably where the big ‘thump’ sound came from earlier I guess..

“What happened?”
No.. wait.. I know what happened?
I had another vision!

Arista.. I think it was Arista?
Arista and Edith?.. no, not Edith.. some other name?..
It’s all practically a blur now?!

Something about Arista wanting to know the future and then.. she got ‘vulcan mind-melded’?..

Whatever it was that she saw, it included me at some point and it left her crying her heart out on the floor as a complete mess?

“I put a remote listening charm on the door before I left, good thing I did, you started having another fit and your yells woke me up. We got here as fast as possible but it took Mum using some mind-magic trick to pull you back out of the vision you were apparently having..”
I tried to pull myself upright but almost slipped sideways in the process.
John’s hand shot out to stabilise me which earned him a weak smile from me.

I’m kind of tempted to let off another burst of magic to fix myself again but if it didn’t get fixed with the first blast then it’s probably more of a mental ‘me’ problem then a physical, healable one.

“We need to suppress your Seer ability’s sooner rather than later Ali- uh.. Hannah?..”
The sound of Mrs Jones’s voice surprised me slightly; I hadn’t quite noticed she was there, aside from a vague almost subconscious acknowledgement of a presence in general.

I twisted my head to look at her worried face and nodded in agreement.
I’m all for getting rid of these stupid migraine-inducing visions as soon as bloody possible!

“Let’s go to the basement, I’ve got a meditation chamber set up down there. Johnny, can you go wake Eris up and sort out some breakfast for her? We shouldn’t be too long if all goes well.”
John didn’t seem too pleased with the idea of leaving my side but he reluctantly eased back to his feet and headed outside with a few cautious glances back at me.
It took a little effort but I managed to ease a hand up and wave him on with a smile which seemed to be all he needed to take the last few steps toward the door.

It’s not that I don’t appreciate his help but someone has to keep an eye on Eris and more importantly, if my guess is right, I need to be naked for the next bit.. definitely better for everyone involved if John is in no way near me for it to be honest..

“Come on then Hannah, let’s get you up.”
With a grimace I accepted Mrs Jones’s hand and let her pull me back to my feet.
She led the way out of the door and down the hall towards her basement with me following behind on slightly unsteady legs.

======

“Relax Hannah.”

Yeah, well.. you’re not naked in the middle of a ring of etched runes with your best-friends mother painting glyphs onto your skin in body paint, I think I’LL decide when I should be relaxed lady!

“Seriously Hannah, everything’s going to be fine. You might feel a slight disconnect from your integrated past memories but aside from that you will barely notice the difference when we’re finished..”

It’s not the ‘finished’ that’s got me worked up it’s the ‘process’.
I’ve read about this sort of thing, runic rituals are pretty common in my books being a rune master and all, on top of that Edith’s book about mind magic had a whole chapter on it.

That doesn’t mean I’m in any way comfortable at the moment!

I get the theory, the runes are being used as a focus lens of sorts.
The rings on the floor are built to help lead your magic through your lines to your mind without conscious effort to save splitting your attention and aid the ‘meeting-of-the-minds’ thing Mrs Jones is going to try pulling off.
The runes on my body are mostly centered on my Nexus points, known as ‘Chakras’ by the non-magicals, they technically don’t exist but as with most magic SYMBOLICALLY they do and any help we can get is useful honestly.

Annoyingly that means I had to let Mrs Jones draw ‘clarity’ runes around my ‘Anahata’ or ‘heart chakra’ to help her see what she’s doing when she reaches for my core, meaning I had to be topless and let her scribble all over my breasts which was REALLY weird to feel!

The ‘Blocking’ runes around my ‘Manipura’ or ‘jewel chakra’ were annoying too because my belly button is kinda ticklish and she had to do two full rings of runes around it before she was done.
Luckily I didn’t need anything done to my ‘Svadhishthana’ or ‘sacral chakra’, the one between my belly and my.. you know.. that one’s usually reserved for fertility rituals because it sits kinda above a woman’s ovaries.

The really embarrassing part was when she drew ‘support’ runes with a few more intricate glyphs for my ‘root’ or ‘Muladhara’ chakra.
It’s technically meant to be on your tailbone but apparently drawing any of these runes on your back doesn’t work in these rituals, so I got the ever so fun indignity of having a woman with a tiny paint-brush drawing around my still-new ‘woman bits’ and inner thighs.

Compared to THAT lot the ‘Linking’ runes on my ‘Vishuddha’, ‘throat’ chakra and the ‘blinding’ runes on my ‘Ajna’, third-eye chakra were practically a welcome task to endure!

Basically from what I’ve gathered by asking questions as she works and my own runic knowledge, the floor turns my body into a great big mind-magic satellite dish and her work around my chakra’s ‘tunes’ my body to her frequency while providing support where needed to key areas of my lines.

To block off an ability that’s as instinctive as a Seer talent you have to go DEEP, she’s going to take a trip into my mindscape level ‘deep’.

It’s kind of scary honestly, if I wasn’t so desperate to stop the visions and she wasn’t John’s Mum I doubt I’d have trusted her to do it all?
Even Edith never went this far when she was teaching me how to access my mindscape.. although that may just be because she enjoyed hitting me with her JuJu stick more than holding my hand through the process..
..evil little yoda..

“I think we’re about done Hannah. John tells me you can access your mindscape, which is pretty impressive by the way, but it should also make things a bit easier for us. I want you to go to your mindscape and wait for me? I’ll join you as soon as I can, okay?”
Her voice stayed just on the right side of ‘reassuring’ and her smile held nothing but encouragement.

For some reason that didn’t help much with my nerves though..

I’ve not been into my mindscape in a while and the last time I DID go in Ellie was in the process of a minor breakdown.
I promised to come back quickly to help her out but then things happened and I just.. kinda.. forgot?..

I’ve got a feeling she’s going to be PRETTY pissed with me at this point!

“Hannah?”
..here goes nothing I guess?..

======

With a dip into my lines and a few traced trails of magic the world disappeared completely only to rebuild itself in a blinding white light that slowly faded back into the recognisable shape of my mindscape.

Well.. sort of?..
Where the hell is everybody?!

Isn’t there meant to be, ya know, PEOPLE in here?!
Last time I was here there were less of them and they were all scared to death but I definitely had incarnations and their ‘houses’ cluttering up the place!

Everything’s just GONE?
No houses, no forest, no past-me’s.. it’s back to being just a plain white space again?!

“Where the FUCK have you been?!”
A yell in my own voice from behind me made me jump in fright.
I didn’t get a chance to turn and face it before an arm looped around my neck, pulling me sharply to the floor in one of my old favorite Judo inspired takedown moves.

In seconds she had me pinned and a version of my angry face glared down at me hard.
Her teeth were bared and a growl was coming from her delicate throat as she worked to overpower me completely into submission.

“Ellie?”
I think it’s Ellie at least?
She’s changed her outfit and hairstyle for some reason but I.. I dunno, she just FEELS like Ellie?..

“My name is Hannah and I’m the one’s asking questions here bitch!”
I couldn’t help but wince slightly when her fists squeezed down on my wrists tightly in her anger.
“What did you do with everybody? Why did you leave me in here ALONE?! GIVE THEM BACK!”

I flinched slightly when she let go of my now slightly sore wrist and winced down harder in pain a moment later when her hand connected with my cheek in a solid slap that seemed to ring out into the empty space around us.

“GIVE THEM BACK! Why are you taking everyone from me you evil, selfish BITCH?!”
Her hand flew out again making my cheek sting a second later.
“GIVE THEM BACK!!”

She was practically sobbing at this point.
The fact that she had me pinned down was immaterial because even if I could break loose I was too stunned to manage it.

What the hell’s happened to her?
I know I’ve been integrating a few of my past-incarnations but the way Ellie’s acting.. it’s like.. like I’ve killed them or something?..

“Ellie wh-”
I didn’t manage to get anything else out before she reared back and slapped me again.

“MY NAME IS HANNAH!”

Before she could finish the wind-up for her next slap she froze.
Her head cocked to the side and she seemed to turn her whole body away from me for a second.. then her eyes came back to me with a cold look of pure rage inside them.

“You brought reinforcements?! You’re letting someone ELSE into here without MY permission?!!”
She leaned forward, so close our noses were practically touching even as I tried to lean away from her and she let off a truly deep ‘Grace-worthy’ growl of undisguised anger.
“You’ll get yours Alice! NO-ONE takes my fucking FAMILY from me and gets away with it.. not even YOU!”

In the blink of an eye she vanished?

I ended up laying on the stark white floor of my mindscape panting heavily in shock for a few seconds more before there was a flash and Mrs Jones appeared a pace or two away from me.
For a moment she looked mildly disorientated but that cleared quickly and she focused down on me with a look of confusion.

“Are you okay Hannah?”
The fact she had to ask means I must look a right state but I’m just relieved she turned up when she did, who KNOWS what Ellie would have done to me if she hadn’t!

“..my mind’s a scary place..”
Mrs Jones didn’t seem to quite know how to respond to that comment but, being the consummate ‘parent’ that she is, she made short work of helping me back to my feet at least.

“Okay, let’s get this show on the road shall we?”
She shifted her eyes around the open white expanse of my mindscape and shuddered for some reason.
“You’re mindscape’s worryingly empty, didn’t you try customising it at all?”

I shrugged self-consciously.
She’s kind of got a point, I never did get around to learning HOW to shape my mindscape properly.
There didn’t really seem to be a point when all the other incarnations started popping up and changing stuff.. it’s not like I’ve really had the TIME to look into it even if I wanted to either..

“Well I’ll need a marker pen at the very least. Do you know how to manifest something in here?”

Uh.. maybe?..
Well, sorta.. it’s all about willpower I know that much!

I think you just kinda.. hang on I’ll try it?..

Concentrate, Concentrate, Concentrate!
Marker pen.. pen with which to draw in marker..
Permanent Marker pen, thin tipped round object with ink..
Concentrate, Concentrate, Concentrate!

Oh come ON brain!
It’s like conjuring, it can’t be that hard!

Marker pen.. give me a marker pen..
Marker pen NOW!
N-N-NOW!

GIVE ME A BLOODY PEN DAMN IT!

======

With a puff of suspiciously cheesy looking smoke a felt-tipped pen appeared on the floor at my feet.
I huffed out a long breath I hadn’t realised I’d been holding.

That took WAY more effort than I thought it would!
I think my anger made my magic spike enough to create it more out of instinct in the end.. rather than from my efforts in general.

Magic’s like that sometimes, mine is at least.

I’m new to the whole ‘letting go of control’ thing that John’s opened my eyes to recently but my magic’s always been a bit.. responsive?.. I guess.
It tends to know what I want it to do more than I think is ‘normal’ at least.

It’s worked in my favor with no downsides so far so I never really bothered questioning it honestly.

“One pen, as ordered.”
My voice was pretty smug there, I’ll admit I’m kinda proud of that pen now?
No real training or reading into the method behind creating stuff within my mindscape and my first attempt worked perfectly!

Mrs Jones knelt down and picked the pen up.
She popped the cap off to inspect it thoughtfully.
Slowly she brought the nib up to her nose and gave it a gentle sniff.

“Blood? I’ve never had a marker pen full of blood to use before, should work though, I take it you’re a blood mage of some kind for this incarnation?”

Blood?

Ohhh..’give me a BLOODY pen’, bit too literal there I think?..
..stupid magic..

“Uh, yeah? Edith taught me bound blood magic and I’ve integrated it in with my runes for convenience with the added bonus of a power-boost.”
Mrs Jones smiled at me with almost pride in her eyes for that one.

“Making the most of your talents, clever way to do it too, very unorthodox..”
She shot me a wink and straightened up to glance around us again thoughtfully.
“Let’s get started shall we? Once the mirrored runes are in place I can seal things up nice and tight.. uh.. you’re going to have to be naked again Hannah.. sorry?..”

I sighed heavily but didn’t argue the point like I did the first time in the real world.
I know logically why it has to happen, that doesn’t make it any less uncomfortable but it DOES mean I’m not going to be an ass about it.. this time at least.

The same principle applies in here as outside.
Magic’s all about symbols, doing a load of runes on and around me in the real world gives us a nice solid starting point for this mind-magic ‘trick’ she’s going to pull off.. but doing it again INSIDE my mind turns a ‘solid design’ into a practically unbreakable spell system all of its own.. and that’s before she even starts doing the mind-magic mumbo-jumbo that will block the ‘seer’ junk properly!

I kept a cautious eye on Mrs Jones as she worked on the floor rune-sets but I couldn’t quite shake the feeling that we were being watched?
No matter how many times I jerked my head around I couldn’t seem to catch who or what it was giving me that feeling.

It’s probably Ellie, right?
I don’t know what’s happened in here since I last dropped in and I’m really worried about her but on the other hand she scared the HELL out of me!
Also, WORSE than that, I have NO idea HOW she pulled off her little ‘disappearing’ trick before Mrs Jones appeared?!

It’s really strange to be so scared while in your own head..
Mindscapes are meant to be sanctuaries of sorts for the mages that have access to them, a place to reflect and find your center again.
Mine’s been a pain-in-the-ass since day one but NOW I.. I don’t feel SAFE here anymore?..

“You need to strip off and settle in the circles for me now Hannah.”
Great.. just what I need, as if I wasn’t self-conscious and unease enough here already, now I get to go through it all while naked!

A blush lit my cheeks as I reluctantly stepped into the circle and, facing away from her, willed my clothes to disappear.
It took a moment because, honestly, I didn’t want them to go?
My mind was well aware of that fact but eventually I got it and with a shiver I settled myself down in meditation pose.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get this done as quickly as possible so you can go play with Eris and John again okay?”
She’s trying to sound reassuring but it’s a bit of a hard sell when she’s approaching me cautiously with a felt-tipped pen full of blood, even if this IS all in my head.

..when did my life become a long chain of ritual circles and blood?!..
Honestly, I practically can’t remember a time when I DIDN’T have something unsettlingly ‘occult’ going on around me at this point!

“Thanks for doing this Mrs Jones.. I mean this in the nicest possible way, but can we just get this OVER with so I can spend the next few hours hiding from you in embarrassment?”
She smiled at me understandingly with more calm then I could hope to fake right now.

With almost tender strokes she made the first rune marking on my shoulder which would ring around my neck.
Slowly she made her way around to my front and I folded my arms to hide what I could.
I couldn’t help but blush harder again as well.

“I told you before Hannah, you can call me Tasha or Hel if you like? There’s no need for all the blushing dear, you’ve got nothing I haven’t seen before and honestly, considering you used to play with the hose in our back yard in the summer when your Mom was working, it’s not like it’s going to be the first time I’ve seen you naked or anything.”
Nice try Mrs J but if anything that made me blush even harder!
“Do you remember the time Johnny talked you into going fishing?.. the pair of you came back covered in so much mud I could hardly tell which of you was which!”

That made me smile at least and my arms went a little slack as I slipped into remembering it all.
Sarah was pretty pissed with me the day afterwards!

We were.. seven, maybe?
The only reason she wasn’t with us at the time was that Mum had dragged her off to some ‘spa’ for some ‘mother-daughter bonding’.
She got two days of being treated like Mum’s personal doll and came home to hear that I got to go fishing AND get covered in mud at the same time, without her.

I think that might be the day she really started to dislike John honestly?
That’s when the ‘Joe’ stuff started at least, passive aggressive as it was, it was also the start of several months where she tried to monopolize my time and keep me away from John as much as humanly possible out of pretty obvious jealousy.

She conned me into swapping places with her an hour before her next ‘mother-daughter bonding’ trip a few weeks later too..
I think that was more of a mild punishment aimed at me for doing things without her at that point but if it WAS then it backfired amazingly because I had fun with Mum that weekend and apparently she hated every minute of having to pretend to be me around John!

A smug little smirk came to my lips as I focused on those days and tried desperately to ignore the tickling sensation around my breast area where my best friends Mum is busy painting me up like some kind of tribal offering to a pagan god..

Mum showed me how to paint my nails that weekend!
Sarah never DID learn how to do her own nails properly, she usually gets her studio people to do them for her ‘to save time’ instead.

“Lean back for me Hannah I need to reach your stomach and.. well..”

Oh joy.. I REALLY need to work out a better way to do this!
I’ll add that to my long list of future projects right under tattoo runes, the Bad Juju Stick version Two-point-O and that whole ‘science mixed with magic’ idea I guess..

When did my life get so complicated?!
I used to have time to get BORED for powers sake!

“Bit more Hannah I can’t quite reach your-”
YES! I get it, Thank-you!

GAH! COLD PEN!
Watch where you’re putting that thing lady!!

======

“I think that’s everything? You ready to start Hannah?”

I cringed, having to fight the urge to fold my arms over my boobs and.. the rest?..
It’s bad enough I’m naked and covered in imaginary blood-ink but I can’t even cover myself properly or I’ll mess up the runes!

“Ready when you are, kind of desperate to get this over and done with honestly..”
Mrs Jones smiled at me warmly which, again, would have been a lot more reassuring if she hadn’t just spent the last ten minutes painting my front in annoyingly sticky blood-ink mixture from a pen!

This is all in my mind and symbolic anyway so why the HELL couldn’t I have imagined the blood-ink to be a lot less sticky and nasty?
I SWEAR I’m meant to be able to do that sort of thing in here, it’s MY mind after all?!

“Okay, close your eyes and settle into meditation. I’m going to shut off your conscious mind just long enough to get the mental blocks in place and then leave here to finish the ritual in the real world.”
She patted my knee, one of the few spots un-marked by ink at this point, reassuringly.
“It’ll be just like waking up, but when you do you should hopefully be free from those horrible visions.”

My lips twitched up into a nervous smile for her.
I don’t LIKE having to do this but she’s the expert and the idea of no more visions or accompanying mess is SO enticing.

With a final nod I dropped into meditation stance and focused on trying to lose myself.
Mrs Jones brought her hand up to my forehead.
Her mouth moved through some kind of incantation but I couldn’t make it out in my vaguely aware state of being.

A heavy weight seemed to form, pulling me down into the floor and draining my energy as it went.
For some reason it felt like I could see shadows moving behind the vague outline of Mrs Jones before me, for a moment at least, but I couldn’t focus on them properly and a heartbeat later the world went black?

======

I jolted up with a gasp.
It took me a moment to work out what was happening but the furniture around Mrs Jones’s basement-come-meditation chamber hasn’t changed at least?

A closer inspection of the area allowed me to pick up the person standing on the other side of the room from me, writing notes in a book of some kind.

“Mrs Jones?”
She jerked in surprise and spun around to give me a nervous smile, her hand slapping the book she’d been writing in shut as she went.

“Hannah, how are you feeling? You took a bit longer to come out of it then I was expecting?”
I shot her a somewhat confused look but shrugged it off after a moment.

How AM I feeling actually?

I feel.. I feel.. clear?..
My head feels clearer then it has in AGES, hell I practically feel like my old self again?!

When I told John’s Mum as much she smiled at me warmly and nodded to herself with pride.
Obviously this little added benefit to suppressing my ‘seer’ trait was less of an unexpected bonus to her then it was to me, she IS the expert on mind-magic’s though I guess..

“It should take a few hours for the spell to truly settle in but in the meantime why don’t you go wash off all that ink and get dressed? If I’m not mistaken I THINK John has just finished preparing some kind of indecently large breakfast for all of us, with Eris’s help of course.”
The little twinkle of enjoyment in her eye was kind of infectious and I couldn’t help but smile back at her as the image of John trying to both cook AND look after Eris at the same time made me want to laugh aloud.

He never HAS been very good at multitasking.

“The shower is just through that door there, you know where the kitchen is right?”
I nodded and with one more fond smile she made her way to the stairs out of the basement, leaving me to sort myself out.

Nervously I hopped over the ring of runes around me so as not to mess anything up and started towards the door she’d waved to.

Despite my pressing need to get clean I stopped short after a few paces.
After long a moment’s pause I shot a glance around the empty room and rushed back over to the desk she’d been writing at.

The book she’d been filling in was sitting there, almost begging me to check it out, but at a glance I’d seen enough for my worries to be assuaged.
Written on the front in neat embossed calligraphy were the words ‘Natasha Jones Project Log - seventh edition’, the book looked slightly aged so she’s obviously been using it for a while.

A lot of mages tend to keep project logs.
I don’t, but then I’m a messy researcher in general?

For a wild moment there I thought she was up to something with how nervous she’d acted when I woke up but it’s kinda understandable with one of these things, mages can be pretty protective of their project logs.. the ones that actually bother doing them at least.

“Sorry Mrs J.”
I patted the books cover and quickly made my way back towards the basement shower area.

I was so busy trying to work out how to define this new.. clarity?.. I’m feeling after having her do whatever it was that she did to block the ‘seer’ talent for me, I barely even registered that I would be facing yet another ‘shower monster’ before I was half way through trying to rub the ink off my boobs!

Well.. either that or I’m becoming somewhat ACCUSTOMED to this body?..

..weird thought that?..
It’s probably better if I go with the ‘distracted’ option there for my own state of mind if nothing else.
I’m in NO way ready to even CONSIDER being somehow ‘comfortable’ in this body!

“What kind of ink IS this?.. Come OFF you stupid..GRRR!”

OWW!
Note to self, don’t rub hard on your boobs, definitely not a good idea at ALL!.. owwww..
..stupid girl body..

======

“Hey Hannah, feeling better? uh.. you’ve got a little.. um..”
John paused and gestured to his neck slightly but stalled out when my warning look finally registered in his brain.

“Yes, thank you for pointing that out John. I couldn’t get some of the ink to come off..”
His mouth shifted into an awkward smile and he shrugged at me in a way I think he considers to be in some way ‘charming’.

I’ll admit the look suits him better than being ‘smug’ does at least but he’ll get nothing more than THAT from me at the moment!

“Breakfast? I’m sure at least Eris will be glad to see you, she’s been worried..”
I smiled at him and folded my arms around my ribs self-consciously.
It feels really weird to be standing here in just a conjured robe, I never thought I’d miss wearing a bra but when mixed with a distinct lack of underwear down below as well..

“Sure, you know me, food is always a good idea!”
John laughed at my forced cheer, surprisingly that made my smile become a little less forced eventually.
“What have you been up to in my absence then?”

“Cooking”
I couldn’t help but snort at that one.

Without another word he turned to lead me back towards the kitchen area.
The door was only a few steps away and the moment we entered the room proper there was a happy squeal followed quickly by a small body running head-long into my waist.

“Mom! We did bacon and Dad showed me the macro-wave an’ beans are SOO good!”
Her little arms squeezed me for a moment before loosening as she reached up in an obvious plea to be picked up.
..I think she meant ‘micro-wave’.. just a guess?..

“Sounds like fun, are you ready for breakfast sweetie?”
She nodded with as much force as a girl her age can and let off a happy little sound as I scooped down to pick her up at last.

I’m guessing John helped her get dressed or at least picked out her clothes for her?
She’s wearing a little pair of blue shorts and a black T-shirt which I vaguely remember John wearing as a kid.
He’s even got her wearing a pair of little ‘boyish’ sports socks and trainers with a load of different colors on the side!

It’s all a bit big for her but John’s never been great with complicated conjuration, or at least Max never was, so it’s probably the best he could manage on short notice.

I’m not sure why she wanted picking up honestly, we’re only a few steps away from the table and it’s not like her feet are going to get cold or anything with those thick sports socks on?
That being said I took those few steps to the table easily and slid into the nearest chair without comment, letting her slide slightly off my hip as I landed.

Instead of settling in the seat next to me as I’d expected she shoved her way around to sit on my lap.
I had to push the chair out a little more to make room for her but eventually we got comfortable enough.

Luckily John chose that moment to make his way around from the kitchen with a plate in each hand.

He didn’t comment on Eris’s seating decision but he offered me an awkward smile as he put first one then a second, slightly smaller, plate down in front of me.
Eris’s eyes lit up instantly when she recognised the food.

I’m kind of surprised honestly.
There’s not a burnt item in sight?

I was expecting to have to fake my way through ‘enjoying’ some terrible mess of John’s crafting for the sake of Eris’s feelings if nothing else but this actually looks APPETISING?!

When did JOHN learn how to cook?
I helped him make a mother’s day meal once when we were in our teens and despite me relegating him to mostly simple tasks like ‘gravy duty' he still managed to ruin practically every ingredient he touched!

“This looks good..”
Eris giggled and wiggled her butt forward slightly in my lap to reach her plate better.

“Dad did the bacon, I macro-waved the beans, everything else Gran Jones had to step in with before he could melt it into mush.”

‘Gran Jones’?
Well I guess that’s one way to go about it.

I’m kind of glad she’s getting used to our weird ‘family’ situation, although if Mrs Jones tells me to call her ‘Mum’ I’m SO out of here!

Despite appearances John’s not the father of MY child, I’m NOT the mother of his and we are in NO way at the ‘calling each other’s parent’s our parents’ stage of our ‘relationship’ even if we WERE together.. which we’re TOTALLY not!

I may be doing a pretty good impersonation at the moment but despite what she thinks I’m NOT Eris’s mother and I’m NOT Arista!

“Try the black-pudding Mom, it’s just like the stuff we got in England!”
I smiled down at her excited little face, partly in thanks for the interruption before I could get too worked up over the whole ‘not Arista’ thing again, but it’s pretty awkward having to pretend that I know what she’s talking about.

What even IS ‘black-pudding’ anyway?

It looks like a lump of slightly wet charcoal honestly?
Under the watchful eyes of Eris I sighed and cut off a small corner of the little black ‘urinal cake’ nearest to me.

Huh?.. it’s actually not that bad?..
Kinda meaty, a lot softer then I was expecting and a bit tart with just an added little ‘tang’ that feels vaguely familiar but I can’t quite put my finger on where from..

After a moment to finish chewing I offered Eris a smile of approval and turned back to my breakfast.
I wonder if I put a bit of the black-pudding with the bacon it will.. ohhh!..
Okay, THAT tastes good!

I’m going to have to find out the recipe for these or something so we can have them at home?
Anything that can improve the taste of BACON has a magic all of its own in my book!

“I take it you’re a fan of Marag Dhubh Hannah?”
Mrs Jones looked oddly smug for some reason.

I think.. ‘Marag Dhubh’.. that sounds familiar?..
Scotish?.. Irish?.. something like that.
GAELIC!

That’s it, old Gaelic.
Let’s see.. ‘Dhubh’ is.. ‘Black’?
So ‘Marag’ would be..

UGH! Wake up Hannah! ‘Marag’ means ‘pudding’ duh?!

Pudding Black, or Black pudding in English..
Well THAT was a waste of time!

Why’d it take me so long to work that one out?
I’m normally pretty quick with languages and I have quite a few Gaelic speaking past-incarnations, Lady M to name just one.

“..Marag Dhubh?..”
Why does it feel like I’m missing so-

BLOOD SAUSAGE!
EWWW!

Despite having already swallowed my last mouthful already I still turned away from the table and cupped my mouth to my sleeve so I could do a few little ‘spits’ to clear what was left on principle alone.
A moment later I had the cup of coffee John had put down in front of me while I was eating up to my lips and was sipping away to clear any remnants from my mouth.

Black Pudding is a type of blood sausage!
A sausage made with actual pigs blood in it!

It’s pretty popular in Germanic based society’s and especially England for some odd reason but it’s made with BLOOD?!

That’s DISGUSTING!
I can’t believe I was EATING that!

“Are you okay Hannah?”
Everyone looks pretty surprised and worried by my reaction, kind of understandable really I guess.

Blood! Fine, I work with the stuff all the time, but EATING it?!

With a heavy shudder I grimaced, turning back to face them all with a slight shrug.
“I forgot what actually goes into black pudding.. sorry..”

John’s lips twitched up slightly in amusement.
Mrs Jones seemed more surprised than anything else still and Eris just looked confused.

“It’s not like there’s much actual blood in it Hannah, you’d get more out of a rare steak honestly with all the oatmeal and suet in it?”

Oh shut UP John!
Don’t come at me with LOGIC here!

I already know I completely overreacted there.
I’ve tasted my own blood enough times during fights that I shouldn’t find it in any way ‘gross’ at this point but for some reason I just freaked out a little bit there, okay?!!

It was practically instinctive honestly..
..stupid instincts..

Eventually I gathered myself back together enough to offer Mrs J an apologetic smile for making a scene.
She gave me a warm knowing look in response, obviously catching on to the problem from John’s words.

Eris still seemed to be watching me in confusion but after almost thirty seconds of staring up at me where I ignored the look and turned back to my food, nudging the black pudding away with my fork so I could focus on the rest of the nicer stuff, she seemed to shrug it off and turn back to her own food with surprising gusto.

I winced slightly when I saw her spear a rather large cut of black pudding on her fork and shove it into her mouth with some bacon and beans.

I tried to resist but in the end I couldn’t take it anymore!

Taking the clean sleeve of my conjured robe in my fingers I shifted just enough that I could wipe the trail of bean juice off of her little chin.
She shot me a surprised look for a moment but quickly ducked her head back down in embarrassment when she worked out what I’d just done.

My cheeks flared in an equally bright blush as I settled back in my seat better and noticed the two Jones’s watching me, one with a warm smile and the other with a knowing smirk.
..shut up John..

“What’s the plan for the rest of the day then?”
Finally someone changed the topic, even if it WAS John!

“I want Hannah to stay close until she’s had at least one clear nap without any visions, but aside from that it’s up to you really, I’ve got some projects to work on so you’ll have to amuse yourselves I’m afraid.”
That’s better than nothing I guess?.. we need to head back to Klamath falls at some point soon anyway, people are probably getting antsy over there with me being gone so long..

“I want to do a final check over of my suppressors and then give them a test run this afternoon, aside from that I’m up for suggestions?”

It’s not like there’s much to do around.. where ARE we anyway?..
I can’t believe it’s taken me THIS long to think of it but I don’t actually know where John’s Mum’s house is?!

“We could go to the Bazaar? It’s always worth a trip when you’re in the area.”
My eyes cut over to John in surprise.

The Bazaar?.. but.. that’s in Seattle?!
It’s a big magical shopping district, even bigger than the one in Portland I was thinking of visiting a few days ago!

“Where ARE we exactly?”
I must have sounded at least slightly stupid judging by the smirk that John gave me but he didn’t leave me hanging long at least, I doubt he could resist rubbing it in at this point even if he tried..

“Welcome to DuPont, our little slice of Americana hidden between Olympia and Lakewood, forty miles south of Seattle.”

We’re in WASHINGTON? Just how long was John DRIVING for?!
I know it’s technically not much further from Eugene to Portland then it is from Portland to Seattle but it FEELS like a big difference, he had to cross a bloody state line!

“Don’t tease her Johnny, she had no way of knowing with the visions making her sleep through most of the trip.. need I remind you that when we first moved here YOU thought we’d somehow travelled nearly three-thousand miles east in one afternoon because of the ‘Welcome to Washington’ sign..”

I cracked up laughing, Mrs Jones seemed pretty amused too.
Eris didn’t seem to quite get the joke but she joined in laughing when it became obvious she was missing out.
John ducked his head and grumbled to himself.

That’s John for you, mind like a steel trap but give him a ‘school’ related topic like geography and he can’t tell his ass from his elbow!

“I think he was busy pretending to have some kind of long term ‘debilitating disease’ that just so happened to stop him from being able to do homework when we covered Oregon and it’s neighbouring states Mrs Jones.”
If anything John’s blush went up a notch at that one and he cringed a little when his Mum’s eyes turned with a bit of a sharper focus upon him in obvious annoyance.

It was years ago but it’s surprisingly fun to finally be able to tell someone of how many stupid little ‘get out of doing work’ schemes John tried to pull back in school!

“You know, he once told our math teacher that he was blind and tried to prove it by walking into everyone’s desks like a human pinball until someone tripped him and he landed face first in Judith Baker’s cleavage?”
Eris practically vibrated in my lap with the giggles she was trying hard to hide for John’s sake.
I on the other hand had NO problem with showing my amusement openly.

“JOHNNY!”
John flinched pretty badly and shot me a quick accusing glare before turning back to face his mother’s, much delayed, wrath for the years of stupid childishness I had to put up with.

Far be it from me to hold a grudge or make his suffering even-
I cut my eyes between them and a smirk grew on my lips slightly.
-okay fine, just one more..

“He was the one that dropped that big balloon of paint on our English teachers car from the school roof too, she gave him an F because he argued with her on whether ‘ye’ was an actual phrase in old English.. then he managed to frame some guy on the football team who’d been giving him crap the week before, getting the guy suspended.”
ahh.. that felt GOOD!..

“JONATHAN MAXARMIUS JONES, you are in SO much TROUBLE!”

Eris finally cracked and let off a peel of laughter which she quickly tried to suppress by stuffing a lump of bacon into her mouth but I don’t think she actually fooled anyone.
John caught my eye for a moment while his Mum took a breath in her tirade against him and offered me a weak glare, he would have probably done something more but he KNOWS he’s had this coming for far too long!

Never give your friends a reason to want mild revenge on you John-boy.
You may be my friend and I may be getting used to having you around again but you still owe me BIG-TIME mister!

I’m not a cruel or vindictive person but.. well.. it’s John, ya know?
..ah what the hell.. let’s pour gas on the fire shall we?..

“You know, this one time he-”

======

“..I can’t believe you told her about all of that..”

I jumped almost as much as Eris did in surprise at John’s low voice.
When it looked like I couldn’t add much without causing Mrs Jones to have an ACTUAL meltdown I kind of fled with Eris for safety.

She’s spent the time watching TV from my lap while glancing at the book I’ve got in my free hand every once in a while, I spent it reading because.. well, I’m me?.. what ELSE would I be doing with my free time?..

John grumbled to himself and moved over to the sofa just slightly away from the pair of us.
He’s obviously still not forgiven me yet but he will eventually, it’s not like it all REALLY matters now at least, it all happened years ago after all!

Just before he could sit down I made a little coughing noise to get his attention making him freeze mid-shuffle.

“You sure you want to sit down right now John-boy? Yer gonna need a padded cushion for that poor abused butt of yers after yer Momma got done spankin’ yer somethin’ rotten huh?”
I barely managed to hold it together long enough to finish my, admittedly terrible, Texan accent before I folded into a fit of laughter at the look on his face.

He flushed heavily and landed hard into the chair just to spite me.
He couldn’t quite meet my eyes though which probably means I might have been a bit closer to the mark then expected on that one, while he obviously didn’t get ‘spanked’ for real, a verbal spanking is a whole other demon to face from your parent even at our age!

“..screw you Hannah..”
Aww! He’s blushing even more now!

“In your dreams John-boy, I’m so out of your league it’s not even funny!”
With a careless flick of my hair which was actually more of a trained motion, learnt from Sarah, I smirked at him and winked just to get his goat again.

He didn’t say anything in response but he was still staring at me when a strand of hair fell in front of my eyes, shaken loose by the flick.

My hair’s STILL bloody BLUE!!
Why didn’t anyone SAY anything?!
I must have looked a right idiot all day!

It was wet in the shower and honestly I was a bit too distracted at the time, as shown by my still slightly aching boobs but I shouldn’t have just FORGOTTEN about it?!!

Some of the emotions going through my head must have shown on my face because despite his previous mood and obvious annoyance at me John broke out with a laugh of his own.
It’s NOT bloody FUNNY!

What the hell am I meant to do with BLUE hair?!
WORSE, bloody LIGHT blue hair!

“When were you going to tell me?”
The words came out as practically a growl.
Eris shifted herself off my lap in what was probably a wise move by her honestly.

“..when it stopped being funny?..”
DAMN IT JOHN!

In seconds I shot to my feet and launched myself at him.
He was ready for me, in one smooth move he practically tossed me over his shoulder onto the floor and had me pinned with ease.

We used to wrestle like this all the time as kids, if him overpowering me was an instant ‘win’ for him at this point then I’d have never survived five minutes against him growing up!

I bucked my hips just enough to bounce him up and rolled to the side, shifting his center of balance and taking out one of his knees as I went.
He collapsed to the side and I managed to scramble on top of him before he could recover.

We both sat there panting, him flat on his back and me sitting on his chest.
Slowly a grin formed on his lips.
I could feel a similar smile twitching up on mine too.

On an unspoken signal we both made our moves, he bent his knee to buck me off but I was ready for it and hooked my leg under his knee, kicking out to send it back down to the floor with a ‘thump’.
The action threw my balance off though.
I fell chest first on top of him, our faces ending up inches apart as we both tried to gather our breath again from the sudden impact.

Our eyes met and we both started laughing.
His laughter made my whole body shake from my position on top of him.
Slowly my head sank down and landed on his shoulder, our cheeks touching lightly as we laughed a bit more.

Some things never change.
We get at each other but all it takes is bit of a tussle and everything’s sorted again.
I’ve.. I’ve missed this?..

“Oh HONESTLY?! If you’re going to do that you could at least do it in private.”
..Huh?..
“I expected better of you two, with Eris here and everything..”

What is she..
Oh.. oh powers!

With a jolt and a twist we both surged away from each other, John’s back slammed hard into the sofa but I managed a full rotation and ended up kneeling a foot or so away from him by the time things were all said and done.

John started sputtering off answers and denials to the idea that we were doing anything ‘inappropriate’, although his argument that we were just ‘wrestling’ didn’t seem to be holding much weight with his Mum in the slightest.

I couldn’t quite bring myself to say anything.
My cheeks are burning and my ears feel like they’re on fire!
Outside the moment I can’t help but wonder what the HELL I’d been thinking?!

The rules are different now!
I can’t just go wrestling with a guy, people will get the wrong idea!.. Even if it IS John!

..it was fun though..
It was totally fun and cleared the air between us like always but it just goes to show that while WE haven’t changed much the situations around us have!

For a moment a load of other scenario’s blasted through my head.
We had communal showers in school.. showering with John..
We shared a bed on sleepovers when we were kids.. sleeping with John..
We used to go for long drives together and park up in the forest to chat alone.. together..

Is there anything LEFT that I can do with John that couldn’t be taken the wrong way?!
No wonder my Mum’s been so weary of us disappearing together so much!

I.. WE know it’s not like that but people are going to see what they WANT to see, and like it or not, that means I need to be more careful what we do or say around other people..

“Sorry John.”
John paused mid-defence and shot me a confused look.
Eris was already making her way over to my side, for another cuddle no doubt.
She didn’t miss a step at my words but Mrs Jones certainly did.

Her eyes cut between the two of us and after a painfully long silence she cracked a smile.
“What am I going to do with you two huh? You’re both as bad as each other..”

A small smile found its way onto my lips but I kept my head down anyway.

The amount of times she used to say those exact words to us as kids.
..a lot of things have changed but some important ones are still the same I guess?..

The tension in the room eased as Mrs Jones sighed heavily and landed a gentle hand on Johns head to rub his hair like a misbehaving dog.
“For the record I have nothing against the pair of you getting together but can you PLEASE not do it under my roof until your married at least?”

“MUM!”