Aberrant: Dead Rising - Confessions of a guilty conscience [completed]

[Venus]

Without hesitation Jill answered determined, "I want to know it all.", and tried to hide some of her worry that was slowly building like a knot in her stomach.

James had definitely caught her attention and mentioned some issues Jill wasn't really aware of or didn't know the extend of the consequences and thus pushed them away or ignored them. "Do you think something will happen? I mean something bad? And what would you do about it now that... now that you and V are not...?", Jill was slowly getting agitated and showed some unusual behaviour for her normally self secure demeanour.

"Maybe I should tell Dan, too?", her eyes barely met James' not sure how he would respond to that.

[Courier]

James snorted and said, "Too late. He and I already had this talk. You should compare notes though. His situation is different from yours, but that will be obvious. Let's go."

James last statement wasn't a request. He picked up Jill and leaped, heading for a few hundred yards past the scar.

A little outraged, Jill said en-route, "You told him but not me?"

James replied, "He needed to know a lot worse than you do, his situation is different, V will put his heart in a blender too." James landed and said, "OK..." James took a deep breath of air, not to talk but to smell for zombies. Finding none he continued saying "...we're alone."

Jill interrupted saying, "Violet is going to dump Dan? Why would she do that? They're really happy."

James nodded and replied, "For now. But she’s going to realize he can't give her what she really wants."

Jill asked carefully, "And you can?"

James shook his head and replied, "No. I can't. Or rather, I refuse to. I'm pretty sure Dan will do the same. After V figures that out she'll find a reason to leave him. Or at least that was my thinking before. Her pregnancy changes everything."

James held up a hand and said, "Hush now. Long story, you can ask questions after I'm done. First, the key to understanding Violet is to know that she doesn't exist. There's only Jennifer. "

James collected his thoughts then shrugged and said, "There's no good way to say this. I'm sure Jennifer was emotionally, and maybe physically, abused by someone when she was young. Someone really did a number on her. I don't know the details, but the end result was that she views herself as ugly, unlovable, unworthy of love. She knows this as much as she knows the sun will rise."

"She's also dis-associative, meaning she likes blaming other people for the situations she creates. The whole Violet personality wasn't a part of her powers, it was Jennifer herself pretending that 'someone else' was running the show. She probably had a string of abusive boyfriends as well. Maybe she saw daddy beating mommy on a daily basis.”

James continued, “Z-day she becomes a super. She got strong to kill her would be rapists. She also solved her other problems. V has Jen's idealized body. Jen wanted love, and Violet can create love, to know her is to love her. Thankfully it works in reverse too, she loves the people who love her. Violet can claim she’s not Jennifer, so instead of being repressed she’s outgoing, uninhibited, etc.”

James added grimly, “But deep down she’s still Jennifer. She keeps her Jennifer body around to remind herself she’s ugly, and the only reason people love her is because she makes them. Every time someone says ‘You’re beautiful Violet’, she hears, ’Unlike Jennifer’. She knows boyfriends are abusive, so she seeks out boyfriends who are able to abuse her. Now that she’s super strong that’s a real trick."

"I’m a powerhouse super who can do that, so is Dan, so is Primal although you didn’t see how attracted she was to him. All three of us are killers too. Better still, all three of us hit the radar as someone who could and would likely abuse women. I already had several girlfriends, Dan is cold, Primal is… Primal.”

“But with me and you girls she found herself in a non-standard, but healthy, relationship. I refused to abuse Jennifer or let Violet do so, I let Jennifer know that I considered her attractive and cared about her. That is what killed us."

"Our relationship didn't fall apart. With no warning we just went from 'I love you, let's have children' to 'We're through'. She didn’t try to resolve any issues we had because she was looking for a reason to pull the plug. When she and I talked V had a number of reasons why she left, but none made sense. She left because of Jo, but she didn’t bother trying to find out what Jo wanted and it wasn’t that, etc.”

,,

“Which brings us to now. Up to now she could engineer situations that forced her to shift back so she could remind herself how ugly and unlovable she is. Now she can't shift. Does she stop engineering problems and deal with some of her demons? Does she engineer bigger problems so everyone can see that Violet shouldn't be loved? I've no clue what happens next but her normal way of operating just collapsed."

With some sympathy James said, "Jill, she isn’t going to leave you because she doesn’t want abuse from you. You’re strong enough to protect Jennifer, but not so strong that you can abuse Violet. You’re the closest thing she has to a healthy relationship that side steps all her issues.”

James waved a hand at the world and said, "There. Blue pill complete. Or maybe it's red pill, I can never keep them straight."

[Venus]

"That was one hell of a red pill...", Jill said feeling a bit nauseated by the revelations of James. She made an uneasy step away from him and he steadied her with an elegant follow up move.

"Hey, you're going to be ok?", James asked her.

Jill looked at him and chewed on her lower lip nervously, "Does that mean... that she made me love her? Am I truly feeling this or is that her power? Did she mess with me?", there was truly confusion in her voice and even though she believed she loved Violet she suddenly wasn't so sure about that any longer.

"James, I need to know - is any of this real?", he could see that she was struggling.

"I think I'm going to puke..."

[Courier]

James smiled a little and replied, "Is love real? It is if two people decide it is. That's true even if they met right after the death of both of their families. It doesn't matter too much how relationships start, just where they are."

James said more seriously, "Jill, look at me. If I thought she didn't love you then I'd have sat you down and made you listen to this. Instead I told Dan. She loves you. Of course she loves me too, but this... punishment she needs to inflict on herself doesn't include you."

James paused then added as an afterthought, "Or on a practical note, her powers don't have this kind of range. If you love her now then it's your own fault."

James added dryly, "If you don't then Jo and I would be happy to have you back. I have a spear that could use sharpening."

[Venus]

Jill dismissed his clumsy attempt with a smile and shook her head. "So if my heart still skips a beat each time you mention her name and my stomach turns upside down with butterflies as if I was back in high school... this means I'm really in love with her? Because I really feel silly right now confessing this to you. I've never felt like this before. But Violet makes me feel...", she sighed getting a dreamy look in her eyes. "I don't think there are words that can describe this."

Jill forced herself to focus back on the actual topic and shook of her dreamy stare looking sternly back at James.

"I honestly don't think Dan knows the whole deal and if you still love her and this... this behaviour of hers is just some kind of psychological reaction to the maltreatment she went through as a young girl...", Jill was trying to find some kind of foothold in this mess.

"I think normal 'rules' don't apply to her. She's... too different to be considered normal even compared to the other supers. I mean I don't know of anyone having this strange dual nature thing she has going on but maybe there's someone in the refuge who is far better at hiding it? Even if I still believe she's a special case. I don't think she really wants to hurt people but maybe you are right that she believes she needs to be punished. But what am I supposed to do, James? I'm just... a woman.", she reluctantly amitted.

Recently Violet has taken a lot of interest in that young ultra buff teenager Kristin. And Jill hated herself for feeling resentment because of Kristin. That girl was a super, too. She was extremely beautiful and superstrong. She never worked out before and she never has to. Her superbody will always retain that amazing ripped shape and muscle tone while Jill was slowly struggling to keep in shape. In a few months if the situation wouldn't improve she wouldn't be able to keep up her workout routine and most importantly her diet. And that would mean loss of musclemass.

There was a lot of frustration and repressed anger as she looked up again at James who also was a super and had this amazing bodybuilder physique without having to hit the weights regularly. "Sometimes I hate you supers...", she quietly added.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Violet

Jill dismissed his clumsy attempt with a smile and shook her head. "So if my heart still skips a beat each time you mention her name and my stomach turns upside down with butterflies as if I was back in high school... this means I'm really in love with her? Because I really feel silly right now confessing this to you. I've never felt like this before. But Violet makes me feel...", she sighed getting a dreamy look in her eyes. "I don't think there are words that can describe this."

James said softly, "Thou art Titterpatted."

Originally Posted By: Violet

"I honestly don't think Dan knows the whole deal and if you still love her and this... this behaviour of hers is just some kind of psychological reaction to the maltreatment she went through as a young girl...", Jill was trying to find some kind of foothold in this mess.

James replied, "I left out the history of abuse when I talked to Dan. Ditto when I shook V up last week. I don't know she was abused, but her issues don't come from her powers."

Originally Posted By: Violet

"I think normal 'rules' don't apply to her. She's... too different to be considered normal even compared to the other supers. I mean I don't know of anyone having this strange dual nature thing she has going on but maybe there's someone in the refuge who is far better at hiding it? Even if I still believe she's a special case. I don't think she really wants to hurt people but maybe you are right that she believes she needs to be punished. But what am I supposed to do, James? I'm just... a woman.", she reluctantly amitted.

James replied softly, "That's what she needs. And she doesn't have a dual nature any more, if she ever did."

Quote:

There was a lot of frustration and repressed anger as she looked up again at James who also was a super and had this amazing bodybuilder physique without having to hit the weights regularly. "Sometimes I hate you supers...", she quietly added.

Now this sounded serious. James said insightfully, "I don't think that was directed at Violet and I don't think it was too me either. Jill... we don't share a bed any more but you still hit the radar as family. What's going on?"

[Venus]

Jill looked at James for a long time making several attempts to explain herself but always failing to find the righ words. After a heavy sigh she slumped her shoulders forward and looked at the floor, a very uncommon sight.

"It's that young super Kristin. Violet is all over her... she's helping her cope with all the hurt she suffered in 'Paradise' but I also see the lustful stare in her eyes and that happy smile on her face when they're 'done'.", Jill raised a hand in defense for Violet.

"Not what you think now, they're not making out. Violet is keeping it 'safe' but still I know she desires that girl... and Kristin is so perfect. She's like you, perfect shape, perfect tone and ripped and she doesn't have to do anything for it while I hit the weights every single day for several hours... unless I'm needed at the forge.", she looked at James and he could tell she was still holding back a lot.

"I'm losing my edge, James.", Jill flexed her large biceps looking at it with a mixture of sadness and frustration. "In a few months I'll be much smaller because I can't keep up with the diet... and then Violet will surely dump me because I'm not perfect. Not perfect like Kristin. I don't want that - I don't want any of this", she angrily shook her head for the thoughts she just expressed. She knew it was wrong and that she shouldn't blame the supers. Without them they would be doing much worse and she and Jo would've been dead by now.

"I'm sorry, James... it's just hard to cope. Hard to... hard to accept this. I used to be independent and that was really important to me. Now I'm nothing more than a buff woman and in a few months I'll look like your average woman who is trying to get in shape by working out but can't because she doesn't have access to the necessary high protein nutritions. I'll be caught somewhere between an amateur and a fitness model in shape and size. But I want to be like Kristin - I want to be perfect. But I'm not. Even Violet has more strength in her pinky than I have in my entire body."

[Courier]

James pointed out, "Jill, if you want to keep Violet then you don't want to be like Kristin. Kristin is a super strong killer who has serious emotional issues. She's Dan's potential replacement, not yours."

James added, "Ignore there's more to your relationship than strength, ignore you're stronger than her where it counts... above the neck, and ignore your relationship probably works as long as you're stronger than Jennifer but not stronger than Violet..." James winked at Jill, he'd said 'ignore' because he wanted to stress these things.

James continued, "...since this is important to you, there's an easy fix. I'll raid a health food store and get a box or six of those crappy tasting powdered protein drinks. Whey for after a workout, Milk before you go to sleep because it takes longer to digest."

[Venus]

Jill nodded quietly at James her face still a frozen mask. "I'm sorry... it's just." not fair she almost said but then she realized under which circumstances Kristin became. It was either die or... or become. It wasn't a question of fairness, it was something completely different and there was no one to blame.

Gotta straighten things out, James is right.

"I guess I have to thank you once again. How many times did you save my life now? I stopped counting. I'm sorry that things got so complicated - if I had a wish I would turn back the clock a few weeks...", she knew that wasn't possible and they most likely would ended up in the same kind of mess.

As James offered to provide her with special nutrients for her work out she really lightened up again. "You'd really do that for me? I would have to make some adjustments I guess but at least it would suffice as a substitute until we've found something better. How can I thank you, James?", she smiled and threw her arms around his hugging him tightly.

[Courier]

James hugged Jill and stopped himself from cupping her ass. Just like old times, except not. Am I doing this because I care about her? Because she's my wife's sister? Because I want to father her children when she decides she wants some? Because I want her and V back after Dan's world falls apart on him?

Not going to happen James. You know why. Children deserve to be with their parents. None of which prevents me from doing good things for Jill on occasion.

James replied, "We'll think of something..." A lightbulb went off in James head and he thought out loud, "I've been looking for something to build as a business under my house. I was thinking DoJo... but there's a huge amount of space to fill. How about a Gym?"

[Venus]

"I'll help you built it!", she beamed at him pressing her body tightly against his. Another moment of awkward intimacy followed and then James could feel that she was trying to release the hug. Reluctantly he let her go.

"James... thank you for everything. Maybe one day...", she looked up at him her eyes reflecting a lot of what went through her head. If she had a way to 'fix' everything she would make them reunite happily without remorse or bad feelings but unfortunately that wasn't possible. Decisisons had been made some of which weren't reversible.

Suddenly she closed her eyes and pulled him closer for one kiss. It was more out of gratitude and less inspired by desire but she didn't know a better way to express how thankful she was. As she released the kiss she made half a step backwards smiling weakly at him. "Just don't make it any more complicated, ok? I know there's still love in my heart for you and I know the same is true for Violet - it's just not working like this anymore. We'll always be family, don't forget that.", she placed one hand on his broad chest where his heart was and gently caressed the spot well knowing that he suffered most of them.

"I'll try to be there for Violet the way she needs me to be. I hope you're right with what you said although a part of me also doesn't want it to be true. Maybe the truth lies somewhere in between and as long as we help each other out we're going to find a solution, right?"

[Courier]

James held Jill's hand on his heart for a moment and echoed her statement, "Maybe one day..."

James hesitated... No. No illusions. No hope. Put a stake through the heart of that thought, it's unhealthy and self destructive. They're not waiting for you, they're moving on. You're not going to put your life on hold either.

James added regretfully, "...but probably not. You're right, not like this. I couldn't go through this again. You need to be there for Violet. The children deserve to be with their parents." James last statement was like commenting on the immutability of the law of gravity.

James refocussed and said seriously, "Hopefully being stuck will force V to deal with her demons. Bottom line might be she needs her head shrunk, but I'm not sure who could do that. Maybe... ah, shoot. I don't know. Any ideas?"

[Venus]

Jill knew exactly what James meant, there was no rewind, no going back to what they once. They were already past a point of no return but sometimes she just thought what if?

"My girlfriend is a nutcase...", she half laughed at herself. "I never thought I'd be in such kind of relationship."

Sighing she tried to make suggestions, "Maybe we should talk to Dr. Shattuck, she healed you, maybe she can help Violet, too? Or we have to look for someone who can help her, someone with powers similar to hers? But honestly I don't know how to do that. Doesn't she have to agree to this? We should talk to her and not plan something behind her back. I mean...", she looked at him unsure if she was doing the right thing here.

[Courier]

James thought about it and replied slowly, "Getting her head shrunk is a personal, individual thing... it's not like we can make her. We might try an intervention. That'd be rounding up everyone who knows what is going on and confronting V with her situation... but that's the sort of thing you do for alcoholics and drug addicts. I've no clue if it's appropriate for her."

"And someone with powers like hers? Do we even have anyone like that? Maybe Gabby. She's sort of V's total opposite... but I'm not sure that's a good thing. Whoever we get, they'd have to be either a straight woman or a gay guy."

James rubbed his head and said, "We're going in circles here. This seriously isn't my field. Everything I know about this kind of stuff I got from pop culture or dating someone who was studying this. Oh, and the rumors are true. Every shrink needs one. No, the answer is obvious."

James smiled and quoted, "After the problem gets too big, you bring in a professional. Maybe Myf has some advise, or at least someone we can ask for advise. What do you think?"

[Venus]

"I don't know if that Gabrielle girl is a good choice, Violet behaves strange around her.", Jill shook her head yet in agreement with James.

"I'm not a specialist either... I guess Dr. Shattuck is the only reliable person we've got to ask for advise. Should I...? Or would you?"

[Courier]

James considered the matter for a moment then answered, "I think we both do it. Ex-boyfriend and current-girlfriend combined would be taken a lot more seriously."

James looked back at the camp. He could leap all the way to medical, but he didn't like jumping into the camp out of eye view.

James asked, "Now a good time?"

Jill replied, "Let's go."

James picked her up and leaped both of them into the air. A few minutes later they walked into medical and asked, "Is Myf in?"

[SalmonMax]

The clinic was busy, but Myfwany was easy to see over in the back timing someone as she took his temperature. She glanced up at them, apparently hearing his question even in the far back end, over the noise and din of dozens of people, some hurt, that separated them. She finished reading the thermometer, and said a few quiet things to the patient before heading over towards James.

"What can I do for you?"

[Courier]

James replied seriously, "We need to talk to you about Violet. It's important. I, we, know about her condition and that figures into it, but there's some things I don't think you know but you need to."

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany glanced from James to Jill, and back again, her right eyebrow quizzically arched. She nodded and gestured for them to follow her, then led them both into her office and closed the door.

"All right," the doctor said briskly, not bothering to get behind the desk. "What about Violet don't I know?"

[Courier]

James said, "Let's just start with me telling you that she told me about her medical situation, so Doctor Patient confidentually doesn't apply. I know she's pregnant, with three. Obviously I also know that she's two people.

"There's two big things you need to know, both of which revolve around her being pregnant. The first is she can't shift back into Jennifer any more. That's a seriously big deal because Jennifer is... I guess self destructive is the word I'd use. Maybe self loathing works better though."

"Doc, there is no Violet, there's just Jennifer. And Jennifer hates herself. Someone convinced her that she's ugly and unlovable, and more, that she deserves it. I'm sure she was abused when she was young. When she became a super she kept her Jennifer body around to remind herself that she's ugly and unlovable. As Violet she's engineered problems which forced her to shift back, and now she can't."

"The question I have for you is... what do we do about it? Stage an intervention? That's what you do for alcoholics..."

[SalmonMax]

For a moment Myfwany is silent, staring intently at James as if she's expecting him to say something more. Finally she says, slowly, "So you both came in here to tell me that Violet is, in the purest psychological terminology, 'messed up in her head.'"

Myf sighed and gestured at her office door. "Take a look out there. I'd guess maybe seventy or eighty percent of the people in the refuge have psychological problems that, before Z-day, would have been considered serious. Now, they're pretty much normal. Every survivor out there has suffered extreme trauma, loss, dissociation...you name it. Now maybe Jennifer had her problems before Z-day. Once that might have made her unusual. Now though, she fits right in."

She shook her head and shrugged. "I'm not a therapist, James. All I can do to help Violet, or Jennifer, or whoever, is be the best friend to her I can be. I've given her something constructive to do with her time, and I try to be positive when I talk to her. I don't see what more I can do."

Her gaze sharpened. "Unless you have reason to believe she presents a danger to herself or others?"

[Courier]

James frowned. Somehow he'd expected Myf to have a magic wand to wave and make things better. Worse, she was right, the world had gotten more insane. Everyone was a holocaust survivor, V's issues were unusual but having issues was not.

James replied reluctantly, "No... or rather, not from that." More seriously he added, "But that does bring up the other reason we're here. V is playing around with Magic, and I mean Magic with a capital 'M'."

"That's why she's pregnant. She cast a spell and it blew up on her, just like with Pat. But negating birth control with a fertility spell isn't as soul shaking as accidentally killing people with necromancy."

Clearly worried, James concluded, "Learning magic is real didn't shake V up, just the opposite. She's putting together a coven to practice fertility magic. She's sure she could get anyone pregnant, but she doesn't see that dealing with magic has gotten dangerous. I'd like you to join the coven, you can see magic directly and judge if it's hurting people."

[SalmonMax]

And there it was, Myf thought. In a way, it was astonishing it had taken this long. With zombies and bizarre, reality-twisting powers running around, how long did the human race really have before it stampeded back to the dark ages and embraced 'magic' once again? How long COULD it have?

Picking her words carefully, she replied, "Lets avoid the 'm' word, if you don't mind. Not out of a sense of political correctness or because of the sacredness of science or anything like that. I just feel like calling something 'magic' immediately places it outside the arena of rational inquiry."

"And zombies...even these powers...are well inside that purview," Myf insisted. "They may not be explainable by the rules we knew before, but we can learn the new rules the same way we did the old. By watching the world around us, drawing conclusions about what we see, and rigorously testing those conclusions under controlled conditions."

She cleared her throat and smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that. I didn't intend to be pushy. I just have some strong feelings on the subject."

"Now...lets start with the facts. Violet did something that 'blew up on her.' What exactly did she do...I don't know what 'fertility rite' means...and how did it blow up on her?"

[Courier]

James realized he'd touched a nerve with the M word and decided to rephrase that.

James replied gingerly, "Doc, I'm real good with science and study. The alchemists became chemists, the philosophers physicists, and the world is better off for that. But that's yet to happen with the supers, zombies, or the witches."

"If you've got a better word than 'magic', I'm good with it, but right now that's what the people making things happen are calling it. I think they're all connected. I saw the first wave of zombies before they turned and it wasn't a plague then. It was like Pat's spell but on a larger scale."

James refocused on Violet and said, "One of V's powers is she can prevent herself from getting pregnant. She's also converted to Wicca, and doing ritual magic is a big thing for them. Violet cast a spell, very much like Pat did, and also like Pat, it worked. That's the 'blew up' part. She wasn't expecting to actually get pregnant."

"If Pat were a super I'd say it was a super-power thing, but as far as I can tell she's not. Violet claims she could do the same thing for anyone else. That her spell would override other people's birth control just like it did hers. So far that's a solution in search of a problem, but we both know that Pat's spells had invisible, but fatal, side effects."

James added, "You were the only one able to see those side effects before they actually killed people, and now Violet is trying to walk down that road."

[SalmonMax]

"Violet's powers over her fertility are governed by her mind," Myfwany reminds James. "A mind which you know better than most isn't always in touch with its own goals. It's entirely possible that she sabotaged her own 'immunity' to pregnancy because a part of her wanted children. In any event, whatever power she has over fertility, is because of her power...not some ritual. And Pat may well be a super. That's my operating theory at the moment at least. In fact, I need to go and see her again..."

She waved a hand in front of her face as if clearing away smoke, and her demeanor softened.

"Look, I can understand how this all seems magical. Human understanding up to this point can't explain how these powers work. They seem to spring from our innermost desires...even the ones that come from the dark places in our minds we deny exist. Like someone said 'make a wish,' but our subconscious had just as much say as our consciousness. We're still struggling to find a terminology for it all. I just dislike the word 'magic' because it has a history...it carries the weight of centuries of connotation and prejudice, wheras what's going on now is completely new. This isn't a return of the old gods, or a renewal of ley lines. There's NEVER been anything like this in all of recorded human history. Pretending otherwise is just...trying to replace real understanding with superstitious ritual. We need to observe these events with eyes unclouded."

She trailed off. Had that been something in that diary? When was the last time she'd looked at that? She'd never meant to stop, but things had gotten so out of hand, so fast...

Myf shook her head and focused on James again. "Anyway. I'll talk with Pat, see if she's got powers. If not, there may be another super behind the scenes using her as a cover for what he's doing. I'll talk to Violet too...who else is in this 'coven?'"

[Courier]

James replied, "If Pat is a super she doesn't know it herself. Ditto me, too. After two weeks of close observation I can say she doesn't eat, look, or heal like a super. I haven't noticed any other extras either. If someone else was faking it then Pat never caught on. She's broken up about Norman and the rest of them are dead anyway."

James added, "Myf, assume every word of the Wiccan reason for why things happen is bullshit and strip out the words 'magic' and 'belief'. Assume Violet, just like Pat, completely misunderstands whatever she's doing."

"Ascribing everything to supers powers means we have two people independently claiming Wiccan rituals boosted their powers beyond control."

"That sounds like it's worth investigating even before we realize one made a city uninhabitable by using other people's energies as fuel. Right now we've got a grand total of one super who can see if that's happening again."

"I think the first coven member has to be you. I'm not asking you to believe anything, but I am asking you to supervise them. Someone needs to do good science while they're doing their thing. Norman proves there's something there and it's big."

[SalmonMax]

"Investigating the link between a person's mental state and their powers is a great idea that I'd love to pursue, but time is an issue. Dr. Singh is leaving, so I'm now the only physician in the refuge. Violet's learned enough I can use her as an RN, but she's a long way off from being able to do a shift on her own."

"Add to that the research I'm preparing to do on the zombies, and the origin and nature of the z-plague, and you'll see what I mean. I don't have time to follow up immediately on every interesting question about powers. There are priorities at work here."

She sighed and nodded. "Now, Pat I plan on seeing again and talking to. Like you said, her power seems related to zombies in a way we don't yet understand. That makes her part of the research I want to do first. But I'm not going to play 'witch' every weekend to do it. The data I get from Pat needs to be systematic and reproducible, or it won't be worth anything. That means lab conditions and a willing, informed subject. Not a handful of Girl Scouts OD'ing on estrogen around a campfire."

[Courier]

Deeply concerned, James replied, "Um... Doc? These Girl Scouts have a recent history of creating multiple z-plague zones the size of football fields. If you're researching the zombies and their origin, isn't this more than an interesting question? As for being reproducible, that's what I'm afraid of."

"Myf, if there's something there, then Violet isn't the person I want playing with matches and gasoline while wearing a blindfold. I know this makes you uncomfortable and you find it distasteful, but if there's nothing there, then drop them. And if there is, then you'll be finding out how the first wave of zombies was created and you'll also be preventing Violet from destroying herself and the base."

James decided it was time to play the guilt card and said, "You're the only one who can see if there's something there... well... unless people start coming down with the z again. Could you live with yourself if you stand aside and let Violet create Norman-2 out of ignorance?"

[SalmonMax]

"James, I get the feeling you aren't listening to me."

"I already said I'd be working with Pat. She seems to be the only one who can do it. Nashwa tried, remember? Nothing happened."

"You're also making a big assumption about how the original zombies came to be. It might have been something like Pat's ability, or it might not. That's why I need to do actual research, not waste my time in chanting circles."

Myfwany stopped herself and brushed away the mounting frustration that came from talking with James. Once he made up his mind about something, he simply never let go. Despite any words to the contrary.

"Bottom line. I'm not joining a 'coven.' I'll be working with Pat in my zombie research, and Violet's powers...from every test I've devised so far...aren't the apocalyptic threat I once feared. The things she creates aren't real. They don't behave like real pathogens. They're more like Pumpkin's cartoon dogs and cats. They appear, hang around for awhile, and vanish. There's no possibility of contagion from them."

"I appreciate you sharing your concerns, James, and I realize that probably sounds insincere at this point, but it really is true. You just need to understand that I can't follow up on every possible danger, especially when there's a distinct lack of evidence demonstrating the presence of danger."

"And I KNOW about Pat and her whole life-draining thing, and I've already said twice now that I will be dealing with her. All evidence I've seen so far suggests that only Pat could produce that effect, which makes me think it was probably some kind of super ability. As soon as I can get an hour or two in my schedule, that's the first thing I'll be checking."

"Beyond that, the whole coven thing sounds harmless to me. If I get a chance, maybe I'll swing by and observe. That's a very big 'if,' but it is the absolute best I can do."

[Courier]

James paused for thought and replayed what he'd heard. Violet's powers aren't an apocalyptic threat? Not real pathogens? Pumpkin's cats? No contagion? I'm missing several pieces, but it's the wrong puzzle.

Bottom line: Myf doesn't think anything is there. She's not unwilling to look, but she's convinced it's not worth her time. That's... unfortunate, but still workable. If there is something there I think it'd be easy to pull her in, if not then there's no point. None of the stuff I've seen or heard about has been subtle.

James said with a smile, "That will have to be good enough. But if V starts making stuff fly around or little girls disappear into TVs, I'll be back."

So I'll have to be the one to keep a close eye on things. Well... fine. I can think of worse things than watching a group of sky-clad women.