Not much is happening on the case, but craft shows are starting off now. Yes, that means my weekends are busy, and that's still when most of the team does things. I'm balancing that by working more evenings.

Surprisingly enough, Summer Student has been by a couple of times. He's looking to help but all he has to contribute is his research skills and The Prof usually assigns that to students who need extra marks.

Speaking of students, I'm helping The Prof look for more talented students. Diviner is the only who knew she had powers, but maybe we can pick up a Latent or two.

Anyway, the money's rolling in, building my emergency funds. I've got that second run of comics in hand and it's selling well enough that I'm almost to the point where I'll make back the money for the printing.

In other news, Preppy is plundering our research for his major project. While he's working on that he "subcontracted" a creative writing assignment - CHING! Yeah, I wrote it. He was going to pay someone and why shouldn't I pocket a few dollars?

So we're testing students, doing research, handling a few minor things, but we're in a holding pattern for the main case. We're just waiting for the dates to roll around while trying to learn more and more about what happened more than a century ago.

Jack

Sugar Daddy called, reporting more dreams. Only his kids weren't the ones having the dreams. Something about a sleepover where some guests woke up the next morning complaining of a weird dream. One involving an oddly dressed woman spanking them.

The Prof doesn't think that those dreams are linked to our case. For starters the kids didn't wake up screaming like that first time. There were no marks and they weren't talking about being paddled, only spanked. He thinks that it's probably a case of the kids hearing stories about that first dream and I tend to agree.

Just in case, he advised that they cancel all sleepovers until the case is solved, but that was shot down. Mostly because Sugar Daddy couldn't come up with a reason for that and he couldn't tell the truth. There was no way he was going to say "We're being haunted by a ghost that's maybe spanking the kids, so we're cancelling all sleepovers until we handle that" and I don't blame him. And if he doesn't say anything, well people will draw bad conclusions.

Jack

Okay, I've hit a snag when it comes to sales. The people who like art don't respect "comic book artists" and comic book fans don't buy art. I'm going to have to think about where to bring the comics. Cons - yes. Craft Shows? No.

Another thing: comics weigh more than prints. I've had to adjust my shipping rates, but I'm up selling the comics by charging more for signed ones. Diviner is still helping me fulfil my web orders, but she's also looking for more work. She's talking about saving up for next year in case her scholarship runs dry. I hope she's saving up to move out to her own place (or one with roommates), but that's just me.

Anyway, Diviner asked if she could "practice model" with me, but I said that I never use friends as models. She blushed at that point - I guess she didn't know that I considered her a friend. Actually I do use friends as models, but not nude models and that's what she was hinting at. The nudes I paint are either hired models, paying customers, or much closer than a friend.

And no, there's been no progress on that case yet.

Jack

Sometimes I hate having Visions, and other times I Fucking Hate Having Visions. I Saw something I didn't want to see. I couldn't tell who the second person in the vision was, but it was a Vision of Diviner get her butt smacked hard by... Well, like I said, I couldn't tell who was doing the smacking but I got the sense that this wasn't the first time she had bent over that bed for that person to smack her butt. Worst part: I know it wasn't something that might happen in the future. Sometimes I can't tell when a Vision is happening, but this time I knew that I was seeing something happening in the moment.

And there was not a thing I could do to stop it happening.

Diviner dropped by an hour or two later to stuff envelopes. She didn't say anything and since I didn't want to embarrass her I didn't say anything.

Later I had a private word with the Prof and he simply shrugged. His view was you can't help people who don't want your help. That there's nothing that we can do until Diviner wants helps. And no, he can't boost her scholarship so she can get a place of her own. But I know what's happening and he knows what's happening and Flamer knows a bit of what's happening and maybe that means we can do something, but only maybe.

Did I mention that I hate having Visions?

Jack

There's nothing more on Diviner, except I'm getting more used to her odd power set. Sometimes she sees a pattern that directs me where to Object Read or other powers. Anyway, we had a minor investigation. A haunting that was an anticlimax. Girl with the Spirit Guide was able to talk it down.

Call it a minor success.

Yeah, I did more Halloween art, reprinting my most popular prints from last year. Sales were good. I even redid some of the erotic art I did - covering up more - and passed that off as Halloween art. I'm doing some final sales now but it's too late to ship prints to people who ordered on the internet.

But Halloween sales are now almost over. I'm doing caricatures at a mall tomorrow and my wrist is already aching thinking about rushing all of those drawings. After that I'm going to focused on craft shows during the pre Christmas rush. I'll be busy every weekend until Dec 25, but I know the group will need me to do something during one of the weekends. My Cousin is beginning to ask why I keep taking off during my high selling days and I'm not sure how to answer those questions.

Anyway, I'm doing good and Diviner, well Diviner is still in a bad situation but there's nothing I can do about.

Jack

I hear you, nothing messes up the day more than seeing or hearing or feeling something out of place.

Sometimes (well, many times) I wish I didn't have these powers. That I was just another guy walking the streets - one who doesn't know anything about the weird. Especially after my Visions show me something I wish I didn't know.

And not being able to plan things because something weird might happen.

But then there are times that I help someone, or save someone, and I'm glad I have my powers. But I wish that I could turn them off or at least not See things that I don't want to See.

Jack

So I'm heading out to Craft Fairs all weekend, mixing with local artisans, and my leg is hurting. Not the one I broke last Christmas, no, the other one.

Why is it hurting? It was hit by a flying frying pan.

Some background:

Tuesday the team went into action to help a family that was dealing with some issues. Things moving and breaking when there's no one in the room, those sorts of things. Add in how there's an adolescent girl in the family and everyone is thinking Poltergeist.

Right?

Wrong.

So Spirit Guide looks around and says he doesn't see any other spirits. Girl With A Spirit Guide (who I usually call Girl) does her thing and says there's no spirits. I do my things and can't find any spirits. The Prof does his stuff - there's lots of humming and lights flashing on his devices, but they're all saying "No Spirits". So maybe the Poltergeist is out or playing around like that last one and we have wait for it or try to trap it, but whatever happens we'll know it's coming because of everything we're checking spirit wise. We're in no danger.

So why did a frying pan fly into my leg? Because it wasn't a Poltergeist. No, the girl's little brother (I'm not sure of his age but he's preadolescent. Maybe in the 9 - 11 range?) has powers that he can't control. One of those powers is Telekinesis. After we rule out possession (and I've got some ice on my leg) the Prof says that the kid is either a Latent Psychic or a budding Physical Psychic.

Boy was it fun telling the parents about that. We all more or less exhausted ourselves proving that powers are real, but I think it sank home. The Prof isn't sure if the kid will "outgrown" those powers when he hits puberty, but that could years away. The parents asked about hormone treatments to trigger it early, but the Prof thinks that doing that would make the powers permanent ones. The parents aren't sure what to do, the Prof isn't sure what to do, none of us have any good ideas. The Prof thinks maybe he can work with... Okay, I won't tell you anything about the boy because I don't want to Out Him, so I'm going to call him Kid. So the Prof thinks maybe he can work with Kid and maybe teach him control, but that might increase the chance that the power(s) is (are) permanent and the parents don't want Kid to grow up to be a freak.

Some people might thing that view is a bit insulting, but there are lots of times that I wish I had "outgrown" my Visions, so I don't consider it insult. The parents want Kid to be normal and what's wrong with that?

Anyway, that's all up in the air now as the Prof and the parents talk things out. Who knows? The group might end up with a mascot. Now when I say "mascot" I mean around the lab. Everyone agrees that Kid isn't going to get anywhere near anything dangerous. You just don't put kids in dangerous situations, even if they have powers. Seriously, we've talked from for a couple of days and while the Prof and the team have no idea what to do with Kid, but we know what not to do with him.

But that's a problem for another day. Now I'm off to peddle Christmas themed art and maybe get some commissions for family portraits. It might not be glamorous, but my bills need to be paid.

Jack

No decisions have been made about Kid, but have you ever heard that when life gives you lemons you should make lemonade?

So here's some logical that even I can follow. Since he doesn't have control of his powers Kid could freak out people around him, outing himself as "different". Diviner needs cash. Put one and one together and Diviner volunteered to baby sit Kid. For cash. At double the standard rate. I guess it's like they say about how every cloud has a silver lining. I just hope her grades don't suffer any because of this.

Jack

So something weird happened. Sugar Daddy called us again. No, we aren't close to the date that old school burnt down, but they had another sleepover where the visiting kids dreamt about getting spanked. Again, their stories are nothing like the ones that left marks on the kid. That dream has happened a couple of more times, each time we got a call and we tried to assure the family, but we can't do anything until the thing is about to happen.

So these kids had a "I got spanked" dream that wasn't anything like the real dreams that left marks, but similar to the one the last group of kids had. Similar, but different and all different in the same way. Which is weird. This time Prof wanted to talk to those kids, but Sugar Daddy didn't want that. He still didn't want anyone to know about the weirdness in his life. He doesn't want that enough not to cancel sleepovers.

The Prof doesn't know what to make of these dreams. He's talking about setting up some monitors to try to find if anything is happening that has nothing to do with the main issue.

Jack

I'm swamped with art, trying to fill orders before Christmas. Hitting the craft shows, filling web orders, making sure I have the right prints made, and all the rest. I've even done some Christmas cards. And merch to go with the graphic novel.

Yeah, I'm ahead of my bills. I've even made money doing some of Preppy's assignments. Things are looking good.

But there's been another weird happening at a sleepover. This time the Prof managed to get permission from Sugar Daddy to install some monitoring stuff. But only on the QT. Sugar Daddy and the Prof are the only ones who are supposed to know about it, but the Prof briefed us on it.

Here's hoping that nothing comes up while I'm selling art to pay the bills.

Jack

Okay, things worked out... well weird, but not the kind of weird we normally encounter. So Sugar Daddy's kids had another sleepover. The Prof had set up hidden monitors. The ones that only Sugar Daddy and the team know about.

We saw something. Wife (as in Sugar Daddy's wife, in case you've lost track) was dressed in something approaching Victorian garb. She was slapping butts, not hard enough to wake them up, but that was odd in itself.

It looks like we've come full circle. Sugar Daddy's ancestor had been in charge of the budget. Sugar was Sugar Daddy's lover, and her ancestor had been the "Temptress" in the past. Now it seems Wife is a bit like her ancestor, the Molester.

She wasn't doing much, just spanking them, but that was too much. Only we don't "officially" know about it because the monitors were secret.

The Prof doesn't blame her. He's talking about historic parallels impacting on and shaping the present and near future. His theory is that all three of them are caught up in a curse, being shaped to do what their ancestors had done. Or at least what Conjure Woman had thought they had done. Me, I don't think along those lines.

I hold Sugar responsible for deciding to look for a sugar daddy. I hold Sugar Daddy responsible for cheating on his wife (and I didn't think that this was the first time). And I hold Wife responsible smacking those butts. I mean, maybe if there was a reason, something involving parental discipline, well that would be different. Smacking someone's else's kid for no reason? Nope, that doesn't fly with me. I don't buy a curse shaping the present. I see the curse reactivating because those three are together.

But that's my opinion. I might be taking a couple of classes in parapsychology but the Prof is an expert. Maybe he's right. I don't know.

Oh, and Diviner is still babysitting Kid. His folks still aren't sure if they want him to be trained or to try to go back to "being normal". I think that ship has sailed, but again, what do I know?

Sigh. And the Christmas Season was looking so good. I'm ahead on my bills, I can even afford to give out some nice presents (store bought, not my own art), and my current selections of prints are selling well. I guess it was too much to expect for the good times to last.

Jack

So, how to break the curse?

We don't really know how to break the curse. The current plan is to get Sugar, Sugar Daddy, and Wife together at Sugar Daddy's place (with the kids safely away) on the anniversary of the day the fire happened and kill Thing when it comes to kill them. If it doesn't come on that day then the plan is to repeat on the date the curse was cast and then on the date it would have struck way back when.

As to the weirdness that is the triangle, the Prof thinks that when Thing is dead the "historic parallels" will end. That is, Sugar Daddy will break up with Sugar and Wife will stop being creepy. Here's hoping that works.

In other news, Diviner is still babysitting Kid. Kid is still throwing things around with his mind, but it's happening less often. The Prof thinks that maybe his talent is fading. As for Diviner, Flamer and I got her a Christmas present. I got her a phone (a new one, not one of the junk ones I carry) and Flamer paid up her basic plan for a year. She can add more time / text / data by buying one of those prepaid cards. She's happy and the team can now contact her whenever we need to.

Jack

So Monday is the anniversary of the fire. Sugar Daddy and Wife have arranged to have their kids sleep elsewhere while Sugar comes over to stay the night. We'll all be there, with us bringing caffeine and trying to adjust our sleep schedules so we can do an all nighter. We might have to spend the day there as well, but hopefully not. As I said, it burned down in the middle of the night.

If nothing shows up we'll do it again on the anniversary of day Conjure Woman did her rite. And if nothing happens then, well we'll do it on the day the Thing was conjured. And if nothing happens then...

Shit. There's no way we can cover the three of them 24/7. We have lives and Sugar Daddy can't keep his kids out of the house long term. So, yeah, we're hoping that the Thing attacks when we're there. Otherwise, well Sugar, Sugar Daddy, Wife, and maybe the kids will die. Maybe Thing will dissolve there or maybe it will go on to kill others. If that happens we'll have to track the Thing down.

So here's hoping that it attacks on schedule.

Oh, and there's one problem. Diviner will be with us and Kid needs a babysitter on Monday night. Here's hoping he doesn't cut loose with his powers while we try to take down Thing. Anyway, Diviner has been coming along well. She got a good GPA on her first term and I funnelled some cash to her for stuffing envelopes for my e-commence site. And after Preppy learned that Flamer and I took care of Diviner's phone he decided to "trump us" by giving her a bunch of cash cards. He thinks that he topped us, but Flamer and I think it's a great idea. Here's hoping Preppy "trumps" us again and gives Diviner a bit of extra freedom from her abusive family. The girl's ignored various pamphlets on how to get help when you're in an abusive situation, and like the Prof said - you can't help someone who doesn't want help.

Oh, and the Christmas sales went great. Really good. I'm months ahead of my bills and that's about as good it gets for a freelance artist with weird physic abilities.

Jack

Sorry for being so late to report. Nothing happened on Monday Jan 27. Seriously, we were there all night and part of the next day and nothing happened. Sugar Daddy and Wife are now doubting us, as if they hadn't seen a thing. Yeah, I know that's normal. That normal people can stop thinking about the weird. I get that, but it's so annoying.

Anyway, the Prof reminded them all about various things, which is one of the reasons he documents everything, and we're still on for the anniversary that Conjure Woman summoned Thing (which is tomorrow). Oh, and we're really hoping that we can kill Thing.

In other news, Kid did some weird stuff when Diviner wasn't babysitting him. Something about his sitter insisting on a bath or something. Anything, the babysitter didn't notice much, mostly because the older sister covering up for him. That and Kid is old enough to take a bath by himself so it just looked like he had splashed a lot of water around as opposed to throwing it around with his mind. Anyway, Kid has still got his powers and can't control them - or he can control them and he threw a tempter tantrum in the bathtub. Whatever, it didn't make a big difference in his life but it made his parents nervous. Now they want Diviner to baby sit every time, so she's thinking about boosting her babysitting fees. I know she needs money, but that's a bit too much like extortion for my tastes.

But I know that she needs the money so I'm not saying anything, but I really don't agree with her boosting her fees.

Speaking of money, I'm hard at work doing Valentine artwork. I'm really hoping that those sales go well, mostly because the sales of my graphic novel have sunk. I'm not sure why, but I've already made a profit off the second printing and that's all that matters. And I've got a stock of graphic novels that I can sell at Cons and online, so Yeah Me. Here's hoping that I can sell them and take in more money.

With tomorrow being the anniversary of when Conjure Woman summoned that thing we're setting up things again - and the kids are sleeping over somewhere else. Here's hoping that we're attacked by Thing. Yes, my life is weird.

Jack

So we spent the day at Sugar Daddy's and... You guessed it! Nothing happened. Well nothing supernatural. Wife was picking on Diviner a bit, asking if she was old enough to be here and trying her like she was a high school freshman or something, but I think that was just to blow off the tension that was rising between Wife and Sugar. Wife couldn't yell at her husband's mistress so she got into Diviner's face.

And boy there was tension. Wife hasn't been officially told about how Sugar is the mistress but she does have eyes. Eyes that kept tracing Sugar's form. If Wife was a guy I'd say she was undressing Sugar with her eyes, but I think that Wife was looking for what Sugar has that Wife doesn't have.

Top of that list: a collage age body that hasn't given birth.
Second on that list: a willingness to do whatever Sugar Daddy wants to do in bed, if only because Sugar Daddy is paying her bills.

Yeah, I know, there's no way that Wife can turn back the hands of time and she knows it. Meanwhile Sugar is getting tired of the obvious judgmental looks that Wife is giving her. So call it tension thick enough to cut with a knife. Tension leading to Wife to tear into Diviner because Diviner is only a few years younger than Sugar and could be the next girl to ride the Sugar Daddy Express. Tension leading to questions like "are you sure all this stuff is real?". Thanks to how Prof records everything we can show them videos of Wife and Sugar Daddy panicking because their kids are at risk, which reminds that the danger is real.

So we struck out. Our best bet is now "three turns of the moon" from now. I'm thinking that's about 84 days from now, but I'm sure Prof and Grade Student will research the hell out of this to confirm the date. Sometimes I wish we still had Summer Student helping with the research, but that won't happen.

Personally? My Valentine sales are good verging on great. A couple of the artworks verge on the erotic but I'm not doing porn again unless I really, really need money again.

Updating another area: Last night, Kid got babysat again by a normal sitter (I guess his parents have a thing that happens on Monday nights) and again things got a bit weird around bath time. This time his sitter threatened to give him his next bath if he can't stop "splashing" water around. Which would be embarrassing for someone his age (10), which I guess is why the babysitter made that threat. Here's hoping his powers either fade or he gets better control over them because if a normal babysitter gives him a bath she's going to see that he's throwing that water around with his Telekinesis. Nope, that wouldn't be good.

Jack

So I'm at a Valentine theme con. On Friday a couple of assholes decided to try cosplay as Cupid, as in carrying a Nerf bow and wearing a diaper. Oh, they had footwear on, but just some guys in their 30s or 40s walking around in oversized diapers. Anyway, the con committee decided that that their costumes didn't meet the rules and they had to change. Maybe it would be different if the guys dressed in diapers had been hot, but that wasn't the case.

A few other costumes are, um, shall I say "risqué", but I'm not in charge. No, I'm not on the committee, but I did get free admission because I'm doing a panel about my graphic novel, and I was able to stretch that to a table in Artist's Alley, but I'm not allowed in the "Special Guest Hospitality" rooms. Personally, I prefer saving money to meeting the 4th and 5th rate "celebrities" that this con attracted. Not that I'm saying that I'm better than them because I'm not, but if I named them I doubt you would have heard their names before. Sure we have a could of published authors, but they wrote ebooks that are linked to a print on demand site. We didn't even get any famous cosplayers. The most "important" guest on the VIP list is an e-gamer whose team has qualified a few times but has never won a major tournament. I'm not saying that this con sucks, but it's a low budget local con and that's all it can afford.

So on Friday I sold a lot off Valentine theme prints and did some sketches on blank cards, basically doing Valentine cards on demand. On the downside, Cousin is less dependable than normal this con. Love in the air and he's actually making connections with members of the opposite sex. Which is good for him, but sucks for me.

And no news on the current case. Prof and Grad Student are still hard at work researching the case and the date. It looks like the first week of May. There's some talk about being there on the date that Great-Great died, but we aren't sure if the people involved will put up with another false Alarm.

Jack

So just an update. My sales are slowing down because it's the dead season (few if any cons, no reason for people to buy artwork, etc.). Which means that I don't really need Diviner to stuff envelopes for website deliveries, but I'm still paying her to do all the work because she needs the cash more than I do. She's still babysitting Kid, working part time for me, and doing full time studies. Plus all the weird stuff we do. Yeah, talk about lack of time and lots of stress. I wish I could do more for her, but there are limits. Especially when I'm not pulling in a lot of cash.

With the main investigation, well that's on hold until May 6, so we can't do much for that. We've had a few minor things, but only minor things. A couple of minor hauntings. Girl With Spirit Guide was able to figure most of them out. The ones we couldn't resolve were encouraged to move elsewhere. Most of the research resources are still dedicated to finding out stuff about Monster and other topics from the main case.

Preppy is doing great for his final year. I'm still doing his writing assignments and other people are doing some of his other assignments, which is why he's doing so great. Must be nice having money.

Flamer almost had a run in with the cops over a bonfire around Valentine's Day, but this time it was burning before he got there. Seriously, it was, just not as wildly as it was after he looked at it. But while Flamer is often seen around fires (because he likes fires) everyone else was pointing the finger at the guy who built the fire. Turns out he lied about being an Eagle Scout and had no idea how to build a fire pit. And while he was supposed to in charge of the fire he was getting drunk with girl in the freshman class and had his hands under her top when he should have been deploying the fire extinguisher.

Yeah, he was hitting a freshman co-ed, giving booze to a minor, had an unsafe bonfire going, but the thing everyone was most pissed off at was him lying about being an Eagle Scout. Seriously, the fire department made him stay until the cops got there because of that lie. Go figure.

Jack

Well my business has gone to shit. All the craft shows, cons, farmer markets, and the rest of the places I sell are closed because of the virus. Healer is making a killing with her cure disease power.

So Diviner is still helping with the e-side of the business, but she's catching on to the fact that I don't need her to help me with fulfillment. On the bright side, with university classes cancelled and school out, Kid need more babysitting and Diviner has the time. She's babysitting him (and watching over his siblings) while doing online classes. On the not so bright side, we've lost our headquarters at the college because it's closed for at least 14 days.

Sigh. Here's hoping the normal world won't get in the way of our struggle against the Thing.

Jack

Yeah, things are getting different. Bars are closed, theatres are closed, public gatherings are practically banned. We're meeting at the Prof's house to handle things, but I'm not sure if we will be doing that next week.

Here's hoping that things clear up before May 6 then Thing is scheduled to attack. Otherwise it might screw things up. Mostly the "send the kids out of the house while it happens" part of the plan. If not, well I hate to think about handling Thing when there are kids in the house.

Um, just looking at how things are going in Italy, I'm now hoping that we can leave our homes on May 6.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago TP was on sale so I stocked up. I've got canned goods and other food that should last at least a month or two - mostly because I stock up when there's a sale. I mean, canned goods don't go bad and why not buy them when they're on sale? So I'm going to be okay, and most of the rest of the group is in the same boat, but maybe not Diviner. But I can't help her with what's happening in her house unless she wants help, so I'm waiting until she asks for help (or really seems to need it) before I do anything.

Jack

So I'm at the point where I wish I was just dealing with the supernal world and the problems my powers can cause. At least I've got a bit of a handle on them. The "normal world" is, well, sigh.

Preppie's father is an important guy at his company (maybe he owns it, I don't know) and someone at his work was doing international travel and that person caught the virus. He had several meeting with Preppie's father and now Preppie's father is self isolating. Preppie lives at home, so he's supposed to self isolate. And since we've been meeting with Preppie...

Luckily the Prof has a reserve fun for things like this. One he rarely (if ever) taps. Something to do ectoplasm experiments that never happened. Technically it's money that was embezzled by a previous grad student, one who was eaten by something weird, and later the Prof discovered the money and banked it. He normally only touches the interest, but he decided to spend more now.

It seems he knows Healer from way back, enough that we got to see her. Not to treat any disease but for a psychic diagnosis. He leads her to a Ley Line so she could do things without taking hours to recharge her powers. Good news! We've all been cleared. We didn't take Preppie along because, well if his father has it then Preppie will eventually get it - even if he's clean now.

Since the Prof was blowing money, he brought Kid along for Healer to detect psionics on (I didn't know she could do that). Surprise, surprise - Kid's powers are permanent. They aren't going to fade with time. The Kid is a Latent Psychic, not a Physical Psychic, which explains why his powers are hit and miss. He's got Telekinesis and maybe some other things, but he can't control any of them yet. Oh, the Prof wants me to talk to him because Latents sometimes get Precognitive Dreams. Yay him. But unlike my dreams Kid will only get warning dreams. Dreams that will warn him of danger, probably scaring the shit out of him. At least he'll only get that unless he has some of my powers (which is possible). Oh, and Kid might get a Fire Walker power or two. That's great. A preteen with pyro powers. Best yet - he has no control over his powers. They just burst out uncontrollably. He has even less control than the average latent since he is still so young.

Sigh. At least he doesn't have full Fire Walker powers. Drew Barrymore was great in that movie, but who wants to see a real life version of "Firestarter"? And as a bonus bit of "great news", if Kid has Fire Walker powers then they (like the rest of his powers) would be completely uncontrollable until he's much older.

Other than that, I'm kind of self isolating out of concern of getting sick. Not fear of getting sicj, because I shouldn't be in danger of dying from it, but I really don't want to get sick and cause a strain on the healthcare system when others need that system. I'm still taking commissions over the net, but I'm not doing portraits or sittings at the moment. Not that anyone wants to pay me to do those...

Sigh. Time to dip into my savings.

Again.

If it gets much worse I'll reactive my porn art account. I hate the thought of making artwork for guys to jack off to and share freely on the net, but if my cash level drops low enough I'll have to.

Jack

I'm not sure if there's a good time to be a Sensitive - but during an epidemic? Yeah, this is a bad time. All the fear going around is oppressive.

Other news: Kid's parents weren't overjoyed that their son would be a "freak" for the rest of his life. The only good news there is that Kid still can't control his powers - otherwise he'd be showing them off to his friends. Yeah, Kid still meeting with friends without respecting social distancing, but there's nothing I can do about that.

Healer has dropped out of sight. You now need to know someone she trusts to meet up with her and she says she can only help 4 people a day. It's "wake up, do something about the disease", four hours later she repeats, then repeats, then does one last one before she goes to sleep. I hear she's charging either five or six figures for those cures, which means I can't afford them. There's no friend rate - just a "friend can get an appointment" system. Or maybe she'll change things up if/when the hospitals get full.

Yeah, I've had a few Dreams about the future. Everything is still in flux, but there could be a lot of people dying. Or maybe just some people dying. Like I said, the future is still in flux. The thing is, I can't do anything about it. There's nothing that I can do to flatten the curve, nothing except keep from getting myself infected and I'm already doing that.

Oh, and speaking about Dreams - Kid skyped me today. Yes, Kid had a warning Dream, or he thinks he has and wanted to talk to me about it. He didn't want to share the details but basically he dreamt that there was a spanking in his future. Sigh. I just told him that the future isn't fixed and that if he avoids whatever leads to the spanking then it won't happen. But as Dreams go this isn't as bad as it could be. He could have Dreamt something about someone he knows dying from the virus. Anyway, it's something that might hit in the next week or two, and here's hoping it doesn't happen because if Kid's powers go wild then - well he's probably got some Fire Walker powers.

Shudder.

I mean, his TK can go wild just because a sitter orders him to take a bath. Who knows what could happen if someone starts hitting him?

Jack

Sigh. Kid skyped me again. He wants more information about Dreams. Specifically he wants to try to manipulate the future because he's glimpsed it. I explain over and over again that we can't really manipulate what we see in Dreams. That the best we can do is to avoid things or stop them from happening. Or let it happen. You can't mix things around and try to make things work out the way you want them to

I try to explain to him that if he tries doing something like then things are bound to go wrong - or make it happen anyway. I tell him about the Dream of my girlfriend cheating on me and how my reaction of that caused us to break up and resulted in my girlfriend getting with the guy I Dreamed her being with. That since I did the wrong thing I ended up reaching the worse possible outcome.

But Kid's a kid - and kids never listens to reason. I've got no idea what he'll do. Here's hoping he starts to socially isolate himself to avoid danger. On the other hand, I'm not sure if the kid had Dream or some weird dream. It's hard to tell until you've had a few Dreams that worked out. Even now I'm not sure if what I'm seeing is in the Now or it the Future. Here's hoping that things work out for him. And if things don't, here's hoping that he doesn't manifest powers then it happens.

Jack

Well things are still closed. Our group is looking for weird things, but avoiding getting together physically. We're using electronic means to exchange information because there's no way we can afford to visit Healer again. The Prof is working overtime with his department head, trying redo the syllabus so students don't lose the semester while making sure that no one discovers the resources he borrows for the team. Actually, we might end up with more equipment and funds after the current chaos.

Easter was very, very different. I avoided home because I don't want to risk infecting anyone. I don't think that I'm infected, but why take chances?

There might be weird stuff happening in the city. Or maybe not - because despite what I said above we aren't really looking all that hard. Me, Diviner, and Girl With Spirit Guide are the ones most likely to stumble over something because our team is all trying to stay in. How much are we self isolating? There was a major fire near where Flamer lives and Flamer didn't go out to watch. No, I'm not saying that he started this fire (he didn't) but Flamer loves fires. He goes to so many of them that the fire department sometimes suspects him to be a firebug. Okay, maybe he has a problem with that, but because he self isolation he didn't go to a fire that was so close that he could almost feel it. Now that's self control.

Oh, and I skyped with Kid today. He didn't give details, but it appears that either his warning Dream came true or he was able to avoid it. He didn't say which way it went and I didn't ask. I'm sure that he tried to make things work out to the best and I don't want to know how that turned out. His parents aren't frantically calling the Prof and there's nothing on the news that indicates Kid's powers went wild, so either he avoided the situation or his powers didn't trigger. Or maybe it wasn't a Dream but just a dream?

Anyway, I'm encouraging him to share anything about future Dreams. Partly because I wish I had someone talking me through my early Dreams, but also with the confrontation with Thing coming up Kid might Dream about that. Odds are he won't, because we're not bringing him along to fight it, but we need every advantage we can get.

Jack

Nothing on the weird front, but something on the team front. It's nothing bad, we're all still healthy, and it's something that will impact us in the future.

The Prof was doing an inventory and found some crates from old ectoplasm experiments. Yes, the ones that never happened. What was in them? Protective gear. Not medical grade but better than nothing. He puts the call out, but only Flamer and I show up - the rest begging off for various reasons. We load the most crappy, expired stuff into a van and the Prof calls around to various contacts.

Yes, we sold crappy, expired equipment for a good price. We explained all the problems with it, but the people (if I can use that term loosely) reselling it will probably call it medical gear equivalent. It's mostly just stuff to keep ectoplasm splashing on your clothes, but any PPE is worth money now.

After restoring the rainy day fund we headed back to the lab and found Diviner waiting for us. She said something about changing her mind because it was a good reason to get out of her parents' place since everyone was getting stir crazy there. I could sense that there was more to the story, because of my powers, but the Prof has handled thousands of students so knew there was more to the story. Flamer? I'm not sure if he noticed.

So the Prof offered Diviner a bit of under the table cash to help out. No, he didn't offer it to me or Flamer, but we are both in better shape financially than Diviner. I chimed in at that point, telling Diviner that I had a couple of weeks of fulfilment to get out and offered to pay for her help. I don't really, but she needs the cash.

By then Grad Student had shown up and we all shift the remaining gear. What remaining gear? The good stuff. The stuff that wasn't crappy or expired. All the near medical grade, stuff. We shifted them to a classroom (so there's no link to the Prof's secret projects) as the Prof worked out the politics of the situation. You might not remember, the Prof's an assistant dean. The department's Dean is heavily into psychonautics (meaning he takes a lot of psychotropic drugs) and the other high up in the department is a snake who spends all of his time doing office politics. Then there's the rest of the university brass to think about. A donation like this means everyone need to get a share of the credit.

After a bit of discussion, the Prof decided that the Dean "suggested" he look through the inventory for anything that could help while the snake suggested he use the department's old 3D (more than a few years old and mostly gathering cobwebs) to print medical grade gear. The thing isn't going to make a huge difference, call it maybe 2 or 3 things printed a day, but every little bit helps.

Of course we couldn't be there when he called the brass in; only Grad Student could be there when the Prof unveiled the protective equipment. I offered Diviner a ride home (no, I don't know how she got the university - maybe she walked?) and pretended that I didn't see her wincing when she sat. I wish I could do more for her, but unless she asks for help on her situation at home I'm better off pretending that I don't know about it.

Jack Fisher

There's been a Bad News / Good News situation. Sugar Daddy called the Prof, panicking. It seems that all his kids work up all giving the same story about being in an old fashion school (one where the desks had inkwells and they had to dip an iron pen in it to write). They were all complaining about being there for weeks, and even the boys had to wear a schoolgirl uniform. And they were all paddled at one point or another.

Well that school sounded an awful lot like the one that Great-Greet ran. And when they woke up they had faint paddle marks on their backsides.

Last time this happened it was just one of the kids dreaming about getting punished. Now it's all the kids taking about being trapped there for days. The Prof isn't sure what to make of it, but he thinks that it's because the Thing is getting closer.

So the Bad News is that things are getting bad for those kids, but the Good News? They are sending the kids to the grandparents and they are born again believers in the supernatural. They really, really want this handled. We're ready for May 6. We're not sure if Preppy can make it, and if he's there he'll be wearing a mask, but the rest of us are healthy.

Other news: Kid had another Dream, or he thinks he did. I'm not sure. Mostly because he wasn't facing danger in the dream. No one was, and the Prof is positive that when Latents have Dreams they are always warning Dreams. The dream is about going to a lake, swimming, having a good time, and everyone coming home safely. Maybe it's wishful thinking, because no one's going to that lake until the lockdown ends.

Now for the other bad news: I'm painting and drawing porn again. Yeah, I said I wouldn't unless I really needed cash, but why wait until I hit rock bottom? I've reactivated my porn account, explained to people that I'm only doing this because I've been furloughed from my day job and need to pay the rent. That's technically true because I consider all the conventions, farmer markets, etc where I sell art to be my day job. And yes, I'm drawing and painting things that I don't enjoy and yes I know my art will be shared online without me seeing a penny of money, but there's rent, food, etc. There's even paying Diviner to help me fulfil the stuff from my normal e-store. So I'm painting for pay, almost being a commercial artist, and I hate myself for doing it.

On the plus side - I'm making the cash I need, so it's all working out.

Jack

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

Things were looking so good. Something I left out of the "finding the protective gear" post. While we doing that I talked to the Prof and he managed to get me access to one of the art department printers. Yes, I'm now producing my own prints, saving me $$$$. I can only do this for a short time so I'm bulking in the prints that are selling well - including the porn. The only reason I can do this is that the Parapsychology Department has an account with the printing department and since the Parapsychology Department isn't doing any printing and the printing department won't refund that money I'm basically just using up some of that credit.

How much of that credit? Not much. A rounding error. Mostly because I'm only being charged for normal printing on normal printing rather than for the special printer, inks, and paper.

This led me to having a "inventory reduction sale". Basically I made a bunch of Halloween, Christmas, etc prints that I'm calling inventory that has to go. Yes, I am putting on watermarks them labelling them as "X of X of X prints" because I don't want to rip off any collector. With my printing cost near zero I marked them all down by half my printing costs, and they are selling.

Selling online means fulfilment, I invited Diviner over today to help stuff envelopes. Only for the regular, not porn, artwork. So while we're working Diviner asked what the plan is for the fight on Tuesday night. I corrected her, telling her that it was on Wednesday, but she was sure that it was Tuesday. She had gotten a pocket calendar and crossed off 84 days and that meant Tuesday. She showed it to me and it looked right

So I call the Prof, telling him about it, and we talk it out, and he gets a wall calendar and counts off days and, shit, it's Tuesday. He goes back to his calculations and does a face palm.

The original math didn't count February 29. We forget this is a Leap Year.

So Shit. Seriously shit. All of our plans are a day off. If it wasn't for Diviner we would have been a day too late. Now we're scrambling to get things lined up for Tuesday.

Jack

Good news - we stopped the Thing.

Better news - everyone lived.

Best news - I didn't get any new scars or have to go to the hospital. Yay me!

But it wasn't all roses and sunshine. Things started off bad.

First problem: Sugar, Sugar Daddy, and Wife didn't like the change of date. They started to doubt us again, but went along with it. It helped that the kids were already gone. What didn't help was Sugar showing up dressed to please. Wife didn't like Sugar flaunting her body but Sugar Daddy really liked how Sugar looked.

The Prof set up his equipment and put cameras everywhere. The normal stuff. We wanted to take up positions, but when was Thing coming? From what direction? What happens if we guard the door to the deck and it comes in the patio door? Or the front door? Or breaks in through a window? Or does some weird manifest trick? We don't know where it's coming from but we know what the Thing is coming for - so we keep the three targets in the living room and guard them there.

At least that was the plan. Before things started to get odd.

Sugar, Wife, and Sugar Daddy began acting odd. Both women began to openly compete for Sugar Daddy's attention and Sugar Daddy was playing it cool, too cool. Some of the Prof's machines started to give odd readings. He asked me open up and I do...

It's always hard to describe what I see/sense/feel when I'm open, but here goes. There was something, some kind of energy, gathering around the three of them. It wasn't exactly a possession attempt, but it was alternating their moods and feelings. I had to do some thinking. Eventually I went to the kitchen to talk with Girl with a Spirit Guide, Ghost Guide, and Diviner. The Prof wandered in at one point, and we talked. Girl and Spirit Guide talked about what was happening in spiritual world.

At one point Diviner walked back into the living room, took Sugar's wrist and ask is she could read Sugar palm. Sugar said no as she yanked her arm back. Diviner turned to come back in to the kitchen and Sugar slapped Diviner on the butt! Saying something "Here's my palm" as she did it.

Between what I was sensing, what Girl and Spirit Guide smelled / heard / saw, what Diviner got from that touch, and the Prof' interpreting the readings from his machines and knowledge he has we came up with a theory. The targets were acting, well, not like their ancestors did but how Conjure Woman thought those people acted. Diviner was sure that meant that Thing was getting closer.

Which really sucked. I mean, the three of them aren't necessarily the best people in the world (Sugar is the best of them) but their ancestors? Those were scary strange and we weren't dealing with them, but the very negative view of them held by someone who held them responsible for a death. But on the plus side this meant that Thing was coming tonight, so we weren't wasting my time here.

Everyone (except for Sugar, Sugar Daddy, and Wife - obviously) was slowly filled in and I could sense that the influence was slowly building up. Which was great.

Things slowly got worse. Sugar Daddy started lecturing people, carrying on like a pompous teacher. Sugar started letching on all the guys and some of the girls. Wife starts to, well, half letching and half talking down to people. Sugar Daddy was being formal, or as the Prof said, supercilious. Yeah, I had to look up that word too. Both woman treated all the female members of the team with total contempt. Diviner was feeling very bad at this until I pointed out that Wife had just given Girl with Spirit Guide a hard pat on the butt. That no one was targeting Diviner but that both women were channelling sadistic bitches who were treating all the female team members as if they were naughty little schoolgirls who needed a good paddling. Or treating them like schoolgirls who they could abuse. Diviner relaxes as it hits her that no one is targeting her.

So basically we're dealing with three semi psychos while waiting for Thing to hit us. Yeah, the situation was even worse than it sounds. As in Sugar Daddy groping both of the women in his life, right there in front of us all - and trying for some gropes on members of the team - both genders. Things started to get weird, or weirder, and them opening a couple of different bottles booze didn't help.

The Prof decided it was time to set up the alibi and took Diviner with him. Sugar Daddy has this killer home theatre in his basement, one with a remote control, and the Prof decided to use it to cover the sounds of the fight. He put in an action movie, cued it to a battle scene, and cranked the speakers. Sugar Daddy said that he never had those speakers above 5, because the neighbours would complain, and the Prof cranked them to 10. One touch of the remote and we'd need hearing protection (which we had, with spares for Sugar, Sugar Daddy, and Wife). The neighbours would complain about the noise, but that was better than them complaining about gunfire. No, he didn't need Diviner's help, but she was glad to have a reason to be out of the living room.

More than an hour passed, with things going downhill. Then I Feel something just outside. Like just outside. The Prof's machines start beeping and the motion sensitive light just outside the patio doors came on. None of the other lights went off, so Thing just appeared there.

You know some creatures can just freeze you in your tracks? This was one of those. How can I describe it? It looked a bit like a ghost, but three ghost somehow merged into one. I could see the three figures writhing in that body. All of them looked like old fashion schoolgirls, but horribly burnt and disfigured. Clearly they were three of the girls who had died in the fire. The charred flesh, burnt clothing, it was hard to see where one began and the other ended.

The Prof kept his cool. He shouted "Ears" and hit the remote. Suddenly the walls were shaking and the pain in our ears broke us out of it. I slid my ear protector as the patio doors shattered inward. I feel that boost we get when something like this happens. Thing lifts a leg to step in and I hit it with a mind bolt as Flamer throws a flaming bolt at it. That drives Thing backwards, away from the door. A few bullets impacted on it, along with a shotgun blast. I think the shotgun blast pushed it back more, but I don't think anything but my mind bolts and Flamer's flames hurt it.

And we had to pour it on. It seemed like the three ghosts were shifting around, We'd hit one, it would roll to the back, we'd hit another, it would roll to the back, and the first one would be healed by the time we hit again. It was like whack a mole, but with ululating ghosts of badly burnt schoolgirls instead of moles.

I glanced back to see how the rest of the team is doing, and I can't believe my eyes. Wife has Girl With Spirit Guide down on the floor, ripping at Girl's clothes and kissing her hard on the mouth. Girl was fighting back and looked like she could take care of herself. Sugar was helping Sugar Daddy hold Diviner over his lap as Sugar Daddy was bouncing his belt off the seat of Diviner's jeans!

I wanted to help, but none of the three seemed likely to kill anyone and bullets were just bouncing off Thing. Flamer and I were the only ones hurting it and Thing wanted to kill at least three people. I keep going at Thing, Flamer kept going at Thing, people kept put bullets into it. Shotgun shells (deer slugs) were driving it back a bit, but other than that only Flamer and I were really hurting it.

Finally Flamer does something that I've never seen him do before. He runs up to Thing and touches it. The entire Thing catches fire and keeps burning. I mean really on fire.

I look back. It's been maybe a minute since things started and Wife, Sugar, Sugar Daddy are in a threesome. Their clothes were mostly torn apart, but they weren't actually naked. They had scratches everywhere. Diviner was standing there, rubbing at her seat.

More bad news: My powers were still up there. I decided to try my newest power, Dispel Spirits. I did it and my power level dropped. The threesome stops. The Prof turns off the sound. Everyone starts relaxing as the Prof heads to the kitchen where he stashed some robes.

Wife, Sugar, and Sugar Daddy are in massive confusion when the Prof handed them robes. Urging Sugar Daddy to the front door and calming him down. A few minutes later the cops are at the front door and Sugar Daddy explained how his kids had played a prank on him. How they had programmed the entertainment to come on in the middle of the night and it had taken him a while to turn it off. He apologised, ensured them that he would apologise to his neighbours, and that it wasn't going to happen again. That he would change the parental control code and this time he wouldn't write it down. Yeah, he still got a ticket, but considering how he was still alive I think he got off easy.

It took us maybe half an hour to pack up. The three of them changed (Sugar had an overnight bag with her) and came back down to the living room. Sugar and Wife kept looking at each other and looking away. Yeah, awkward.

Basically, we got the heck out there as soon as we could.

Jack

So, now that things have settled down a bit, here's an after report.

I didn't know about it, but during the investigation Sugar Daddy was talking to the Prof about making a major donation to the department. Call it half a mil. Yeah, 500K. Only he changed his mind after things went down. He really didn't like how he lost control and started to beat Diviner. The result? The 500k endowment became 5K in cash. As in fives, tens, and twenties so it couldn't be traced back to him.

How is he making out with Wife and Sugar after that violent threesome? He didn't tell us. Maybe I'll run into Sugar later, maybe not, but I don't want to pry into something that doesn't involve me. Now that I've said that, I'll probably get a Dream or a Vision that tells me far more than I want to know. Here's hoping that doesn't happen.

Anyway, we had video call, one that excluded Preppy (who is still recovering from the virus) and Diviner. The Prof fills us in about the money and says that while he would normally spend it on the team's expenses, the reserve fund is full from where we sold that protective gear. He suggested that it go to the team members who were assaulted. Girl With Spirit Guide speaks up and says that she doesn't want it. That it would be too much like being paid for what Wife did to her and she doesn't want that. That she has more than enough money to see her through.

Immediately everyone thinks about Diviner, and Flamer and I both speak up saying that she wouldn't want it for that either, but she might need it. The Prof nods and says that's why she wasn't invited to this meeting, and asks if we're up to lying to Diviner. Sugar Daddy doesn't want anyone to know what he did to Diviner and she'll take the money if she thinks it's from a NDA. We agree to play along.

Next we meet face to face, Diviner there, and she dances with joy before signing a realistic document that says she's getting $5,000 for not talking about how Sugar Daddy had hit her with a belt. After that she asks if the Prof can dummy up something that will make it look like an academic award, so she can tell her family about it. Diviner is too excited to notice, but the rest of do a virtual face palm about how we over thought things. All except the Prof who explains that the university always does a direct deposit, but as long as Diviner's family doesn't remember that from last Fall he can do something up. That causes another virtual face palm, this one over the first one, because the Prof hadn't over thought anything.

Diviner leaves, saying something about getting current with rent and utilities, and we all feel happy about what happen. There's nothing like watching a teenage girl dancing and squealing with joy to make you feel good about what you've done.

Speaking of money, I'm doing okay. The last time I turned to porn for money I did great, but this time I'm trying to make up for conventions and farmer's markets - which are real money makers. I'm not hiring my cousin to help me with booths, so he's not making the cash he expected to make. I'm mostly doing commissions, usually in the $350 to $500 range, depending on the complicity of the drawing. I'd love to charge more, but the net is a competitive market. If I charge too much I'll lose clients so I'm doing quantity over quality.

Speaking of quality, the upside of not doing cons is I have more time to paint. Commissions are fine, but I'm an artist, not a commercial illustrator. I've got time to paint as the muses move me, and that's a good thing.

Oh, and I finally got the whole story from Kid. Yeah, Kid lied by omission when he talked about his Dream, but that's what kids do. There was an element of danger in his Dream that he didn't mention. It wasn't about a trip to the lake but about a group of kids sneaking out to the lake. Somewhere between 15 - 20 kids in the 8 - 12 age range. Going there without permission or even telling people where they were going. No adult supervision, and since the Lifeguards haven't been hire for the summer there was no supervision at all. Oh, and it gets better. Since those kids couldn't talk to their moms to ask where their swimsuits were a lot the kids showed up without them. Yes, this led to most of them skinny dipping. While they were a mix of boys and girls, they were all too young for the nudity to matter much, but still.

The danger in the Dream? Getting in major trouble for doing that. Luckily, Kid decided to heed the Dream, but he didn't want to look like he chickened out so he made sure his older sister caught him slipping out. So he didn't join with the others and he didn't look like a chicken, so it was a win-win for him. The other kids? They went and got in trouble. Major trouble. As in major parental freak out trouble. As in parents calling other parents and threatening to sue "because it's all your kid's fault" trouble. But Kid avoided it and that's the main thing. I can just imagine him being caught in a group of kids, various parents screaming at them, and his powers kicking loose.

Jack