Using this place as a sounding board

[Jack_Fisher]

No new news on the Monster - which is the only good news in this update. As for the rest of my life...

I Hate Poltergeists. I really, really hate them.

Yeah, we finally moved on that poltergeist. The Prof's plan of keeping it in the real world Did Not Work As Intended. He hooked up that experimental piece of equipment and it Really Did Not Work As Intended. I'd love to say that it did squat all, but boy did it ever do something.

It pissed off the poltergeist - and somehow charged it up. It wasn't just the fat, eating its fill and then some, poltergeist we saw before. It was more powerful. And it was in pain and striking out. Forget small items like dishes, a couch moved - an entire couch went flying across the room! And it wasn't just trashing one room it was going around the whole house trashing things.

The project started off on the wrong foot. Spirit Guide didn't show. He was off wherever he goes when he can't be reached, but we don't need him because we've got that Fancy New Tech the Prof put together. So I'm downstairs in the living room while everyone else sets up in the room where most of spanking happened. Of course the family is out - we aren't going endanger them by taking on that thing when they were here. Plus they might panic and their fear could fed the thing we've been starving.

I wasn't in the room where the belt used to swung because I had to focus on Astral Projecting and I do that best when I'm alone, but I've seen the videos. The Prof had lots of cameras set up to record the results of his Fancy New Tech and while the videos flickered in and out with static during the "battle" there was usually at least one working. Later the Prof will edit something together to impress the people who donate to his department, but what I saw wasn't impressive. So while I'm still getting ready the girl with the Spirit Guide (whose Spirit Guide didn't show) announces "it's here" (trying to imitate the little kid from that 80s movie) and the Prof doesn't wait for me to get there. He turns on his machine and Really Pisses It Off. Things get thrown around and various people try various things that Don't Work Because It's Not In The Real World. Less than a minute later I'm there, looking at people getting bruised up by flying objects and ready to go a couple of rounds with the poltergeist in the Spirit World.

That's when it started racing around the house, moving through walls and floors. Smashing things. I'm running after it, trying to keep it in sight, when it hits the living room and tosses a couch across the room.

That is a Very Big Deal.

Why?

That's the couch my body is sitting on! I see my body going flying, landing hard because I'm not inside to try to break my fall, and I know that's going to Really Hurt when I get back inside my body.

I finally catch up to it, smashing it with everything I've got, and that's not enough. It runs back the bedroom where it gets a spirit smack from the girl whose Spirit Guide didn't show. I race back and hit it with a Mind Bolt before closing again and smacking. You might remember me saying that while I know how to fight I'm not the best fighter out there? Well in case I forgot that, the poltergeist reminded me I'm not the world's best fighter. It was so freaking hard to hit! Fast, nimble, and Extremely Pissed Off because of the Prof's machine.

The Prof finally turned off the machine, which startled the poltergeist, and while it was flatfooted I finished the thing off. It vanished in a wisp of smoke. Once it was gone I race back to my body and damn it hurt! Nose bleed, bruising, but nothing felt broken. My left wrist was aching, but that was more of a sprain than a break. And I hate it that I know the difference between "sprain pain" and "break pain". Most people never learn that difference and I know it too well.

So the team does what it can to patch me up, but the Prof's already on the phone to Healer, putting it on the department's dime so I can afford an ultra expensive "come over today" appointment. My nose stops bleeding, I start cleaning myself up, and the rest of the team starts putting the house back together again.

The place is more or less in good shape when the family gets home. We tell them it's done, the Prof offers to show them some of the video, but they don't want to see it. No, Dad wants to settle a few things that have built up so the belt comes out its temporary retirement and Mom tries to make small talk as we finish getting our stuff together and cleaning out. As if we can't hear that belt being used on bare butt after bare butt.

So we limp away, and the Prof has to run over his data while Flamer gives me a drive to Healer's place, and I'm left thinking we did shit all. Yeah, we got rid of a poltergeist but the family is as dysfunctional as ever, that belt's back in service, and nothing can be done about that. Oh, and the Monster is still out there, still on the run, maybe still killing people, so I couldn't even stop that. Makes me wonder what good I'm doing here.

Oh wait, it gets better. Remember the Moronic Idiot who ordered those Christmas Beating cards and posted a picture of one on the net, front and back, bragging about how much the cards cost? For once I'm credited with the artwork, and I thought the interest in it would peter out, but now I'm fielding countless requests (473 at last count, which was a while ago) for fetish art of the Free kind. It's crowding my mailbox and real inquiries might be getting lost in the shuffle. As if I want to do that type of art or could afford to give it away if I did. Plus some of my regulars are a bit put off by that card, meaning that this could cost me money in the long run...

Yeah, life's wonderful right now. How was your day?

Jack
(who is still in some pain and watching his budding art career vanish before his eyes while nothing he does improves the world, not even the tiniest bit)

[Jack_Fisher]

Yeah, hi. I'm much less pain and not feeling so bitter now. The lack of pain is a big thing, but I was also able to quiet things down on social media. I pointed out that art on that Christmas card was cheeky humor, not porn, and most people have moved on. I'm still getting lots of request for that type of artwork, but if they keep asking for it for free I'm going to keep mostly ignoring them. I've set up a reply I can click on to send them, listing my fees, and so far no one replied to that message. With all the free porn on the net I'm hoping they'll just do a google on their kind and leave me alone.

And getting that poltergeist taken care of was a good thing. I know it was, even if I was a bit bitter about getting hurt while doing it - and being the only one hurt. Oh sure, there were a few bangs and bruises, Preppy got a bit of a shiner and you'd think he was dying, but I got the worse of it.

And that family? A couple members of the team mentioned that they "accidentally" left cards with help line numbers in the kids' rooms. I'd like to think there's a difference between someone calling in something and a kid asking for help. Or at least I hope so. And it's not just me that tried to call it in - a couple other people on the team tried to sound the alarm about that belt. They only did it after we took out the poltergeist so we wouldn't be stumbling around the house with investigators watching us, but they made contact (not always anonymously) and got nowhere.

One of the ones who contacted social services passed along what was explained to him - when the department barely has the resources to handle cases involving broken bones, scarring, violent beatings, and other heartrending abuse a sore backside just isn't a priority. Now if Dad had been doing more than just belting the kids, say if there was an incest angle or porn was being made, then it would be looking into, but the social workers are overworked, underpaid, and stress to the max and just don't have time to deal with belt style corporal punishment. Not when there are kids literally being used as punching bags. And no, the fact that the belting happened with strangers in the house doesn't change that.

But that member of our group didn't want to take "too busy" for an answer and talked to people in the various social work and medical faculties on campus. Not stopping (unlike me, who tried and gave up) until finding those several help lines - including one national one. It seems that there are volunteer groups attached to various help lines that might able to do something.

But that's only a "might be able". A maybe, but the kid has to call it in and complain or there's nothing to go on. And even then, well unless certain lines are crossed (a certain level of bruising or a sexual element being present) there's little that the social workers and the cops will do.

But something might happen - and that's got to be enough for now.

And now for something important:
While sleeping I had another Vision about the monster. No, he's not nearby, he's a couple of hundred miles away. He was cold, sleeping in a van that was minus an engine block that was propped up on cinderblocks, and that's the best news I've ever had about him. I guess he's not invulnerable with countless fail back plans, not if he's sleeping that way. I thought about sending the cops after him again, but I wasn't sure how to explain I knew where he was, not without maybe getting someone else dead. After a bit of thinking I installed a VPN on a library computer and sent a distance police department a tip about a drug dealer who sleeps in a van and about how he's dealing to high school students, selling them shatter. I let them know he had a gun, suffers from PTSD, had seen combat with the military, and how he was letting freshman girls pay him with their bodies. Painting a picture of a dangerous homeless man selling drugs to kids while crossing age of consent lines - if that doesn't get them after him nothing will.

And it was pretty good writing if I do say so myself. I even got in some teenage slang, writing from the POV of a teenager who had bought from the guy until the guy started making moves on the girls. I came up with a back story, motivations, etc for the writer as if he was a character in a story I was writing. I'm pretty sure it was convincing and hopefully the cops will raid his van.

And catch him. Maybe kill him in a shootout, maybe arrest him and discover that his fingerprints are linked to a murder and shooting at cops, I don't care how they do it but I'm hoping they can take him off the streets.

What else? The solstice is coming fast. That usually brings its fair share of weirdness, and I'm not talking about the magic of Christmas here. It's unfortunate that it's on a Friday this year because the Friday before Christmas is usually brings in lots of $$$$, selling art at a craft fair where people are trying to get last minute presents. I'll have to hire my cousin to man the booth - and pay him extra because it's Christmas and if I don't make it worth his while he'll go to Christmas parties instead. But money always matters, especially if you want to buy Christmas presents for girlS (yes, that is an "s" on the end of that word) you want to try to get lucky with over the Christmas break.

Sigh.

He's an idiot when it comes to girls, but he's a teenage boy and practically every teenage boy is an idiot when it comes to girls. But he's my cousin so I try to look out for him, at least a bit.

And I want to thank you all for listening to me rant. I know I can sound bitter at times and I'm probably boring most of you, but having someone to talk to about this is helping me keep everything in perspective. Especially after reading so many other stories that included lost of life and other things worse than what's happened to me. Hitting my head against a brink wall as I try to bring that monster to justice is nothing compared to some of things that others have done.

Jack

[Jack_Fisher]

I didn't hear much because the news isn't really covering it. What's wrong with the country when a homeless drug dealer shooting it out with the cops isn't newsworthy?

Anyway, they raided his van. He shot towards them, they shoot a lot towards him. No one got hit but lots of bullets flew. He got away and they set up roadblocks, check points, and have a sketch of his face on the news in that city. Surprisingly enough they actually found drugs in that van, only it was meth and party drugs, not shatter or weed. They also found some cash and have seized it as the proceeds of crime.

Here's hoping that this city is the one that catches him. His luck can't keep going forever. He has to run out of money soon. Maybe it already ran out. Maybe that's why he was selling drugs.

Jack

[Jack_Fisher]

Shit.

Writing this one fast.

Something came through on the Solstice. Something bad. Something that boosted our powers higher than they've ever been, but that boost wasn't enough. Flamer tossed fire like never before. I unleashed mind bolts like I've never been able to before. Others did their things at a whole new level - but it wasn't enough. The thing got away from us.

I'll start at the beginning. We were all at a certain cemetery where Grave Ghouls are often spotted. The Prof says it has something to with weird lines forming a nexus and that it's a piss poor place to put a cemetery, which is why we were there looking for Grave Ghouls at sunset on the solstice. Only something much weirder happened. A piece of the sky, well it kind of ruptured. I'm not really sure how to explain it, but that piece of the sky wasn't there anymore. Someplace else was in its place and something passed through it. Something maybe 7 or 8 feet tall, with horns, whiskers, some stuff tied to his belt, and a sack. We tore into it, and we hurt it, but it got away. That piece of the sky back when it fled so it didn't go home. It just jumped over the cemetery wall and ran.

Now I used to be very good at gymnastics and acrobatics, but I couldn't make that jump. Pole vault it? Yeah, I could probably do that, but jump it? Nope, not if my life was at stake.

We tried to track it but we couldn't pick up a trail. When we admit we've lost itwe start comparing notes. Spirit Guide had no idea what it was, meaning we're sure that it's not a ghost or ghostly thing. Various other people chime up, but it almost seemed familiar to me, something I've either heard or read about before. I headed back to where we fought it and found some branches on the ground. They've been cut a certain length and soaked in salt water, almost pickled in brim. The Prof and I discuss them, and they look like birch branches to both of us. Add in the horns (goat like horns), the darken face, the sack, and things start falling into place.

It's a bit early, but Krampus has come to town.

The Prof thinks it's him as well. For those of you who might not have done the same research, Krampus is a Germanic demonic figure that has been linked to Santa Claus. Santa brings presents to good little boys and girls while Krampus comes for bad kids. He either beats the cramp out of them with birch rods or shoves them into his bag - taking them away to where they will never be seen again.

Some legends say that he tells the kids to pray if and if they can't say a good enough prayer to God then Krumpas can do whatever he wants with them. Like any kid could do that with a demonic being threatening him. Other legends have him pre-Christian, a demonic being preying on kids in the winter. Maybe he's vulnerable to prayers? If so I'll have to brush up on some. I think that the Prof is looking into that angle. Now is it a single being or a race of demons or some weird collections of beings? Not sure, could be anything.

So we've got a major thing on our hands and it preys on kids. We're all doing research about it, the Prof especially, and it's not helping that people have made corny Christmas horror movies about the monster. The net is utterly useless, just too many pages about him (even wikipedia has one) fill with folklore that might or might not true. Then there's the movies muddying the waters, so we're mostly at the library and trying to get interlibrary loans of books that might have something about the "real" him.

I had to take a break from research to help my cousin pack up the booth, collect the money, etc. My cousin seems to have given away a couple of prints, so there must have been some good looking girls wandering around. Anyway, I don't have the time or energy to worry about missing out on some money.

A Christmas demon. Loose in my city. Here's hoping we can do something before it does something. As for the other monster I've been hunting, the police can deal with him but they aren't equipped deal with a demon.

Jack

[Kermode]

All I got for solstice was a headache and a vision of impending doom.

I am a tracker of sorts, maybe I can help you out a bit.

[Jack_Fisher]

I thank you for that offer, but things are going too fast here.

Remember me hoping that we could deal with him before bad things happened? Yeah, that didn't work out. I left my cousin manning my booth, promising him extra cash for working the whole day on his own, and hit the library. We were all there, at first, then the Prof's phone went off. He knows those cops who handle weird stuff and this was the weirdest stuff they've ever asked about.

Some guy in a weird costume just beat half a dozen kids. Beat them with birch rods that had been soaked in brim. After those violent attacks none of the kids were making sense, but from what the cops could tell they had all been attacked at 26 minutes passed the hour, hour after hour, six hours in a row. Only it had happened in different parts of town and the perp would have had a hard time beating each kid and getting to the next attack site. The kids were "mostly okay", meaning only bruises mixed with scraped skin (plus being mentally freaked out) but the cops couldn't sit by and watch this happen so are grasping at unlikely straws - including us. Making matters worse the Powers That Be (maybe senior cops, or the chief, or the police commission, mayor, whoever) wanted to keep the story locked down. Something about ruining shopping during one of the most profitable weekends of the year. And it's not like the attacks are happening in public places - most of them happened in the kids' houses. Happened in houses where the parents said they didn't hear a thing until after it ended and then they only heard the kids screaming. The cops didn't believe the first couple of parents (because who would) but as the reports kept rolling in they saw it was more than just a couple of parents losing their cool under holiday stress. More importantly, some of the houses had security systems. Systems that weren't triggered and show that nothing entered the house, but the camera tell a different story. There are gaps in video recordings, a trail of static leading from the front door to where the kid was beaten, a longer blur of static there, the trail repeats itself as the thing leaves, then you see the parents reacting to the screams. It happens in under a minute with the time codes all saying 26 after the hour.

Yeah, definitely our target.

The Prof plotted the attacks and started talking about patterns. Me, I've taken some parapsychology courses, but I'm not making sense of it. Maybe I need to take some statistics courses? Anyway, his grad student (who I'll call Grad Student) could follow some it. Basically we gone into overdrive, gathering up things that might work as they work. And by things that might work I'm talking anti-Fey stuff, anti-demon stuff, Christian stuff, some Wicca stuff, anti-Wicca stuff, and guns. Plenty of guns because we're hoping that physical stuff can hurt it and some of us don't have any attacks that can work on a demon. The girl with a Spirit Guide is sure her spirit smack trick isn't going to work, so she's one of several people packing. Me, I take a gun as well, just in case all of that other stuff doesn't work since it's mostly theoretically effective as we've never fought something like this before.

The Prof thinks he can see a pattern forming, but needs some extra data to work it out. The police don't like that because extra data = more kids getting beaten, but they're out of ideas. Me, I wonder why 26 after the hour? Is it 13 times 2? Is it on the where the thing usually manifests in? Is it... well it could be anything.

Now we're just waiting for the Prof to work things out, then boot it to where the thing should strike next. It's 14 past the hour now, so we should know something within the next half hour. A race to the next crime scene and we should be there waiting for this thing.

Jack

[Jack_Fisher]

Shit.

I had to sound disappointed, but the thing stopped attacking kids. Or maybe parents stopped reporting attacks, but that just doesn't make any sense. I mean, what parent wouldn't report something like that? Even if they are pro corporal punishment I can't see them ignoring someone giving their kid a brutal beating. And that's what this thing does - deliver brutal beatings that cause bruising and bleeding.

I talked about my idea and now the Prof is running time zones, trying to see where it would be dark when the attacks normally happen in Europe, but nothing stands out. Yes, he went with my idea because we have that little to go on.

So I put the gun back in the weapon locker and go to pack up the booth, and there's a problem. My cousin kind of promised someone I'd do some original art before Christmas. Not for free (he's not that stupid) and normally the price would be right, but not when there's something going around attacking kids. I don't have time for this, but my cousin already took a deposit and I hate to have to tell someone "no". That really messes with your rep, and the money's right.

Jack

[Jack_Fisher]

The day before the day before Christmas and all of the team is working hard at trying to figure out what Krampus was and how to track him. All of the team except for me, who was trying not to rush a piece of art. That is, trying not to rush while finishing as fast as I can or making it look rushed. Yeah, I know I should be with the others, but this is serious cash here and most of January is a dead zone as far as sales go and I need to eat.

The only way I can justify not being there is that most of the reference books we've found are in German, a language in the Germanic group, Latin, or Greek and guess who doesn't read any of those languages? Well it's most of the team. Maybe all of the team. The Prof called in favours from other professors (mostly favours involving handling Weird Stuff for them, but in one case it was helping a prof's sexual harassment case without outing the guy as gay) and the rest of the team are crowded around the few English language sources we have. I'd just be in the way there.

Anyway, this painting based on a family photo from a couple of decades ago, with three (or maybe four?) generations gathered around a Christmas tree. The kids (who are now adults) are all in Christmas Jammies with the magic of Christmas shining in their eyes and some of the people in the picture aren't around anymore. Turning it into a panting would make the perfect Christmas present - but the art should have been ordered in October. November at the latest. I've told the client I'll do what I can but if he gets it before Christmas the paint might still wet when I deliver it. His response? The offer of a bonus, even when I tell him that I can only work so fast. And I really can only work so fast, the paint has to dry before I can add another layer. I've got the heat lamps out to speed things along but at the moment I am literally watching paint dry as I type this.

My Cousin and his sister are manning my booth, and no, the sister hasn't been trained but wants to earn some $$ for Christmas. I think she wants to buy herself something while it's on sale. She's just not the type to buy someone else a big present when she could get something for herself, but she's family and willing to help so I can't really complain about that.

Of course when the call comes I'm out of here. Maybe the painting gets delivered Christmas Day or maybe I try to convince the guy that gifts of art are best given on the Feast of St. Stephen (also known as December 26) but I'm not painting while the rest of them stops that thing.

Jack

[Jack_Fisher]

So our theories have been shot to hell. There was another series of six attacks, all at 26 passed the hour, all the same hours as when the other attacks happened, only this time the thing beat collage students. Yes, it's no longer attacking kids, it's beating people in their late teens and early 20s with sticks - birch rods to be exact. All the legends about Krumpas talk about him attacking kids, not adults, and back in his heyday someone in his late teens would be considered an adult.

Shit. You think you know something about monsters then they change what they're doing. The Prof is plotting the new attacks, hoping for a pattern, but nothing's coming. And that painting? Still trying not to make it look rushed as I work as fast as I can.

Jack

[Jack_Fisher]

Last night I had Vision. It was of Christmas Eve, 5:26 PM, at the cemetery where the thing entered this world. We were there loaded for bear and the thing was there. We were unloading on it and...

And that's it. I don't know how it ends, only how it begins. So I call the Prof and he listens and then says his patterns were pointing to three different times and places, one of them being that cemetery on Christmas Eve. The other two happen later. One occurs on the Feast of the Holy Innocents (or December 28 for those of you not up on your Christmas lore) and the last date he had was New Year's Eve, with that last place being so public we could get arrested if we try anything there.

But we only need one shot at it and now's the time. If we can get it tonight then we avert whatever it was going to do on Christmas Day. Otherwise, fighting a demon that attacks kids and a day named after the Slaughter of the Holy Innocents? Yeah, that's not going to go well. Maybe worse than fighting it in public, where non-believers will undermine our powers.

Now some news that is good and bad at the same time. Thanks to the people helping him with the translations the Prof thinks he's decoded something in an old book. Something about Krampus coming after those who need teaching (the book uses a word that is usually mistranslated as instructing) which back in the day was only kids but now learning is a life long experience so it could target almost anyone. Yeah, that's a scary thought. You're relaxing at home and suddenly there's demonic being beating you and afterward there's no sign of how it got in or left.

The Prof probably would have called me about the pattern linking up tonight, but thanks to my Vision I had lots of extra time to plan everything out. This morning I told my cousin and his sister they have to pack up the booth (I can't afford not to sell tonight) and hope that the sister doesn't try to steal me blind (she's been known to pocket money, but only when she thinks she can get away with it). Now I'm about to deliver painting (some of the paint is still going to be sticky, but it'll get there) then join the others, load up and head out for the cemetery with the rest.

Damn. Just got a call. Preppy isn't making it to the fight. He says he has to do the Christmas Eve bit this year or he'll be cut off by his family. Shit, we're down one and the fight hasn't even started. Thinking back to the Vision, I don't remember seeing Preppy there. I just thought we were all there because Preppy usually hangs back away from things where it's safer. Now is a bit ironic; Preppy has been hard on my case for not huddling at the library with everyone else and here he is missing the main event.

Well here goes nothing.

Jack

[Jack_Fisher]

Yeah, I'm still around. Barely. One of the reasons I'm still enrolled in university is to have an excuse to hang around the Prof's team, but another, maybe more important (more important right now) reason is the insurance I get through the student union.

That health insurance came in very, very handy. So the good news is I still have a spleen and my leg is on the mend. The bad news? Whenever I go to the beach people are going to ask about this huge scar I've got and I'm not all that mobile. Yeah, I almost died. I was done for the count, bleeding out, but I didn't go towards the light. So I was in the hospital for a while.

Last time I posted here we were going against something we think was a Krumpas demon. What can I say? It showed up, switching a birch stick, our powers boosted high, we unloaded, and for once guns actually made a difference. Yay guns! But the thing was, well, so I wasn't standing when ended, but the Prof had his cameras everywhere. Again lots of static but you can more or less see what happened. Yay multiple cameras! No, we didn't take it down. A patch of sky went missing, it walked through it, and the patch of sky came back. Around then those standing did two things: some open started setting off fireworks while the ones with medic training helped those of us who needed it.

Why the fireworks? To cover the sounds of gunfire. It's something that the Prof has done more than once and it's always worked, as long as there were no nearby witnesses. The patching up went as usual only I was beyond just patching up. They didn't bother calling 911, they just got me in a van and booted it to the hospital. Yeah, all I got for Christmas was major surgery and a cast on my leg. Broken, some ligaments damaged, it's still a mess. I should get full use of it of back. If it wasn't so well documented I'd see Healer but the doctors would notice if I was suddenly a lot healthier. As it is I'll have some impressive scarring on my belly and I'm not able to move around much until my broken leg heals.

What else? Well not only did I loss out on the Christmas Day and post Christmas sales my Cousin's sister stole half of the Christmas Eve take. She claims that there has to be an accounting error somewhere or maybe the cash got lost, but she got herself a new iPhone for Christmas. And with the uncovered medical expenses and most of my cushion is gone. Yeah, I'm propping myself to do paint and selling prints when I can, but things are a bit tight. Here's hoping that Valentine Day brings a lot of business. Until then, yeah, I've invented a new online persona and I'm contacting all those people who wanted me to draw porn. I hate to do it, it somehow makes me feel dirty and could sink my reputation in the art world, but cash is cash and money's very, very tight.

Someone that isn't tight is Preppy. He's swimming in cash, got a new car for Christmas (one that's not just new to him but 2019 model), and doesn't feel the slightest bit guilty about not making that fight. Even though having one more guy firing a gun might have meant we took it down or maybe it wouldn't have taken me down, even with that he doesn't feel guilty. Sometimes I wonder if he has a conscious.

Speaking of wondering, somehow I was able to stretch my powers in a new way. Yeah, I can do something that I couldn't before. That will help when I'm more mobile.

It's going to be a while before I'm doing much, but I thought I'd let you know that I'm still kicking and fighting the good fight.

Jack

[Jack_Fisher]

Just dropping by to say that I'm still alive and that I'm still working with the Prof and his group. And except for the scars I'm mostly healed up.

We haven't done much exciting work since that last case. On the plus side that means we haven't broken much of the Prof's equipment, so he's building his resources.

The painting is going well and I finally finished that graphic novel. Just doing a last edit (to make sure I didn't include any weird stuff in the background) and I'll post it on kickstarter. Here's hoping I see a profit on it, or at least get paid for the time and resources I put into it.

Farmer's markets are starting up again, so I'm back at my booth with my prints and doing caricatures. The art is going well enough that I no longer have to drawn that porn, but it's still for sale on a separate website because while I don't need the cash it brings in I can use it.

And the real reason I'm writing this post? I'm pretty sure they finally caught the guy. The human monster I had visions of killing and couldn't stop but was able to get the police to go after him. The news mentioned that he had a shoot out with some cops and lost in fatal way. I'm assuming that they're IDing the body via fingerprints, but I'm making sure. Since the cops asked the prof for his opinion I can ask him to check on that. Meanwhile I'm trying for visions of that guy, but nothing's coming, which is a good sign.

Now to try and forget the faces of those kids (and parents) I Saw when I was looking for him. Once that happens I'm sure life will be better.

Jack

[Kermode]

Did the police confirm it was him?

[Jack_Fisher]

I'm sorry it's taken so long to get back to you.

I'm not sure. I don't have police contacts and I can't tell the Prof about this. I'm assuming that it was him, that the police did their jobs, but there's no way for me to double check this.

But if he wasn't dead, well there's no way he can trace things back to me. Otherwise I would be the one who is dead instead of his former friend.

I haven't seen any Visions about him lately, but I'm not sure if I would get Visions about him. He isn't Supernatural and he's no longer in my area so there's nothing I could do about him. I don't normally get Visions about things I can't do anything about - unless they are embarrassing things I don't want to know about.

Jack

[Kermode]

Would be nice to find out.

Also, you can always do something about the visions, it sometimes takes people like you and me a while to figure out what that something is.

[Jack_Fisher]

Hmmm.... You're right. I'll try to track down and see if he is really dead.

Jack

[Jack_Fisher]

So I've checked around a bit. There was no DNA test done, but they did fingerprint his body. Those fingerprints matched the ones on file from his apartment. I'm not saying it was him, but I all I can do now is try to open myself up to Visions and Dreams and see if the universe will tell me more.

Jack

[Jack_Fisher]

So I've been opening myself up to leads on the guy - no dice. I'm now looking around for that piece of leather that started this all. Yeah, I saved it and put it... Well in a safe place where I thought I'd always remember.

Okay, don't tell me that you've never done something like that. Seriously, who hasn't put something someplace and forgot where you put it. It's not like I thought I'd ever need it again. I mean I thought he was dead. Anyway, I've searched and search. I'll try again after we try to ambush the Thing and save lives.

Anyway, here's hoping that I live long enough to find it. And that it shows me that the human monster is really dead.

Jack

[Jack_Fisher]

So I finally found that piece of leather. Yeah, it was with my tax returns. Who would have thought that I would have put that there?

Anyway, I'm hoping that having the piece of leather won't show me anything. I don't need to focus on two things at the same time. I mean, focusing on a normal threat when the group isn't focused on the weird, that's one thing. Trying to stop a normal human who's a monster while fighting a Thing - that's another. If I get distracted now there might be innocent people might die. Of course if I don't deal with Monster, innocent people will die.

Yeah, I really hope that Monster is already dead.

Jack

[Jack_Fisher]

The 10th was spent waiting for the monster, and the 11th spent recovering from that all-nighter. I'll see about trying to tap into that piece of leather tonight, but I'm hoping that I don't get anything.

Jack

[Jack_Fisher]

So the Valentine sales are still going good, and I hope I dreamt an irrelevant dream last night. I dreamt about a stepfather using a belt on the bottom of his stepdaughter's jeans. Yeah, somehow I knew their relationship and the punishment was something about borrowing someone's vape, because in a Dream you just know things. And the person whose vape she borrowed? He made sure that she would get caught with it, knowing that if she was she would get a belting.

Yeah, not the nicest thing in the world, but a far cry from what Monster was doing. Here's hoping I don't Dream or See anything relevant.

Jack

[Jack_Fisher]

Yeah, no sign of Monster yet, but for it being the year 2020 there seems to be a lot of parental belting going on. But none of it is worse than what I saw before and social services wasn't interested back then, so I can't report it to anyone. Well, I can, but no one is going to take action about what I saw.

I'm also Seeing adults playing games. The weirdest so far? A woman in her mid 20s wearing a Girl Scout uniform from the 1970s (which looked more realistic than most cosplayers outfits I've seen) with a man in his mid 20s dressed like Scout Master. They were both wearing the right badges and so on. Anyway, it went like you would imagine.

Now I'm wondering what is worse: seeing the parental stuff or watching adults playing games. Both leave me feeling more than a little dirty.

Jack

[Jack_Fisher]

Whoa. Okay, I'm thinking about maybe stopping looking for Dreams and Visions on this topic. With more and more schools closing, people working from home, and a general rising stress level over the virus I'm picking up more "martial fun times" and more parental discussions with a belt.

Jack

[Jack_Fisher]

So this stuff had started up again.

Jack