Wolf or Dare: The Impossible Life Of Rachel 'Cat'
With just a handful of gestures, Glass Marie was able to make it so none of the Pride or
Pack would wonder where five of their cubs and three of their adults were. They were not
'forgotten' per-say, they simply now existed out of context. This would insure the story
could be completed without further complication, additions, or interruptions. With a
handful of other gestures, her audience stopped wondering about their Packmates
wondering where they were, or thinking about how they weren't tired or hungry in spite of
the story now running well over twenty-four hours.
"Marie must have been relieved to finally being sailing underway," Abbey said.
Glass Marie said, "She thought of it almost as 'too little too soon' by now it was already
November. And Marie knew that the witches had to fall before the end of next year or ...
she didn't know what precisely, it was like cause and effect itself went mad after that
fateful time in her vision almost surrounding the witches. And that 'hole' was getting
bigger the longer they took."
"So what WERE the wicked witches ultimately planning?" Maddex asked.
"As said before, the mad children were only stage one. After the disaster with the giant
rune the witches chose another method. Every mad child would in fact become effectively
their familiars, channeling all that power through them and each other almost in a
feedback loop. They would then be able to warp all of Glendale into whatever shape they
wanted. And after Glendale was 'devoured' everyone becoming a part of their magic, a
cascade effect to turn all of the colony, then all of the east coast, then the continent, then
the landmass, then the world into the ideal world that now was justified as themselves
creating it for their Joella.
"The witches would get the ball rolling on this scheme 1689 New Years Day, and it would
have reached the point it would have been impossible for ANYONE ANYWHERE to stop on
New Years Eve that same year. However, it wasn't a simple black and white, 'everything
okay, to everything a twisted wonderland of illogic and chaos.' This would be gradual.
This is one of the reasons that Gomorrah didn't replace Solome/Lucky. She had no need to
as the mad children began to act as her medium to channel the infinite Chaos. While the
first recorded orphanage in the colonies wasn't until decades later, the witches by the end
of January had established what could for all appearance appear to be one. As an adult
woman, Joella would become the owner and manager of the place (barely tolerated since
motherhood -was- a woman's job after all). The witches of course by this began to realize
how many people were leaving Glendale to escape the 'Wandering Demons.' But they
needed the population big enough for their scheme to work. This meant anyone who
happened to be just traveling through Glendale had a chance of being turned into a little
boy or girl depending on the witches' whims and taken in to their 'orphanage'; or the
'lucky' ones who were in groups were turned into families whose one thought was settling
in Glendale. Few walked into Glendale walked out that year.
"Naturally this GREATLY aggravated the puritans seeing those who weren't part of their
faith settling down in a town that had been means to be THEIR home and THEIR bastion to
their beliefs and faith. But the witches were able to keep their unwitting stock protected.
Yes, -protected- them. Like a farmer saves the pig he's going to slaughter in the morning
from wolves."
++++++++++++
1688 November
Father Draco out of curiosity had to ask, "So have you thought of a new name yet? As I
recall, Gargoyles always call themselves what they are assigned to guard."
The lion/dragon gargoyle said, "You recall correctly. Technically right now my name would
be Marie, but I sense she would not approve of such things."
"You care weather she approves or not?"
"I'd rather not add to her stresses. And once your farce of a mission begins in the New
World, I'll have to take a new name anyway to accommodate the place I will be protecting."
Father Draco didn't like his mission being called a 'farce' but held his tongue, knowing this
mission wouldn't even exist if Marie Cruz did not need to hunt down and assassinate a
coven of witches who only Marie had any poof of existing and that was through DREAMS.
Adam in spite of being the youngest was also the most curious if not the one who spoke
the most (that honor belonged to Joshua). He had managed to get onto Captain Wesley's
ship -twice- touching everything he laid his hands on not making nearly enough noise to
be noticed by sailors intent on their task. It helped that Adam was smaller than a human
child would be his own age.
When Lucky Star saw her youngest was not with her kitten playing with the Grotesque, he
called out to him. He finally broke his silence and called out to her.
"I'll get him." Said Rachel, and the pregnant passionate red felman then proceeded to leap,
swing, and in all of thirty seconds retrieve the wandering child who was stunned and
excited by Rachel's acrobatics. The children also noticed and many people saw this was
were momentary stunned by this woman's sudden unrehearsed act of agility.
Marie was also startled. That woman had experience. Marie's own curiosity was perked.
Lilly asked, "Was she from the circus?"
Glass Marie shook her head, "The incarnation of the circus as you know it with acrobats
wouldn't exist for over fifty years but nice guess though. Naturally, Marie Cruz had to ask
Rachel about her talents. Rachel insisted they, and her family and Marie's friends discuss
somewhere where they could sit down."
"--so after I was captain of the pirate ship Brünnhilde for a year and a half I retired from
raiding spanish ships--"
"--the human introduced himself as Baron named Münchhausen and said he had come
from the future--"
"--and after the baron brokered peace between the lupman and leoman leaders by
defeating the two of them in a wresting match at the same time--"
"--so I had to decline when the baron took his trip to the moon--"
"Yes. I did destroy it. The world isn't ready for The Philopher's Stone."
"--And after I was the twenty-first wife of the Shiek for three days before he was run over
by an rampaging elephant--"
"--And so I had to sadly decline the African savages' request to become their new queen,
but I did appoint the man who had helped me fend off the rival tribe and their slaver allies
as their new king--"
"--the Dalai Lama thanked me for my advice on the subject--"
"--So for saving him from the ninja assassin the emperor of Japan chose graciously NOT
to have me executed for trespassing..."
"--people couldn't help but stare as I rode Horde Queen Tiamat XXXVII on her back
straight through the front gates--"
"--I still have the scars under my hair from nearly being scalped by some angry natives--"
"And that was where I met Dillon, but actually as it turned out we had met three times
before, twice as children and a chance meeting a year before that, but that was the
meeting that actually mattered because--"
"As it turned out he had chased me all the way across two oceans..."
"So no one knew I had stopped the alchemist's scheme to turn all felman in the world
beige. A couple months later was when Dillion finally proposed after I helped settle
Merlin's ghost to rest."
Maddex's two head said together, "So ... how much of what she said was true, how much of
that was exaggeration, and how much was DIME-STORE BALONEY?"
Glass Marie looked at a total loss herself, "Even -I- don't know!"