Mrs Gordon went quickly to her husbands study. She swore if he was on that computer again... yes he was. Her initial annoyance was cast out quickly though as she observed him. He looked quite shaken and upset. Great, first Billy now her husband. Did she always have to be the strong one?
"Les? What's happened?"
"T-There was an accident at work," He said white as a sheet. "Tom's in the hospital. I... I have to go see what happened to it at sunset." He couldn't understand. Tom was a very competent engineer, yet the records are saying he made a grave error. Too much power was put in the system, with redundant power systems running all at once. How could someone be that stupid? All his personal money had just been sunk down the drain... how in the world was he going to explain this to his wife? The insurance might help recover some of it.. but it will still be a substantial loss.
Mrs Gordon bit her lip but decided it was time to talk about Billy. "Well- your daughter is having a few difficulties."
"What's wrong with Stacy?" He asked concerned.
"I mean- Billy," Mrs Gordon sighed exasperated. "Though Stacy is coping a lot better then Billy is. Now- I don't know what you might think about this, but... what if we did take her to get councilling?"
Les sighed. "Do you honestly think that will help?"
"Maybe... maybe not. But I don't know what else to try. She's so upset about what the sun did to her." She guessed she had every right to be upset... but... she had to move on at some point. She didn't want to belittle what happened to her son... but there was nothing physically wrong with her.
"You can't really get councilling for something like this," Leslie sighed.
"I beg to differ. I've found a lot of people on the internet. Some come well recommended."
Mr Gordon thought about it. He felt so sorry for his son. He was doing everything in his power to find some kind of solution. He felt a terrible guilt that as parents, they utterly failed to protect them from this strange light."Well, what about that Academy you said would make her happy? Why isn't that working?" He just.. couldn't let them spend even more money now!
"I don't know. She's had a falling out with her friends. I don't really know what she's thinking. If she's thinking as a nine year old girl, or a sixteen year old boy... maybe somewhere in between? I just don't know."
Leslie took off his glasses, and started to clean them on a handkerchief. He leaned onto a bookshelf, looking the picture of a man that had the entire weight of the world on his shoulders. "I'm sorry dear... I've been so... obsessed." He admitted. "Do you know why I work in this field?" he asked.
"Because it was what you wanted?" said Mrs Gordon.
"Well... yes..." He came over to her, and placed a hand on her pregnant belly. He smiled a bit, glad... but then he looked at his wife with a depressive look. "I don't believe in God... but I'm starting to wonder, if Karma is real," he said sadly.
"What do you mean?" Asked his wife. This was new... Her husband had always been a man of science and fact.
"I fear- my sins have passed onto my son in some way..." He confessed. "I've a secret I kept with me since I was a boy... perhaps it's a silly notion but..." he looked distantly.
"Tell me Les..." She couldn't think anything was that bad.
"Well. When I was a boy, my father and I went hunting. We shot at birds in the forests. I remember it being a lot of fun. I fired two shots... you want to have a guess what I hit? A squirrel. An exceptionally rare one at that." He bit hip lip a little embarrassed.
"That's... sad Les, but I don't think it has anything to do with Billy," she said shaking her head. "I think you know the dangers of looking for patterns where none exist."
Les shook his head. "Let me continue. I found her cub. A young one. I decided to raise it myself as a pet. My father told me not to, that it was a wild animal. How I wish I had listened to him." His wife patted his shoulder as he spoke. It calmed him some. "Anyway- to cut a long story short, I called him skipper. Playful little scamp that he was. I kept him safe, well fed, and happy. Then he grew up. You know what happens to wild animals when they grow up?"
"They become wild?" She asked very confused.
"It was slow at first. It bit around the pen I made for it... it chewed at things. It even bit my hand once, having never done that. Skipper started to attack everything. The environment I provided for it, had no release for the instincts deep inside. In the end it started to rip at it's own fur. I was so distraught I took it to the vet. The vet was quite... kind to me, despite my foolishness. He explained to me that these animals can't be kept as pets without-" he swallowed. "Well- let's just say, I don't want to put Billy through that."
Mrs Gordon looked quite shocked at this revelation. This was a story of a boy and his dog she guessed. It sounded terribly corny... but her husband did come from an interesting background. That's why she loved him. Also he had great instincts when it came to science. "What happened to skipper?"
He sighed. "The vet explained that Skipper was now older, and having heat cycles... it also had no way to survive in the wild. The only option we had was to remove its.. organs, to try and ease it's nature" he explained gently. "It didn't work... by then it was an out of control monster. It died of sheer stress."
"That's horrible... but you can't really apply that experience to Billy. She's not a wild animal. She's a person with a human mind. Your daughter."
"She has the same instincts. She's been collecting items in her bed. In a few more years, she's going to go through heat cycles and any problems she's having now, will seem tiny." He said this with a measured amount of concern. not fear exactly, Les was a learned man. But the image of his pet haunted him still. Mangy fur, biting itself... and him being unable to understand such a simple basic aspect about nature. He did everything he could to learn about the natural world after that.
"So... that's why you're so adamant on finding a cure." she said calmly.
Gordon looked to his wife wearily, and sat down on his desk. "That's why... I have to find a cure. He's my son. I wouldn't wish what happened on an animal, let alone him."
"Her."
"hm?" Gordon blinked.
"Her dear... You'll have to get used to that. I can see why you're doing this now... and why you are working as if this were a race against time. All this time, to you it has been. But... you're neglecting some very simple facts. First of all, we don't know for sure what will happen to our daughter. She might have heat cycles, she may not... She may hibernate, she might not.. we don't know. She's still our beautiful daughter," She explained stressing it to him.
"But-"
"And, if you do feel this might be an issue, we should prepare her for it. Not resign ourselves to it."
"Prepare her for it? I have no idea how. She's not ready to learn those things. The knowledge would be a burden to her at such a young age. Let her find what happiness she can, until someone finds a cure"
"And if this happens before a cure is found? What then?"
",,, I guess we'll have a new problem," concluded Les.
"It's a perfectly natural thing. Not a problem Les," She chided. "What about Stacy? Are you worried about his 'dinosaur' instincts? If you are that worried about Billy, surly you're worried Stacy is going to rampage and eat us."
"Ah- No... I'm not worried about that." Admitted Les. "Stacy seems able to reign in her instincts." A very fortunate thing... given how strong she- he was. Leslie had a huge problem with pronouns today. "I want our children to be happy... I failed them as a father," He said choking back some tears.
"Not yet," She said giving a kiss onto his lips.
Lilly sat on the sofa. She felt depressed still- though at least glad that Tetra visited her. She didn't want anyone around her at the time, and was surprised that the little one had found a way to sneak in and talk to her. On some level, Lilly knew she was being childish. She also knew she couldn't help it. At least the television had some nice cartoons on-
... when did she start watching cartoons?
Well... it calmed her. She allowed herself that respite as she thought carefully on how things got to this.
She wasn't sure she liked Artemis much. There... she admitted it. It seemed horrible to think that though, given the girl had only just been found and was family to Miss Violet, a woman who helped made her feel welcome to her new school. She liked Jenny though, and wanted to be her friend- maybe she could have been, if Artemis hadn't...
... been a better friend?
She had to face up to that. Tetra said she didn't want Lilly to get into trouble... but then, Artemis knew straight away. It wasn't 'betrayal' exactly, she reminded herself. It was just that Jenny trusted Artemis more with that secret, because Artemis had power of her own. (The moon! She moved the moon!) Yet- she wouldn't trust Lilly. Or was that Tetra's doing as well? She didn't know. Even if they didn't have the power to change her back... they could still use that magic to find other magic maybe? But... no, they wouldn't. That wasn't the purpose behind her magic, apparently.
The truth was, Lilly had nothing to offer such a group. The entire reason Stacy and her family insisted she go out and socialise with people her own age was to feel better about herself- to see that there were others living lives in the same way she was. Instead she had ended up with people that were stronger- far far stronger, then... that wolf who picked her up like a rag doll. What was she going to be in this group? The mascot? It wasn't their fault that they had such better transformations then she did. Lilly ended up with the short end of the stick that's all.
Lilly dug herself into the corner of the sofa scratching a bit of the cloth. She was starting to wish she had never found this out. Her friend was fighting monsters, and all she could do was... look cute? (or ugly, depending on perspective.) Her parents probably wouldn't let her be friends with Jenny if they found out the truth anyway. Not that she would tell anyone... what good would telling anyone do? Nobody would believe her anyway.
... And Jenny may not want to be friends with her, because she was a weakling. Her mother did say she would give her a chance in this school, to see if they could be friends. She had been so hopeful. Could she be friends with a magic girl, despite being... nothing? This was exactly like the gangs she tried to join all over again. The one thing she was glad to leave behind from her old life, came back in an entirely different way- and perhaps a worse way.
The lonely child got back to watching her cartoons. Maybe if she talked to her big brother some when he got back from school.
Tetra, as diminutive as she was, made good time to get back to Muriel's house. She felt she had messed up a little in this. She also sensed... probably a little more concerning, that Jenny's power had taken a significant knock. A magic girl would always have a core power, but that power was enhanced by positive emotions. Happiness, joy... friends and good deeds. It must mean that Jenny felt quite bad about things now, and she didn't really know how to fix that. The good deed she did with Billy might be undone in the end. Though there could be others-
The cat girl stopped that trail of thought.
Muriel was right, she couldn't tell Jenny this aspect of her power. Then she really would be just using the friends she made. It shouldn't be like that... it can't be like that.
She had underestimated just how complicated these things can be. At least Lilly seemed to understand they didn't mean to exclude her. She just... couldn't do the things Jenny did. That's all. Honestly, who would even want to?
This was just a mess.
