a day in the life - unfinished

The day started out with the nightmares. Zora knew they would come, she expected them, but she tried to sleep anyway. Any time she would begin to slip off, that image would come back to the forefront of her mind – The image of her twin sister, laying prone across the floor, cut up, burned, with a hole in her chest and her legs nearly destroyed. And when that image flashed across her brain again, she jolted awake, chest heaving, crying.

And so it repeated, for hours. She cursed herself as she tried again and again to relax. But every time, it would come back. She wasn't going to be able to rest until noon like she had wanted at this rate. She'd helped Aidan clean out about three bottles of whiskey. Shouldn't she be dead to the world right now? It wasn't even like she had been left home alone to her own devices. She had stayed at the wolves' cabin, surrounded by her friends, where she knew she would be okay.

Maybe it was because she wasn't sure if Anya was okay. When she checked in before she left, and when she had texted earlier, she was nearly unresponsive. Sure she was safe, but being safe didn't mean much to her mental state after all that. Zora didn't want to lose her, in any way. Maybe it would be worse if... no, don't think that way. She had been up and talking after that, after she was brought in. She needed rest. All three of them were out of it, they would be fine.

She thought about what Din had suggested to her as they were driving to the cabin, and what she had requested Val help her with. A private party, of three. The more she thought about it, the more she ran it over in her head, the better an idea it became. A small set-up, at home, where they would absolutely be safe. Their own little Christmas party, to show that she loved them and wanted them to have a good time.

Then something occurred to the were-fox. Maybe she should get started on it now, since sleeping was going absolutely nowhere. She shrugged, sat up, and checked the time on her phone. About eight o'clock. So, six hours of absolutely no rest, she had been laying there. Well, she always was a fan of energy drinks, she supposed.

It was quiet, this early in the morning. Most everyone was still asleep in this cabin. Someone left the TV on quietly in the background. Usually that helped, but nightmares were something else. She began to wonder if Val was still up, it was so quiet, but some clattering from the kitchen soon answered her question. So she slid off the couch and entered.

The naked cupcake child, as she was called, was bouncing about the kitchen making, not cupcakes, but pancakes, this morning. She looked a bit of a mess, with batter caught in her frizzy blonde hair and trailing down the pink apron that was the only thing she was wearing. The slightly chubby ball of sunshine turned on her heel as she heard someone else enter the room.

“HI!”

“Morning, Val...” Zora yawned. Six hours of lying there. No sleep. Today was gonna be interesting. “Need some help? I like to think I make a mean pancake.”

Before she knew it, she had a spare apron of her own thrown over her head. She blinked stupidly as suddenly Valentina's beaming face was right up in hers.

“I take that as a yes. So... you know the thing I asked about last night?”

“I've been thinking about it all night it's gonna be so fun they're gonna love it!”

“Heh heh, that's the plan. I was thinking, though. Maybe, instead of going at noon, we should head out after breakfast? I mean I didn't exactly get much sleep, so-”

“THAT SOUNDS GREAT!!”

“Woah there, sugar. Now, I know you're excited, and we're gonna have a lot of fun today, but they had a super rough time last night. So we gotta keep the party quiet, alright? Calm music and not shouting and stuff. That way they can have a good time and feel better from what happened.”

“Ohhhh. Okay. I get it.” The other Garou slipped into an exaggerated whisper. “Like thiiiis?”

“Yeah! Exactly like that. And especially when we go back to my apartment. I don't know if they're there or not. If they're not, we can be as loud as we want till it's time for them to come home. If they are, though, you know vampires can wake up during the day if you're too loud. Just like regular people. So we gotta be real quiet if they're home. And especially if Midnight is there. She's blind, so she has real good hearing to make up for it. If she's there we gotta be like, stupid quiet.”

“Oh oh, you mean the ninja lady?”

“Oh, you know her already.”

“Yeah!! Mom and her talk a lot!”

Zora had to pause. She had forgotten for a moment that Val's mom was a Hunter. Of course her and Midnight talked, they had a group just like the wolves had a pack. Midnight told them about them a lot. “...Right. Well, she's dating my sister. I'll tell you more about that later. Anyway, let's get on these pancakes, huh? I bet the others are gonna love 'em when they wake up. We can make a game plan while we're eating.”

“Okay!!”

Working with the little were-tanuki was certainly an interesting experience. She moved around like a blur in comparison to Zora's slow pace, and she wondered how this kid was so energetic at eight in the goddamn morning. She appreciated it though, it was going to keep her awake, and that's what she needed right now.

While Valentina sung along to some song in her head, Zora was mostly quiet as they worked. There were a few moments, while they cooked, that she nearly tried to levitate the spatula, or a box of mix, out of habit, but stopped herself. Since she had started learning Thaumaturgy, she had been trying to apply it to her everyday life when she could get away with it, for practice. She had gotten pretty good by now at moving things that weren't very heavy, but anything higher than about a pound was like an impassable roadblock right now. She would have to keep practicing.

But she couldn't keep practicing today, not so early. She had learned the hard way the night they found Aidan that using her fancy vampire powers used blood just like if an actual vampire used it. When things had calmed down, and she sat down, she had felt dizzy and nauseated, and had felt a burning craving in herself for, of all things, more vampire blood. She had felt those before, sure, that was how this worked, but never quite like that night before. Usually, she 'fed' when it was convenient and not going out of the way for both of them, and that was that. When she expressed that to Anya, she was more than willing to accommodate, but it was still something she had to keep in mind. And especially now that her source of vitae was unavailable. She would have to conserve what she had for the day.

That was fine. She just needed to keep reminding herself to hold onto her energy. Just gotta do this the old-fashioned way. You've done that up till this point, she told herself, you can handle one day without telekinesis. Damn if those aren't the best-looking pancakes you've ever seen, she urged, and you made them without magic. You got this. Just believe in yourself.

As she sat back down on the couch with the finished pancakes, a mug of coffee and the kid, she stared down at her plate. She hoped they were okay. She wouldn't hear anything until tonight and she hoped she could handle that.

The vibrating of the couch from beside her snapped her out of her thoughts, and she glanced over. “You're excited.”

“So what are we gonna do first!”

“We're gonna eat breakfast and make a plan first.” Zora sipped at her coffee and tried to focus. “First thing's first. The apartment needs to be deep-cleaned. It's gotta be spotless for them.”

“But... but that sounds boring!”

“I tell you what though, we're gonna make it fun. You and me. It'll be a party of our own A pre-party.”

“Ohhhh. Okay!”

“Yeah. Okay, so then, we head out from the apartment, I think. I gotta stop off at work-”

“Awww, work??”

“...Well I mean, I work at the animal shelter. It's not like it's boring work. I get to play with puppies all day.”

“Oh. Oh that sounds fun.”

“It is! But sometimes I don't stay, I just pop in for a little while to do some things and run. You can come in and play with them while I work if you want.”

“Yay!”

“Anyway, after I do that, then we go shopping. We're gonna buy decorations, food and little presents for them. And after that-”

“But if they're vampires then they drink-”

“The food's for Midnight. You didn't let me finish! Then, we're stopping by the morgue. We're gonna have to be real careful to not let those three know what we're up to if they're still there. But we're gonna pick up blood bags from Dr. Wolfjob for them. I don't know if your sister's gonna be awake, but if she is, you can visit with her! And finally, we head back to the apartment, we set everything up, and we wait for them to get home so we can see their smiles. You got it?”

“YEAH!!” Val was nearly vibrating out of her seat.

“Attagirl. Now, if we run past sundown, I have a plan. I'm gonna call up the city wizard boss, and I'm gonna have her call a wizard meeting, and take them with. That'll keep them distracted long enough for us to finish. Now let's hurry up and finish breakfast so we can roll out.”

Zora was no stranger to being a big and fast eater, most werewolves were. But she swore up and down that she blinked and Val's plate was empty, while she had barely gotten started on hers. The kid could wait five more minutes for her to eat, she was feeling sluggish anyway. The exhaustion was setting in already.

“Right, I forgot a step.”

“Oh oh what is it!”

“I need to make a stop by the 7-11 on the way to the apartment. I need to refill my energy drink supply.”

“Oooooh. Can I get one?”

“...Gonna be honest with you kid, I'd say yes if I wasn't so certain Mr. Lunos would have my head if I let you have one. Sorry.”

“Awwww. Pleeeeaaaaase?”

“Maybe when we get to the shelter later we can ask him. How's that?”

“Okay!”

“Good girl.” A small, hidden part of Zora felt pretty satisfied by that. She had never been very good at pulling people's strings no matter how much she tried to learn from Anya. But in this case, she knew Val would probably forget by the time they actually got there, and for once she was able to make it happen. It was for the best, really. Val was enough of a ball of hyperactivity without obscene amounts of caffeine, sugar and taurine in her system.

She was slow in finishing her plate, and slower in getting up. As soon as it became readily apparent that she was getting ready to leave, Val was already at the door, and she sighed. “Kid, you need clothes.”

“Awww, whyyyyyyy?”

“Because we're gonna be shopping for party supplies and they don't let you buy things if you're not wearing a shirt. Or pants. Or shoes.”

“Fiiiine...” She watched Val sulk off into the back, and pulled on a spare set of pajamas she had taken to leaving at the cabin. Some of the other wolves knew how to shift and still keep their clothes, but Zora was not one of them, and so she tried to keep a spare outfit around. It wasn't shifting back and being naked that was a big deal to her, at all; her apartment tended to be something of a clothing-optional zone, and she liked to show off her tattoos. It was going back outside again that had really prompted this, since it was the middle of December and everything was freezing.

God, she hated the cold.


By the time Val had chosen a suitable, if bare-minimum outfit and bounced outside, Zora was already waiting by her motorcycle near the road a ways away from the cabin. She loved this thing, her sister had gotten it for her after winning a good sum of cash one time. It was about the only thing she felt comfortable driving, as well. She had ended up leaving it here last night, but that had turned out to be a good thing in the end.

Val started bouncing again at the very sight of the electric violet bike, with its deep red and black dragon airbrushes on either side. “Ooooh, ooh ooh ooh do I get to ride too?”

“You bet you do. Here's your helmet.”

The helmet in question was a shade of electric grape to match the bike, with dragon horns painted to either side. Val put it on without hesitation. “YAY!”

The pair hopped onto the motorcycle, and shot off. The feeling of the wind against her, even a sharp, cold wind such as this, was a feeling Zora always relished when she rode, and today was no different. It wasn't a long trip, but it was a nice one, and before they knew it they were pulling up in front of the apartment building in which she called home.