fandomtownies | Cabot & Assoc., Thursday, 8/04

Jack didn't want to be at work today. He'd spent the last few days fretting over the radio and exploring the island and mainland, exercising the "usual degree of caution and care" that he'd promised Karla.

This meant he didn't touch the crumbling gray cabins and, when a teal deer charged at him, he threw a rock and bolted.

He didn't even attempt to focus on the paid work he ought to have been doing; he assumed Ms. Cabot had a brain in her head and would understand why he wasn't. Instead, he sent out a quick email to the island mailing list --

To: Fandom-all
From: jpriest@cabotlaw.com
Subject: Current happenings

If anyone has the first idea what is going on, or wants to discuss what we don't know, please stop by the law office today. I can promise coffee and a lack of biting wildlife. - Jack

-- and then settled in with his computer, trying to make the damned Internet tell him something useful. So far, it wasn't being of much help.

[OOC: Totally open law office for unofficial meet-up and gnashing of teeth, yo.]

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"Kiss kiss," Karla said, peeking into Jack's office. Her eyes and smile were tired. "I came for the coffee. That offer's still good, right?"

"No possessed rabbits have invaded, so I think I can keep up with both halves," Jack said with a light, wan smile. "How are you? there was something about Warren on the radio."

Karla came inside and practically dropped into a chair. "He's sick," she said quietly. "He's got...whatever the Hell it is that everyone else has got."

It was wrong, but Karla actually felt better knowing a bunch of other people were sick with the same thing. That meant it couldn't be the incurable, ultimately-fatal virus that had Bobby so worried.

"I can't Heal it. Worse, Raven can't Heal it. It's connected to whatever's making the land sick, and I can't Heal that, either." Someone was a little cranky about both of those.

"Neither of the best healers I know can do anything," Jack repeated, dully, and closed his eyes. "I've never heard of anything like this. Plagues, but not ones that touch the land and animals."

A beat. "And I'm sorry about him. Can he be made comfortable, at least?"

"I left him resting in his room," Karla said, which was pretty much a verbal shrug. "He...he lost his wings, Jack. I don't think there's much comfort to be found."

But it wasn't the Legacy virus. Which meant there was hope. Karla was actually indebted to Bobby for telling her about it, because that meant she had something worse to compare it to.

"It's not just making everything sick, either," she said, letting her head rest against the back of the chair. "It's changing...mutating...both body and mind. It's unnatural, that's what it is. Nothing that changes that much should move so fast."

"His wings fell off?" Jack repeated. He tried to think of something light to say to cheer Karla up; there was nothing, and he was silent for a long moment.

Then: "Could a witch do this? An evil one, I mean."

"I...don't think so," Karla said after a moment of thought. "I mean, the amount of power needed to affect the land, the animals, and all the people...it would need to be massive. Anyone willing to blow that much power on us would need one Hell of a vendetta." Otherwise, why not use that power for something better, like...declaring herself Queen of the world or something?

"Has the island pissed off any super-powerful witches lately?"

It was sad that she meant that question sincerely.

"Not that anyone told me about, but I'm hardly the most complete source of information on the island these days," Jack said. He felt like he should have been paying more attention, but he'd been half distracted by his own worries and half lulled into a false sense of security. "Someone in your reserves might have a better idea."

He frowned, chewing at a thumbnail. "Is there anyone powerful on the island who seems like they're hiding something?"

Edited 2011-08-04 21:50 (UTC)

"We disbanded the Reserves for the summer," Karla admitted quietly. "With Tara having to go home to be with her mom and me and Raven running off to Glacia..."

All reasons that had seemed sound at the time, but had Karla kicking herself in the ass right now. "I might see if I can't call an emergency meeting anyway, just to find out."

As for powerful...Karla shook her head. "Not that I can tell? But I've barely been here these past few weeks and now it's like everything is buzzing in my head. It's annoying and makes it hard to concentrate."

"And the person who did it, if they're here, would have covered their tracks anyhow," Jack added, a bit glum. "It's frustrating. Usually you can at least tell something about why things are going wrong, but this is just mad. Try the meeting, though. Maybe someone else will have ideas."

"There's just the damn rock," Karla growled, slumping down in her chair. "It's the center of it all, but I haven't the slightest idea how or why."

"It was the oddest thing, but when I was out there I felt like I wanted to touch it," Jack admitted with a shudder. "I thought it was my imagination playing tricks."

"I felt that, too," Karla said. "When I was out in the Preserve today, trying to Heal the land. I kept failing and thought that maybe if I just got closer..."

It had probably been a good thing that crazy deer had leapt out at her.

"I just wanted to get closer. To see. To know.."

"I did too," Jack said. "I still don't know how I managed to resist. There's power there, even I can feel it."

He smiled wryly. "It would be easier if it were an evil witch. We can fight a person. I've no idea how to defeat a rock."

Karla's nose wrinkled. "That's where I keep stumbling," she said. "It's a big, squishy rock that's changing the very land under our feet. People have already sliced it up and poked at it and Darkness knows what else. What's left? Setting it on fire? And even if we beat it--" beat a rock, sure "--there's no telling if that'll fix anything!"

"And if we blow it up, we'd just have tons of squishy rock gravel," Jack agreed. "Unless someone is smarter than we are" -- and really, how likely was that? -- "they should just evacuate the island. Salt it, burn the earth, leave it for the teal deer."

"But what about the people who are already infected?" Karla asked softly.

Jack gave her a tight-lipped half-smile. "That's the flaw with the plan, isn't it?" he said. "I was just talking. We've already established I don't know what to do."

"If I had a clue I would share it," Karla said, draining her first cup of coffee and getting up to grab a second. "That's the problem. We're working with a real dearth of information."

Cabot & Assoc., Thursday, 8/04

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