The next day dawned behind a haze of clouds, for which I was incredibly grateful. I woke groggily and stumbled out of the tent to find Mariko eating some cereal on my ... oops.. our... cooler. She smiled broadly at me, and quipped "Good Afternoon, sleepyhead."
"It's afternoon?" I asked, confused, and wandered over to my diminishing stash of plasma packs. I didn't want to go find "breakfast" in the town square, and I wasn't about to ask Mariko... that's not why I married her, and it seemed extremely presumptuous of me to assume she would be okay with being "breakfast".
By the time we were done with breakfast, rain had moved in to go with the clouds, and Mari pulled out an umbrella wryly, and made a quick call to Windenburg's Camping Supply store, and ordered a delivery of new chairs so we could sit by the fire again.
I pulled out my oil and tried painting, but before long, it was obvious the rain was only going to get worse, and that it had settled in for the rest of the evening. Grabbing Mari's hand with a smile, I pulled her along after me.
After a knock on Sonia's door (which she answered promptly with a smile), we were invited in out of the rain with a happy greeting.
Sonia wrapped me in a hug, and I noticed that Prissy had grown up to be a beautiful adult cat over her shoulder. Mari took a nervous seat on the couch, and as soon as Sonia stopped talking for a moment, I introduced the two. Sonia was thrilled to find I had found my forever someone, and she quickly started getting to know Mari.
Before long, the two were fast friends, and I had decided that there was no way I was going to get a word in edgewise... so I meditated for a while, bemused by the fact that concentrating on resting caused me to float in the air. Clearly magic was a thing.. and I was just going to get used to it.
Through my meditation, I heard Mari and Sonia chatting about my housing difficulties, and after Mari mentioned that I had been denied for building permits, Sonia focused in on the problem. I had shown the letter from Geoffrey Landgraab to Mari, and she mentioned his name off-handedly, only to have Sonia completely lose her mind.
"You let that petty man tell you that you can't build on your very own land??" she raged. "No, Dušan, Geoffrey isn't even ON the town council! He may have owned the land before you, but that doesn't mean he gets to stick his nose in where it doesn't belong. He's got more money than sense, it seems. You need to appeal that decision immediately. I looked at your building plans... everything was there, it was all in order, they have no business telling you that you can't start building!" Sonia's voice pulled me out of my meditation, and she brought me over to her ancient computer, which was - surprisingly - even connected to the internet.
Sonia helped me find the website to appeal the decision, and I finished filling out the paperwork with her help. She was still filled with righteous anger, however, so filling out the papers took longer than expected while trying to follow her rants as I worked.
As I finished up, and submitted the paperwork for the second time, I could hear Mari giggle behind me. Curiously, I turned to see her happily playing with Prissy. Smiling, I watched for a moment... until she noticed my gaze.
"Dušan, honey, I believe in you. I truly think you need to confront that man. He has no business messing with our happiness. Our FUTURE!"
Glancing outside to see the sun had come back out, and at my watch to see there was plenty of time left in the evening, I turned to ask Sonia where I could find Geoffrey Landgraab.
"At his mansion in Oasis Springs, of course." Sonia replied saucily. "I can take you there.."
I interrupted, and suggested Mari stay with Prissy (who seemed to be get along famously), and asked Sonia to take me to the Landgraabs' home posthaste.
Sonia chatted easily while we drove, but I didn't participate. I honestly was far too worried about the confrontation ahead of me. I had never been good about confrontations, and - even though I knew this was necessary - I was honestly concerned about this one. The last confrontation hadn't turned out so well for me, and I was still unsure about my Vampire powers and how different moods might affect them. I tried to concentrate on the scenery we passed as we drove, but I'm afraid I saw very little of the drive. And I can only hope Sonia wasn't offended that I had no idea what on earth she had been babbling about.
Looking forward to the confrontation