Chapter Eight - Early to Bed; Early to Rise

The Best Laid Plans O'Mice and Men

Chapter Eight - "Early to Bed; Early to Rise"

The next morning was back up and "at 'em"; the viewpoint on the town having changed. Since they were there for the long haul, they looked at integrating themselves into the town activities as well as military personnel were able to. That usually meant having to deal with daily chores and other things of necessity. It also meant that they had to try to get along with the townsfolk as best they could. It was no longer an adversarial situation. They were going to do what it took to follow the Constitution and protect the rights of the townspeople.

Meg was back down at the potion table trying to create some more potions that could possibly give them an advantage. They hadn't been in contact with Admiral Pointer since the last conversatoin and the revelation of the position of the townsfolk had not been disseminated to the Pentagon. They knew however if they didn't make contact with Command Authority soon, they would be looked for and they didn't know what they could do to prevent a bloodbath if the military came looking. Six would not be able to fight back against a full-scale Marine Infantry Division along with its assembled firepower, including Marine Air Support.

Vampires, Werewolves, Witches, Fairies; any occult or not, no matter how fast, how strong, how lethal - were absolutely no match for the combined firepower of a US military offensive. They wouldn't be up against one soldier to one occult, they'd be put up against a rain of molten lead and high-explosives that would rip the occults' offensive to shreds.

Tosh had stated his position and his friends believed in him. Tosh had the tactical knowledge to be able to mount a possible defence of the town against the combined military offensive, should it come down to that. Highly familiar with tactics (one didn't just study naval combat tactics in War College) you learned how all the services combined to work together to win a war and that would be what they would be facing should the military choose to eliminate the town instead of sitting down at the negotiating table.

Kimber and Mac decided that they were going to work on their martial arts so that they would have a physical upper-hand should they be required to utilize thir hand-to-hand knowledge. Tosh was a black belt in both Kung Fu and MCMAP (Marine Corps Martial Arts Program) and thus was able to keep Mac current to USMC standards. And when they sparred, he was unrelenting. There was no letting up in a real life hand-to-hand combat situation; you walked away when the other person was incapacitated and no longer moving (preferably not breathing either) crumpled on the ground.

And everyone did their part in keeping themselves in shape. Tosh and Harm went at the pull-up bars and Phil pumped iron in order to keep fit. Of course, Phil, being insane, just had to use heavy clothing in order to cut more weight and make himself more lean and mean, by wearing winter clothes while working out. The rest of them wondered if Phil was going to pass out.

Stockpiling rations was also important. As far as they knew, until they got back to Pointer, their whole town was under siege. So Haruo and the rest of the ad hoc military family headed out to the grocery store in order to stock up, meats as well as vegetables. They were going to need it.

Meanwhile the only two who were relaxed were Atlas (the dog) and Charlie (the cat). Yeah, relaxed was another term for curled up showing ones' happy bits to all and sundry. Just what everyone wanted to see. But of course, both Atlas and Charlie were pulling their own weight. They kept the household running, with Atlas bringing in gemstones of varying but highly expensive values (when cut) and Charlie brought in insects, birds, lizards, snakes and other animals that could potentially be sold for a decent return, including those confounded Malayan Kraits. The sooner they were able to get those venomous buggers into zoo hands, the happier the populace would be.

And considering that they didn't have to worry about the UCMJ any more, Meg and Tosh took every advantage that they could; besides it was certainly a lot more comfortable sleeping together than in a cold bed all alone. After all, they say skin-to-skin is the best way for warming someone up who is hypothermic. It could be said: that certainly a stretch in this case.

In the morning after eating breakfast, Harm washed the dishes thoroughly. Dishwashing at the best of times is an onerous task. What most people wouldn't give in order to just be able to rinse things and shove it in the dishwasher, but the military crew didn't have such luxuries. They had to wash things by hand and well, Harm drew the short-straw this time around. As Mac pointed out, drawing straws more often than not, would favor the person holding the straws, as they would know which was the long one; which was the short one. Well, for Harm it didn't matter, he was the one who got stuck doing it.

...then he headed off to the elixir shop to look for more cure elixir, annoy the bees and this time, watch an iguana sitting on the ground perusing the shoe leather covered feet in front of it, wondering what they were.

Phil was back over at the dumpster by the grocery store. Oh, what fun. Reconstituted food waste from the diner, coupled with out of date, rotting produce from the grocery store combined to make a scent that would cause a maggot to throw up. And Phil got to dunk himself headfirst in that odiferous bin. That really made his day and the consequent swearing and cuss words that came out of his mouth would make any religious person cross themselves, offer up a prayer of penitance just by hearing it. If they had kids with them, they would end up hastily walking the other way; all the while making it a moral lesson to not use foul language in public where other children could hear and possibly get their aural canals scoured. Bottle brushes don't work to well on one's ear canals; just a public service announcement.

Harm was now back from the elixir store and was in the process of learning some alchemy. If they were able to get their magical elixirs up to a high-standard, they could generate some offense with some of the elixirs. Has anyone ever tried to shoot while being buzzed by angry bees? That would probably affect anyone's concentration. As would an incessant need to eliminate. There were probably others in there as well, but those were the two that Harm had found so far.

Since the honey replenished every sixty minutes, Mac headed down to the elixir shop to see what was available and to try her hand at getting some honey. Unlike most beekeepers, who covered themselves from head-to-toe, it appeared that she only opted to cover her face which left a good deal of area that the annoyed bees (having been annoyed twice that day; first by Harm and then by her) could attack...and she certainly got herself stung. That would smart for twenty-four hours.

Tosh decided that they would end up wearing camo on full moons and for the next full moon, they would do so. So the Type I work uniform was pulled out of mothballs and worn at the home (since it was technically their military installation) and they wore it around the home along with their rifles in easy access. The Navy Type I uniform was highly unpopular as it didn't camouflage anyone...unless they fell overboard off a boat...and frankly that was the last place you'd want to be camouflaged if that situation happened.

Phil, Harm and Tosh spent some time in the alchemy room trying to up their knowledge in alchemy. And Tosh utilized that moment to take a Young Again potion. They would all need to be at their strongest, and most youthful in order to stand a chance if the military staged an all out assault on their position.

As Tosh was an adult enroute to being an elder, being able to go right back to the beginning of young adult was an invigorating feeling. It felt like he could quite possibly wrestle a bear and win, although he wasn't about to try that, but there wree other things that he could do and Meg would be right there with him taking her own potion and the two of them would have their whole lives together.

And take her potion she did...in their bedroom. Which technically put their life ages pretty much on par with each other when the transformation took place.

...and of course that prompted a steamy make-out session in the shower. Hey, why not kill two birds with one stone and get satisfyingly CLEAN at the same time?