in which Hurricane Gail Storm (Deva) blows into town.....

"Good thing your person had Magic Erasers...." JT was saying. "Sorry about that."

"It's not the first time something self-destructed in that microwave," I said. "You're sweet to clean it up, though."

"Well, it was my fault," he said.

"Not really. You were just following instructions," Scaramouche pointed out.

"Like everyone involved in every conspiracy ever." He gave her a funny look.

"Ah yes. But smuggling plans for a nuclear bomb in your bra isn't on the same level as microwaving a pizza roll for a minute and a half on high," she pointed out.

"Until it detonates, that is," he said.

We were interrupted by a tiny little lightning bolt and an itty-bitty crack of thunder.

"Another supercell?" I looked around. "Don't let it rain on the floor. I don't think it's waterproofed."

"There's not enough humidity in here for it to rain. I'm just trying to...hey, come back here!"





"Got it!" Devon caught the wayward wannabe supercell.

"You went back to brunette," Scaramouche said.

"Yeah. A fortune teller told Rafael a dark woman would be coming into his life," she said. "He didn't believe her, but I didn't want to take any chances."

"Bad storm! You know better than that! Now sit!" I've heard people yell at storms before - heck, I've heard Maddy call them things I'm not supposed to repeat here - but I've never seen a storm do as it was told before. Leave it to Tempest.

"How do you get them to do that?" I don't think Devon ever entertained the idea of a pet thunderstorm, either.

"Mon amis!"

"Devon, mon soeur! I missed you, cherie!"

"Tempest, mon ami!"

"And you, cherie! Mon courageux petit wind deva. Didn't I tell you that you were more than they are, cherie?"

"I didn't know there were others like you," Zephyr said.

"Everyone, this is Gail, Devon's sister. She and Devon were the two storm devas I met after I left Oklahoma. She's the one who worked with Tempest to turn the tornado away from that little town."

"I couldn't have without Tempest and Hawthorne," Gail said.

"I was still a linden tree deva at the time," Devon said.

"One of their storms had taken the life of the tree I'd warded for almost fifty human years," Gail explained. "I was furious. But I decided I'd learn to work the storms myself, instead of waiting to be a victim of another one. That I wouldn't be like them. I'd learn to bring the rains without bringing destruction along with them."

"Then they sent a tornado right at us again," Devon said.

"Both my sister's tree and a little town called Bon Coeur were in its path," Gail said. "But Tempest and Hawthorne were also following them and trying to turn it. We didn't have a wind deva to help us, so we had to try to turn it. And let me tell you, mon amis, that was not easy. I'd been a storm deva long enough to have come face-to-face with a couple of hurricanes, but this thing - mon Dieu."

"It was what humans would call an EF-5," Tempest added. "We turned it mostly away from the town, but part of the business district, the elementary school and the church were all lost."

"But only buildings, ami. No lives. Only what could be replaced," Gail added.

"When the tree I warded reached its natural end, I decided I'd join my sister," Devon said. "Hey, is Rue coming up here?"

"Soon," Gail said. "Rue is our wind deva."

"I asked them to introduce me to Zephyr," Tempest said. "They had Rue by then. I needed someone to work with. Someone good."

"We look out for one another," Gail said. "Which is why we're here...."










(Gail is a tan Pukifee Vanilla. She's named for musician Gail Ann Dorsey and based on a character from my fanfiction days whose name was Tatiana - Tianna for short. And I totally made up the town of Bon Coeur, LA.)

In which - (Re)introducing JT

Hi. And "meow" and all that stuff.

I'm JT.












You may remember me from Halloween 2013. I'm the - unquiet spirit, as Caroline calls me - who that West dude trapped in one of those spirit bottle things. Not pleasant. I managed to break out of the stupid thing and took over the body of a doll Caroline's person was working on. That was okay, but you know, there was stll the chance I could end up back in a spirit bottle. So I had to learn how to take a form on my own. I could have gone back to human, I guess, but I like the idea of being a black cat. So here I am.

Here's a little more of my story. So yeah, basically, I used to be human, but now I'm - well, whatever I am. It's not bad. I mean, I'm still around and all. And I still get to hang around with a bunch of my friends. Some of them are unquiet spirits like me and some are dolls - real ones, I mean - and some are devas like Scaramouche. I used to know her back when in the city. She hung out with the band I was in at the time. I think we were the first humans she made friends with. I'm not sure we were really the best choice, but she liked us, for whatever reason. And she was actually glad to see me.

I'm not afraid of that West guy coming back now - although I really do think he will at some point. He can't get me. I'm afraid he might be able to get to some of my friends - the unquiet spirits, that is - but if he does, I think we can rescue them. If Scaramouche can't, then her friend Devon's boyfriend can. Rafael himself is an unquiet spirit like me, from what I can figure out. I think he used to be some kind of Vodou priest - is that the right term? - from what Devon said. Anyway, he's from New Orleans, the scene of my last stand, just like Devon and her sister Gail and this other friend of theirs - I can't remember if Scaramouche called her Rue or Rhea.

So anyway, this is me.

And no, I have absolutely no desire to chase a stupid laser pointer. So don't even try that red dot thing with me. I'm not that kind of cat.















(JT is a Camilla Dynasty Wong in black. I think a black cat makes a pretty cool shell for an unquiet spirit.)