Xander's Cross, Oregon: a small town ringed with forbidding mountains and misty forest. The sky may be gray, but the townspeople are welcoming to people of all kinds...and things that are not quite human as well. Here the native shifters, aliens, werewolves, and witches live in peace. They have yet to find out the new business owners encroaching on the land are also vampires.
The peace has been broken by murder, however, and things in Xander's Cross are about to become quite a bit darker.
Welcome to your new home.
is it better to out-monster the monster or to be quietly devoured?
August 20, 2020
The mayor, Rowan Starkwood, was found dead less than a mile from his home. Rumors say his body was mutilated, but the state of the body has not yet been released to the public.
Post by Brenda Anderson on Oct 4, 2020 23:01:15 GMT -5
It was a typical routine doctor visit for a one Mrs. Brenda Anderson, and the whole clinic would know when she arrived because the woman was loud, and her laugh was highly contagious. She was in a better mood then normal as she was brought back to the exam room. Nurse Emilia getting her set up with the usual temperature check, blood pressure, all that good stuff before leaving her gown to change into so they could look to see how her irregular heartbeat and coronary heart disease was doing. It'd been several months since she'd come in feeling that shortness of breath and tightness in her chest before they'd ran some test and found the culprit. It'd been a shock for sure, but if she took care of herself it was manageable. And under Ralf's ever-persistent hovering and nagging, Brenda had been doing alright. The only thing though...she was getting slowly worse. She could see it on the monitor, practically hearing it over the monitor speakers as her heart was skipping those beats. She was thinking positively though, and she knew she was in good capable hands. They'd caught it early according to doctor Hunt, which put Brenda in a far better place then she could be. The woman tended to be a bit dramatic...
She hadn't bothered to tell any of her children yet about her health problems. Though she knew Tucker was awfully suspicious with how she went around the store and hearing her husband talk to her, making sure she was doing easy things. He was adamant about no stress, and if her hunch was right, she knew he was worried about Paige being home. Worried their wild daughter would be bad for Brenda, but in her eyes, it was the complete opposite. Thus her better than normal mood. All her pups were home. They were in reach, they were huggable and kissable whenever she wanted to see one of their faces, and she had her only daughter back. She wasn't away in some war zone. The second to last time Brenda had come into the clinic had been in the back of an ambulance when they'd received the call that Paige had been shot. The ride was just a precaution as she'd collapsed and had chest pain, but after a night of observation had been sent home. The military officer hadn't given them many details other than that she'd coded but they were able to bring her back and that she'd needed reconstructive surgery on her collarbone. She'd be kept at the facility for a bit and then get an injury discharge. They had thought she'd be able to come home as soon as she was good for travel, but that hadn't been the case. Three months. She'd been in the hospital three months when she could have recovered at home, and Brenda still didn't know why. It didn't matter anymore though. Paige was home, and safe, and Brenda could spend some much needed time with her now that she was back and staying at home. She'd be able to work some magic hopefully and begin to plant seeds in getting that girl to settle. Brenda wasn't getting any older, and only had one grandchild. One she spoiled immensely but she also wanted more...
She'd changed into her gown, folding up her top and leaving her purse and jewelry on one of the spare chairs while she sat on the exam table. She knew the drill. She could hear faint voices throughout the clinic, hearing the docs and nurses, the patients. Her hearing was stronger than most humans as was her sense of smell, and she could hear Dr. Hunt coming before she even saw him. She already had that smile on her face as he knocked before he entered. "Caaaaaaaal, your looking handsome as ever, how are you doing Sugar Plum?"
Cal didn't know why he hadn't put two and two together before, but he had actually been seeing Paige's own mother as a patient for awhile now. It didn't hit him until that morning when the woman's file was in his hands and he spotted her last name. This really was a small town, and he wondered if she was going to nag him about a pack too, just like her daughter did.
He really hoped that wasn't the case. There were more pressing matters to worry about, such as the woman's health.
Knuckled rapped against the door before he slowly opened it, stepping inside to see Mrs. Anderson's beaming and welcoming smile. It always garnered one of his own, and he shut the door behind him before setting her file on the counter. "Same as always, Brenda," he answered her, washing his hands thoroughly in the sink. "The question is, how are you doing?" He glanced over his shoulder at her.
Turning, he dried his hands as he made his way over. "Your recent blood work still shows fairly elevated levels of CRP, which is to be expected...but we discussed trying to bring them down a bit last time, didn't we?" The doc wasn't necessarily scolding her, but, in a very light and polite way he was. "I know with what we are, food is a challenge...but you really need to start considering eating a lot better. Light exercising, replenishing your electrolytes."
last edited Nov 6, 2020 11:12:12 GMT -5 by Cal Hunt
Post by Brenda Anderson on Dec 15, 2020 2:31:35 GMT -5
Brenda's smile only went wider when she saw Doctor Hunts smile. The man certainly had a charming grin. If only she'd been younger and didn't have her Ralfie.... Both Doc's were lookers, and from what she'd found snooping around, they were both single. Good boys too, especially that Dr. Carson. Now that was a boy you brought home to Mama. How he wasn't married with a brood of his own amazed her. Same with Cal, even if he had more of a bad boy vibe about him. Brenda could only snoop so much however, and there was only so much meddling she could do. When she wasn't meddling with her children's love lives, she certainly tried to do it everyone else. Even if Ralf told her she was going to end up in a pickle one day.
At least it would give her some excitement.
"Is Blake feeding you enough? Do you need a casserole?" She asked. Her usual question. She'd over heard the two docs one day arguing about was going to be for dinner one night and since then, Brenda was always asking if they were eating enough and needed a casserole. "I'm doing fantastic, my baby is hoooome." She practically sighed in relief, her smile remaining. A load of stress had been taken off her soldiers once she'd actually seen eyes on Paige. They hadn't been told much about her injury save for what they needed to know, like her being shot, but all Brenda cared about was seeing her alive. Walking, talking, her Paigey was home. "All my pups are in driving distance now, it's put my worried mother heart at ease." She went on say. She looked at Cal curiously then, tilting her head slightly as she narrowed her hazel blue eyes at him. "You've probably already seen her." She said curiously. From what she knew, Cal saw all the ones of their kind considering Blake was human. She eyed him a bit more, knowing he couldn't tell her exactly how well Paige's appointment went, but she couldn't help that curiosity poking at her.
At his light scolding, she couldn't help but huff. "Tell that to my husband, he's treating me like fine china, and won't let me do anything. You should send me home with a doctors note for Ralf." She chuckled. She loved the stubborn man, but treating her like she would break at any moment didn't help her. "I've been trying do better with the eating." She pointed out. They needed protein, but too much of it was going to clog her arteries and not put her in a good place. A werewolf with heart problems was certainly tricky to deal with and find that magic in between.
Cal often wondered the same, why Blake wasn't already married. Well, he had a very good idea as to why, but he wished his friend would have found the right woman by now who could mend him.
Funny how that wasn't something he thought possible for himself.
"If it'll keep you occupied, up and on your feet, I'll take a million casseroles," he told her. The doc didn't entirely mean it, but he also wouldn't turn food down from anyone, if he was being honest. But maybe Brenda would dance around the kitchen for a bit, give her that exercise she needed.
'I'm doing fantastic, my baby is hoooome.' Right, Paige. He didn't know why he kept forgetting, or perhaps he was forcing himself not to think about it? Cal didn't quite know. But it was hard not to keep smiling at seeing how happy the woman was. Being happy relieved stress, and Brenda certainly didn't need any extra stress right now.
Then...there it was. 'You've probably already seen her.' Daring to look the curious woman dead in the eye, he nodded, "Yeah, I have." He could just sense how much Brenda wanted to ask about her daughter's wellbeing, and considering Paige was a grown woman and he couldn't share details about a patient, he couldn't tell her anything. Mother or not. The snarkiness of his grin probably made that clear.
With the stethoscope, he was listening to her heart, even as she was rambling on. He really didn't need to concentrate terribly much to hear how the woman's heart erratically beat, but it didn't seem to be much different than last time. It was both a good and bad thing. He pulled the pen from behind his ear to make a quick note in her record. "You tell him what I said, if I need to speak to him after...then I will," he countered gently, smirking in mild amusement. Cal could understand Ralf's worry, but Brenda wasn't helpless. She just couldn't totally strain herself and had to watch what she ate. Right now, it was all they could do.
"Alright, well...continue to eat better, then." Turning, he leaned back against the counter as he folded his arms across his chest after the pen was, as always, placed behind his ear. "Go for walks. You don't need to be hiking or anything crazy-" The doc paused, a look of amusement flashing in those dark eyes. Paige would probably hate him for saying this. "Take your daughter with you, because you both could use it. She should be taking it a little easy, meaning...no running or skateboarding places." He fixed the mother wolf with a look as if to clarify he probably shouldn't be sharing even that bit of information. "She's mending, though, Brenda. I promise. She just needs to take it easy for a bit longer." So, he didn't divulge any major details, so he figured he was safe.
"But, in all honesty...how are you feeling?" He wasn't asking emotionally, but physically. Did she feel worse, any better, the same?
Post by Brenda Anderson on Jul 14, 2021 12:52:22 GMT -5
Oooooh Doctor Hunt, you shouldn’t have said that… Brenda thought. The doc unknowingly was going eat out of the palm of her hand agreeing to take her casseroles, and with Paige now home, the mother wolf could really do some plotting. It was a small town, and tracking down the Doc’s address wouldn’t be difficult at all. What would be difficult is convincing Paige to deliver the casserole for her.
Had anyone mentioned just how nosey Brenda could be?
Brenda’s eyes had narrowed slightly at seeing that snarky grin of the Doc’s. She knew full well he wasn’t going to tell her how Paige was, and asking her daughter herself was like pulling teeth. She got that stubbornness from her Daddy without a doubt.
She sighed, holding still while he listened to her heart, and she rambled about Ralf. She laughed then at Cal saying if he needed to talk to Ralf then he would. “Now that I’d like to see.” She mused. Ralf was a big man, who could be rather intimidating upon first introductions, but Brenda had the feeling Dr. Hunt telling her husband to not treat her like fine china would go over as well as Jason once insisting he and Tucker needed a hotrod when they were ten.
She folded her hands in her lap while Cal gave the usual speel on what to continue doing and whatnot. It was becoming something she was fully aware of, and she wondered just how worse she was getting, or if Paige being home really would make things better. At the suggestion of Paige and her going on walks, her eyes lit up. Taking in as much of the information as she could before she beamed at him. “That’s a great idea!” And with Paige’s inability to sit still, any exercise she could get wouldn’t be too much of an argument.
“Tired,” She said with a small smile. Knowing what he really wanted to know. “I’m supposed to be running around, chasing after my grandbaby and I find I can’t do much of that. I get winded far to easy, my joints get sore some days. I feel old Doc,” She said with a laugh. She shook her head and glanced up at the ceiling, and then let her eyes flicker down to look at him. “I get heart palpitations a bit more frequently now, and not because of my hubs.” She grinned a bit mischievously and then spread her hands in front of her. “Honestly though I’m more worried about my kids.” She admitted.
Her smile faded to a smaller. “I know you can’t tell me much, but as hard as she tries to hide it, I know something else is wrong with Paige. She just won’t talk about it.” She admitted. She canted her head to the side slightly. “They say you come back changed after being over there, and after the number of tours she’s done, I had hoped she’d be done after the first accident she had. But nooope. Not that girl, we managed to get her home for three months before she was off again. I had actually thought what they said was wrong, or that P was different. That over there hadn’t affected her, but I also know my daughter, and she’s got heavy, heavy rainclouds.” She held up both hands then.
“Then on one hand, I got a son who’s trying to get custody of his kiddo more and help run the store, and on the other you’ve got his twin brother who I want to smack upside the head, and then there’s my sweet baby whose too busy putting others first before himself.” She said with a sigh. “And none of them know about this,” She tapped a finger on her chest to imply they didn’t know about her heart problems. “And before you say it, I know I know, I need to think about myself.” She rolled her eyes playfully.