Mako's Message: This chapter is an example of art imitating life. Also, Ch150 will not be appearing until after Ch9 of TorontoBatFan's "War on Crime" is published. Why will be fairly obvious if you follow his as well as mine. More after the chapter.
I think the stress is finally starting to get to Marcus. It's the only explanation.
I come home from a night on patrol, expecting the usual, quiet, house. Instead, I open the door and hear Marcus yelling, "This isn't funny any more Timmy!" and rattling glasses and plates. He continues on with this rant that was something like, "I didn't mind, really, 'it's winter' I thought, 'he just want's out of the cold,' I said! So I was fine with you. But then you went and ate a big ass hole into my honey wheat bread!" and he grabs the oven and just yanks it's away from the wall and tries to jump behind it. Then he goes along throwing open the cabinets and yelling, "I was even thinking about putting out a little bowl of mouse pellets for you, but now, this is WAR!"
Then, when he finally notices me standing there, wondering if I'm going to have to call the men in the nice white coats, he says, "Oh. Hey. Say, do you think you could hit a, oh, three inch by one inch moving target with those throwing knives of yours?" Like ranting at a mouse and ripping apart the kitchen to get at it is perfectly normal.
Just put out some traps or put down some poison. A mouse, or a loaf of bread for that matter, is not worth breaking shit over.
Anyway, Chris seems to finally have gotten bored with hunting down heroes because he's back to being a general plague on the city. Guess you have to get back to what pays the bills eventually. They've been a little more high-end with their jobs now too. Well, mostly. The random snatch-and-grabs have all but stopped. But truck hijackings are a lot more common. It's actually gotten to the point that some stores have started hiring extra security to watch their trucks. We even got a couple requests. We haven't been able to cover all of them of course, but Uncle John has tried to find people available if he could.
Cheer practice has also toned down a bit. I guess after just winning they decided to give us a break. Knowing Cameron though that's probably not the case. This is probably just what practice was like before the pre-competition push and it just feels easier.
That actually kinda fits how everything feels right now. Like it's gone back to normal. It's weird how "normal" can feel like a vacation.
People are starting to talk about Valentine's Day though, so that's probably going to be short lived. Dave did say that special sundae they had last year is coming back (Riley calls it the "Aphrodisiac Special") and he'd bring me one after work when everything they need for it came in stock though, which is nice of him. Not that I can't afford to go in and buy one everyday, but somehow, I know the one Dave brings me will taste better.
It'd be nice if I could actually try and talk Dave into going out with me on Valentine's Day, even if it wouldn't be a date. Or even just stay in with me. Or spend the day with me in any way just so I wouldn't have to know he's out with Riley.
Yeah, sure, he kissed me on New Years, which was really, really, really nice, but it's not like I can imagine it really meant something when he's out on "the most romantic night of the year" with Riley.
Great. Now I'm in a bad mood.
More Message:Firstly, the long overdue winner of the "Mindy Vs. Bed Rest" contest. This was a stupidly hard one to judge. Each story was really good and a joy to read. Each story also had fairly good reasons for me to not pick them.
Eventually( and I'm still kinda on the fence about this but I have to pick somebody) I decided the winner to DogbertCarroll and his story, "It's Hard To Keep a HitGirl Down". Specifically, the "Illness" entry.
Second and third place(don't ask which is which I had a hard enough time picking a winner), are Laun Mao's "Bed Rest" and TorontoBatFan's "Best Care Anywhere".
Dogbert(do you mind if I call you Dogbert?), send me a PM with your fic request.
And on that note, Coasting, if you're still out there, drop me a line please.
