Chapter Text
Friday 6th April 2001
Mav expertly lands the Corsaire on the runway at Vernal Airport, not that Tom had any doubts. His pet taxis them into their assigned parking spot outside the tiny building, way too small to be a terminal. Nicholas is chattering over the headset ninety to the dozen, upset at being made to sit in the back. He always has to sit in the back to take off and land unless it is the most benign trip out of San Diego, and he always sulks. Once the engine is shut down Mav climbs out to help with the chocks. They are drawing what Tom suspects is a crowd by local standards, the sea plane sticking out as she always does.
They've flown north to join Phil, his family, and Oliver on their planned excursion to Dinosaur National Monument, the trip moved up to spring break in deference to the heat. The others flew into Salt Lake City, hired an RV and are road tripping around the area, they're actually meeting them at the cabin in a week's time to spend a few days exploring before they head back up north. Vampires do not do road trips, not even when he's kicked out of his house for Mav's renovations. Tom has been biting his lip, Oliver has been so excited about getting to see the world on his phone calls. It means he has agreed to come out and camp with them.
Tom suppresses a shudder. He had tried very hard to avoid camping, offering to fly up as a day trip even. Mav however, is of the opinion that the children should experience it once, that the window in which to do this is small, and that they are going with or without Tom. Since there's no way that that is happening, they are camping with Tom, who has borrowed the Kerner's tent and equipment and is already feeling lost. Mav did try to find them hotels, but this is a very Mormon part of Utah and there are no establishments that accept both vampires and humans nearby. So it's either camp or drive an hour and a half from a motel on the Ute reservation, at which point they might as well fly in.
Life is different now Mav is more independent. Tom is still trying to adjust. Not helped by living in temporary accommodation on base, the renovations are progressing rapidly but the house is still a building site. Not being called by the Navy every time Mav does anything, and the lack of paperwork and audits, however, is wonderful. The children are very grumpy about not being able to stop over mid week, Tom hadn't realised just how often it was happening until it stopped. Nicholas, according to Sarah's diary, has been with them at least one night most weeks. Mav also plans things now, like this trip. Mostly good things, but the planning just being done for him is odd to Tom.
Tom's busy enough though. Running Top Gun is intensely fulfilling and the anniversary plans for Llanhilleth are in full swing. The newly improved school will open from the fall semester, they're doing a lot of the building and refurbishment this summer. The new clinic come hospital will be opened as part of the anniversary celebrations. He's still trying to decide if they can afford the Texan Mav's making eyes at him about. It's what Tom said he wanted, a trainer with dual controls to teach the children in, and aerobatic enough to entertain Mav, as well as needing some TLC to get it back to airworthiness. Having two planes means they'll need to rent a whole hangar though, it costs the same as two single spaces, and that means Mav will actually have space for three or four planes. It has not escaped Tom's notice that Mav's collecting adverts for Mustangs. At this point he wishes they were horses, he could board one of those at Glen's, or cars, since his pet really does need one.
He climbs out of the cockpit and instantly the airport staff are on edge whispering. He hides an eye roll. “Yes I'm a vampire, yes it's my plane, yes my children are also vampires, no we're not staying here, we're leaving the plane and taking a rental as soon as we collect it.” This is the problem with rural areas, they're either integrated, or they're really really not.
“The rental office doesn't serve vampires.” One particularly daft looking human remarks. The guy in the airport uniform smacks him.
“Ignore him. They follow the law just like we do. There's no blood bank here though.”
“I am aware, thank you. We've packed supplies, we just need water for the trip and fuel for the plane.”
The official is efficient, bringing the landing paperwork out. Tom stands with him under the shade of a wing. Not wanting to bring a vampire into your office is fairly acceptable if you've never met one before. The official is scared sweet by it all so Tom will try and meet him halfway, the official did chase off the idiot who has gone back to driving the grass cutting machine afterall. The rest of the staff are more like this fellow, scared but positively curious.
Mav arrives with a rental pickup, the guy from the kiosk directing him from the passenger seat. Tom can see his Adam's apple bob as he swallows. Mav ignores it, Tom marshals him back so the bed is near the cargo door on the Corsaire and they unload the supplies. There's a lot for two nights, their bags, all of the bedding and the tent, then two coolers full of bank blood and ice cubes, a restock for Oliver. Phil had mistakenly thought that nationwide blood banks would be everywhere, they're actually not once you get out of the cities. There's also a part full cooler for Mav. They will stop at a local store for the rest of the food.
The departure is smooth, aided by staff who wish them gone, for all they're still gawping at the plane. The drive to the store is short and then they're out of the truck and Tom is longing for the days when his children fit in the cart.
“Sir, there's no blood bank here.” The greeter tells him.
“I know, we need milk and juice and ice thank you.” He hides an eyeroll as they push the cart inside.
The range is small, the organic range smaller still. Mav manages to get enough though. They're collaborating with the Bank's but given they eat more processed food than Mav is allowed, he still needs some extras. Just because food is donor safe doesn't guarantee it is healthy these days. They manage to escape from the store once Peter has had a ride on the dolphin ride at the front and the food is packed in more ice. They sell ice bricks here which should help. The desert is warm enough although it's meant to cool down significantly at night.
The drive to the park is short. Mav insists they take a photo at the sign. His pet takes ever so many photos now that he has a camera. Then it's a longer drive to the camp site by the Green River. The closest site to the visitor's center is closed for some reason and the next closest is human only. Tom spots Meghan next to an RV once they get to their camp site; there's no sign of the rest of her family. Still they pull in and he gets out.
She greets them warmly and Tom reintroduces the children since they only met briefly in DC. “Where is everyone else?”
“Oh, they're off tubing, I stayed here to get the dinner on but they figured it would be a good activity to do now since you've said your youngsters are limited in cold water tolerance.”
“Indeed. I'll take them on a tour and Mav can help you with the supplies.”
“Sounds good, will your tent fit on the grass next to Oliver's?”
Tom shrugs. “That's a Mav problem, if not we'll pitch it on the other side of the truck, we have both pitches booked anyway.” Calling it grass in this arid climate is over stating it, scrubby dirt is more honest.
He leaves Mav and walks the children over to the ablutions block and play area, going into the female side once he senses it is empty to make sure that Sasha can reach everything and that she understands how to work the showers, she pulls a face at the smell but she'll be able to manage fine which is the important part. Whilst he will also show the boys the male side, he's less worried if they need help, he's here. Sasha unfortunately is at that odd age where she's no longer little enough that it's obvious that she needs help, but she's not totally big enough to always manage alone either, and it looks odd to outsiders if either of them is in the wrong space. Just as they're finishing discussing how the coin slide for the showers works a woman walks in.
“Are you lost?”
“No, just making sure we know what she needs before she's soaking wet and freezing cold.”
The woman huffs. “This is a human site.”
“No, this one is mixed, the one with the boat landing is all human. We're a mixed party.”
“Well the bathrooms are still male or female.”
“My Mama couldn't come with us. Father was just showing me how the showers worked before I had to do my hair. I'm not going into the boy's showers.” Sasha explains.
Tom sees understanding dawn on the woman's face, although she only huffs again. They slip out. The boys are playing on the swing set and Sasha goes to join them. It's a fairly basic play space, they drove past a better one at the visitor's center. The children play for a few minutes before he shows the boys their washroom, then they are happy to head back.
“You can come over here whenever you need to. Just make sure you walk on the paths, don't run through other people's camp sites, and carry a flashlight once it gets dark so the humans can see you. You are not to go off anywhere else without asking and you are not to go near the river without me, your Papa, Phil, or Megan.”
“What about Oliver?”
“No, you need a grownup. Oliver, Sam and Ashley are not grownup enough to mind you by the river. It is dangerous.” Plus he doesn't know what if any experience they have minding children and Oliver doesn't really know how to swim yet. Well he does in terms of saving himself, but rescuing others is a more advanced skill.
By the time they get back to their campsite Mav's got the tent up. Tom helps him fit the top sheet, it keeps the dew and the sun off a little. Ron's tent is not a real all seasons thing so the sides are well ventilated. It does have two interior rooms, Tom helps Mav lay down the foam mats and then inflate the air beds to go on top. The children are happy to make their beds up. Tom puts sheets on his. He's brought himself a pillow and a couple of blankets. Mav has his own pillow and his sleeping bag. No late night feeding on this vacation, it is meant to be cooler at night and Mav has to be kept properly insulated. So do the children, they have their comforters though, and plenty of blankets. He's not buying sleeping bags for a one off and this is how the Kerners do it.
Mav and Megan have moved the picnic benches to turn the unused bit of grass into an outdoor eating space, they needed to park two vehicles and it was cheaper to buy two small pitches than one of the ones for the larger kinds of RVs. It's worked out well for them, the side of this site with the large pitches is far busier. The tubers have returned and the teens and Phil all troop off to shower. The children have arranged everything just so on their side of the tent with only a bit of squabbling.
Tom sticks his head into the RV. “Could you give the children a tour, they've never seen the inside of an RV before?”
“Of course. Let me get this bread in and I'll be right with you.” Megan slides something into the small oven as Tom calls the children over.
They all step inside looking around. Megan holds her arms out. “Right, this is the RV we are renting. It has five sleeping spaces. At the back is mine and Phil's bed, and next to it is the bathroom. Then we have the fridge on that side, and a kitchen here with a sink, oven and stove top. The table and bench seats are where we eat if the weather is poor and the front seats are where Phil and I sit when we drive, the teens all sit back here, see the seat belts? The table and benches turn into one bed and the bed for the other two is up above the cab and we put it down at night. We hook up to gas bottles for cooking, those are the orange things outside, and we plug in for electricity. Questions?”
“Why does Oliver have to sleep in a tent?” Nicholas asks worriedly. “Is it because he's a vampire?”
“Yes, but not because we made him. It gets warmer than he prefers in here at night, he'd rather be out there and listening to the sounds of nature. He sleeps inside if the weather is bad.”
“Why does it smell?” Peter asks the question they've all been ignoring.
“I'm cooking?” Megan isn't sure.
“It's the chemicals in the dirty water storage tanks Peter. It is good that you can smell them, you should never drink or make formula with water that smells like that. Because the RV isn't hooked up to plumbing it has tanks to collect the water from the bathroom, then they pump them out into a special place so everything can be cleaned. If you smell those chemicals you know there is no sewer. That's the other reason Oliver prefers to be outside, they smell worse than the waste smell to us.” Tom adds for Megan's benefit.
“He never said.”
“He probably doesn't know how to.”
“It smells like a big plane, like we went to DC in.” Nicholas remarks.
“Well yes,” Mav interjects from where he's chopping salad, “planes use the same system. Otherwise it would rain poop whenever one flew overhead.”
That produces objections from the children, who, satisfied to have unravelled the mysteries of RV life, go back to chasing each other around the outside of the vehicle and the tents.
Tom helps set the table, greeting the rest of the family as they return from the showers. Oliver is tanned and healthy and dressed so much like a human teenager that Tom has to hide a double take. Some quick blood tests have helped them figure out that Oliver has a metabolism that's a bit faster than average. Combined with a couple of months of a dedicated physio and exercise routine to help him move on from a very sedentary life, the extra food means he's filling out nicely. Seen with Sam and Ashley from a distance he looks like a friend or sibling, the miserable vampire vanishing into slender lightly muscled limbs and hair going floppy as it grows.
Oliver is very grateful when shown the blood they brought him, carefully packed around ice bricks and tucked into a locker on the side of the RV, out of the sun, but also out of the tiny human fridge.
“How will I get your coolers back to you?”
“You're coming up to the cabin aren't you? Leave them there, Glen will have Styrofoam shipping crates from delivering our order from the Farm to Freezer programme, we'll swap them out for one of those for the rest of the trip.”
“Thanks, let me know what I owe you.”
“We'll count up what's left once my gannets are done guzzling it.” Tom reassures the youngster. Oliver has a delicate amount of pride around money and the need to provide for himself. They've had a few conversations about how he can contribute towards this vacation. Phil had wanted to treat him, Oliver has a vampire's need to provide. It has led to them agreeing that he will pay for certain activities and some of the gas, and Phil and Megan will provide the rest in a parental capacity. The whole family has settled into that dynamic very comfortably, Tom expects Oliver will be calling them Mom and Dad before the year is out. It's good for him, he thinks, to have such a solid base.
Dinner turns out to be spaghetti and homemade meatballs, one of the few things Megan admits she's confident cooking from scratch on the road. Tom's preference that Mav avoids jarred sauces and preservative filled bread is hard on the Banks family. They will take over the cooking for the next two days and show them the way of it, the smaller kitchen at the cabin means they're used to life without such luxuries as boiling water taps. Mav delicately avoids the garlic bread, filling his side dish with the salad the teens look confused by.
“It's not the claim, although vegetables are healthy. When we go to sea we run out of fresh vegetables fast. I like to eat them as often as possible when I'm on land. The meatballs are good. I know I'm a bother to feed.” Mav smiles at Megan.
The teens look less confused and eat small amounts of salad at Phil's prompting. The vampires are all drinking formula.
“It's probably good practice for if Phil's blood goes like yours, right now he only has to be really strict for a couple of days before he donates.” Megan demures.
“That will help, especially learning to cook without garlic. A lot of the extra strictness is also to feed the children, and you've probably got a few years before that's a conversation. Some of it is just good health though, and the swaps are easy enough that you can all benefit.” Mav shrugs.
“Like what?”
“Try swapping mayonnaise for live low fat no additives yoghurt. You have to find the kind like I've bought now, no vanilla or gelatine or sugar or anything, just milk. Mayonnaise is oil based with a bunch of stuff added, and making the traditional kind with eggs at home is a complete faff. Proper yoghurt is nothing but milk and things that help your guts, it has more protein and calcium. It works if you're doing hardboiled eggs or tuna, or making a dip, it's not that you don't notice the change, but it's still good.”
That draws interested murmurs from the group.
“Nothing is about being perfect, and donor foods are better anyway, but it's trying to be one step less processed. Buy frozen vegetables not canned. Buy good quality chocolate that's just chocolate or chocolate covered nuts rather than chocolate that has a processed filling, not that you can really get any of that on the donor programme, but for the children. Buy blocks of cheese, or slices as they add things to the grated kind so that it doesn't stick. Get your meat and deli meat off the counter because the packages always have gas in them to help it keep longer, Glen taught me that one. Food, most of it, shouldn't keep forever without changing state. Mary, Glen's mom, has old cook books that really help, they tell you how long food used to last before World War two. I don't know what we've done to it since then, but if you can find the real stuff it still only keeps that long.” Mav shrugs and eats more spaghetti.
“I can understand that, but why is packet spaghetti OK?” Phil asks.
“You have to read the packet, it is processed, the stuff that's just dried durum wheat, that's not too processed, they ground it into flour, mashed it up with water and dried it into shapes. It's the pasta that has other things in it that's the problem. There's also practicality, Mav can't be perfect, in a perfect world we'd have to live on a ranch and grow everything including coffee, pure pasta doesn't mess his blood up.” Tom sighs. “I make it fresh at home, but that's not realistic either. I try not to be a dick.”
Mav coughs suspiciously.
“Don't start. Chocolate and ice cream are not necessary for your continued health and well-being.” He glares at Mav, his pet is so Sassy lately.
Oliver looks shocked. “Am I meant to do all of that?”
As one Mav and the Banks’ all tell him a resounding no.
“Tell me if something makes my blood taste bad Ollie, but I don't need you to be the pasta police.” Phil smiles as he speaks.
Tom's mind short circuits Ollie, a nickname how improper.
He realises his brain has checked out when someone shakes him.
“..... wrong with him?” Megan asks.
“Nothing. Iceman, Ice, Thomas, Tommy, Tom, Commander Kazansky, cannot get his head around the fact that other vampires might have nicknames and freaks out a bit every time someone does. Which given that applies to every vampire he knows except for Sarah and her parents, means he spends far too long freaking out about things he can't control. As he just proved with the food though, this is not a unique occurrence and it's best to just ignore him until his brain assimilates the facts in front of it.” He bites back a snarl at Mav's remarks, cheeky pet needs a spanking. This is another problem with camping.
“He sounds like he's a bit OCD.” Ashley mutters.
“Nah, I've met vampires with OCD, it takes over their lives. Tom is just particular. All vampires are, you'll see it comes out in Oliver as he finishes growing. They like everything just so.” Mav shrugs.
“He gets so annoyed if we leave the cushions in the wrong spots.” Ashley tells then.
Oliver actually hisses at her, just noise not speech although the point is clear.
“It is not your living room Ollie, as long as the cushions are on the seats it's fine.” Megan tells the youngster, clearly retreading an old argument. “How are vampires so particular in some ways yet so terrible about laundry in others?”
“Because their noses work differently. I got lucky and got mine trained by the Navy. Four years of the academy making them wash everything at least weekly trains them pretty well. Oliver, once your bedding has been on the bed for about ten days it smells as bad to the humans as the RV drainage smells to you. Part of sharing a house is picking a day of the week and laundering it.” Mav tells him.
Oliver looks like a kicked puppy. “Then it doesn't smell right though.”
“The trick is to get a couple of plush animals or small pillows, if you only put them on the bed and don't sleep holding them or get food on them they keep the smell in without getting human stinky.” Tom tells him.
“That means I have to decide on one I like though.” The youngster all but whimpers. Tom looks at Phil.
“We're working on expressing preferences. He never had any choice in anything before he came to us so the opportunity to pick a favourite anything is new.”
“Do you still like red?” Tom asks, Oliver had picked out lots of red things on that first shopping trip.
The teen shrugs. “Nothing was red before, it's new. I like music, but they don't make that as a soft thing. I have the bat that Mav gave me. He's soft but he gets stinky when I chew him.”
“I've shown him all the sports on TV and he doesn't like any of them. I mean, I don't like TV sports either, even baseball is boring with all the replays and adverts.” Sam remarks.
“I like skating. Can't cuddle it though.”
“No, the skates stay in the garage.” Megan says in her best mom voice.
It sets the children off on a long list of animals to try and determine Oliver's favourite. He's fond of Smudge the cat but would rather have a real cat than a stuffed one. Dessert is yoghurt for everyone, with fruit for Mav and fruit and granola for the other humans, which is interesting. They get to introduce their friends to the wonders of giving the children yoghurt lick mats, the humans and adult vampires all eat their dessert with spoons. It's nice to see that Oliver has fetched the red spoons Tom bought for him that first weekend.
He and Phil make a campfire, the teens are sent to the ablutions block with the dishes. Mav takes the boys for a walk. Sasha reads quietly in their tent, apparently done with people for a bit. As evening falls they play cornholes and Phil produces a guitar, he and Sam trade off. Tom discovers Oliver can sing, he knows a surprising amount of modern music, apparently there was a radio at the factory and he'd memorise the songs to play on his pretend piano. His own children are interested, Peter drums along on an empty plastic tub, keeping the rhythm nicely. Peter and Sasha both sing a bit, as does Mav very quietly. Nicholas sits in Tom's lap and watches. Megan and Ashley can both sing normally and in the more fancy choral tones which fascinates the children.
As the night starts to cool he scoots them off through their ablutions and into bed. Mav's now in a jacket and a hoody, which is unsatisfactory if necessary, he already knew there'd be no food from his pet until he got back to San Diego on Sunday. The weather here is cool, Mav needs clothes, Mav hates it if Tom ruins the clothes. There is no way he'd be allowed to feed in the camper. So no food from his pet, he did have a good feed and tapped a pint for the children last night to ensure that Mav is comfortable. Although that pint is at home, Tom might keep it for himself.
They eventually retire to bed, it's cold now although there is no frost forecast. Mav is in his sleeping bag with the hood up and secured. He falls asleep swiftly. Tom checks the children are all well tucked in before he snuggles under his own blankets. It doesn't feel cold to him in the same way it does to the humans, even insulated by his sleeping bag, his pet is still giving off heat. He thinks it's because this level of cold is natural here, the AC feels colder at times because it doesn't match the planet, in the same way the heating can feel oddly hot. No wonder Oliver prefers to sleep in a tent.
Tom flexes his senses, having other people sleeping close by is odd, the thin walled RVs and tents don't block them the way the house or cabin walls do, and humans are loud. Someone, somewhere is snoring, a couple are doing what couples do, there are soft voices and gentle laughter, the river carries the sounds and adds its own music. He falls asleep in a pleasant hum of stimulation.
Tom wakes to coldness and tears. Both boys crawling in with him shivering and crying with cold, he looks at his watch. It's three AM. Mav is dead asleep in the deepest part of his sleep cycle. His pet is totally warm and snug. Peter squirms under Tom's blanket, pressing a cold face against him and sobbing, Nicholas squeaks and shivers. Tom chitters to them confused.
Peter squeaks back. He was cold, he crawled in with his brother. Then they both got cold.
Tom wraps them in his blankets but they're too thin to keep the boys warm. He notices that his back is much cooler than his front, the heat escaping through the air bed. Mav's sleeping bag is cylindrical and Tom's never appreciated why before. He collects all of the boy's bedding and layers everything over his half of the bed, at least the sleeping bag keeps his pet tidy.
He checks Sasha, perfectly warm and dead to the world, noticing that she's done her favourite trick of bringing a large comforter and folding it in half with a blanket slid in the other way, like a sheet of paper in a book. He's long chalked it up to just being a Sasha thing but it means she's properly insulated now, half the comforter and blanket below her and half on top. He rearranges the bedding again, spreading one comforter over the mattress then gets back in the middle of the boys, setting Peter between Mav and himself. Cold vibrating shivery children are not his favourite. Nicholas gets warm fairly quickly and falls asleep half led on his chest. It takes Peter ages though, even held in the warmest safe spot Tom can provide. He can't put his youngest in with Mav, he'll get too hot with Mav in the sleeping bag, and there's no way Mav will sleep without it. He cannot understand why Peter got so cold, it's like a sauna with the three of them under all of the bedding. Eventually his youngest falls asleep and Tom feels safe enough to join him.
When Tom wakes to sunlight streaming through the tent Mav is absent, although he can hear him asleep in the other room. His pet must have tried to move and discovered a standard double bed is tiny for four, there's a reason for the huge beds they have at home. Humans are wriggle butts that take up a lot of space. Both boys are sprawling on top of him under the stash of blankets. They seem warm enough and still fast asleep. Most concerningly, he can hear Sasha and the teens giggling outside the tent.
“You're like a vampire Doctor Doolittle.” Ashley says. Oliver lets out a delighted laugh. Something squeaks.
“Sasha Maria, what have I told you about creatures?” Tom lets a warning creep into his tone. The mischief makers all startle.
“Not in the cabin, or the house, or the treehouse, father. We're not in any of those places.” His daughter sounds angelic.
“If I find creatures in the RV or the truck there will be trouble Sasha. The rest of you are big enough not to be encouraging her.” They move away from the tent at least. Tom is not sure how he's going to cope as Sasha gets bigger, she barely minds him now.
His boys at least continue to sleep sweetly, Peter squeaks a little, dreaming about food. Nicholas just sprawls, he feels very content. So does Mav from what Tom can sense, at least one of them gets a lie in. He waits until the sun warms the tent then climbs out of bed and starts to dress. The heat has also woken Mav who climbs back into his jacket and grumbles off towards the ablutions. Fortunately Phil and Megan are awake and have a pot of coffee going which should please Mav.
“Good morning Tom, did you all sleep well?” Phil asks.
“After the boys got cold and crawled in with me, yes. Then Mav finished up in their room at some point in the night. Did you catch what Sasha and your three were messing with?”
“She was getting Ollie to pet deer, then they were all feeding the gophers.”
“I'm sorry.”
“Don't be. It was cute.”
“Just wait until you meet Flower.” Tom mutters darkly.
“Who is Flower?”
“Sasha’s nice friendly skunk.” That draws guffaws. “She's bribed just about everything short of the bears and the mountain lion with peanut butter. The lion we had to relocate to the other side of the lake. It's good that there's no more hunting industry, but the animals are not as afraid of vampires as one might think.”
“Really, because they sense you won't hunt them?” Tom shrugs but allows Phil to draw him into a discussion about life in the forest for a while before it gets too complicated. “Talk to Sue, she works for the parks department.”
“Glen's wife, the biologist?”
“Yes, I have the ideas, she makes things happen safely. We cope with our lion since I can sense her, but the ones closest to the park all have radio collars now so the rangers can advise guests on where to avoid.” He shrugs, he has too many things to do for all the tiny details, much better to say that he wants beavers and wait for them to appear.
Mav returns and heads straight for the coffee pot. “You do know Sassy and the teens are trying to lure some gophers into using the slide right?”
Tom shakes his head, the others laugh. He ignores it. Sasha is trying to get attention off either him, or the teenagers. It's not worth dealing with her being upset if he calls her on it. “Aren't you meant to be showing Phil and Megan how to make real pancakes?” He asks Mav.
It turns out that what his pet actually had in mind were crepes, with a nice simple three ingredient batter that allows for many different fillings. Mav also shows them how to make a simple fruit compote and his trick for cheese and mushroom crepes. Tom hides a shudder, double fungus, humans are so weird. Worse, Phil and Megan add bacon and declare them to be good, although he notices that Phil makes a couple with no mushrooms. At least Sam and Ashley only want sweet crepes. Sasha drinks milk and complains about waking up to find everyone sleeping in different places.
“Your brothers stole my bed.” Mav tells her.
“They got cold, your trick of sleeping on your comforter leaves you far more insulated.” Tom adds.
“Don't you have sleeping bags? They're a great invention, I might keep mine for at home.” Oliver asks.
“Mav does, he used to ride his motorcycle long distances but we don't need them normally. They are far harder to clean than normal bedding.” Tom explains, Oliver grumbles.
“When will the boys be up?” Phil asks.
Mav shrugs. “Unclear if they were up in the night, it's two hours until the museum opens, if they're not up in an hour we'll wake them.”
Tom finds himself pressed into making tortillas for wraps after breakfast, doing enough for five humans takes a while with only one frying pan to cook them in. Mav works on fillings with the Banks’. Then Tom has to do Sasha’s hair, and after a shy request, Ashley's. Which leads him showing Megan how to do the braids, she knows the theory but has never been shown the tricks for getting hair neat without lots of products that nobody wants to be using with only the campsite showers available. Tom explains the importance of having the correct brush. Megan and Ashley have spent their lives doing dance recitals where the answer to every hair problem seems to be more gel or Bobby pins.
The boys eventually wake, Nicholas dresses himself and streaks off with his sister towards the park. Peter comes inside the RV for a morning cuddle and some warm formula. It occurs to Tom that this is quite a big adventure for his youngest who is clingy until he settles to holding him on the bench seat. Peter emphatically does not want to talk to any of the new people, or even really his Papa. He just snuggles into Tom and squeaks out his upset at waking up in the middle of the night cold and scared in a strange place with strange noises. Has he been a bad father?
“You can sleep with me again tonight if you want, but you need to get dressed now so we can go and see the Dinosaurs.”
“Why did Papa go?”
“Because there is not enough room for all four of us. I can sleep in your bed and you can sleep in my spot and that way I won't squish you again.” Mav answers.
“I don't like being squished.”
“I know. I said I was sorry.”
“You need to be still and sleep properly.” Peter pouts, Tom wonders what happened.
“I'm human, we move in our sleep. I will sleep on my own then you will be safe.”
“Won't you be sad?”
“Not in my sleeping bag, it's made to keep me nice and snug but it only fits one person. You and your Father and Nippy can all make a better nest if I'm not in it.”
Peter squeaks that it's not a nest, but he submits to going to the tent to dress, then Tom takes him and corals Nicholas and Sasha so everyone's fangs get brushed.
By the time they are loading the truck both boys are back to being excited about Dinosaurs. Rather than move the RV, the teens and Mav pile into the bed of the pickup and Megan squishes in the back of the cab with the children whilst Phil sits in the front. Tom drives carefully to the Museum and visitors center, it's not a real road anyway, just the road to the campground and still part of the site.
They go to the museum first, the visitor's center is a mile further up the road, it also contains the gift shop. The museum is quiet having only just opened, better for the children and Oliver. It is an unusual building, a roofed section of quarry with a wall of dinosaur bones still in situ fully visible. The boys put their ear defenders on, everyone else goes without, it looks like it might be an acoustically odd space. Sasha is growing out of needing them unless the overall volume is loud, whilst the boys still need them to help reduce the amount of different sounds in a place. They're a huge help at civilian airports where everyone is having their own conversations.
Tom enters the museum intending to supervise the boys and feign interest in prehistoric reptiles. The story of the place and the discoveries captures him though. The fact the fossil hunters had recognised that it was special enough to just stop digging interests him far more than the bones. The museum fortunately caters for that side of the story as well, explaining paleontology and about the natives and their petroglyphs that can be found in the park and not just Dinosaurs. The boys, and even Sasha are very much interested in the fossils. Ashley has found a ranger and is having a very technical discussion, Tom remembers she is considering paleontology as a career.
In one corner there is a piano, and a bit of a stage, off to the side a woman is crying next to a staff member, in ranger uniform, who looks awkward. They're on the other side of the hall so Tom doesn't get a chance to listen in because he has to take photographs, Phil is pressganged into taking one of all five of them. Tom prompts him to take several, it has transpired that Mav really likes family photos.
Suddenly the piano rings out loud and clear, the acoustics in here send the sound soaring. He doesn't instantly recognise the tune, and has no idea why Oliver is playing it.
Phil hands Tom the camera distractedly. “Excuse me.” He strides towards the teenager.
Tom joins the rest of the Banks family. “What is he doing?” The tune is naggingly familiar.
“It's the Jurassic Park theme, he's been obsessed with it since he saw the movie.” Sam tells him.
“He's good.” Mav remarks.
“This is his job.” Sam points out.
The crying woman's reaction is perhaps the most interesting. She spins, stands with eyes wide, hands clasped over her mouth. Tom catches a whiff of her scent, despair overlaid with hot bright hope, a powerful mixture. She walks to the piano with the ranger she was talking to.
Oliver stops playing and looks at her. “That's what you wanted right, someone who can play it?”
“You're a vampire?” Tom has to give her credit, Oliver is in a hoodie and skateboarding pants like Sam, without speaking and showing his fangs a human wouldn't easily spot it.
“I'm a pianist.”
“Are you here later?” The staff member asks. “Only, She's getting married here this evening and the pianist has come down with appendicitis. We can't use recorded audio, the acoustics don't work.”
“I don't know what to do, everyone we've called in town won't play at a wedding that's not in a church. I don't want a church wedding.” The bride is quite stressed, scent moving from sour to sweet now she's got a potential solution.
“What music do you need? And when, I'm here with my family.” Oliver is calm, professional in a way Tom's not seen, behind the keys he is as at home as Mav is in the cockpit.
“Something generic before the ceremony, then I want to walk down the aisle to a shorter version of the start of the theme.” She hums the section, “and we walk out to the big part at the end. Sorry, I'm bad at music, we had this all worked out but the sheet music isn't here, Dave was bringing it with him so the tourists didn't walk off with it.”
“This bit?” Oliver plays the soaring section from the end.
The bride cries and smiles. “Yes gosh, can you come and play that later, the wedding is at six?”
“Let me check, what else did you want?” Oliver looks at them, Tom gestures to Phil.
“Yes you can play, one hour now Oliver to get things straightened out, then this young lady can get ready and we can carry on our day. We'll have to have a look and see if we've got anything fit for you to wear.”
The bride hiccups a laugh. “You're saving the day. We have music. I'm not bothered if you wear what you're in now.”
“I have a few polo shirts and some chinos, what colours are you doing?” Oliver asks, smiling easily.
Tom leaves them to it. Mav is smiling at him, that's a win. He doesn't particularly want a wedding splitting the group up but he knows humans place a huge amount of importance on them being just so. Slider, completely cool during the Layton, turned into an absolute wreck of nerves about the details before his wedding to Michelle. Mav and Slider’s brother had had to settle him.
The children and other guests have a musical accompaniment as Oliver plays more Jurassic Park working out exactly what the bride wants, something tinkly, and then what Tom thinks is How to Train Your Dragon. His mouth falls open in shock during the next song when Oliver starts to sing as well. He knew he could carry a tune after last night but this is something else. Strong, confident, yet very easy on the ears. He has the entire museum listening. Tom's heard the song before, but he doesn't know the title, mountains and valleys and longing. Everyone claps when he's done and Tom half pays attention.
“I can't sing that, it's a woman's song.” The young vampire is demuring.
“Dave was going to do it instrumentally?” The bride's voice quavers.
“Megan, could you help?” Oliver calls.
Tom, and everyone else in earshot is very quickly treated to the reason that Oliver still thinks he can't sing well. The tune is one he's heard at other weddings, he's been invited to a few, but Megan, without a warmup, blows the other singers out of the water. She starts quieter, almost playing with a few notes? He's not sure how you'd describe it, then picks up, voice soaring high and crystal clear. The building rings with it, it's the only way Tom can describe it. Oliver changes how he's playing somehow and the whole place comes to life. It's nothing like the quiet harmonies around the camp fire, today both Oliver and Megan are performing.
“Damn she's got pipes.” Mav murmurs. Peter has taken his headphones off and is hugging himself in delight, mouth open. Tom drops an arm around his shoulders. It gets another round of applause of course, Oliver plays a few more pieces, they seem to be debating something and working to get that ringing trick consistently, but there's no more singing. Phil has to go and fetch Oliver, they're all done with the museum, the hour is over and the boys are ready to go and run about.
They head outside, Mav stays with the Banks to drive the truck down to the visitor's center once the singers get done looking around whilst Tom, and the children all start walking. He'd offered to let Sam and Ashley join him but Phil's eldest has become involved in discussing how his mom figured out the trick to get the music to resonate. Ashley is still interrogating the rangers. The trail between the quarry and the visitor's center is full of Dinosaur related facts as well as plants and nice views so the walk is no hardship and it lets the children zig about as they need to.
The visitor's center itself has more exhibits, and more importantly, a Dinosaur themed play area. Tom will wait for everyone else before they go inside to look around, for now he turns the children loose on the equipment, handing out bat capes from his backpack. This makes the children happy, which is good. He wants them to have a good experience. They're only really here because the plan for tomorrow is rather more special, Phil has contacts in places Tom could never dream of accessing. Dinosaur fossils are easy to find in comparison. Today is Oliver's idea of an adventure, a reward, and something a few months ago he thought was an impossible dream.
“What are they doing?” A human family has arrived to see three young vampires hanging upside down wrapped up in something.
“Playing bats.” Tom tells them before they can get the wrong idea. “It's a popular wish amongst young vampires to be able to turn into a bat when you grow up.”
Nicholas makes an odd squawking noise.
“Of course, given the location, they could also be using their bat capes to play pterodactyls or something.”
“They're OK?” The woman asks.
“Oh yes, they're just playing, they'll either ignore your children or start to play something all together. They go to a mixed school so they know how humans play.”
She waves her children through the gate, and funnily enough, all the children start to play what is more clearly some game involving flying creatures.
“I don't know why, but it always surprises me to see vampires out in nature and not in a city.”
Tom smiles, he senses nothing from her but curiosity. “It depends on the vampires. We like to get out but opportunity can be limited. Very young vampires are more vulnerable to extremes of temperature. My youngest is five and he struggled with camping last night, but we couldn't come in the summer because it will be too hot. Once they turn thirteen vampires have to stay away from humans until they're eighteen in the US, what we call seclusion. Some outdoor places have vampire weeks, but you can't travel for any real distance with teenagers because there's no facilities and very few hotels outside of cities and our teenagers are banned from commercial air travel. Growing up cooped up means it's a big step to embrace nature, just like a human from a city raised background would find it hard if their parents didn't introduce it.”
“That's interesting, it seems harsh, children grow up so much as teens and vampires can't do anything.”
“I know, my human colleagues think that's what makes us seem weird. There are periods as teenagers where hormones make vampires very temperamental, and therefore unsafe. We have venom by then you see. Because those periods are different for each vampire, the law is a blanket block. It only goes to age sixteen in the EU, some of it is just the way the bureau functioned here. The age of criminal responsibility for vampires is thirteen, but the prisons are only allowed to hold legal adults.”
“So they lock the teenagers away in schools just in case. That's stupid.”
“Trust me, I know.”
Fortunately Mav, Oliver and the Banks family arrive and they collect the children and head inside. The visitors center is a small museum which they go around. Oliver can now read most of the plaques, he seems to be reading about as well as Nicholas, both needing help with the longer Latin words. Watching Oliver help Peter is an unexpected delight though. They watch the movie about the park and then they visit the gift shop.
The children look around excitedly. Both Mav and Phil select fridge magnets. Mav helps the children with the penny squasher, Sam, Ashley and Oliver make pennies as well, choosing different designs.
“Sasha, you are not having a bag of rocks.” There's a tray of different stones that his daughter is poking about in. She pouts but moves on without arguing, not something she truly wanted then, good.
The boys are looking at the plushies and making disparaging comments, Tom quite agrees, the butterfly house has better dinosaurs in the range that gave him the house beavers. Reflexively, he checks the tiny beaver is still snug in his pocket. Tom walks over to the book shelf, joining the other adults, there's nothing really interesting in the dinosaur section, he quite likes biographies but the selection here is surprisingly similar to what they had at Mount Rainier, with a couple more books about the lives of palaeontologists. Tom prefers to study living things, it's not that he doesn't admire the science, he just wishes people had studied beavers as much as fossils.
The books about the petroglyphs are more interesting, he regards them carefully, between Aniya and Shadow he has learnt that books written by an outsider are very different in perspective to books written by the people they are about. He does find one that is interesting, a photographer who toured the petroglyphs in the region and photographed them, whilst interviewing the descendents of the tribes who created them to transcribe, as best as it has survived within an oral tradition, the stories or events they depict. Some tell very ordinary stories, others are more mythical. Tom decides to buy it, he thinks the children will like the stories, and maybe the historians in Kazan County who are trying to piece together the very mixed up mythological and historical stories surrounding his ancestors.
Tom looks at the selection of so-called pocket money toys and is glad that they don't appeal to his children. Novelty stationery for vampires comes from extremely specific sources, not typically tourist hot spots, and they already have toy dinosaurs, if they'd had new ones from the same range he'd buy them, but they don't. One advantage of fanged life, less stuff. Oliver has tentatively selected a fridge magnet, from the conversation, Megan has been encouraging him to get one at each destination so he has something meaningful to decorate his apartment with once it's finished.
After discovering the picnic area is unfortunately home to a large amount of wasps they head back to the campsite to eat which is novel. Mav takes the opportunity to toast the wraps they packed earlier.
Tom beckons Oliver. “You need to drink a pint now, and one at dinner, blood not formula, although you can have some as well if you want. Humans get very emotional at weddings, it's easier to deal with on a full stomach.”
“Like the White House?”
“Worse. They're happy.” They both shudder. Oliver goes to feed in his tent, Tom goes to the picnic benches where his children are drinking their formula.
“No Oliver?” Megan comes out with a bowl of potato chips.
“He needs the food we brought him. Big life events are very stimulating for vampires, being stuffed full makes them much easier.” Tom tells her firmly.
“Are you singing tonight love?” Phil asks.
“Yes, it's no bother and it means I'll be with Oliver. From what he said he's not really studied human celebrations and vampires don't marry so it will let me help him understand the ceremony and meet his cues.”
“Uncle Shadow is married.” Nicholas pipes up.
“He's a native, they do things differently.” Tom tells his son.
“When I grow up I'm going to get married and have a dress like a princess.” Sasha informs them.
Tom feels poleaxed.
“Who are you marrying Sassy?” Mav asks with a roguish grin, an expression Tom hasn't seen on him since before the claim.
“A boy vampire in a long coat like father's. Then once we are done we will ride away on white horses.”
He feels like he can breathe again, humming out a vaguely agreeable response, it's just a little girl's fantasy. Nothing to worry about. The thought of marrying Sarah makes him feel sick though. He just wanted babies, why do humans insist on all the legal bindings between the adults? It makes a kind of sense for Shadow, he can get an allowance for housing, commuting, and get health care for Anya by marrying her. Tom and Sarah wanted to do their own thing, and she is more financially independent. He knows Anya's work keeps her tribe running well but it doesn't seem to pay much.
Since they're back at the RV Mav has chopped his vegetable sticks, and added more vegetables and some of the leftover cooked chicken to make a salad to go with his wrap. His pet ignores the chips which pleases Tom, they smell oniony and the only chips that do not have processed seasonings are plain salted ones. Oliver is going to have his work cut out for him. Mav further pleases him by sticking to fruit and yoghurt when the Banks family eat packet cakes.
“Are you sure Mav? They're organic and donor approved.” Megan tells him.
“I'm fine, I really don't have much of a sweet tooth, the claim didn't change that. Even my dietitian tells me I'm safe to eat more sugar than I prefer. I really do prefer to eat an extra salad than a cake.”
“He's not lying. I can smell it.” Oliver emerges from the tent, a bit red around the mouth. Megan blanches and Tom quickly escorts him to the washroom, mostly to make sure the sinks are not left a hazard. He knows what he was like at eighteen.
“Are you truly willing to play tonight?” Oliver was roped in fast and Tom wants to check.
“Oh yes. I love music, but not for the music, I love it for how it makes people react. The studio is amazing, they turn my music into life when they dance. Then earlier, I think she gave me every emotion for a few tunes. Music was the one thing I held onto, I'm lucky to live in a house of musical people and to get to work with it. My therapist has moved me to monthly sessions because of it.”
“Already, that's fast?” His understanding was that for vampires with significant self harm or suicidal ideation the VTC had a minimum of weekly visits for two years.
“Yes. I don't think I wanted to die, not really, not like some of the vampires at the VTC do. I just had to escape. It was like jail, I was dying where I was. Now I'm alive and I can grow. It's not easy, school is hard and learning about humans and how to look after myself correctly are both very hard. But everyday there's music and singing and joy. I did group therapy and they asked us all to try and think of things that made life worth carrying on. Some people had nothing, I had eighteen things. I think, perhaps, if I didn't have Phil and his family, or if I'd not found my job things wouldn't be as good even if I wasn't at the factory anymore. But I do, and we have you and Mav and the law is fine now. I don't have any more reasons to be jumping and Phil has children. We have to be responsible.” Oliver nods decisively as he finishes. He smells firm, resolved under happiness. He's not just riding a high, he really has closed the door on that option.
“Oliver, I'm proud of you. You've worked very hard to make the most of this new chance. You are a good vampire.” Tom pulls him in for a hug. The teen clings for a minute and then melts. How much difference can six months make in life? None of them are really the same people they were when they first met that rainy November weekend.
They go back to their campsite. Everyone seems to be relaxing.
“Are we not going to do the walking trails?” That had been the plan.
“Tigger's asleep.” Mav tells him, a quick peek through the tent confirms it, a flick of his senses tell him Nicholas is as well, although he's curled with a book so Mav's not noticed it.
“You said they were up in the night?” Megan murmurs.
“Yes, they got cold, these air bed things do not insulate from below. You can speak normally though.”
They wind up playing Monopoly of all things, using coins to make up extra pieces and Sasha teamed up with him since she's never played before. It fills the time until the boys wake up full of bounce and raring to go.
The hiking trail is another short drive, without the children they could walk to all of these places, but Peter is still only five, so it is better to move him closer to the things he needs to experience. There's a cabin that is not that impressive given Tom's own, but it has some plaques with information so he makes his elder children practice their reading. When they make it to the petroglyphs he, Mav, and Phil by turns read the stories from the new book. It breaks up the walking. They get more done than expected because all three teenagers think giving the little ones piggybacks is hilarious. Sasha is delighted, as the eldest she always had to walk whilst he and Mav carried the boys.
After a successful trip they return to the campsite. Tom goes to supervise the children, Oliver, Sam, and Ashley swimming. Mav, Megan and Phil work on dinner. Sasha and Nicholas enjoy the river, playing on the tubes with the older teens. Peter jumps in full of excitement, then shrieks and comes running over.
“Cold!” Tom wraps his son in a towel.
“Yes, rivers are normally colder than the lake. It's still safe.” He rubs his back. Peter is not to be moved, wrapping around him and clinging on. Tom gets him into dry shorts and a shirt. By the time he's got Peter's shoes on his youngest is happy to go poking about on the shore line whilst the others play. He keeps an eye on the time, calling them all out in time to shower before dinner. It works out well, Ashley is with Sasha just in case and both boys are happy to play in the warm water. Tom wraps Sasha’s hair in a turban afterwards since there's no hairdryers and they go to see what's for dinner.
Mav has warmed formula for Tom and the children, Tom sips his idly, he's not that bothered, the children are more appreciative. For the humans, it's the stove top version of Mav's chilli. His pet prefers to do large batches in the slow cooker but it can be done on the stove as needed. There's both rice, and homemade wedges, as well as commercial nachos. Mav being Mav there's a good range of toppings as well. Tom has some on a plate and the children have guacamole and sour cream on their lick mats.
When Oliver reappears from feeding Megan hands him a small bowl of sour cream which gets a shy smile. Oliver has mentioned in their telephone conversations that he likes it. Tom has a small dish of chilli that Mav's clearly mashed up as much as possible and picked the beans out of. He stirs his sour cream and guacamole into it and eats it with great care, washing down each small mouthful with formula. He is quite stuffed and he probably only ate half a cup full, eating solid food is an adventure, they have taken to going out to lunch spots since a bowl of chicken noodle soup is now within his gift. It makes Mav smell so stupidly soft and happy that it is worth feeling like a bloated hippopotamus every couple of months.
Megan and Oliver have to leave promptly for the wedding but the rest of the group stays sitting at the table and nibbling.
“Dad, can we have wedges like this at home? They taste better than the frozen ones.” Sam remarks, scooping up the last of them.
“Yeah, they're not terribly hard. Mav has given me a recipe book that I think he needs to publish if I'm honest. I can show you how to make them as well. It's just a few spices, some oil, cooking them on a mesh tray, and whacking the oven up at the end.” Phil sounds perplexed.
“There's some nuance in choosing potatoes as well, for wedges you want the kind that bakes well. It's in the book, and a different spice blend for sweet potato wedges as well. Tom got me into cooking really. Unless you want a fancy dinner to impress someone, we both figured out that batch cooking things that you can put together a bunch of different ways works better. That's most of what the notes are. This chilli recipe, especially the slow cooker version with the squash and lentils in,”
“Lentils and squash don't go in chilli, it's just beef, beans, onion and spices.” Ashley buts in.
Mav gives her a flat look. “Until you're short on cash. The meal you ate tonight needed twenty dollars of organic ground beef, and it fed five of us, say six given Tom had a bit and Sam had seconds. If I add the lentils and double the spices, I can feed twelve for only five dollars more. Lentils are both a protein and a vegetable. Squash reduces the amount of tomatoes to a level a vampire will enjoy. Anyway, however you make it, you can serve chilli in a cup with toppers, or over rice, fries, wedges, nachos, or a baked potato. You can make tacos, or burritos, or half and half it into soup for a solid lunch. That's loads of meal options for one main ingredient. Most folks eat to live, and if you're busy having frozen chilli in the freezer is a quick meal that's still safe. Have a look at the frozen burritos as well, Glen put me onto them, they're a doddle to make, and microwave in two minutes just like the store bought ones but way more tasty.”
Ashley has the look of a child whose worldview is changing. “What about breakfast burritos though, eggs go weird if you freeze them.”
Mav smiles again. “Crack them in a bowl, scramble them a little, season, then pour them thinly onto a sheet pan and bake them. A third of an inch thick is plenty. Bake them in the oven and slice them into rectangles to fold the burrito around, put the cheese on one side and the bacon on the other. From what I can tell they go weird if they get ice in them so wrapping them like that keeps them dry.”
“Well it's worth a try. I miss McMuffins.” Phil mutters.
Mav snorts. “Same recipe but put it on an English muffin, whole foods sell them in the bakery and even Tom lets me buy them. You just have to make seasoned pork patties the way my recipe says for burgers, probably with less meat per pattie, there's a note about it in the book.”
“Or buy sausages.” Phil mutters.
“Sausages are an abomination.” Tom interjects sternly.
Mav laughs, cheeky pet. “I highly advise that you never let Oliver watch any part of how it's made that involves food. It upsets vampires terribly.”
Tom hisses at him,Mav is getting a spanking once they're home.
“What do vampires watch on TV? Oliver never had it before so I've been showing him all the good movies.” Sam asks.
It sets the children off with a long list of things. Whilst there's vampire news channels, and vampire TV packages Tom advises that Phil only get the most sensible news channel added as everything else is bureau propaganda. Working, for all it's improved his health, has slowed down Oliver's academic education and Tom thinks it'll be best to keep him away from the bureau, even neutered as it currently is, until he can recognise what he's seeing.
Their evening is very relaxed, Megan messages that she and Oliver have been invited to the reception and that they'll be back later. The children run about until it is dark, then play board games in the RV. Tom stays to supervise, Mav's off with Phil chatting about something or other.
Getting the children to be proves to be a bit emotional. They have to be up early in the morning to break camp, Sasha doesn't want to sleep yet. Peter cries because he's scared of getting cold again, forcing Tom to change for bed now as well. He settles Sasha with a book, making sure she still has her comforter folded around her. Then makes up their bed with one comforter below and another and the blankets on top,making sure the children all keep their socks on since according to his pet cold feet are horrible.
The boys drop off easily laying at his sides. Camping is rubbish and they're definitely not doing anymore of it in cold places. He minds it less when they sleep out at the cabin, mostly because it tends to be when he's alone with Mav and he's already had enough fun that his pet turning into a caterpillar is fine. Mav sleeping on the other side of the tent because his boys can't stay warm sucks. Perhaps he should have brought a snack in here?
He can hear Mav and Phil talking if he listens carefully, more about being claimed and venom highs and how they can feel very strange in many different ways. A good thing for the two to talk about. Mav's disparaging comments not so much, his pet needs a spanking. His pet almost always needs one these days if Tom is honest with himself, he's too uppity by far. Except, spanking doesn't really work like that and shouldn't be used like that in healthy human relationships. Perhaps Mav needs a spanking because the endorphins coupled with an orgasm leave him relaxed and it gets the itch out of Tom's senses to have a nice whimpering wriggly pet. Take that Art! It is very satisfying even in his own head to come up with things the therapist can't argue with him about. He falls asleep trying to come up with a reason why he should be allowed to make Mav be naked when the weather is warm enough, his pet keeps wearing shirts at home these days.