Jaycee's Blog - Sat, Jan 6 (Patreon)

It's an odd life being on the run and living in the streets, but with Tarantina no doubt hunting me down, I don't have much of a choice. So while I did go to a few homeless shelters, I've found what I think is a better solution. I saved up some cash and got myself a small van. I use it  to move around and since I don't spend my days in it, it's only sleep time that I have to limit to 8 hours (to be safe). After that, there's a risk I'll be detected by Tarantina, so I need to move on.

My life feels pretty surreal after the ups and downs it's had over the decade-and-a-half since a faerie (Attitude) moved in with me. At first, I was just my shy self, then there was constant embarrassment and humiliation. Mandy returned into my life, Brooke got transformed into a chick, and a bunch of people came and went (though Brooke and Jennifer always stuck around). Then came the time Attitude and Minx got captured by the Coterie, which led to another set of adventures.

Minx, as you know, perished at the hands of the Coterie, but Brooke and I managed to rescue Attitude and three other faeries, who moved in with me. They had some fun with me, going so far as to order me a life-sized doll (Sophie) that became "alive" through some magic. We eventually met Priya, who worked at City Hall for a Coterie-connected politician. That was, what, three years ago? We took down that politician and Attitude decided to accompany her, leaving me with the other three faeries.

One body swap later, and I found myself swapping bodies with Brooke, who lived in Montreal. (Brooke was female at the time, though that's since worn off.) None of the faeries admitted to doing this, but I'm pretty certain they're lying. At any rate, as female Brooke, I ran into my old boss Morgan Reiss, and finally discovered who/what was behind her odd behavior at the time (and still presently): a dark faerie named Tarantina.

The Tarantina days, if you haven't read about those yet, were pretty traumatic. I'd rather not relive them; you can go read my old blog entries for yourself. At any rate, it was Attitude who showed up to save the day. Tarantina, it turned out, was her mother, and Attitude knew her true name. Thanks to her, I was able to "subdue" Tarantina, but it required a monthly ritual to be performed precisely at full moon, which takes us to...now.

Now I live in a van, doing odd jobs when and where I can get them. On the bright side, it doesn't cost very much to live in a van (though it's really not very comfortable), so I'm making ends meet. But I do miss the days when I had unlimited wealth and power thanks to Tarantina's magic. I'm not sure if some of you ever saw these old shows from the 1970s, or 1980s, The Incredible Hulk or Stairway to Heaven? They feature this lone wandering hero who moves from town to town each episode, doing some good where they can.

That's kind of my life right now, minus the "doing some good" since I try to stay out of sight. Except last week, I was caught up in some mugging in an obscure little town in the Eastern Counties (I'll keep the name to myself in case Tarantina is reading this blog). A bunch of rowdy patrons at a bar were messing with a waitress after her shift. My van was parked in the parking lot (with permission of the owner against a small fee), so I heard the ruckus. I got out. There were six drunk guys trying to mess with her. Big burly guys, probably 50 lbs over me each. But thanks to my recent training and my tattoos, I've gotten pretty good at delivering blows and taking the pain, so it only took me a minute or two to knock them down.

Of course, the barmaid was thankful. She meant well when she told her story to the local media, who came hunting for me. I heard they were looking for me and took off like the roadrunner before they found me.

I figured it was time to recap everything (at a high level) that's happened to me in the almost-fourteen years since I started this blog (holy crap, I feel old!). Not all readers have been around this long and read all the backlog, so now you're up to date.

Happy New Year everyone!

--Jaycee