JP - Muting the TV

“Yeah…” Tzeitel fiddled with the remote, putting on the closed captions and muting the TV. They could still read what that bastard was saying, but at least they did not have to hear his voice. “If only I could do that in real life.” Tzeitel sighed, dipping an eggroll in plum sauce.

“If you want to take someone like him down you need a scandal” Alex shrugged “you kill him now you make him a martyr, however you reveal his dark dirty laundry first then you did the world a favor.”

“Like what? That he’s a meta? He’s already openly using his powers in public on national television.” Tzeitel said.

“Every politician has a dirty secret” Alex replied “dead hooker, secretly gay,stolen money, ect.”

“With him I don’t think it will matter.” Tzeitel said. “Not with what his powers seem to do.”

“What’s the full extent of his powers?” Riley asked,

“I don’t know, but he’s got that whole crowd hanging on his every word. No one else is going after him, or even mentioning how he’s so obviously meta.” Tzeitel said.

“Some sort of mind control or mental suggestion then” Riley muttered “I’ve encountered metas like that but to do it on such a massive scale.”

“Yeah… Kind of alarming how people who aren’t physically near him seem to be eating his bullshit too.” Tzeitel said.

“Still if we do move against him we’re going to have to be careful “ Alex replied grabbing his sketch book.

“Yeah… But still, a bullet to the head is a bullet to the head. It’s not like he has powers like Canestone.” Tzeitel pointed out.

“He has people that would take the bullet for him…” Cody muttered.

“One step at a time” Riley replied “for now we gotta find a safe place to hunker down.”

Tzeitel missed her cottage, but had grown used to their nomadic lifestyle. “We can always hide in the Appalachians again.”

“What about the Appalachians?” Klaire asked as she and the twins returned. Both kids pounced onto Cody and Amber, stealing hugs from them before pouncing on Ami for the same things.

Ami squeaked, trying to hold her plate where it would be safe from the twins while she hugged them back.

“Trying to think of where to go next” Riley replied “how are the others?”

Leon stole a piece of food and ran off, laughing as he returned to Klaire. “Hey!” Lotus huffed and stuck her tongue out at him. “Butt head!”

“Stop fighting,” Klaire warned with a growl and the children calmed almost instantly. Looking at Riley, she nodded. “They’re doing well. James is mostly resting at the moment - still recovering from our last fight with those MegaCorp thugs. Megan says he should be fine with time…”

“Is uncle James gonna be okay? Really?” Amber asked as she sat up properly.

“Of course he is “ Riley replied giving his daughter a smile “it’ll take a lot to keep him down.”

“Have you eaten anything yet, Klaire?” Tzeitel asked, changing the subject to keep Amber from worrying. She got up from the couch to go back to the food.

“Yeah, I ate a little earlier before coming into the room.” Klaire said calmly. “It’s why I told Riley not to worry about getting me and the kids anything. Leon is just a little bit of a pig.”

Leon just grinned proudly.

Amber nodded slowly to Riley and nibbled on some food given to her.

“Well, he’s growing.” Tzeitel said, finding a teriyaki beef and a teriyaki chicken- each on a stick and handing one to each twin.

Piritta was quietly off to the side, texting somebody.

"It's theorized that most metas have a higher metabolism than base humans so we tend to eat more" Alex replied staring at his sketchbook. On the open page was a woman with wolf ears and tail smiling as she was surrounded by nature. Touching his neck he sighed before closing the book. "I'm going to get some fresh air," he said, heading outside.

Tzeitel was not so sure of that, she suspected she ate less than at least most of the metas she knew - which probably had more to do with her anxiety than her metabolism. Ami seemed to have a healthy appetite though, she sat with her plate in her lap on the floor with her solitaire spread out before her. Tzeitel wished she could give her a more stable home, but Ami was much happier than Tzeitel was as a kid. Especially at that age, Tzeitel had been the same age when her parents sold her to MegaCorp. It brought back a lot of memories. Tzeitel went over to Ami and smoothed her hair.

Leon and Lotus thanked Tzeitel for the food and happily ate like the pups they were while Klaire kept an eye on them.

If Tzeitel was not spoiling her godchildren she felt like she was failing. She took another beef teriyaki on a stick and tossed it to Klaire.

Klaire caught the stick and set it on a clean plate, not quite hungry at the moment. “Thank you,” She said.

“Be careful.” Tzeitel fretted at Cody as he left with Alex, smoothing his hair. She turned to Klaire, still in fussing mode. “You’re not getting sick, are you?”

“No,” Klaire said with a kind smile. “I simply ate before we came in here. The twins eat a lot more than I do.” It was true, the twins were always hungry, which was how she had been as a child.

Tzeitel fretted and touched Klaire’s forehead to make sure she was not running a fever.