Boomer: Afterthoughts
Boomer struggled to make out her reflection in the foggy mirror. Her hair was dripping scalding water down her back. The air was saturated with steam and heat. She hit the switch that turned on the fan and pulled a towel around her long dreadlocks. She took another towel and loosely wrapped it around her body. A final hand towel went to the mirror to clear the fog. She stared into her own slate grey eyes and sighed.
She’d slept on it. She’d thought about it. She’d asked her son about it. She’d slept on it again. There were two things that bothered her about her conversation with Sol. The first was that Sol was right. Change could not be made from the outside, well, it could. The problem was she had come to realize the Lex itself was not what she took the most umbrage with; it was the interpretation and use of the Lex that bugged her out. Her opinion on which would mean jack and shit to most of the city’s mages until she signed on the dotted line. Months of biting back biting words and she realized it was futile.
Oh well. There was nothing to it, she’d just have to sign the Lex, but not before she talked to Brigade. Brigade got to sweat for his inability to control his tongue. She’d test his mettle as an honorable man before too long.
The second thing that bothered her had been a concept that took longer to wrap her head around. It had started with little things, but came to head the other night while out and about in Orlando. Even then it took something End had said about the cigars he’d smoked that made Boomer realize the problem. Solomon had promised to give End a chance to be someone different and was failing miserably at the task. Sol often harped about the person End “has always been” but truth be told he can’t know End because he’s never met End.
Problems and troubles. Issue with the Consillium that she’d tried so hard to avoid. The problem was, she felt like she owed them something. Like they were a cute little kindergarten Consillium with some older and wiser fifth graders trying to keep the little ones from putting gum in each other’s hair. There are personality conflicts, temper tantrums, and arbitrary rules calls that the most tried kindergarten teacher might retire over. Yet she wanted to help. She wanted to make things better for them.
She sighed and pulled open the bathroom door. Steam followed her out into the hallway. The sound of giggling flowed out from the living room and panic overtook her. She’d left the baby asleep on the bed in her bedroom with the baby monitor. She ran to the living room barely aware of the falling towel which she held loosely in place with one hand. In a matter of seconds she willed her eyes to see into Twilight and view the spirits she knew were all around her. Rounding the corner of the hallway the mother wolf that always followed their sons was sitting at the end of the hall watching placidly.
Finally the boy came into view. He stood solitary in the middle of the room, far from any furniture or foreign object that might prop him up. Next to him was the pup. They both stood on two feet. The pup fell forward and trotted to his mother. The boy’s head turned and his legs waivered but he stood upright. Boomer moved around the wolves and towards her son. The boy took two tentative steps in the wrong direction and tried to turn his body, but the attempt at coordination was more that he could accommodate. He fell onto his butt with a squish. Boomer shook her head and he crawled over to her.
“Silly boy.” She squatted down next to him, her head towel having slipped back almost entirely. She pulled it off and draped it around her son. “You need a shower and a diaper changed stinky butt.” The child’s eyes just sparkled up at his mother. The smile on his face was like sunshine. She picked him up. “I knew there was a reason I called you Bedlam. Congratulations sweetie, you can walk now.”
They walked back towards the bathroom.
She’d slept on it. She’d thought about it. She’d asked her son about it. She’d slept on it again. There were two things that bothered her about her conversation with Sol. The first was that Sol was right. Change could not be made from the outside, well, it could. The problem was she had come to realize the Lex itself was not what she took the most umbrage with; it was the interpretation and use of the Lex that bugged her out. Her opinion on which would mean jack and shit to most of the city’s mages until she signed on the dotted line. Months of biting back biting words and she realized it was futile.
Oh well. There was nothing to it, she’d just have to sign the Lex, but not before she talked to Brigade. Brigade got to sweat for his inability to control his tongue. She’d test his mettle as an honorable man before too long.
The second thing that bothered her had been a concept that took longer to wrap her head around. It had started with little things, but came to head the other night while out and about in Orlando. Even then it took something End had said about the cigars he’d smoked that made Boomer realize the problem. Solomon had promised to give End a chance to be someone different and was failing miserably at the task. Sol often harped about the person End “has always been” but truth be told he can’t know End because he’s never met End.
Problems and troubles. Issue with the Consillium that she’d tried so hard to avoid. The problem was, she felt like she owed them something. Like they were a cute little kindergarten Consillium with some older and wiser fifth graders trying to keep the little ones from putting gum in each other’s hair. There are personality conflicts, temper tantrums, and arbitrary rules calls that the most tried kindergarten teacher might retire over. Yet she wanted to help. She wanted to make things better for them.
She sighed and pulled open the bathroom door. Steam followed her out into the hallway. The sound of giggling flowed out from the living room and panic overtook her. She’d left the baby asleep on the bed in her bedroom with the baby monitor. She ran to the living room barely aware of the falling towel which she held loosely in place with one hand. In a matter of seconds she willed her eyes to see into Twilight and view the spirits she knew were all around her. Rounding the corner of the hallway the mother wolf that always followed their sons was sitting at the end of the hall watching placidly.
Finally the boy came into view. He stood solitary in the middle of the room, far from any furniture or foreign object that might prop him up. Next to him was the pup. They both stood on two feet. The pup fell forward and trotted to his mother. The boy’s head turned and his legs waivered but he stood upright. Boomer moved around the wolves and towards her son. The boy took two tentative steps in the wrong direction and tried to turn his body, but the attempt at coordination was more that he could accommodate. He fell onto his butt with a squish. Boomer shook her head and he crawled over to her.
“Silly boy.” She squatted down next to him, her head towel having slipped back almost entirely. She pulled it off and draped it around her son. “You need a shower and a diaper changed stinky butt.” The child’s eyes just sparkled up at his mother. The smile on his face was like sunshine. She picked him up. “I knew there was a reason I called you Bedlam. Congratulations sweetie, you can walk now.”
They walked back towards the bathroom.