Game was 3/27/21.
William, Josh, and Mick enter Cooley Dickinson hospital to track down the good Doctor Ranjip. Josh considers the doctor's emotional state and tells William, "I think you should take the lead here. Mick and I will be there to help, but out of all of us you have the most in common with him." William grudgingly agrees and they decide to start their search by simply going to his office. The three men head that way and note with varying levels of concern how the staff at CDH no longer challenges them in any way.1)
Doctor Ranjip is in his office and he looks up and stares at them when they enter. William asks how he is doing; Doctor Ranjip just shrugs and then says, "I'm guessing this is Josh's idea and he told you to take the lead." William nods and they realize that right now Doctor Ranjip's first name is 'Doctor,' not Amar. The good doctor alludes to their shared dream or memory and then looks away for a moment to compose himself before he turns back and asks William softly, "Was that your wife?" William replies simply, "Yes." Doctor Ranjip then says, "I am sorry. I know the pain of unexpected memories."
Doctor Ranjip goes silent for a few moments before he seemingly makes a decision; he announces, "As you know, when I am stressed, I cook. Does anyone have Thanksgiving plans?" William shakes his head while Mick shrugs and Josh admits, "I just assumed that everyone would just show up." William sighs but Doctor Ranjip snickers and then says, "Very well then. I will host Thanksgiving tomorrow at my place. Invite everyone, even Anita and her relatives. I have to perform surgery in an hour and depending on how that goes I'll be leaving at 4:00 or 5:00 o'clock and then heading straight home. Are we still planning on going to Cummington tonight?"
William nods and Doctor Ranjip adds, "Were you going to call them this time?" William shrugs and deadpans, "Maybe?" Josh groans but realizes he can't call ahead on his grandfather's behalf as he doesn't actually have the number. Doctor Ranjip snorts and then says, "This time, why doesn't everyone meet at my place in Haydenville, since it's on Route 9 on the way to Cummington anyway. Once there we can play musical cars. Shall we say 7:00 o'clock tonight?" William, Mick, and Josh consider the offer and realize it's a good idea, so they nod in agreement. Doctor Ranjip grunts and then tells them, "Excellent. Now get out. I need to eat before I crack open someone's chest."
William, Josh, and Mick go their separate ways; Mick returns to work while Josh and William drive home. Once there, Josh hops out and heads to his Ford Explorer. Before he goes anywhere, he calls Anita and tells her, "Doctor Ranjip is hosting Thanksgiving tomorrow!" Anita retorts, "We had Thanksgiving Day plans?" Josh grins and says, "We do now! And Doctor Ranjip told us to invite you and Del and Abuela!" Anita immediately replies, "Fuck yes! That will be fun… for me." They say their goodbyes and then Josh sends a group text to the entire cell informing them not only tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner plans, but also the plan for tonight where people would all meet at Doctor Ranjip's home for seven o'clock.
Josh drives away to head to Springfield and William sits and enjoys the solitude for about twenty minutes before he realizes he doesn't know what to do with himself. He decides that he's actually going to call the cult ahead of time and fishes out his hell-phone. Apparently, the phone is now in perfect working order now that Veltis is back on his feet, so as soon as William taps the power button, the phone asks, - in Josh's most annoying voice - "Who are you trying to call?" William grumbles at the technology but states, "Merat Su." Josh's voice announces gleefully, "Calling the mummy sex cult!"
The phone rings twice before someone picks up and William hears Marisol's voice as she says, "Hello, Mr. Troy?" William greets her and says, "We'd like to stop by again tonight. I've received information directly from Kef-Ahmekh that we've believe you should know immediately." There is stunned silence for a few seconds before Marisol replies, "What time should we expect you?" William explains, "We are gathering at Doctor Ranjip's home in Haydenville for seven, so I think 7:30?"
Marisol states, "7:30 is fine. Will she need to be awake?" William considers the question carefully and then says, "For this, maybe not. Oh, do you know how to get ahold of Deathwalker? We have Hakim's info, so we're good there. We're getting the meret back together!" There is the unmistakable sound of an exasperated cult member slamming her head into the wall in frustration before Marisol replies, "Do we need to have them here tonight?" Again, William considers the question carefully before replying, "Eventually." Marisol retorts through gritted teeth, "Tonight, or later?" William says, "Later. Let's do that." Marisol sighs and then asks, "Is there anything else you need?" William replies, "Nothing I can think of." Marisol grunts and jokes, "Boris will be thrilled to see you, and he may even call up this time." William laughs and says his goodbyes. With that out of the way William then spends the rest of the afternoon relaxing.
At Leta's apartment, she, Abby, and Veltis are just hanging out when Veltis's phone rings. He picks it up and then has a conversation in rapid-fire Punjabi before he hangs up. He announces, "We shall be staying at Chateau Ranjip tonight… and that description doesn't work due to the very different accents. Regardless, he's asked me to help him cook Thanksgiving dinner for tomorrow." Leta jokes, "He just wants access to your spice collection. He covets them!" Veltis shrugs and replies, "He covets my spices and I covet his cooking skills. This arrangement works for me, and honestly he has the most space so he can host all of us comfortably." Leta crabs, "He doesn't even use all that space!" Abby interjects, "Yeah, he told us himself. The house, like the Audi, he picked up because of appearances, not because he actually cares." Leta grunts in acknowledgement and then heads into her room to pack a bag. Veltis and Abby do the same, and then they return to the living room to hang out.
Leta realizes this is the perfect time to check in with the Lucifuge, so she picks up her phone and calls Milan. Whoever picks up communicates with squishy noises, so Leta says, "Good afternoon, Bob. Or good night, whatever." She talks to Bob for a few minutes, although she gets nothing but more schlorping noises, and then guesses, "They let you answer the phone because you like pushing the buttons, don't you?" She gets along wet shlorp in reply and then Bob transfers her to Giuseppe.
Giuseppe greets her briskly and asks, "Any progress with the vampires?" Leta replies cheerfully, "Nope! Although we did find out there was one in Hadley, a vampire named Pedro. That's not really a vampire name. But I have an update on Veltis, he's mostly back and recovered." Giuseppe says shrewdly, "He did something dickish, I assume?" Leta grumbles, "To me. He did it to me! That's not fair, we're supposed to team up and do the dickish things to other people!" Oh yeah, I met more wizards. Mages… whatever. They're all bitches with their Harry Potter shit. So, we got into the middle of a small wizards' war and then something else happened. You know how werewolves can frenzy?"
Giuseppe snaps, "What did you do?" Leta replies proudly, "So when a werewolf frenzies there's a chance the rest of his or her pack will also frenzy. And we're part of the pack. So, one of them frenzied last night, and then I turned into a hellhound! I don't remember much of it because I was a hellhound, but I think at one point Veltis was riding me?" Veltis yells from the other side of the couch, "That's five minutes that I definitely remember!" Leta continues, "So, that all happened. I don't want to get involved in mage politics anymore." Giuseppe retorts, "That's the first sensible thing you said so far."
Leta ignores the sarcasm and continues, "Yeah, once I got the mage back that I needed, we went back inside and then there was some wizard shit, straight out of The Craft. She was there to fulfill her favor to Management." Giuseppe asks, "Management? What's that?" Leta says breezily, "They're some sort of supernatural power brokers out here in Massachusetts. They do favors for favors. Actually, they could be us if we were organized… and grew up. So yeah, Josh met up with them, and I think we owe them an apology for Josh, but that mage got in, did her Craft shit, and Veltis was mostly sane afterwards. Oh, another thing! Management slapped a travel advisory to western Massachusetts because of the stryx. So, we're here, trying to do all research and stuff, but then Josh finds out that the stryx is actually us! It's an acronym for us, the pack, and the Springfield krewe. This means there's no bird monsters!"
Giuseppe mutters darkly, "Not necessarily. Ask Veltis about the 1600s someday. You said there was some big thing after that?" Leta replies, "Oh yeah! I almost forgot to tell you that the Malleus Maleficarum has moved in two doors away from William!" Giuseppe howls, "What?" Leta continues cheerfully, "Yeah, they are here but they haven't contacted us yet. So, I don't know what's going on with that. Oh, I had a dream last night, where I met my family! My grandfather and apparently, I have aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews. So that was fun!"
Giuseppe sputters, "Anything else, else?" Leta replies, "Nope! Oh wait, we're going to go see the mummy sex cult tonight. Mummies, no daddies!" Giuseppe replies simply, "Goodnight," and hangs up. Leta turns to Veltis and crows, "I think I really got him this time!" Veltis stares at her and replies, "Do you realize what you just did?" Leta frowns and shakes her head, so Veltis continues, "That bit with the Malleus Maleficarum? And your family? This means the Lady coming here!" Leta whispers, "Oh, shit." Veltis adds sarcastically, "Likely, she'll be here for Christmas! Should we warn William?" Leta concedes, "That would be the nice thing to do. And Joshua will pee himself with joy." Abby groans, "Goddamnit!"
Josh pulls up to the Perez-Montoya household at 2:00 o'clock in the afternoon. Del spots him from upstairs and bolts to the front door to open it for him. She says coyly, "Hello, Josh," as she steps aside to let him in. Josh replies, "Hi!" as he enters. He sees Abuela in her recliner, so he takes his coat off and hangs it up in the closet before he looks at them both. He realizes that Del wants to drag him upstairs and do bad things, but then Abuela growls, "Why the fuck are you here, white boy?"
Josh realizes he's about to enter the lion's den and gestures to an empty chair. Abuela raises her eyebrow but says nothing else, so Josh takes that as tacit permission. He settles in and Abuela crabs, "One of them has you checking on me?" Josh replies honestly, "Yeah. They're worried about you. I'm just here to check on you and make sure you're okay. Some shit's heavy, and you don't have to talk about anything. But I'm here." Abuela growls, "You can go home now." Josh replies, "Oh I will, eventually." He susses her out and realizes that under her bluster, Abuela is very rattled and nearly broken. She's functioning now on spite, denial, and William-level stubbornness.2)
Josh decides to keep things grounded to start with and he tells Abuela, "You have fed us some amazing food, which we definitely appreciate. One of our friends is also a pretty good cook and he's hosting Thanksgiving tomorrow and you and Del are invited alongside Anita. It would be amazing if you could join us and enjoy his spice levels." Abuela demands, "Who was doing the cooking?" Josh replies, "Doctor Ranjip." Abuela's eyes narrow as she asks, "Is it going to be a traditional Thanksgiving dinner? Or some spicy Indian food?"
Josh admits, "I don't know, we just made the point a few hours ago, if that. If you want, I can call him and ask, and if there's something you want, I can pass that along; he may take requests." Smirking, Abuela rattles off a list of six Puerto Rican dishes. Josh scribbles them down quickly and then hands his phone to Abuela and asks, "Did I spell them close enough?"3)
Abuela works at the list on Josh's phone and frowns in annoyance, as Josh got them all right. She hands him back his phone with a grunt, so Josh texts the requests to Doctor Ranjip and to Veltis. He immediately gets an autoreply from Doctor Ranjip stating that he is in surgery, so he tells Abuela and Del, "He's performing surgery now, so he may not see the request for a couple of hours." Abuela asks, "What kind of doctor is he?" Josh replies, "He's technically a generalist, but he's amazing and does a lot of jobs at Cooley Dickinson."
Del interrupts, "Wait, is this the same doctor I met in Noho?" Josh nods and replies, "Yes." Del turns to Abuela and declares, "We're going!" Abuela is taken aback by Del's forcefulness, but she accepts the offer. Del jokes, "Great! Should we tell Anita?" Abuela retorts, "Of course we tell her; she's going to be the one driving us!"
Now that a rapport has been established, Josh focuses on talking about food, to establish normal things. After almost an hour, Josh gently steers the conversation back to Abuela's health. He reinforces, "It's okay to just sit, as long as whatever it is isn't damaging to Del or Anita." Abuela evades the statement but then starts talking about the botanica. Josh settles in happily, as he's definitely interested. Abuela talks about the history of the botanica, how she was raised there, and when she took it over. She starts talking about all the things she had to learn quickly when she took the botanica from her parents, and Josh notes how her eyes flicker between him and Del. After several minutes of this, Abuela's speech changes, although she likely doesn't realize it. She is now openly telling Del about the botanica, and when she was previously saying, "I had to learn this," she is now insisting, "You have to learn this!"
Del starts to look panicked and then Abuela blurts out, "It's you. It's up to you. You have to carry the bloodline; you have to take the botanica. Anita is dead! She's dead and Carlos is dead!" She starts crying and screaming in rapid-fire Spanish. Josh understands her completely, which although useful makes him deeply uncomfortable. Abuela switches to Spanish and German and tells Del, "This has to happen soon! I don't have much time left!"
Abuela lets out a keening cry and her breathing is very jagged, but she struggles to wind down. Josh turns to Del and says softly, "You don't need to answer now, but you need her right now, and she needs you." Del continues to look stricken for a moment before she leans forward, and the two women hug fiercely. Then Del loses it, which ironically helps Abuela shift her concentration to comforting her!
Josh slips out of the living room and into the kitchen. He pours two tall glasses of water and then returns to the living room to surreptitiously place one each by Abuela and Del, counting them as hydration supplies. He then returns to the kitchen and searches through the fridge for any leftovers that he can warm up. He figures Abuela is in no shape to cook tonight, and he smiles when he finds leftover meatloaf in a Tupperware container. Josh putters around the kitchen and starts reheating the meatloaf in the oven. He then cleans all of the dishes in the sink, and once that's done, he realizes it's time for him to bounce.
Josh slips back into the living room and says softly, "There's meatloaf in the oven. I'm going to go and let you to talk. Again, if there's anything I can do to help, please let me know." He grabs his jacket from the closet while the two women converse in rapid-fire Spanish and then he hears a car pull up and the car's engine shutting off.
Josh slides out of the house to intercept the person coming up the steps; it's a middle aged, slightly pudgy Caucasian man in a cheap suit, although the man is driving an expensive Cadillac! The man rears back in surprise when he sees Josh but then he frowns and asks, "You're Joshua Troy aren't you?" Josh nods so the man relaxes and says, "My name is Randall Crowe, I'm the Perez-Montoya family account. I bring some 'good' news that they need to be aware of."
Josh says softly but firmly, "Now is not a good time; they are dealing with some family stuff." Randall Crowe hesitates before he looks both ways down the street in such a manner that he assumes is subtle, but Josh realizes is blatantly obvious. Apparently convinced the coast is clear, Randall Crowe turns back to Josh and says quietly, "The Springfield Police Department is dropping all charges against Del."
Josh eyes the strange accountant and says slowly, "That sounds… good." Randall Crowe stares at him for a moment and then replies sardonically, "You're not from Springfield, are you?" Josh takes no offense and shakes his head, so Randall explains, "My younger brother, Tobias, is a lawyer. He's actually the Perez-Montoya family lawyer. He was also the family spokesman until you took that job." Josh shrugs helplessly but Randall assures him, "No, he doesn't mind. In fact, we were both impressed by how well you handled the police and the media after Carlos's body was found. Tobias was approached by the District Attorney this afternoon with this offer."
Josh asks softly, "What's the other shoe?" Randall grimaces and says, "The SPD want to keep cashing in on the 'Carlos is a hero' story. This is going to likely be a favor for a favor set up, and the SPD wants to keep the family indebted to them."4) Josh considers the implications quickly and then cracks open the door and says, "Mr. Crowe is here with good news." Abuela replies in a voice thick with emotion, "Deal with it." Josh shuts the door and turns back to Randall Crowe, who recoils at the sound of Abuela's tone. Josh says quietly, "Family stuff, remember? Maybe you should go tell Anita this." Randall bobs his head in agreement and practically races to his Cadillac.
As Randall Crowe drives away, Josh calls Anita. At this point it's just before 5:00 PM, which is closing time, but Anita picks up the phone and says, "Hello?" Josh replies, "Hi! I've been over with Abuela and Del, they're getting to where they need to be, so that went well actually, but they're both messed up emotionally. However, I want to warn you that Mr. Crowe is heading over to talk to you about Del's case. Sorry, the not-lawyer bro.
Anita demands, "Wait, what happened to* Abuela?" Josh replies honestly,"I think she's reckoning with everything that's going on and it finally hit her." Anita asks tersely, "On a scale of 1 to 10, how much emotional shit am I walking into?"* Josh says, "About a 13, honestly. But here's the other shoe, Del's case is getting dropped." Anita replies, "Huh? OK. Thanks for the warning. And seriously, thank you for whatever you did to help." Josh says, "It's OK, and Abuela and Del are coming to Thanksgiving with us!"
Anita hangs up the phone and goes through her closing at warp speed although she leaves the front door unlocked. Crowe pulls up in his Cadillac and practically runs into the botanica. Anita raises one eyebrow for maximum arch and ask sarcastically, "Do you need the bathroom, Mr. Crowe?" Randall Crowe shakes his head and wheezes, "Did your family spokesman call?" Anita replies, "Yes, he did. He told me that Del's case is getting dropped. Why isn't Tobias here to tell us this?" Randall Crowe replies honestly, "Because he's currently negotiating with the District Attorney on this. He got blindsided by this but managed to sneak a text message to me on a trip to the bathroom. He told me that the SPD plans on making an announcement tomorrow that in return for Carlos's heroism, and because she was underage at the time of the accident, Del's record is getting expunged."
Anita frowns as she considers the unusual situation but then realizes the SPD is once again using the family. She asks, "Was the victim notified of this?" Randall Crowe shakes his head and replies, "No, as far as I know, no one has talked to Officer Peter Sweets yet." Anita gripes, "This is some top tier bullshit," and to her surprise Randall Crowe nods in agreement. He says, "Yes, it is. Like I told Mr. Troy, this is going to be a favor for a favor. I'm not sure what sort of announcement they're planning, and I'm not even sure about the legality of such a thing, that's Tobias's department. Oh, I also wanted to warn you that it sounds pretty bad back at your house. Not sure what's going on, but your Abuela didn't sound good." Anita nods and says, "Thanks for the warning, but Josh told me that too. I appreciate it though, and for you trying to reach out to our family about this. Seriously, thank you." Randall Crowe nods in acknowledgement and beats a hasty retreat back to his Cadillac.