January 20th, 2018

So I wasn't the only one bringing a lot of news to the table. We did go over the things I'd learned the other day, most of which was relatively mundane. DIA's repairs being operably completed, and Melia interviewing people are almost not worth mentioning. If it weren't for our suspicions surrounding those things. Finding the missing hikers in Arizona though, that's big news, but still mundane. I did try to see if there was anything more reported on their being missing, but nothing turned up. But it was all good to hear and go over.

Hal didn't have a lot to bring to the table, just the pressure Tim's been putting on him to find out anything he can about Melia. Although, the training he now seems to be receiving is concerning and worthy of note. For me at least this wasn't news, and sounded mostly like another complaint session.

Max though, she did have something to report. She came across a trend on the internet that was eerily accurate to what we've been talking about. It's like the videos and pictures she'd already been finding, but people started posting them under the hashtag #fairysign. On Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and other social medias from all over the US and a little into Canada. Circle's of ice on a river, actually it was the Colorado river near Rifle. Circle's of leaves in someone else's back yard. Tiny footprints in the snow, just a lot of strange things. Some of those things could have been prepared for the pictures, and other's might be photo-shopped or otherwise digitally created. The strange thing is how much Max is finding, and she'd been finding a lot before. It's like there's been an explosion of these images just in the last week or so. Thanks to this hashtag, the conversation seems to have moved out from just a handful of people talking about it here and there to being a nationwide conversation. Max said she's expecting the news media to pick up on it any day now.

We did do some talking about this deer head, vigilante type person. And between Max and me, we'd found a lot of the same bits, Max more than me of course. We're pretty sure the store robbery was framed on him, or blamed on him really. With no security video, there's nothing to back up the claim. It's that most of the rest of the stories are about him trying to be helpful. It's just that he seems to be, I don't know, he's all too willing to commit violence. He doesn't try to deescalate the situations, as soon as they become threatening he beats the crap out of whoever threatened him. When someone runs, he chases them down and puts them down hard. He's credited with breaking multiple legs, arms, noses, even a few jaws. And reports make it sound almost like he's impossibly strong. I'm not sure how big he is, but he doesn't stand out as being overly tall. And even with the baggy clothes, he might be muscular, but he's nowhere near as big as Sam, and he's being credited with lifting things I wouldn't expect Sam to be able to pick up. We all had to wonder if the stories are being overblown.

I think what Max is mostly surprised by is that the guy has made no attempt to create an online persona. It's like in the movie Kick-Ass. The kid had created a social media site for his own hero persona and used it so that people could ask for his help or thank him, or otherwise simply interact with him as Kick-Ass. This isn't happening with our deer headed local. So beyond the stories and what pictures and video people have been able to capture, we don't have a name or any other form of identity.

That said, others seem to be making online personas for him. Most don't claim to be him, but they do collect images and stories about him. But a few do claim to be him, and Max said she was pretty sure she'd debunked those claims. Given these sites, there are now a number of names floating around for him. Just none that we can confirm as self claimed.

Sam reminded me of Candace's invite, so we brought that up. As Hal had mentioned to me when we talked about it, Max was also concerned about having classes. This gave them a chance to find out exactly what Sam and Candace had planned. Sam said that by then they were hoping to have the two rooms cleared out. They could put down some pads and have blankets available if anyone wanted to sleep over, though with as cold as it's been bringing your own sleeping bag would probably be a good idea. That way, anyone could sleep early, and then when it was time they'd wake everyone up for the eclipse and do the celebrating then. Hal was still concerned because he had the late lab, but for something so rare he was willing to be there. Max didn't even hesitate, all she needed was the word celebration. Sounds like I'll be staying at Candace's on the thirtieth.

So a lot to go over, and it was neat to see the fairy sign stuff. But it made for a late night, I've only just got home and I need to hit the sack.

January 19th, 2018

After everything going on this last week, it's nice to just get back to work and have a relatively normal day. I even had a dizzy spell as I was getting around, before I stepped into the shower thank goodness. Hal picked me up and we hit the gym, he brought me to work. Work was nice, just busy enough to make the day pass, not so busy as to be stressful. Hal joined me for lunch and we talked about what to do for dinner tomorrow night. After work I started texting Max and Sam to confirm for tomorrow and passed along Hal's suggestions of soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

I read that back over and realize I'm making it sound like a check list. It all happened, there just wasn't a lot more to say about any of it.

Max and Sam both confirmed for tomorrow and said grilled cheese sounds great. Sam though asked if I had any plans for the night of the 30th. It falls on a Thursday night, so I responded that I had nothing planned after work. He said Candace was wanting to invite everyone over for the lunar eclipse that would be visible before sunrise on the 31st. I hadn't known there was going to be one so I checked. Not only will it be a total lunar eclipse, it'll be the second full moon in January making it a blue moon. And it'll be a supermoon. How cool is that?!? So I said we'll have to remember to raise that with the others tomorrow, but I'd be in to see it.

I did talk to Hal about it, and he said he'd be interested too. But he was concerned about his ability to get a full nights sleep between classes. We'll talk about that with Sam and Max tomorrow, and see what Candace has planned. But I figure maybe he could try to go to bed early and be able to wake up in time to see the eclipse.

I did my best to help Hal with his homework, but to be honest he's got a few years worth of prerequisite classes on me and I think I was slowing him down by making him explain everything. So I eventually got up and worked on making us some dinner. His roommate came home long enough to see I was there, dropped his books off and left. Hal said he probably thinks we're going to have sex and his roommate wants nothing to do with that.

I hadn't thought about that, but once the opportunity was made available... Well, it was good day.

January 18th, 2018

Today was a tough one on Candace. Though I also found out that she's really good at hiding her pain. I mentioned yesterday that her in-laws had been by to lay claim to Eli's stuff. I found out they'd been by over the weekend, and from the sound of it the only thing they'd have been happy with would be for Candace to leave. They weren't happy that she was cleaning out his stuff, or that we'd moved the living room around, or all the hard work we'd put in to her back yard and garden. Not that any of it was their business. For fucks sake, Candace could have elected to not let them have any chance at Eli's stuff. And rather than be grateful that Candace was giving them a chance to have mementos of their son's things, they bitched and moaned about everything. They didn't even thank her for getting his letters back.

Just sitting there listening to what they had to say and do made me want to take Eli's letters and throw them in a fire. I don't know how Candace survived them without hurting someone. By which I include hurting herself. Max would've kicked a wall or something, she's done it before and broke her foot.

Candace has had time to process and take a deep breath. Probably how she was able to keep her cool yesterday and not let on that she's hurting. But she needed to just let it out. This is one thing she can't turn to Sam with. As protective as he is of her, he still lets his parents get away with treating her like this.

My shoulder is still wet from her crying.

I had apologized again for not remembering that they fast during the new moon. Candace just said that yesterday was exactly what she needed. My Mom was a blessing, my parents were treasures, and that I should give them a hug every day. Candace admitted to me that while she was helping Mom in the kitchen alone, Mom somehow knew and gave her a long tight hug. Candace said she almost broke into tears right then and there.

They claimed the gun cabinet, which was fine. We still don't know what's in it, but knowing it's a gun cabinet is enough to make both of us nervous. Apparently Sam's Mom was condescending that Candace didn't know where the key was, never mind that she knows Candace has amnesia. Candace said she'd made a bee-line to the fridge and fished the key out from somewhere between it and the wall. After Sam got there, he'd brought a dolly to help move the thing. With some care, some effort, and a few squished fingers, we managed to get it into the garage. They'll pick it up later.

They wanted most of his stuff, which wasn't surprising. There was only one thing that stood out, and Candace had found it strange so she'd kept the item. It was a plaque that had been hidden in the closet behind the gun cabinet. We'd opened the closet to see what was in there, but we hadn't really gone through it. The parents did, and behind all Eli's uniforms was the plaque hung on the wall. Her in-laws reacted to the plaque with outrage and claimed it couldn't have been Eli's. It was some filthy pagan thing that must belong to Candace and was probably how she'd corrupted and tempted him.

Her father-in-law tore the plaque off the wall and threw it into the trash so hard he'd broke it. After they were gone, Candace took it out and kept it in her room. She said she hadn't even shown Sam, but she showed me. It was beautiful artwork, and had a symbol inlaid onto it. The back was wooden, and stained so dark it almost looked black. There were points of something I couldn't identify, they could be small gems, or bits of broken glass. They were inlaid all over to look like stars, around the central symbol. Dramatically waxing and waning crescent moons, each facing away from a full moon in the center, made up the central symbol. It was beautifully done, just not expensively done. Like I said, the gems that made up the star field were probably bits of broken glass. They were polished down and not sharp. The back was darkly stained wood. Only the inlaid symbol seemed in any way valuable, silver, though I suspect it was something else.

Candace was somewhat desperate to find something of hers in everything we'd been going through. She was hopeful that maybe this was, buoyed and horrified by her in-laws words and actions. If it was hers, or of her, it gave her hope that her and Eli did have something and she wasn't just stepping in to someone else's life. But to think that her in-laws despised it so, calling it pagan as though it were evil. And it was hidden away, there's no doubt about that. If it was of her, what does that say about her relationship with her late husband. Or was it hidden from her? There's just too many questions, and the only thing we could do was speculate. I tried to be comforting but this weighed on her mind, body, and soul.

So I suggested we ask Sam. Maybe he'd know something. It was the only thing we could do.

After a long day of packing and sorting into the boxes that Candace had ordered yesterday, Sam finally joined us. So we asked. Sam seemed as perplexed by the plaque as we were, he didn't know what to think of it. He asked if Candace wanted to keep it. She said she wasn't sure, but that it seemed wrong to leave it broken or to throw it out as worthless. So he offered to take it back to his shop and see about repairing it.

With all that we'd done prior, and spending most of the day on it today, we've gotten those rooms fairly well emptied out and cleaned up. The garage is full of boxes, and the mustang. I guess the in-laws were unhappy that Candace was not immediately willing to give them Eli's car and demanded an explanation. But she said they actually seemed sympathetic when she explained she wanted to offer it to Sam first. Sam was much more humble about receiving the mustang than his parents had been about anything at all. He was grateful, and sad, and said he knew it needed more work but that he'd fix it up proper and give us both a ride. Candace still didn't seem to understand, and she turned to me out of curiosity. Whatever grin I had on my face told her it was a good idea and that she needed to take him up on the offer.

There's not a whole lot else to say. Hal did get us to the gym this morning, and he brought us lunch. Since he had his lab, I got a ride home from Sam again, and as always he thanked me. I asked him if he was there when his parents had stopped by, he said he'd missed it. Based on what he told me, Candace didn't tell him everything. I decided I didn't want to interfere, so I didn't say anything.

As I was writing out the description of that plaque though, I got curious and did some searching for that symbol. I'm finding a few references for it, but it seems to be Greek in origin. Either a symbol of the fates, or a symbol of Nyx the goddess of night. Either way I have no way of knowing what it meant to Eli.

January 17th, 2018

Today did not work out at all like I was expecting. Or at least, not that I was expecting anything in particular, I just wouldn't have expected Mom to spontaneously invite us all for dinner. But it turned out great, and we had a lot of fun. I think Mom really enjoys hosting too, that or she misses having our family together. Even Dad was great, very welcoming and warm towards Hal.

This morning Hal texted me saying Tim was dragging him out to do something and he wouldn't be able to pick Candace or I up to go to the gym. He apologized but said he'd still be able to catch up with us at the gym. So I called called Candace and let her know the change in plans. She actually asked if she could meet me at my stop rather than me busing to hers. I was a little worried about how long it'd take, but I had all day so I figured why not? She managed to get on to the right bus early enough and was meeting me at my stop for the first time. Caused a little trouble on the bus as she stood to greet me, but no worries.

When Hal joined us at the gym, I told him a bit about what I'd found in the news last night. Told him about the missing hikers in Arizona that had turned up, to which he responded "See, everyone will be found." I know he was being comforting, and I do appreciate it and am hopeful that he's right. I just worry if he's wrong, and what happens in the meantime.

Anyway, there was also the bit about the reconstruction at DIA being completed. With the caveat that it only makes that section of the concourse operable. Since they're going ahead with the extension they'd been wanting to do, they're not going to complete it only to have to reconstruct it later. They're using it as a launching point for the extension, which might take another year or more.

I told him I did some looking in to Melia, she's still been interviewing people about the tree and politicing. Currently she's been interviewing various Christians about what they think of the tree. There have certainly been those opposed to the tree, but she's been very good about finding Christians who might support or oppose it on grounds other than their faith. And yea, there have been Christians who support the tree because of their faith. Just not many.

Lastly I'd tried to look up anything about our deer headed vigilante. He's been active, and there have been a lot of reports of encounters. One lady claims she was mugged, but that the deer headed guy tripped the mugger, breaking his nose, and got her things back. But he didn't stop the mugger as they ran away. On the other hand, a store owner claims the deer headed guy robbed him, but there's no surveillance video to confirm or deny.

I had to be brief though cause he had class after his workout, but we confirmed that he'd come by my place later and we could figure out what to do from there.

So Candace and I ran our chores, mostly mine, but Candace wanted to look for containers she could use. It sounds like she's finally willing to start working on Eli's rooms again and we spent some time talking about what we'd do tomorrow.

But yea, we got back to my place and while I got laundry going she stepped into the kitchen to help Mom. And once Mom got word that Hal would be by, she offered to make dinner for us all. Candace seemed to think about it for a bit, but she finally said she was in. So I texted Hal and Sam to let them know what was up. Sam said he'd be there, but he'd be running a little late. I guess he'd piled up a lot of to do's for today since he wasn't expecting to do anything. And Mom texted Dad to warn him.

Candace and I spent the rest of the day helping Mom, and we had a lot of fun. Candace seemed very interested in what Mom was making and all the ingredients she was using. She even joined Mom for a trip to the store to grab things Mom didn't have. It worked out on the timing too, gave Dad a chance to shower after getting home from work.

Hal arrived shortly after Dad did, and he sat down to work on homework while we finished dinner. And Sam showed up just in time to serve. So it all worked out, and we had a great time. It wasn't until later that Sam had mentioned that tonight was the new moon. That explained why Candace had hesitated before agreeing, normally they'd fast for today. What caught my attention was Sam mentioning to Candace that they could just fast tomorrow. I hadn't thought about that and apologized later to Candace and Sam, but they both agreed that it wasn't a problem and that they enjoyed and appreciated the meal.

Just all around a great night, spontaneous, and pleasant. Tomorrow I'll be helping Candace with Eli's rooms again. Since we were taking public transportation, she ordered the boxes she wanted to be delivered to her place tomorrow. We'll use those to pack and sort, and it sounds like Sam's parents had been by to lay claim to a lot of stuff. I'm thinking that might have been why Candace was avoiding Eli's rooms last week. I'll see how she holds up tomorrow.

January 16th, 2018

I forgot Hal had lab on Tuesdays. Waited in the parking lot for almost twenty minutes before I remembered, and by then I'd missed my bus. So I had to wait for the next bus and that just screwed up my entire schedule getting home.

I'd seen him at lunch too, and I don't know. We didn't talk about what we were going to do tonight, I didn't ask or anything. But he did tell me what they were going to do in his lab tonight, and it just didn't click. I feel so stupid.

Either way, had a nice home cooked meal. And since I wasn't doing anything else I texted Batel and asked if she was good to talk. She called and we talked about Efe's letter. She'd received one as well, which was surprising for us 'cause we didn't think he had her address. Mom overheard though and informed us that she'd given him her address just in case.

Anyway, I told Batel about the letters we'd found at Eli's place and how Sam had reacted to them, and Batel agreed with me about writing Efe on a regular basis. I'd put my letter out this morning to be taken, which was odd. I've put out letters before, but generally they were bills that I was paying. Of course now I do all my bills online. But I've never mailed a letter before. There was something novel about it that struck the same cord as having received Efe's letter.

So Batel is going to write a letter too, and Mom praised us as she overheard our conversation.

We talked some more, Batel's classes, how Hal and I are doing, how she and Jason are doing. The conversation turned to Max and our conspiracy nights, and Batel said she had some good news. The hikers that had gone missing in Saguaro National Park, they showed up last week! Batel hasn't had a lot of time to keep up on the news, but she had noticed that. One was in bad shape, she remembered, broke his leg or something and was rushed to the hospital. They were both partially dehydrated and starved, but they were found. That gives me hope that the others might be found soon. I may have to look up on that news a bit if I can.

I've been texting back and forth with Candace, she does want to join Hal and I for the gym tomorrow and is willing to join me for my round of chores. I do need to come back here to do laundry though, and she hasn't responded back whether she'd like to have dinner with us or what. I am curious if she's going to try and take the bus home alone. But if not I'm sure we can get her a ride or something.

I'm a little wired for some reason, but I don't want to stay up too late or I'll be tired all day tomorrow. I'm going to see if I can't find anything in the news, hopefully that puts me to sleep.

January 15th, 2018

We received a letter from Efe today! I didn't find out about it till I got home, but I just finished it. He sounds like he's doing well, and was very thankful of our care package. The other guys in his squad gave him no small amount of grief for the sweater and tie that Batel and I gave him. They even sent pictures of him wearing them and posing with the guys. They loved Mom's treats too and humbly requested more.

Not a whole lot to say otherwise. Today was another day at work. Hal picked me up for our workout at the gym before dropping me off. He joined me for lunch. And afterword we'd have gone to his place, but Mom had called to let me know that we'd received a letter from Efe. So Hal came over and we had dinner here. He got to see the pictures and said he'd be beat red in embarrassment if he was in Efe's place. Based on the pictures, it looks like Efe took it all in good stride, he's practically beaming.

So yea, Monday down. Tomorrow will be my Friday, and then a couple of days off. I should check in with Candace tomorrow.

Receiving his letter though reminded me of Eli's stash that Sam had been going through. So I'm going to sit down a write Efe back before I hit the sheets.

January 14th, 2018

Hal did text me this morning apologizing that he wasn't able to respond last night. He did say he'd talk to me about it later, but he'd have to miss lunch today.

After work he picked me up and offered me a flower in apology. I didn't feel he needed to apologize for anything, but the flower was pretty. He said it was a hyacinth, and it was a beautiful blue color that matched his eyes.

Anyway, we made our way to the store and grabbed some things to make a stir fry. Hal insisted on making that, so I let him be. He did a good job to. Kinda left my hands empty though, so I tidied up his place just to keep busy.

We talked, sounds like Tim has really latched on to Melia Floros as being someone they need to know more about. He's putting even more pressure on Hal to find out about her, which is frustrating for Hal because all it's not like they're showing him how to do any of this stuff. I asked if Hal had said anything along those lines, and he said he'd asked Tim what to do. Tim must have finally realized that he was neglecting Hal's training. They spent the rest of the night going over a lot of things that make Hal sound like some sort of secret agent.

Which, I guess if this is the Illuminati, that's to be expected. What's worrisome is that it sounds like Hal enjoyed it. That was part of the reason Hal felt he needed to apologize though. Not just because he screwed everything up last night, but because starting this next Sunday, every Sunday Tim's going to be showing Hal the ropes. Hal said Tim wanted to do it on Saturdays, but he convinced Tim to do it on Sundays so we could still have our conspiracy dinners. But this also means that if he's got homework to do, he might have to miss lunch once in a while.

I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it. I am worried, I've already mentioned, but in a way Hal's excitement is rubbing off too I think. I just thought that they'd wanted him to be a scholar, that he wouldn't be doing the cloak and dagger bit. So I'm a little confused, and I don't think Hal's realized that change in priority. He's too excited at the thought of being a spy. Not in those same words, but what else am I supposed to call it?

So I brought up the missing girl that I'd found about yesterday. I was hoping that might remind him of the nature of what's going on. He was appropriately saddened, and it did slow down his momentum a bit. But then he reminded me that the worlds are merging, and that she'd be found again soon. He got home again. "It'll all work out, she'll be fine, you'll see."

I do hope he's right, I hope she's found soon. But what if she's not? What if it's someone else, and they're not? We've had a lot of people go missing these last many months, and I don't remember many articles about them being found. I'm not sure Hal realizes how fortunate he was.