Training and Thoughts

It was good for Tosh and Meg to be able to move back into their home again. It had taken a bit of time for the final architectural drawings to be translated into a form in which they could actually see sitting on the property. They had a 64x64 lot and they had to make sure that it was defensible. They wanted to make certain that the views from the property were able to note any sort of attack by the Trackers. Their skill-level in certain skills needed to be mastered and quickly. But sometimes, Tosh just wanted to relax...being at a high-stress level wasn't good for the body and playing the piano helped with that.

Meg pursued her study of alchemy. There were attacks available that modern defenses couldn't stop and it would give the Trackers pause if they were attacked magically. Luckily she had the innate talent for it and would be able to pursue the gaining of knowledge of alchemy in the first place.

Eventually, after a while, Tosh came to join her in that study...

...and for the times where magic wouldn't suffice; Tosh trained Meg in the martial arts. After all, why not use as much as was possible to defend their position. After having been in the military so many years, Haruo was certainly knowledgeable in the shoring up of defenses and War College had helped to learn how to defend a location from attackers. But sometimes, military tactics, guns and magic wouldn't help...sometimes you miscalculated and that provided the enemy a chance to get beyond your static defenses. Then you had to fight for your life and in that regards the martial arts were the last-ditch defense and as such when it meant one's life, one had to be an expert at it. Tosh just hoped that the Trackers were so confused by their flight path that they were having trouble following it. It was a faint hope, but one that he clung to. Hopefully he had the time to help Meg master the martial arts.

Sparring was an important part of training the muscle memory and instincts and as such, Tosh brooked no quarter and gave none. The workout was intense and at the end of it the result was apparent as Meg levelled up from an orange belt to a green-belt. Tosh realized that she meant a lot to him so he did what he had to to make sure that she could defend herself against an attacker if it came down to it. The knowledge gained would ensure that it saved her life, even if he fell.

She understood too, because she clung to him; her eyes locking with his, trying to convey as much love as she could muster, making him understand that their fates were intertwined with each other. In wolf-pack terminology, she considered herself his mate...and their lives, no matter how long or short, would be tied to each other. If he died, she didn't want to live.

Chores took up the rest of the day and it was a tired pair of weres that hit the rack (or queen-sized bed) that night. For Meg, curling up next to the one that she loved, was comforting, smelling the scent of him in her werewolf enhanced sense of smell. He was her mate...and that was all that needed to be said.

Fall...had come to Moonlight Falls and they hoped that it was not a harbinger of doom.

The New House

When Tosh was finished redesigning the house, he had it built. And it was even more "monstrous" than the other one. It was huge.

The first basement floor had a large gymnasium which allowed them to work out with weights as well as martial arts equipment as well as a large clear space for them to spar, clearly marked out.

The second and third basement floors were a nice change area and a pool for them to swim, preferably in human form because weres just smelled like dog and well, wet dogs just stunk.

And well...since Tosh just absolutely adored the Rangers and hockey in general, he had to have an ice rink downstairs on the very bottom floor of the home.

...along with a garage for the zamboni...

The rink was nice and set up with benches where people could actually watch people skate or play hockey if they wished.

Half the third floor became a blast-shelter/sanctuary if the house came under attack from the Trackers. Tosh wasn't sure what they would use to bombard the house, but he was certain that it wasn't going to be good. And they certainly wouldn't be alone when they had to defend the house.

And they certainly could take prisoners if necessary.

Tosh had designed this place to be a fortress for Meg and he as well as a few select weres and witches - he didn't trust vampires at all; mainly because every single vampire that he had met were out for themselves and he wasn't about to become the dinner for some plasma-siphoning vamp who fancied themselves Robert Pattinson. He and Meg looked at his handiwork...and it was good.

Defensive Re-evaluation

For weres sleep was a time to replenish their energy stores and for Tosh and Meg it was no different and energy levels needed to be full to accomplish their tasks for the day which were plentiful. If energy levels weren't optimal, they would lose concentration and that was not a good situation to be in, especially when they were to keep all their senses on high alert.

Meg concentrated on her martial arts and researching Alchemy every spare moment that she had.

...and she wrote books to bring in income, which also helped the family coffers quite a bit as everytime she completed a published book, she earned a higher royalty

Part of Tosh's job was to develop a rapport with the vampire behind the till at the apothecary...so that they could get a better return on the items that they consigned. One could consign elixirs and gemstones as well as certain items of alchemy ingredients. Tosh was hoarding his higher value gemstones so that he could cut them at the highest cut. Of course the vampire had a bit of a snobbish trait: they all did and Tosh could sense that and thus it was rather difficult to develop a rapport with the woman, but he persisted in the hopes that it would be of financial value...if not for much else.

Tosh then went to the grocery store to get some groceries. After all, if one didn't have groceries, one couldn't cook any victuals. It would be kind of hard since one couldn't really conjure up a meal to eat.

After which upon returning, he went ahead, cooked dinner and then did some alchemy studying. He had come to the realization that the house that they were in had some fundamental flaws in its defences and that the house that they had lived in was not really designed for weres to mount an active defense of their property. With two sets of steps, you had to have twice as many weres defending the front entrance as the back entrance. Their room downstairs was pitiful and it certainly was not designed with home defence in mind. And in that regards, Tosh felt that the house needed to be redesigned from the ground up and built over. Meg hadn't really studied the intricacies of tactical defence and as such just nodded when Tosh brought up that point. It would take a lot of money to redesign the place and refurnish it, but in the end, the defensive flaws of the house would be taken care of and remedied. And it would start the next day...

And Meg enjoyed her chili con carne that Tosh had whipped up...except for the five-alarm fire that erupted in her mouth which made her do a flame-thrower impression for the second time in two days.