"Hello? Mandy? You still in there? Story time is over." Tattoo waved his hand back and forth in front of her and she seems to snap out of a trance.

"Sorry, lost in thought there for a sec... A large chunk of my questions just melted away like Jerry there on the table. Another chunk can be answered just by thinking of what Jerry should easily be able to do. I listened to the whole story but things just started falling into place along the way. I also have to admit I'm in a bit of a bacon coma. Jerry makes some seriously good bacon. So, Jerry, You came into Tattoos life as that postcard that vanished, you just melted into him and took up residence?" Mandy asked the glass half ball.

"Yes Miss Mandy, for the most part that is exactly how it was. Your a very bright woman so I'll tell you ahead of time, I didn't come from so much a where, but a when. All that information is off limits, In fact I won't even confirm that you heard me correctly, or repeat what I just said. Some of what I know and can do is off limits just for safety sake. If you read science fiction at all the word Paradox will explain what you may not know, very nicely. And... I also won't be repeating or confirming that you heard that. I have discretionary wiggle room in my rules and limits exactly because of very smart people like you. Some people it would be safe to hand an atomic bomb, others would be dangerous with a screwdriver. I'm sure you understand." You could still hear the smile in Jerry's voice.

"Yes, very much so. My second cousin and my grandfather are both in that latter class of people but for opposite reasons. My grandfather, has lost his mind and might carelessly stab himself or others with a screwdriver and my cousin is a researcher. She wants to know everything and is very smart. A screwdriver in her hands is just asking to have the world taken apart to see how it works. I am much like my cousin but not quite as smart or as inquisitive." Mandy seems to be a bit disappointed with herself. Her second cousin was always getting written up in the science press for redoing and improving and redefining. She rarely made anything new but she improved a lot of things we all had taken for granted for a long time. She loved to tare it apart and see what it did and how and then make it do more, make it go faster. She was not always to careful. Thing blew up around her a lot.

"And that Miss Mandy is why you may know about me and Maxine must never know. Not being connected to you it is harder to know what your going to ask but not by much. Yes I have done a full investigation of you while Tattoo kept you busy last night. On your next vsit to the Doctor have him check the defective heart valve of yours, it's blow back is up to almost 26%, 45% when you're really worked up like you were last night. I could fix that for you fairly easily but that will require a change in your status." Jerry left that statment dangling.

Mandy jumped right on it."My status? Wait, you researched all the way out to my second cousin Maxine?"

"Yes Miss Mandy. I went much farther then that. If you had been on good terms with Maxine your memories would have already be wiped back to before you met Tattoo. With what you are learning today, I need to know you inside and out. I'm sure you can understand that."

Tattoo Pipes up, "Yup, your status, you are currently just a watcher. You know Jerry and can watch and be a part of my life but you can not be a part of the team. You don't even know about the team yet and for the most part it will stay that way, unless you want to join it. And no, you don't get to know what it is before you join. You will go in blind just like the others did. It's a leap of faith kind of thing, after all I am for the most part a god walking the earth now. I don't do worship or anything but faith and total blind trust, those I have use for. The team is all women so far and I plan to keep it that way. To call them my harem would not be an exaggeration but they are much more."

"Harem? You fuck them all? Your that kind of pervert?" Mandy winks.

"Yup. Not all of them, every night. I could, they would all come willingly. Lets just say the perks of being one of my women are way beyond anything you can get elsewhere." Tattoo grins an evil grin.

"Wow, ego much"

"No Miss Mandy. He is quite correct. As Tattoo likes to put it, 'we are talking some serious next level shit...' I'm still not very good with some of the slang terms of the day but that one is very fitting." Jerry answers for Tattoo.