4.39 Don't Release Genies

Milo spends as much time as he can with his girls. He finally took the hint about Orazia's distaste for fishing, though, so Fairuza has been getting a disproportionate amount of his time.

Fairuza knows her father won't be happy about her boyfriend, Rock Woods, so she lays the situation out for him, before he can find out from someone else. She deprives him of his opportunity to overreact, reassuring him that she and Rock have genuine feelings for each other and the whole Ceth's bedroom incident was a stupid mistake.

"He knows I'll kill him if he does it again, so there's no need for you to go all papa wolf and threaten, okay?"

"Fine."

"I'm not some fragile flower. I won't have my heart broken."

"I know you're smarter than me," Milo tells her. "My heart was broken twice, because I didn't get to know the women as well as I should have before letting my emotions take over."

Fairuza and Rock go on a double date with Dysen and Molly to the Rodeo-Go-Go. The cousins are supposed to keep each other out of trouble, but they have no intention of doing that.

Although, they are unlikely to run into trouble at such a tame establishment.

Rock and Fairuza take turns showing off on the mechanical bull, while Dysen and Molly just can't keep their hands off each other.

Some dancing...

Some drinking...

A nice time.

After drinks, they feast on cheesesteaks.

Rock is really excited about that. It's his favorite food, but his mother, Stardust, won't ever let him have it at home, because all of the meals they eat at home are vegan.

Something is wrong with Molly.

Uh oh.

"Why didn't you tell me your teen trait was vegetarian?" Dysen asks. He remembers she happily ate his father's dim sum when they were kids.

"I thought I could deal with one cheesesteak, but I guess I just can't anymore," Molly whines. "The doctor says it's a genetic condition. But I didn't want you to think I was weird. Especially after I heard Rock ranting about his vegetarian mother."

"Molly... you are weird. You go to clubs with no shoes, you had that creepy fascination with painting eyeballs for a while, and you actually like it when I tell you I'm a werewolf. I love how weird you are."

Awww?

When the four teens go their separate ways for the night, Rock lingers behind to cram a cheeseburger down his facehole. It's been forever since he had a cheeseburger.

Unrelated picture.

"How's the spaghetti?" Carlos asks eagerly.

"Outstanding," Milo replies, around bites of noodles and sauce. His brother's cooking is always good.

"I'm going for perfect, here."

Dysen goes through his first teen werewolf transformation.

He just wanted to see what he looks like, and he's relieved he... uhm... "inherited" his great-grandmother Perenna's condition where she mostly looked the same after the change. Even though his child were form was more scary.

However, Dysen is overcome with the strong urge to claw the shit out of something...

...and he goes straight for Acheron's piano. The piano is thrashed violently from side to side.

Acheron walks into the room, beelines over and sticks his hand out, using a balance and levitation spell to catch the falling candle dish as it slides off of the piano, as coolly and mechanically as if that action was his sole purpose for entering the room, as if he knew it would fall and when.

"I have a sentimental attachment to these," Acheron says tiredly, meaning the shells.

Dysen is startled enough to look up at Acheron.

"Why do you hate me?" Acheron asks, as he sets the dish back in its place.

"What?" Dysen is taken aback. "I don't hate you."

"You're fucking up my piano," Acheron points out.

"Oh, like we can't just buy another one..."

"I suppose... as a werewolf... you could be displaying territorial behavior..."

"Hey! ... Oh, wow, you're trolling me. You're actually trolling me."

"Mhm."

"Racist."

Dysen's cousin Lysander Lack, son of Lela's brother Barry, has also aged up to teen. "I'm honing my mind reading skills," Dysen announces. "I'll figure out what your fourth trait is."

"This is a little weird, Dyse," Lysander mumbles. He's blissfully unaware all of the supernatural stuff going on in this household.

"Irresistible! Nice."

"Haha, how'd you know? Never mind, it's obvious I guess. I mean, look at me and my beautiful blue eyes." Lysander bats his eyelashes.

"I'm your cousin. I literally cannot look at you that way."

Fairuza looks at Acheron. "Is Dysen, like, less dickish now that he's got a girlfriend? Or am I imagining it?"

"You're imagining it," Acheron assures her.

"Hey, maybe you should get a girlfriend," she suggests. "Maybe you'll be all happy and stuff then."

Happy, she says! What a word.

Acheron goes for a stroll along the beach. He likes to walk, preferably to places where he can avoid people. Rain is in the forecast for later so he guessed correctly: nobody on this stretch of the beach.

A cat meows. Startled, Acheron takes a closer look at it.

It's the cat. The beach has always been this beach. "Am I dreaming?"

"Ah!" the cat greets him. "It pleases me to see you."

"I don't think I'm dreaming," Acheron says numbly.

He could swear the cat smiles at him. "Tell me how you are. It has been so long."

"A cat is talking to me."

"Again, you don't recognize your old friend? Again, you would prefer to not hear me?"

"You're the djinn from my nightmare."

"You speak of my true nature but you do not see it. Look at me not with your eyes, elf, but with your spirit sense."

Acheron shakes his head. "Loki says you don't understand we're not one of our ancestors. You can't understand we die. Is that true?"

"Your shell may die, but I see your spirit."

"Humans... and elves... don't get reincarnated like your kind do." Acheron knows it's useless to argue with a djinn, but he has to try. "Our spirit energy kind of borrows from our parents' but we aren't copies."

"Nonsense. I see you."

Acheron rolls his eyes. He's seen a version of this all before. "You think my name is Selrandisra."

"Randy, if you prefer."

"I don't. Wait, Randy? Really? An elf shortens its name to Randy?"

"The first time I met you and you did not know who you were, that was your new name. Ah, but we have had many names. I especially. Ha. Sometimes I have no name. I have gone lifetimes without hearing anyone call me anything. As you can see I share the body of a cat. It dies, my fire lingers, and after a while I am reborn. Like you, I grow stronger each time."

"Why are you possessing a cat?"

"Why does anything happen? My brother willed it so."

"Kir," Acheron grumbles.

"You remember!"

"No."

"We fought Kir. You and I. You preferred I call you something else then."

"Seems like you both failed." Acheron stares at the cat a long moment, and it stares back, waiting patiently for a sign that cannot come. "So why are you so attached to Selrandisra?"

"Many, many reasons. We had so many adventures together! You became too powerful for your own good, and I... empathized. You saw humans would likely be the end of your kind, so we brought war to them... the many illicit relations between the human females and yourself notwithstanding! And the poor halfling result... I digress. What is that face you are making? Remember, t'were we who bound the rivers, t'were we that saw through the lies of Kythera, t'were we who—"

"You're just a crazy immortal thing who can't deal with your friend's death. No wonder Loki wants nothing to do with you," Acheron sighs, losing his patience and barely listening.

"Do you prefer to be called Loki again now?"

"No! We are two separate people! In fact he and I are alive at the same time. As in right now."

The cat cocks its head to one side.

Acheron stares at it. A long time passes. "You don't get what I'm saying, do you."

"A cat's brain is somewhat limiting."

"Oh. Great." Acheron pauses, again for an uncomfortable length of time. He has a powerful—or at least at some time in the past it was powerful—and ancient creature in front of him, one possibly capable of answering his questions, but what kind of answer would he get? It can't even distinguish him from his ancestors, so it could be wrong about anything. Still... "Why does Eris chase the cat?"

"I do not know. In each life I try to find you, not her. I kept her safe from Kir's spell but that is all I could do for her. I'm sorry. I could not even save myself then."

"You must know a lot about the spell if you were able to alter it."

"I must," the cat agrees.

"Yet Loki doesn't care? Maybe he already got everything he needed from you. Or... maybe... he doesn't trust you, and I don't either."

"Such are your people's skittish ways."

"If you start going on about how I'm an elf again, I swear I'm going to pick you up and throw you in that ocean."

"Your oaths are just for play but mine remain unbroken."

"Yeah, yeah, that mess again." Acheron glances over his shoulder. "...I hope nobody sees me talking to a cat."

The cat rises to stand on its four legs again. "I am pleased you hear me, old friend, but you aren't ready. I will wait until you are."

"What am I supposed to be ready for?"

"To remember who you are, and release me from this... very fuzzy existence."

"You've got a long wait for me to remember to be someone I'm not."

"In the mean time, should you need my help..."

"Oh, no. No. Nope. Mythology 101, don't make deals with genies, don't release genies, don't even look at genies."

The cat turns and trots away. "I require food," it says.

Acheron watches it get away.

Ceth squints at the teen cuddling up with Fairuza on the sofa. "Is that the kid who was stalking me?"

"He's my boyfriend now, don't worry," Fairuza brushes off the accusatory question.

Ceth can't be assed to do anything but say "Whatever," and walk off.

Once again, Lela's stakeout reveals a serious crime.

A serious FASHION crime.

"Eeeuuugh..."

Oh, alright, Lela. I will fix it. But you're not exactly dressed inconspicuously, either.

There. August Woods is more ready for her teacher's assistant job.

Wait, what's this?

Oh no.

NOOOO!

The horribly dressed people are in this together! Run Lela! RUNNNNN!

Acheron wonders if he will ever dream about the cat again.

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Etc.: That moment when you try to fight your brother, but he turns you into a cat for the foreseeable eternity.

Dysen's teen trait is also "irresistible". His other traits are lucky, genius, and ambitious... I think. Something like that. I'm grooming him for a very socially-intense career roll, so charismatic and schmoozer may be in the cards later on.