5.25 Real Magic, Stage Magic

Olive did not get to know her grandfather, Carlos, but she spends many hours of her life keeping his garden going. She loves this house, its gardens, the views, and she can't imagine living anywhere else. This has to be the most beautiful spot in town.

Whatever, Molly.

Double date. The twins and their first loves go out dancing.

They get in just before curfew. While Spring is in the shower, Olive and Holland enjoy some fruit parfait on the veranda.

"Do you think you're in love?" Olive asks.

Holland stops eating and stares at nothing, giving some thought to his answer. They are nearing graduation, and they'll be making major life decisions soon. The kind of decisions that make or break teen romances. "I don't know. I like Suzie, I usually like being around her, but sometimes... it's hard to respect her sometimes. She's just so ignorant, and I can't correct her."

Olive frowns. "Respect is important... you shouldn't be with someone you don't respect... but I know what you mean. I'm keeping this big secret from Spring."

"Well it's different for you guys."

"Why? Because you think being a witch is cool and being a werewolf is awful?"

"Umm, no, but yes, but that's not what I was getting at. Spring doesn't go around telling you wrong things about magic, forcing you to keep your mouth shut... you two can just be normal. Easily."

"Holly, I'm hiding a large part of myself from him. You don't seem to understand, I'm proud of my magic, I'm all about my magic. Keeping my mouth shut is HARD. Besides that, I feel like it's the kind of thing anyone I'm serious about should be told. They should know what they're getting into, and what kinds of challenges our kids could face." Olive sees Holland's eyebrows shoot up, and feels her face redden. "I want a big family, okay? I want to be surrounded by love and happiness, don't judge me for that. And I actually love Spring. I could see myself staying with him. He's sweet, we go together really well.... at least I think we do, but I can't know for sure, because the me he knows is a fake me." Olive sighs sadly. "How long can I wait to tell him?"

Holland has a lot of complicated feelings about this subject, but none are so strong as the compulsion to comfort his sister. "He doesn't know a fake you. Your magic doesn't change who you are."

"But they make me the kind of person who would keep something really important from her boyfriend..."

Same veranda, different day. The twins' birthday falls on a school day so they've decided to have cake in the morning before the bus shows up. That way, they don't have to go to school.

Anxiety triggers Holland to burst into tears, but he insists he's happy, really.

Olive and Spring share a tender moment before it's time to blow out candles.

Olive is the first to her cake. Molly tells her to make a wish, so she quietly wishes Apollo were here to celebrate with her.

 Apollo does not appear out of thin air, but a fire does.

Holland panics, his mind immediately going to the story about Todd Landgraab dying from a cake explosion. Even this long after the man's death, Monte Vista has not forgotten it. Holland would be both more and less at ease if he knew it was no accident.

Spring has no firefighter training yet, but he does have the brave trait, so he springs (ha) into action.

After the fire is put out the school bus arrives. All three kids reluctantly board it, so. That's a bummer.

Olive and Holland age up that afternoon when they get home.

Dysen has them pose for a picture. They decide to be silly about it.

Holland moves out the next day, renting this farmhouse down the road.

The landlord gives Holland a discount on rent (and a share of the produce) for keeping up with the attached vineyards, and Holland is happy to do this. He continues art as a hobby but ends up going into the culinary profession for a reliable source of income.

Holland is allowed to take Larry with him when he leaves.

Holland will be just down the road, but he gives Olive a back-crushing goodbye hug anyway.

Dysen and Molly won't admit it, but they're happy at least one of their three children isn't leaving.

Spring ages up later that night. Eager to take his place in the legacy, if that thought bubble is anything to go by.

He gets a job at the fire station. Coworker Jane Toledo checks out the new rookie as he obliviously works out in front of her.

The fire station is a cozy little building, with many of the comforts of home, but all of the plumbing and electronics are woefully outdated. Spring sets out to prove his worth by doing something about that.

He gets a little carried away, it's 3AM before he's repaired the damage to that shower, but that's okay. He has a bunk here he can sleep in, and he opts to do that because he'd rather not go home and risk waking up Olive or her parents.

Olive needs a job too. Her chipper personality and love of attention makes performing an obvious option, and as Dysen Whitfield's daughter she was all but guaranteed a place at World of Wonder.
 

 

As a witch, she can easily incorporate feats of real magic...

...into convincing stage magic.

She and Spring give their bedroom a makeover, ditching the design choices Apollo made long ago.

The young couple relax, enjoying each other's company.

"I don't think anyone could make me as happy as you do," Olive says, pulling back from a kiss to smile at him, though with a serious look in her eyes.

"I don't feel like I've done very much," he says.

"Being you is enough. Thank you for staying here with me."

Spring could have pushed the issue to move out into their own place, but he doesn't see anything wrong with Olive not wanting to let go of her parents. Dysen and Molly have been nothing but kind to him, and Olive's devotion to family is part of what he loves about her. 

He wishes he could have had extra time with his own parents, so how could he blame her for wanting to stay so close to hers?

"I love you, Olive Whitfield... my home will be wherever you are."

Their graduation ceremony takes place on Saturday, and it is packed. They had a fairly large graduating class.

Olive is voted Most Likely to Have a Big Family.

Her classmates know her better than she thought they did.

While the rabbithole ceremony is happening, two graduates' mothers argue about who wears their hairstyle better.

 Then one of them dies. So that's settled, I guess.

Grim shows up to one of Olive's performances, even though as far as I can tell no one died nearby.

"Booo! Booooo!"

Olive isn't sure if she should take it as a threat or not when Grim starts criticizing her act...

Dysen uses perfect quality ingredients from the family garden and went through the trouble of raising his cooking skill to 10, but everything he makes only turns out 'great' or 'outstanding'. Never perfect. Sometimes he wishes his father were here to tell him what he's doing wrong.

Molly enjoys his food anyway. She also enjoys how his hair is still black in werewolf form.

It really turns her on.

Olive and Spring work a lot, trying to establish themselves in their respective careers, so Dysen and Molly have the house to themselves most evenings.






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Etc:. It's been a while so I don't remember what happened to all the money in this legacy, other than frequent donations to Geese Unlimited (did I get rid of it for story reasons, back when the family had that issue with the Landgraab?) but the household is barely keeping up with its bills.

Oh well. Magician is probably as lucrative as the other SHT careers (though playing in a town with only 4 SHT venues, none of them the best ones, gimps it a lot), and I am excited to finally try magician. I think Olive is adorable and I hope you will enjoy generation 6.

Olive's stage name was created by the RNG, as is tradition. It's Gravity the Wicked.

My SO: "Why is Cat from Red Dwarf in your game?"