4.31 We Just Don't Know

She studies his technique.

Her father is so good at every game, it seems like he doesn't even have to try.

But when it's Fairuza's turn, she slips. And falls. 

Life's just not fair.

Her half-sister is so talented. Orazia can make impossible things sprout from the soil.

And Orazia can read books with no pictures, without even getting bored.

Fairuza is bored very easily. She bounces from activity to activity, never settling down long enough to learn a skill.

Milo doesn't worry. They're both kind and polite girls. The rest should sort itself out.

He does worry a bit about Ceth's son. The boy always seems stressed out.

"Hey little guy... whatcha doin' in here by yourself? What's this diagram about?"

"I don't know," Acheron lies.

The boxes and lines and abbreviations mean nothing to Milo. "Well it's a nice... drawing..."

This is the "worship" interaction. It pops up in the pie menu after Milo has won a big game.

"You are the coolest dad EVER! I want your autograph!"

"I know about the math test, Fairuza."

"I'm not sucking up! I swear!"

 Just a cute picture.

 Dysen finally ages up.

His father and uncle immediately take it upon themselves to share their anger management strategies. They act as if Dysen could flip out of control at any second.

"Just stay busy," Milo advises, "put your energy into hobbies and stuff, and you won't have time to get moody over what everyone else is doing. Everybody's a moron... me, you, the whole world. So don't let them get to you. Just let it all roll off your back. We're all in this together. Don't bite anyone."

"I have the genius trait," Dysen argues. "I am not a moron."

Carlos prefers a more intellectual approach to strict mental discipline. "Nobody is responsible for your actions but you," he says, making it sound so obvious.

Why are they worried if it's all so easy? Dysen wonders. Don't they trust me?

No, of course they don't. He just aged up yesterday.

In fact, they so don't trust him, they homeschool him for a little while, to make sure he first gains enough maturity not to mention he's a werewolf with a witch cousin and an alien mom.

Legacy families get weird fast, don't they...

When all else fails, there's always great-grandfather Reggie's meditation regimen.

"That looks incredibly stupid," Dysen grumbles.

The glitch that prevented me from sending Dysen to school clears up the next time I load the game. So he's ready now. The world will be his oyster.

The glitch that prevents Orazia from sleeping or ever being happy is still in effect, but let's not talk about that.

For a very short time, all four children in the household share an age stage.

Dysen tries to get his cousins interested in what games he wants to play, but they just want to play in the stupid sand.

He hates sand. It's course and rough and irritating. And it gets everywhere.

 Hey, it's Phil and his daughter Kelley.

Fairuza makes friends easily.

Dysen makes friends easily as well, though he's far more selective, and his methods are more... manipulative.

He offers to buy schoolmate Molly Robins a gumball, after overhearing her parents deny her the cash for this small pleasure.

"You don't have to..." Molly mumbles.

"I insist," he says, flashing a charismatic smile.

The gumball machine betrays him.

As he lands on his butt, painfully, he notices the heart sewn into Molly's jeans.

She's the one.

"Are... are you okay?" she whispers.

"Yes."

Maybe he can salvage this perfectly calculated plan after all.

"I guess I'm glad it was you and not me." She extends a hand to help him up.

He drops a gumball in her hand instead of taking it, and hops to his feet.

Molly pops the blueberry flavored sphere into her mouth.

"You're the one who won the drawing contest, right?" he asks.

She nods.

"I like your art."

"Thanks," she says, finally smiling.

Well, it's a start. Dysen can't shake the feeling that he and Molly are compatible. He's been watching her for a while to be sure. And he's got supernatural senses, right? Right. He can't possibly be wrong.

"You're so lucky your parents give you money to play any game." Molly quickly comes around to the idea of being friends with this kid.

"Yeah, we have tons of money. We should have a mansion, but noooo, I have to share a room with Acheron over there."

"Oh..." Molly's gaze flicks to the blond kid for a moment. She knows him from literature class. He's an apathetic weirdo with no friends. He doesn't seem to want friends, either. She lowers her voice, "Is it true he's Ceth La Mar's son?"

"Yup, can't you tell?"

"What's his deal?" Molly asks.

"We just. Don't. Know," Dysen replies.

Molly giggles.

Acheron pretends he can't hear them over the sounds of the arcade machines.

He wonders if he has free will, or merely the illusion of it.

Could he interfere with this Molly/Dysen thing?

Sometimes you just gotta dress up cute and have a tea party with a teddy...

Orazia can't cast any spells yet, but she's trying really hard.

She ages up to teen before she's any good at it.

Dysen is fascinated by the energy channeling process. First his cousin imbued normal fruit trees from the garden with her magic, then she grabbed a fallen branch and can use it to focus the same magic? Pretty weird...

"These perception wards inside the house should keep people from noticing anything is amiss if they catch me playing with magic, or you wolfing out," she tells him. "But please don't test them."

Dysen takes this as an invitation to show off his were form.

"Looks like the spell didn't work," Ceth comments. "I still see the little disaster."

Orazia frowns. "Uhh... nobody who lives here should be affected, Aunt Ceth."

"Oh. Too bad. The werewolf thing really is an eyesore."


_______________________________________________
Etc.: Chapter 100!

4.30 Point A to Point C

"La Mer?" The lady, Doctor who-really-cares, stares at Acheron with intense curiosity. "Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time."

Get me out of here, some voice inside Acheron screams. Cheesy Star Wars references are more than anyone should have to endure.

The body he's in barely flinches, though.

"Cayenne La Mer was the best healer this sanctuary has ever seen," she continues. "She wanted to teach her magic to others, but none were capable. We determined it was a magic unique to beings of... how do I put this... light magic. Our mages continue to disagree about how such beings exist."

Acheron tilts his head. "I'd imagine it's genetics. Like all magic."

"Yes but... the primordial species connecting our world with light magic have been gone for a long time."

"Seems they found a way to keep their influence around regardless." It's all Acheron can do to keep from rolling his eyes. "Do you know where I can find Cayenne?"

"Her brother was captured by... you know. Them." Her face twists angrily at the thought of the supernaturals who suppress their own. Some are traitors, but many are victims... of course it's enraging to think about.

"Uh huh." Acheron's face does not change.

"She left the Falls after that. She said she was a danger to us. She and her brother had a... metaphysical connection. She said if the fairies figured it out, none of our wards would save us."

"Aha?"

"So I can't really... help you."

That can't be true. This has always been part of the sequence. He must be here for a reason.

"Sequence," he wakes up with this strange word on his lips. It's mental shorthand a much older person uses to parse their life. It's a word he's never encountered before.

 "Ruza?"

"Uh huh?"

"Will you play outside with me?"

"I can't, Acheron... I'm studying."

Acheron pokes slowly at his own homework, not interested in it at all. He's a bit younger than Fairuza, and his assignments are more simplistic. They're also tremendously boring; he feels like he's seen these same questions a hundred thousand times, somehow.

"Ruza?"

"What?"

"What does... sequence... mean?"

Fairuza's face scrunches up in a frown as she overthinks the question. "I 'unno. I'm no good at maths. Ask Orazia."

Acheron looks down at the math homework he's scribbling on. "It's not a homework question. I just heard it somewhere. Sequence. What does it mean?"

"Oh. Um, it means something happens after something else. Like a whole bunch of things. They all go in order."

"I see," Acheron squeaks.

He thinks over her words for a moment, then chuckles. "I think I get why he was so annoyed."

"Who?" Fairuza questions.

"Nobody. Me? I don't know. Doesn't matter."

"You're weird, Acheron."

"Yeah, well, you're failing your test tomorrow. You might as well stop studying and come play outside."

"I'm not failing my test."

"You are," he says, with the innocence of absolute certainty.

She has no comeback. She just glares at him, and he feels bad.

"I can tell you every test question, and every answer, right now." Acheron's pleas to get out of school don't get him anywhere. His mother scoffs at his every hint of knowing things before he's supposed to. Hints are just not good enough. He will have to tell her.

But he won't do that, because every time he tries that in the dreams, bad things happen to her.

He hasn't figured out how those dots connect, exactly, but he has the unsettling suspicion he will hate his older self when he does. That can't be healthy.

Orazia's budding mage identity is coming along pretty well, though.

Here she is with her latest crafted potion. Izalee will be so proud.

 Carlos still tries to supervise. Though he is not sure what's going on.

Milo helps his sister in law with her workout routine. He fears she's going to get herself in trouble, with that PI career. What if some guy she's investigating for infidelity notices he's under surveillance and tries to hurt her? It would make Milo feel better if he personally taught her how to kick some ass.

Dysen tries to destroy his mother's office. No one is sure how he got in here.

Instead of disciplining the brat, Lela appears to be enabling future destruction.

Werewolf child, werewolf doll.

"It's hard enough to sleep without YOU, ya know." Acheron is pretty sure Dysen understands him. Especially when the toddler looks away and makes a dismissive hand gesture.

Sharing a room totally stinks.

"Such beautiful music," Ceth praises. "Carlos says it should wait for morning, but I cannot stifle such artistry."

"I had a bad dream," Acheron mumbles.

"Oh, honey," his mother is instantly sympathetic.

"I kissed a lady. It was gross."

Despite Acheron's weirdness, his relationship bars with Milo's two daughters are full green. So the author feels the need to point out that they do, in fact, all like each other.

Dysen, though, has always thought Acheron smelled suspicious.

Fairuza fails her test. 



_________________________________
Etc.: Hey, still alive here! Sims 3 has been taking a back seat to my other projects and responsibilities, but I've been squeezing in as much gameplay as possible so I can wrap up what's happenin' in this generation and move on to the next one. I'm excited! And busy!