Maaaan. I just kept on writing on this post.
So a lot happened. Kaylyn aged up into a young adult, getting the Insane trait out of the deal. So that's fun.
Rikash got Absent-minded, Jonathan got Over-Emotional. Daine Dislikes Children, George got Hot-Headed.
Thom kept losing jobs. Over and over and over again, drove me nuts. So I offed him pretty early, before he turned elder.
Jonathan made Artist pretty easy.
Daine got Education - ironic given her traits.
George went through a couple of jobs before getting alien pregnant (SCORE). So now he's in Medical, with a couple of weeks until he turns elder. With Artist lifted, he has plenty of time to knock that out of the ballpark.
The Alien Baby is named Nawat, and came out with the Insane and Absent-Minded traits.
Rikash settled in to being a movie star. The lack of celebrity stars kind of did trip me up, but we're slowly working on that.
Kaylyn married, killed off the first husband, and remarried. I didn't get the trait list on the witch, he died so fast, but Zachariah, the only spouse that matters, is Clumsy, Mean-Spirited, Irresistable, Brave, and Virtuoso, coming prepackaged with a Military career.
Also score, especially since he has so much time to work with.
Both marriages were the results of her breaking up relationships with vampires, which I find amusing. I really don't have anything against vampires, honest!
I killed off Jonathan after he'd earned enough LTW points to net me a platinum ghost - made with love, care, and a lot of ranting. I just didn't trust my luck - Zachariah is a mundane human, and I suspected at least one of Kaylyn's children would be a mundane human too.
So then Kaylyn cleared Paranormal and had her twins, Cael and Richard. Cael is a Brave Couch Potato, while Richard is a Clumsy Slob. As expected, Cael is mundane, while Richard is the witch.
No females - I was hoping for a pure matriarchy - but it'll do well enough. Witch is the only criteria I actually need to make the prestige option work.
---
It was a little after my eighteenth birthday that the Cat came to me.
I named him Pounce.
He only comes around when I'm all alone, I think he - well, he's not scared of the others, he's just not interested in them.
I'm special, he says.
We're all special, but I'm the best.
The Cat came to console me after Mother died. He didn't say anything, he just laid with me while I cried it out. I know she was getting old and all, but I never imagined a world without her in it.
Father just ... wasted away, after that. The Cat was a little more verbose on that subject.
He talks, did I mention that already? He said, it's okay to let go of the ones who aren't useful anymore.
I'm not sure how I feel about that. Doesn't he care that Dad died?
Of course he doesn't. He's a cat.
--
Time moves on. I asked Jon why he's always painting, when every day the thugs come to take the paintings away. He says, well, at least somebody is getting some enjoyment out of the beauty he creates.
I suggested that he try writing books.
See, people will pay money for books, and unlike paintings, the mob isn't as interested in books.
So now he's writing books.
--
Daine is the only other girl with magic, did I mention that before?
It was actually kind of funny, how we found out. See, she was still a kid, and we heard her crying for hours in the walls, but nobody could figure out where she was.
It turns out, in the basement, there's a compartment with no doors or windows - and no light. Daine ended up in there - nobody knows for how long, not even her - and now she's kind of freaked out by the dark. Mom - this was back when Mom was still alive - Mom had to walk her out through the wall.
It doesn't come up much, but one time, when she was really angry, she pushed Dad through the wall and into the dirt on the other side. It took all of us with shovels to dig him out, and then we had to put all the dirt back because it was outside our designated building area.
--
Against my better judgment, I took Thom's advice and met up with a witch man.
He was like putty in my hands, and it was so easy to twist him to my will.
I'm not sure I liked that.
I married him, and I figured I'd use him to get an heir, because the cat is always on me about my duties as heir.
But he was so old. He didn't even have the stamina to consummate our marriage, and actually, I'm kind of glad for that fact. I'm not ready for children - I have a lot of work left to do to bring magic back into the world.
The Cat noted that the man was getting old and useless. What was I going to do with an old man?
So the Cat gave me the logical conclusion.
Daine helped. She hit him over the head, and dragged him through the walls.
He'll suffocate or starve, but he isn't my problem anymore.
--
The Cat was pleased with what I did to my man.
In a way, I was kind of hoping he would be.
It hurt, a little, in my heart. But it was the right thing to do, the Cat says.
--
Time passed. Thom flitted from job to job, while the rest of us did meaningful work. Even Jonathan, who doesn't have a proper job, is more useful than Thom.
The Cat told me it was finally time to kill him.
In a way, I was relieved. Nobody except George really liked Thom.
His place will be taken by one of my own children.
The Cat reminds me that I'm not as young as I once was.
Ah - I remarried. Zachariah, a military man. I had to save him from the clutches of a blood-sucking leech, but he's mine now.
The Cat approves. He's young and strong. He'll do well.
We have plans to have children; it's my long-held wish.
All I want is to pass this burden on to another.
Even though I knew it was necessary, I didn't want to end my elder brother's life. It was simple to do - I thought cold at him, and he froze. It didn't hurt that I stripped him down to his underthings and dragged him outside to die.
Well.
It didn't hurt me.
It never hurts me. Not until after.
I wonder if I'm doing the right thing, but the Cat says I am.
The Cat knows. I should - I must - trust him. Otherwise, who can I trust?
--
George had this wild tale of being abducted by aliens. Of course I didn't believe him, at least at first.
Then he lost his job as a business man, when he had the baby in the middle of his work day.
I don't ... how ... what ... I know medicine is an imperfect science at the moment, but ...
He doesn't have the parts!
--
I did it.
People are learning to trust us again. Magic isn't some horrible thing to be feared - it's a beautiful, wondrous thing. It can do so much for us - at the end, I let slip in an interview that it was Mom's last spell that broke the Endless Winter.
That seems to be what did it.
The humans were reminded that, not all of them are the same - why should all of us be evil monsters?
Everyone benefits from magic returning to the world. Everyone.
The dead, the living - there isn't such a great distinction there.
Oh, there's a lot of work to be done - right now, Zachariah is trying to figure out why the zombies come every full moon, why their packs tear apart the innocent - and the humans are still inherently corrupt -
But I did my part.
It feels good.
--
I'm getting tired lately.
Tired of everything, really.
I summoned the reaper to take Jon away. I didn't want to, but I knew there were two auras growing inside of me, and only enough room in the family to care for one of them ... if I didn't intervene.
I'm heartbroken. And not just because of the money - I'm not like that! He was a steady source of income - he alone brought in enough money to keep the thugs happy.
Jon was a good man. He deserved better.
We're raising the little green lump of flesh to be a better person than its father.
But it's time. We had our twins, two boys - Mother would disapprove of me naming a male as heir, I'm sure, but I just don't have the strength to try again.
I see it in their auras. Cael is a strong, healthy youth. Richard will be the heir; he has magic.
That much, at least, I can do for Mother's legacy.
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