The next days were hard.

Every time someone walked into the house, they could feel the void of Dylan’s absence.

Andria threw herself into holding her children together. Whenever she saw them, she had a hug to offer or a kind word.

“You’ve been staying out so late,” she told Edmund. “You need to take care of yourself. It’s going to be all right.”

“I’m all right, Mum,” Edmund assured her. “It’s not really about Dad. I miss him, but there’s work I just have to do.”

“I hope it’s good work,” Andria said. “You’re looking so haggard.”

“It is good,” Edmund said, but he didn’t take the hint to tell her what he was doing.

Edmund was focused on cleaning up Avalon’s night. It was the most powerful affirmation of life he could think of.

He found Anton Pierce’s brother William at the beach house at midnight.

When Edmund walked into the building, he and William stared at each other for a long moment.

“Are you all right,” he companion Monica asked, looking frightened. “Should we leave? William?”

William suddenly nodded. “Anton said you’d come for me,” he said. “I’ve had enough. I’m ready.”

“I”m ready to sleep for the first time in many lifetimes,” he said. “Stand back, Monica.”

“William!” Monica said, her voice rising, “What are you doing? Are you sure?”

“I’m ready,” Williams said. He covered his eyes and waited.

Edmund called the magic to his fingers and whispered the words.

“It’s done,” he said. The one-time-vampire took a deep, shuddering breath — the first in a long time.

William said nothing more. He looked to Monica, who was watching wide-eyed from across the room.

They walked out of the beach house together, leaving Edmund alone.

Winston threw himself into his work.

The pub Fiddler’s Green offered him a contract for a series of Friday night performances.

He accumulated a few devoted fans, though he didn’t fill up the pub the way the proprietor was hoping.

Gamora didn’t consider herself terribly close to Uncle Dylan. She was buried in research in her new lab, and she didn’t learn of his passing until days later.

She emerged triumphantly, her eyes wild, holding a vial of glowing liquid.

“Now I just need to test it!” she declared. And who better to test it on than herself.

It felt good.

Aunt Abby found her standing on the grounds of the science complex. “We’ve been looking for you,” she said without preamble. “Why haven’t you been answering your phone? Wait — what did you do to yourself?”

“You look like in you’re in a bad mood,” Gamora said with a fiendish grin. “I can help with that.”

“Of course I’m in a bad mood. If you’d just answer your phone– Wait!”

It was too late. Gamora wasn’t really listening.

Abby stood for a moment, disoriented, as the effect washed over her.

“Does it feel good?” Gamora demanded. “I need to know. For science!”

“Groovy,” Abby said slowly. “Except there was something I needed to tell you about your uncle…”

Afterward, Gamora had some other ideas about what to do with her concoction.

“I bet I can blow the biggest bubble!”

“Whoa. I didn’t see that coming…”

Vickie escaped to the place she felt most at home. But she also was not quite herself. She knew what to do when she found a shark circling in the water — swim away slowly and nonthreateningly.

But just that moment, everything seemed pointless.

The shark swam away with a bruised nose, and Vickie with a few scrapes and a valuable shark tooth she sold in consignment.

It could easily have gone the other way, though. While her heart was still pounding from the fight, she stopped for a moment to take stock. She missed her dad, but she intended to live a good long time still.

She’d been locked inside her own grief for too long. It was time to think about someone else’s needs.

Vickie found her mom standing outside, fishing in a downpour.

“Hey mom,” she said. “You’re soaked to the bone. Come inside you catch cold, and I’ll make you some hot tea.”

“It’s all right,” Andria said. “The rain feels good, and the fish are biting. Look at this catch!”

“If you’re sure you want to stay out, would you like some company?” Vickie asked.

“You’ve never fished before,” Andria said.

“Could you teach me?” Vickie asked.

They returned home in the evening, soaked to the bone, and dried off over a warm dinner.

“You don’t have to be alone without Dad,” Vickie told her. “You’ve always been here for us, but we can be here for you too.”

“I know,” Andria said. “Thank you.”

---

Bummer of a post, but at least I’m through it.

Avalon gossip column:

Hunter’s unicorn pal has been kicking around in Avalon for generations, but all things come to and end in this game, even unicorns apparently.

Winston missed out on Paulette Callender. She got over her crush on him and married Java Weaver, my simself’s bastard kid with Tewl Langurd. I’m sure THAT will go well….

Java is in the Education career, and he sucks at it. I keep seeing him get promoted and then demoted. Paulette is in sports, and I haven’t seen anything about her in ages.

Townie adventures were all about the Langurds, it turns out. Sam’s simself also said goodbye in the most melodramatic way possible. She kicked her on-again, off-again boy-toy Stephan out of the house while she was on her deathbed.

And immediately after:

Sam has two young kids — a teen Claudia and a child Tammie. I think they were conceived by Sam’s male partner(s) at the time —  who might or might not have been Stephan. They both seem to be yellow hair and gold skin, which I’m pretty sure was Sam’s combination, so I’m not going to get visuals to tell me who their dad was.

At any rate, both got a nice nest egg.

As the simworld turns.