Edmund saw her across the street from Morgana Beach clubhouse as he left Victoria’s party. She was just standing there, silently, as if waiting for someone. Edmund could feel the waves of magic radiating from her. He was drawn like a moth to flame.

“My lady?” He called into the silence. Do you need help? May I be of some assistance? ”

She whipped around. “You,” she said. “Who are you?”

“I am called Edmund Sample” he said. “I am at your service.”

A smile played over her lips. “I would be careful pledging service to strangers you meet in the dark,” she said. “Anyway, I’m Marisela Flynn.”

You look like you’re searching for something, ” Edmund said. “This is an odd place to wander at night.”

“I’m always searching for something,” she said. “Sometimes I find it.”

As she spoke, the moonlight glinted of her teeth. Edmund started in surprise. Before he could be sure of what he saw, they were gone.

“I see that I’ve badly overstepped the bounds of propriety,” Edmund said. “It’s no business of mine what you’re looking for. I had the sudden thought that I could help. I’ll leave you in peace.”

“No!” Marisela said. “I’m sorry I have been so cold. I’m not used to people noticing me when I wander at night. Please stay. I’d like to know more about you.”

Edmund found himself talking about his fae blood and his quest to understand the unique magical underbelly of Avalon.

He even introduced her to Kalai.

Marisela hung on his every word and encouraged him to tell her more.

At last, Edmund realized just how lopsided the conversation was. “Now you know everything about me,” he said, “but I know almost nothing about you. I know you are magical as well. Tell me how.”

Marisela hesitated. “You’re right,” she said. “It’s not really a magical gift like yours, though. It’s more of a curse.”

“A curse!” Edmund said. “I have never encountered such a thing. Let me try to help.”

“I think you can help,” Marisela said, “but probably not the way you intended.”

She caught his hand, and suddenly he couldn’t pull away.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ll try to make this hurt as little as possible.”

Then she sank her teeth into the tender flesh of his wrist.

Edmund gasped, unable to cry out. His wrist burned as she drank his blood. She held him firmly against his involuntary flinching so that her teeth tore his flesh as little as possible.

“What have you done to me?” he rasped as she let him go.

Marisela looked at him tenderly. When she spoke, her voice was sad. “I’ve done you no permanent harm. I’m sorry. It’s what I am.”

Before he could move again, she was gone.

He returned home, so lost in his brooding that he barely noticed the world around him.

He stumbled distractedly to a chair, where he could rest and let the last of the tremors from the blood-sucking subside.

Which left him victim to another one of Gamora’s pranks.

“A whoopie cushion? Seriously? Are we five?”

“What’s up, big brother?” Victoria asked. “You left the party early. Did you have a good time?”

“I think I have stumbled upon a creature of the night,” Edmund said without preamble. “I should have guessed that if fae lived on Avalon, there could be more sinister monsters as well.”

“There are rumors that one of our ancestors was a vampire,” Victoria said. “I guess it doesn’t shock me. There’s a lot about Avalonian magic that we don’t understand. Like, almost all of it.”

“It’s true,” Edmund mused. “There have been so many secrets for so long. We understand so little, even about ourselves, much less anything else magical here. It doesn’t have to be this way. I want to help bring enlightenment to our home.”

“I’m sure you can do it,” Victoria said. “Dark magical things are right up your alley.”

Edmund no longer felt sick. He felt energized. He hurried up to his room to begin sorting through old tomes of magical lore.”

There was a lot to find.

———-

I’m happy to kick January on the ass on the way out. I’ve played a lot ahead at this point, but I have had absolutely no inspiration to write. It feels like a victory to get something out! We’ll see if I can keep it up.

Marisela Flynn is Sean Flynn’s daughter from before I remembered to turn off fertility for him and Forest. She’s not Forest’s daughter. She and Edmund not only have heart-farts, they seem to have a lot of autonomous chemistry. I don’t know what her traits are.

Edmund is still sort of casually dating Joy Reacher. The threads are not resolved by current gameplay, so we’ll have to see how they all play out.

“This isn’t going to work,” Winston said. “It’s much too cold for swimming.”

“It’s not that cold!” Victoria protested.

Winston raised his eyebrows and said nothing.

“OK, it is kind of cold. But just a little bit! I brought my wetsuit.”

“Hey,” said the first arrival to Victoria’s birthday party. “You aren’t seriously planning to swim in this weather, are you?”

“All right, all right,” Victoria said as she stalked out of the water. “We’ll have the party in the clubhouse.”

The clubhouse was warm and dry and much more comfortable for everyone.

“Here we go! On to adulthood!”

“Better you than me!” Winston called.

“It’ll be you soon enough!” Victoria cried.

“So this is adulthood, huh? Am I supposed to feel responsible or something?”

“Hey,” Danial Ibari-Saunders said. “Now that you’re legally an adult and all, have you thought about settling down and having a family?”

“What? Are you kidding? Don’t I at least need a boyfriend to do that? Are you volunteering? Because if you are, I’m going to tell your wife.”

“Woo!” Danial shouted. “She’s into me! Do you hear that, guys? She’s totally into me.”

Victoria just had to roll with it. “You’re so persuasive. Where is your wife, anyway? Does she even know you’re here mingling with recent high school grads?”

Victoria was actually rather surprised that Danial had accepted her invitation. He’d been a senior when she was a freshman, and he’d been out of school for quite a while. Plus, he was the only one of her friends who was already married.

“Sasha’s not feeling well,” Danial said. “She sends her regrets.”

“Aww,” Victoria said. “Tell her I hope she’s feeling better soon.”

“Sure thing. You want to break out the karaoke machine?”

“You kidding? I love that thing!”

“So let’s fire it up and sing!”

They sang, and everyone else gathered around to listen.

But it didn’t take Victoria long to realize she was seriously outclassed.

“Hey, you make a great backup singer, Vickie!” Winston taunted. But he was right. Danial could fill the room with his voice. He sang like a pro.

“All right then,” she said as Danial completed his big finale, “time for something else!”

“Aww,” Danial called after her. “I was just getting warmed up!”

“I’m afraid to hear what you sound like when you’re at your best! But, seriously, let’s do something everyone can join in. This thing has to have something we can dance to.” She punched the buttons on the clubhouse jukebox.

“Eek!” Roderick squealed. “I love this song! Let’s dance, Vickie!”

“Hey, you’re not a bad dancer!”

“Well, I kind of practiced after your party when you folks went on vacation.”

“I’m hoping to make a career out of dancing,” Winston admitted to his classmate, Roderick’s brother Angelina Winter.

“Performance careers are a lot of work,” Angelina pointed out.

“I’m not afraid to work hard,” Winston said defensively.

“I don’t think dancing should be work anyway,” Angelina said. “And aren’t we supposed to be doing that now?”

“I think this party is getting too loud,” Edmund said. “Would you like to go someplace else?”

“Gladly,” Joy said. They slipped out the door together.

The clubhouse was full of friends having fun. Victoria couldn’t think of when she’d last felt so light hearted.

When Roderick went to get a drink, Victoria stole some time with her best friend Judith.

“What do you think of Roderick?” Judith hissed. “Isn’t he adorable?”

“Well, he is cute,” Victoria admitted.

“He’s totally into you!”

“Oh, come on,” Victoria chided. “Roderick’s into everyone.”

“I think Danial Ibari is the cutest guy in the room,” Judith admitted.

“Bite your tongue!” Victoria said. “He’s a married man. Hands off.”

Judith laughed. “I know, but I can look!”

At last, people began to trickle home. Victoria stood and watched the sunset through the picture window. She could see her parents flirting down on the beach.

In the silence, after all the laughing and excitement, she felt a little forlorn. Where did she go from here? School was over. She was supposed to have some idea of a career. But the only thing that really called to her was the sea. Could you get a job playing in the ocean?

Maybe things would be a bit clearer in the morning.

———-

Well, here we are, at the start of Generation 7!

I and I thought Vickie was beautiful as a TEEN. She’s just captivating as a YA.

She’s proving to be more interested in diving and building things than she is romance. She’s not going to turn around and get married a day or two after aging up the way Dylan did. I had been brainstorming a romantic storyline for her based on the attraction notifications and interactions from when she was a teenager, but I think she decided to spite me and fall for someone else. I guess we’ll see. I am DYING to see Gen 8 babies, but I want to give her time to do things the way she wants to do them.

The bit about Danial Ibari-Saunders being so great at karaoke is because I just learned that he entered the Singer career.

Roderick Winter, if I failed to mention it before, is the grandson of February Callender. It’s pretty cool to see her hair color still floating around. He and his two sisters are the kids of Sawyer’s half-sister Rosie Winter and Dylan’s high school girlfriend Corinna Shepherd. Those two gals have had a lifelong happy partnership, but they never bothered to get married.

Comments from the peanut gallery on Vickie’s romantic prospects are welcome. I can use all the input I can get.

Victoria devoted her next weekend morning to Connery.

The old fellow never complained, but you could tell when he was feeling a bit neglected.

Their games lasted until almost noon…

When she was called inside unstick Bonehilda’s arm from the trash compactor.

It was rough being the only one in the house with any idea how stuff worked.

Then she sat down to check her email.

“Gamora! I know you did this!”

Dance was on hiatus, and Winston was getting more and more obsessed with flexibility. He started spending a lot of his off time at the gym.

He was taking a yoga class that was opening all sorts of new range of motion.

“I have GOT to find a way to use this stuff in a performance,” he decided.

It was just a matter of HOW.

“Edmund, you let your dragon sleep on the floor again,” Andria said sternly. “Come get him before he sets fire to the hardwood.” She paused and chuckled. “Not something I ever expected to say.”

“Don’t worry, Mother,” Edmund said. “I’ll take care of her.”

He called her name, and the dragon hatching leapt from the floor to alight gracefully on his arm.

Sawyer was up in the early morning. He usually strolled into work after 10AM these days, but today he was required to do a yearly wellness clinic.

He hated dealing with the riffraff of the town and their piddling little problems. He was supposed to be take apart brains and putting them back together. But the outreach was a hospital program he was required to participate in.

There was already a long line by the time he made it to the park. At least there was a warm cozy place inside to conduct his clinic.

He administered vaccines.

And antibiotics.

And hypnotized patients out of bad habits. Or something.

“Hey,” Jasper Crumplebottom said. “Can I trust you to be discreet?”

“If it helps, I have no interest in your personal life whatsoever,” Sawyer replied.

“My girlfriend and I really want to have a child, and she can’t, so can you hook me up with whatever it takes for me to get pregnant?”

“Let me take a look,” Sawyer said.

“Hmm. I can’t cure your maleness, but I can start you on male pregnancy hormones.”

“Thanks so much!” Jasper exclaimed. “I won’t forget this!”

“Don’t worry,” Sawyer said. “I can forget it for both of us.”

Sam Pistachio also showed up at the clinic.

She was really concerned about her toddler daughter’s cold, but Sawyer was more concerned about her.

“Being a single mom late in life tends to dull the brain,” he said. “Let me check your reflexes.”

“Ow! Ow! Ow!”

“Your reflexes seem to be within normal parameters,” Sawyer said. “False alarm. Carry on.”

“Actually,” Sam said, “that was kind of hot. Do you take new patient?”

“Call my secretary.”

Dylan and Andria had always been self-employed, but these days they weren’t terribly worried about their careers and didn’t mind taking time off to have fun.

While Sawyer was treating patients, they were at a Simfest in the park — possibly the worst-organized Simfest they’d ever attended.

“Didn’t this guy just go on?” Andria hissed. “Boo!”

“I think he set the same arm on fire the last time.”

Afterward, Andria took Dylan to Monmouth Archives.

“I take it you have something in mind other than checking out books,” Dylan said, trying to hide his confusion.

“Of course I do,” Andria agreed. “This is something I should have done a long time ago. You go on ahead. I need to change.”

“You’re — oh, I see,” Dylan said.

“There it is!”

“Come with me, my love,” she said. “Don’t worry. They don’t bite.”

Dylan took a deep breath and followed her.

“Why have you called us here?” the spokesman for the Fae Council boomed.

“I think it’s time I presented to you Dylan Sample, my husband.”

“You brought him here? The human who drew you out of hiding?”

“I didn’t draw out anyone,” Dylan said. “Andria came out of hiding on her own.”

Andria squeezed his hand. “He was just himself, and so was I. And it worked out fine. That’s the point I’ve been trying to make.”

 

And at last it came… Victoria’s last day of school.

The afternoon was filled with a huge award ceremony for her class, where she received honors for her grades and for her work in shop club.

“Wow. I think that was the most boring ceremony our school has ever thrown,” Winston said. “At least I caught up on my sleep.”

Andria nudged Victoria as they left. “It looks like Gamora might have taken an interest in your prom date,” she said quietly.

Victoria grinned. “That’s great, Mom. Better her than me.”

It was hard to believe it. School was out for the term, and she would never have to go back. Her birthday was almost here.

———-

I did it!! With no time to spare! (Actually, I wrote the last two posts in one day and scheduled this one to post the next day.)

Gamora did her homework with Kain McWilliams autonomously here, and she’s rolled a wish to ask for his Sign. I don’t think they have any heart-farts for each other, though.

There was no particular plot reason to include pics of Winston doing yoga. I’ve just had that piece of CC for ages, and Winston seems like he’d enjoy it.

I feel like I really neglected the thread of the fae in hiding and Dylan feeling left out of this part of his family. After his tired during Andria’s midlife crisis, I figured she’d want to get him more involved, but I didn’t manage to actually DO it until they were both Elders. Ah, well.

Dylan and Andria have been released to autonomy most of the time, since they’ve completed all their game goals. They spend most of their time romancing each other in weird places. So you have that to look forward to in the next generation 😉

Also, the Ambitions Medical career clinics are the best thing EVAR.

“This is a mess!” Dylan shouted.

“I told you not to go in the bathroom!” Victoria called back. “I’m fixing it, I swear!”

“And now Connery needs a bath too! I don’t even want to know what he’s rolling in.”

“Oh, Dylan, you’re being so… Dylan,” Andria said. “Give the kid a break.”

“My apologies,” Dylan said. “A big mess like this makes me a little unhinged.”

“You’re cute when you’re unhinged,” Andria said.

“Mom! Dad! Could you go somewhere else!” Victoria said. “I need to fix the bathtub.”

After she fixed the bathtub for the second time, Victoria return to work on the stereo, which was staunchly refusing to be repaired.

That went about as expected.

Dylan was still cleaning the floor in the bathroom,

so Victoria had to clean off upstairs.

She was really starting to hate that stereo.

The Samples extended clan decided to do something different for Snowflake Day this year — a family reunion at the festival park.

The day dawned bleakly overcast and snowing heavily, with the potential of a serious storm later. After a quick conference by telephone tree (because Dylan had never been comfortable with email), everyone decided to head to Little Cottage Park and hope for the best.

Victoria pulled Edmund onto the skating rink.

With mixed results.

For both of them.

Winston expressed his feelings about the weather in a more passive-aggressive way.

Gamora, on the other hand, wasn’t terribly interested in family reunions. She had different plans for Snowflake Day.

She’d found a chemical compound that she could use to treat raw eggs that made them bond with the surface they touched.

Her victim would have to have his door sanded and repainted to get them out.

Even better, her victim turned out to be home. She’d like to claim that the egg that hit him in the face was intentional, but he just managed to open the door at just the right time….

She did manage to throw a couple of eggs into his foyer. That was a bonus.

“What can I do to get you to leave me alone!!” Whitney shouted.

“Oh, you can’t do anything,” Gamora said. “I’ll stop when I’m done with you. Don’t hold your breath.”

Whitney called the cops, of course, but Gamora was safe at home by then.

When she returned home from her mischief, Sawyer was happy to see her. “I hope you’ve had a nice Snowflake Day,” he said. “Social custom dictates that we spend the day bonding.”

Sawyer would probably appreciate her project to punish sims who had hurt him, but Gamora deemed it prudent not to let him know when she broke the law. So she just smiled. “Sure, Dad. What did you have in mind?”

“Have you ever tried a mind meld?” Sawyer asked. “I haven’t tried one in years.”

“Never heard of it,” Gamora said, “but I’m willing to try.”

“I have been really lax with your television education,” Sawyer said. “Remind me to remedy that.”

“Huh,” Gamora said. “I don’t get it.”

“It used to work better than that,” Sawyer admitted with a scowl.

So they played chess instead. That was something they could both appreciate.

The Sample extended family arrived at Little Cottage, starting with Dylan’s cousin Gina Sample-Baerwyn.

She brought her little daughter Leona, who she was raising alone after her boyfriend’s sudden death. She wasn’t interested in talking about the tragedies of her life, but she was delighted with her daughter.

Uncle Stanley Marmalade, Aunt Abby’s half-brother, was also there. He technically didn’t share any blood with Dylan’s family due to Grandma Sky’s messed-up relationships, but nobody really cared.

Stanley was there alone. He was full of stories about his sons and bleary-eyed from new baby sleep. Andria found him sitting outside in the snow and had to pull him inside.

His partner Jody was home with their school-aged son Chauncey and new baby boy Sidney.

“I know what we all need!” Winston declared. “Hot cocoa! I brought my own cocoa beans. I want to try out a new recipe.”

While Winston was preparing his concoction and nobody was watching, Edmund made snow angles outside.

“Wow!” Victoria said. “I never knew hot cocoa could taste so good!”

“Thanks!” Winston said. “I think I’ll add more cinnamon next time.”

“This really is amazing,” Dylan said. “It’s good to get us all together. I wish Abby and Chaim could have made it”

“I married into an amazing family,” Andria said with a smile.

“Of course you did,” Dylan said with a twinkle in his eye. “You married me!”

———-

And the race is on to finish Gen 6 before the end of the year. One more post to go! Can I do it??

“And then she just walked away!” Edmund ranted at breakfast. “I just don’t understand women.”

“It’s probably not much comfort, son,” Dylan said, “but I’ve come to believe that if you’ve with a woman you don’t understand, you’re with the wrong woman.”

Edmund went on to take out his anxiety with a new spell.

That didn’t turn out well at all.

He set the magic aside after that and spent some time focusing on art with his father. That was still the language they could communicate in best.

He did produce a landscape he was particularly proud of.

Sawyer lined up some personal meetings with other neuroscience experts.

He had so much expertise to share with the smaller, less important researchers.

If only they would be a little more grateful.

Dylan and Andria had one more box to check off of their list of things to do on their second honeymoon.

Nectar tasting!

The nectarer had clearly sampled a bit too much of his own wares.

Andria made the first selection.

“Gak!”

“That tasted like a dead horse,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever really figured out this nectar stuff.”

“Let me pick one,” Dylan said soothingly.

“You go first,” Andria said.

“Mmmm,” Dylan said. “Fruity with a hint of floral.”

“All right,” Andria said. “If you think this one is good, I’ll give it a shot.”

“Hmmm,” she said, rolling the nectar over her tongue.

“No, I’m sorry, it’s still terrible.”

Dylan laughed and took her hands. “That’s what I love about you,” he said.

“That I can’t stand nectar?”

“Well, maybe in spite of that,” Dylan said.

“Ooop!” she squeaked as he knocked her off her feet.

“What are you doing?”

“Is it that hard to guess?”

“We need to go back to the tower,” Andria said huskily when she came up for breath.

“No,” Dylan said. “Absolutely not.”

“You know you want to try again,” she teased.

“I do not — all right, but whatever happens is your fault.”

“Last chance to chicken out,” Andria said.

“Nope,” Dylan retorted. “Too late.”

He took her by the hand, and they took the elevator to the top.

This time, they picked a better hiding place, and nobody found them.

“I guess I haven’t lost it after all!” Dylan chortled as they left.

“Remember,” Andria said. “I get full credit. You already said so. No takebacks!”

Before they left, Dylan found a perfect place to photograph a landscape to remember it by.

Back at the hotel, Edmund had started acting very strange.

“What in the simworld are you doing?” Dylan asked.

“It’s a spell I’ve been working on,” Edmund said. “It’s intended to coax a dragon hatching out of its shell.”

“Ah, right,” Dylan said. “I’ll just, ah, leave you to it.”

While Edmund made strange gestures and muttered to the egg, Dylan busied himself tidying up. They were headed home tonight, and it would be improper to leave the place a mess.

“Wait!” a guest cried. “What’s wrong with that rock?!”

The shards of the egg fell apart and dissolved into sparkling dust.

The creature inside immediately jumped off the ground and flew to Edmund’s outstretched arm.

“I’ll call you Kalai,” he said.

“Is that really a lizard on your shoulder?” another guest demanded. “Is that sanitary? Should that be in a bedroom?”

Edmund scowled. “Nobody here appreciates magic.”

 

The return flight left that evening. “There’s no time for me to cool a fancy dinner,” Andria said. “I think I’ll just grill something at the fire pit.”

“Yike!”

“OK, new plan. We’re going out to eat.”

 

Back home, Victoria and Winston set about erasing the traces of their party.

Victoria tried to repair the shorted out stereo.

Which required a bath.

Which required another repair.

Winston, meanwhile, kept his promise to Victoria about the den. After the party, you almost couldn’t tell that it had been cleaned beforehand.

Gamora had no more interest in the aftermath of the party than she did in the party itself. She ignored what her cousins did and focused on scheming.

First she perfected her formula.

Whitney Ursine-Sample had just been practice. Now she had her sights set on her mother, Manisha Kapoor-Yo.

Her chemical formula, when ignited, would make their house stink for days.

The best part was, while her father, aunt, and uncle were away, she was untouchable. A neighbor saw her lurking around the Kapoor-Yo residence and called the cops. They escorted her home, but there was no adult for them to report to.

Freedom, sweet freedom.

Eventually, though, it all had to come to an end.

Dylan, Andria, Sawyer, and Edmund returned to a home that was just as they left it… only more so.

“I can’t believe it!” Dylan declared. “This place is even cleaner than I remember! I never thought you children would be so responsible.”

“Just don’t go into the bathroom,” Victoria said weakly.

Then Vickie caught sight of the shape on her older brother’s shoulder.

“What is THAT!” she exclaimed.

Edmund puffed up his chest. He didn’t need more explanation of what Victoria meant.

“This is Kalai,” he said. “She’s a rare dragon hatchling, thoroughly enchanted.”

“If you’re interested, I could show you the spells I designed to help her hatch.”

“Uh, sure,” Victoria said. “Maybe some other time.”

 

“Come one come all!” Andria exclaimed. “It’s time for the main event!”

Surrounded by family, Andria was finally ready to step into her next stage of life.

“I am ready to rock this old lady gig!”

Even Gamora decided to have some cake, just for family solidarity.

“Family,” Andria said. “That’s what it’s about. Also cake.”

———-

Dang, I let this post get LONG. I just really wanted to get through the vacation and back on track for Vickie’s birthday. It was so much fun to PLAY, but sheesh — time for the next generation to take over!

As a tribute to Andria, I think this is the first time that everyone has sat at the table without route-failing out of one of the end seats. Woot. I may have moved the table somewhat to accomplish that.

I was really excited to find the accessory shoulder dragon I’m using with Edmund. The baby dragon will sit on your shoulder for a while, but as soon as the sim does any action other than walking, it disappears into inventory. I’d like to see Edmund walk around with that dragon on his shoulder most of the time. UNFORTUNATELY, it took quite a while for me to realize that the accessory dragon doesn’t actually look like the real dragon. I’d love to learn enough CC skills to create a proper accessory dragon. Eventually I’ll find a forum to ask about that.

I thought it would be fun to have Dylan and Andria try woohooing in the Eiffel Tower again. This time they didn’t get caught! But the object STILL didn’t show any hearts or woohoo animation, which was a bummer. I’m not sure what’s up with that.

While I’m free associating in the notes, I’m experimenting with posting this stuff to Tumblr. I really like the Sims community there, but the lack of comments makes it very non-interactive. I’m not sure I’ll stick with it.

I am posting hair conversions over there, though: http://echoweaver.tumblr.com/

“Hmmm,” Gamora said. “This is more dramatic than I was expecting on a first test.”

 

“I’m getting some kind of feedback,” Sawyer said. “We’re in some kind of tachyon loop.”

“I see something!” Gamora.

“Gamora!” Sawyer shouted. “Step away from the prototype!”

Gamora jumped back, just as something burst from the time field and dropped to the floor.

“Heeey….” the something said.

“Who are you?” Gamora demanded. “WHAT are you?”

“Me?” he asked. “I’m Emit Relevart, time traveler extraordinare!”

“How did you get into our time machine?” Gamora asked. “This was our first prototype test.”

“I was going to ask you the same thing,” Emit said. “But don’t bother. Time traveling is like that. You’d think that time loops would create some kind of paradox, but they actually happen all the time. This thing is probably your time machine and mine.”

“If you’re new to temporal travel, you should read up on the rules,” Emit said. “We try to help the newbies to the hobby avoid the worst mistakes.”

“Huh,” Gamora said. “I don’t know what to say. This isn’t the way I expected to discover time travel. I expected it would be more… pioneering.”

“Everyone does, squirt,” Emit said. “Everyone does.”

“I’ll let you in on a secret,” he continued, beckoning Gamora to lean close. “Everyone who ‘invents’ time travel thinks they’re the first one. Welcome to the club.”

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to head out to some place less crowded with other travelers.”

He pulled out a device and pressed a few buttons. The time travel prototype shuddered and spiked in response. Then he was gone.

Sawyer and Gamora were left alone in the lab.

“Well, that was unsettling,” Sawyer said.

“I wondered whether I wanted to go to future or the past when we got this thing working,” Gamora mused. “Now I know where I’m going.”

Inside, romance was in the air.

“Hey, Cortney?” Winston said. “Dance class is out this week, and I was wondering if you’d like to–”

“Oh, sorry. Maybe some other time.”

Winston put his phone back in his pocket and stared at the floor for a while. There had been a time when Cortney Pierce-Hodgins had wanted to spend all her time with him. Now… what?

At almost the same time, Victoria was also fielding a phone call.

 

“Kain McWilliams? Of course I remember you from prom! A date? Uh, OK. When?”

Kain insisted that she pick a location. That’s how they ended up at the beach in the snow.

“Vickie!” Kain exclaimed. “It’s so good to see you. I have to say I’m kind of surprised by the venue, though. It’s it a little bit cold for the water?”

“It’s actually not that bad!” Victoria said. “The jetstream brings up a lot of warmer water from tropical seas. It’s just fine with a wetsuit.” At his horrified expression, she amended lamely, “I didn’t really think we’d swim. The view from the clubhouse is gorgeous.”

“I’ve never been inside the clubhouse,” Kain said, looking around appraisingly. “This is really nice. Thank you for showing it to me.”

“This is my favorite place in Avalon,” Victoria admitted, “even when it’s cold. You can still hear the waves and feel the ocean breeze.”

“It’s also deserted this time of year,” Kain said, “which is great for us. What a find!”

Victoria blanched. “And it has a great karyoke machine,” she said quickly. “Why don’t we play for a while?”

“Uh sure, if that’s what you like,” Kain said. “How do you set this thing up?”

Victoria was an old hat at the Morgana Beach karaoke machine. She and Judith had logged hours on it all through high school.

Kain wasn’t a bad singer, which was impressive, since Victoria knew the set list by heart, and he didn’t.

But Victoria had to admit that he was just weird about the whole thing. And there was something about the way he looked at her that made her uncomfortable.

 

What was he even doing with his head there?

At least the sound attracted in some other folks, so they weren’t alone. That helped Victoria relax a little bit.

After a few songs, Kain put his microphone away. He was watching her with that intensity that made her want to cringe away.

“That was a lot of fun,”  he said. “What would you think about continuing our date someplace more private?”

“Uh….” Victoria said. “I think I really should go home now. My, uh, parents expect my home for dinner.”

Kain’s face fell. “I see. I guess if you want to go out again, you should give me a call.”

Victoria escaped as fast as she could, feeling horrible. She’d hurt his feelings, and she knew it. He’d been so nice to her at the prom. They’d danced and laughed together. But on their own, without the flashing lights and shouting over the music, all she felt around him was uncomfortable.

Would she ever learn to turn someone down gracefully?

———-

I’ve played ahead at least eight posts worth of material, but I’ve been wrestling with writer’s block. Hopefully getting this out will help me power through it. In my game, Victoria has taken over the legacy, and I’m on the hunt for a spouse for her. (She, honestly, couldn’t care less so long as she can swim, sail, and build things.) It’s hard to figure out how to help her choose from her collection of admirers — being Irresistible, she doesn’t lack for romantic interests. Kain, the RI she picked up from prom, was easy to eliminate though.

Vickie gets a lot of wishes about that karaoke machine. You’re going to see it again.