Chapter 76: I'll Listen to You

Lewis stole some credit cards, so Rex jumps out of the bushes and attacks him.

Righteous fury wins over vampire strength, apparently.

Lewis throws the cards in Rex's face.

"I can't believe a genius like you would stoop to crime," Rex says, shaking his head.

"I can't believe a genius like you would be such a square." Lewis grimaces.

Fischer and Javier have their own concerns about crime. Now that Pablo is dead, Nol has been more honest about how he made his living. It's not that she wants to tarnish his memory; she just didn't feel he could handle being questioned by the family he cared so much about. Since he's gone, Nol can handle those questions.

"Grandpa was a criminal and he broke the law, repeatedly," Fischer states. "I wouldn't doubt that's where much of our money comes from."

"Grandpa also saved Dirk Daring from death by laser," Javier points out. "And you have the paperwork to prove your wealth comes from all those books Gran pumps out."

"You think criminals can't change records and paperwork?" Neurotic and disillusioned, Fischer is a bad influence on his cousin, who is also neurotic and thinks the government is trying to poison people with airplanes.

When Kipp starts badmouthing school, Rex knows he's been a good parent.

Kipp is behaving much like Rex behaved as a child. He's so proud.

Paprika and her great-grandmother Leona discuss their love-life troubles.

Neither woman settled down with the one man they were most attached to. True, Cleveland died very young, but Leona's reluctance to marry him was so strong that the rumor of it managed to continue on for a few generations.

Luke dreams of getting out of this cramped house, where people wake up an move about at all hours.

The rooms are massive, but mostly filled with junk, and Ashby was content to let her children sleep in the same storage room she and her two brothers shared.

Arthur worries about Rex sometimes. If Rex wasn't distant family, Arthur would have called his brother over to arrest the guy holding a stakeout on his front porch.

Fire chief Ashby and her sim-fu moves.

Fischer often wonders what he will do as an adult. He comes from a family of inventors and scientists, artists, and others who followed their bizarre obsessions. Though Nol was the greatest financial success, many previous Archers were big names in Riverview during their lifetimes. Fischer doesn't want to be a big deal, but he doesn't want to let his family down, either.

Fischer has no ambition or obsession to work with. He doesn't count painting, a joy he thinks would be ruined if it were turned for profit.

Sifton has turned to badgering him about making investments in the business office, as if he were already in charge of his family's fortune... or at least a third of it, after it's split between him and his siblings.

Fish Kid was here.

"Believe me now, do you?" The vampire sneers, examining his nails. "Told you I didn't steal those apples."

Tyson Wicks demands an apology, but Rex refuses to apologize for not believing a story about a half fish half human child monster without any evidence.

Luke goes on and on about proper dish washing technique. He wishes everyone would allow him and him alone to wash the dishes, so he knows they'd be clean and all the dish soap would be properly rinsed off. He had some lemonade the other day and he swears he could taste dish soap because the glass was improperly washed.

Kipp tries to ignore him.

Another trip to Riverview Saloon before work. Again, no one is here, so Fischer sits down to do his homework.

Rex appears. Like any good snoop, he's a helicopter parent.

Rex tries to keep up with his artistic sons' interests.

Rex read one of Nol's books wherein the protagonist was a painter, so he thinks he's well versed on the subject of painting and attempts to give his youngest son some advice. Fischer just sighs.

Fischer loves darts so much, his parents buy him a dart board for home use. They don't want him going to that beaten down saloon all the time.

Nol buries her sister Kimberly and brother Hawk, as well as her cousin Holly, and her siblings' spouses Taylor and Alice. Rudy's family never approved of his marriage to Holly, so in death those two are separated. Rudy rests with his parents and older siblings in the mausoleum downtown.

Nol's feelings of anger towards Rex are renewed, since Hawk met the reaper in prison.

Kipp wants to be fit.

No meaningless office job will do for her; she wants to be an adventurer. Or an astronaut. Or something.

 Still, Kipp clings to childhood, and all its little dreams and securities.

There could be clowns in that hole.

Ashby picks up a new hobby: sculpting. Though she didn't clear out bedrooms for her children, she did a good job cleaning up the basement here.

Not wanting Luke to feel left out after Fischer gets a dart board, Ashby buys this thing for Luke.

Fischer just received his third promotion, but screw it all, he's quitting this job.

Rex worries about the kids and their jobs. It seems to have destroyed their social lives; maybe he shouldn't have forced them all to work.

Ashby is less concerned about social lives. She herself has no close friendships outside of the family, and doesn't think she needs them. "The kids are inheriting a lot of money and you want them to know responsibility, remember?" she patiently reminds him.

It was a long and bumpy road to get to the kind of closeness their relationship has now.

Nol has missed her Internet chats with Kimberly. So Kim decides to visit.

Who put that baby there?

It's Kipp's day off work.

After playing in the sprinkler, she goes to Rio's place to play in the pool.

Holding breath contest with Felicia.

Splashing Felicia.

And later, a game with Mom. What an exciting and active life Kipp has, on her days off.

The gym is Rex's idea of stress relief.

Zephram thinks it would be totally cool to haunt his mother's grave.

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Etc.: The sad flat grave next to Paz's flamingo grave is Chad's. I am gathering quite the ghost collection.

Hooray Rex. If I'm not mistaken, he's done every case, and now I can focus on his LTW (max logic and athletic). He's been very fun. If left alone for five seconds, he'll start yelling at people.

The game nominated poor Lorenzo to be Fish Kid's father, and I would have included that story arc, but I know some of my readers haven't gone through all of the investigator cases... and who am I to spoil the saddest tale in the game?

The fact that almost every major case in Rex's career involved other Archers just goes to show how incredibly bad the inbreeding has gotten. I'm looking forward to a new legacy and a fresh town. Hopefully I'll manage the next one better, but it's always sad to see spares die off without families of their own. Iago is an adult now and has never had a steady girlfriend, though story progression continually toys with messages about how Shelby is considering dating him, since she broke up with her boyfriend quite some time ago.

The vampires are starting to drive me a little bit crazy, too.

And something is wrong with blogger. In EDIT POSTS, I'm getting doubles of my recent posts, with one saved as a draft. Hopefully the ones you guys see are the ones where typos are corrected.

Fischer is eccentric, neurotic, artistic, and dramatic. Kipp is childish, athletic, and some other things. Luke shares neurotic and eccentric with Fischer. Eccentric has turned up a lot in the Archer line, even in spares, still existing in Fiona's descendants.