Chapter 82: Room for One More

There were some difficulties along the way, but Xue is finally a child.

A couch potato, she spends as much time watching television as her father allows. Her favorite shows are documentaries on the travel channel. She's curious about her birthplace, China.

Xue's other interests include becoming a witch. Rise from thy sandy grave, zombies!

And fishing.

She can't tell you why it's the one thing better than a comfy chair and a thousand channels, but it is.

Luckily Paz installed a pond all those generations ago, so Xue doesn't have to break curfew to fish at the right times (IE before six AM).

Fischer fills the one last empty corner of the back yard with water slides, a tree house, and various other fun things. Looking at his work, he realizes the house is certainly big enough for a third child.

The adoption service is choked with kids and all too happy to send the Archers another child within the day.

The first thing Shu Fang does when she's dropped off at her new home is give Fischer a tight hug.

He was in the bathroom fixing the sink, and there's still water all over the floor, but she doesn't care.

Getting to know Shu Fang isn't the easiest task. Her answers to most questions are short and guarded. But Fischer persists, and discovers she's a bright girl with an interest in photography.

He doesn't ask about her past, but eventually she tells him enough.

"My real parents let me get hurt," she says distantly, pretending to look at her sandals. "That's why I was up for adoption."

For dinner, Fischer makes grilled cheese, Shu Fang's stated favorite dish.

It is at this moment that Shu Fang decides she's going to like it here.

Shu Fang gets her own bed. It's a little whimsical, and the walls are a little insane, but it's cozy.

Yasu and Xue have a bunk bed on the other side of the room.

Yasu is not pleased with Xue's oriental decor requests.

Even the top bunk (Xue's) has cheesy dragons.

"You have a third Chinese daughter?" Javier asks, incredulous. "That's just creepy."

"I'll be fine," Fischer says. "I read a lot of parenting books."

"Yeah, but... what's it with you and China girls?"

"Nothing. I didn't want Yasu to feel alone."

Javier sighs. "Your mind works in weird ways."

"At least I don't believe in aliens."

Rex has more fun with the slide than the kids do.

They're usually more interested in the treehouse anyway. They've named it "Pink Fort."

From TV Xue learns to use chopsticks, and teaches her sisters the delicate art.

A fascination with the ninja.

Yasu's obsession is with her mind. Chess only proves so much, or she would complete in tournaments.

Several times a day, she is attacked by strokes of almost artistic brilliance.

Finding Zephram's invention bench in good shape, Yasu uses it to tear things apart and see how they work.

She is even so bold as to skip school to do this.

 

Yasu begs for forgiveness when Fischer catches her skipping school.

He can see the project was important to her, and decides to let her off the hook.

Holly falls off the trampoline. =(

An early morning fire in the Newbie family's basement.

(Yes that was Fiona's house; it's still held by her descendants.)

Everybody aboard for LEARNING!

Where's the other one?

I see.

Yasu sometimes wonders what it would be like to have been born a male instead of a female.

The prince outfit only does so much to simulate the experience.

Would she prance around doing as she pleased until adulthood, for "boys will be boys"?

Shu Fang interrupts the prancing with a song - Ping and His Checkers.

"Shut uuupp," Yasu grumbles. "Are you like Xue now? Obsessed with being a Chinaperson? Even though your real parents didn't want you?"

"Leave me out of this," Xue complains.

"Whatever." Yasu sneers, though is hurting inside. Her sisters' attempts to find an ethnic identity constantly remind her of a mother she'll never know.

 Yasu's attempts to coerce her sisters into playing Three Musketeers with her are only partial successes.

"She's either with us or against us," Yasu shrieks. "This is the middle ages not space ages."

 "You're really pushy," Shu Fang observes. "A genius should figure out that being pushy doesn't work."

Shu Fang talks Xue into changing costumes, but instead of having a mock sword battle, Shu Fang gets the idea to turn out the kitchen lights, grab a flash light and tell ghost stories.

"This tale is completely true," she begins. "I heard it on game night in my last home, and the girl there was the same girl in this story."

Yasu's overactive brain hates ghost stories.

"We are righteous knights," she says. "We shouldn't be wasting our time with this."

"Tell another one!" Xue shouts.

Rex loves babysitting his granddaughters while Fischer is at work, and when Fischer gets home Rex has an entire wallet full of freshly developed photos to show him.

"Yasu is so respectful, she can salute," Rex gushes.

Xue stays up to meet Nol and Hawk. No offense to the ghosts, but she hopes her grandparents won't be turning into colorless shadows of themselves any time soon.

The gnomes gather around Zephram's grave, but their brother with the sunglasses refuses to awaken...

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Etc.: Yasu constantly rolls wishes to be a Creature-Robot Cross Breeder. Hopefully she'll enjoy her rolled inventor career as much as she'd have enjoyed a career in science.

For Shu Fang, I did the same thing I did with Xue. She's a clone of some random Shang Simla woman. She came with the traits Photographer's Eye, Computer Whiz, and something else. And I gave her the Chinese Culture trait via MasterController.

I did my best with the "Multicultural" roll. I threw pandas into the nursery and Asian light fixtures and decor into the girls' room (I realize I added even more since those pics were taken). It's not a strictly Asian theme, but I think there's enough in there for it to count.