Chapter 84: The Wolf

Fischer stares out his window. But there's nothing stirring out there but the wind.

Shu Fang explores some closed off rooms of the house, discovering a large bedroom with computers.

Naturally, she brings her sisters in for a pillow fight.

"I think this was my great-grandparents' room," Yasu says between swings. "My great-Gran was some crazy writer."

Xue has more interest in the bunny light.

Yasu's annoying T-Rex routine is almost more than Ashby can take.

Luckily Khan doesn't seem to mind Yasu's strangeness. Here she is seen howling at an unseen moon.

"You DO sound a lot like a wolf," he compliments.

Being around Khan makes Yasu feel great, but also more shy and self-conscious.

She wants him to like her, more than she's ever wanted anything else, ever.

But he's already her friend, so she can't quite understand what more she wants from him, other than a reassurance that he'll always be her friend.

Ashby congratulates her brother Iago on his recent marriage to Joy Wicks-Caspian.

The woman is very young, and a bit over-sweet, though her expressions are insincere.

"I'm SO happy to meet you," Joy gushes.

Ashby quickly decides Joy is a gold-digger.

Ashby criticizes Joy a bit before she leaves, but Iago won't listen, and hugs his sister goodbye without comment. It's only his own business if he wants to leave all his money to a conniving young woman.

In fact the conniving part is Joy's best trait, in Iago's opinion.

Yasu flashes the Japanese victory sign when her father takes a picture of her, forever spiteful towards China.

"No snacking before supper," Fischer warns.

He has not risen to any respectable position in the kitchen at work, but he does know how to cook, and makes something delicious for the girls every night. Tonight it's spaghetti.

His official job doesn't really concern him. The other residents of Riverview know Fischer is eccentric, and seem to judge him by his improvements to the city rather than by his lack of career success.

Rex is an observant man, and when Yasu comes home with puffy eyes he zooms over to comfort her.

"Sweetheart. Was it the kids at school again? I'll talk to their parents."

"N-No," Yasu sniffs, trying not to burst into tears all over again. "My best friend is always too sick for recess or to bike home with me."

"Has he seen a doctor?" Rex feels this question is stupid, but for once he has nothing witty to cheer Yasu up with.

"Yeah," Yasu says, unsure if she's lying or not. She's not sure how her grandfather would react if she told him her best friend was a vampire(half). Khan has never been to the Archer residence.

Yasu brings Khan a box of chemicals after a field trip to the science center. For some reason, his father wouldn't sign the parental consent form.

"I don't know if these will help your experiments," she says, immediately regretting her decision to pilfer the mysterious bottles. What if he drinks them or something? She feels she's turning into a neurotic, like her father.

"They might." Khan doesn't sound hopeful. After an uncomfortable pause, he says, "I need to get real access to those labs, Yasu. Those labs are where VBG was created."

"We're geniuses. But we're still kids," she reminds him. "Ugh. Plumbob, I sound like my Dad."

Fischer finally gets around to yelling at his boss, Jefferson Burr.

"You told Felicia you loved her," he accuses. "But you dumped her for Pauline. You broke Felicia's heart. You probably even used her to get to Pauline in the first place. What kind of sick bastard tells his girlfriend their love is written in the stars, and then runs off with a rich kid just out of high school?"

"What kind of idiot believes in things being written in the stars?" Jeff's defense is good.

"She thought you were just trying to impress her," Fischer shoots back. "She thought you were making an effort to break through your contemptible icy shell."

Jefferson stands up straighter. "Well you caught me, Fischer Archer. Congratulations. You have figured it out. There is nothing inside my icy shell but more ice. But for your information, a rich vampiress is a better choice for me than your petty mortal cousin."

"If I find out you used any psychic powers against either of my cousins-"

"If I had psychic powers I would use them against you right now," Jeff scoffs. He may act like one of the vampire elitists, but he's merely another half breed running around Riverview with stunted power, a vampire through genetics rather than the curse, the "turning" as they call it. With only one vampire parent, or less, he is burdened down by a sort of incompleteness.

Fischer reluctantly turns and walks away.

Yasu is out playing with Khan outside of his mother's house, thinking about egging it, when she experiences the terrifying onset of puberty. Khan cheers supportively, though Yasu is less thrilled.

She self-consciously bids him goodnight and retreats home to change her wardrobe.

"You were right by the way," Yasu informs a similarly freshly aged-up Xue.

"What?"

"When we were kids and you endlessly insisted I had a Chinese nose, because I always tried to tell you I had nothing to do with those people..."

"Don't worry about it." Xue frowns. It's true; when they were kids she made a big deal about Yasu having Sun's nose, because Yasu tried so hard to reject her genetic heritage. "I was stupid. I can eat with chop sticks all I want, but really I'm just another kid from Sim Nation suburbia."

"I think the chop sticks are charming. You shouldn't stop using them."

"And I won't," Xue says. "But I think we're on the same page here. We're not kids anymore."

Yasu still feels like a child for the most part, embarrassed over her teen transformation and the more obvious resemblance to her mother, but she doesn't argue.

In another day or so, all three of the girls will be teenagers. Fischer does not feel in any way prepared.

Xue is the only person in the house with real musical talent, but that doesn't stop Yasu from singing in the shower. Yasu continues to sing/shout and spin about as she gets dressed.

Rebel songs, of course.

Her favorites are from The Westfield Band. Josephine Hill-Archer was one incredible songwriter.

Some photographs in the basement indicate Josephine was about as attractive as a sack of nails, but that won't stop Yasu from enjoying her work.

Sabotaging the dart board is the only way to defeat Fischer.

____________________________________________________________________
Etc.: When Fischer and Sun produced a kid, I envisioned it would be Sun with Fischer's nose. I thought that would be pretty great. Yasu turned out exactly the opposite, though, and I'm glad she did. I luff her.

I'm just making up the rules about vampires in my universe as I go along. In the beginning I treated them more as a joke, but as time went on they've taken center stage in my legacy and seem to resist being ignored and unexplained.

So! Turns out the chemistry set has no income available to it, so it's been removed from careers. But I'll keep freelance scientist for Kirk Khan's career... under Calisims' forums proposal that we get to choose one thing in generation 10, rather than under the expansion gift exception. It will be fun to have a couple who don't have a set schedule. I don't think I've ever had that before.

Yasu's teen trait is rebellious. Xue's is flirty. All the girls have a variant of purple as their favorite color.

This was a pretty short update by my standards. Every time I try to update, I'm either pulled away from the computer by other obligations, or simply not allowed to upload pictures because someone else wants to use the Internets.

Yasu joined Shop Club and Xue joined Music Club. I have no idea if these after-school activities DO anything, yet. In fact I haven't actually observed them going to these classes. I assumed they went automatically. I'll have to pay more attention.

Vampire(half) is a reference to Elf Only Inn, a really great webcomic that is now on hiatus or dead or something