Chapter 86: Grim Grime

The teen years are difficult, but drawing to a close. Fischer isn't sure where the time has gone, or why Yasu has this habit of setting herself on fire. Maybe he should have spent more time stressing fire safety in her early childhood.

Xue tries to impress the vampire elite.

Known to be insane, Vivian Newbie is out in the daytime, complaining about what a horrible time she is having.

Fire safety. Curfew violations. Parties. Playing music really loud. There are a lot of things Ashby could be yelling at her granddaughter about.

Fischer suddenly has the urge to reclaim some of his youth by purchasing absurdly hot new things.

Spending the afternoon at Fischer's park.

Ashby notices her cousin Carol, Hawk's daughter. Carol is a middle aged firefighter on break, but to the elder woman she appears young and strong, while Ashby feels her own strength slipping away.

Rebel rebel tattoo. The gnome marks Yasu as an Archer, a lawn flamingo hoarder, creepy gnome apologist and sworn enemy of the homeowner's association.

Kipp has married Kerry, Ashby's cousin. Kerry was already a teenager at Ashby and Rex's wedding, and is getting very old - though that's not the least of Ashby's problems with the man. Kerry is also insane and a criminal.

"A reformed criminal," Kipp corrects. "We're happy together."

Ashby snuggles Timmy, Kipp and Kerry's newborn son. "I'm just glad your father isn't alive to see this."

Kipp glares. "Which father?"

"Oh, Kipp. Don't play these games with me."

"You're insulting my choices, so I'm insulting yours."

"I love you, but I won't sugarcoat things. I think you have a rough road ahead of you. Don't be afraid to talk to your brothers if you need help and won't talk to me."

 Juliet Ivanov follows the girls home from school, but instead of socializing with them she seeks out Fischer, who has been holed up in the studio, working on a commission for fifteen paintings to hang in a new business uptown.

Juliet is an art student herself and wants Riverview's current most well respected artist to look over her work and perhaps give her a recommendation, but Fischer is in denial about his reputation as a truly great artist and turns her away, suggesting she speak to Aiden Newbie or even Mara Broke.

Rex left behind a glowing garden.

Xue is displeased to find the fishing pond with floating lanterns in it.

"Your father is going through some kind of mid-life crisis," Ashby tries to explain.

"Grandma! There are flowery lights in my shark pond. This is not cool."

Iago passes away before his older siblings. Ashby believes he could have been leader of the free world, if the reaper had been kinder, so she leaves a small globe on his grave.

Compared to his first day at the house, Caveman Gnome has calmed significantly.

Leon Finches came home with Shu Fang, and the two worked on a math class project.

"I didn't realize it was so late," Leon says, blushing, as Xue saunters up to him in her nightgown.

"You know my sister is going out with Rhett Lin, right?"

"Of course. You know Shu Fang is practically everyone's best friend, right? It's nothing strange for two people of the opposite sex to hang out together, certainly not to work on assigned group homework together."

"Shut up and tell me your sign then."

"Libra... I love libras," Xue lies. She draws a breath and holds it a moment, trying to make her chest look bigger as she looks away from him, feigning shyness. "I know Juliet has been after you and you'll likely go with a vampire someday, but you know, Leon, there's no harm in experimenting until then..."

Xue talks Leon into a massage.

"You are very tense," Xue teases. "Must be all the book reading, hm?"

"I spend hours curled up in corners with books," the vampire responds tonelessly. "It's not good for my back."

"Uh... right."

"Forgive me if this is inappropriate, but... would you be interested in keeping Juliet away from me for a while?"

"How do you want me to do that?"

"Date me until we finish high school in a few days."

For her efforts, Xue receives her first kiss. And her first boyfriend.

Soon it's Yasu and Xue's birthday.

The relatives have invaded and are curious as to how the house has changed over Fischer's reign.

It hasn't changed much, but there's lots of new art.

Bonus pic: the Archer place.

Xue is first to the cake.

She wants to be a rock star, and her adult wardrobe reflects a bit less of the Asian thing.

Next is Yasu's turn.

Xue digs into the cake while Yasu tries to decide what to wish for. In the end the wish is obvious.

She wants Khan to get better.

Birthday cake fire #3.

Xue looks up from her cake at the wall of flames in front of her. "Look what you've done."

"Aw, dammit!" Yasu stamps her foot and turns to Ashby for help.

Kirk Khan reacts horribly to the fire, not so much terrified as he is in pain.

What is the sun but a raging fireball?

True, there are other vampires not reacting so much. Rhett and Pauline are just standing there. But Rhett and Pauline don't have the strange problems Khan does.

Pauline helps Ashby fight the flames, and saves Felicia.

Shu Fang really wanted that cake.

Yasu is an adult at last.

"I'm so happy I could see you grow up," Ashby says tearfully.

"Erm, me too Gran." Yasu smiles awkwardly.

Fischer checks the sink, and glances at his second child. Her musical talents are exceptional, and he's happy to have been able to nurture them throughout her life with educational toys and music lessons. Would her biological parents have been able to do the same?

He naturally sometimes wonders, but then dismisses these thoughts, because it seems too much like he's trying to validate his own life through the accomplishments of his children.

"Many people in our family have been scientists," Ashby continues. "I'll support your decision if you want to take your toy-making and explosives-manufacturing to the professional level. I don't want to see you trying to take an unsuitable job, like your father did. If inventing in the back yard works for you, do it."

Yasu gets a new tattoo to celebrate her freedom from childhood.

Yasu moves out of the room she shared with her sisters, and into Nol and Pablo's old room.

A redesign was in order.

Xue could do better than living with her family, she thinks.

She has a new job in the music industry thanks to Rio, and expects to have some wild hours both in her professional and love life. Her family, with their old money and mansions and ghosts and neurotics, would be in the way. She would have to make sacrifices to accommodate them, and... she'd simply rather be free.

Xue plans to go house-shopping first thing in the morning.

Ashby lived to see two of her grandchildren grow up, but Grim is not patient enough to wait for the third.

Fischer weeps with such force he feels he's going to somehow break his slender body in half.

Then he pauses to brush off his sleeves, imagining Grim Reaper grime contaminating the room.

And then, instead of waking the girls in the middle of the night to tell them what's happened, he trudges out into the yard to seek solace from the spirits.

Fischer demands to know what awaits after death.

"You're a doctor," he reminds Arthur. "Surely you've kept some of your wits about you. So tell me... how much of my mind do I get to keep..."

But the ghost is as silent as the dead.


The morning after graduation, Yasu wakes up as if it's time to go to school.

She finds her time a sudden ocean of no structure. And so, in the early morning hours she slips outside in her underwear to work on her newest invention.

Her classmates voted her most likely to burn down her own house. She hangs that ribbon in her bedroom as a joke, and places the trophy she got from shop club near the invention bench, to remind herself how good she really is. The trophy is golden saw, for representing the school at a larger event.

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Etc.: Poor Xue. As you may recall, prom made her a romantic interest with Nathaniel Medina (and the message was that he was impressed by her dancing; it's not like they made out in front of everyone). But at the teen party, Nathaniel wouldn't even give Xue her first kiss, and they certainly didn't start going steady. But since she's now going steady with the more-agreeable Leon, the game gave her a naughty reputation. That's a bit ridiculous since Nathaniel was only a romantic interest because the game forced that on Xue. At first I thought it was cool that prom could hook single teens up, but as you can see there are consequences!

Yasu, meanwhile, has the +10 faithful moodlet. *rollseyes*

Generation 10 has begun! Yasu will have her tattoos on Saturday, since that's the day she got her first adult tattoo. The gnome doesn't count. Last time I had tattoo addict, I gave the tattoos to Melody, the spouse of my heir. I wanted to give the tattoos to a male and the heir this time, but since Yasu is a girl... yeah. I had to make a choice. Oh well. I love how she turned out anyway.

Yasu invented a gnome. That's my third gnome of inventing.