Worlds Apart - Season 4, Chapter 22: Sibling Issues

[Agathon]

Thanks a lot, glad you like it. I'll try to keep it up!

[Agathon]

Under The Stars

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He stopped in his tracks, looking up at the giant billboard, incredulous. Having had some training, he had become quite proficient in recognizing his distant ancestor, and there she was, black-lipped and edgy-looking, beaming out in an ad for the local karaoke club. He must have stood there for a while, before he heard a voice behind him.
Man: Starstruck?
Daniel: I don’t get it. That was ages ago!
Man: It was. But if you could once count Kate Carson and Mercedes May among your regulars, why would you ever advertise with anything else?

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Daniel: Because they’ve been dead for, I don’t know, 300 years? Do young people have any idea who they were?
The man produced a great snort, as if he had never been more insulted in his life.
Man: You outta-towners… Where are you from, Bridgeport? Here, we remember our stars.

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Yeah… Starlight Shores was looking back, alright. He had already taken the Stallion for a spin around town, taking in the ridges, the shabby-looking beach, and the vacant, old modernity that was being sold off cheaply. Starlight Shores, once the center of the entertainment industry, now appeared as having been someone’s bright idea, with that someone quickly losing interest in the whole thing, leaving behind a mess that was starved of possibilities for sensible development, and with about as much charm as aging, white plastic.

Leaving the billboard behind, he carried on his foot-patrol, going from office to office to track down additional intel on Starlight Shores Biogenetics Institute. A shroud of secrecy had been pulled over their activities, and the most illuminating facts he could find, where about the office space they had rented. For years, it been a very low-key operation, ran out of a single, small office. During the 5 or so years prior to being shut down, the venture had been scaled up considerably, occupying up to 8 offices.

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Cross-referencing known donations, he found a long string of sums having been donated anonymously for many years. It was probably her, giving away her doctor salary, but how had the SSBI been able to ramp up activities 4 years before they got the 8 million?  As for who had worked there, the few reports he could track down, had been assaulted by a wide, black pen, and there wasn't a single readable name in any of them.
Daniel: What’s up with this? Why are all these names redacted?
Woman: Mm… Let’s see… Aha. Threefourninesixoneeightthreedashtwo.
Daniel: Eeh?
Woman: That number refers to the Bio-Terrorism Act.
Daniel: OK… Why?
Woman: The diseases they were working on must have had potential as bio-weapons. The names are redacted to protect the researchers, from unsavoury individuals looking to obtain information on such stuff.

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Whittaker blew a fuse when he called him, hysterically demanding to know how he’d gotten hold of his name. Daniel was prepared, introducing himself as Terrence Johnson from the Arcadia Foundation, on a quest to investigate alleged misuse of grant money, and not willing to reveal details of an ongoing investigation. Begrudgingly, and under the threat of possibly being implicated, Whittaker agreed to meet. At Kate Carson Plaza, and only after dark.

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With hours to spare, visiting the location formerly occupied by Starlight Shores Biogenetics Institute seemed sensible. The real estate agent looking to promote the unoccupied premises turned out to be a man he had met before.
Daniel: Are you the only guy left in this town?
Man: I’m afraid these offices may be outside your price range…
Daniel: They’re too small, like your hat. Is it a hat? Or is that where you attach the air hose, to inflate yourself?
He did manage to cast some cursory glances at the place, enough to convince him that the empty offices were a dead end, and that his time was better spent elsewhere.

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With Whittaker being spooked, there was some risk that the alarm would spread through the former ranks of the SSBI, all the way to the top. Taking up position at a nearby restaurant to keep an eye on the spot where they’d meet seemed like a good idea. This was the only lead he had, and he could feel the importance of the upcoming meeting manifest itself through the sweat that was slowly seeping into his new attire. Did he look presentable enough? Had he overdone it?

The fact that Doc Youngblood had happened to know someone at SSBI was a massive stroke of luck, and he had to milk it for all it was worth. He ran though possible lines, arguments, and counter-arguments in his mind, while also examining the chronology as he knew it, finding new possibilities. Since this was where she’d spent most of the money, it was also a likely destination for her mysterious journeys out of town, which added even more importance to what had gone on at SSBI.

Nothing was happening across the street, and after a while, he found it hard to keep his mind from wandering. Had she situated SSBI in Starlight Shores simply because of the availability of cheap office space, or was there another reason? He browsed the web for more information, and soon came upon an old piece, by that ever-present purveyor of information.

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Jack Carson, and the origin of the Moore’s.
By Alyssina Lane

…when Clint Carson returned from university, accompanied by his new sweetheart, Mika Moore, he expected to take charge of the family and their house in Starlight Shores. Gone was the boy who had been shipped off to boarding school and always been hounded by his mother, he was a man now, and his grey-haired parents, especially his mother, had had their day in the sun. Or so he thought, being completely unprepared for the shocking transformations that had taken place during his absence…

…his rock star mother appeared before him, younger than he was, with her raven-black hair completely restored, and her eyes gleaming with ambitious and evil energy. She had relegated his old father, Jack, to a miniscule bedroom behind the kitchen, and declared their marriage void. By her side stood a new man: Mike Acker, her “gardener”. She immediately laid down the law: The young couple could either be evicted, penniless, or accept living under her thumb, and reap some of the financial rewards that would follow in her wake. They stayed (and were later rewarded), but the already frail bond between mother and son had now been broken beyond repair…

This was where it had started taking shape, the story of Kate, her two marriages, and the feuding children that had come out of them. The house they had lived in was long gone, but if Chloe was right, the feud was still raging. Was that why Ms. X had picked Starlight Shores, to cook up an end to it in the very place where it begun? Hm. The sun was dying, and casting a glance at the time, he noted that there wasn’t much left. Rubbing his sweaty palms against his thighs, he rose and set in motion.

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Of course… In Starlight Shores, how could there be a Kate Carson Plaza without Kate Carson? Looking at the statue, he could feel distant pride mixing with slight nausea. She was no saint, and where were the statues that told of the heartaches she had caused? In some way, it was appropriate that she should be present, but it felt quite surreal that he was now not just doing Chloe’s bidding, he even had her mother looking over his shoulder.

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Whittaker was late, but not unduly so. Just enough for it to register as a small protest, while his icy stare and stiff appearance delivered the rest of the message. He was an older man, which suggested some clues as to how Doc Youngblood might have known about his work. Had they studied or worked together in yonder days, with Whittaker not being able to keep his mouth shut when lubricated with a few drinks during a recent jolly reunion?
Whittaker: This is completely uncalled for. I have done nothing that would warrant my identity being…
Daniel: We’re all just trying to do our jobs here, Mr. Whittaker. I’m sure you have no reason to worry, but I am still obligated to look into this.
Whittaker: Hmpf. Look into what?

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Daniel: Let’s begin with your period of employment. How long did you work at SSBI?
Whittaker: Three years.
Daniel: How many other employees were there?
Whittaker: Between five and seven. How is this relevant? Why don’t…
Daniel: SSBI only had access to our grant money during its final year of operation. 8 million, all seemingly spent during that one year, and with no accounting that we can find. How did SSBI have the funds to pay their employees before the grant?
Whittaker: Donations? How should I know? I wasn’t their accountant. Ask the management.
Daniel: Who should I start with?
Whittaker: I don’t know any names. I was Mr. Anderson. The guy in the office next door was Mr. Jones, and so on.
Daniel: Really…

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Whittaker: Yes! For security! Why are you asking me this?! You had your representative there regularly! She could have told you this!
Daniel: I suppose you are referring to an auburn-haired woman, with glasses and a dark suit?
Whittaker: *Sigh* Yes…
Daniel: What was her name? You see, she wasn’t from us.
Whittaker: What? I always assumed…
Daniel: Please answer the question. Did she ever give a name? How was she referred to?
Whittaker: Mrs. Serious. That’s what we called her, I don’t know anything else.
Daniel: Why was she referred to as Mrs. Serious?
Whittaker: Because she was. I never saw her smile.
Daniel: What did she do, when she was there?
Whittaker: She met with Mr. Smith, the boss. I never spoke to her.
Daniel: I see. What projects were you involved in, or aware of, during your time at SSBI?

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Whittaker: What?! I can’t talk about that! The Bio-Terrorism Act…!
Daniel: Relax, Mr. Whittaker. There’s no need to go into great detail, but we will need some general description of the work that was being done. Otherwise, it is impossible for us to determine if the grant money was being used as intended. As a trustee, we need to know something. I hope you understand that.
Whittaker: I… well, my work was probably the least interesting… I worked on a plant disease, and how to make the plants more resistant.
Daniel: Mhm. And which plant did this involve?
Whittaker: The plasma fruit plant.
Daniel: Very well. Anything else you were directly involved in? What were the others working on?
Whittaker: Nothing else. I don’t really know what the others were doing. The work was completely compartmentalized, with each researcher working in isolation, and reporting only to Mr. Smith. For security.

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Daniel: You must have heard something? Some small talk before or after work, or during breaks, some words escaping through half-open doors?
Whittaker: Only vague whispers.
Daniel: About what?
Whittaker: *Sigh* A mysterious DNA sequence that was impossible to understand. Hybrid DNA and how it copes with various diseases. Pre- and post-virus exposure vaccines.
Daniel: Anything else?
Whittaker: No…
Daniel: Mr. Wittaker. We suspect that the woman you called Mrs. Serious has used SSBI for future business purposes, financing its operation through loans, before paying them off with our grant money, and shutting down SSBI. If this is the case, it may have serious implications. It is imperative that you provide us with as much information as you possibly can.

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Whittaker: I don’t know anything else, and nothing about the money! My impression is that everybody who worked there were dedicated to making the world a better, and safer place!
Daniel: Including Mr. Smith? What did he look like? Any marks or distinguishing features?
Whittaker: Yes, no… He was just another scientist, a regular guy. Listen, Mr..
Daniel: Bronson.
Whittaker: Didn’t you give me another name on the phone?
Daniel: No, you must have heard wrong.
Whittaker: I don’t think so. Where is your ID? I'd like to see it.
Daniel: In my car. Do you want me to get it?
Whittaker: I’m not answering any further questions until you do.

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With deep breaths, he pulled the soothing air of the sea into his lungs. Moonlight Falls was alright, but it didn’t have that sea air that he was so used to from Sunset Valley, and he missed the calming effect of looking out across a large body of water.

The meeting with Whittaker could have ended more elegantly, but he had probably gotten all he could out of him. Plasma fruit, DNA, virus vaccines. More questions. Youngblood had said she had collected a lot of DNA samples, and her excursions to the family graveyard, which was also home to hybrids, were probably related to that. But why had she bothered with that? What if Chloe was wrong, and it was all legitimate, rather than part of some intricate scheme? If she was wrong, what else could she be wrong about?

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Looking to his right, his eyes fell upon a piece of scenery that he had seen referenced while passing his time at the restaurant. He browsed to the official Kate Carson website, until recently maintained by one of her greatest fans: Alecia Carson. He read it, imagining hearing the voice of his grandmother.

…and Kate stood there, outside the Binder Clips Center, in the driving rain, waiting in vain for more fans to show up. But it wasn’t happening. Her management had pushed her into too many autograph sessions, and even her fans had started to take her for granted. The next day, the local radio news broadcast contained the following sequence:
“This just came in…”
*News anchor clears his throat*
“I’m sorry…”
“Kate Carson…”
*Clears throat repeatedly*
“…the greatest star that lit our skies…”
*A loud sniffle is heard*
“…has left Starlight Shores.”


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Daniel: Celeste? You’ve… Why aren’t you…?
Celeste: In bed? I’ve been reading.
Daniel: That book?
Celeste: Yes. Where were you? You missed my birthday.
Daniel: I’m sorry. I was in Starlight Shores, working a case. I’ll buy you a present tomorrow, ok? What would you like?
Celeste: The Carson family, in the book. Are they related to us?
Daniel: Yes…
Celeste: The Lanes too?
Daniel: It’s complicated, and it’s very late. We should…

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Celeste: You said we wouldn’t keep secrets from each other.
Daniel: Eeeh, maybe I did…
Celeste: The name on our mailbox has been changed. There are still marks from the name that used to be there. Was it Lane?
Daniel: Yes… We changed our name.
Celeste: Why?
Daniel: Because someone took everything we had.
Celeste: Did they? Who?
Daniel: The woman who wrote that book, and another woman. That’s why I was in Starlight Shores.

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Celeste: OK… I forgive you. My birthday wasn’t that important, you know.
Daniel: It was important enough. What should I get you?
Celeste: A book? I like books.
Daniel: It seems that you do. What kind of book?
Celeste: I don't know... Have you been to Memory Lane?
Daniel: I grew up there.

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Celeste: Did you?! Can you take me to see it?!
Daniel: We can’t. It’s gone.
Celeste: Oh. You lost your house?
Daniel: Yeah.
Celeste: At least you have a new one, here.
Daniel: This isn’t my house. It's yours.
Celeste: Is it? Why don’t you have a house?
Daniel: I had hoped I could stay here for a while.
Celeste: You can... In fact, you can’t leave until I say so!
Daniel: Very well, your majesty. Now, I think we shall see you to your royal quarters…

[Agathon]

On Rocky Foundations

Voice: Bla bla. Bla bla bla. Bla…!

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Danielle: …up! You have a client!
Daniel: …uh. Ugharrgh… What time…
Danielle: 08:30!
Daniel: I’ve barely slept…
Danielle: You missed your sister’s birthday. Hope you had fun in Starlight Shores.

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Daniel: I wasn’t there to have fun.
Danielle: No? Then I suppose you made some money?
Daniel: No… But I’ve talked to Celeste, and I’ll make it up to her.
Danielle: You can start by taking her to school, on Monday.
Daniel: To school?!
Danielle: Yes. It’ll be her first day. She’ll be proud to have her brother with her.

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Daniel: You can’t put her in that school! You know how horrible it is! Maggie Donovan…!
Danielle: She wasn’t that bad. A bit single-minded, but…
Daniel: She is psychotic! And the other teachers aren’t much better!
Danielle: Do you have an alternative? Will you home-school her, with your grades? I can’t teach her much. Should your father do it?
Daniel: We’ll get her a tutor. She deserves better than…
Danielle: How will we afford that, when we can’t even pay our bills?

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A witch looking to hire a PI at 08:30 in the morning wasn’t a good omen, and neither was the black cat tattooed on her left arm. Then there was the hardness around her eyes, and around her mouth. She had the sort of face that you expect to tell you that you’ve lost your job, your house and your wife. And that your dog just got overrun by the garbage truck. Everything about Bianca Crumplebottom screamed bad news, except her wallet. It was time to turn it up to eleven.

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Bianca: I’ve been told that you’ve spoken to Bai Jiejing on multiple occasions.
Daniel: Keep talking.
Bianca: I need someone to go to Shang Simla and offer her a gift. Something so valuable and personal that she’ll accept it.
Daniel: Sounds nice. Should I kiss her on the cheek too?
Bianca: Did you hear me when I said personal?
Daniel: I’m not deaf, Blondie. But I’m impatient.
Bianca: If she accepts your gift, I’ll cover your travel expenses, the cost of the gift, and throw 10 000 on top. If she doesn’t, travel expenses are all you’ll get.
Daniel: Still waiting for you to make any sense.

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Bianca: Bai Jiejing is the reigning Sim Fu champion of Shang Simla. Plenty of hopefuls throw gifts after her, hoping for her to teach them, but nearly all of them are rejected. The lucky few whose gift is accepted, are rewarded by three Sim Fu sessions, and an invitation to the house of Bai Jiejing and Lo Pan…
Daniel: Can I grab some coffee while you keep rambling?
Bianca: Do you have a short attention span, or something?
Daniel: Call me Dan, Blondie. What was your question again?
Bianca: I want to steal some arcane manuscripts from their house. To do that, I need someone on the inside.

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Daniel: Yeah, now we get to the part ending with me dying horribly in the hands of two of the most dangerous people on the planet. I figured it was something like that.
Bianca: All you have to do inside the house is to stay awake, and at a certain time, enter a tomb-like room in the basement, into which we’ll appear. You’ll return upstairs, while we explore the basement. When we’ve got the manuscripts, we disappear, without your help.
Daniel: I’ll stay behind and be blamed? That’s brilliant, Blondie. Besides, who are we? I thought it was just you and me, getting cozy.

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Bianca: Dan... Do you think I’m stupid?
Daniel: You probably are. Most people are stupid, including me. But not stupid enough to get myself killed ov…
Bianca: I’ll leave a patsy behind, in the basement. A local, with no connection to us. I’m also bringing a thief: Violet Slymer.
Daniel: What do you need her for?
Bianca: She can walk through walls. Useful when exploring a basement that may contain unknown obstacles.
Daniel: Then you don’t need me at all. She can just walk right into the house.

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Bianca: Into what? I don’t know the layout. That would be too risky.
Daniel: What if you don’t find the manuscripts?
Bianca: Not your concern. Once we’re in the house, you’ve done your part.
Daniel: It is my concern if you get yourself killed, and I don’t get paid.
Bianca: That’s a risk you just have to take.
Daniel: How are you supposed to “appear” in the basement?
Bianca: I’ll tell you when you need to know. First, you must commit to this. Then, you must nail the gift.
Daniel: I think I need to know. I’d rather commit to trying to wrest a nest of killer bees out of the claws of a rabid, honey-addicted bear.
Bianca: I thought you were a tough guy, one who gets things done.

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Daniel: Me? I play with dolls and fold napkins all day. I’ll think about it, but its 15000, not 10.
Bianca: I can’t afford that, Dan.
Daniel: You’re eager enough to come here at 08:30, so I think you can, Blondie.
Bianca: Those two cured half the town, including my oldest sister. Didn’t your family get hit too? And you’re holding out for 5000 more?
Daniel: Principles don’t put food on the table, and those wings weren’t worth much to me.
Bianca: Are you in if it's 15000?

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Daniel: I said I’d think about it.
Bianca: Think fast. My source says they are there now, but they never stay very long. Our window of opportunity is closing.
Daniel: Good. It’s much safer to this if they’re not at home.
Bianca: They activate lots of traps when they leave.
Daniel: Hm. Is it 15000, or are you thinking too?
Bianca: It is. Deliver your answer personally at eight o’ clock tomorrow night, my place.

15 thousand to get some manuscripts that might not even be there, and she’d have to pay Violet Slymer and bear all the costs. What the heck did she hope to find? All his instincts were telling him to turn down this job, but how could he afford to walk away from the money?

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He remained at the window, lost in thought, and didn’t really register what was happening before his eyes until he heard the sound of the mailbox being opened. It was his mother. The mailbox was empty, and she was putting something inside it. She was donating, just like she had done on race day, as part of her race preparations. Frack… How long had that been going on? Her throwing away 1000 simoleons every day would explain why they were struggling to pay their bills. He would have to confront her about it, that money could be used to pay for someone to tutor Celeste. Speaking of which, he had promised her a book, hadn’t he...

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Chancer called him before he got to the store. The 20 hours were up, putting Daniel 5000 in the hole, with little to show for it. Maureen Sw0rd had no secret medical history, and the only potential scandal Chancer could sniff out, was the question of how Corrie had acquired 385 Oak Grove Road from the Lanes. Daniel instructed him to forget about that, and put further construction of Maureen’s family tree on hold until he could cough up more money. While on the phone with Chancer, a message ticked in, from Deedee:

Due to your obvious commitment issues, I can see no future for us. Sorry! Good luck!

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He wasn’t in a great mood as he entered the store, but the sight of Maria Younan immediately lifted his spirits considerably.
Daniel: Awesome Woman #133?
Maria: My favorite comic! She’s a strong female heroine, a beacon of feminism!
Daniel: I’m not so sure I should be feeding that fire… I think she’ll turn out headstrong enough as it is.
Maria: Something more cuddly, then?
Daniel: It doesn’t have to be. She’s into some heavy stuff already.
Maria: At 6?
Daniel: She’s a bit smarter than I was.
Maria: Who isn’t? Just kidding! You guys have a horse, right?

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Daniel: Unicorns for Audrey. Ok…
Maria: 408 pages of girly heaven.
Daniel: It’s good?
Maria: I read it four times. It’ll hit the spot, trust me.
Daniel: Thanks, I’ll take it. One more thing…
Maria: Yes?
Daniel: You’re the only one who got decent grades in our class…
Maria: No wonder. Our teachers were horrible! I only got decent grades because of my father.
Daniel: I’d like my sister to stay away from that school. Are you up for some tutoring?

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Maria: I can’t! I’m going back to university, for another degree. Maybe that will get me a decent job… You could ask my father, maybe he’s still up for it.
Daniel: Hm. So, are you… seeing anyone?
Maria: Some guy, from out of town. Tall, dark, and handsome! But… we don’t see each other very often.
Daniel: I hope he isn’t called Ritchie, and is a musician?
Maria: What!?
Daniel: He lives with Lynx Blunstone. You didn’t know?

It was a shot in the dark, but there weren’t that many dark, handsome strangers infrequently showing their face in Moonlight Falls… Like father, like son. Would Ritchie manage to sleaze his way out of this? Maria would get over it, but what about Lynx? Oh well, perhaps there’d be some new possibilities for a certain loveless investigator, about to start working a new case…

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Pappy: Here it be! Hee-hee… Me great-grandpa Wolfie Wolff’s house! The first one in town!
Daniel: Looks very old, but…
Pappy: It musta been built… ‘round uphteenurtyeet, give ur take a few. Or was it fufninouptyor? I ain’t quite sure… *Cough* *cough*
Daniel: Is there any paperwork, confirming when it was built?
Pappy: Papers? Don’t need no stinkin’ papers! *Cough* Em rocks are right ‘ere!
Daniel: I can’t date rocks, Mr. Wolff.

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Pappy: Eh!? Can’t you see ow old it be?!
Daniel: What happened to the house? There's not much left.
Pappy: Well… *cough* Lot’s a snow up ‘ere in winter, and one winter, it was tons n tons! Wolfie wouldn’t budge, he wanted the gold that is in ‘em hills! Hunted even in winter, he did! Hee-hee… *cough* But then… *cough* Avalanche, boy! Swept ol Wolfie and all his gold all down the valley. Never found ’im! There’s prolly lots a gold in that water down ‘ere!

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Pappy: *Cough, cough* Uharrrgh…
Daniel: Are you ok?
Pappy: No! I’m dyin’! *cough*
Daniel: Are you sick?
Pappy: Yeah. *cough* Old age, boy. Worst illness there be, hee-hee!
Daniel: You’re sure this was the first house in town?
Pappy: I swear it! The ‘mill n the depot are older, and they… *cough* ain’t houses! Wolfie was the founder, not stinkin’ Ayden!

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Ayden: …take long, my darling.
Lucretia: Just long enough for me to go shopping? Hmm?
Ayden: Heh, yes… But stay in the shade, my darling. Think of the child.
Lucretia: I am, sillydoodliepop! The child needs D-vitamins. D, D, D!
Ayden: Hmm… Does it now…
Lucretia: Diddly doo! If the credit card alarm goes off, you know it’s just me!
Ayden: Hmmf…

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Ayden: Shadow Hall, Mr Carson! Looking to buy a house? A bit of paint, and it would be as good as new!
Daniel: Well…
Ayden: No, I can’t sell it. Too many memories! I used to hunt squirrels from the window up there. And that’s the wall that elk crashed into, when we felled the pines to make room for the first school! Perhaps my little Parrot and I can retire here, sometime…
Daniel: This was the first house in Moonlight Falls?
Ayden: Yes, Mr. Carson. The sawmill and the depot are the only buildings in town that are older.
Daniel: If people worked at the sawmill, where did they live?
Ayden: Right down the coast, at Green Cove. A ferry used to go from there and up here, and some came by horse-drawn wagons, over Greatlog Road. Moonlight Falls was all woods back then.

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Daniel: What went on at the depot?
Ayden: A woman named Esmeralda sold logging equipment and dried food there, and had horses for rent. She died a long time ago.
Daniel: But she didn’t live here?
Ayden: She can’t have. There were no living quarters at the depot.
Daniel: Pappy claims that Wolfie Wolff’s house are even older than this.
Ayden: Of course he does! But where’s the evidence? I lived here when the avalanche swept that fool and his shack away, but who knows when it was built? It was so far up the woods that nobody could see it!
Daniel: I’ll see if I can settle this, somehow. But it’ll cost.
Ayden: Please do. Spare no expense! I’ve got the paperwork on this house, so I’m confident of the outcome. What has Pappy got, except a pile of stones?

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Daniel: What do you think, Mr. Younan? Anything that can date this place?
Dennis: From what I can see, after you dragged me up here in the dark…
Daniel: Sorry about that, time is short.
Dennis: …the bits of plank are too thin to date by dendrochronology. For all we know, they might even have been reused. We can put some date on the bricks, but not as specific as you would like, and they might have been reused too.
Daniel: So, there’s nothing?
Dennis: I can’t help you with this.
Daniel: OK. I’m looking for a tutor for my sister. You did a pretty good job with Maria…
Dennis: I’m sorry, Mr. Carson. I have neither the time nor the energy for that anymore.

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Daniel: …the teachers there aren’t any good!
Celeste: How do you know?!
Daniel: I do! I’ve gone to that school.
Celeste: Have you? That must have been a long time ago!
Daniel: No, not really…
Celeste: But I want to go to school! How will I make any friends if I don’t?!

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A suggestion that she might at least take a look at her new book sufficed to kill off the discussion. Soon, she was enthralled by Audrey and her unicorns, while Daniel was slipping into his own world. Finding out who was the founder of the town was proving more difficult than he had thought, and then there was all the other stuff, including Bianca’s scheme. One item in his sister’s room then caught his attention, and gave him an idea for a certain gift.

Celeste: …ride them?
Daniel: What…?
Celeste: Did you ride the unicorns? At Memory Lane!
Daniel: No…
Celeste: Why?!
He felt his stomach tighten into a knot, and he knew he couldn’t. Not to her.
Daniel: I was afraid of them.

[Agathon]

Swayed

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Waylon: Why are we here? This wasn’t a house!
Ayden: I’ve told him, Waylon. Esmeralda just worked here, on behalf of the sawmill.
Must be because it’s neutral ground.
Waylon: I’d prefer we met on a piece of dry ground!
Ayden: It’s just water, Waylon. If you had swung an axe, soaked to the skin all day, like I used to do…

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Waylon: He must have found something, or he wouldn’t look so pleased with himself.
Daniel: Correct, Waylon. We are here because this is where the answers are.
Ayden: I’ve been inside there many times, Mr. Carson, and there are no answers there.
Daniel: Ayden, you said that Esmeralda used to have horses for rent…
Ayden: Indeed! She kept them right here, on this spot, before she embraced the vagaries of motorized transportation.
Daniel: I found it strange that she lived out of town, if she had multiple horses here. Did she lead them here, back and forth every day? Did she leave them here, overnight, in the company of wolves and bears? Or... did she live here, very close by? Please follow me, gentlemen!

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Daniel: I present to you: The first house in Moonlight Falls.
Waylon: Is this supposed to be a joke?!
Ayden: Look at the state of it… Was Esmeralda a fairy? It was so long ago…
Daniel: She was, Ayden, and her family are still fairies. You are almost standing on the grave of Esmeralda Maldano, who was an older sister of Marigold’s grandmother.
Waylon: This is ridiculous! Wolfie’s house is surely older than this… this…
Ayden: Yes, there is the question of proof, Mr. Carson…

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Daniel: I had Marigold look through the papers her family has left her, and she found this.
Ayden: A receipt… For repairs to the fairy house, done by… furniture maker Bob Snickerwood, of Green Cove.
Daniel: Please take note of the date.
Waylon: Ayden! That isn’t a house, it’s a toy!
Ayden: …5 years before I laid the foundations to Shadow Hall. My God.
Daniel: At which point the fairy house was old enough to warrant repairs, making it, without a doubt, the oldest house in Moonlight Falls.
Waylon: Ayden, we can’t possibly accept this!

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Ayden: Accept it? I applaud it! I applaud her! Don’t you see what this means? She lived here, alone, in these dark woods, before anybody else! That takes some serious guts!
Waylon: Wolfie’s house may be older than that receipt, and that isn’t even a proper house! I don’t accept it!
Ayden: Nonsense. That heap of rocks is a few years older than Shadow Hall, at best! Esmeralda was a pioneer, and an honest and hard-working woman to boot! We won’t deny her this.
Waylon: Do what you want, but I…
Ayden: You will accept it, or I will smear your family like I’ve never done before.
Waylon: Ayden, don’t be unreasonable, we…
Ayden: You whine and whine... Maybe that’s why my daughter dumped you! Accept defeat, like...
Daniel: Gentlemen, my bill will be in your mail. I take my leave…

Walking home, and doing some singin’ in the rain, Daniel couldn’t but reflect on how strange and full of chance occurrences life is.

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You run into someone, at the gym, at you get to talking. It turns out that she enjoys the process of making new things look old. You talk some more, and discover how, on just this day, you both stand to benefit from a bit of cooperation. He hoped that Marigold would find the increased value of her house, a natural consequence of being regarded as the town’s founding family, to be to her satisfaction.

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At the Crumplebottom house, he laid eyes upon Violet Slymer for the first time. He hadn't known she was a ghost until Bianca had told him, though he had been told that she was fond of staying at home, a fondness she now seemed anxious to demonstrate...
Bianca: Violet! Come back!
Violet: No! I’m not doing it!
Bianca: We can talk about this!
Violet: Forget it! I’m going home!

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Bianca: Good to see you, Dan, come on in.
Daniel: What was that about?
Bianca: She’s a bit emotional… She can’t make some of her precious potions, because Hoppcraft’s poison killed all the fish. There were also some aspects of my plan that she didn’t like.
Daniel: What aspects?
Bianca: Are you ready to commit to this?
Daniel: Absolutely not. First, you must come up with some answers, Blondie.

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Bianca: *sigh* Some years ago, a bunch of relics were auctioned off in Sunset Valley. Must have been from one heck of an adventurer. I bought what interested me the most: The eyes of Horus.
Daniel: Are you sure they’re real, and not just a fake?
Bianca: Yes. I had them checked out, by an Egyptologist. Horatio something.
Daniel: Mhm. Bet he wasn’t cheap…
Bianca: You can use one eye to teleport to where the other eye is, which opens up some interesting possibilities.
Daniel: Like “appearing” in a basement, if a PI has brought one eye there already.
Bianca: Bingo, Dan. I suggested to Violet that she’d teleport in first, then hide in the basement until you could transfer one eye to me. She didn’t like that suggestion.

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Daniel: Why are you shelling out so much cash for a chance shot at some manuscripts?
Bianca: I don’t believe all they did at their show were illusions and simple tricks. I think some of it was magic at a more profound level. Their family has always been into magic, and there are persistent rumors of old tomes in their possession.
Daniel: You wanna walk on water?
Bianca: I’m hoping for more than that.
Daniel: Who’s the patsy that you’ll leave in the basement?

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Bianca: I don’t know yet. I’ll steal some urn from the graveyard there, and reanimate the unfortunate individual in the basement.
Daniel: Hm. Why aren’t your sisters in on this? Too suicidal?
Bianca: Because they’re not suited for it. Beatrice used to have some ambition, but she’s a spent force now, days away from her retirement. Belinda is a good-natured airhead who wouldn’t dream of committing robbery.
Daniel: What do you know about that basement?
Bianca: Very little. There is a door there, which cannot be opened by any conventional key. Only Lo Pan and Bai Jiejing know what is behind it.

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Daniel: How will you get… Ah. Violet.
Bianca: Or a ghost potion. Or something else. There are always possibilities. Have you thought about the gift?
Daniel: I have.
Bianca: And… do you think you can find something that she’d accept?
Daniel: Probably. But the more I hear about this job, the less I like it, Blondie.

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Bianca: That is unfortunate.
Daniel: Your sisters, and Violet too, seems to shy away from it. That door is black hole that could lead to rooms covered in traps, and…
Bianca: Your job is just to get us in, not to worry about what’s behind that door.
Daniel: …then there’s the issue of something else going wrong, and us incurring the wrath of…
Bianca: Dan? I need to use the bathroom. Have a drink, I’ll be right back.

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Daniel: I’ll have that drink, but…
Bianca: Give me a moment. I think you’ll find that we still have things to discuss.
Discuss? There was nothing to discuss. With the money from the town founder case, he could pay Chancer, and then some. No need to go desperado by taking this case, which just seemed way too risky.

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If necessary, he’d do some low-level police work, if it was needed to keep the repo-man away. There wouldn’t be any money for tutoring Celeste, but that battle seemed lost anyway. Asking his mother to stop donating was probably as futile as asking a dog to stop gnawing on a bone. Besides, Celeste wanted to go to school, and there were no tut… And then he heard her voice.
Bianca: Dan…?

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As she sat down beside him, he felt emotions crashing forth, like water from a giant dam smashed to pieces. He had no idea where to put his hands, especially with her being so close. He could feel the warmth of her skin, half a meter away, he could smell her, and, for the first time, he could see her as she really was: Stunningly beautiful.
Bianca: …I’ve always been looking for a strong man. Someone like you.
Daniel: Ha… have you?
Bianca: Yes. A man that can protect me. Guide me. Please me. Are you that man?
Daniel: I…

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Bianca: I feel something for you, Dan. I think you feel something for me too. You’re just not ready to say it, are you?
Daniel: I feel something…
Bianca: It could be you and me. For life. I think we would be happy. Very happy. Don’t you?
Daniel: Yeah…
Bianca: But first… I need you do this, for me. I’m going there, no matter what. Don’t you want to go with me? To protect me? To be with me?
Daniel: I do…

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Bianca: I’ll talk to Violet, calm her down. Can you get the gift tomorrow?
Daniel: I can. I will!
Bianca: Good… I’m just a weak woman, but with you… With you, I feel safe.
Daniel: I’ll protect you.
Bianca: We can do anything together. Anything…!
Daniel: I know. I can feel it.
Bianca: I love you, Dan.
Daniel: I love you, Bian…
Bianca: Call me Blondie. I like that.

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Bucket: I’m glad you saw sense, Daniel.
Daniel: So am I. Enjoy the plutonium.
Bucket: If you want to join the resistance, you can be Number Two.
Daniel: What? No… Here’s your new car.
Bucket: That piece of junk!? No way! No trade!
Daniel: You said you needed a car…

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Bucket: No! I said I needed your car!
Daniel: It’ll get you around just as good.
Bucket: No superhero would be caught dead in that thing!
Daniel: Superhero…? Sure! Lessica Lones was born to drive a Sloppy Jalopy. Dreadpool would rock it!
Bucket: Who? I want your car!
Daniel: No can do. It’s worth a lot more than what I get.
Bucket: Then I want that car, with the birds and the flowers!

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Daniel: That’s my mother’s, worth three times my car, so… no.
Bucket: Then I’ll keep the diamond!
Daniel: Are you sure? How will the resistance fight if you’re not organizing it?
Bucket: It’ll manage, somehow!
Daniel: OK… I’ll trade you something else. How about… One of my father’s paintings.
Bucket: What do I need a painting for?!
Daniel: It’ll be worth several thousand. You can sell it. And… I’ll let you borrow my car.
Bucket: For how long?
Daniel: A week?
Bucket: Two weeks!
Daniel: OK. Two weeks.

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Daniel: Hi, Celeste.
Celeste: I’m trying to concentrate!
Daniel: OK… Pops?
Jackson: Yes! Yes!
Daniel: I need a favor, and it’s urgent. Very.
Jackson: Of course! At once! At once!

His strangely agitated father rushed out of the house immediately, and was back in no time. The gift was set, now it was up to Bai to decide if it would serve its purpose. He quickly packed some clothes, before seeking out his mother.

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Daniel: I’m going to China.
Danielle: To China!? Gosh! What...? When…?
Daniel: Tonight. Now, basically.
Danielle: Are you serious? You were to take your sister to school tomorrow…
Daniel: It’s a job, and it pays well. Well enough to pay for some tutoring.
Danielle: Ok… Umm… Bring back a souvenir for your sister!
Daniel: I will. Keep her out of school, for now? Please?

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Danielle: I don’t know if I can… How long will you be gone?
Bucket: Jackson!!
Daniel: Just a few days.
Bucket: Jackson!!
Danielle: Who is shouting outside?
Daniel: Bucket. I’ve let him borrow my car, but I don’t know what he’s up to now.
Danielle: You let him have your car?!
Daniel: I’ll go and see what this is all about…

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Before he had a chance of talking to Bucket, their front door opened, and his father came running out. What he was wearing was setting new standards of absurdity, even for him.
Daniel: Pops, what the heck to you think…
Jackson: Must go, now!
Bucket: Yeah! No one will resist a call to arms from Bucketman and Number One!!
Daniel: Pops, what about your sculpting?!
Jackson: Spulcting must wait! Must fight, aliens!

He stood shaking his head as “Rocky” the Stallion disappeared from view. The taxi arrived, and he cast a glance up at the windows, where his mother was watching with a grim look on her face. She didn’t cry as much as she used to, but he wasn’t sure if that was a positive development. Meh. She’d manage, and there was another blonde whose face he was far more eager to see…

[Agathon]

I Beg Your Pardon

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For the fourth consecutive day, Daniel was standing in line, to meet Bai’s associate Ding Yi. On the first day, he had handed over a wrapped trinket, knowing that the first gift would always be refused, as a matter of principle. On the second day, he was told of the refusal, and instructed to come back the next day if he wanted to present a new gift. The ritualistic gift-giving seemed designed to frustrate, and many of the hopefuls had not grasped its nuances.
Man: …it was worth over 60 000!?
Ding: I’m afraid the value of the gift is inconsequential, Mr. Barker.
Man: Who does she think she is?! Royalty?!
Ding: I’m sorry. Your car is parked outside the northern gate, Mr. Barker, you can pick it up there.

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He had put in a couple of half-hearted sessions with a training dummy, but he just felt stupid doing it, and that thing made his hands and feet hurt. Sim Fu wasn’t the reason he was here, that red house on the hilltop in the distance was. He had been tempted to bypass the whole gift ceremony by simply going up there, until being told, in no uncertain terms, that one does not simply walk up to the house of the champion and ring the doorbell.

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With plenty of time to kill, he had tried doing the touristy things. The tombs seeming intriguing, and he had tried entering several of them, each time coming face-to-face with a sign reading “CLOSD”. All the signs seemed to have been made by the same not-so-proficient English user, and they looked very old.

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Visiting the tourist traps, such as the Halls of the Lost Army, he found himself forced to squeeze by pudding-faced explorers who, with the tombs being closed, didn’t really have much to explore. As his interest in culture was limited, he soon tired of the experience and spent an increasing amount of time on his laptop.

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During a visit to base camp, one frustrated explorer did share an interesting tidbit: The tombs were closed because they had all been cleaned out about 250 years ago, by someone referred to as Lĕng Qiū Fēng.  The name translated to something like “Cold Autumn Wind”, and was best left unspoken. It didn’t take Daniel long to figure out the name referred to: Memory Lane had housed a vast collection of relics, all collected by a woman whose hair resembled the color of autumn: Alexandria Lane, the founder. As in Sunset Valley and Starlight Shores, he was again walking in the footsteps of Kate and her daughters.

Most of the locals seemed suspicious of the foreigners, and there wasn’t much hospitality to be found in Shang Simla. Had Alexandria Lane earned her ominous Chinese name by acting less than courteous in more ways than just cleaning out the tombs? An exemption among the locals, Bai’s associate always acted with great properness.

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Ding: Welcome, Mr. Carson. I am pleased to announce that the champion, Bai Jiejing, has accepted your gift.
Daniel: Great! What happens now?
Ding: You are requested to appear at the Phoenix Academy at 2:30 pm, for your first training session.
He’d had high hopes for the gift, but Bianca had wisely decided that she and Violet would only leave for China once it had been accepted. His fingers were shaking as he typed the message to Bianca: “Go, go, go. Love you.” The training session would go down in less than 3 hours, and he’d better grab a bit to eat.

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His training partner was not who he expected. That meant there would be no invitation to their house tonight, and no need to conjure up excuses for postponing it until the team was in place, but it also meant he had to play the part of the offended.
Daniel: Where's Bai?
Ding: Mr. Carson, I humbly apologize. My mentor sends her apprentice to conduct this session.
Daniel: This isn’t right...
Ding: Please, Mr. Carson, have a seat, and I will explain.

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Daniel: I gave that gift under the presumption that the sessions would be with her!
Ding: I understand. That is normal procedure.
Daniel: Then why isn’t it being followed?!
Ding: My mentor is very busy, as she is preparing for a potential challenge. Please understand, Mr. Carson, a challenge is no everyday occurrence. For both champion and challenger, the cost of losing such a fight is very high.
Daniel: So, is she training? What is the cost? Honor?
Ding: Yes, she is training, hard. A defeated champion, and his or her descendants, owe fielty to the person who defeated them. Because of this risk, most champions refrain from having children, until they have retired. The challenger must deposit, at the current rate, 238 000 simoleons, which are lost if they lose the fight, upon which they are also exiled from Shang Simla, for life.

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Daniel: Geezuz. Has she faced many challengers?
Ding: More than any champion, Mr. Carson. Usually they are outsiders, backed by insidious, rich business syndicates with dark agendas, organizations that are hoping to add my skillful mentor to their list of subordinates, and find the current rate to be quite cheap.
Daniel: Can she refuse a challenge?
Ding: No challenge may be refused, or revoked. A champion may retire, but only if there is no challenge issued.
Daniel: If this is just a potential challenge, why doesn’t she retire, if she is flush with money and wants to start a family?
Ding: Alas, Mr. Carson. An apprentice is not privy to all the thoughts and motivations of their mentor.

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The sparring session was fruitful, with Ding teaching him basic evasive and defensive moves that earned him a new belt, but there was such a gulf in skill between them that it hardly qualified as real sparring. The news that Bai was fighting for big money, risking her own feasibility to start a family, was so stunning that he couldn’t get it out his mind. Sparring session number two would take place tomorrow at noon, near the Temple of Heaven, and she would be there.

Returning to the Lotus House, his quarters for the duration, there were news from home. His mother had managed to keep Celeste out of school, and both were suffering from the blues as a result. There was also an update on the misadventures of Bucketman and Number One.

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Apparently, Bucket didn’t have a car because he was medically disqualified from driving. Somehow, he had managed to keep “Rocky” on the road until Twinbrook, where he had veered off into a fishing pond near an estate. Bucket was now being nursed back to health by the elderly lady of the estate, which seemed sympathetic to his wild conspiracy theories. His father was back home, “more or less in one piece”. Rocky the Stallion had been scrapped at the local junkyard, and given who he had lent it to, Daniel could forget about any insurance money.

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His hands were sweaty when he saw her coming. Their previous meetings had been fairly pleasant, but he was on her turf now. Was there a specific way he was supposed to behave? How would she act, compared to when she was in Moonlight Falls? Having pondered the matter, he had decided to keep up the act he had established. If nothing else, he hoped it would humor her, and take her mind off more serious matters. She never cast a glance at him during her long walk up, and unfortunately, she didn’t seem pleased to see him. He pressed play and hoped for the best.

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Daniel: Nice to see you again, Rosebud.
We'll meet again
Bai: What are you doing here?
Daniel: I missed you, and wanted to see you. Did you like the gift?
Don't know where
Bai: Ah. I accepted it because I had to. You interrupt my preparations, and for what? Your efforts to learn Sim Fu have been laughable.
Don’t know when
Daniel: I’m not the most dedicated of students.
Bai: Yet you come here, after what we did in Moonlight Falls. I question your motives, and you better explain.
…again some sunny day

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Daniel: You still owe me a dance, Rosebud. I thought we could do it as a warm up. Is the music suitable?
Keep smiling through
Bai: No music is suitable for Sim Fu. It is meant to be taken seriously. Especially here.
Just like you always do
Daniel: So I hear. Not everybody makes six figures from a challenge, honey. Have you considered changing your name to Bai Cha-ching?
Bai: Everything is a joke to you, is it??!

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Even when she turned her attention to the boombox, he didn’t yet realize how he had overplayed his hand. She didn’t even dignify it with a Sim Fu kick, but just sent it flying as if she was kicking a football.
…drive the dark clouds far aw...
He saw fire burning in her rosy eyes as she swung into her combat stance, facing him. Far below, he heard a distant crash as the boombox disintegrated against the ground.

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It was only when she lunged at him, with a ferocity that seemed uncalled for in a training session, that he understood the graveness of his mistake. Bai Jiejing, whom he thought to be the poster girl for self control, had lost her cool. Her arms and legs felt like they were made of stone, and she made sure he felt them.

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He didn’t protest as she sent him tumbling to the floor again and again, or came at him from angles he couldn’t even imagine. If it was a lesson, it was a lesson in humiliation, and she continued to administrate it without hesitation. He had moments when he wondered if he would need an air ambulance to leave that platform, like when he was lying on the floor, groggily looking up at the flurry of color descending on him. By virtue of suffering no injuries, he soon realized that even now, she was pulling her punches.

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Bai: This is wrong…
Daniel: Just… *cough* let me catch my breath…
Bai: No. This is not me, nor is it Sim Fu.
Daniel: Bai… wait…
By the time he staggered to his feet, she was already gone. No third session had been scheduled, and he had not been invited to their house. By all accounts, he had mucked it up. After collecting himself, the tried calling Bianca, but her phone was still off. She was probably still in the air. There had been no update on the situation with Violet, and he half-hoped that she hadn’t come, as it was one person less to disappoint.

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Daniel: Lynx?!?!
Lynx: Long time, no see, soldier.
Seeing her in a genie stance was no great surprise, but the heap of flowers that was building around her feet was another matter entirely.
Daniel: What are you doing here?! What happened to you?
Lynx: Violet decided she didn’t like Chinese, or somethin’. Needin’ a thief, Bianca gave me a call, see. What happened to me… well…

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Lynx: …guess I turned into the freak I was always born to be. Real pretty, huh? I dropped the rouge. Do you think I should put it back on? Whaddaya think? Didn’t seem to like, help much, ya know.
Daniel: What… are you? I mean…
Lynx: Beside a freak, ya mean? Never seen a plantsim, huh? A flowerpot girl?
Daniel: No…
Lynx: I’m half n half, soldier. Always been, just now I’m like, really half n half. Friggin’ flowers on the ground n everythin’. Listen, we ain’t got much time, I just told the cabbie to go like, suicide mode, and she ain’t far behind…
Daniel: What about Ritchie? The people who are after you? Is it safe for you to…
Lynx: I threw that creep out, he ain’t nuthin’ now. If I ain’t safe here, were the heck am I safe, huh? I can’t stay cooped up in that house anymore, or I’ll go friggin’…
Daniel: Why are they after you?

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Lynx: They wanna play doctor with me. Needles, scans, tests, blood samples, more tests, more sterile white rooms, more needles, hey, let’s throw in some sedatives, and some more machines, the whole ugly shabang. Not my cuppa, ya know. Listen…
Daniel: What happened in Bridgeport?
Lynx: Listen, huh! We don’t have time! What are you doin’ here, man?
Daniel: Me…? I’m here for the job. How much is she paying you?
Lynx: The job? The Daniel I knew wouldn’t go robbin’ people. How's she stringin’ ya along, huh?
Daniel: Guess I changed my mind. It pays well, that’s why you’re here, right?
Lynx: Nope. I ain’t here for the job. I’m here to stop some fool from gettin’ in trouble. And you’re that fool, see.

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Daniel: You’re here for me?! Lynx, I’m with Bianca now, and I can handle myself just fine.
Lynx: You’re with her? For real? How’d that happen?
Daniel: Yeah, for real. It happened… quickly I guess.
Lynx: Quickly, huh? Like… “Oh Bianca, I suddenly just love you,” huh? Do ya know anyth…
Daniel: Don’t talk her down. Just because I was into you, doesn’t mean…
Lynx: Woooow, soldier…! She got ya bad. Real bad, man.
Daniel: What are you babbling about?
Lynx: You’re doin’ it for her. Yep. Yep?
Daniel: No. I mean, I’m helping her…

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Daniel: Bianca... Hi...
Bianca: What are you doing here?! I thought I told you to stay at Base Camp?!
Lynx: Right… But ya don’t get to tell me where I go, see. Nobody does.
Bianca: We can’t be seen together! If they hear of three…
Lynx: Then why the frick are you here?! Go up to that house you’re gon...
Bianca: Why couldn’t you have told me you look like...?! Geez…!
Lynx: A freak, you mean?

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Bianca: If you like. We have to switch, we can’t have you walking around Base Camp like some mutated crayon.
Lynx: What did ya call me, bi…
Daniel: Let’s all just calm…!
Bianca: Dan’s right. We have to…
Lynx: She calls you Dan? For real?
Daniel: Eh, yeah…
Bianca: Do you two know each other?

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Lynx: I’ve known him for years. We kinda grew up together. How long have ya known him?
Bianca: Long enough.
Lynx: A week, huh?
Bianca: That’s none of your…
At that moment, an SMS ticked in on his phone. It was from Bai.
Daniel, I deeply apologize for my behavior at our training session today. You are hereby invited to dinner, at 30 East Ancestor Hills (the red house) at 7 pm. Hope you can make it.
With humble regards,
Bai Jiejing.
Daniel: I’m invited to dinner. We’re on. 7 pm tonight.
Bianca: What? That leaves us just a couple of hours to prepare…!

[Agathon]

The Red House

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His body ached as the red house loomed large before him. It was only now, a few hours later, that he felt the full effects of his “training session” with Bai. The preparations had been frantic, but Bianca had cooked up a plan that took into account that their ghost had been replaced by a genie. No, a plantsim-genie... Lynx had seemed indifferent to the planning, and had soon wandered off, telling them to SMS her the details.

Bianca had whispered honeyed words of encouragement to him before he left, but they seemed faint now, with the dragons adorning the roofs of the house growing bigger with every step. Had his hosts got word of the arrival of the two women? Was he walking into a trap? Before he reached the double front door, the house felt big enough to quarter an army.
   
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Bai: I’m glad you came. Are you OK?
Daniel: A bit bruised, but I’ll live.
Bai: I’m so sorry. I’ve never…
Daniel: It’s my fault. I should have behaved more respectfully.
Bai: No. The responsibility is mine. Something sad happened up there, long ago. The academy was booked, and I thought I could handle training up there with you, but…
Daniel: Let’s forget it ever happened.
Bai: I can’t. Please, come in.

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Daniel: Crikey. Not many houses like this in Moonlight Falls…
Bai: Have a look around while I place Zhēnlĭ in his cage.
Daniel: Is the house old?
Bai: Very. The interior is a mishmash of old and new. It’s not very stylish.
Daniel: Maybe you’ve just lived here for too long…
Bai: I have.

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Going right, he found himself in a sort of game room, and came face-to-face with a poster of the hostess. It looked a bit out of place.
Bai: *Sigh* That thing… I always hope our guests don’t see it. It belongs out there.
Daniel: In the trash? No… Why? You should be proud of what you did.
Bai: My brother insists we keep it, to remind me what a mindless automaton I was.
Daniel: I don’t understand.
Bai: China has a lot of mountains, but few good climbers. The regime needed a heroic climber to bolster their propaganda, and I became their puppet.
Daniel: Doesn’t change the fact that you won three world championships.
Bai: They doped me good. I only won because there were no doping controls. Come.

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Daniel: You have it on display. Well, what do you think?
Bai: Maybe the diamond would have looked better on its own…
Daniel: This was the only thing I could come up with.
Bai: I see what you were trying to do.
Daniel: It does look a bit like a rosebud, doesn’t it?
Bai: A bit. So I had to accept it.
Lo Pan: Just wait, she’ll sell it as soon as you’re out the door! She does that with all the gifts.

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Bai: I leave you in the hands of my brother, while I get changed. Don’t start fighting, or I’ll come down and set you both straight.
Lo Pan: Mr. Carson. No hard feelings, I hope.
Daniel: No. I wasn’t all that invested in being a fairy.
Lo Pan: Good!
Daniel: I can’t speak for the rest of Moonlight Falls, though…
Lo Pan: You know what they say about eggs and omelets. I like mine plain, without wings and fangs. Speaking of food, I better make some.
Daniel: Your English is very good, as is your sister’s.

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Lo Pan: In that case, our parents didn’t waste their money by sending us to Evansdale. Well, I didn’t do anything useful with my education…
Daniel: I haven’t seen many houses that have a pool in the living room.
Lo Pan: It’s not very practical, but it keeps us close to our element.
Daniel: I expected to see servants here, given that you guys must be rich.
Lo Pan: Rich? We get an allowance from the government, but we’re not rich.

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Daniel: What about all the money Bai is bringing in?
Lo Pan: Hah...! She gives it all away, including the money from selling all the gifts. There must be 15 orphanages named after her in obscure parts of China, and almost as many schools and clinics.
Daniel: Wow. I thought my mother was open-handed, but that’s…
Lo Pan: Crazy! Just say it, I agree with you. She never does anything for herself. She climbed for the regime, now she’s a champion for the sake of others, and to protect the area from outside influences. When I think about all the money she’s turning down…
Daniel: Apart from the challenger money?

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Lo Pan: Yes! There are people standing in line, wanting to offer her movie roles, or to plaster her name on various console games, cosmetic products or sports drinks. But she has neither the patience nor the time for such things, she’s too busy being a slave to her own selflessness, which is slowly tearing her apart.
Daniel: How so?
Lo Pan: When she’s not training, or mentoring Ding, or catering to gift-givers, she’s doing representation and off-the-books jobs for the government. “I do it for China,” she says, like she hasn’t done enough already. Rubbish… She should have retired, like she planned, to have some time to herself and start a family.
Daniel: What made her change her mind? This potential challenge that Ding mentioned?
Lo Pan: Yes, and now she’s stuck in limbo… Waiting for a challenge that may never happen, and an apprentice that, in due time, is honor-bound to challenge a champion that refuses to step down. All the while, she’s not getting any younger. Middle age is knocking on her door, and she knows it. Her treatment of you at your training session wasn’t a random coincidence.

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Daniel: Hm. What’s so special about this potential challenger?
Lo Pan: It’s the same old story, essentially: Beating this challenge, if it comes, would help someone, and so she willingly throws herself on the fire.
Daniel: I see. As I understand it, she refrains from starting a family, because of the risk of losing to a challenger…?
Lo Pan: Yes…
Daniel: But what about you? Plenty of room in this house, isn’t it?
The question seemed to trouble him. He stirred the pan for a considerable amount of time before answering.
Lo Pan: She’s the champion. Starting a family should be her responsibility, not mine.

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Bai was back, gliding though the room in a white dress and rosy gloves, looking distinctively western for a change. She must have heard the end of their conversion, as she exchanged some heated Chinese phrases with her brother, making it obvious that she disagreed with what he had said. As her flowery scent flowed past him on her way to the table, the low-cut back of the dress revealed a new detail.
Daniel: That’s a fearsome tattoo…
Bai: Only to westerners.
Lo Pan: The Rose Dragon, the marvel of the climbing world!
Daniel: I thought she was the Wonder of the East.
Bai: Stop it, please.
Lo Pan: The Rose Dragon has many names, and is always fighting someone else’s battles.
Bai: Trying to make a difference keeps her busy.
Lo Pan: Too busy to buy her own dresses, even.

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Daniel: Great stir fry, and I love your house. Wish I had something like this...
Bai: Be careful what you wish for.
Lo Pan: It’s old, and a bit stuck in time. Bai is not very fond of it.
Bai: We’ve been shackled to it for too long.
Lo Pan: If we had some more money, maybe we could have modernized it a bit. But, someone keeps giving away money…
A new round of bickering in Chinese followed, and Daniel felt compelled to change the subject.
Daniel: I have a question, about Lĕng Qiū Fēng…

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The mentioning of her name caused to Lo Pan to freeze, before he coughed up the bits of food he had just inhaled.
Bai: In Shang Simla, we try not to mention her name too often. Some believe it causes bad luck.
Daniel: When I asked if you had seen her, you answered by advising me not to always trust my eyes and ears. Since then, it has been revealed that the woman I thought was her, was probably an impostor. How could you possibly know that?
Bai: You said she had been alive for decades. It would have been very strange if that was true, and she did not come here. She was very fond of visiting Shang Simla…
Daniel: To raid the tombs here. But if they are empty, what reason would she have for returning?
Bai: She didn’t come just for the tombs. She…

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Lo Pan: If I might change the subject… I feel I owe our honored guest an explanation for what we did in Moonlight Falls.
Daniel: Really, personally I have no problem with that.
Lo Pan: Fine, but I would still like to explain! Ages ago, our family came into possession of a manuscript. Its author was a man named Vladimir Voynich, and it was written in a cryptic code that, at first, seemed impossible to understand. After careful study, the village elders managed to crack the code, and discovered that it described alchemic recipes.
Daniel: Ok…
Lo Pan: They conducted some experiments, showing that some of the recipes worked, while others didn’t. Among those that worked, were recipes for creating potions that would facilitate the creation of so-called occults. Vampires, faeries, witches…

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Bai: My brother has told this story many times, and I know it by heart. Would you mind if I excuse myself?
Daniel: It’s your house, not mine.
Bai: I don’t want to seem rude, and you’re our guest…
Daniel: Knock yourself out, Rosebud. Or not. I mean…
Bai: I have my training sessions with Ding recorded. I would like to take a look at the last one, to see where I can improve.

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Lo Pan: Now then, where were we… There have always been occults. They have occurred naturally, and been few in number, but this method of gaining occult powers through potions was something completely new. The village elders felt it was an abomination, and banned the use of the recipes. The manuscript returned to this house, where it collected dust for more than a century, until one day…
Lo Pan: …a young man came into this house, as a guest. He was among the first visitors from the west, and every house was eager to open its doors to him. His name was Samuel Crumplebottom…
Daniel felt his heart skip three beats, but thought he managed to keep up a straight face.
Lo Pan:…and he was both smart and inquisitive. Wandering the house, he came upon the manuscript and parts of the cipher, and was so intrigued by them that he decided to steal both, before returning home.
Daniel: Where did he live?
Lo Pan: History does not recall. What it does recall, is that he made the recipes commercially available. After that, even Tom, Dick and Harry could be occults, and their numbers grew quickly.
Daniel: Your curing was righting an old wrong, as you see it.

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Lo Pan: Precisely! It is a hobby of mine, and as futile as the labours of Sisyphos, but I choose to persist. When Bai is required to do work in your part of the world, I come with her, and try to arrange for practicing my hobby.
Daniel: You said there had always been occults…
Lo Pan: Yes. I call them Legitimates, those occults who stem from the old bloodlines.
Daniel: How do you know that your mass curings aren’t cleaning out Legitimates?
Lo Pan: There are very few Legitimates in your part of the world, and they are safe either way: They cannot be cured!
Daniel: Hm. Anything else that makes these Legitimates special? Do they have other abilities?
Lo Pan: No. It’s just that their occult DNA cannot be switched off, so to speak.
Daniel: What about you? Are you a Legitimate?
Lo Pan: Mr. Carson! A magician must be allowed to keep some secrets.

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Having excused himself, Daniel gained an opportunity to check where the few ground floor doors led, before doing a pit stop in the bathroom. There was a locked red door near the stairs, behind which there seemed to be a narrow space, squeezed in between the hallway and the bathroom. A staircase had to be hiding behind the red door, going down to the basement.

Bianca had misled him with her “rumors” about manuscripts in this house. Her family had stolen from it before, and now he was integral to making it happen again. The conversations with Bai and Lo Pan had humanized them, in his mind. They were no longer a mythical pair of villains living in some unreachable place. They were people, with real feelings, trying to sort out their own troubled lives, and they didn’t deserve to be robbed. Perhaps Lynx was right in trying to save him from this, but what choice did he have? Bianca had spent a lot of money on this, and he had promised to help the woman he loved. He no longer had a car, thanks to Bucket, his family needed money, and then there was the hope of getting a tutor for his sister. The face that stared back at him told him it was too late to turn back now.

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Bedtime was beckoning, and Bai offered to show him to his room, first taking a detour to the upper floor.
Bai: This is where we spar tomorrow. Be here at 9 AM. I’ll be out running all morning, before coming straight up here.
Daniel: Quite a view from up here. If you removed those trees, you’d have a clear view of the center of town, too.
Bai: The trees have as much right to be here as we do.
Daniel: As a climber, I thought you would appreciate a good view.
Bai: I have not found much peace of mind on the mountaintops I’ve climbed. Saturated eyes and egos, yes. Sometimes, it is better to see less.

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Daniel: Is that what you’re looking for? Peace of mind?
Bai: At some point. I hate this house, I hate Sim Fu…
Daniel: Then why don’t you stop?! Retire from it?
Bai: No. When the time is right, I will retire, and disappear.
Daniel: Disappear...?
Bai: If I am to be free, and have peace of mind, I have to. No more governments, competitions, corporations, offers…
Daniel: Where will you go?

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Bai: I don’t know yet. Some place that has boulders to climb. No risks and no tangible rewards.
Daniel: If you go climbing, someone will recognize you.
Bai: I’ll shave my head, wear rags, and live in a cave in the wilderness, if I have to. No one will know my name.
Daniel: You sound like a masochist. One with a lot to run away from.
Bai: Yes... But I am also running towards something.
Daniel: What?
Bai: Finding my true self. Let’s go to your room.

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Bai: We call it the horse room. Your family has a history of keeping horses, so I thought it appropriate.
Daniel: How do you know about the horses?
Bai: I have learned a few things about the family of Alexandria Lane.
Daniel: Hm. Well, the room is glorious. I’m sure I’ll sleep well.
Bai: I still can’t decide if you are a blessing or a curse. It’s not all up to you, is it?
Daniel: What are you talking about?
Bai: Good night, Daniel.

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She was an expert at ending their encounters by saying something cryptic, and it didn’t serve to put him at ease. Even if he had been able to, sleeping was out of the question. In less than three hours, he had to go through the red door, or screw everything up. He sat for a while, paced around for a bit, but as the time got closer, he felt the need to talk to someone. Bianca and Lynx was likely sleeping, in preparation for what could be a long night for them, but there was someone he could try reaching…
Operator: No… it seems we have no number registered for anyone named Chloe Carson.
Daniel: Can you try an address: Villa Carsonia, Sunset Valley?
Operator: Carsonia with a C?
Daniel: Yeah.
Operator: No, no number for that either. You’re the same guy I talked to last week, right?
Daniel: Yeah… and I’ll try again next week.
Operator: No problem. But you should consider that she might not want to talk to you again, man.
Daniel: What are you saying?
Operator: Maybe she gave you a false name, and a false address. Happened to me too, man.
Daniel: You don’t know what you’re talking about.
Operator: I was in denial too, man. Listen, if you need counseling…
Daniel: No, I don’t need counseling!
“Call me,” she’d said. How the heck was he supposed to call her if she refused to own a phone?

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The house was much darker when he slipped out of his room. Stopping at the top of the stairs, he listened for sounds of sleeping, but it was dead quiet. Earlier, it had sounded as if one of the siblings had gone upstairs to sleep, but he couldn’t be sure. Going up, he had made a mental note of which steps were creaking, and he tried keeping to the side of the staircase when he encountered them, stepping as lightly as he could. The geishas seemed indifferent to his efforts, their white faces revealing no emotion.

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He managed to reach the red door without incident, registering that even Bai’s bird had not taken note of him, and seemed to be sleeping. He put the ghost potion on the floor, and stepped on it gently. He kept his gaze fixed at the red door, not daring to look at what his own body would become. As the glass broke, he was enveloped in grey fumes, and suddenly felt lighter than before. The bird started warbling. It sounded as if it was saying “What the heck are you doing?” He stepped forward, into the door.

[Agathon]

One Down, Two to Go - Part I

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Behind the door was a narrow staircase, just as he had expected. He paused at the top and glanced over his new, transparent body. This was so weird, and left him feeling a bit lightheaded. His movements seemed a bit more sluggish than usual as he checked the time on his phone. 01:46. There was no need to rush. He started slowly making his way down the stairs, while recounting the plan and hoping that the stupid bird hadn't arisen any suspicions about his whereabouts.

He was carrying the left Eye of Horus, and at 02:00 Lynx would teleport in, using the right Eye. By that time, he would have had to make it past the door that was now appearing before him. Once present, Lynx would use her genie powers to banish him back to the Lotus House, where he’d pass his Eye to Bianca, enabling her to join Lynx. He would then have to make it back to the red house, and quaff a second ghost potion to get in and back to his room. Once the two women were done in the basement, Bianca would reanimate the dead townie, Lynx would banish Bianca, before teleporting after her using her Eye.

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At the foot of the stairs was a small space, containing nothing of interest but the door and the star-shaped keystone panel that would open it. This was it, and all that remained for him to do, was to go through it. It seemed too easy, somehow. He checked the time again. 01:49. Hm. Lynx had rushed off before they had any time to synchronize their clocks. What if her clock was off, and she teleported in right now? He couldn’t linger, he had to go through now, but slowly. Very slowly.

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No terrible surprise was sprung on him on the other side. Another room, with slightly rougher stonework, piles of rubble, some crates and some old furniture. The red bookcase stood out, but so did another door in stainless steel, with a plaque beside it. He cast some glances at the books, but they seemed to be modern and uninteresting.

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The plaque carried a Chinese inscription. Taking a photo of it proved problematic, due to the poor lighting, but after multiple attempts, he managed to take a photo that could be run through Gazooble Translator.

Cold blows the autumn wind. Turn around, or be swept away.

Despite the chilling nature of the inscription, he couldn’t help but giggle, feeling strangely happy. If this place had something to do with Alexandria Lane, it meant killing two birds with one stone. Perfect! The door was locked, and he was tempted to float through it, but decided against it. There had to be some way of opening it without taking any risks.

Examining the room, the two piles of rubble quickly caught his attention. He started swinging away at one of them, humming and giggling, and barely noticed Lynx as she teleported in.

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Lynx: Whaddaya doin’?
Daniel: Clearing rubble.
Lynx: Why?
Daniel: We need to open that door, somehow.
Lynx: Nope. Listen, Bianca ain’t got money to pay us.

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Daniel: Hah! You’re yellow, do you know that?
Lynx: Ya think that’s funny?
Daniel: It is! Bianca and I are in love, and you’re jealous. And yellow!
Lynx: Hope your brain comes back when that stuff wears off, huh?
Daniel: You look better being yellow.
Lynx: Yeah? I should slap you ‘cross the room like, but I’m gonna kill this lamp instead…

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Daniel: If it needs to be this dark for you to play with your phone, you really should upgrade. They say the new Simphone 9 is tha bomb.
Lynx: That’s a mood lamp, stupid. That’s why you were gigglin’ like a schoolgirl, see?
Daniel: Oh. How about putting away that phone and giving me a hand instead?
Lynx: I ain’t playin’, soldier. Been cooped up for so long, I learned somethin’.
Daniel: What?
Lynx: Gimme a second. Lemme see how you feel about 'er… now.
As soon as she had said it, he could feel the love he had felt for Bianca draining away, leaving him feeling empty and cold. And not very pleased.

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Daniel: What did you do that for??! Are you so jealous that you can’t stand to see me happy?!
Lynx: I’m trying to help y…
Daniel: Help?! What kind of help is that?! You have no right…!
Lynx: She used a love charm on you!
Daniel: How can you know that?! You're just making stuff up!
Lynx: Where do ya think those sudden feelin’s for her came from, huh? She’s a witch! Think, stupid!
Daniel: You're just assuming...

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Lynx: She fooled you into comin’ here! The only reason I’m here is to keep ya from gettin' burned!
Daniel: Bah... Why would I get burned?
Lynx: She doesn’t give a crap ‘bout you, and she ain’t got the money to pay us! She’s bought one return ticket, not three. One! Whaddaya think that means, huh?!
Daniel: That she’ll buy the other two after we’ve found the manuscripts, or some relics she could sell…
Lynx: Get real! I went through her stuff, and found a ninja vanish potion. If she’s in here with me, she could to toss 'er Eye and pop that potion. I’d be stuck here. Who’d be the patsy then, huh?! She’d probably push you off a cliff or somethin’. Like “Oh darling, let’s go see the Dragon Cave…” Ooops, he fell and died! What a tragedy!
Daniel: She said she’d find a patsy at the graveyard, to reanimate…
Lynx: Why'd she do that, if she can save 30 grand by leavin’ us to dry? Huh? Have you seen 'er go to the graveyard? Wake up, man. I’m not making this up, see?

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Daniel: There’s no money…?
Lynx: No. This heist’s a bust, and we better get outta here. I’ll banish ya, and then…
Daniel: No. No, no… If we’re not getting paid, I have to get through that door, or this has been a complete waste of time.
Lynx: There’re better places than this to rob, soldier. I’ll show you when we get home, let’s go.
Daniel: No! I’m not looking to steal anything, I’m looking for answers. That plaque mentions my 4 x great-grandmother.
Lynx: Listen, it’s cool that ya have a Chinese grandma and all, but…
Daniel: She’s not Chinese, and she may be alive. Do you know why my family lived on lawn for so long? Because she, or someone impersonating her, took everything we had, and we had lot. We were stinking rich.
Lynx: So that’s why you’re not very street-wise, huh? Born with a silver spoon up your ass.
Daniel: Yeah. If you wanna help me, help me with that door. Please.

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The effects of the ghost potion wore off as he hacked away at the rubble, leaving him not feeling particularly brilliant. Minutes ago, he had thought his love for Bianca was the real deal, and he was now realizing that she had played him like a fool. Through the combined effects of the mood lamp, the ghost potion and the love charm, at least he could claim to have acted “under the influence”…
Lynx didn’t seem super enthusiastic about getting the door opened, and he finished clearing his pile long before she did. Probing the hole that had been beneath it made a floor panel pop up near where she was swinging her pickaxe.

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She didn’t need much encouragement to abandon her digging and trigger the panel instead. A second floor panel now materialized, but promptly disappeared as she stepped off again. She had to remain in position on her panel, while he stepped onto the second panel. As soon as he did, a loud click could be heard from the door. It was no longer locked. A locked door, followed by a door requiring a special key, and now a door that it took two people to unlock? That didn’t bode well…

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They didn’t make it far past the door before another steel obstacle barred their progress. There were no clues as to how to open the gate, or to deal with the blazing fire trap behind it. Strange sounds were emanating from a loudspeaker mounted to the wall, and the statues in the corridor seemed to have sunken into the walls, giving the place an eerie aura.
Lynx: I don’t like this place, man… What did that plaque say?
Daniel: Turn around, or be swept away. Something like that.
Lynx: Right… I’m stumped, so let’s turn around, huh?
Daniel: Come on. There has to be some way to open this.

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As they pondered the matter, the sounds from the speaker coalesced into what sounded like the hysterical screams of someone completely insane.
Lynx: This is like, seriously creepy.
Daniel: That is probably the point, to scare us from going further. Cripes, it’s hot in here…
Lynx: Who was this great-grandmother of ya's?
Daniel: She completed a bunch of careers, and did some pretty bad stuff. Most people seem to be terrified of her.
Lynx: I’m sorry, soldier…

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Lynx: …I’m pulling the plug on this.
Daniel: What? We ca…
He didn’t get any further before the sound of fine glass disintegrating momentarily chased away the screams. She was gone before he managed to turn around, leaving behind the rapidly fading traces of teleportation. For a moment, he couldn’t understand how she had done it, until remembering the ninja vanish potion she had mentioned. She was teleporting back to wherever she was staying, away from Bianca, who was waiting in the Lotus House. What did she mean by pulling the plug? Giving him no option but to use the second ghost potion to escape the basement? He had no intention of giving up yet.

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Going back to the first room, escaping the screams and the searing heat, he started examining the walls, looking for hidden passages. Soon, the only part of wall he hadn’t checked was behind the rubble Lynx hadn’t cleared. He took the time to remove it, and was rewarded by discovering a hidden door. With considerable difficulty, he managed to push it open.

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A minuscule room was hiding beyond the swinging door, containing nothing but a torch. Failing to find any way to make progress, he tugged at the torch, which felt like it activated some kind of mechanism, but nothing seemed to change in his immediate surroundings.

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The gate had been opened, an achievement that allowed him to study the reflection of his confused self. The fire trap was not disarmable, he had no idea of how to make further progress, and with his phone telling him it was now 05:30 AM, he was also beginning to run out of time. He fantasized about somehow breaking the mirror when she appeared in it.

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If she hadn’t tried to rush into his not so open arms, perhaps his reaction would have been more measured. As it was, he started firing off accusations at her, faster than he could fully formulate them. She freely admitted to using a love charm, and to her bank accounts being empty, but claimed to have a collection of metals, transmutable into something sufficiently valuable to pay her travel companions. Violet was working on it, she said, while feigning complete innocence with regard to any plans of leaving them behind. She even claimed to have been to the graveyard, to get their patsy.

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Bianca: I’m here, with no way of getting out of this place, while she stole my potion and used it to ditch you in here. Draw your own conclusions about who is committed to this.
Daniel: How the heck did you get here?
Bianca: When you didn’t show, I knew something was up, and then I discovered the potion was gone. I figured she might use it, so I went up to Han’s Orchard House, where she was staying. When she appeared, I knocked her out with a sleeping potion, I keep one handy in case people get hysterical, and I took the Eye from her.
Daniel: So you probably have a second sleeping potion to knock me out and…
Bianca: No, I don’t! You can either keep being paranoid about this and waste our time, or we can get to work. If you’re sore about the love charm, hey, I’m a witch. What did you expect?
Daniel: I trust you about as much as I’d trust a snake, but I want to crack this thing too. Stay in front of me, so I can see what you do, at all times.
Bianca: If that’s how you want to play it...

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Bianca: These books are all modern rubbish.
Daniel: That’s what I thought. I’ve checked all the walls, and there are no more hidden doors.
Bianca: We should translate that plaque.
Daniel: I already have. Superstitious mumbo-jumbo. If we just had some water, to neutralize the fire trap, but there isn’t any.
Bianca: Actually… we do have a source of water. When set to blue, that mood lamp will release the occasional puddle. It may not be enough, but…

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They didn’t have to wait for the lamp to make water. As soon as the blue-colored light was turned on, the trap was extinguished, while the mirror was split in half, revealing another door as the two halves gradually disappeared into the walls. Belinda howled as if she had just won the lottery. His celebration was more restrained, based on the faint hope that they might still make it to the end before the hosts discovered their guest was missing. The sick wailing coming from the loudspeaker reached a crescendo as the door came into view, and then died off completely.

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Unsurprisingly, the door was a new obstacle, requiring a heart-shaped keystone to be unlocked. Before he had any time to despair, Bianca had sprung into action.
Daniel: What the heck, Blondie? Where’d you find that key?
Bianca: I didn’t come completely unprepared, and I thought a skeleton key might be useful.
Daniel: Why didn’t you let me have it, so I wouldn’t have to mess around with the ghost potion?
Bianca: Because it can only be used once.
Daniel: Hm.

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The next room was in a completely different style, and had an arabic vibe to it. The double doors seemed like they might be opened without further ado, but Bianca stopped and hesitated.
Daniel: Come on. You go first.
Bianca: Wait… Can’t you feel that?
Daniel: Feel what? Move on, we’re short on time.
Bianca: We’re close…
Daniel: Close to what?
Bianca: Dead people.

[Agathon]

One Down, Two to Go - Part II

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Bianca: Holy… So it is a tomb, but I didn’t except this…
He could her voice echoing in what had to be a large room, but it was fairly dark in there, and he couldn’t see much.
Daniel: Go, make way.
Bianca: There’s two doors, moron.
Daniel: No. You go in front, remember?

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He fell silent as he entered the huge room. They were on a dead-end platform, four stories above a pool of water. Except for a few darkened windows, hinting at the existence of passageways surrounding the room, toned-down mosaics in Arabic style covered every inch of wall, floor and ceiling. Some sort of room jutted out from the far side, but its big iron-wrought windows were covered up with screens. The only sources of light in the room were two searchlights, encased in white metal cages. Somewhere, they could hear a fountain trickling.

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Two metal cages, identical to the ones around the searchlights, were suspended from the roof. Through glass bottoms and glass tables, the cones of light illuminated the cages from the inside, leaving no doubt that the brilliantly lit urns they contained were the real centerpieces of the room. There was something disturbingly strange and beautiful about how they were being displayed, but it was hardly a coincidence that the cages seemed designed to prevent the removal of the urns. At their family graveyard in Sunset Valley, fake tombstones stood over the empty graves of Alexandria Lane and her husband, and here were two urns. But why would they be here, of all places?

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Bianca: If you can zeneport to that room, I can use the Eye and join you, and…
Daniel: Zen-what?
Bianca: You’ve studied Sim Fu, haven’t you?
Daniel: Not really.
Bianca: What have you been doing here for four days?
Daniel: I’ve played a lot of Tetris.
Bianca: Great… I hope you’re a good swimmer, then…

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Bianca: …as that dive pool seems to be the only way forward.
Daniel: You first, remember?
Bianca: I’m not very good at diving.
Daniel: Neither am I. That’s a massive fall, and a one-way trip.
Bianca: It has to lead somewhere.
Daniel: And if it doesn’t? There’s no way out of the pool, and you can only survive by growing gills, real fast. I think I’ll pass.
Bianca: We can’t just give up, we have to think of something…

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While they were thinking, everything clicked into place. Why the urns were here, why Lo Pan didn’t have any children, how they knew Alexandria had not been resurrected, Bai’s comments about being shackled to the house, why she seemed so bitter about it, the sad event that she mentioned having happened where they trained… Alexandria had cloned her mother, and this was her way of making sure that it would never happen to her or her husband. “Aria” had been into martial arts, which meant Alexandria must have been too.

At some point, an ancestor of Bai and Lo Pan had been a champion, and Alexandria had defeated him or her at the same spot where Bai had administered her humiliation. According to Ding, a defeated champion, and their descendants, owed fealty to the person who defeated them. The never-ending fealty Alexandria had imposed on them was to watch over her tomb. Bai, being a champion herself, was free to leave, but stayed on to share the burden with her brother, who in turn refrained from having children, so that the fealty to Alexandria would die with him.

It didn’t matter that they wouldn’t get any further. He had done what Alyssina failed to do, and located the grave of the founder, giving him the confirmation he wanted: Alexandria had never been resurrected, and Chloe was right: They were chasing an impostor. He was so satisfied with his discoveries that he couldn't avoid smiling, and even burst into laughter when the irony of their situation hit him.

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Bianca: What? Why is this funny?
Daniel: Remember the auction where you bought the Eyes? This is the tomb of the woman who found them in the first place. We’re two amateurs, raiding the tomb of my four times great-grandmother, who raided every tomb there was.
Bianca: Don’t be stupid. This must be the mausoleum of someone from the east. Just look at the…
Daniel: No, I’m sure of it. And she won’t have made it easy. Even if that dive well should lead somewhere, there are probably craploads of super-complicated puzzles and lethal traps that must be overcome before we reach the end. We don’t stand…
At that moment, the screen covering the middle window of the room in front of them was ripped open.

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Had they set off alarms in the house as they progressed through the tomb? How could Lo Pan had come down here? Was there a secret passage somewhere, leading to a different part of the tomb?
Lo Pan: You disappoint me, Mr. Carson. Our hospitality does not extend to this part of the house.
Daniel: I must have taken a wrong turn when I went looking for the bathroom.
Bianca: You talk about abusing hospitality after what you pulled in Moonlight Falls? That’s rich.
Lo Pan: I didn’t take anything that wasn’t mine to take. You shouldn’t let your boyfriend drag you into trouble, miss…
Daniel: She’s not my…
Bianca: Crumplebottom, and I’m doing the dragging. Where are the missing pages from the Voynich manuscript, magician? The ones that your water magic is based on, I mean.
Lo Pan: Hah! A Crumplebottom? I’m going to enjoy this…

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Bianca: Are you? I saw you in Moonlight Falls, waving your wand around. A wand… A sure sign of a feeble spellcaster.
Lo Pan: Too bad I couldn’t cure your delusions when I was there, saving you from a world of trouble.
Bianca: Step up. Bring out that wand, and watch me send it flying to the bottom of the pool, before I…
Daniel: Hey, let’s not get car…
Lo Pan: I don’t need my wand. I’m just going to sit here and watch.
Bianca: You’re a charlatan, and a coward. Somehow, I’ll find those pages.
Lo Pan: I think not. I think you’ll just crumple up, before hitting the bottom.
His alarm bells had started ringing before their conversation was over. Lo Pan was too calm, too satisfied. As soon has he had uttered his prediction, Daniel darted back towards the doors, but it was already too late.

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The doors were locked, and the metal railings were now pulling the platform into the wall. Bianca hadn’t reacted quickly enough, and was quivering like a sock-doll in the violent currents from a suddenly appearing electrical trap. How could he have been so stupid that he thought Alexandria would just let someone walk out of her tomb, after she had hidden it so thoroughly? How could he have been so self-satisfied that he had failed to notice how out of place those modern-looking metal railings were?

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With the platform rapidly disappearing, he found arches of electricity were dancing and crackling mere inches from his body when he turned around. Bianca was desperately clinging to the end of the platform, making begging eyes at him, while being unable to speak. He shouted frantically to Lo Pan to make him stop it, but the magician just sat in chair, watching the spectacle with keen eyes. It didn’t seem like he had activated anything, meaning the platform and doors had been on a timer. In the middle of the chaos, he could suddenly remember something his grandmother had said about Alexandria: “In her time, Memory Lane was like a fortress, accepting no visitors.”

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Later, he couldn’t really remember the pain from the electrical shocks. What he could remember, was screaming, and feeling the platform disappear from under his feet. He could remember a burnt smell, falling, and being vaguely aware that below him, Bianca was already plummeting towards the water. He could remember hearing Lo Pan, but he wasn’t talking. He was laughing, and the laughter was echoing around the room. Then, everything went black.

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Daniel: Grandma? Can we go there? And explore!?
Alecia: To Egypt? I don’t know about that… Exploring can be dangerous, my dear.
Daniel: Why?
Alecia: A woman went there once, and felt sick when she came back. She didn’t understand what was wrong with her, and kept feeling worse. After many days, she discovered she had been cursed by a mummy.
Daniel: Wow… Was the curse dangerous?
Alecia: Deadly. The woman tried all she could think of, but nothing helped. At last, she went back to Egypt to find a way of lifting a curse. She said goodbye to her children before she left, knowing she would never see them again if she did not find a cure, fast.
Daniel: Did she make it?!
Alecia: Yes. She ran through the tombs like a whirlwind, and had just hours left to live when she found the cure.
Daniel: She must have been tough.
Alecia: Yes, and equally determined. But she wasn’t very kind, my dear...

At first, it was just the smell of grass. Then came the crackling sounds, which he thought was coming from the electrical trap. Gradually, he became aware of the pain. It felt like someone had been hitting him with a frying pan. Whiffs of smoke that smelled different, and the sensation that his legs were resting on stone compelled him to try to raise his head. A pair of feet came into his blurred focus, and then a face.

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Daniel: Bai…? How… Where am I?
Bai: A short distance from our house. I dragged you from the pool and brought you here.
Daniel: Where’s Bianca?
Bai: In a cell, where she will remain. Forget what you saw in that room, and forget her.
Daniel: Why am I not in a cell?
Bai: Be thankful you’re not! How could you bring her into our house, even after my brother had told you that story?!
Daniel: Let her go. We didn’t steal anything. We’ll go home...
Bai: I would if I could. Warnings are meant to be heeded. Here she comes. Goodbye, Daniel Lane.
He watched her get up, and tried to do the same, until the jutting pain stopped him cold.

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Daniel: Don’t leave! Is it because I’m one of her descendants? Is that why you’re letting me go?
Bai: Shut up. Leave, and don’t come back.
Daniel: Rosebud! You could have told me. We could have avoided all this!
Lynx: Is he OK?!
Bai: Yes. Get him out of here. Go home.
Lynx: Yeah, yeah…
Daniel: She was a champion, wasn’t she?!

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Bai just walked on without answering, quickly getting out of earshot. Lynx helped him to his feet, and immediately threw her arms around him when he looked a bit wobbly. It was the first time she had let him into her personal space, and he hoped it wouldn’t be the last. Though her skin didn’t look so good, there was nothing wrong about how it felt.
Lynx: I’m so happy you’re OK! I called ‘em when I woke up, but you had, like… already gone in the drink. For a while, I thought I'd lost ya. How ya feelin’?
Daniel: Battered. They took Bianca.
Lynx: Sorry I bailed, soldier. I felt trapped n scared. I just coul…
Daniel: You did the right thing.
Lynx: Ya not mad at me?
Daniel: No. But I think I need to sit down...

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Lynx: Tell me what went down. Did ya find the answers ya were lookin’ for?
Daniel: We were trapped, electrocuted and dumped into a pool. The answers weren’t worth it. God, I feel like crap...
Lynx: ‘twas a creepy place. At least ya got out.
Daniel: I should have told Bianca what the plaque said. Maybe she wouldn’t have…
Lynx: Don’t go there, man. She started this. Don't do the crime if ya can't do the time. ***** happens.
Daniel: What am I gonna tell her sisters? What a disaster, and not a dime for all that trouble.
Lynx: Tell them she got caught, it ain’t complicated. Come on, let’s go.
Daniel: We’re just leaving her here? In that cell? Maybe we could call the police…
Lynx: What po-leece, huh? Ain’t even a city hall in this place. Fuhgeddaboudit, we’re goin’ airborne.

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Daniel: I’m broke. I can’t afford the ticket. I could call my mom, but…
Lynx: I got money. Did some thievin’.
Daniel: Here? When?
Lynx: When you two had your plannin’ gig. Found some fancy wheels parked outside the northern gate, and a fence willin' to move it on. Easy money. I’ll pay for the ride.
Daniel: Hm. Got some bucks so I can by my sister a present too?
Lynx: Yep. Better pay me back, soldier, I’m way behind on my rent.
Daniel: Thanks. If you hadn’t been here…
Lynx: Told why I came, didn’t I? To save yar color-deprived ass from gettin’ fried. I did my best…
Daniel: When we get home… What’ll you do about the people who are looking for you?
Lynx: Hope for the best. Been a while since Bridgeport.
Daniel: What’s it all about?
Lynx: Not now, please.
He hadn't gotten very far before the fences surrounding her personal space were back in place...

[Agathon]

The Blast From The Past

The flight back from China was very uneventful, mostly due to the fact that he slept through almost the whole thing. Lynx, who’d gotten her shuteye by virtue of Bianca’s potion, seemed a bit miffed by his big sleep. She slammed the taxi door a bit harder than she needed to when she got out. He headed straight to the Crumplebottom’s house, not wanting to postpone delivering the unpleasant news. The conversation turned out different than he expected.
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Beatrice: How dare you come here at this hour!!?
Daniel: It’s just nine-thirty…
Beatrice: I don’t need you to tell me what time it is! What do you want?!
Daniel: I’m Daniel C…
Beatrice: I know who you are! Get to the point!
Daniel: We got into trouble, in China. Bianca got caught, and imprisoned.
Beatrice: Pffah, she was always trouble! Good riddance, I say! Anything else?!
Daniel: She mentioned something about metals, as payment…
Beatrice: Do I look like I collect scrap metal, or do handouts!? Get off my porch!

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His mother didn’t seem too surprised by him returning empty-handed from China. Perhaps she was getting used to him failing to deliver. She calmly informed him that Jackson hadn’t sculpted anything of value, and with the bills piling up, she had sold the car he had given her. Starting tomorrow, the furnishings in Alecia’s bedroom would be gradually sold off. She had “barely survived” the five days Celeste had been kept out of school, and now had nothing more to teach her. On Monday, Daniel would accompany her to her first day at school, no matter what. He wasn’t in a position to protest, nor did it seem wise to start a quarrel over his mother’s donations.

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Celeste: A pink dragon… It’s so pretty! Thank you!
Daniel: A rose dragon. One saved from me drowning, actually.
Celeste: No… Dragons aren’t real!
Daniel: This one was. She was also a woman.
Celeste: Can you take me to China? I want to go there!
Daniel: First, I’ll take you to school, on Monday.
Celeste: Good. Mom is too stupid to teach me anything. She can’t even paint, or play an instrument, or…
Daniel: She isn’t stupid, she just cares about other things. She can run marathons, she can cook, and she’s the best jockey in the world.
Celeste: I want to ride dragons, like Shenebys.
Daniel: That’s just fantasy. But mom can teach you to ride unicorns, for real.

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…we have secured an interview with the great Roberto Strablansky, following the inaugural performance of his 3rd symphony, conducted by the composer himself. Professor Strablansky, critics are in awe over...
No way… He killed the TV, having stared blankly at the screen without really watching for half an hour. A voice inside his head told him that he should be married with kids at this point, and here he was, a failed PI without a penny to his name, and a rust-ridden Sloppy Jalopy as his new car. Selling off the stuff in his grandmother’s bedroom felt like erasing her memory, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. If new cases didn’t show up quickly, he would have to get a new job. Low-level police work paid so poorly that it wasn’t a viable option, and his weekly stipend wasn’t much to brag about. Maybe he’d have to cross over to the other side, like Lynx, and start breaking laws instead…

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He didn’t sleep much, tossing and turning, and being kept awake by dark thoughts. He dozed off a bit in the early morning hours, but imagining hearing weird mechanical sounds. Gradually, he started feeling there was someone in his room, until it got so overwhelming that it filled him with alarm. When he raised his groggy head, he was shocked by the sight of an unknown woman, standing at the end of his bed, observing him. Panic-stricken, he reached for the bedside light, to cast some light on her.

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With the mask, she looked as if she had stepped right out of a costume ball. Contacts turned her eyes into pools of pure black, matching the lipstick on her lips, which were curling into a slight smile. He could not recognize her until she opened her mouth.
Chloe: Wakey-wakey, whipster.
Daniel: Chloe?! What the heck… Why… How…?
Chloe: I was in the neighborhood, so I dropped by.
Daniel: Dropped by… Uh… What’s with… the look?
Chloe: It’s just some flashy camouflage. Why didn’t you call?
Daniel: You never gave me your number, and you’re not listed.
Chloe: I’m not, but Reginald is. No address though. I thought you’d figure it out.
Daniel: I didn’t.

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Chloe: Seems I overestimated you. “Most likely to burn down his own house…” Who was in charge of your education?
Daniel: In charge? Me, I guess…
Chloe: That would explain it. While we’re on the subject, I spoke to your sister. There seems to be some confusion regarding her education.
Daniel: When did you speak to her?
Chloe: Before I came in here. She’s an interesting girl.
Daniel: The school here, or rather, the teachers, suck. She deserves better.
Chloe: Maybe it’s the students who suck.
Daniel: No… Everybody who attends that school says so, even the bookish ones.

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Chloe:  So. You need a tutor.
Daniel: We can’t afford one.
Chloe: You could ask your dear, great-whatever, who might do it for free?
Daniel: I’d rather keep her away from you, to be honest.
Chloe: Awww, that hurts. I can feel the knife in my heart… Afraid I’d turn her into some kind of monster?
Daniel: Yeah.
Chloe: Not turning your sister over to a crazy woman, with a less than stellar record of raising kids? I find your lack of faith disturbing…
Daniel: She’d rather go to school, anyhow, to make friends.
Chloe: Bit of a butterfly. I see.

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She strolled over to the chair, flipping open the music box as she passed it. Was her winding it up the mechanical noise he had heard? The little ninja inside started swirling around, to the sound of oriental music.
Chloe: What have you been up to lately, whipster? Besides sleeping, of course.
Was it pure coincidence, or did she know? Had she been watching him, or installed some sort of tracking device on his phone? He quickly decided that he wouldn’t tell her about his trip to Shang Simla. The last person Alexandria would have wanted to know about her grave, was probably Chloe, and if she already knew, let her come clean. He did tell her about Brendan Whittaker and what he had learned about SSBI, and she listened, with her new poker face revealing nothing. He updated her on the situation of his family, and only once did a sign of emotion manifest itself: Her eyebrows furrowed slightly when he mentioned the sculpting project he had set his father on.

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Daniel: Where do we go from here? I’ve been thinking about this family lawyer, who called my grandmother and told her we had lost everything…
Chloe: Berenson.
Daniel: Yeah… Do you think I should check up on him?
Chloe: He has disappeared. I talked to him first, of course. He didn’t seem to know anything.
Daniel: Disappeared…?
Chloe: Yeah. Your next assignment is tracking down your grandfather. Find him, go there, and call me. I want to hear what he has to say.
Daniel: I’ll do my best… Have you found a new place to stay?
Chloe: Its construction is being completed even as we speak.
Daniel: Where is it?
Chloe: You’ll see, once you’ve tracked down Jack. I better go to the bathroom and get changed.

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Daniel: Get changed?!
Chloe: Yeah? The police will be looking for some mask-wearing, white-haired woman who did some nasty stuff nearby, so I can’t meet your parents like this, can I?
Daniel: What did you do?! We’re not involving my parents in this…!
Chloe: Whipster… How am I supposed to recognize your time-traveling father, if I’ve never met him? You’ll hear about what I did soon enough, and you’ll stay far away from it. Got that?
Daniel: But…
Chloe: Make up a name for me. Something fancy.
Daniel: What?
Chloe: Use your imagination! You do have one, I hope?

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It was hard to avoid being stunned by how she looked, but he did notice that the glasses added to her authority, and he saw her earrings. Two metal C’s, mimicking her name, and the C’s were sculpted to look as if they were melting. Another ironic reference to the destruction of her ice sculptures, or to her supposed madness?
Daniel: Oceane de La Trémouille.
Chloe: Impressive! I’ll use it, but not now. It wouldn’t match my face.
Daniel: Your face? Oh… Yeah. You look like her…
Chloe: Gather your family, it’s business time. I’ll handle the introduction myself.
Business time? What was she up to now?
 
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Not knowing what she was up to, he didn’t know what to tell them, aside from her being a friend of his. This led to Danielle assuming he was introducing his girlfriend, and he hadn’t quite managed to kill off that assumption when she walked in, confident and chic.
Danielle: My God! Your girlfriend looks just like Aria!
Jackson: You…!
Celeste: Who’s Aria?
Daniel: For the umpteenth time, she’s not my girlfriend!
Chloe: My name is Chloe Carson…

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Danielle: Jackson!
Celeste: Is he dying!?!
Daniel: Check his pu…
Danielle: He has a pulse, and he’s breathing, thank God.
Celeste: I don’t want him to die!!
Daniel: Relax, sis he’s just passed out.
Chloe: I’ll be back in a little while…

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He could hear Chloe walk up the stairs while his mother nursed his father back to consciousness. It sounded like she was headed for the top of the tower. After a while, Danielle could help him stay upright. Celeste’s incessant nagging and worrying didn’t improve the situation, but removing her would probably have led to hysterical protests. Once able to speak, Jackson could offer no coherent explanation for his collapse. When Danielle suggested that he take a nap, rather than being exposed to Chloe a second time, he protested indignantly, insisting he could handle it. Chloe was called down for take two.

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Chloe: Listen up. I’m not here to bore you with historic details of my previous life. All you need to know is that I’m the sister of the person “Aria” was supposed to be, I’m really old, really rich, and as serious as a plague. I’ve talked to Daniel, and I’ve got an offer for you. I’ll build a new school for Celeste, staff it with talented teachers, and pay its operating costs…
Danielle: Build a new school…?
Celeste: I hope there’ll be other kids there, and not just me?!
Chloe: Education is a matter extremely close to my heart, one I will sponsor at every opportunity. The old school will be closed, and demolished, so yes, Celeste, there will be other kids there.

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Chloe: In addition, my offer includes a one-time payment of 250 000 simeoleons. All you have to do, is to let me borrow one of your paintings, for an unspecified amount of time, and keep your mouths shut about my existence.
Jackson: Time…
Danielle: 250 000?!
Chloe: Correct.
Danielle: Why? You don’t know us. Why are you doing this?
Chloe: I know Daniel, and I have my reasons. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
Danielle: Nobody has ever been so kind to us…

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Chloe: I’m not kind, Danielle. I’m the worst person you'll ever meet. If I don’t get what I want, I take it, by any means, and I don’t care who I have to run over in the process. My patience is extremely limited. I’ve had waiters sent to Bungo-Bungo for failing to refill my glass of water quickly enough.
How could she change so quickly? He had witnessed the same thing at Villa Carsonia: She could be charming, jaunty, teasing, and then… Was this the part of her personality that had made Kate choose her as her heir: An alpha female, born and trained to relegate all other alphas to second place? Or was this the part of her personality that had landed her in a madhouse?
Celeste: Where’s Bungo-Bungo?
Danielle: Not now, Celeste. Gosh, it’s… so much money. We don’t really need…
Daniel: Mom, don’t start. At some point, I may need a house of my own. We’ll always need money.
Danielle: I hope you’re not thinking about moving out, just bec…
Chloe: If I’m being generous, do not give me a reason to change my mind. You have 5 minutes to reach a decision.

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Daniel: We don’t need to think about it. We accept.
Chloe: Very well. Bring me Balalaika No. 26.
Daniel: Eh… Which one is that, pops? You’ve painted them all, so…
Jackson: I didn’t paint, Blalaikaka.
Daniel: You mean we don't have it?
Jackson: You have, it. In your room.
Daniel: That one? I thought it was one of yours. I… eh… traded it to Bucket.
Jackson: What?!? No! Never trade! Never sell! Alecia said, it!
Daniel: Not to me, she didn’t.
Jackson: Didn’t I tell?! I did! Must have!
Daniel: You didn’t…
Jackson: It is the painting! The heir painting! It shows, who it is! The heir!
Daniel: The heir of what? The Lanes?
Jackson: Of course!
Chloe: No painting, no school, no money.

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Chloe had been watching the confusion with growing irritation, and after delivering her remark, she walked off, heading for the front door. Seeing a quarter of a million disappearing before his eyes, he ran after her.
Daniel: Chloe, wait! I can get it!
Chloe: I can track it down myself.
Daniel: What’s so special about this painting?
Chloe: None of your business.
Daniel: Give me a couple of hours, that’s all I need.
Chloe: Who can I talk to about media coverage in this town?
Daniel: Chancer Grimm. Please, Chloe, just a few…
Chloe: Stop begging. I’ll be back in four hours, and you got until then.
Daniel: Thanks! It’ll be here.
He was taking a chance. Bucket had been out of town since he got the painting, and hopefully, he wouldn’t have had time to sell it. He had no second thoughts about sticking it to Bucket after what he had done, and luckily, he knew someone that wouldn’t mind a bit of breaking and entering to earn some quick dough. She was up for it, and she didn’t need four hours to get it done.

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Lynx: This whatcha fancy, soldier?
Daniel: Absolutely. Thanks for stepping up. How much?
Lynx: Looks an oldie, prolly worth ‘tween seven n nine. Four?
Daniel: How about six, clearing my debt?
Lynx: Deal. Ya know… Violet dropped in on me, paid me for China. She wasn’t happy, but she’ll prolly pay ya.
Daniel: Geezuz. Bianca wasn’t lying… That makes me feel even worse about leaving her there.
Lynx: It was ‘er idea, so why sweat it, huh?

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With some time left, and Chloe out of the house, they had some time to discuss the situation. His mother was indifferent to what would happen with the painting, but his father was strongly against turning it over to Chloe. Alecia had said it should always hang in the bedroom of the heir, Chloe was not the heir, and she should not have it. Daniel had little patience for his view, pointing out the money being offered, and the fact that the Lane legacy was dead. They had even changed their name, hadn’t they? Danielle proposed a vote, and voted with her son, settling the issue. Throughout, Celeste played with a toy tank, running over all its enemies.

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When Chloe returned, she asked to have a word with him.
Chloe: Do you know what your father is doing, in his art studio? Why he’s not bringing in any money?
Daniel: No…?
Chloe: He's desperately trying to learn Alexia Full of Hair, sculpting in clay. All failed attempts are discarded, not finished. The task you have set him is both cruel and unproductive. He could be trying to learn that sculpture for the rest of his life, without succeeding.
Daniel: Really? I didn’t know that. I thought…
Chloe: You know nothing about sculpting, so stop thinking about it. Here’s what you do: Tell your father that you’ve had a better idea: He’ll make some more ice sculptures, until they don’t melt. Then, he can sculpt Alecia’s ghost.
Daniel: Is that possible?
Chloe: I sculpted my father that way. Once that's done, have him switch to stone sculptures, not worrying about what he makes, and make sure they are sold through the consignment shop.

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Chloe Carson didn’t do goodbyes. She just grabbed the painting and walked out, with them scrambling after her. Reginald was waiting, beside a vintage car.
Celeste: Woow! A robot!
Reginald: Hello, I don’t believe we have met. I am Reginald, your friendly driverbo…
Chloe: Shut up and open the trunk.
Reginald: Yes, miss Chloe.
Chloe: From now on, you will refer to me as Oceane.
Reginald: Yes, miss Oceane.
Celeste: Does she own him?
Chloe: Has Echo 2 called in?
Daniel: He’s her servant, I think.
Reginald: Echo 2 has arrived safely, miss Oceane.
Chloe: Let’s go, and call Mr. Suzuki.
Reginald: At once, miss Oceane.

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Celeste: I want to be like her when I grow up!
Daniel: Hm. I hope not…
Celeste: Why?! She’s rich and she’s got a robot servant!
Danielle: Money and servants doesn’t make you a good person, Celeste.
Jackson: We shouldn’t have given, her. The painting.
Daniel: Stop worrying, pops. I’m pretty sure she’s on our side.
Danielle: I think we should consider donating some of the money.
Daniel: I think you’re donating enough already, mom.
Last time he saw her, Chloe had been sleeping in someone else’s house. She had no identity, no bank account, and no possessions. Now, she was throwing around money like it was confetti, and seemed to command a small army. How the heck had she done it? How was she supposed to get a public school closed and demolished? Chloe was a frightening enigma, but what she had said about his father’s sculpting made him sure of one thing: It might be small, and she might hide it well, but somewhere inside of her, there was a heart. Then again, Aria had sent his mother a horse...

[Agathon]

Cats and Dogs

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Celeste: She did it… She kept her promise.
Daniel: Yeah, and we got the money too.
Celeste: Has anyone else ever built a huge school for one kid?
Daniel: Not that I know of. But it’s for the other kids too.
Celeste: I don’t see any other kids.
Daniel: If she keeps all her promises, that won’t last long.
Celeste: It looks different than the other buildings in town.
Daniel: I think Chloe is more into modern architecture than this town is used to…
Celeste: I like it.

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Daniel: Now we must keep our promise. Remember?
Celeste: She doesn't exist.
Daniel: Exactly.
Celeste: That woman must be a teacher. I hope she isn’t very strict…
Daniel: We’ll soon find out. Want me to hold your hand?
Celeste: No! I’m not six anymore.
Daniel: OK…

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Angelica: You must be Celeste.
Celeste: Yeah… Hi.
Angelica: I’m Angelica Diamond. I’ll be in charge of your education.
Celeste: OK. Can you paint? Or play instruments?
Angelica: Yes, I can. Is that what you are most eager to learn?
Celeste: I think so. And everything else.
Angelica: Promising. Seems like it’s beginning to rain, that’s perfect.
Celeste: Perfect, how…?
Angelica: For your first lesson. Wow, look over there…!

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The water balloon to the face was delivered so vigorously that it made him cringe, and for a moment, he thought his sister would run away crying from her first meeting with Chloe’s new curriculum. To Angelica’s tune of “na-nana-na-naaanah”, his sister wiped the water from her reddening face, and then the fight was on.

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It was soon obvious that he was superfluous to the proceedings. He wasn’t sure if he liked the pedagogical approach being practiced at the Par Excellence, but at least it was different. No pupil had ever had a water balloon fight with a teacher at any school he had been to, it had all been serious, and boring.
Angelica: We’ll take it from here, Mr. Carson, don’t worry about your daughter.
Daniel: She’s not…
Celeste: My father is the coolest private detective ever!
Angelica: I’m sure he is!

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A number of new mansions had cropped up since their arrival in Moonlight Falls, and now he had been summoned to one, by Ulrich Schlagdorff. He had refused to discuss the matter over the phone, and insisted they meet at his home. After his wife preferred the company of a dishwasher repairman, turning him into him a millionaire of the grumpy sort, Schlagdorff had been reliant on a small army of nannies to raise his three daughters, and Daniel thought it prudent to acquiesce his request.

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Instead of letting the weight of the marble do the talking for him, Schlagdorff launched into a long monologue designed to underline his own importance. He was the sole shareholder and top dog of Schlagdorff CyberSec, a company hosting a massive serverpark in Bridgeport, handling online security for “the greater part of Sim Nation”. At the end of his introduction, one was left with the impression that he thought his company was the only thing preventing simanity from descending into barbarism, fighting with sticks and stones over the right to suck the marrow out of the bones of the nearest decaying animal carcass.

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Ulrich: Zis… is why you are hier. Stella, Uschi, my diamanten, und Heidi, my glass bead. They have just turned teenagers.
Daniel: Mhm. What about them?
Ulrich: They have been taken, detektiv.
Daniel: All three?
Ulrich: Yes. You must find them, und ze kindernapper.
Daniel: Has the kidnapper made any demands?
Ulrich: Yes, very specific demands. By 23:59 tonight, I must post one picture each of two of my taughters on social media. Dree days from now, I must grant ze kidnapper administrator rights zo ze serverpark. Siven days from now, I must retire, giving my shares in the company zo ze two taughters I post pictures of. At zis point, those two taughters will be set frei. One year from zis, ze last taughter will be set frei.

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Daniel: Hm. Any leads to go on?
Ulrich: Ze kidnapper ist a woman…
At precisely 02:36 the previous night, Schlagdorff had been awoken by the sound of someone downstairs, singing and playing a dark tune on a piano. Thinking it was one of his daughters acting out, he had rushed down to put a stop to it, and discovered an unknown woman of a familiar description. He could only remember one phrase of her singing: “Everybody’s looking for something”.

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Stunned, he had managed little but sputter a couple of questions, which she had answered by getting up, walking towards him and declaring: “I’m trouble, of Olympic proportions.” Producing a blue potion, she had sent it crashing at his feet, putting him into a deep sleep. When he awoke, several hours later, all his daughters were gone, and the woman had left a note, citing her demands. Local law enforcement were investigating the kidnapping, but were pretty much baffled and clueless. Traffic cams showed no trace of the kidnapper entering or leaving Moonlight Falls, or of any car that might have transported the three teenagers.
Ulrich: I will post pictures of Stella und Uschi tonight. Ze other demands will not be met. My taughters will get some shares when they come of age, not before. You have dree days to find them, detektiv.
Daniel: Not sure I like the sound of that. Kidnapping is not really my territory, and there doesn’t seem to be a lot to go on.

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Ulrich: Ze woman left that graffiti on ze floor. Sie ist an artist.
Daniel: What did the police make of it?
Ulrich: Not much. Common spray paint. They call her Bankshe, because of ze graffiti.
Daniel: That doesn’t help much. In this case, I think the only thing I can do is offer you some advice: Do not underestimate this kidnapper. I have a feeling she is very determined about getting what she wants.
Ulrich: Zo? I should roll over like a bum because some costumed strumpet dries zo intimidate me?
Daniel: It might be the only way to get your daughters back.

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Ulrich: Letting her loose on ze Schlagdorff CyberSec mainfraim ist like giving her ze keys zo half of Sim Nation. Sie could ruin the company in hours! What ist left for my taughters then?
Daniel: What would she gain from ruining your company? I think she is after something specific. What sort of businesses do you provide services for? Any investment banks?
Ulrich: Several. We altso secure 74% of ze public institutions: Polizei, militar, politischans, und zo on. Our reputation ist everything, I can not risk her damaging it.
Daniel: How important is your company, compared to your daughters?
Ulrich: Empires are not built by giving in zu demands, detektiv. Ze Romans were beaten and besieged by Hannibal, und what did they offer him? Unconditional kapitulation! That ist what I offer zis strumpet.
Daniel: I wish you and your daughters good luck. I think you’re going to need it.

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Chancer: I did the mother’s side of Maureen Sw0rd’s family tree. Nothing that catches the eye. Corrie has respectable ancestors going back in every direction.
Flash: Yo, mama! Git over’ere!
Daniel: OK. Can you do the father’s side too? I got money…
Chancer: It’ll have to be put on the backburner. That client you sent my way pays so much that she’ll have to be prioritized. Thanks, by the way.
Daniel: Hm. What does she you have you doing?
Flash: Bro, it ain’t rainin’ that much! Come ‘ere!
Chancer: I can’t reveal that, but if you watch the evening news, you might see a couple of people you know…

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Flash: Yo! ‘dis Flash with da cash, makin’ ‘nother splash!
Daniel: Any idea when you’ll get around to Maureen?
Flash: Da Cornice Club! Blowin’ its doors open ‘morrow night, y’all!
Chancer: Not sure. I’m getting married, so I have that on my plate too.
Daniel: Should I dust off my suit? Who’s the lucky bride?
Flash: Ya disloyal punk-ass townies…
Chancer: Belinda Crumplebottom. She doesn’t want you there, unfortunately.
Daniel: Ouch.
Flash: …boycottin’ Flash just ‘cause it’s drippin’?!

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When he sat down in his office to get some work done, it wasn’t long before Violet Slymer floated through the door. She angrily stacked two bars of metal on his desk, declaring them to be Supernovium, with a combined value of 15800 simeoleons. What followed next wasn’t quite as a pleasant.
Violet: She hires you to do a job, and you return without your client? Did you and that floosy find something valuable and decide to split it just two ways?
Daniel: We found nothing. That job was risky. You turned it down for a reason, didn’t you?
Violet: If I had done it, I would have done it for free. Bianca was my friend. I wouldn’t have taken a job to get paid and…
Daniel: You weren’t there. Things got nasty, and she paid the price.
Violet: And so will you! I’ll make sure everybody in town knows you’re one who leaves their clients in the lurch.

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Violet’s threats didn’t worry him much. Thanks to Chloe, they had money now, and he could endure a dry spell. Some time for personal matters and to look into other stuff might even be a good thing. With all she was stirring up, and with him having set her loose, Chloe herself was a tempting subject. Why did she want that painting? Having it in her possession made her, technically, the Lane heir, but what was the point? All the Lane assets were gone. Or were they? Had she managed to get something out of Berenson, the lawyer, before he suddenly “disappeared”? He had feared her putting on a horror show, and with kidnappings and blackmail, she was getting there. What would be next?

After rummaging around in his brain, he managed to remember the name of the sanatorium where she had been committed: Ralston Heights. A search turned up an address in Aurora Skies, but nothing else. Someone up there had to know something, so he compiled a list of questions, and sent it to every email address listed at their City Hall page. He tried doing a search on Teddy Dalton, the reporter who had gone missing after doing his article on Chloe at Sims University, and found nothing published in his name since then. Disappeared, like Berenson. Was that the fate that await…
Celeste: Daniel! It’s about the school!

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Chancer: ...the advent of the new school, students who have previously attended Everglow Academy are finally coming forward, sharing atrocious stories about the school we all thought was a safe place for our kids. Twenty-one of them have signed a petition demanding a thorough investigation, and at least five have signaled the intent to take the matter to court. This may turn out to be the biggest scandal in the history of our town. Let’s hear what some of them have to say…

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Tristan: They couldn’t even teach me basic math, and I can hardly read… I was bullied, and the teachers knew about it, but they did nothi…
Daniel: Actually, he was the bully…
Tristan: I have deep psychological scars because of the bullying, and…
Celeste: He’s lying? Why?
Tristan: I live on the street now, and my family want nothing to do with me. It’s all because of what happened at this school. Parents, don’t send your kids here!
Daniel: I guess someone paid him. Someone who doesn’t exist.

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Daydream: She dragged me into her office… *sob* …even though I hadn’t done anything, and… *sob*
Celeste: Is she lying too?
Daydream: …she spanked me with a newspaper. I tried to tell the inspector, but… *sob*
Daniel: Yeah.
Celeste: She bought them, like she bought us.
Daydream: …gym teacher made me stand in a corner for hours… *sob*
Daniel: How did she buy us?
Celeste: We can’t tell anyone about her, because we took the money, and the school.
Daniel: Hm, well... How was your first day?
Daydream: …took my Simagotchi, and… *sob*
Celeste: Cool. I like Angelica.
Daydream: …flushed it down the toilet!

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Chloe expected him to find Jack, but the old man had gone completely offline, leaving Daniel in the dark about his whereabouts. He knew someone he could ask, but he didn’t want to seek her out just to ask about Jack. After China, and him only offering his snoring as company on the flight home, she deserved more. Besides, he was still interested, and she was back in circulation. She was hanging out at the The Toadstool.
Daniel: How was Bucket’s place?
Lynx: Underground bunker, like, with a scrawny lock. Looney tunes, like the guy.
Daniel: Yeah, I let him borrow my car, and he drowned it. If more than the painting went missing, he’d earned it.
Lynx: Just some jank. What’s with the painting?
Daniel: It’s a family heirloom, and some fool gave it away. Anyhow, now that you’re roaming free, how about going out?
Lynx: Out? If ya haven’t noticed, it’s a friggin' monsoon outside. Think I’ll stay here.
Daniel: No, I mean… Out, out.
Lynx: We’re out now, soldier. Ain’t posh enough for ya? Too scruffy ‘ere, huh?
Daniel: No, but Flash is opening a new club. I wanna go. With you.

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Lynx: With the mutated crayon?!
Daniel: You know I never said that.
Lynx: No, that was some woman you loved. What was ‘er name again… B… Bia…
Daniel: Yeah, yeah. You were right: She got me good.
Lynx: Ya look better with that muscle on ya, but I told ya before, soldier, ya ain’t my type.
Daniel: What’s your type, then? The dark rocker who doesn’t know how lucky he is?
Lynx: Yep. There’s a funda-friggin’-mental diff’nce ‘tween us. I’ll show ya.

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Lynx: No silver spoon stickin’ out, see?
Daniel: Don’t start with that again…
Lynx: Start, huh? You didn’t start at the bottom, but I did.
Daniel: So? I’m not rich now.
Lynx: Naha… This skinny butt is pure slum. Like, waaay outta yar league. When ya got yar ass pampered n powdered in yar mansion, this butt dragged it way through…
Daniel: Yeah, let me hear about that childhood of yours. It’s about time.
Lynx: Pffah, I’m thirsty…

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Daniel: You don’t wanna get something to eat instead?
Lynx: I don’t eat, soldier.
Daniel: Everybody eats.
Lynx: Nope. I hide in the back yard, before turnin’ into a friggin’ plant, photosynthzsin’.
Daniel: But liquids are all right?
Lynx: Yep. Gotta stay hydrated! Ya gonna sit over ‘ere n make me finish ‘ese on my own, huh?

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Daniel: Hm. That’s one of those lamps.
Lynx: Yep. Turn it to yellow, and I’ll be less ugly, ‘member?
Daniel: I didn’t say that, and I didn’t me…
Lynx: Ya pretty much did.
Daniel: Sorry. I was dazed and confused.
Lynx: Ya seriously hadn’t seen one of ‘em before?
Daniel: No, I hadn’t.
Lynx: Woow. Ya need to get out more, man.

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Daniel: That’s what I’m trying to do, Lynx.
Lynx: Huh?
Daniel: That new club I mentioned.
Lynx: Oh, that.
Daniel: Last time I went out, I got charmed, beat up, electrocuted and dumped in a pool. Seems I need some street-wise protection.
Lynx: It’s a party, ain’t it?
Daniel: Yeah. You up for it, or would you rather keep rambling to yourself about your bottom?
Lynx: Hah! Bottom’s up, my lord! I shall indubitubally await the arrival of ya horse n carriage.

[Agathon]

Connections at The Cornice Club

He thought about picking her up in the Sloppy Jalopy, demonstrating that he wasn’t exactly a lord, but it didn’t feel right. Since getting the money from Chloe, they were rich, compared to most families, and besides, he had two bars of supernovium that could be turned into something else…

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Lynx: That friggin’ thing rocks, like hard! Yeah!
Daniel: Thanks.
Lynx: Dunno ‘bout the suit tho…
Daniel: No? Nice dress.
Lynx: Only one I got, soldier.
Daniel: Dunno ‘bout the headband, tho…
Lynx: It’s a wig, man. I’m bald ‘cause of my skin condition.
Daniel: Oh. I’m sorry…
Lynx: Sucker!

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Lynx: They ain’t seen me like this. Just a couple o’ peeps who have.
Daniel: Like what?
Lynx: Like, half green, sproutin’ flowers and sh…
Daniel: So? Is this another joke?
Lynx: No. I’m on edge, man. For real.
Daniel: Just walk in there like you’re the most beautiful woman in the world.
Lynx: I’m pretty friggin’ far from bein’ the pret…
Daniel: No, you’re not. I only date the prettiest girls in town.
Lynx: Riiiight…
Daniel: You bet it is. And if anyone says otherwise, they better throw down.
Lynx: Soldierin’, huh?

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Flint MacDuff: Carson! I hear you left that woman behind in China, with the communists!
Daniel: We were completely outnumbered, sir. Lynx and I were lucky to escape.
Flint MacDuff: We must mount a rescue operation. I may be retired, but I still have some pull at the 394th Irregular Reserve!
Daniel: How many men can they muster?
Jules MacDuff: …to rain. Again!
Emelie: …VIP entrance for…
Flint MacDuff: Three, including me.
Daniel: I would advise against it, sir. It’s a bunker complex, practically unassailable, bristling with mines and defended by their best troops.
Flint MacDuff: Really…
Flash: Ain’t no VIP door here, bleachy. Dis a classless society!
Flint MacDuff: Flash! You a communist?!!

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Flash: A’ight y’all. Da Cornice Club! Dis no lake trout! Flash with a smash, droppin’ ‘em bling bombs like it ain’t no thing! We’re keepin’ it real here, goin’ Victonian on dis like yo mamas. Strap yousselfes in foa thight evnin’, ladies and gents! Ol’ Billy passed, bless his soul, so I gotta do dat thing…
Waylon: Pappy passed too. God bless him!
Flash: Who? Whatever, man. Let’s get ready to mummmmble!! Introducing, your fabolisticious hostesses for y’all, da ladies I try keepin’ to musself in my crib: Da Flashettes! In da gold dress: Deedee! In da blue dress: Cheri! In da red dress: Uh…
Flash: Wass ya name again?
Flash: Huh?
Flash: …Haley! A’ight… Steppin’ it up.

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Someone turned a knob somewhere, sending sparks of electricity flying in the air. With recent experiences in mind, Daniel quietly slid back to the second row, putting some distance between himself and those sparks.
Flash: Whooa, gettin’ electrical like Edison, that’s da medicine! We got DJ Spock outta Bridgeport on da turntable, my man Vlad on da drinks, and to get y’all in da groove, a small gig, courtsy of Flash Productions. What ya get, holmes?
Bone: Three high-class canaries, Flash.
Flash: Mmm. I like me some canaries…
Bone: Get in da zone, have your minds blown. Give it up for… Yummy Tone!
Flash: What…?!
As the singers entered the stage, their lead exchanged icy looks with Flash, who followed Bone off-stage while wearing a very grim face.

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Backup singers: The show must go oooooon…!!
Wedna: One monkey… Don’t stop no show! If you don’t want my love, you’re free to go.
You can go, you can go, you can go…
Flash: Ya tryin’ to kill me?! My ex-wife?! What da f…!
Bone: Girl was ya gold mine, before ya split! Now she’s tourin’ again, and…
Flash: She’s tourin’ ‘cause I ain’t got her contract!
Wedna: Well, there’s lots of other guys who’d love to play your role.
Bone: No… Ya got that… Uh?
Wedna: If you don’t wanna be my leading man,
Wedna: get out of my life and let me live again!
Flash: She had it run out. Girl’s on a new label, asscan, and you promotin’ it!
Bone: Huh. I…
Wedna: One monkey… Don’t stop no show!
Flash: We out, I ain’t seen this…

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Flash began making for the stairs, but Wedna wasn’t letting him off that easily, following him on stage and keeping her finger pointed at him.
Wedna: Once, we had a love you couldn’t live without.
Wii-a, cha-cha, shubi-dubi-a
Wedna: The greatest love that heaven has ever put out.
Wii-a, cha-cha, shubi-dubi-a
Flash: Stop trippin’, girl, ya stuck in da past.
Wedna: Success has gone to your head, you wanna be free. Yeah…
Wii-a, cha-cha, shubi-dubi-a
Flash: Ya getting’ fat, Wedna. Fat n old!
Wedna: Fool, don’t you realize, your backbone is me!

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Daniel could remember Yummy Tone from his early teens. They, and Wedna Bright in particular, had been huge for a few years. Then, they had suddenly dropped off the radar. Compared to the glory days, Wedna’s voice lacked some of the exceptional power it once had, but they were still a spectacular act, one appreciated by all except Flint McDuff, who found them “too loud”. A star like Wedna could be a very useful acquaintance, so Daniel gravitated backstage after the concert, while Lynx grabbed some fresh air.

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Cheri: Can I get you anything else?
Wedna: No, we’re good. We won’t be staying.
Daniel: What a wonderful performance! I’m Daniel Carson, private investigator.
Wedna: Yeah? So?
Daniel: I’m looking to branch out, so if you’re ever in need of…
Cheri: I hear he’s not very trustworthy.
Wedna: No men are, honey. You any relation to Kate Carson?
Daniel: Absolutely, in multiple ways.
Wedna: I should have taken a page outta her book, no lettin’ any men control her…
Daniel: She was a free spirit…
Wedna: Got any memorabilia? I collect. I tried buying her guitar back in the day.
Daniel: Not at hand, exactly…
Wedna: I don’t need a PI. If you wanna offload that guitar, gimme a holler, ok?

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Flint: It’s getting late, I better get home.
Daniel: Smoky air outside?
Bruce Younan: …and then she took off her…
Lynx: Yep. Stood too close to a barbecue, or somethin’.
Deedee: …that late?
Daniel: Wanna dance?
Flint: …reruns of Showboat.
Gator Wolf: …she had more clothes on. Looks awful!
Lynx: Eh… ok, I guess…
Deedee: I love that show! It’s so romantic!
Daniel: Just a second.

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Gator: Ouch!!
Daniel: Oh… Did I walk into you?
Gator: Yeah, man…
Daniel: I heard someone saying something stupid, and I just walked quickly in that direction.
Waylon: Are you ok, Gator?!
Gator: It hurts…
Waylon: You’re a brute, Carson! Go pick on someone your own size!
Daniel: I will, Waylon, if they mouth off like youngster here.

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He sent Lynx ahead to the dance floor, telling her he’d join her shortly, and went back upstairs. A DJ from Bridgeport made have some information about what had happened to her there.
Daniel: Hey man, you work in Bridgeport?
DJ Spock: Spin there all the time.
Daniel: Hear about any scandals lately?
DJ Spock: Celebrity gossip, you mean?
Daniel: No. Something involving that girl down there, playing a gig with her band.
DJ Spock: Plantsim girl? I heard a plantsim had infiltrated the city, and that she escaped. That’s all, really.
Daniel: “Infiltrated”?
DJ Spock: Bridgeport is no-go for plantsims.
Daniel: Why?
DJ Spock: I dunno, man. I’m just a DJ.

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Daniel: So, what’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?
Lynx: Some brute took me ‘ere.
Daniel: Watch out for them brutes. They’ll be on the prowl tonight.
Lynx: They will, huh? How scary! What should I do?
Daniel: Cross your fingers and hang on to the one who says he likes you.
Lynx: Maybe I should cross everythin’ I got, just to be sure?
Daniel: A wise precaution, but it may prove counter-productive.
Lynx: Ya needn’t have done that, ya know. I got some tricks, I don’t need a white knight.

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Daniel: The brutish white knight is a bit hot-headed. Sometimes, he forgets that the mutated crayon has superpowers.
Lynx: Haha, yep. She can handle herself.
Daniel: More than that. Summoning food, cleaning by clapping… Sounds like the perfect wife to me.
Lynx: So that’s why ya want me?
Daniel: Of course. Since you don’t eat, I’ll even have all the food to myself. A brutish knight needs some weight, to topple his opposition.
Lynx: Where would the fat knight and the thin crayon live? The crayon is so bored with the house she’s rentin’…
Daniel: In a mighty, modern dwelling, with an ocean view and plenty of space for their colorful children.
Lynx: I… I need a drink.

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He’d thought he was doing fine, until she suddenly tore herself loose and stormed towards the bar. There was those “issues” again. He gave her some space, noting a sharply-dressed newcomer who seemed to be quite a schmoozer, and “The Blue Emu”: Malcolm Harris.
Cheri: Flash, I’m getting married…
Razor Scillachi: …difficult case. The evidence…
Flash: No, no… You my main girl, Cheri! Who you marryin’?!
Cheri: Malcolm here.
Flash: Ya marryin’… that? Ya know da rules, baby. No hombres.
David Pok: This must be easy, in comp…
Cheri: I know… I have to quit.
Flash: Ya killin’ me, girl. We just getting’ off da ground.
Razor: …I see it, they don’t stand a chance.

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Daniel: Did I say something wrong?
Deedee: …threw Dennis out?
Lynx: I can’t have children, soldier.
Daniel: No problem, we’ll adopt.
Bryce: …all of a sudden.
Lynx: Riiight…
Daniel: I’m serious.
Deedee: Becky likes older…
Lynx: That’s what I’m afraid of, see?
Daniel: Why? Because of the people who are after you?
Lynx: Yep. I don’t want ya to get hurt.

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Daniel: I got little to lose. Let’s get hurt together.
Bryce:…living with Gladsten.
Lynx: These folks aren’t just anybody.
Daniel: I don’t care. Just tell me.
Lynx: Don’t ruin this. Not here. Not now.
Deedee: …you thinking about mov...
Daniel: Tomorrow then. OK? Let’s toast to it.
Lynx: I don’t…
Daniel: Raise your glass. Just do it. Care and share, Lynx.
Extremely slowly, she started raising her glass. Her face was so serious and tense that it felt like she was looking into an abyss of darkness. As her glass got closer and closer, he resisted the temptation to clink his glass into hers, knowing that she had to cross this line herself. The edge of her glass hovered, and shook slightly, less than an inch from his, and he watched it intensely as the gap narrowed to almost nothing, his ears longing for even the faintest hint of that vibrant sound, knowing it would feel like the chime of an enormous bell. Then, it was suddenly too late.

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Faith: On the red stuff, Daniel?
Daniel: …Faith…..!?!
Faith: Hoping for a reenactment of our prom night? What a night that was, hehehe. Is that my knees trembling? Be still, my knees!
Razor: …potentially six figures…
Daniel: You’re… back?
Gator: I’m… dizzy…
Faith: Pour le moment. Lynx, like the look. Biker girl meets vampiric princess-ish, t’sais? What happened to your skin?
Lynx: I’m…
Faith: Psst, I have a serious discount on all Cloreal products now, did some fashion for one of their commercials. I know, know, consumerism, bad for the environment, n’importe quoi, oh la la, right? Right. We can’t all use ash and lead, like it’s the middle ages, can we? Can a girl get a drink around here? Here, hold my hat.
David: …you to represent us…

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Faith: Hear, ye unfaithful! Faith is back in town!
Jules: Sis…!? Your back! Yeaaah!
Razor: This guy’s a lost case…
David: Wow… loud.
Tristan: Faith!!
Faith: Lock up your sons, steady your halls and reinforce your walls! Faith is back!
Jules: When did you get back?!
Faith: Just now, bro. Hold that line, hold that drink, and hold onto that hat. I will return! Now, I’m gonna dance with my prom date, the beefy Mr. Carson!
Lynx: But…
Faith: Come on, Daniel. Make way! Allez, allez! Suraya, move the twin towers, you know they're gonna fall eventually. Coming through!

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Faith was so pushy that not playing along felt as futile as paddling up the side of a building. He knew Lynx didn’t care for how she crashed onto the scene, and he felt even worse when he caught a glimpse of her on the balcony. She was looking down at them, her yellow eyes as piercing as a pair of supercharged lasers. He’d try to make the dance a short one, against all odds…
Faith: Maybe that was a little over the top? An opening party on the very night I come home… I just felt like making a splash, hehe.
Daniel: You always feel like making a splash.
Faith: Girls just wanna have fun, Daniel! Is that what you and Lynx are about too, fun? I mean, it almost looked like you guys were having a moment there, so I felt I had to rescue you…
Daniel: We’re not having too much fun, yet. I’m working on it. Why would have to rescue me?
Faith: I’d hate to see a hunk like you fall into the dark pit of a serious relationship, lost to the world for the conceivable future. I like you, and that’s not going to change…
Daniel: So, you’re staying clear of that dark pit? No commitments?
Faith: Ouais, enfin… I’m engaged, to a Frenchman that’ll break in two if the wind picks up. Not my type at all, but at least he’s rich. Enough about him, we have an open relationship...
Daniel: Is he coming here, or are you going back?

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Faith: I’m going back, eventually. I have a boutique that is making a killing, and I’m setting one up here. I don’t expect this one to make a profit, but I have to use his money for something, don’t I? Hehehe.
Daniel: You look less radical than you used to. No red contacts, no…
Faith: I’m a bit more au naturel these days, but I’m still a chameleon. Tomorrow, I may be wearing something completely off the wall, and I have the reds in my purse. I usually put them in when I need to feel a bit fiery, t’sais? Hehe… Tu fais quoi? What are you doing, besides chasing Lynx? No, don’t say, let me guess. Military? Criminal? Police?
Daniel: I’m a PI.
Faith: I wasn’t too far off, was I? PI, mmm. That suits you. Do you have an outfit? I could design one for you.
Daniel: I usually don’t wear it, it comes with a hat that kills my hair. You know I’m not big on clothes. As long as I don’t look as if I’m in a boyband, working as a hairdresser or as a stock broker, I’m good.
Faith: Daniel Carson, grunge detective? Let me think about it, OK?
Daniel: I better circulate, Faith. I have a chase I’m doing, remember?
Faith: Go get ‘em, hot stuff, hehe.

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Having untangled himself from Faith, he went looking for Lynx. She wasn’t upstairs, and he couldn’t find her downstairs either. Had she gone out for more fresh air?
Bone: …sacked, baby. I ain’t got no job now!
The woman in the pool wasn’t Lynx, and when he managed to tear Bone Dawg away from his phone and what he was looking at, he said hadn’t seen Lynx. A patrol around the premises yielded no results, except soggy shoes and a growing fear that she had split. Could she really be that jealous?

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Emelie: …no color Waylon, you’re… grey.
Daniel: Have you seen the girl I was with, Lynx?
Waylon: You’ve had too many Party Poppers.
Haley: The plantsim?
Daniel: Yeah.
Emelie: No. I see new dimensions now, colors…
Haley: She left, with that guy with the eyeshadow and the big hat.
Daniel: What?! Are you sure?
Waylon: …stop partying for a w…
Haley: Yeah. I’m sorry…
He dances with someone else, and she leaves, with Tristan?! The dark rocker type… He could feel his blood boiling as he made his way towards the karaoke salon, every step filled with purpose.

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Bryce & Deedee: …until you think you have the time
Faith: …and then he said…
Bryce & Deedee: to spend an evening with me.
Daniel: Faith! Get your hat.
Bryce & Deedee And if we go some place to dance,
Faith: What…?
Bryce & Deedee: I know that there’s a chance
Daniel: We’re leaving.
Bryce & Deedee: you won’t be leaving with me.

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[Agathon]

There and Back Again

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Faith: Something bothering you? Is that regret I see sinking in?
Daniel: I can’t believe she went home with Tristan…
Faith: Did she? You didn’t tell me.
Daniel: We didn’t talk very much.
Faith: So, I’m just the rebound girl? Hmm? Ce n'est pas grave. Anyway, I wouldn’t worry about Tristan.
Daniel: How so?
Faith: He never takes the initiative, and from what I’ve seen of her, neither does she. He probably just drove her home.
Daniel: Hm.
Faith: Yeah, there’s those second thoughts. Hehe… Care to put them aside for now and get something to eat?

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Daniel: How about some pancakes?
Faith: Ça marche. I wonder how my parents will react when they see me…
Daniel: They don’t know you’re home?
Faith: No, and I told Jules to keep his mouth shut, so I can make a splash.
Daniel: Have you kept in contact with them?
Faith: Barely. They don’t even know I’m engaged.
Daniel: We weren’t very discreet, maybe they already heard about it.
Faith: I hope not.
Daniel: There’s those second thoughts.
Faith: Hehe.

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Celeste: Are you getting married?
Daniel: I don’t think so, sis. Have you seen mom?
Celeste: She’s doing her morning treadmill run.
Daniel: Good…
Celeste: Why aren’t you getting married?
Faith: I’m just a friend.
Celeste: Can my friends sleep over too?
Daniel: Don’t you have school? Better get going on those toasts.
Celeste: Can you take me? I want a ride in your new car!
Daniel: Not now, I’m taking Faith home.
Celeste: Can you pick up some books at the library for me?
Daniel: Yeah… sure… What books?
Celeste: “Organic Chemistry Volume 3”, and…
Daniel: I think you better write those down…

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At the MacDuff’s, Faith didn’t even reach the front door before the storm broke.
Flint: …your brother told us! Carson! You better make an honorable woman of my daughter!
Joanie: Why can’t you move those stupid gym machines?
Felicity: I’m not moving them! You told me I could use that room as my gym!
Flint: You could have called! You have three brothers and a sister, we can’t keep not using your room when we never hear from you!
Joanie: Oh Felicity, please be reasonable…
Flint: You can sleep in your sister’s room, until you marry Carson!
Felicity: No she can’t! Why does she have to live here?!
Joanie: I told you Flint, we need a basement. I told you years ago…
Flint: How can we afford a basement if you’re not working?! We can barely feed all these kids!
Felicity: Are you saying I eat too much?! Joe and Jules eat…
Faith: Merde… Can you get me out of here?

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Daniel: Well, that didn’t go so well…
Faith: Can you take me to City Hall? I’m in the mood to make a substantial investment in a housing project.
Daniel: Sure. Won’t it take some time to get that built?
Faith: It won’t be for me. I plan to have a small apartment above my store, but that’ll take some time too. I’ll have to rent some place pour le moment.
Daniel: He’s got a lot of money, this fiancée of yours?
Faith: He won’t have much when I’m done with him, hehehe.
Daniel: I have an idea. We’ve got a spare bedroom since my grandmother died. Spacy, fully furnished, even a fireplace. You can stay there, on one condition.
Faith: I don’t want to intrude on your family…
Daniel: It won’t be an intrusion. Incidentally, that room is just a couple of steps away from my room…
Faith: Ah bon? Intéressant, hehe. What’s the condition?
Daniel: Don’t make too many splashes.

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With the library across the street from City Hall, it was a convenient time to pick up the books Celeste wanted, but instead of being a place of tranquility, the library turned out to be another conflict zone.
Razor: Sign the petition!! Join the crusade for the truth!
Annie Nix: Janet! You’re a cop, how can you do this?!
Janet Pok: This has nothing to with my job, Annie…
Annie: No, this is about my job! This is a smear campaign, what they’re saying isn’t true…
Daydream: Are you calling me a liar?!
Razor: Get in line, and sign! We need an investigation!
Janet: I just want to know the truth, Annie.
Seeing his former classmate Alice Blanestreet signing the petition was no surprise, but running into Ritchie Keaton was. He’d thought Ritchie had gotten the heck out of Dodge since his double affairs were uncovered, but the significant gender imbalance in town was probably too green a pasture to ignore. Having missed his chance of questioning Lynx about Jack’s whereabouts, he grasped at the new oppurtunity.

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Daniel: Hey, Ritchie… Shame about you and Lynx.
Ritchie: Yeah… That… didn’t work out.
Annie: They’re exaggerating, Janet! Do you want me to lose my job?!
Daniel: I need to find the old man. Family emergency, and he’s gone offline.
Alice: Hi Daniel…
Janet: I’m sure it won’t come to that, but I’m taking my kids out.
Ritchie: Erm… It’s urgent?
Daniel: Alice. Yeah, real urgent.
Annie: That’s even worse than signing! Do you think it’s easy being a teacher?!
Razor: Line up and sign! Think about the children!
Ritchie: Try Riverview, the poor part. He’s got some hag there.
Janet: Do you think it’s easy being a cop!? I don't take any chances with my kids. Better safe than sorry!

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Daniel: Dressing up, mom?
Danielle: It’s a new suit, for the occasion.
Daniel: Looks nice. What occasion?
Danielle: I am buying another horse today, a mare. Zaijian is such a good horse that not breeding him would be a crime.
Daniel: Really? That’s…
Danielle: Celeste will be a teenager soon, and she will need her own horse.
Daniel: OK…

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Daniel: Have you talked to her about it?
Danielle: No.
Daniel: Do you know that she is into riding?
Danielle: No, but I know she likes Zaijian.
Daniel: Isn’t this a bit of a gamble, then? What if she doesn’t want to ride, and we get stuck with three horses?
Danielle: The mare will be sold once the foal has grown up.
Daniel: You won’t get emotional and decide that we have to keep her?
Danielle: I will get emotional, but I know my limits, Daniel.
Daniel: What about the foal, if Celeste decides riding isn’t for her?

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Danielle: Whether she rides it or races it is up to her, but she must take care of it. Having something she is obligated to do will be good for her, I think.
Daniel: I hope you’re right. How are you doing in the races?
Danielle: I’m getting close. Very close.
Daniel: Good. By the way, we’ll be a housing another guest for a while, and she’s not a horse. She’ll be staying in Alecia’s room.
Danielle: Anything I should know about her?
Daniel: It’s Faith, the girl I went to prom with.
Danielle: Oh, her… Could her stay become permanent?
Daniel: That’s unlikely.
Danielle: I hope you know what you’re doing…
Daniel: I never know what I’m doing.

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With no clients, he couldn’t keep treating the case of his life as a half-assed side project. It was time to get real. He installed a whiteboard and an old desk in a room they had kept unfurnished, and got to work. Thanks to Alecia, the Kate Carson fansite listed her every known descendant, and their parents, making it possible to construct an enlightening family tree. He worked for hours, gradually cutting off connections so that only the most relevant ones would be displayed. Alexandria Lane’s two daughters and their multitude of offspring had to go, as did Rashawn Moore’s second brother, Alyssina’s twin brother and his daughters, and many others, until finally, he could step back and take it all in.

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He had tried to position the names so that it reflected when they were born, but he could see now that he had made several mistakes in that regard. For starters, Mike Acker was far younger than Kate, and Alyssina was quite a bit older than Ms. X. Esther was probably a contemporary of Kate. Oh well, it would have to do. The Clone was probably long dead, but since that was impossible to confirm, he listed her as being alive, for now.

What had started out as three distinct families, squabbling among themselves to no end, had changed and synthesized into something different. The Moores had all but been wiped out by their feud with the Lanes. The Carsons had been financially undone by the ineptitude beginning with Frank Carson, until joining hands with the Moores through Jay’s marriage with Rashawn’s daughter, Jeri. That marriage had produced Moses, “The Last Hope”, who had died childless while squandering the rest, forcing the sale of both Villa Carsonia and 385 Oak Grove Drive, the Moore ancestral home. His sister, Jane, had pulled off another remarkable marriage, tying the knot with the son of Symphony Lane. That union had resulted in “The Impeccable”: Matthew Carson.

“The Impeccable” didn’t brag about his bloodlines entirely without reason: He could claim not only Kate and both of her husbands as his ancestors, but all three of their children were his 2 or 3 x great-grandparents. Perhaps he was little more than a showboating clown, but the marriage of his son to one of Corrie’s daughters, knitting a new Carson/Moore string into his fabric of heritages, was a signal of ambition. Perhaps he envisioned Omari as the future master of 385 Oak Grove Drive, currently occupied by the ageing Corrie.

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As pointed out by Chloe, the actions of Ms. X left little doubt that she was carrying the Moore torch, thrashing the Lanes for what they had done to her father and grandparents. After her 40-year long act as Aria Lane, she had returned to the shadows from whence she came, leaving everyone blissfully unaware of who she really was. How Alyssina could have given it all to her half-sister was still unfathomable, and he found himself shaking his head at the thought of the trouble Esther Lane and her two daughters had stirred up. If her secret daughter had been a parting shot, for her dead lover and the way she had been treated, it was one that had rocked their world.

Looking at the family tree, he soon saw something: Chloe wasn’t just his 4 x great-grandmother, through Brook, she was also his 3 x great-grandmother, through Alecia. This led to the realization that with the exception of Jack, all living descendants of the Lane legacy were more closely related to Chloe than to her sister, Alexandria. Was that why Chloe were propping them up, claiming her sister's legacy as her own? Chloe was supposed to have gone crazy, and there was no history of madness in the Lane family until Alecia provided a fresh infusion of Chloe’s genes, giving birth to Jackson… Had Alyssina derailed their legacy, not just because she believed her father’s genes were cursed, but because she thought Alecia’s were too? Aria had arrived while Jackson was a teenager… Was the emergence of his father’s madness what had set the ball rolling? Hm. He’d keep that thought in mind. He could hear some commotion downstairs, which probably meant that one of their guests had arrived, and he needed a break.

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He watched from a safe distance as his sister was introduced to Contessa. It was pouring down, as usual, and he struggled to remember the last time they had a sunny day. Since Alecia died it felt like it had been nothing but snow and rain. Watching his sister greet the new horse, he hoped she wouldn’t be consumed by the rigors of winning races, like the riders at Memory Lane. Hearing the sound of his father’s chainsaw cutting into ice, he also crossed his fingers that she wouldn’t end up spending all her time in an art studio, painting and sculpting…
Celeste: She’s so cute! What’s her name?
Danielle: Contessa. She’s a Salerno, like Zaijian.
Celeste: Can I ride her?!
Danielle: No. She is just here to have a foal, she will not stay with us.
Celeste: Who will ride the foal?
Danielle: The foal will be yours, if you promise to take care of it.
Celeste: It won’t be a unicorn?
Danielle: No.
Celeste: OK... I promise. Did you have a unicorn? Daniel said you knew how to ride them.
Danielle: Yes…
Celeste: What happened to it?
Danielle: *sniffle*

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…sensational and shocking news. This week, the home of tech magnate Ulrich Schlagdorff…
Danielle: I hope you put those wet clothes in a hamper, and not just on the floor?
Celeste: I did, mom. Aren’t you wet?
Danielle: I’ve become waterproof.
…no fingerprints were left by the kidnapper. Police now hopes that the public can be helpful in providing information on the so-called “Bankshe Kidnapper”, and an anonymous tip line has…
Danielle: My God… A kidnapper on the loose in Moonlight Falls…
Celeste: It was her, Daniel. I saw her with that whi…
Daniel: Sssh… I know.
…if you have any information.
Danielle: Celeste! If you see any strange-looking women, run, and call the police. Do you hear?
Celeste: Yes, mom…
…other news, the famous laywer “Razor” Scillachi has arrived in Moonlight Falls, looking to repr…
Danielle: I’m serious about that!
Celeste: I’ll be careful.

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…still unknown. Scillachi rose to fame after representing an old, half-blind barber, who after…
Danielle: Quite a striking fellow, that…
Celeste: Why did she take those girls?
…proceeded to sue the company who had produced the razor. Scillachi won the case, extracting a comp…
Daniel: She needs something from their father.
…leading to their subsequent bankruptcy. A source at City Hall reports that a petition, demanding an official investigation of Everglow Academy…
Celeste: What is it she needs?
Daniel: Compliance.

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Starting from scratch, he made another chart, where green lines represented the movement of money and assets, while the blue lines symbolized information. It showed how the Lane assets had been liquidated by Ms. X, with the majority being spent on SSBI, but at the end, it felt like a futile exercise. There was no evidence that disqualified it from being an act of charity. The rest of the chart didn’t seem very useful. He already knew that Jack Lane, and Diane Quintana, if she was still alive, might sit on important information concerning Alyssina and Ms. X. Jack was old, and extracting that information before he croaked had to be a priority. Was that why Chloe was pushing him in that direction? Did she have perfect versions of charts like this in her head?

So far, she had made no move directed against Ms. X. He had figured her move against Schlagdorff and his company might be a way to get at the investment company, but what if it wasn’t? It made him recall their meeting at Villa Carsonia and one of the crazy scenarios she had cooked up to toy with his mind: That she was Aria, and this time she was going to take their house in Moonlight Falls. For a moment, his mind ran wild with that possibility. He pictured "Razor” Scillachi showing up at their door, Balalaika No. 26 in hand, declaring that both their house and their bank account had been seized, and now belonged to the rightful heir of the Lanes, Chloe Carson. They’d be back on a lawn, and… No. That way lay madness.

It felt like the chart was missing some substantial information, and after some thought, he realized that besides Diane Quintana and Jack, there were two other sources of information sitting on information on Alyssina and Aria: His parents. They would know nothing about what had gone on behind the scenes, but they had been present, and, crucially, they had been there after Jack had been thrown out of Memory Lane, offering insight on a period of time that he couldn’t.

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Daniel: Pops, how are the ice sculptures coming along?
Jackson: Many to make.
Daniel: You’re finishing them and selling them, right?
Jackson: Of course!
Daniel: Come sit, let’s talk.
Jackson: Must sculpt, son.
Daniel: Not now. This is important. Sit.

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Daniel: The night we left Memory Lane, I heard Aria say to you: “Thank you”. Why was she thanking you?
Jackson: For machine time. And painting, of girl.
Daniel: Hmm, OK. How was your relationship with Aria? What did you think about her?
Jackson: Normal. Not think, obey!
Daniel: That’s hardly normal. Who said you should do that?
Jackson: She did. And Alecia. She was boss.
Daniel: I’m trying to find Aria, so anything you can tell me about her would be helpful.
Jackson: We did machine time. I don’t remember. I don’t like, this.
Daniel: Why not?

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Jackson: Never talk about, boss.
Daniel: Who made that rule?
Jackson: Alecia. And Jack. Rule for family.
Daniel: They’re not around anymore, pops. We need to talk about this.
Jackson: No. Must follow rule. Always!
Daniel: What do you remember about Alyssina, your grandmother?
Jackson: Big, big, boss. Never talk, about.
Daniel: Why was she the biggest boss?
Jackson: Boss of all. Even parents, Jack say.
Daniel: She was the boss of her parents? Mickey and Esther?
Jackson: Of course, like you.
Daniel: What if I order you to talk about her?
Jackson: No. Must follow rule. Always.

Being stonewalled by Jackson wasn’t completely unexpected, but he had hoped for a little more. At some stage, he must have been instructed not to talk about the family, to stop him running around town blabbering, and he was still sticking to it, taking it way too literally. Though it was intriguing that Brook, possibly because of Mickey and Esther’s extra-marital affairs, had chosen to lay the crown directly on the head of her granddaughter, it probably wasn’t related to what had happened later.
It was getting too late to question his mother, that would have to wait until tomorrow, but it was the perfect time to check up on Faith. Having heard nothing, he started wondering if she had gone back home after all.

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Daniel: I never heard you coming. How long have you been here?
Faith: A few hours. I tried to be stealthy.
Daniel: Drawing?
Faith: Yeah, it’s...
Daniel: Looks pretty cool.
Faith: C’est nul! I should chuck it in there, hehe.
Daniel: Don’t. Is the room OK?
Faith: It’s so big, and colorful... I even have my own balcony. I feel like I’m making a splash just by being in here…
Daniel: My grandmother liked making some splashes of her own. Don’t worry about it.

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Faith: Would it be ok if I moved some stuff around? I’ll only be a couple of days, but I’d like to set up a drafting table.
Daniel: No problem. I’ll help you getting it set up.
Faith: We should agree on how much I should pay…
Daniel: You’re paying nothing. I won’t hear of it, and you’ll use everything in the house as if it is your own.
Faith: Merci, Daniel. You needn’t have done this.
Daniel: What are friends for? Anything else I can help you with?
Faith: Well… There is a design I’m working on that I could use some help with, en fait…
Daniel: OK…
Faith: Give me 20 minutes?

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He had thought about checking up on Lynx, but he sensed that it could get ugly real quick. If even Jules couldn’t keep his trap shut, it was likely the news had travelled all over town. What was he supposed to say to her now, having had Faith move in? No, better let that potato cool down…
Checking his email, he found a response to the barrage of emails he had sent to public employees in Aurora Skies:

Dear Sir,

Referring to your request concerning Ralston Heights Sanatorium, I answered a somewhat similar request, made by a Mr. Reginald Carson, not long ago. I find it inconceivable that the two requests are not connected, and humbly ask that your family coordinate their historical research. Despite what you may have heard about public servants, we do not sit idle all day, pushing pencils aimlessly around on empty desks.

Ralston Heights Sanatorium, which ceased to operate almost two centuries ago, was a private venture, founded by Reiner Brinkmann, and administrated by him, and later, his son, Ludwig Brinkmann. The Brinkmann’s were not licensed as medical practitioners, they never filed any reports, nor was Ralston Heights Sanatorium subject to inspections. If Ralston Heights kept any records of their patients, medical or otherwise, such records are not in our possession.

65 years ago, after having stood empty, and gradually devolved over a period of 120 years, Ralston Heights Sanatorium was purchased by a Mrs. Alyssina Lane. Mrs. Lane demolished every trace of the building, before selling the lot. If any records existed at Ralston Heights, and if those records had survived the trials of time, it is likely that they passed into the ownership of Mrs. Lane.

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As for the “treatment” being offered at Ralston Heights, accounts are varied, and in all cases based on little but rumors. There are fairly solid grounds for assuming that, at most, 2-3 patients were under treatment there at any one time. The patients seem to have been locked down in underground cells, and were denied visitation rights. Some claim it was a place where rich families stowed away their “undesirables”, either temporarily or permanently. Others insist that Ralston Heights housed patients that were so violent or unstable that no proper medical institution was willing to handle them.

Included is an old picture of Ralston Heights Sanatorium, taken around 40 years prior to its purchase by Mrs. Alyssina Lane.

I hope this answers your questions in an adequate manner.

Yours sincerely,
Keith Brackensludge, Chief Archivist.

Unless Reginald had suddenly developed a mind of his own, Chloe had been on the same trail. Why? Was she looking to cover up some scary facts about her stay there? Alyssina had beaten them both to the punch… What had she found up there? Incontrovertible evidence that Chloe was completely off her rocker? Were her discoveries at Ralston Heights the trigger that set everything off? He needed a timeline, plotting the events in the sequence they had taken place, but before he could do that, he had to get some facts from Jack.

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Faith: As you can see, this rapidly improvised design lends itself to easy modification…
Daniel: So it seems.
Faith: …but since it also leaves me visually impaired, it makes me very clumsy, hehe. I need some steady hands to really test it out.
Daniel: Perhaps I may be of service.
Faith: Some say blind faith is the best kind of faith, t’sais?
Daniel: I rarely trust what others say. I prefer doing thorough empirical research.
Faith: Dr. Carson… I leave myself in the hands of science, hehehe.
Daniel: Please don’t laugh, it ruins the moment.
Faith: Sorry. I can’t help it.
Daniel: I know. We’ll work on it.

[Agathon]

From The Horsewoman’s Mouth

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Celeste: You will comply, or I’ll burn your city to the ground! For I am Shenebys, mother of…
Daniel: Sis…
Celeste: What did you say? I warn you, my patience is extremely limited! Kneel, you…
Daniel: Sis?
Celeste: …useless knave, or I will have you jailed, before I take your children and send you to…
Daniel: Celeste!!

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Celeste: What? I was just playing…
Daniel: Playing what?! A dictator? You’ve been watching Game of Bones again, haven’t you?!
Celeste: Just a bit…
Daniel: Didn't mom say you can’t watch that show?! It’s not for little children!
Celeste: I’m not little!
Daniel: Yes, you are! And you’ll stop trying to sound like Chl… Oceane! You know nothing about her!
Celeste: Why?! You sound like a dictator! Oceane rules, just like She…
Daniel: Shut up! Take off that costume and get in the car.

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Celeste: Your old car was much better!
Daniel: I agree!
Angelica: Randolph and Caryn, welcome to Par Excellence! It’s a pleasure to…
Daniel: Bone, what are you doing here?
Bone: Teachin’, man.
Daniel: Teaching what? Thug life?
Bone: Me gettin’ physical with them…
Angelica: Speak proper English!
Bone: Sorry, baby.
Angelica: Don’t you baby me, freshman!
Janet: I’ll trust you’ll behave yourselves, children. The standards here…
Bone: I’m… a gym teacher now.
Daniel: Seems like your school is getting popular.
Bone: Somethin’ goin’ on at the other school, man. Scientists and shii…
Angelica: Bone!
Scientists at Everglow Academy, how could he not check that out?

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Annie Nix: …outrageous!
Lead Inspector: …regulations give us no choice, Ms. Donovan.
Maggie Donovan: We had an important biology test today! For how long…
Daniel: Harris, right? What’s going on?
Scientist: Indefinitely. The infection is systemic.
Paramedic: Sorry kiddo, we can’t let you in.
Ferris MacDuff: That’s awesome! I have to film this.
Malcolm Harris: We found some nasty, toxic molds. Under the floorboards, in the walls… We had to close the place, and it caused a bit of an uproar…
Annie: This is sabotage, I hope you realize that! There was nothing there three months ago, and now there’s suddenly…
Maggie Donovan: Who scheduled this inspection?!
Lead Inspector: The Board of Health. Nothing irregular about this, Ms. Donovan.

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Faith: Merci, Daniel. Now I can get some work done while I’m in here.
Daniel: I haven’t seen you around the house much. Don’t be shy.
Faith: I’m busy, t’sais? I’ve picked out a lot for the store, but there’s still much to do.
Daniel: I would offer to help you, but I’ll be leaving for Riverview and beyond, once I’ve had a talk with my mother.
Faith: You’ll be back before I’m out of here, right? Right. Come on, you know I’ll miss you…
Daniel: I won’t be more than a day or two, I hope.
Faith: Since you’re going out of town…
Daniel: Yeah…
Faith: Can you bring back a toad for me? They were wiped out here because of that poison scandal, and I need it for something. S'il vous plait?
Daniel: I’ll see what I can do.

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Daniel: …proving that Aria wasn’t who she was supposed to be.
Danielle: I don’t know anything about the family history you are talking about, it’s just confusing to me. If Aria wasn’t Alexandria, who was she?
Daniel: Chloe and I have a theory about that, but we don’t need to go into that. I want to you tell me about your time at Memory Lane, and your experiences with Alyssina and Aria.
Danielle: I didn’t get to know Alyssina. I arrived shortly before she moved out.
Daniel: Don’t worry about that. Just tell the story from your perspective, about what you saw and what was going on.
Danielle: Do we have to do this? We have a good life here, and even Alecia said we should look forward, not…
Daniel: I need you to do this, mom.

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Danielle: I had hoped the sun would finally shine today… I should be out there, with Zaijian and Contessa, not in here.
Daniel: You will be, in a short while.
Danielle: I have had so many sleepless nights, thinking about what happened…
Daniel: You never said anything.
Danielle: I had to seem strong. We had nothing but each other. But I kept thinking… Was it my fault? Wasn’t I good enough? Didn’t I win enough races? Didn’t I raise you right?
Daniel: It had nothing to with that.
Danielle: You don’t know that.
Daniel: Trust me, I do. Just start at the beginning.
Danielle: The day after my 18th birthday, I received a letter. It contained just one sentence: “The Lane family needs a Horsewoman.” It was signed by Alyssina Lane. She was the goddess of horseracing, with her twenty-seven international victories. Just one win in the easiest category, racing, and thirteen cross-country wins. Thirteen, Daniel! She was head and shoulders above anyone else, and she wanted me. I couldn’t refuse an opportunity like that…

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Danielle: I didn't know anything about Memory Lane. In my mind, I pictured some kind of ranch. When I came there, and saw it… It should have been one of the best moments in my life, but it was one of the worst. Night was falling, but the six statues, signifying legendary riders, were illuminated, sending their golden sheen through the darkness. Parked outside were four luxury cars, each costing as much as a house. The house itself was so massive that it looked as if it had been built to laugh at earthquakes. I remember my legs were shaking long before I reached the entrance, and with every step, I expected a row of box stalls to come into view, thinking that cleaning them would be the only work I would be good enough for.
Daniel: Who greeted you?
Danielle: Aria. She showed me the room I was to sleep in, the teenager room reserved for girls, and told me that young Alyssina had been the previous occupant.
Daniel: Had she left behind anything personal?

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Danielle: Just a prom picture and a horse calendar, if I remember correctly. Aria gave me a short tour of the house, which made me feel even smaller. I had never seen riches like that. By the time we got to trophy room, with its 103 international trophies, and a size similar to the ground floor of the house I grew up in, I felt like a speck of dust.
Daniel: How did she treat you?
Danielle: Very friendly. She was always kind to me, Daniel, especially when I first arrived.
Daniel: Except for the time when she gave everything we had to charity, and took your unicorn…
Danielle: She must have had her reasons.
Daniel: Go on. Did she give you any instructions?
Danielle: She kept it very brief. She was to be my tutor, and I was to train with a newly arrived mare, Tunguska, that was to breed with Minotaur. I was still a bit confused about what was expected of me, until the first time I opened the fridge…
Daniel: OK…?

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Danielle: It was a kind of fridge where nothing ever gets spoiled, and inside was every kind of vegetable, fruit and meat, hundreds of ingredients, and all of perfect quality. Even the apples and carrots they fed to the horses were perfect. Then I understood that at Memory Lane, there was only one acceptable standard. I set my alarm clock to 04:30 after that…
Daniel: What did you make of the family?
Danielle: Well… I soon realized that it wasn’t a normal household. For starters, Alyssina and Aria were sleeping in a tent, and Alyssina wasn’t speaking to anyone but her. Alecia and your father, the latter a little strange, kept to themselves. Aria seemed to be what was holding the place together, acting as a go-between. They did so many things that were strange to me, such as eating ambrosia, using weird machines, and all the different potions they used... Each time they were going to work, they drank a potion, if they didn’t feel like sleeping, they had a potion, if they wanted to have fun, they had a potion…

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Danielle: I had hoped that Alyssina would talk to me about riding, but that never happened. The closest I ever got to talking to her, was when she cast a glance in my direction while Aria was tutoring me, and she said: “Aria, don’t forget to tell her: A good jockey should be as fit as the horse she is riding.” When I realized that she was evil, I was thankful that Aria was my teacher, and she helped me a lot with my skills. She…
Daniel: What skills did she teach you?
Danielle: Riding, athletics, logic, and basic cooking. I wasn’t allowed to practice the latter, though… Alyssina and Aria had mastered cooking, and Aria told me Alyssina would throw a fit if she saw anyone but them cooking a meal. She also gave me a handful of potions to use, including the one that turned me into a fairy.
Daniel: What were Aria and Alyssina doing? Just racing?

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Danielle: Mostly. Aria was wrapping up her career as horsewoman, before she started her medical career, while Alyssina did a little bit of writing, usually after midnight. I envied them their long sessions at the nectar pavilion together, preparing for the races. Since I wasn’t racing yet, it was off limits to me. Alyssina was well into her final racing project, and sometimes, Alecia would utter some comment to me about how absurd she thought it was…
Daniel: Final project? What sort of project?
Danielle: Family tradition dictated that unicorns should be released when they got old, but Alyssina refused to abandon Tisiphone. She, an old woman, was trying to win an international race with an old horse. When I arrived, she had tried fifteen times without succeeding. When I asked Aria how hard it was, she said winning the cross-country was a cakewalk in comparison. Alyssina’s race preparations were so meticulous and detailed that it occupied most of her day, and she never rose before noon. We rarely saw her in the house at all, besides when she came in to eat ambrosia, or to do some writing. I think Alecia had hoped that the elder version of Alyssina would have directed her energy more towards the family, but instead they had just drifted further and further apart.

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Danielle: After some time, the Reaper came for Tisiphone. I kept my distance, but I saw it, and it was the saddest thing I have ever seen. Alyssina was crying her heart out, and I was crying too. That horse was almost as old as she was, she had won all her victories on Tisiphone, and they had never been separated for a single day. Aria comforted her, and I rode out on Tunguska to get away from it all, wondering what would happen next.

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Danielle: When I returned, a few hours later, I found the answer. The tombstone was gone, and the ghost of Tisiphone was strolling around in the enclosure. Alyssina had tied the ghost to the household by means of some sort of stone. She had failed to get the victory she was chasing, but she refused to give up.

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Danielle: I was there the next day, when Alyssina rode in on the ghost, with a tail of glitters behind her from the unicorn’s blessing… The crowd was stunned, and some were even angry. One man shouted: “Let the darn horse rest in peace!” It was her 19th attempt to win that race, and many among the crowd felt that her project had gone too far, that it had become a farce, and that it simply could not be done. But she won, Daniel… She won that race, leaving the crowd even more stunned than when she had entered. There was no applause, just deafening silence, and an old woman on a ghost horse, doing no victory lap. She simply rode out again, slowly, with her back as straight as a needle and not a single emotion visible on her face. I cried, of course… I cried because I knew how incredibly hard she had worked for that victory, and how much she had forsaken, and because I knew… I just knew… that would be the last time anyone would see her on a horse.

Danielle: When I got home, it was business as usual. No celebrations at all. Aria said something about racing success being expected, and no cause for celebrations. They next day, Aria announced that Alyssina had laid Tisiphone to rest at the family graveyard, and moved into the communal retirement home. She didn’t say goodbye to anyone, except possibly Aria, and she never came back to visit.

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Daniel: Was there any talk about who would call the shots when she was gone?
Danielle: Not that I heard, but I suspect something happened behind the scenes. Alecia moved into the Sunset Room, vacating the Sunrise Room for Jackson, and I thought she would get a lift from Alyssina being out of her hair, but she was not happy. I think Aria might have set her straight on who was the real boss, and their relationship took a tumble after that.

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Danielle: Shortly afterwards, Alecia called me up to the second floor, having opened the door to the art studio, and declared stately: “The art studio is now open to you, my dear. I'll give you a key.” That room was locked to anyone but working artists, and even Aria couldn’t go in there. It was Alecia’s way of inviting me into her fold. Since her relationship with Aria was deteriorating, she was probably in need of an ally, and Jackson didn’t have a lot of company. Aria had thrown herself into her medical career, so I was short on company too. Jackson and I were soon good friends. Surprisingly soon, in fact…

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Danielle: Being in Alecia’s good graces meant attending the Saturday parties, which I was told had been a tradition for three generations. Aria boycotted the parties, just like Alyssina had done, but there were always plenty of guests. Regulars at the parties were Nandini Landgraab, our neighbor, that tattoo artist Zazu…
Daniel: Zsuzsa.
Danielle: …yes, and Corrie, the vampire. I think I even saw Vance there once, and John, Alyssina’s eldest son. He was already an old man, poor fellow… The parties were Alecia’s chance to shine, without Aria casting a shadow on her, and she did. I don’t think anyone there knew about Aria’s role, except Nandini.
Daniel: Nandini knew? How? Why?
Danielle: I don’t know. She tended to whisper Aria's name when she mentioned her to Alecia or me, and raise her eyebrows, as if she was talking about someone very important.

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Danielle: At first, Alecia simply introduced me as “the newest member of our household”. I guess it sounded better than saying I was a horsewoman they had hired, but it wasn’t long before I was introduced as “my son’s fiancée”. When Jackson proposed, he did it in the hallway. It doesn’t sound very romantic, and in hindsight, maybe it wasn’t, but…
Daniel: You didn’t have any second thoughts?
Danielle: Not really. Back then, your father was very different from what he is now. He could be charming, and warm…
Daniel: Oh yeah? It wasn’t just that he threw himself at the first girl he saw?
Danielle: It wasn’t like that at all! He was different, very different. Before I arrived, he had been having an affair with an acrobat, Karina something…
Daniel: Wow. Pops the womanizer, I never would have thought.
Danielle: The marriage was a private affair. I think Alecia wanted to make an occasion of it, but Aria put her foot down. Not long after, I delivered by first my child, so to speak…

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Danielle: …Monoceros. I don’t think his colors turned out like they had anticipated, when choosing a white mare, and Alecia said he had to be the ugliest horse ever born at Memory Lane… He wasn’t ugly to me, he was so adorable! At first, I didn’t think he was a unicorn, since he had no horn, but then I saw the colors when he ran. He was so special… *sniffle*. I was in tears the first time I led him to Hopalong Field, for basic training… *sniffle*, but I guess that’s not what you want me to tell about…
Daniel: I’m sure it was touching, but…

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Danielle: Well… shortly after Monoceros, you came into the world. Alecia fussed over you, of course, though maybe not quite as much as she did over Celeste... Gods, that was the beginning of a busy time, with both you and Monoceros… and… you know the rest, really…
Daniel: Not so fast, please. After I was born, Aria started sending Pops traveling through time, and he took a turn for the worse, right?
Danielle: I had no idea what was going on, I only found out later. I don’t want to talk about that, it was horrific. Alecia had to stop the parties because of it. Can I go now?
Daniel: Did you hear of Alyssina again? What was Aria up to, besides wrecking Pops’ mind?

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Danielle: We did hear Alyssina had died, of course. Aria was the only one to mourn her passing, and she mourned, Daniel. Whoever she might have been, there was nothing fake about their friendship, they were close.
Daniel: They were more than friends, they were half-sisters. That’s the theory, at least, and I think it’s spot on. Did you ever hear anything about Alyssina starting fires around town?
Danielle: What? No…
Daniel: OK. Aria started going out of town around this period?
Danielle: Yes. At first only on Saturdays, when we couldn’t race, because of Brook’s law.
Daniel: Did she ever talk about it?
Danielle: No, and I did not ask.
Daniel: You must have spent a lot of time with Aria, long afternoons on the nectar pavilion…
Danielle: Because of her medical career, those afternoons often became short, or even non-existing, for her. When she had to work nights, before Monoceros came of age, she let me borrow Minotaur. I think her heart wasn’t really in it anymore... Racing I mean. Her race preparations started slipping, and I think she had other things on her mind.

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Daniel: Still, you must have talked quite a bit. Did she ever say anything about where she was from? What she was interested in? Her past, or plans for the future?
Danielle: We usually talked about riding, athletics, food, clothes…  She didn’t like to talk about personal matters. I did ask her about what had happened to Jackson, and she apologized for it, saying she had no intention of harming him.
Daniel: Right… Did she say why she had done it?
Danielle: Just that she was looking for something important. I know you think she is a bad person, Daniel, but I think you are wrong. What if she is trying to prevent something horrible from happening?
Daniel: We have to agree to disagree on that. Do you think she was a city girl, or a country girl? Did she have any sayings, or expressions she liked using?
Danielle: City girl or country girl…? Gee, I don’t know. A little of both? She had one thing she said sometimes: “Beware the leopard that changes its spots”.
Daniel: What was she referring to?
Danielle: It could be different things. Horses with a difficult temperament, relationships, Alecia… When she said it about Alecia, I figured it was a reference to her acting. Are we done now, Daniel? I really need to see to the horses.

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Daniel: Yeah, we’re done. I’ll be leaving for Riverview, I need to see Jack before the reaper gets to him, he’s getting real old.
Danielle: Great, then you can take your sister with you.
Daniel: What?! This isn’t a social call, I can’t carry her along for this.
Danielle: No? Your grandfather is at death's door, and you want to deny your sister the only chance she has to meet him?!
Daniel: She has school, and we’ll be going…
Danielle: Are you worried about school? Tosh! Celeste didn’t get a lot of time with her grandmother, she needs this, and I need a break from her…
Daniel: I’ll be taking Jack to see Chloe. I’m afraid Chloe could be a bad influence on her.
Danielle: You mean the woman who built the school she goes to, and hand-picked her teachers? The woman you brought into this house, telling us to trust? Don’t even try, Daniel, she’s going.

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As they drove past the Schlagdorff mansion, Daniel noted that Ulrich had upped his security. With his daughters still missing, wasn’t it just too little, too late?
Celeste: Where does Oceane live?
Daniel: I don’t know yet. Don’t worry about it.
Celeste: Maybe we’ll meet those three girls when we get there.
Daniel: Geez, don’t talk about that! Even with me!
Celeste: OK…
Daniel: What did you learn in school today?
Celeste: We learned about laws. Did you know that unlawful resurrection carries a minimum penalty of 8 years in prison?
Daniel: No, I did not know that…
Celeste: Chloe is extremely old, it’s so strange that she’s alive. I wonder if someone resurrected her…
Daniel: Do you now…
Celeste: I think I want some ice cream when we get to Riverview, and a few other things…

[Agathon]

A Jacked Up Pearl

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Daniel: Forever is a long time, it won’t take that long.
Celeste: It will!
Daniel: How I am supposed to know what route the darn ice cream truck takes? I’m not psychic. We also need to look for some shabby houses, where Jack might live.
Celeste: Instead of driving randomly around you could ask someone!
Daniel: I like driving randomly around. What I don’t like, is naggi…
Celeste: Look! A man who’s fishing.
Daniel: Yeah, people do that sometimes.
Celeste: Stop, you dofus! Let’s ask him! It’ll take two minutes! If you don’t stop, I’m gonna start screa…

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Daniel: Good catch.
Chaz McDermott: Meh. Could have been better.
Celeste: Do you know where the ice cream truck is at this right now? We’ve been driving around, looking for it.
Chaz: No. But I know where it’ll be in a little while, to pick up supplies: Riverview Agriresearch.
Daniel: Hm! Could we bother you for directions?
Chaz: You’re welcome to tag along. I’m bringing some angelfish there.
Daniel: Thanks. Since you seem to be knowledgeable fisherman, could you give me a tip on how to catch a toad? A friend of mine wants to acquire one.
Chaz: Follow me, it’ll just take a minute.

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Chaz: That’s how you catch a toad. Here you are.
Celeste: Wow! He’s good.
Daniel: Thanks, that’s amazing.
Chaz: Chaz McDermott at your service. My family has been fishing for generations, so I know a thing or two about it.
Daniel: We’re from Moonlight Falls, where fishing has become a bit problematic. Nearly all the fish were wiped out by a pesticide spill. Could it be possible to rebuild the fish stocks?
Chaz: Of course. All it takes is someone with a bit of knowledge, who is willing to put in the hours.

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Daniel: Could you be interested? What would it cost?
Chaz: I’m interested. Send me a list of species and locations, and I’ll give you a quotation.
Daniel: One more question, if you don’t mind…?
Chaz: Throw it out.
Daniel: I’m looking for an old man by the name of Jack, who might be found around female company, in a not-so-fancy neighborhood around here. He’s a musician, and usually wears black clothes.
Chaz: I don’t know any Jacks, but that sounds like Billy No-Bills to me.
Daniel: Billy No-Bills?
Chaz: Yeah. All he owns is a tent, which tends to pop up near where some unsuspecting woman, usually a new arrival, is living. Before long, he’s a leeching off them. Now, I think he’s with Two-Ton Linda at Ely Court. Look for the house closest to his tent. We better get moving if we’re to catch up with that ice cream truck.

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Celeste: Do we have to go in here?
Daniel: I’m just going to ask them a few questions.
Celeste: I hope we won’t be long. I want to visit the bookstore.
Daniel: Eat your ice cream now.
Celeste: Can you buy me a motorcycle?
Daniel: No!
Celeste: Why?! I’ll be a teenager very soon!
Daniel: Motorcycles are dangerous.

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Earl: Good to see you, Chaz!
Chaz: Earl. Do you want them straight in the composters, or should I put them in the tank?
Earl: The tank is fine, we’re not fertilizing today. You brought a guest, I see.
Daniel: Trav Fisher. I’m a consultant for Moonlight Falls Fruit Institute.
Earl: Never heard of you guys.
Daniel: We just started up a lab, and we’re looking to attract some grant funding. Wouldn’t mind a tip or two, you guys got some experience with that. That grant you got from the Arcadia Foundation wasn’t small peas.
Researcher: …may need to cut back on the nitriglobenzensulfate.
Earl: Start small, and document everything. Do thorough studies on limited subjects. Once you publish, it gets easier.

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Daniel: What kind of guidelines might accompany a grant of that size?
Earl: Resistance to drought is a given, count on that. Many want some resistance to pests. Product size, growth speed, sugar content, that’s just the cherry they want on their cake.
Daniel: Do you mind me asking what kind of cherries Arcadia wanted?
Earl: You haven’t read the study? Horticulture Monthly… number 213, I think it was?
Daniel: No, it was just referred to me, with few details…
Researcher: Significant cell wall collapse in batch 4.
Earl: Extreme drought resistance, high-efficiency photosynthesis. I don't remember the rest, it's been a few years.
Daniel: What do you do with the products once you’re done? Did you have to ship them back to Arcadia, all the…
Earl: The plasma fruits? No, they were sent to various farms. I’m not sure if anyone actually started growing them.
Celeste: Are you in league with Simsanto?
Earl: No, young lady, we’re completely independent. Would you like an apple?
Celeste: No, thanks. I don’t trust your products.
Daniel: It seems my daughter has forgotten her manners. Thanks, Earl, I think we have to be on our way.

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Having dropped off Celeste at the bookstore, with a lot more money than she deserved, he set off for Ely Court. Behind a billboard, a tent suddenly appeared, and it wasn’t just any tent: That was the tent that had been pitched for decades within the horse enclosure at Memory Lane. It had still been there the night they left. How the heck had Jack gotten hold of it? Was he in on Aria’s act? Instead of slowing down, he hit the accelerator, casting a glance to the right, at the closest house. It was a small, ramshackle affair, with scrap scattered on the outside and a tacky Sasquatch-figure on the porch. If Jack was in on it, it didn’t look like he had reaped any profits beside the tent.

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He circled around the house on foot, to a cluster of trees from where he could observe it without attracting attention. Jack had claimed that he was being watched, and Ritchie had confirmed it, saying it was the same crew that were after Lynx, but there was nothing going on here now. Maybe Billy No-Bills was hiding from nothing more than repomen and creditors? He quickly felt stupid observing the house. He had told Celeste he might be a couple of hours, and he couldn’t stand there forever. Before he set off for Riverview, he had sent a message to Chloe, telling her where he was going, so that she could arrange a pick-up for them. But where was she now?

A woman calling herself Marika answered, telling him “their operative” was nearby, and would be at the coordinates he provided in an hour. Then she hung up, leaving him flustered. What were they supposed to do if there was nobody in that house? He sat down with his laptop, creating a list of stuff he had to keep in mind, while keeping an eye on the house. Nandini had known that Aria was, or rather, was supposed to be, Alexandria. Why? Was it related to the Public Population Control? He would have to talk to Nandini at some point. Did Alyssina’s purchase of Ralston Heights Sanatorium trigger any other events, or a change in her behavior? He had to talk to Jack about Lynx, and he had a bunch of questions for Chloe, which she would probably dismiss as being “irrelevant” or “not his business”…

He sighed, and ended up staring at the unpainted side of the Sasquatch figure. What did Sasquatches eat? Fish? Pumpkins? Plasma fruits? Riverview Agriresearch had just been another dead end. Even if Aria was a vampire, why waste all that money trying to create some slightly better plasma fruits? Bah! Why couldn’t he find something really insidious that she had put money into, something that could erase that miniscular doubt planted by his mother’s suggestion: What if Aria is trying to prevent something horrible from happening? A military-looking vehicle suddenly screeched to halt before the house, evicting a woman in uniform and a simbot. Chloe’s “operative”. He quickly jumped the fence.

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Woman: Get that tent.
Simbot: The enemy approaches from the south.
Daniel: Reginald? Have you had a makeover?
Simbot: Stupid human! He thinks I am my father! This conquest will be easy!
Woman: Follow my orders! Get that tent!
Simbot: Silence, woman! I don’t take orders from you! Ready my phasers!

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Woman: That’s it, you’re going in for reprogramming.
Simbot: Once subjugated, this province…
Woman: Let me yank this…
Simbot: …will be known as Regin… *screeech*
Woman: That’s better.
Daniel: Ouch. I think he felt that. I guess I don’t have to ask who you work for…

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Woman: Does it look like I’m here for a blueberry pie baking competition?
Daniel: No, not really.
Woman: So, are you gonna stand there until it starts to snow?
Daniel: What? No, I’m just…
Woman: Acquire the target, while I stuff this idiot in the trunk.
Daniel: Target?
Woman: The old man! Do I have to kick in that door for you?!
Daniel: Relax, I’ll handle it. Who are you?
Woman: Pearl Yang. Let’s go.
Daniel: You sure it’s not Pearl Yin?
Pearl: That’s so funny. You have three minutes until I use the car to punch a hole in that wall.

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Daniel: I’m Grant Masterton, with Simland Security. We have a situation that requires Billy to go undercover for us. Do you know where I might find him?
Two-Ton Linda: What is that… thing that woman is dragging?
Daniel: Don’t worry about that, she’s a colleague of mine.
Two-Ton Linda: Do you have any identification, mister?
Daniel: Regulation forty-seven is in play here, I’m afraid. For these orange-listed operations, I cannot possibly reveal documentation that could compromise assumed identities, non-assumed identities, or identities simply assumed to be assumed for unclarified reasons. I’m sure you understand. We need to find Billy, fast. Bio-terrorists are at large.
Two-Ton Linda: Eh… That sounds dangerous.
Daniel: Serving your country always involves some danger. He’ll have to fill out KIS-34c, of course, so that you get the substantial gratuity you are entitled to, if something should go wrong.
Two-Ton Linda: I see… He’s playing for tips outside the theatre right now.

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Having secured the tent, they were on the way. He quickly cast some glances at Pearl, trying to discern some of the curves hiding under her uniform, but they hadn’t gotten far before she made some other curves for him to study.
Daniel: Are you actually trying to get us killed?!
Pearl: It’s a shortcut. Your intel said he had eyes on him, so we need to move, ASAP.
Daniel: Bah, that was probably something he made up so people would leave him alone. Try keeping this expensive-looking brick from turning into a wreck, inst…
Pearl: It’s a disposable, and I don’t want any bogies on my six, real or imagined.
Daniel: I hate to break it to you, but this isn’t a warzone! We’re just picking up an old man.
Pearl: Not my FRAGO, fobbit. This is an extraction, we’re coming in hot, and we’re staying hot until we’re back in the green zone.
Daniel: Right… So, where is the green zone? Where are we going?
Pearl: You’ll know when we get there, not before. You could reveal the location of the base if you’re captured by the enemy.
Daniel: You got to be kidding me. The only enemies we’ll make here will be down to your driving! You sound that like that bot. Did you do the programming on him?
Pearl: Shut up!

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To the shock of the townie bystanders, Pearl simply plowed into the park next to the theatre, annihilating flowerbeds and scattering trashcans in the process. To Daniel’s irritation, Jack had already been found, by his sister. Why hadn’t she called him? Pearl made it abundantly clear how little time Jack had to put his spindly legs in motion, and the wide-eyed old man quickly saw reason. Daniel tried shouting at her that she’d better not drive like that with his sister in the car, and though it hadn’t seemed like she was listening, her driving was a bit less suicidal as they headed out. Celeste tried to have a conversation with Jack in the back seat, but the presence of Pearl was making him uncomfortable, and it became very one-sided.

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On the outskirts of town was the answer to how they were going to reach Chloe’s “base”, and also the answer to how she had gotten the Schlagdorff-girls out of Moonlight Falls undetected: A mean-looking, ugly helicopter. After evacuating everyone to a safe distance, and tasking Daniel with carrying both the tent and the shorted bot, Pearl set off a massive explosive charge that obliterated the expensive-looking car. Jack was so shocked by the waste of money that he mustered the courage to ask her why, receiving the snarling counter-question of whether he knew a faster way to remove their DNA from that car. Her question seemed to just leave him even more confused and subdued.

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Ignoring Celeste’s enquiries about their destination, Pearl handed out earplugs and advised them to try to get some sleep, telling them it would be a long ride. The sun was dying over the sleepy farming community that was Riverview, and in the distance, a hot air balloon was slowly descending towards the ground. It was the first time he had seen one since they were coaxed out of Memory Lane. He wondered how he would have reacted back then, if someone had told him that Alexandria Lane was buried in China, and that, in a few years, he would be traveling across Sim Nation courtesy of her dead, crazy sister’s private air force.

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It was morning by the time they touched down. Groggy and disoriented, they stumbled out of the chopper and into the heat, amazed by the sight of palms and crystal-colored lagoons. At first, there didn’t seem to be any houses around, and Pearl casually commented that Oceane had bought up all the neighboring lots, to have this part of the island to herself. Following Pearl, they could see a house emerging between the trees. While Daniel and Celeste were clueless, Jack soon pinpointed their location.
Jack: This is Sunlit Tides!
Daniel: Been here before, Billy?
Jack: Ahem... No, but I’ve seen pictures.
Celeste: Look at the beaches! Promise me we’ll go there!
Daniel: Maybe later, sis.

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When they hit the path to the entrance, Chloe greeted them from a somewhat spectacular location.
Chloe: Welcome to Sunlit Tides! Come on in!
Celeste: I want to move here.
Jack: Ahem. Why… am I really here, Daniel?
Daniel: Do you know who she is?
Jack: Yeah. Celeste told me.
Daniel: She wants to hear about Aria, and your mother. Aria has Villa Carsonia, and Chloe wants it back.
Celeste: Oceane! Not Chloe.
Jack: She went mad quarreling with her sister, and now you have taken her side…?
Celeste: Can we move here?
Daniel: No, we can’t. Aria isn’t Alexandria, Jack. She’s your mother’s half-sister. A Moore.
Jack: What?! No… That’s impossible…
Daniel: That’s what I said too, at first.
Celeste: I’m hungry! Can we go in?

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As the others trekked towards the entrance, he let his eyes glide over the structure that stood before him, immediately noticing that the massive, supportive white beam looked like a giant C that had been stapled into the ground. That was hardly coincidental. The minimal ground footprint brought to mind that saying of Kate’s, that Alecia had quoted: “Carsons don’t keep their feet on the ground.” His eyes fell back to where they had started, where she was still standing. While he had been studying the building, she had been studying him. She nodded to him. He wasn’t sure what it meant. An extra greeting? A small acknowledgement of him having completed the mission she had given him? Or did it simply mean “go on in”? She started walking towards the door, and moments later, he did the same. A CCTV camera mounted above the entrance kept its gaze fixed on him as he approached.

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Miner: …gold on this island.
Receptionist: Mr. Allender, you know that Mr. Suzuki doesn’t work here anymore.
Allender: Yes, but he’s still missing, and I’m wor…
Celeste: Do you have some money for the vending machine?
Miner: …goal for this year is 5000 ounces! Do you…
Receptionist: …mind was on the beach, not on the job.
Daniel: What happened to the money I gave you?
Allender: …don’t just disappear! Something mus…
Jack: No, I don’t know how to operate a miner.
Celeste: I spent it all, on books.
Receptionist:…the waves got him, or the sharks?
Daniel: I’m sure Oceane has some real food, once we get in.
Receptionist: …sorry, she has meetings scheduled all day.
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Daniel: Daniel Carson, and entourage, heh…
Receptionist: Welcome, Mr. Carson, you are expected.
Daniel: Excellent!
Receptionist: Once you go through the sluice…
Miner: Hey! How come he can come in, and I can’t?!
Receptionist: He has an appointment, Mr. Hoffman.
Hoffman: I’ve been here all night, waiting! I just need a frickin' miner, and I know she has one. We’ll share the profits! All I need is 5…
Receptionist: Don’t hold your breath while you keep waiting. Mr. Carson: I’ll buzz you through, and it’s up the spiral stairs. Stay clear of any secure doors, like the one behind me.

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While Celeste and Jack scrambled for the bathroom on the floor below, Daniel proceeded upstairs, where Chloe was doing window-dressing, while talking to someone he had met before. It looked like she had been hitting the weights, pretty hard.
Chloe: Once it breaks, be at City Hall within the hour, throwing tantrums.
Razor: When will it be?
Chloe: Soon. She’s coming around to it, be on standby. I want them dazed, wobbly-kneed and ready to negotiate the very next day.
Razor: I’ll be at my best, like I always am.
Chloe: You better be, or I’m wasting my money. Want some help with that tie?
Razor: No, I got it.
Chloe: Off you go, then.
Razor: See you around, Carson.

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Chloe: Good to see you, whipster. Seems Pearl got you all here safe and sound. Get any sleep?
Daniel: We dozed a bit. Your girl Peal isn’t the most safe to be around, if you ask me.
Chloe: She can be a bit overzealous.
Daniel: And more than a bit too grumpy.
Chloe: She caught her boyfriend cheating, and her prospective boyfriend moved to Sunset Valley. It’ll pass.
Reginald: Hello, I don’t believe we have met. I am Regi…
Chloe: Shut up. Make a serving of omelets.
Reginald: At once, miss Oceane.
Daniel: Nice place. You got room for my sister too? I forgot to tell you that she was coming along.
Chloe: No problem, I have a children’s room. I’ll go and change into something more appropriate before we eat. You guys must be starving.

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Celeste: This is so cool! It’s almost like a spaceship!
Daniel: Yeah, it’s… modern.
Celeste: There’s that robot that drove her car! She has two of them! He’s cooking! Can we eat?!
Daniel: Yeah, as soon as he’s done. Just relax.
Jack: They’re called simbots, by the way.
Celeste: Have you seen one before? I want one!
Jack: Yeah, I’ve seen one before.
Celeste: I’m so happy that we’re going to celebrate my birthday here!
Daniel: Are we…? When’s your birthday?
Celeste: Today, dofus! You know that. I wonder what presents I’ll get…
Jack: Ahem...
Daniel: Hm...

[Agathon]

Buzzing in The Hive

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Chloe: Simon looked a bit limp when you brought him in, Pearl…?
Pearl: He glitched. I’ll have to redo his military scripts from scratch.
Chloe: Is he back up?
Pearl: Yeah, on his science program. No issues there.
Chloe: Good.
Daniel: How do the bots get a name? Do you pick a name from a bowl?
Chloe: Reginald - Regular, Simon – Science/Military.
Daniel: Hm.

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Jack: Ahem… You’re in the military?
Pearl: No. I work for Oceane.
Jack: I see. Do you live nearby?
Pearl: Two floors down. Should I expect a knock on my door?
Jack: No, I didn’t mean to be nosy…
Pearl: You never know. Maybe I’m that kind of girl. Or maybe you’ll break a leg.
Celeste: What kind of girl?
Daniel: Celeste, don’t… Must be nice living here.
Pearl: You mean in the house, or on the island?
Daniel: Both.
Pearl: The island is boring, and the house is coming down. It’s too small, and Oceane has drawn a new one.
Jack: What? How can you just throw away money like that?

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Marika: I’m sorry to disturb your breakfast, Oceane…
Chloe: Don’t be. It’s your job to interrupt me, Marika.
Marika: The makeover station has arrived. Allender was here again, but I got rid of him, and that miner guy too. Also, your nine o’ clock, Catherine Grantham, is here.
Chloe: Have her parents signed the papers?
Marika: Yes, and she’s been to the spa, like you instructed.
Chloe: Good. Initiate protocol 3X, and accompany her to my office. Book the mountaintop for a birthday celebration at 16:00. Close the reception, for good. I think we’ve stemmed the tide of curiosity and applicants for now. You’re doing very well, Marika, and now that we have a new recruit, it’s time you move up.
Marika: Thank you. I won’t disappoint you.

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Chloe: We’re having a busy day, with Celeste’s birthday and a new recruit coming in. Jack, we won’t have time to talk until tomorrow.
Jack: Ahem... I understand.
Chloe: Maybe you could take a look around the island. It doesn’t have a lot to offer, but at least there’s some beaches and hangouts.
Celeste: I want to go to the beach, and swim, and dream about all the things I’m going to do when I’m a teenager…
Jack: Yeah, we can do that I guess.
Reginald: Protocol 3X!
Chloe: Also, feel free to explore the house. Don’t worry about the secure doors, they’ll stay shut, and there’s nothing dangerous hiding behind them.

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Reginald: Protocol 3X! Please make way! Must make ambrosia!
Chloe: Pearl, try to put some thought into the layout of Nebula 9, if you can find the time.
Pearl: HUA.
Celeste: Wow, he can fly, sort of!
Daniel: What’s protocol 3X?
Pearl: Red aura intensive skilling. It’s for the boot, the new recruit.
Daniel: Who’ll provide the aura? I haven’t seen any fairies here.
Pearl: The queen bee, after the interview.
Daniel: Interview? Hm.

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Daniel: Hey, Chloe?
Chloe: Yeah?
Daniel: I haven’t come here to look at the water. Mind if I observe the interview?
Chloe: So, you’ve come here to snoop in my affairs?
Daniel: Absolutely.
Chloe: I’ll indulge you, whipster. Just remember that I’m doing the talking.
Daniel: That’s hard to forget in this place.
Chloe: Down these stairs.

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Chloe: I hear your parents have signed, Catherine. How do they feel about it?
Catherine: They’re not ecstatic, but the money…
Chloe: Marika, remind me what we have her down for.
Marika: Logic, Social Networking and Charisma, to be maxed. Athletics, writing and photography: Medium level. Cooking: Basic level.
Chloe: Right. Catherine, do you remember what I told you? Let me hear it.
Catherine: It’s a 10-year contract, and I’ll be earning 2000 a day. Once my training is completed, I’ll be your spy. My cover is being an actress. I’ll be posted to Moonlight Falls at first, because that’s where they make horror flicks these days. I’ll be a scream queen, but my mission always comes first: Gather information, make people trust me and confide in me.
Chloe: What did I say about attachments, family and religion?
Catherine: Never get attached to anything I’m not prepared to walk out on in 30 seconds. You guys are my new family, and the work I do for you is my new religion.

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Chloe: Good, that’ll do for now. Marika, an addendum: Karaoke sessions.
Catherine: I’m going to learn to sing?
Chloe: It’s just a plan B, in case the acting doesn’t work out. Get her a turquoise Bwan Speedster that matches her eyes. With… a pink and white rosy pattern on the roof.
Catherine: Wow…
Chloe: You need to get around to work on your charisma, but it’s yours to keep. Add 20 LJB’s to the potion que, and check the supply of PIP’s. What’s missing for the BVB’s?
Marika: Vampire fish.
Chloe: Right. I’ll get a couple tonight. We may need them if the skilling is too slow.
The sound of machinery of some sort being operated had gradually crept into the room, and when Daniel became aware that it was coming from behind him, he turned his chair around. Outside, the bot called Simon was fiddling around with levers on a massive contraption with panels spinning quickly around its axis.

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Marika: What will be her athletics regime? 50/50?
Chloe: No, no. Make sure Pearl never lets her touch the weights. Treadmill only, no muscle. Keep her skinny. Vulnerability, innocence and elegance, that’s what we’re going for. Remember that at the makeover station.
Marika: Hair color?
Chloe: Anything that doesn't conflict with what we’re looking to project.
Marika: OK, I’ll do my best.
Chloe: Catherine, it’s time to get to work. Take the potion and prepare to kiss your teenage existence goodbye. Once Marika has given you the makeover, it’s time for ambrosia and a skill drink on the top deck, before we go heavy on logic.
Catherine: What’s ambrosia?
Chloe: Just something to up your mood. If all goes well, your skill training will be done in a couple of days. Off you go.

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Daniel: What’s he doing out there with that machine?
Chloe: Following protocol 3X.
Daniel: What will the machine do?
Chloe: Induce hive mind. I have to get ready.
Daniel: Hive mind?!
The sound of the door closing shut was the only answer he got. He sighed, and looked at the imposing machine and the bot operating it. Just another normal day in Chloeland. Why did she seem to move forward at impossible speed, while the rest of the world was standing still? Recruiting, brewing potions by the dozens, setting up protocols, making bots and houses… Did she ever sleep? Where was her gold mine that paid for all this? Behind one of those secure doors?

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He gave one of those doors a try, and even shoulder-butted it a couple of times, but it was completely pointless. Back on the top deck, a new face had appeared.
Kiara: Daniel Carson, are you telling me you don’t recognize your own cousin?! Yeah, yeah, I was a lot smaller then, you know.
Daniel: Cousin? Eh… Regina?
Kiara: Oaaaa! He scores! But for God’s sake, call me Kiara, that’s what I go by now. Reginald and Regina?! No, no, no, that does not play, you know. Yeah, yeah, you got Danielle, but she’s your mother, and all.
Daniel: How did you get here, and what… are you doing here?
Kiara: I just got in with Echo 2, doing our Lady’s work, you know. The dirty stuff, mostly. I’d prefer a completely psychopathic look for that, but she also wants me to do some recruiting, you know. You here to get initiated?
Daniel: No… Just visting, with my sister, and Jack, our grandfather. Have you been here long?

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Kiara: Not that long, but long enough to come into play, you know. Pearl was her first recruit, and I was the second. But this guy was here before any of us, weren’t you Straticus? Talkative fellow this, almost as talkative as me, you know?
Daniel: How’s Vance and Vanessa? Are they doing OK in Lucky Palms?
Kiara: You know… They keep finding new things to argue about, like me being here, so… you know, I guess they’re doing fine, you know.
Reginald: 3X! Set up the chessboard!
Daniel: You redecorating, Reginald?
Kiara: He’s not very responsive when a protocol is active. I can’t wait until Nebula 9 is up, and we get some more space to play with, and don’t have to move stuff around, you know. Is that our new recruit coming up? Oaaaa… Let’s go have a look at her.

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Marika: I am extremely pleased to introduce the latest member of our establishment: Catherine Grantham.
Kiara: Oaaaa! The winner of the “Most likely to become a honey trap” award! Aren’t you a peach, look at those eyes! Where did they dig you up, darling?
Catherine: I’m from here.
Kiara: A local?! No, no, no, that can’t be, you know. Here I’m dragging my ass across the nation, looking for recruits, and we got gold right here?! Who dug you up?
Catherine: Eh… Marika. She used to be my babysitter.
Kiara: And now she’s babysitting you again, while getting her stripes in the process? You’re a shrewd one Marika, I’ll give you that, you know.

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Marika: This is Daniel Carson, a visitor, and of course, Kiara. She likes to intimidate people, and she’s not one you should emulate, in any way, sh…
Kiara: I don’t like it, it just comes naturally, you know. When you’re ready for lessons in love, I’m your girl, but we could have a lot of fun before that. The showers in this place are a bit tricky, I could show you how they work, once your logic session is over, you know?
Catherine: What…?!
Marika: Back off Kiara, just because she’s new, doesn’t mean you’re free to hassle her.
Kiara: Yeah, yeah… You’re such a bore, Marika. Just because you aren’t into it, doesn’t mean she won’t be. Last I checked, we had a woman sitting on top of our list of targets, so our honey trap better be prepared to play both teams, you know!
Catherine: What’s a honey tra…
Marika: Don’t worry about that, Catherine, it’s time to have your ambrosia.

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Marika: Slower, Catherine. Pace yourself, look up and smile...
Kiara: You wouldn’t mind a piece of that, would you? I could eat her up with a spoon, you kn…
Daniel: She’s very pretty. But I wonder what will be left of her once she’s done the work you’re putting her to.
Kiara: Oaaaa! A sceptic, within our hallowed halls! I’ll tell you what she’ll be: A rich gal with an iron will, skilled beyond any education. We don’t build losers here, you know.
Daniel: If you say so. Who’s the woman on top of your target list?
Kiara: You know… The big one: Aria.
Daniel: You know about all that, and the history behind it?
Kiara: Yeah. Chl… Oceane gave me a copy of “A Different Drum”, and Vance has told me everything he knows. Can’t wait to hear Jack explain how they came to decision of letting your father be the heir, rather than mine.
Daniel: Vance told me they needed him to be a cleaner.
Kiara: Rat's ass. That's Alecia-talk. With Vance in charge, they wouldn't have needed a cleaner!

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As the hive mind triggered, the queen bee appeared, right on cue. She had donned the green wings of old, and fired up her red aura before tutoring Catherine. Kiara goaded him into playing chess, and the combined effects of the hive mind, her aura, the skill drink, and a nearby incense-burner, were quite staggering. They played for hours, and he didn’t win a single game, but for the first time in his life, he was coming close to maximizing a skill. Like her father, Kiara became far less talkative at the chess board, and he didn’t get much from the probing questions he asked her. Since he wasn’t a part of their team, it wasn’t much she was prepared to tell him, though she did brag about maximizing several skills in a matter of days, and hinted at other mystic ways of raising skills. When he asked where Pearl and Marika had gone off to, he was told that they were on the deck below, taking advantage of the red aura and working on their skills. He had thought working on his skills meant sitting on his own, reading a book, but this was really something else.


The hive mind wore off with perfect timing, leaving them just enough time to change, pick up Celeste and Jack, and set off for the birthday party. Kiara stated her dislike for both children and birthday parties, and volunteered to stay behind to monitor Catherine, and to prevent a simbot rebellion from breaking out.

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Unsurprisingly, Jack was completely broke and had no present for Celeste. To cover for him, Daniel gave her some money, saying it was from the both of them. He had feared that Chloe would give her something completely outlandish, but it turned out to be sensible and small: A tablet. Celeste seemed a bit disappointed by the presents, and quickly dived into a game on the tablet to hide it.
Marika: …even Pearl is looking nice, for a change.
Pearl: I don’t look nice, usually?
Jack: Of course you do.
Pearl: Thanks, geezer.
Chloe: I had Angelica send you some homework, you can do them on the tablet.
Marika: You know what I mean. You’re in a nice dress, not in camouflage, or an awful T-shirt and those boots. We could have worked on your hair, though…
Celeste: I don’t want to do homework today. It’s my birthday.
Pearl: Would extensions make me better at flying the chopper, or doing martial arts?
Marika: No, but you don’t have to be such a tomboy most of…
Pearl: I like it practical, Marika, even when on libo. It works for me, and keeps me good to go.
Celeste: I want to blow out the candles now.

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Chloe and Jack were the ones who were most excited by the magical moment. For Chloe, it had to be the first birthday in a couple of centuries, and not many get to see their 3 x great-granddaughter age up. For Jack, it was the only one of his grandchildren’s birthdays he had, and would, be party to.

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Reality quickly set back in. Celeste took one look at the person staring back at her from the pool surface, and said she was ugly, fat, that her hair sucked, and that she basically wanted to die. Had Danielle known about her birthday when she had sent her along? Of course she had. Daniel had missed his sister’s last birthday, and this was Danielle’s way of making sure he didn’t miss this one. It also meant she didn’t have to deal with the first mood swings of their new teenager…

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Marika quickly offered a makeover remedy for some of Celeste’s insecurities, and soon, the women were embroiled in sympathetic sharing of their teenage troubles. It became a bit overwhelmingly girly, and Daniel was already looking for an escape by the time Marika tried to push a makeover on him, leading to his retreat to a lower level of the patio. Jack soon followed suit.

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Daniel: I love looking out over the ocean. It’s so calming. I think I could move here, if I learned how to cope with the heat. How about you?
Jack: Ahem… There’s not much point in me making plans for the future, I think.
Daniel: Oh… yeah.
Jack: I just have a couple of days left, and still they don’t trust me. The receptionist took my phone before she let my through the sluice, and I haven’t got it back.
Daniel: Well, you did have that tent, and there’s only one person you could have got it from.
Jack: That doesn’t mean I had anything to do with the rest of it. Ahem… She just…
Daniel: We can talk about that tomorrow. I want to ask you about Lynx, and the people who are after her. Is that for real, or what?
Jack: It’s for real. Is she still lying low?
Daniel: No, she’s out and about now, hoping for the best. Who are they?

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Jack: I don’t know, and neither does she, really. But they want her because she’s unique. She’s a plantsim that was born, and she’s a plantsim hybrid. Both of those things are supposed to be impossible.
Daniel: If she’s in danger, maybe we can send her here, to join Chloe’s team? She might need a thief.
Jack: Ahem… I doubt that would work out. Lynx doesn’t respond well to authorities, because of her childhood.
Daniel: What about it?
Jack: I promised her never to talk about it. But… I can tell you that it was me who came across a terrified 9-year old on the run, took her to Moonlight Falls, and arranged for social services to take care of her.
Chloe: Move, move, move! We’re under attack!!
Attack? There was no time to talk, just a wild scramble to get down, and back. The road wasn’t exactly straight, and by the time they got there, the attack had been pressed home.

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In her champion outfit, it looked like Bai was there on official business, looking extremely determined. It seemed like Kiara had roused the bots in an effort to beat her off, but their efforts had not made much of an impression on her. By the entrance, Catherine was already practising for her future role as a scream queen.
Chloe: Is she alive?
Bai: Yes.
Chloe: Can we see to her?
Bai: No.
Pearl: Who is she? Please, let me have a go at her first.
Chloe: No, Pearl. She’s here for me, and if there is one thing on two feet you shouldn’t tussle with, it’s her. Is my bird OK?
Bai: Of course. I love birds. Bots, not so much. I left the freak alone, and the other stuff in the basement too.
Chloe: Can we talk, just the two of us?
Bai: A witness is required.
Chloe: Not for what I’m going to say.

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They could only hear bits of conversation, with Chloe asking for “more time”, and Bai grimly denying her any requests. Then the pair started whispering, while Catherine made a run for it. Pearl was agitated, practically itching to get involved, and barely managed to keep her distance. Daniel could only find one explanation for what was happening: Bai was tired of waiting for her potential challenger, and Chloe was that challenger. That also explained why Chloe had muscled up. She must have been hoping to gain the services of Bai, and access to her sister’s tomb with one bold stroke. Was there something of great value hidden in the depths of that tomb? Still, it seemed strange for Bai to do a thing like this, a champion looking to provoke to a challenge…

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Chloe: I’m leaving for China. Pearl, you are in command.
Pearl: Permission to tear her apart?
Chloe: Denied. I’ll just be a couple of days, I hope… Proceed with the things we discussed, if possible.
Bai seemed very pleased with the outcome of their talk. She was smiling as she almost brushed by him.
Bai: You were a blessing, after all. Check your phone, there’s tracking software on it.
Pearl: Hey, high-hair? I’ll see you around.
Bai: Muscle, but no speed…
Pearl: Keep jackin' your jaws, while you got 'em.
Chloe: See to the wounded, Pearl. Be a leader, not a grunt.
He watched, fascinated, as the two most remarkable women he had ever met strolled off together. They were talking, as if they were suddenly the best of friends, and he could even hear Chloe laugh heartily at some remark. It didn’t sound like two opponents preparing to have a go each other, and if they weren’t going to Shang Simla to fight, what was… A blondine tapped his shoulder, asking him if was just going to stand there and dream until becoming a pensioner, or whether he might get his head out of his ass.