Kite’s brought home his A! His museum will be impressive indeed. I wonder what he’ll put in it… I think that since the stuff he could make as a child are so cheap, I’ll save talking to him about it until he’s a teen. But since he’s done a good job, and because with Whiz Kid done he’s left with that one that involves a jungle gym and Social Butterfly, I figured a day at the park would be a nice reward!
And since we’re here, I invited up the younger Munches, the Levin-Munches, if you will, and their mother. We were only missing Soren.
Though he came along. At least someone in this family doesn’t have cornrows before a makeover, which seem to have spread across the kids and mostly looks bad with their skintones. And so, I applaud that limited judge of hair fashion. While they’re off playing, Zest takes some time of his own.
“Are you any good at chess, Bonnie?” He asks, looking at the table between them.
“No. Dad, are you?” She asked, moving a piece arbitrarily.
“Can’t say that I am just yet… But I’m up to learn if you are!” I don’t see a grin like that on Zest often.
“You’re on!”
...Though within thirty minutes, they’re both more than willing to call the whole thing off. This park really needs another game, but I’m not going to worry about it now. Bonnie’s not the only Zest spawn at the park, either.
Anabelle Proctor here’s just passing through, but Zest did stop by to say hi to her on her way.
As for me…
“How’ve you been?” I ask my coworker and erstwhile… Is there a word for the spouse of an old man who lives in your house? We work at the same place, even if we’re in different roles there. Mine is cooler. But anyway, even though that’s the case, it’s hard to check up on someone when you should be making another Sim Island Iced Tea, aka the worst cocktail. Get that thing out of my face.
“Oh, busy, busy,” she says, sighing. “I’m now I think rather glad Gunther never left the nest, even if it means the nest, so to speak, is very full.”
There is a moment of silence between us, in between talking about that freaking Gretchen, the hostess. She’s very whiny, is the short of it.
“Just take control of your life!” Is my summation of my thoughts about Gretchen.
“You’ve got a nice family,” she says, lifting her head to watch her kids playing with Kite, rather than the clouds.
“Yours, too. It’s nice to see them all play; he should have friends.” For one, the extra aspiration points. For another, dynasty reasons. Very important, though I wouldn’t rely on Julian. Maybe Carla or Kate or Soren, but Julian’s older enough than him that I wouldn’t count on it. And anyway… It keeps me having to beat up too many schoolkids. Let’s not pretend -- a kid who’s as odd as Kite’s gonna have some punks coming his way. I did, too, but for different reasons. And then they learned a lesson or two about messing with me, and they only had to use tissue up their noses a
few times before I got it through their skulls. Ahhh, the memories. Of taking names.
“...I wish he could have seen them grow up a little more,” she adds, with an abrupt wistfulness. Help. Someone. Please? That’s when I mention something I’ve had in the works for a bit.
“...I had his ashes buried here… Used a few favors to set up a little something.” You’d be surprised what you can get when your wife used to do fundraising and you were the one who called the mayor about his son trying to get drinks with a fake ID, without any news media or police finding out… Yet.
“What?” She sits bolt upright.
“Right over there, under that cherry tree.”
The first of many.
“...He seemed like a sunflower kind of guy. Seemed, I dunno. Respectful.”
It’s really what I could think to say, before leaving her almost alone, staring at the grave from over the fence. I say almost, because Miko sees the look on her face -- comforted and devastated again all at once. I might have done the wrong thing.
“We miss him, too. He was a great friend,” she says, gently placing a hand on Mila’s shoulder before pulling it away to try and wipe her eyes. “Sometimes… I go to clean the fishtanks and I… They were his fish. I think that they were his fish!”
And then they are both crying, and I leave them to it for a while, because I am not interrupting a pregnant woman’s crying time. But eventually, I console Miko and grill something up for her for a bit -- just sort of general there-thering. Look, I don’t know. But!
Hasn’t Mila earned a chance to grieve by herself a while? This may be the first time she’s really had that. I certainly dragged my feet.
I can entertain the kids while she does that. Or, well, join the entertainment, already in progress.
“The great kraken lurks in the depths, waiting to pounce on the ship!” Does the kraken pounce? Are krakens pouncers?
“Avast! Captain Julian! There’s a kraken at the starboard bow!” Shouts one of the two gunners.
“Cannoneer Kite, prepare to fire!” Shouts the ship’s captain. Now, in my opinion, Kite oughta be captain, but they’re having fun, so what do I know? Lots, actually, but that doesn’t matter.
“Aye-yup, Cap’n-boss-man,” answers Kite as he mimes lighting the cannon’s fuse.
“That’s Captain-boss-man, sir!”
“...Nah, it aint,” he answers with a faint smile.
After the formidable and beautiful kraken is slain and banished to the oceanic depths, Kite and I both take a break! He takes a break to talk to Kate Munch.
“So’s I was thinkin’ bout aliens a coupla’ sunsets back --” He’s saying, before being cut off. Rude.
“Do you think aliens exist? I haven’t seen any in our neighborhood!”
“Sure, they gotta, right? Couple’a specks like us got as much business as aliens, an’ about as big in the cosmos, ‘less they’re giant aliens. Trip, man -- they could get pretty big, huh?”
“I don’t think I’m a speck,” she said, with the certainty of a girl who’s going places. You tell… Hm. Well, tell my son that, but gently. He is also not a speck. “I’m very important. Even aliens should know that, if they exist.”
“Got a point there,” he laughs, stretching out on the back. This gets Kate to narrow her eyes.
“You’re just saying that,” she said.
“Nah! Nah! If I were just sayin’ that, I wouldn’t say it; wouldn’ta said anything ‘bout specks to start, right? Cause I’d want you t’like me, I’da said ‘nah, I don’t believe in stuff like aliens,’ but I did: that’s just how your friendly neighborhood Kite sees it. So you gotta point,” he affirmed again, considering -- if I had to guess -- the cosmic significance of aliens. “‘F I see any, I’ll let ‘em know all ‘bout my important bud Kate, ‘kay?”
“Great! Let me know if you do!” She pumps her fists, completely charmed. Atta boy.
I myself am doing my own charming.
“So what made you apply to join the flock in the first place?” I ask Penny, who I called up for juuust this purpose. Also, to keep everyone pumped. Multi-tasking.
“The stories I was getting about your club were really unique and interesting, but your membership is really exclusive! It seemed like just the sort of group my followers would be interested in hearing about.”
Do we really do anything? Is cleaning cool now? Eh, well. Let my fame spread!
“That’s great. I’m really happy to have you around. You’ve never broken anything. You don’t get my bar messy,” I add, thinking of a certain red-haired lout who I’m stuck with for a while. “Also, you’ve got a great sense of style. A certain type of woman just needs bold tones, don’t you think?”
“Absolutely, girl! Style is so important. You’ve got to keep up the hippest trends, and right now? This whole scheme that’s going around is really innovative and fun, so I’m hoping it sticks around for a bit…”
And I think at this point, we can call our good friendship forged.
Zest’s ended up even playing with kids that aren’t his -- well, some of them, anyway. With Carla, Yaritza, and Bonnie there is the other Jang sister, whichever that is… One of them has a weird name, says the woman who named her son Kite. But really, Star is just an odd name.
“The ship must contend with… The dreaded Purple-spottled flarbledeegook!” I hear him shout. Only to be met down with Yaritza’s:
“Dad! Be a real sea monster!” and Bonnie’s back-up shout of:
“Yeah, Dad!”
And this gives Zest a moment’s pause for mock-offense.
“And how do you girls know that’s not a real sea monster?” He puffed out his chest and stood proudly, the ship game grinding to a halt. “Ask me anything, I can prove it’s a real sea monster!”
All sea monsters are fictional, by the way. Just so we're clear.
“What do Purple-spottled flarbledeegooks eat?” asks Bonnie.
“Fish and Ships, of course!” And I, for one, realize that he has been thinking up sea monster jokes since he was asked to play, and they’re going to hear them. And Yaritza realizes it, too.
“Daaaad!”
“What? I’m not kraken you up?”
“Dad.”
“I just can’t fathom the problem… But I guess if that’s how it is, there are other fish in the sea.” He paused, for a moment. “Ok, that one was just lazy, I apologize. You guys deserve better.”
“As long as you admit it,” says Yaritza.
“I thought the kraken one was funny, Dad,” adds Bonnie, leaning up against the canon.
“True, but I spoiled your game! Being a killjoy is against the very ethos of my craft! I’ll be good.”
“Ohhhhh.” The voice comes from Carla, who suddenly looks up from some deep concentration. “It’s like fish and chips!”
To revive the game, Zest ends up dragging me into it.
So he’s the Purple whatever, and I’m, I dunno, I just make grrr noises. I did my part for Kite, who at this point is spending some time with the eldest of the Levin-Munches.
“The trick t’the teach is to think of somethin’ inneresting ‘bout the flots-of-em, just put a real shine on the thing. Then, she’ll pick on the vibes, you’ll sync to her vibes, it’ll all groove,” Kite’s explaining to Julian when I start dropping in.
“So, I just make whatever she’s saying sound cool to me?” Julian’s question is met with a bunch of nods.
“Got your boy an A, an’ thass prob’bly a bolt from the blue!...But sometimes, you gotta do stuff that maybe aint your bag, dig? But you gotta just… Make it your bag. Bag it like groceries. Yer a brainiac, Jules, if you wanna be,” Kite insists, giving the other boy a pat on the back. That’s not enough to get them to friends for Social Butterfly, though, but that’s all the time we have tonight.
We come home to a fresh remodel; I’d been meaning to have a nice fireplace we could decorate for a while now, and a little chimney up the houses’ side. Besides, it’ll be nice, even if it means shifting a few things to the back porch rather than the side one.
“Hey, Mom,” Kite asks me, “Say you got bud one and bud two, an’ their steaming over somethin’ and it’s gettin’ real rough. Whaddya do to cool it off?”
Ah, a mediation question. Lemee roll up my sleeves and get some character values into the boy!
“Well, step one, you decide if it’s stupid. Then, you explain to them that they’re being stupid, and how. Then, since you’re sticking your nose in, you tell them how to fix it, and try to get people to move on in the way you want them to. That probably means thinking about what they want for a while.” This is the basic Kestral method of sticking your nose in someone’s business! “But if someone wants your help with a friend, you’ve got to approach that a little more sympathetically. Part of the whole thing is listening. Got all that?”
Kite nods, hesitantly.
“So youse gotta ponder out what’s on the loose wig… An’ you lay it all out for ‘em so they see what you’re seein’... An’ what’s gotta go down to make it square, an’ listen to make sure it’s really square, and not jus’ paperin’ it over, an’ then when everyone’s got the best happy endin’ they can muster up, you, I dunno, go do somethin’ nice? Maybe ice-cream… Maybe somethin’ rocky-roadish, ‘cuz friendship’s got all the chunks an’ it’s all gotta go together, and aint life a rocky road?...You think other ice cream’s good for other stuff?”
“If you’re going to put it like that.” I consider this conversation in full. “Would you like some ice cream, Kite?”
“Sure would!”
Miko did some painting, and one of them is just so cute that we have to hang it in what’ll be our nursery. I doubt it’ll be big enough to be a real bedroom; we might have to shuffle some things around.
In the meanwhile, this Robot is destroying things with its laser-eyes and just looks
so happy. It’s wonderful. In the meanwhile, we’ll try to build up the cash to flesh out the nursery -- it’s where Gino’s room was.
Miko’s moving onto her third job -- I don’t know if she’ll stay with this one, or if she’ll go back, but here she is!
“Your social media star! Mikoooooo rides again!”
The next day, Zest has plans to invite a woman he’s met over.
“How do you deal romantically, Johnny?” Akira asks while Zest waits. “Doesn’t it hurt, getting your hopes dashed?”
“...What, you mean about how slow promotions are? I’m getting there, and nothing’s dashed just yet. I’m going to make it to the top! You should actually do your daily tasks more.”
“I mean romantically!”
“Oh. That’s because I only hope to have a nice time with a cool lady, Akira! It doesn’t have to be the be-all and end-all of my life. I’ve got my work, for one, and my friends, and…” He smiles a little to himself. “I guess I’ve got some love in my life, after all. Monogamy’s a hassle.”
“It’s not, though! ...You just wouldn’t get it,” Akira insists, over Johnny’s chuckle.
Of course, after a while, Zest actually
loses track of his guest for the day. She just went off somewhere on her own, and he decided that that was fine. Because he got another call, for another guest..
“Hey, Johnny, it’s Jade Rosa. Mind watching Fiona for a bit?”
“Sure thing, drop her off here for the day.”
“Up you go!”
“Up! Up!” She’s a giggly little thing, one of Zest’s few dark-haired kids. Actually, I think it’s just her and Hob.
The thing is, I knew where his *other* guest of the day, one Haven Wheatley, went.
She went to talk to my wife instead.
“I left the room so he’d follow me. He’s not following me. Does that mean he doesn’t
like me?”
“No, no, it’s ok! You’re a great woman, I can tell!...He probably just didn’t know we added that back door. It wasn’t here before!” Miko explains, gesturing to the new back door, which, yeah, we did just add it. “Anyway, why don’t you hang out and play chess with me for a while instead?”
“It’ll serve him right!” Haven agrees, sharing a grin...Before Miko abruptly gets up.
“Right after the baby’s done dancing on my bladder. BRB! Oh, come on and come already, baby!”
Poor Miko. It’s gotta be soon, right?
If you’re wondering what Zest was doing when not realizing where his date went… He’s reading books about underpants, that’s what.
“‘Zachary Zebra did not like buttons, or snaps, or sleeves, or slippers, or zillions of zippers. But he did like underwear.’”
“Heeeheee. You said ‘underwear.” Fiona is lost in giggles at the mere mention of the word which, and I know this because Kite liked it, is going to appear probably more than any other word in this story about animals in underwear.
“Oh, did I ever choose right.”
Since I’ve got some time on my hands, I’m reading more filling fare, taking up a little research into Vampires; most of it’s completely useless to me, but at the highest peak, well,
that could be useful to the dynasty down the line. Vampires need to get their fangs clipped before they kiss
my descendants.
I’m not the only one working on skills, either. Miko’s making some pretty good gardening progress researching the plants we have around -- I should see if there’s anything I can do, besides play part-time chess partner -- to help her with her efforts; it’s good to see her really working to experience the world!
