Forgetting was important. For Alhena, it wasn’t about Fred either. She could lean back and think about a half-decent life with him, especially because she would have centuries afterwards to do it right with someone else. But that life included no Marco. And with him and Amelia expecting another baby, her life included no Marco anyways.
It still included dynamite, enough for her to get dirty looks when buying it. But Alhena wore it like a badge of honor anyways. She wondered when she would get banned or arrested or put on a no-fly list.
And she invented a neat gadget for getting her well-deserved scraps!
It all forced her out of the house too. As the youngest Ironstar, the family was three old people who smelled...not funny, but like their jobs. Like witch’s herbs and chef’s herbs. Plus, they all pestered her about her inventing, and if Fred was actually a good fit for the family. Alhena shrugged every time.
Then there was her mum. Beck was going a little mad and had a job as a military contractor in her old age? It even got under Vega’s grey skin, though she then rambled about how daemons like them had better armies she still never got along with.
No one knew what killed Beck. She was very old, but in good enough shape for a few arcade games after work. She had called over Samhain to be her Player 2 when the room started spinning.
“Oh no, I was pumped for Cadillacs and Dinosaurs!” But Samhain was deeply hurt. Even his dad had an idea of what not being someone’s beloved was, if just for a brief childhood. There was no pre-Beck life for Samhain that ever mattered. Even Vega’s eyes welled up for a whole minute until she shuffled off to mix more elixirs.
“How many more Knacks are there?” Grim muttered.
“Hey, it’s not the worst thing to keep you in business,” said Beck. “Hopefully your boss keeps it cozy down there for me, I’m used to the best.”
“They all wish for that…”
Meanwhile, Alhena found Fred at the movie theatre anyways.
“I heard you were blowing up cars, and there were cars here, and I didn’t bring mine because I can’t afford another one right now--”
“Can we just watch a horror movie and not talk about that? What if the cops are still out?”
“Ooh, good point.”
Alhena got the message from her dad only after the screening ended.
The Ironstars didn’t do funerals. Beck was quietly interred into the basement, somewhere near her own dad’s statue, and Alhena wasn’t allowed to look. She was an odd woman, but kept Alhena well-dressed. She didn’t have the endless lore about Twinbrook on her mind that the immortals did, and never saw her family as that important anyways. At most, she had good memories of her grandpa Nick.
But even more, Samhain warned for her not to make any moves on Marco until she died.
First mistake, huh?
Now so much time had passed that Alhena forgot who she was even fooling and who she even wanted. Maybe Fred was the right contrast to her after all. He had an early childhood education degree and worked as a babysitter and a burger flipper before that. Alhena would never last in university. And it wasn’t like Marco would ever get his life together.
Getting accepted to med school? Probably just some pressure from Vega, that old bag’s knees had to have failed by then.
Breaking up with Amelia? She deserved it even without Alhena in the picture.
Playing “happy nuclear family” at the dollhouse? Well, that wasn’t a change at all. “Ally” was always the name of one of those dolls.
And Alhena couldn’t judge. She was just a miserable young woman with her own toys. Hers just happened to be extremely dangerous. She basked in their heat knowing that the heat from the family would be worse...for either decision.
What was worse? Samhain, who could never muster any rage beyond disappointment? Who’s whole martials arts philosophy was of non-aggression and defense? On the other hand, there was Vega. Alhena figured she had a portal to either Hell or the cursed planet she was thrust from many seasons before.
Plus, that woman was some kind of psychic. Alhena couldn’t hide a
thing from her.
In the end, it was going to be Marco’s decision.
“Oh wow, you even got them in purple,” she said.
“Best I could buy after child support?”
“And medical school debt.”
“You made the better decision,” he said. “At least for yourself.”
“Cool, you have to get me to the cabin before my knees give out,” Alhena said. “Please
babe?”
They spent a long night there, and no one called to figure out the truth. Alhena pictured both Vega and Samhain too scared to ask the question of which man it was. And Screwtape being content to soak in the hot tub instead. He probably had some new girlfriend and always shied away from conversations about romance.
Supposedly it was about Marco’s mum, but Alhena waved it off as a rumor. She didn’t remember Aunt Sheila much, but Marco’s dad was still around and missed his fiancée. And of course Screwtape stayed married to Clarissa for ages. It was such an old story to try and bring up and guilt the old man with. Or guilt Sheila with. People took either side.
The whole idea of a conversation just fizzled. They all might have finally figured out that Alhena was still young and that marrying right out of high school was going out of style.
But she feared the conversation that came next, it was something she never planned for.
“You look pale,” said Samhain. It was in the middle of a family party too. Alhena was not having any drinks. “Even a grey can figure it out.”
She scoffed. “No idea what you’re talking about.”
“You’re in the right place for this situation, but I have a mental timer for when you’re going to vomit again.”
“It was
one time.”
“More like one hundred,” he mumbled. “Eat some ginger root, sugarplum. It helped your mum a lot.”
“Yeah, sure, start that timer then,” said Alhena.”
“Alright.” He waited a little. “Five, four, three, two…”
“...one.”
Alright rough expectations are finally in place:
1. One more chapter of old screenshots.
2. The epilogue of this story, which becomes the prologue of the next dynasty because I believe in efficiency. But before that's released I must finish...
3. ...the other first chapter of the next dynasty so you all have something new to read.
I have successfully played through the first gens of Heathcliff's and Sheila's dynasty since I last posted a chapter, which is nice but took a lot of false starts (especially for Sheila). There's a great balance of gameplay goodies and bizarre lore or at least there is in my head. Just pray I don't get sidetracked again, at least for a little bit! My big sidetracking was learning how to convert
clothing shoes between ages. So strike that one off my bucket list I've always wanted to do that!
