Outrun the Scythe: A Tale of Daemons and Immortals (Updated 8/3)

[Trip]

Oooof. I would have way more opinions on the kids, but I'm too busy being caught up in lonely teenage gay feelings. You captured those beautifully. I'm really looking forward to Heathcliff running wild in Bridgeport.

Heathcliff is every gay teenager wondering if they're the only ones like them around (I mean I still think that a lot) At least I could actually make boys for him to interact with because the census in the dynasty file if it went on was a big fat ZERO!

I don't know what I liked the most. Heathcliff himself, his relationship with Sheila, Tarik... and I particularly liked the last scene.

I like the dynamic between Heathcliff and Sheila the most (if my opinion counts that much, chapters are left to the reader once I hit "post") because it's fueled by the things that make them special. Mostly being angry and nervous.

Dynastys are always so heteronormative by necessity, it's always nice to see stories taking the time for gay sims. Hopefully Heathcliff finds Bridgeport more to his speed!

Sometimes I wonder if I'm operating the wrong rulesets...at least TS4 fixed that issue and we argued Metro down about allowing reproductive changes in dynasties with only some restrictions (just kidding everyone took it well) I didn't go into the new dynasties hoping to prove a point but Heathcliff (and others) made me do it anyways.

[Trip]

🙠 0.4 🙢

“Bridgeport will want a male dancer who can do it all,” said Ms. Whelohff. Or Ruth, since she became a first-name friend as soon as I became an adult.

She still privately tutored me on all the things she wished she was better at. Like en pointe work. Her backstory involved a failed audition and a broken toe, and opening a ballet school instead. I figured I would sculpt if that happened to me, just like my mum, grandma, and great-grandpa before me. May as well start a dynasty too, but I still scoffed at that. “And they’ll want you to dye your hair more naturally.”

“Next you’ll say they want me to cut it too,” I said. The wide-eyed fear was genuine. I dedicated years to growing hair that I could put in a bun just like a female dancer could. At some point Ruth and I compromised on me going blond instead of something crazier. Was that still not enough?

Until my audition, I was helping out Ruth with her beginner classes. The kids didn’t know what making fun of people was like, or you could at least brush it off.

She even got Sherrie and I understudy parts at the Terrebonne Ballet Company, ranked 57th in the nation outta 58. But at least they didn’t make me change my hair. Their stars succumbed to food poisoning a lot, or sabotage from a mischievous fairy. I pretended to not know anything about it. Despite our one argument about Tarik (who moved away for college), Sherrie was still my dance partner. Maybe even for the rest of my life.

Then she got recruited for a ballet in the middle of the country. If I wanted to perform in the cornfields, I’d have done it ages before! But instead, I had a road trip planned for myself, grandma, and dad. They would drop me off at Bridgeport and spend a summer on the west coast. Grandma Sheila didn’t know how much longer she had left, just how she wanted to spend it.

Waiting was the worst part. I at least knew how to pass the time.

I started to warm up more at parties and bars, especially knowing how much liquid courage I needed. I never blacked out again, and I never got too flustered to speak either. Tarik was long gone in my life, but I took a lot of his advice to heart. I still hoped he would call one day, even if it wasn’t to explore feelings of his.

It gave me the courage for my favorite bar trick, though. Did you know I’m a ballet dancer, sounds enticing, doesn’t it? And as long as you don’t weigh over 150lbs, I’ll lift you like a feather. Every guy who got lifted would gasp and laugh in spasms, which made holding them harder but that was part of the challenge.

Usually, my phone didn’t ring this late at night. Everyone in my family was old enough to be in bed by then, even mum. Plus, they’d hear all the vulgar sounds of a bar near midnight and I’d have to tell a story I didn’t want to.

“That was crazy!” said the young man I lifted up.

“You know what else is crazy? My grandma calling me,” I said. “Yeah, stop laughing, I still have one of those.” Or I hoped I still did. But dad would call me from his own phone if something happened to her.

“Hey...can’t sleep?” I asked her.

“I need someone to drive me home from the hospital, and I have no idea where Carisa is at this ungodly time of night.”

“Wait, did something happen to you?"

“Unfortunately not…”


She went back to her guitar when we got home, and didn’t want to talk about what had just happened. I prodded her anyways in the car, only to get “heart issues run in the family, be careful of that.”

My dad died of a heart attack right after I left. He was the same age that Sheila’s own dad was when the same thing took him. I clutched my chest and wondered what it would take to break my own, because this was testing it.

But at least I wasn’t Sheila, who wasn’t supposed to see her own son die, but came back for it anyways. I figured that she never knew how long resurrection was meant to be for. Even in the holy books, it was hardly permanent. I would have made the same decision in her shoes.

In her past life, she buried all her suffering underneath art. It used to be painting, and now I couldn’t let her play guitar and never talk to me.

I sat down with grandma, putting my back to hers. Her guitar playing had improved so much, and her chords finally wrapped around me like an electric blanket. I finally understood music in the same that she did.

“Don’t blame yourself,” I told her. “You made him happy.”

“With your mum? I hope I did.”

I didn’t expect to have to comfort my mum about it, but there was always a piece of their hearts that stayed forever linked. It was like a single vein that was easy to forget about until it bled and bled out. She even insisted on a funeral, which I learned was a first for our family.

“Dad says we shouldn’t go because we don’t do funerals, and he’s right. I’d make a fool of myself at it one way or another,” said Samhain, who was still dressed in his pajamas. He was probably meditating on the balcony instead of mourning all week. “But regardless, I always tried to see Marco as a little brother.”

“Which is why you didn’t like us together, I know,” said mum. “Unfortunately, Heathcliff wrote a eulogy to the old coot, so I can’t be an Ironstar with you today and eat weird food in the basement.”

“In due time, sweetheart, in due time. Maybe you can visit your mother down there and tell her how sorry you are.”

“Just ignore him, and your grandma too. Everyone’s going to be weird about this,” said Alhena. “Plus I fear whatever dark magic your grandma’s hiding. Funny how she got it and we didn’t…”

We had a plot for my grandma picked out, which had to host my dad’s remains instead. Near him was Grandpa Heath, and the two aunts I never knew. Instead of resting there, grandma tended to the grave every week. So dad could at least rest with flowers and a weeping angel statue.

I was the only one speaking to my dad’s family. It wasn’t huge, but I had three half-siblings anyways. We always felt too separate thanks to age, except for Kenya on the right. Five years separated us, and he taught me how to drive.

Of course there was grandma and Aunt Carisa. Dad’s ex-girlfriend, Amelia, was welcomed with open arms somehow. And mum was sobbing like a maniac. I wanted to as well, but my schedule was busy with things I didn’t need to cry at. I had ballet and listening to wills after all.

I had to start sometime. “I will remember my dad as the only person who went to all my recitals, which sounds stupid and petty but…”

“...he could have the been the guy who ran away and didn’t care...”

The Ironstars weren’t preparing me well for my great-great-grandma to visit again. We dropped the subject pretty fast. They had a lot of photos of her, though. She always wore black and had a big nose, I’m sure she’d admit to all of that. And like only three other people I knew, she was a glowing shade of grey. She was like staring at a full moon or a weimaraner.

I mean, who else would it be? I assumed she wrapped her mountain of curly hair up for a reason.

“...and yeah he saved a lot of lives as a nurse and made his mum’s life awesome, Heathcliff out!”

At the very least, a big hole opened up in the clouds and sun flooded Twinbrook. I would have taken it as a sign if I didn’t know the truth about death. But he was probably happier than his own mother was.

“I’m not blind, Heathcliff, and you really need to be careful around that woman,” said Sheila. “I know she would never hurt you herself, but I’m worried about...about the future she sees.”

“She’s in earshot of us, anyways, I’m gonna say hello and have a cool story to tell the Ironstars. And everyone will be happy,” I said. “Even you will be.”

“If you come back to the house tonight, I will be. I just need that shred of trust.”

“Deal.”

And my first impression? Not as scary as everyone said she was!

“Well, sad to see the unfortunate man go,” she said to me. “Did Alhena really divorce him? Some rumors hit my side of the universe.”

“I need to know what you want,” I told her. “And I miss my dad.”

“Fine, I hope my favorite bar is still around then,” she said. “I met your great-grandmother at the Red Rendezvous many, many years ago. It was almost love at first sight.”

“That old place?”

“So it’s still here?”

“I thought you were an all-knowing daemon.” And yes, it was still open.

“Places are a more difficult beast. But it’s probably the only way you’ll loosen me up, everyone in this town knew me as a stick in the mud.”

I could relate to that. If it worked for me, it would work for Vega, even at Twinbrook’s most outdated place.

Like seriously, it was always seniors’ night there.

“A dancer? I’d have never guessed,” said Vega, once my life’s story was over. She ordered a bottle of red wine for the two of us to split. Nothing too complex or strong, but overpriced? Yep. It was to prepare me for the cost of living in Bridgeport and to celebrate adulthood. I guess she wouldn’t have seen me through it otherwise. “There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but you look so much like your great-grandfather that I thought you’d be just like him.”

“Hey, sculpting looks neat too,” I said, after silently offering more wine. “I did alright in high school ceramics...you really think I’m just like him? The whole gay thing doesn’t make you squirm?”

“No? Has anyone told you what being a daemon is like?” she said. “I’d have loved you the way you are even if my dynasty was still thriving. You’re not unlike everyone I knew. I was lucky to find my husband, but I had a backup plan for myself.”

“Yeah, I’ve gotten the surrogate talk too.” It was a weird life as the last in a line of daemons. Otherwise, I’d just get a cat.

“And have you gotten the dynasty talk as well?” she asked me.

“God, more than I can handle. And it always goes back to the same thing, that if I gotta do it, I have to treat that and being gay like some fine balancing act. It sounds awful.”

“They shouldn’t make me knock some sense into them again,” she said, swirling around her half-drunk glass. “That’s not how this is supposed to work, but whoever had the first straight dynasty heir doomed us all, didn’t they! Not like I helped, but they didn't update the books either.”

“I mean...it sounds nice but I’m not sure I’m on earth for it.”

“Listen, no one is, but I already arranged for some important people to talk about it. And it’s part of my PR tour, but they don’t need to know that,” said Vega.

“PR for what?” I asked, you know, just in case all the rumors about her being evil were true.

“Of course it involves your grandma, no hard feelings or anything. But today isn’t about her, it's about you and your heritage.”

“Well, if you went through the trouble, I have a hard time saying no to talking.” My eyes shifted around the room. I expected some monsters to descend at any minute.

“I’ll explain everything on the way there.” Vega grabbed my wrist and marched me out the door. “My aunt and uncle are waiting by the mermaid statue across the street, and there’s a lot of ground to cover.”

“Fine, loosen your grip though, I’m still sore from dance,” I said.

“And that’s fifty-six dollars!” said the bartender. She repeated it until we were out of earshot. I’d have to remember to pay her...

[Nella]

All catch up! I love this story you're creating, I imagine the time and dedication it must take so congrats for doing that and delivering a great tale. I specially love the scenes between Sheila and Heathcliff, their relationship is so beautiful.

[Chubling]

Oh sweet Heathcliff. You'll get older and realize the straight kids you crushed in are no big deal and you'll meet other queers and it will be glorious. I love him and Sheila's relationship and I'm really looking forward to how it will turn into dueling dynasties and what that will do to that tender relationship. You are a wonderful writer and it's always a joy to read your updates

[Trip]

All catch up! I love this story you're creating, I imagine the time and dedication it must take so congrats for doing that and delivering a great tale. I specially love the scenes between Sheila and Heathcliff, their relationship is so beautiful.

@Nella: it's been a lot of work behind the scenes but it's at least something I like doing and sorely missed (I took a long break from "serious" sims storytelling but I can never leave) I'm learning more than ever that grandparents are super-important though I do wish that the "be immortal pls" question was asked to mine as it will inevitably be asked to Sheila.

Oh sweet Heathcliff. You'll get older and realize the straight kids you crushed in are no big deal and you'll meet other queers and it will be glorious. I love him and Sheila's relationship and I'm really looking forward to how it will turn into dueling dynasties and what that will do to that tender relationship. You are a wonderful writer and it's always a joy to read your updates

@Chubling: hopefully I won't break your heart even as Heathcliff and Sheila are drowning in members of their preferred gender(s) and partying 'til dawn or slaving away on skills. They both had a lot of work to do.

[Chubling]

Ha! Break it away! I mean, as a gay I have a soft spot for s young, sad gay, but he's about to move to the big city! Besides, what's more fun than watching beloved characters make terrible choices?

[CeresIn]

I must confess that I missed Vega, despite the mixed feelings she provokes in me.
As for Heathcliff all I want to do is to smother him in hugs.

[Trip]

Ha! Break it away! I mean, as a gay I have a soft spot for s young, sad gay, but he's about to move to the big city! Besides, what's more fun than watching beloved characters make terrible choices?

@Chubling: not much at all! Maybe watching epic chihuahua zoomies at home? (not my vid but it's like looking into a mirror...)

I must confess that I missed Vega, despite the mixed feelings she provokes in me.
As for Heathcliff all I want to do is to smother him in hugs.

@CeresIn: I greatly enjoy writing Vega. One day I'll actually figure out what her plot is but she gets to impart wisdom in the meantime, and her dialogue with others is always a blast.

[Trip]

🙠 0.5 🙢

“You want me to do this only so my uncle Pilona doesn’t wither and die?” I asked Holi. She was seeming like the reasonable one at the park. “So what do you do to stay young?”

“That is a secret. Ambrosia is truly the worst way around the problem, but Pilona has always been the stubborn one in this family,” Holi said.

“You’ll think it’s less stupid with my help,” he said. “But that’s the least of our problems right now. We’re meeting my beautiful ex-girlfriend, Laitamazhima, the Seventh Priestess of Death.”

Congrats to Pilona for getting someone I pictured as celibate. Hopefully he wouldn’t make it awkward.

Vega was in the back mixing some elixir. I heard that was what she did as a job. And she shoved a glass full of blue liquid into my hands.

“I hate this demotion,” she mumbled.

Well, I was not one to turn down a mysterious drink!

Or one to fall down from one. History loved to repeat itself, but this time right in front of family.

The optimistic side of me hoped that this was simply going to keep me calm while they traveled. I was not a calm man on an airplane, if I had to choose the fastest mode of transit I knew. Screwtape tried to take me to France once and it was a disaster. With that in mind, I needed Vega more than I thought.

I started to come to my senses again and felt warm, dry air on my skin. Heard a beautiful humming and the less beautiful sounds of strangers talking. So it was also like a hospital and I had to wonder about what I drank. It was as if no time had passed at all.

Someone was carrying me too. I rested in their thick arms until I had to question what was going on at all.

“Let me down, and don’t probe me! I’m one of you.”

“Relax, you’re not dying.” The woman who carried me sounded kinda familiar, like she was from the delta too. If we were still in Twinbrook, I’d ask her where she went to school or if she was friends with any of the dancers I knew. Even without that, I'd appreciate knowing another daemon. This one was purple and dressed in leather. I could feel her sleeves against my back.

“No probing either?”

“Fine, I promise. Anyways, welcome to Levezhafa Pelãnisipelã.”

“Can you make it shorter?”

“I spent way too long learning Daemonic to do that,” she said. “I guess you have a lot to learn, no worries, you think any of us grow up with it?”

“Well, that’s comforting.” Her name was Samira, Sam was also fine, and her job was to make me feel comfortable on a strange planet. She said she knew one of my grandmothers, which didn’t tell me much. I guess if I ever got back to Sheila’s house in time, I could ask.

She let me down to my feet. I didn’t feel weightless and could have had a lot of questions about her little planet and glass pyramid. But something felt rude about prying. I was just a guest and learned about being a stupid one in other places.

“I gotta say, you run one cool planet,” I told her. We were surrounded by magenta trees and swirling auroras in the night sky. “So you get solar storms too?”

“You have a lot to learn, kid.”

“And who’s the red woman ahead?” Vega was near her and muttered...something. Something grumpy since the other Ironstars knew her for that. But it was hard to hear at a distance outside, like we were at a play or a concert. I guess this was the place for me after all. No wonder they didn’t want my mum to talk about a dynasty, she liked silence and we definitely fought about it.

“No one important, just one of Death’s priestesses." Sam blew a strand of hair away from her face. I'd be a fool if I didn't say that her hip-length hair was my growing-out goal. "I’ll handle the intros, it’s my pyramid and my guests. Real crazy life I stepped into.”

I had to hand it to Samira, she kept a pretty cool place. I’d be able to see the whole sky through there if I laid on my back. She seemed like she’d let me if I asked, but then there was Zhima. She was dressed in black and looked like the daughter of the devil. We all were as daemons, if that’s how it worked, but she also moved stiffly and didn’t smile at me.

We even sat together for a bit. “I’m waiting for a friend or another one.” She looked over at one of the priestess’ assistants, who was plump and pink. “Hey Louise, you look like you haven’t seen the sun in years!”

“Yeah, Zhima’s keeping me underground. You?”

“Who’s the other one?” There was only one other man there besides Pilona and myself. He was candy apple-red like his priestess but unlike her: kinda cute. He looked great in hot pants.

“Barry O’Neill, top reaper and royal pain in the butt,” she said, rolling her eyes.

He looked over. He had beautiful ice-blue eyes. “We're not royalty.”

“See, he's an illegitimate child, but it doesn't actually matter in Daemon society,” Sam continued. He ignored her for the rest of the time.

“Are we waiting for someone?” I asked her.

That someone and her assistants made herself known. Music filled the pyramid. I looked outside and liked the big one’s theatrical flair. We’d get along well if I wasn’t taken to another planet sort-of against my will.

Her assistants ran up to me first, almost as if they could dance while running. Like doing a spin with a spring in their step. I had no place to judge it but I walked and ran like a normal guy. The job of dancing had to be different on this planet.

Yeah, I knew they were dancers. It wasn’t their skin (blue) or dresses (anyone could wear a short dress), but call it a sixth sense. It was the physique and attitude. I didn’t fear it at least…

“Kalavzhaimola kikale’tai mana.” The one that said that sounded happy, even a little seductive to someone who wanted her. But I...thought everyone could tell what was going on with me.

“Ah get ‘em off me! Oh why couldn’t this have been Barry…”

It got a chuckle out of him. He didn’t come in to help. Samira did.

She would have appreciated the two of them a lot more. The two dancers stood in the corner and as long as music was playing, even quietly, they would not stop dancing. It must have made their normal lives so quiet and boring. They'd at least be at home in Bridgeport. I wanted to go to those clubs too when I got there.

“Well, besides the mishap, I want to welcome you all to my humble little pyramid,” said Sam. “And we are here to discuss Immortal Redo Case #498 for Heathcliff Ironstar after an unsanctioned resurrection. Bad rule to break but you know...it happens to the best of us." Zhima coughed to get Samira back on track. "Anyways, our judges are Laitamazhima, representing Death, and Khamanatã, representing life. Arguing for Heathcliff is his family: Apamiveka, Holipelãneia, and Savazheiapilona.”

I gave them a light applause. Hopefully I still got to use their short names. All three of them rose to give their case. Pilona needed the help of his cane to get up and dug it into the ground as hard as he could. At least he embodied my greatest fears.

“Despite the selfishness and failures of my beloved niece and the mistreated poor soul she brought back, I am requesting a grant to plant an immortal in the Cascadia region of the Americas,” said Pilona. “This will also secure my longevity through ambrosia, as I am sure my lover on that couch has noticed my failing gait.”

“My failures? Mistreatment? And you still think that Zhima loved you when she never answered your messages? I knew you never changed...”

This meeting was supposed to be about me, and while it was nice to stay quiet, it was boring. I still wanted to make it clear that dance came first, but that was getting unlikely with Vega and Pilona squabbling. Sam was tending to the holo-plants and I didn’t blame her, but I also thought she had this as a job.

So I watched others. I could always look over my shoulder at Barry, but he’d probably catch me and be mad about it. It’s not like I chose to be born into a species of female daemons. They could only do so much to make me not feel like a peach-colored outsider.

Holi wandered over to the priestesses, which could have been interesting.

“Ladies, can we take a break and appreciate how far the old chain’s bloodline has gone?” Holi asked them, putting a hand on each shoulder. “This one is nothing like I expected.”

“I do not appreciate it,” said Zhima.

“But is he not a fine child? The best outcome of the wretched Ironstar bloodline?”

“I do not wish to comment, and please stop touching me.”

“And please keep your hand there, it feels nice,” said Khama. “I missed you.”

“It was a long and dark century without my Violet,” said Holi. Her eyes were locked into the shining white void of Khama’s.

“Kalimenãta’tai, surely you have a better memory than that old bat next to you.” Holi started massaging her shoulders and Khama melted right into it. “Even if none of us ever knew his family, I was informed that he is an unparalleled dancer.”

“Oh how I love the art.” Khama sighed. “But Heathcliff is not exactly an expert on our lives. He is a charming young man, but what does he have to offer to Daemonic society? Surely he never knew the ancestors we remember the most.”

“The fact that he doesn’t have to offer anything yet…”

“...look at him, he is so vibrant and genial and curious and full of nothing. I met my grand-nephew and his other descendants this afternoon, and none of them impressed me so much with their ignorance. I have come to appreciate ignorance in the face of hundreds of imposters.”

Khama nodded. I looked over my shoulder to where Zhima was going. Her assistants seemed more useful than Khama’s dancers, but they mostly stood to the side to guard her. I’d let Barry stab me with his stiletto heel, but I wouldn’t attack Zhima for it. Her only crime to me was being stern.

“He’s nothin’ like you warned us about,” said Louise.

“This does not pertain to you, Louise,” muttered Zhima. “But my lovely Barry, you are the only judge of character I can trust. Surely you must remember the Drudge woman, let alone your uncle’s--”

He rolled his eyes and shifted his feet. I was ready to have all my illusions about him shattered if he decided to slander my grandma. Or anyone else, I didn’t think this was the best place to talk about those things.

“Lighten up, he won’t go down in the history books. Just let him eat ambrosia and dance.”

Vega was sneaking up behind them. She was a quiet walker and light on her sandaled feet.

I flinched in my seat when they started fighting. Pilona was next to me and did the same, fidgeting with his cane while his elderly niece lunged for Zhima. He could have stuck his cane in to stop them (of course I would have), but then he grabbed my hand.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said to me. “But it’s nothing but petty squabbles. They say you’re not a daemon without eight lovers and eight enemies.”

“Can they be the same people?” I asked him.
Pilona chuckled. “You get it, don’t you? I’m glad you got to see a little slice of our empire, and meet the lovely Samira. She was my favorite miner.”

“Wow, I wish I wasn’t so single-minded.” It would’ve been cooler if the meeting was just drinking strange drinks with Sam. She must have had some great stories to tell, and I had a feeling I’d never meet her again. At least not easily.

I needed a daemon friend. The whole experience made me feel so helpless without one. I missed the stage and the few moments I felt connected with dancers through the rhythm itself. And I missed Earth, which was full of smoking hot men. It sounded like Pilona was at home there, though.

He leaned on me even as he opened up a portal back to Earth. It was a fast journey after all. Within seconds I was in a basement, which actually filled my head with a lot of questions. Such as: couldn’t we just go back to the mermaid statue? It was a safe park and no one gawked at us in broad daylight.

It was filled with portraits of Samhain and my mum. “Is this our home?” I asked him. They were almost unrecognizable in their youth, and it wasn’t like Samhain didn’t try to look young. Otherwise the basement was dim, uninteresting, and devoid of fun. If it was my immortal museum, I’d have a pool table and a full service bar in the center.

“Yes, if you ever wondered what that shed in the back is for,” said Pilona. “I’m sure Samira will escort them out soon enough. Do you know why we have ourselves painted and sculpted?”

“No? I know everyone’s complained about posing for them all day. Kind of glad to miss out on that.”

“It helps the soul not fade away, in life or death. I thought I was above it all, but without your ambrosia, I’m doomed to fade from memory too,” he said. “Vega had the right idea after all.”

“And how does Holi do it anyways?”

“Oh, you know women and their creams and lotions. I would never put those on my skin.”

“Come on, you gotta moisturize,” I said. “It’s a different time..."

We were interrupted by Vega, Sam, and Louise piling on top of each other out the portal. Rough landing. And here I thought I’d never see Sam again. They had gotten dressed in plain clothes, which made sense for Twinbrook. I had no idea how Vega dressed up fancy in this place.

“So you are from the delta,” I said to her and Louise.

“Yup. Been ages since Sam’s taken me mudboating or frog catchin’.”

“Can we get outta the Ironstar dungeon?” Sam said.

Vega said she had something important to show me after everyone left. But she had a few parting words for the two of them.

“Zhana-an vetika, kolitakela falesisa-an’mai.” Vega said to her. Sam didn’t have anything to say back as she walked away. I wasn’t going to question what I didn’t understand, but I wanted her and Louise to wrestle gators or go off-road trucking. It wasn’t my idea of fun, but everyone else in the delta liked it. Maybe that’s why everyone was afraid of her. I hated those who ruined my fun too.

She then led me to a chamber that no one told me about. And that was a lot more fun.

“It’s magic! Or science?” Whatever it was, Vega kept it in glowing bottles. The room was also dry and warm, like the planet I refused to try and say the name of. The colors were dark though, instead of pristine white. All that made me wonder why Vega chose to live in Twinbrook.

“It’s both, in an endless waltz together” Vega said. She was stirring something that smelled familiar, even though we never touched her elixirs. Screwtape had that as a hard rule. “Science and magic are always more blended than you might think.”

I finally figured out the smell! “Whatever it is, it smells like IcyHot.”

“Do you use that a lot?” she asked me.

“In dance? I’m aching all the time, it’s not easy work.”

She soon gave me a box with the mystery elixir inside. “Don’t hurt yourself on the dance floor, but if you do, there’s a way out.”

“Oh that’s so thoughtful! If I knew what it was, because you might be poisoning me too.”

“A tincture from pure calcium carbonate and the zhesomili plant. Daemons have been using it to reverse aging and deep injuries since...since we took a human form. Long before my time.”

I bit my lip. Of course I was going to get hurt on stage or at rehearsal, but I was young. I would just need a cast and a little bit of patience to get back to my normal life. But everyone who I knew wasn’t that lucky. Growing up surrounded by elders moulded by brain into one weird, wrinkled mass.

And I couldn’t even bring myself to say it.

“That being said, don’t use it after you start your dynasty. It’s seen as cheating. There was a lot of legislation around growing zhesomili and it was going to be my downfall if your grandma wasn’t,” she said.

“Wait, so that means I got in?” I asked her.

“You made a good impression,” she said. “Even if I didn’t.”

[CeresIn]

It felt like a family meeting at my aunt's house. 

Now, talking seriously, I liked seeing each interaction of the different characters, it flowed in a natural way. I'm intrigued what Sam and Louise are doing in Twinbrook, maybe it has to do with Sheila?

[Trip]

It felt like a family meeting at my aunt's house. 

Now, talking seriously, I liked seeing each interaction of the different characters, it flowed in a natural way. I'm intrigued what Sam and Louise are doing in Twinbrook, maybe it has to do with Sheila?

@CeresIn: mayhaps it is about Sheila...though I can confirm that they're really just two outdoorsy swamp gals. I'm having fun with these families before it gets overwhelming to keep track of them.

[Chubling]

The more you write Heathcliff, the more excited I get at how terrible his choices will be. He has disaster written all over him.

Also screw it! I'm moving to the demon realm and I'm getting a hot ladywife! Whatever the rules are I'm signing up!

[Trip]

The more you write Heathcliff, the more excited I get at how terrible his choices will be. He has disaster written all over him.

Also screw it! I'm moving to the demon realm and I'm getting a hot ladywife! Whatever the rules are I'm signing up!

@Chubling: sign me up for the shoulder massages from Holi because I am sore from chihuahua wrangling and really self-serving with character designs.

Also as a general statement: I goofed up with names/made unfortunate choices because there are at least three characters of varying important now nicknamed Sam (Samira got her name many years ago + I can't control the townies you'll see) I'm trying to figure out the best way to make this work (stick with full names?) but I have some chapters to figure it out.

[Trip]

🙠 0.6 🙢

“I didn’t commit to anything, I’m committed to dance!” Heathcliff told me. “And they just told me how great it is to be a daemon and helping humans. I guess they can believe that about me. Also, did you know a girl named Sam? Sami? Samira? She seemed to use all those names...”

“No, she must have gone to a different school,” I said. I racked my mind trying to think of one. Not even boys came to mind.

He told me the same thing multiple times while we shared some mixed drinks in the gazebo, which we both needed. I could accept that many daemons lived among us, even one named Sam. I was happy to answer his question and happier to not know her. Cara was enough. But after that, he also gushed about cool priestesses, and also, a red man in hot pants. It may have been his heritage, but it was one I was happy to almost always forget.

“Was it Barry?” I asked him about the man.

“Oh, so he really did take your soul! And brought it back?”

“Yeah...he’s alright if you ask me.”

“You finally found a daemon you like.”

“Enough talk about this! I’m sick of daemons.”

I was breathing heavily that night, scared of every willow branch tapping against the window. Most of all, I didn’t even want to hug my grandson, like I did every night. A noxious cloud surrounded him and I couldn’t make it go away.

“I don’t think they’re supposed to be like Vega anyways,” he said, between my silence. “No one liked her but me.”

“I know she’s your ancestor, but if I had to praise all my ancestors, I’d--”

Before I could slander Grandma Titova (my mum’s mum), the view out the window distracted me. It kept doing that in this life, but this was different than a bird scaring me. Out of the corner of my eye was a flash of pink. Someone stalked outside my house, and the list of who it could be was short. I felt like I knew all the pink and red daemons in the universe.

“Look, I need to check outside, just for my own sanity.”

“Alright, but you’re not yourself. I think we need to hit the road,” he said. “Maybe some place less humid.”

“Not less humid, I can’t afford to dry out.” It was hazy and damp out on the West Coast, at least. We both made wise choices, at least. I knew that Bridgeport would suit Heathcliff, but him as a normal ballet dancer. As one who had a husband, a dog, an adopted child, and who died at age 80 long after I did.

And who I wanted to catch was still outside. Heathcliff still hadn’t noticed them. I found a lantern in the garage to help with it, and I called out for a daemon who was found quickly.

She sat by the pond, dressed in plainclothes but colored like Cara, down to the ginger hair. But it wasn’t her either. This one slouched.

“Hey, you know my mum,” she said. Her voice was thick and hazy like swamp air and flat like our whole state.

“Louise?”

“Yeah.”

She looked like Cara plus a Bayless, alright, right down to those beady indigo eyes. I was chased off a pond by her aunt once, as they could get a little territorial about their part of the Similaus River delta. I wondered why I could never find Louise in Twinbrook when I first returned, but I guess I got my answer. She must have returned to her mother’s side not long after I returned to the living.

I took my seat next to Louise. She wasn’t a scary woman. Like with her mum, it was overwhelming more than anything.

“So...what’s your story?” I asked her.

“Got married and had a kid. I think he lives in Bridgeport now. I guess yours wants to go there too.”

“Grandson, but...you must have met him today. That’s how you know this.” It made sense for them not to send Barry as the only assistant, or witness to whatever stunt Vega pulled with her kind. I would never know how she acted among her kind. I imagined everyone but those who worked for the dead to be like her.

“I think he’s really neat,” she said.

“He’s amazing, you should see him dance. And...well I could always pretend that’s what you want from him.”

Louise twiddled her thumbs. I know she had to be here to tell me something, but maybe it was wrong to make the new girl do that. If her skin could turn redder then it did.

“Uh...Vega’s uncle wants him to be an immortal,” she said. “He’s sick with something and Heathcliff can cure it.”

“So he did commit to this...he lied to me…” I buried my face in my hands thinking about it. Without Marco, my bubble of safe people dwindled to zero without Heathcliff. I’d almost trust Carisa before him now...

“No, he didn’t do any of that. I’m sure he liked the idea but he talked more about ballet and Barry’s legs.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yup.”

“Well, he’s at least acting like himself,” I said. “I need to stop him. I couldn’t die happy if I knew he was hurting others.”

“I dunno, he seems a lot different from the other ones. It’s supposed to be about helping people and--”

There was a lot of instinct and strength that was new to me. There used to be a Sheila who would not shove Louise into a dirty old pool, and also a Sheila who physically couldn’t.

Then again, she was a big sloucher.

“Oh my god don’t tell your mum,” I said, stepping back while Louise bobbed above the surface. Besides ruining her leather jacket, she was fine. It was nothing her kind couldn’t fix.

“Aww, you love her,” she said. She wasn’t even sarcastic. “I don’t want her to end up with Barry.”

“No, I...I’m really worried about all this. I’m thankful for what she did, but I just want to die in peace again. I don’t want you to stop it.”

“I know I won’t. Just watch out.”

“Watch out for who?”

“I dunno,” she said. “Probably just yourself.”

Before I could say goodbye or ask a followup question for once, Louise jumped back into a rusted pickup truck and drove out of town. I hoped she was going to visit her son, then. I wished that I got his name, so Heathcliff could find a friend from Twinbrook, or even something more if he wanted that.

We spent the rest of the week packing suitcases, knowing that we’d be staying in those places for a while. Even a summer on the coast would last a while, and clothes always get dirty too. Heathcliff did his job with packing, since he had ballet gear to go with his everyday items. But I couldn’t help sometimes looking over at him observing a mysterious bottle in the light.

“What is it?” I asked once.

“Healing tonic...or so I was told. You know I’ll need it before I turn 30.”


Our trip actually started well, before we even got on the road. Carisa would send me my share after selling the home, since Heath put it in both our names. She would move to Lucky Palms permanently. And while I didn’t know my future plans, I needed to downsize after Marco died in some way. Even just the three of us wasn’t enough for that huge house.

Heathcliff and I piled everything into a van, from suitcases to coolers full of peanut butter sandwiches. We wanted to spend a week admiring our country’s heartland. We picked out all the best bars, diners, and tourist traps too. I knew Heathcliff would be busy after this. His days would be consumed by practice and a regimented diet.

The guy just needed his last diner cheeseburger, I swear!

We agreed with the food bloggers: Hogan’s in Riverview had some fine burgers that dripped in our hands without abandon.

While I indulged in some of the best pie I ever had, Heathcliff acted like we weren’t going to leave here the following morning. Or with that young man, it might have been the point. As long as everyone was happy and didn’t mind sleeping next to me in the back of a van, who was I to judge!

If he had a chance of being an immortal like Vega, then he would buckle under the same daemons. All I had to do was not be up to her standards as a wife for her son. The real world didn’t always have room for men like Heathcliff either. He would come out beaten and bruised no matter what. I feared his confidence in this. I know I couldn’t be convinced to be immortal, unless Cara and Barry both kissed me or something crazy like that!

I almost asked him about it that night, but we were on the road again.

Appaloosa Plains was drier and the leaves never got green. The country turned into mountains and deserts just west of it. And we also found a frisbee in the back of the trunk. It had teeth marks from a dog. I hoped that summer would never end.

Maybe my real worry was that Heathcliff would never visit me. Even the easiest tenure at the Bridgeport Ballet would keep him in the dance studio and on stage all year.  But if he became an immortal, then I didn’t want to meet him. No matter how much I told him my story, I knew he didn’t understand it and never will.

I had to tell him the truth. There had to be one plea that would break him. Human life was precious even at its short length, and I didn’t ask to be resurrected. I figured Barry would get mad if I came back so soon.

As I braced myself--

“Okay, instead of stopping in Boseman tomorrow night, why don’t we just go to the local dive here?” Heathcliff asked. He must have noticed that I was shaking.

“Better than drinking and driving.”

I wondered if beer was my answer to finding courage to talk to him. It was never this hard, even about the prickly and awkward parts of our lives. Heathcliff knew about my crush on his great-grandpa and my worst college parties. When he had questions about pregnancy and birth for a class project, well, I did give birth in front of an easel. Not many other people had that story to tell.

But make it something bigger than myself, and it all falls apart.

So we drank and it soon became too much.

Heathcliff got to his feet and started smooching a much older man. I wouldn’t say as old as Marco, not even close. But Alhena’s age maybe? I was jealous if I had to say so myself! I loved my bald husband but that man had some beautiful, silky tresses. Only Heathcliff could beat him, since his usual bun protected against sweat and the elements.

I was sitting off to the side when Heathcliff tapped my shoulder. “I can’t be hogging all the action.”

“No, you certainly can,” I said. “I’m old, and somehow I’ve gotten more picky…”

“There’s also a lot you haven’t tried.”

“Shut up!”

“You said it once before.”

The bar was mostly filled with men. I didn’t feel wrong about that, as long as no one kicked me out. But a lone woman stood in the other corner, with mousy brown hair and a white coat from her job still hanging off her shoulders. A coworker stood by, but not in a romantic way. Or was it? I was out of practice. I never even practiced. Even Heath was delivered to me as a “now or nothing” kind of deal.

“Fine,” I said. “Get me out of here if I embarrass myself.”

Her name was Jenny, and I had no reason to remember it besides it being my first kiss with a woman. I bit down on her lip too hard and we parted ways. She had to work the next day or something.

It wasn’t enough of an embarrassment for Heathcliff to remove me from the situation.

And somehow, neither was the bucking bull ride on the second floor.

When I woke up the next morning, I figured I would never get to talk about the immortal thing. Perhaps he had already forgotten it. I certainly couldn’t see his mother talking about it in glowing terms.

And the last couple legs of the journey were done in relative silence. We were running behind schedule and tired from the debauchery. Of course we marveled over the sights like mountains and even more mountains. Soon, they gave way to lush green forests and the promise of a coast nearby. I was ready. All the fun of the ocean and none of the sun to burn my skin.

His destination was Bridgeport, but mine was Moonlight Falls. It was a couple hours north of the city but far more quiet and mysterious, just like Twinbrook. Heathcliff was going to leave me with the van in Moonlight Falls and take a bus to the city.

It was our goodbye, and I wasn’t ready!

After lunch, I gave him the biggest squeeze I could muster. I never even hugged my son like that. No matter what was real and what was fear, there was something I was gonna lose.

“Hey, I could just catch the next bus,” he said.

“No, no...you do need to go on with your life.”

“You should too!”

“Huh?”

Heathcliff had a small box in the van the whole time, wrapped in a thick red ribbon. When I opened it, it was full of gauze that protected a glowing blue bottle.

“Antifreeze, I’m gonna need some,” I said, curious about the bottle. Was this the healing elixir? Being old was something far beyond repair, in my opinion. I had more suspicions about its origins but where would he get something suspicious? Even Vega was guarded with her gifts, or that might have just been to me.

“Look, I’m not ready too accept a world without you. Everyone else could, but not me.”

“I’m flattered, but I know what it means to be human.”

“But what if that’s lame like everything else is? You also didn’t get to be young again, and honestly if you wanna explore the world, then--”



“No! I know it was different 20 years ago when I was sad and you were born, but enough is enough! I am not a daemon’s pawn and I never will be. Not for Vega, not for Life and Death, and not even for you.”

“Geez, you said you’d do it for Cara and Barry,” he said.

“That’s...not part of this conversation. I want you to destroy this,” I said.

“It was a priceless gift, I dunno, I’d feel really bad about it.”

“Is this about you living forever too?” The words came out in a split second. I really wish I brought it up in Boseman instead! So I could have a long drive to the coast to think about I had done. “Do you wanna drag me into this?”

“I know you didn’t like being dead but...I...it’s nothing that gets in the way of ballet, okay?” Heathcliff said. “They brought it up and I didn’t think it really was gonna be important. You know how much it takes for me to give up? Like one broken foot at least, and I haven’t broken a bone yet.”

“I know it’s tempting, and that’s why I’m scared,” I said. “I...I don’t need you to sugarcoat it for me. But I disapprove. I don’t like this, Heathcliff. I didn’t like it as a mortal and I don’t like it now.”

“Fine, would you feel better if I just wanted to do it to prove something?”

“What could it even be?”

“Gay dynasty founder?”

Well, at least it would be different.

“I can’t stop you, but I hope you know that I was neglected and hurt by the same immortals that said they were here to help humans,” I said. “And honestly, I don’t know what your great-grandpa has done to help me...or us anyways.”

“I’m not here to listen to him. I hope you trust in me and call regularly.”

“I’ll...I’ll try.”

He left without a second goodbye hug, catching the earlier bus after all. And I didn’t even plan on where to lodge. I figured I could trust my instinct and not get too frazzled by my own grandson.

Oh how things change.

Of course, I eventually found a bed & breakfast, but I spent a lot of time thinking on the beach. I had two things in my pocket: my cellphone, and a mysterious elixir. Who said that Heathcliff was even told the truth about it?

He was calling my phone. I let it go to message, even if it made him think that I had a heart attack.

Meanwhile, the elixir was an unknown to me. Who would be harmed if I threw it into the ocean anyways? Possibly many, if it was a secret weapon put into the hands of a naive young man. It wouldn’t be much better in a junkyard either.

I decided to keep it safe until my death. And after that, anyone could pollute the ocean how they pleased.

But my phone was gone to the deep. I hoped to die in peace and not bug Heathcliff with the news.

[Chubling]

SHEILA


YES!

I love Sheila and Heathcliff together. They are really sweet and just a little awkward together, just like family. Also, for all the Sams, is it too late to have one of them go by a middle name? I went to school with 4 Catherines and that was what one of them did. One went by initials if that might be an option? Or maybe there will just be a battle of the Sams! Many Sams Enter, Only One Leaves!