Unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of Mexican food. I've heard good things about both of those places, but they're simply not for me. Thankfully, the fast food or take out has mostly been reserved for dinner. Otherwise I've bee buying things from work- fresh croissants with fresh sliced lunch meat, one or two apples at a time, etc, so it hasn't been too bad health wise.
Thanks! Stove still isn't set up, but we should be hitting that point soon.
Internet is being annoyingly slow, so they already frustrating Photobucket is cooperating even less than normal. Here's the link to the new chapter until I can get the pictures to work with me.
I'd like to throw a random idea at you guys. I've started reading a few Sims stories on Tumblr, and the different kind of format (only a few pictures/several brief paragraphs of text) is kinda appealing. I don't quite know at this point what the workload would be like, but there is this one story I've wanted to do and I figure I might as well contemplate changing things up while I'm at it. So, the main question is would there be any interest in reading a Tumblr exclusive story?
I had a moment or so to kill, so I snuck across to the other side of the first floor to see how things were progressing with Uncle Blaze and my brothers. I was sure to not let them notice me though, for they otherwise would have made me help them. The only reason I wasn't helping them then was because they thought I was still preoccupied with my previous task.
"You want us to move it to the front side of the room? But we've always moved it to the back before. There's less heavy lifting and the tree is nice and visible from the street." Prism said in response to Uncle Blaze's unusual decision.
"Who cares if other people can see our Christmas tree? We always have problems with the sunlight coming in through those front windows on Christmas morning. It ruins the pictures and forces us all to squint the whole time. If we move the piano and drums to the front and put the tree in the back, we won't have to worry about any of that."
"This thing is so heavy though." Prism complained lightly, pouting at mom's piano.
"Aren't you the one who's always working out?" Uncle Blaze laughed in disbelief, "What the point in building muscles if you don't put them to good use?"
I was sorely tempted to shout out that Prism only worked out so much just so he could brag, but the taunt wasn't worth getting myself involved in moving the piano that was indeed incredibly heavy.
"If we're going to move it to the other side, let's pack up mom's planters first. There's no point in having them out now. They'll just get in our way." Wisp suggested.
"Sounds good." Uncle Blaze agreed.
With the three of them beginning to move about, I hurriedly skittered away to avoid being seen. My place was taken back in the kitchen, and I watched over my creations until a certain someone appeared at just the right time. Cerise, now a solid four years old, expertly climbed up a bar stool to look at me with eager anticipation.
"Is my cocoa ready?" she asked expectantly.
"Yup, it's all ready and not too hot." I said, gently sliding the tray of mugs down the counter.
"It's got lots of 'mallows?" she wondered, peering into the one I set in front of her.
"A whole lot of them." I nodded.
I nonchalantly placed mine back near the cocoa making machine. I had put more marshmallows in my mug than I had hers, which would have her declaring it was hers instead if she saw it.
"Remember to drink it carefully, Ceri," I instructed, "If you make a mess, you're big enough to clean it up now."
"I know." my sister dismissed me instantly, carefully tilting the mug while it was still on the counter so the risk of an accident was lessened.
Feeling satisfied she was indeed capable of drinking out of a cup, I took the tray and last mug and left the kitchen.
Mom's room was my destination. The hot chocolate had been her idea, and I had been all too willing to be the one to make it. No supervision from her meant I could do what I wanted. My cup that was one-third marshmallow, for example.
"Here you go." I said as I set the tray down.
"Oh, thank you, honey." mom replied with a grateful sigh.
I hid a laugh as she comically struggled to reach the mug from where I put it, and she gave me the most amused 'help me' look I had ever seen. She took a good sip after I gave it to her and smiled hopelessly when I put it back down. It was nice to see us facing an easily fixable problem. We had had enough real problems as it was.
Mom's pregnancy had been much more touch and go than ever before after that one Sunday. The stress from what had happened on Saturday had brought on some sort of false labor. Her doctor strongly recommended more bed rest and removal from as many stressful situations as possible after that. That was followed for all of about a week. Not that the breakage of that was our fault. Mom began having health problems again. Constantly getting sick, she was in and out of the hospital almost every week. That didn't help the pregnancy, which didn't help her poor health. It was a nasty cycle. Thankfully, things had stabilized in the past two weeks or so. Mom still had a great struggle in getting her body to cooperate, but it looked as if we would be able to make it through the holiday without her having to return to the hospital. That was the family's main goal for the moment, and since us kids were now on winter break there had been a silent agreement to do what we could to help.
No worries I haven't been super active around here recently save for updating the story (the poor Legacy Directory), so I'm guilty of something similar too
Glad you enjoyed it I was worried it would get a little repetitive, but I think adding Cerise in there (she wasn't originally going to come along) fixed that up.
My favorite part was doing the Christmas decoration setup, although the presents were rather irritating to work with given how they would automatically snap together, so I couldn't put most of them where I wanted.
In other news, I figure now would be a good time to announce there's two more chapters before the first big time skip! I think it'll be interesting
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat as I listened to the half of Uncle Blaze's conversation that I could hear. It wasn't that I wanted to listen, but delaying hearing the news wouldn't do me any good. Might as well rip off the bandage fast and all that. There was no hope in me that the news could turn out to be good. Uncle Blaze wasn't trying in the slightest to hide the stress in his expression. He knew I was there, but at the same time he was so intently talking to Uncle Eden that it felt like he had forgotten about my presence anyway.
"What about that experimental stuff they gave her before? The first time she had it?" Uncle Blaze asked, daring to sound optimistic.
That optimism soon crashed as Uncle Eden denied whatever Uncle Blaze was hoping to get from the suggestion. He went back to mumbling out more "Mmms", "Yeahs", and dismal "Okays." I was sick of hearing them, for I just wanted to know the truth. An idea of what was going on had already formed in my head. It wasn't a difficult deduction to make given how Uncle Eden had rushed mom to the hospital with symptoms of a familiar illness she had gotten from time to time. Finally, another minute later, Uncle Blaze confirmed the basics of what I imagined. The phone call was ended, and he turned to me with a sigh.
"It's pneumonia."
My sighed matched his, and we both looked at each other sadly.
"They can do something about it though, right? This isn't exactly the first time mom's had pneumonia, so surely they know exactly how to deal with it?" I pondered.
"I wish that was the case. It feels as if they have to come up with a new solution each time for how to make it go away. Old medicines seem to stop working, and it's like the illness gets stronger every time it occurs. Ethereal being pregnant severely complicates things further as well." Uncle Blaze revealed grimly.
"The pneumonia could hurt the baby?" I asked reluctantly.
"Yes, and in a very bad way. It could trigger an early labor- not to mention how it could also encourage deformities even at this later stage. If the situation isn't watched closely, the poor thing could come out with all sorts of crippling disabilities given how intense Ethereal's pneumonia can get."
"But there has to be something they can do." I repeated desperately.
"They're considering all the options. The doctors have gotten Ethereal's fever and other symptoms to stabilize for the moment, so we have a bit of breathing room. The best we can hope for is that the safe medicines that won't hurt the baby will do the job, because the situation will otherwise get even worse from there."
"You're not saying the baby might die, are you?"
The question filled with dread slowly rolled off my tongue.
"It's not like that's not a possibility, but it's a highly unlikely outcome, thankfully. I meant more along the lines of them actually having to force an early labor or simply risking some damage being done in order to guarantee both of them making it out of this."
That was an "amazing" chapter. I loved it. I still can't believe what you did with Ethereal. i hope the baby- at least- ends up okay.
One more chapter now before Coal get's older. I swear, I am looking forward to finding out what he looks like when he grows.
Glad you enjoyed it It's got most of the action-y drama for the little climax that will see this arc to the end, so it was fun to do even if a few pictures didn't turn out quite how I wanted them. What fate I've decided for the baby and Ethereal will become clear, and I definitely think the end of this stage is going to be bittersweet. I can say that confidently because I actually wrote the entire fifteenth chapter yesterday Now today I get to work on aging everyone up (and removing a few older characters from the world- like Ethereal's parents ). I've already played around a bit with what Coal will look like though. He's quite the cutie, and he gets even better when he becomes a Young Adult
Dead silence rang throughout the house. Time stood suffocatingly still, and the lingering echoes of Uncle Blaze's words rang in my ears. They lost? We lost? Some judge had seriously thought taking Rosemary away by forcing her to live with people she didn't want to live with was the best thing for her? The fact that Rosemary was happier than ever and had soared in school rankings to be the number one student in her class wasn't proof enough of how much Uncle Eden and Aunt Deny had helped her? Shipping her off to the other side of the country during the last third of the school year didn't seem absolutely absurd to the court?
I had no idea what to say. I had no idea of what to do. Uncle Blaze and I just stood there in the silence. He still wore that strange expression I couldn't read, and there was something off about the whole aura he emanated. I could have sworn it was almost as if he was holding back a smile. I stared up at him with eyes unblinking- until those eyes swarmed with tears once more. The tears of heartbreak, not the wet eyes caused by a cold that I had been dealing with all day. My tolerance levels completely shot thanks to the exhaustion of my illness, I was about to utterly lose it. I wouldn't be surprised if my legs collapsed on me again as I turned into that blubbering mess. Seconds away from that happening was when Uncle Blaze's attitude rapidly changed.
"Coal, wait, please don't cry. I'm so sorry. I'm just a terrible person. Phrasing it like that on purpose like that to see your reaction was such a horrible move. I don't know what I was thinking." he apologized for whatever reason.
Confusion putting a possible block on my tears, I frowned as I awaited clarification.
"Eden and Deny technically lost the case, but Mary will be staying with us."
I didn't believe him right away. I thought my fever-struck mind was playing tricks on me. Uncle Blaze gently wiped off the one tear that managed to slide down my cheek as he went on to explain his words even further.
"Eden said that even the judge admitted he personally believed Mary belonged with us, but that his hands were tied by the law. As long as there was one biological family member proven capable of taking care of her who wanted her, he had no choice but to award them custody."
"But what about Mary's birth parents purposely sending her into the system the first time around? They rejected her then, so why should they get a second chance?" my weak, cracking, dry voice was able to eke out.
"Apparently, Mary's birth mother lied to everyone. She told Social Services she didn't know who Mary's father was, and she told Mary's birth father that Mary loved living with her step-father. That that was where Mary wanted to be, and also that she didn't want her birth father coming around as she wanted to see only her step-father as her father-type figure. So, he purposely stayed away to fulfill those wishes...until after he married Mary's birth father and the truth came to light. Seeing as how he had been conned as much as everyone else had, he was still given an honest claim to Mary."
"That just feels like another big lie." I mumbled suspiciously.
"Well, they were both under oath, so we don't have much choice but to believe that they were telling the truth. If it makes you feel better, the court did decide that Mary's birth mother, thanks to her deviant lies and behavior, wouldn't get custody of her even as her step-mother. Only her birth father could take her as his charge."
"So, if he won, how did things change around? Is he only just letting Mary stay until the school year is over or something?"
"Mary firmly rejected the court's decision and took matters into her own hands- by making an absolute ruckus when they tried to lead her to her birth father," Uncle Blaze began with a tilted grin, "Eden said it got to the point where she was seriously holding onto a railing and having the poor security officers getting kicked and screamed at trying to pry her off. The tantrum lasted about fifteen minutes before her birth father stepped in. Basically, he realized that all the laws in the world couldn't just earn him a place in his daughter's heart. He said it was obvious he would have to work for that place honestly, and he started by working with the judge right then and there to give up his rights to her. That means that there is no legal way for Mary to be taken away anymore, and his choice also granted him Mary's promise that she would get to know him and spend time with him...on her own terms."
A long stretch of silence was repeated, but it was severely more bearable this time around. The tight lock in my chest unwound itself, and I heaved out a sigh of relief. Then I punched Uncle Blaze as hard as I could in the arm. Given my exhausted state, it probably felt like I merely poked him.
"You are a jerk! Don't toy around with me like that!" I rebuked.
"I'm sorry. I really am. You didn't need that, and I should have known that." he apologized again, although his own relief at the situation had him smiling while he said it.
I chastised him further with a dramatic exhale, roll of my eyes, and fold of my arms. I returned Uncle Blaze's smile when I glanced at him though, and he laughed before pulling me into a hug.
"We got one thing to go right." he said gratefully.
"Hopefully it's a sign that everything else will fall into place too." I added.
"I hope so too, kid."
The words barely left my lips before I sniffled up a big helping of snot before barely avoiding blasting a massive sneeze into my uncle's chest.
"Uh, and let's not undo that hope right away by getting me sick," he joked as he quickly stepped away, "I think it's time for your next dose of medicine."
"Blegh." I complained, sticking out my tongue.
Poor kid. This totally reminds me of The Maze Runner for some reason, except a little more humane. You're off to a great start because I'm definitely intrigued yet again. How did Ethereal (okay, too long, I'm calling her Ethy to match Elly) ever last so long without getting the flu?
I was randomly scrolling down the first page, and I was reminded of this conversation we had. I still have not seen this movie I'll have to look it up tomorrow after work and shopping for macaron supplies!
I am so happy hat Ethereal got her green baby wish- Glade. And I wonder what Glade will look like as toddler. Will there be any "red" in her. Cerise and Desire had green in there eyes.
If you asked me how many times I had sighed in the past ten minutes, I wouldn't be able to give you an accurate answer. All I knew was that the answer was high as well as that I was even beginning to feel a little light-headed from all the expunging of air I was doing. I was absolutely sick of the scenario I was in, for it happened far too often. There I stood at the west entrance of the elementary school. It was a new wing they built about three years ago to deal with the school's seemingly always increasing student total. It would have been nice if they built it an extra three years earlier so my friends and I could have experienced the reduced strain of moving throughout the halls ourselves.
In any case, the halls were certainly empty at the moment. School was out for the day, and all the normal, sane people had departed. The kids who rode buses got on their buses. The kids who got picked up came right outside the find their parent's car in the line-up of the special idling lane built to make the departure process smooth and easy...save for my kids. I was beginning to make friends with the parents waiting in cars who also had children who took their time. I never spoke a word to those parents, but we communicated well enough through eye rolls and shakes of our heads. I was also on the receiving end of sympathetic smiles, because I was almost always the last one waiting. I don't know why I bothered to get in that special lane sometimes. It made more sense to actually park the car like I had done several minutes ago. I would have loved to have gone into the school to find the little brats and drag them out, but this door only opened from the inside except for in the morning when students arrived. I knew as soon as I started to make the trek to the main door that my two would appear.
And, exactly as I thought that, I heard their voices coming down the hallway. They were merry and cheerful, and there was no sense of urgency in them. It 🐸🐸🐸🐸 me off. Seriously, didn't these two have any consideration towards me at all? I knew the answer in this regard was pretty much no. Cerise and Glade walked out of the doors holding hands talking and giggling about whatever elementary school drama or gossip they were on about. Glade only gave me a quick glance, and Cerise didn't look my way at all! They completely ignored that I stood there with my arms folded, my foot tapping, and my stare unamused. My sisters were seriously about to walk right past me as if I was nothing more than their chauffeur who was meant to barely be seen and not to be heard.
"A-hem!" I cleared my throat sternly.
That got the two of them to stop walking and talking. They let go of each other's hands, and Cerise looked up at me blankly before a frustrating smile spread across her lips.
"Hi, Coal!" she greeted me merrily.
"Hi, Ceri! So nice to see you this day!" I responded mockingly.
"Are we all set to go?" she asked back tauntingly, knowing exactly why I was mad.
"I'm set to drive myself home. You two, I think, I might just make walk." I denied with a frown.
"But mommy will be angry if you do that." Glade mimicked Cerise's slightly smug tone.
"Well, mommy's on my side in this," I responded likewise, "She told me I could make you walk if I wanted to, but because you're lucky enough to have a nice big brother I have decided to give you one last chance."
Cerise let out one loud, sarcastic laugh. That really got under my skin.
"I'm not kidding! If you two make me wait out here forever again because you're more interested in goofing off with your friends or running about the halls or doing whatever the heck you're doing when you're wasting my time, then I'm going to take off! You'll have go to Hunter's place or Cattleya's house to see if you can beg a ride from him or her parents." I warned sternly and shortly.
It finally sank into their skulls by those words that I was, indeed, quite angry, and their proud expressions faded away. That led to a common predicament. God, those two could seriously switch from being all teasing and smiley to looking as if I was about to lock them up in a dark room for a year at the flip of the switch. There was definitely some pulling at the heartstrings going on with that kind of sad stare, and I hated to admit that it generally worked. I felt guilty being harsh despite knowing I was within my right to be upset and say what I had said. Cerise was an expert at manipulating me as well. Glade just did it naturally.
"We're sorry, Coal. Glade and I were just showing that new girl in my class around some more. She's been having trouble since she's kinda shy, so when we were able to get her having fun with some of my classmates in the cafeteria I didn't just want to take off and leave her by herself." Cerise explained with a perfect tilt of her head, bat of her eyes, and puppy dog pout.
"Yeah! She was laughing so hard she almost started crying." Glade added innocently with enthusiasm.
I put my fists on my hips as I studied them. It was easy enough to recognize there was truth in their story, a tale which was meant to tug at my sympathies. Still, I wasn't going to cave entirely so easily.
"Be that as it may, I'm sticking by what I said. No more of this. Unless you have an actual, legitimate reason to be held up after class, you come out here. If you want to stay after so badly, come out and I'll at least give you my bus pass. Otherwise, I will take off and leave you behind." I emphasized the warning.
"Okay." Cerise and Glade simultaneously accepted with a pout.
Coal is truly handsome, and Glade and Cerise are truly cute. How old was Coal supposed to be when Glade was born? Oh, and how old are the young girls now?
Coal is just absolutely adorkable I really love how he came out. He's certainly got plenty of Amaranth in him, but his face does have enough Ethereal in it to set him apart into his own kind of handsome. He's gets even better once he gets out of his scrawny teenage phase too
I love Cerise and Glade. They're definitely going to be stealing the spotlight from time to time
Coal was 11 when Glade was born. He's now 17. Cerise is 9, and Glade is 5.
I cursed Uncle Eden. He was one of those obnoxious types of people who could get up early in the morning and be super happy for some reason. This had led to him refusing to let mom sleep in most of the time, which had trained her to be able to tolerate mornings more than the average person as well. That, in turn, meant that mom also refused to let us sleep in too. She had poked and prodded me until I was forced to rise even though I stayed up late to do a good portion of my homework exactly like she asked me. I had no choice but to get dressed, but mom was thankfully content to leave me alone after that. I'm sure she thought I would go about my day, but what I actually did was pop downstairs to grab an apple to fool her into thinking I was moving about when in reality I placed the apple on my nightstand before collapsing right back onto my bed. Sleep didn't take long to find me. Annoyance found me quickly too though when ten minutes later my phone ran incessantly. I sent the call to voicemail at first, but the person called again. And then a third time.
"Yes?" I asked with a sickeningly sweet voice at whoever was there when I picked up on the fourth call.
"Oh, good, I got you," Mimosa answered brightly, completely oblivious to my sarcastic friendliness, "I was wondering, Coal, are you busy?"
"Since it's 8:30 on a Saturday morning, not really." I responded.
I did try to hide the tired taunting in my voice as much as possible since I knew Mimosa certainly wasn't attempting to be bothersome on purpose, but my exhaustion caused a hint of it to slip through.
"Great!" she exclaimed, still oblivious, "Would you be interested in meeting up with me soon then?"
Even Mimosa couldn't ignore the loud groan I wanted to do, so I released that noise inside my head instead. Then I took a deep breath and sat up. Honestly, it wouldn't be much longer until mom grew wise to my ruse. She would come in to actually get me up anyway, so I suppose getting up on my own and choosing to do what I wanted before she decided to give me work or something was the better option.
"What do you have in mind?" I asked Mimosa.
"It's a surprise!"
"Nope, I'm not doing any surprises. Don't you remember your last one? It was horrible. I got stuck wandering about in the rain with a broken umbrella for an hour because you forgot your phone after you refused to give me proper directions or even a destination before I left."
"Hmmm, fine," Mimosa pouted, "How about if I tell you to meet me at the Arboretum Park in about half an hour then?"
"Does this have anything to do with that fairy man you were telling me about yesterday?"
"Shhh! Don't say anything more! Just tell me if you're coming!" Mimosa reacted defensively.
I smiled at that. She was so obvious.
"I'll come." I agreed.
I got up right away to find some dip for my apple and get more of a proper breakfast before I left. I gobbled down whatever I could find, and I stood up as I ate considering I didn't have too much time. The drive to the park took twenty minutes, so I only had ten minutes to get business done. Cerise didn't help me move things along.
"So, Glade and I were thinking of going to see that new ice show starting at the rink." she randomly said as I was throwing my dishes in the dishwasher.
"Okay?" I said in slight confusion.
"The earliest showing starts at 10:30. That would be the best one to go to avoid a huge crowd."
"Okay?" I repeated, even more perplexed, "Have fun?"
"No, you goof!" Cerise reprimanded me, "What I mean is we're going to have to leave around 9:30 to get tickets for good seats."
"We? Yeah, no, sorry, Ceri, but I'm not taking you. I've already got plans." I declined.
"What?" she frowned intensely.
"Mimosa already called me, and I'm about to leave right now to meet her. I have no idea how long we'll be out, but then I'm meeting up with Azure in the afternoon anyway."
"But we can't get to the stadium or get tickets without someone older tagging along!" Cerise whined.
"Then you shouldn't have waited until the last second to ask." I shrugged.
Cerise's pouting mouth hung open as I walked away without another word. I wasn't interested in dealing with her trying to weasel me into taking them.
"Maybe we can go see if Aunt Deny will take us since mommy said she's busy too." I heard Glade suggest while heading upstairs to collect my wallet and keys.
Comments
Thanks! Stove still isn't set up, but we should be hitting that point soon.
my wishlist
my wishlist
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my wishlist
I had a moment or so to kill, so I snuck across to the other side of the first floor to see how things were progressing with Uncle Blaze and my brothers. I was sure to not let them notice me though, for they otherwise would have made me help them. The only reason I wasn't helping them then was because they thought I was still preoccupied with my previous task.
"You want us to move it to the front side of the room? But we've always moved it to the back before. There's less heavy lifting and the tree is nice and visible from the street." Prism said in response to Uncle Blaze's unusual decision.
"Who cares if other people can see our Christmas tree? We always have problems with the sunlight coming in through those front windows on Christmas morning. It ruins the pictures and forces us all to squint the whole time. If we move the piano and drums to the front and put the tree in the back, we won't have to worry about any of that."
"This thing is so heavy though." Prism complained lightly, pouting at mom's piano.
"Aren't you the one who's always working out?" Uncle Blaze laughed in disbelief, "What the point in building muscles if you don't put them to good use?"
I was sorely tempted to shout out that Prism only worked out so much just so he could brag, but the taunt wasn't worth getting myself involved in moving the piano that was indeed incredibly heavy.
"If we're going to move it to the other side, let's pack up mom's planters first. There's no point in having them out now. They'll just get in our way." Wisp suggested.
"Sounds good." Uncle Blaze agreed.
With the three of them beginning to move about, I hurriedly skittered away to avoid being seen. My place was taken back in the kitchen, and I watched over my creations until a certain someone appeared at just the right time. Cerise, now a solid four years old, expertly climbed up a bar stool to look at me with eager anticipation.
"Is my cocoa ready?" she asked expectantly.
"Yup, it's all ready and not too hot." I said, gently sliding the tray of mugs down the counter.
"It's got lots of 'mallows?" she wondered, peering into the one I set in front of her.
"A whole lot of them." I nodded.
I nonchalantly placed mine back near the cocoa making machine. I had put more marshmallows in my mug than I had hers, which would have her declaring it was hers instead if she saw it.
"Remember to drink it carefully, Ceri," I instructed, "If you make a mess, you're big enough to clean it up now."
"I know." my sister dismissed me instantly, carefully tilting the mug while it was still on the counter so the risk of an accident was lessened.
Feeling satisfied she was indeed capable of drinking out of a cup, I took the tray and last mug and left the kitchen.
Mom's room was my destination. The hot chocolate had been her idea, and I had been all too willing to be the one to make it. No supervision from her meant I could do what I wanted. My cup that was one-third marshmallow, for example.
"Here you go." I said as I set the tray down.
"Oh, thank you, honey." mom replied with a grateful sigh.
I hid a laugh as she comically struggled to reach the mug from where I put it, and she gave me the most amused 'help me' look I had ever seen. She took a good sip after I gave it to her and smiled hopelessly when I put it back down. It was nice to see us facing an easily fixable problem. We had had enough real problems as it was.
Mom's pregnancy had been much more touch and go than ever before after that one Sunday. The stress from what had happened on Saturday had brought on some sort of false labor. Her doctor strongly recommended more bed rest and removal from as many stressful situations as possible after that. That was followed for all of about a week. Not that the breakage of that was our fault. Mom began having health problems again. Constantly getting sick, she was in and out of the hospital almost every week. That didn't help the pregnancy, which didn't help her poor health. It was a nasty cycle. Thankfully, things had stabilized in the past two weeks or so. Mom still had a great struggle in getting her body to cooperate, but it looked as if we would be able to make it through the holiday without her having to return to the hospital. That was the family's main goal for the moment, and since us kids were now on winter break there had been a silent agreement to do what we could to help.
Continue reading.
That was an adorable little detective case with Coal and Ceri.
Glad you enjoyed it
My favorite part was doing the Christmas decoration setup, although the presents were rather irritating to work with given how they would automatically snap together, so I couldn't put most of them where I wanted.
In other news, I figure now would be a good time to announce there's two more chapters before the first big time skip! I think it'll be interesting
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat as I listened to the half of Uncle Blaze's conversation that I could hear. It wasn't that I wanted to listen, but delaying hearing the news wouldn't do me any good. Might as well rip off the bandage fast and all that. There was no hope in me that the news could turn out to be good. Uncle Blaze wasn't trying in the slightest to hide the stress in his expression. He knew I was there, but at the same time he was so intently talking to Uncle Eden that it felt like he had forgotten about my presence anyway.
"What about that experimental stuff they gave her before? The first time she had it?" Uncle Blaze asked, daring to sound optimistic.
That optimism soon crashed as Uncle Eden denied whatever Uncle Blaze was hoping to get from the suggestion. He went back to mumbling out more "Mmms", "Yeahs", and dismal "Okays." I was sick of hearing them, for I just wanted to know the truth. An idea of what was going on had already formed in my head. It wasn't a difficult deduction to make given how Uncle Eden had rushed mom to the hospital with symptoms of a familiar illness she had gotten from time to time. Finally, another minute later, Uncle Blaze confirmed the basics of what I imagined. The phone call was ended, and he turned to me with a sigh.
"It's pneumonia."
My sighed matched his, and we both looked at each other sadly.
"They can do something about it though, right? This isn't exactly the first time mom's had pneumonia, so surely they know exactly how to deal with it?" I pondered.
"I wish that was the case. It feels as if they have to come up with a new solution each time for how to make it go away. Old medicines seem to stop working, and it's like the illness gets stronger every time it occurs. Ethereal being pregnant severely complicates things further as well." Uncle Blaze revealed grimly.
"The pneumonia could hurt the baby?" I asked reluctantly.
"Yes, and in a very bad way. It could trigger an early labor- not to mention how it could also encourage deformities even at this later stage. If the situation isn't watched closely, the poor thing could come out with all sorts of crippling disabilities given how intense Ethereal's pneumonia can get."
"But there has to be something they can do." I repeated desperately.
"They're considering all the options. The doctors have gotten Ethereal's fever and other symptoms to stabilize for the moment, so we have a bit of breathing room. The best we can hope for is that the safe medicines that won't hurt the baby will do the job, because the situation will otherwise get even worse from there."
"You're not saying the baby might die, are you?"
The question filled with dread slowly rolled off my tongue.
"It's not like that's not a possibility, but it's a highly unlikely outcome, thankfully. I meant more along the lines of them actually having to force an early labor or simply risking some damage being done in order to guarantee both of them making it out of this."
Continue reading.
One more chapter now before Coal get's older. I swear, I am looking forward to finding out what he looks like when he grows.
I look forward to every new chapter.
Not a movie
my wishlist
my wishlist
Dead silence rang throughout the house. Time stood suffocatingly still, and the lingering echoes of Uncle Blaze's words rang in my ears. They lost? We lost? Some judge had seriously thought taking Rosemary away by forcing her to live with people she didn't want to live with was the best thing for her? The fact that Rosemary was happier than ever and had soared in school rankings to be the number one student in her class wasn't proof enough of how much Uncle Eden and Aunt Deny had helped her? Shipping her off to the other side of the country during the last third of the school year didn't seem absolutely absurd to the court?
I had no idea what to say. I had no idea of what to do. Uncle Blaze and I just stood there in the silence. He still wore that strange expression I couldn't read, and there was something off about the whole aura he emanated. I could have sworn it was almost as if he was holding back a smile. I stared up at him with eyes unblinking- until those eyes swarmed with tears once more. The tears of heartbreak, not the wet eyes caused by a cold that I had been dealing with all day. My tolerance levels completely shot thanks to the exhaustion of my illness, I was about to utterly lose it. I wouldn't be surprised if my legs collapsed on me again as I turned into that blubbering mess. Seconds away from that happening was when Uncle Blaze's attitude rapidly changed.
"Coal, wait, please don't cry. I'm so sorry. I'm just a terrible person. Phrasing it like that on purpose like that to see your reaction was such a horrible move. I don't know what I was thinking." he apologized for whatever reason.
Confusion putting a possible block on my tears, I frowned as I awaited clarification.
"Eden and Deny technically lost the case, but Mary will be staying with us."
I didn't believe him right away. I thought my fever-struck mind was playing tricks on me. Uncle Blaze gently wiped off the one tear that managed to slide down my cheek as he went on to explain his words even further.
"Eden said that even the judge admitted he personally believed Mary belonged with us, but that his hands were tied by the law. As long as there was one biological family member proven capable of taking care of her who wanted her, he had no choice but to award them custody."
"But what about Mary's birth parents purposely sending her into the system the first time around? They rejected her then, so why should they get a second chance?" my weak, cracking, dry voice was able to eke out.
"Apparently, Mary's birth mother lied to everyone. She told Social Services she didn't know who Mary's father was, and she told Mary's birth father that Mary loved living with her step-father. That that was where Mary wanted to be, and also that she didn't want her birth father coming around as she wanted to see only her step-father as her father-type figure. So, he purposely stayed away to fulfill those wishes...until after he married Mary's birth father and the truth came to light. Seeing as how he had been conned as much as everyone else had, he was still given an honest claim to Mary."
"That just feels like another big lie." I mumbled suspiciously.
"Well, they were both under oath, so we don't have much choice but to believe that they were telling the truth. If it makes you feel better, the court did decide that Mary's birth mother, thanks to her deviant lies and behavior, wouldn't get custody of her even as her step-mother. Only her birth father could take her as his charge."
"So, if he won, how did things change around? Is he only just letting Mary stay until the school year is over or something?"
"Mary firmly rejected the court's decision and took matters into her own hands- by making an absolute ruckus when they tried to lead her to her birth father," Uncle Blaze began with a tilted grin, "Eden said it got to the point where she was seriously holding onto a railing and having the poor security officers getting kicked and screamed at trying to pry her off. The tantrum lasted about fifteen minutes before her birth father stepped in. Basically, he realized that all the laws in the world couldn't just earn him a place in his daughter's heart. He said it was obvious he would have to work for that place honestly, and he started by working with the judge right then and there to give up his rights to her. That means that there is no legal way for Mary to be taken away anymore, and his choice also granted him Mary's promise that she would get to know him and spend time with him...on her own terms."
A long stretch of silence was repeated, but it was severely more bearable this time around. The tight lock in my chest unwound itself, and I heaved out a sigh of relief. Then I punched Uncle Blaze as hard as I could in the arm. Given my exhausted state, it probably felt like I merely poked him.
"You are a jerk! Don't toy around with me like that!" I rebuked.
"I'm sorry. I really am. You didn't need that, and I should have known that." he apologized again, although his own relief at the situation had him smiling while he said it.
I chastised him further with a dramatic exhale, roll of my eyes, and fold of my arms. I returned Uncle Blaze's smile when I glanced at him though, and he laughed before pulling me into a hug.
"We got one thing to go right." he said gratefully.
"Hopefully it's a sign that everything else will fall into place too." I added.
"I hope so too, kid."
The words barely left my lips before I sniffled up a big helping of snot before barely avoiding blasting a massive sneeze into my uncle's chest.
"Uh, and let's not undo that hope right away by getting me sick," he joked as he quickly stepped away, "I think it's time for your next dose of medicine."
"Blegh." I complained, sticking out my tongue.
Continue reading.
I was randomly scrolling down the first page, and I was reminded of this conversation we had. I still have not seen this movie
Not a movie
She's super adorable. You'll get to see her more grown up next chapter.
If you asked me how many times I had sighed in the past ten minutes, I wouldn't be able to give you an accurate answer. All I knew was that the answer was high as well as that I was even beginning to feel a little light-headed from all the expunging of air I was doing. I was absolutely sick of the scenario I was in, for it happened far too often. There I stood at the west entrance of the elementary school. It was a new wing they built about three years ago to deal with the school's seemingly always increasing student total. It would have been nice if they built it an extra three years earlier so my friends and I could have experienced the reduced strain of moving throughout the halls ourselves.
In any case, the halls were certainly empty at the moment. School was out for the day, and all the normal, sane people had departed. The kids who rode buses got on their buses. The kids who got picked up came right outside the find their parent's car in the line-up of the special idling lane built to make the departure process smooth and easy...save for my kids. I was beginning to make friends with the parents waiting in cars who also had children who took their time. I never spoke a word to those parents, but we communicated well enough through eye rolls and shakes of our heads. I was also on the receiving end of sympathetic smiles, because I was almost always the last one waiting. I don't know why I bothered to get in that special lane sometimes. It made more sense to actually park the car like I had done several minutes ago. I would have loved to have gone into the school to find the little brats and drag them out, but this door only opened from the inside except for in the morning when students arrived. I knew as soon as I started to make the trek to the main door that my two would appear.
And, exactly as I thought that, I heard their voices coming down the hallway. They were merry and cheerful, and there was no sense of urgency in them. It 🐸🐸🐸🐸 me off. Seriously, didn't these two have any consideration towards me at all? I knew the answer in this regard was pretty much no. Cerise and Glade walked out of the doors holding hands talking and giggling about whatever elementary school drama or gossip they were on about. Glade only gave me a quick glance, and Cerise didn't look my way at all! They completely ignored that I stood there with my arms folded, my foot tapping, and my stare unamused. My sisters were seriously about to walk right past me as if I was nothing more than their chauffeur who was meant to barely be seen and not to be heard.
"A-hem!" I cleared my throat sternly.
That got the two of them to stop walking and talking. They let go of each other's hands, and Cerise looked up at me blankly before a frustrating smile spread across her lips.
"Hi, Coal!" she greeted me merrily.
"Hi, Ceri! So nice to see you this day!" I responded mockingly.
"Are we all set to go?" she asked back tauntingly, knowing exactly why I was mad.
"I'm set to drive myself home. You two, I think, I might just make walk." I denied with a frown.
"But mommy will be angry if you do that." Glade mimicked Cerise's slightly smug tone.
"Well, mommy's on my side in this," I responded likewise, "She told me I could make you walk if I wanted to, but because you're lucky enough to have a nice big brother I have decided to give you one last chance."
Cerise let out one loud, sarcastic laugh. That really got under my skin.
"I'm not kidding! If you two make me wait out here forever again because you're more interested in goofing off with your friends or running about the halls or doing whatever the heck you're doing when you're wasting my time, then I'm going to take off! You'll have go to Hunter's place or Cattleya's house to see if you can beg a ride from him or her parents." I warned sternly and shortly.
It finally sank into their skulls by those words that I was, indeed, quite angry, and their proud expressions faded away. That led to a common predicament. God, those two could seriously switch from being all teasing and smiley to looking as if I was about to lock them up in a dark room for a year at the flip of the switch. There was definitely some pulling at the heartstrings going on with that kind of sad stare, and I hated to admit that it generally worked. I felt guilty being harsh despite knowing I was within my right to be upset and say what I had said. Cerise was an expert at manipulating me as well. Glade just did it naturally.
"We're sorry, Coal. Glade and I were just showing that new girl in my class around some more. She's been having trouble since she's kinda shy, so when we were able to get her having fun with some of my classmates in the cafeteria I didn't just want to take off and leave her by herself." Cerise explained with a perfect tilt of her head, bat of her eyes, and puppy dog pout.
"Yeah! She was laughing so hard she almost started crying." Glade added innocently with enthusiasm.
I put my fists on my hips as I studied them. It was easy enough to recognize there was truth in their story, a tale which was meant to tug at my sympathies. Still, I wasn't going to cave entirely so easily.
"Be that as it may, I'm sticking by what I said. No more of this. Unless you have an actual, legitimate reason to be held up after class, you come out here. If you want to stay after so badly, come out and I'll at least give you my bus pass. Otherwise, I will take off and leave you behind." I emphasized the warning.
"Okay." Cerise and Glade simultaneously accepted with a pout.
Continue reading.
Not a movie
I love Cerise and Glade. They're definitely going to be stealing the spotlight from time to time
Coal was 11 when Glade was born. He's now 17. Cerise is 9, and Glade is 5.
Coal
Azure
Holly
Mimosa
Rosemary
Wisp
Prism
Desire
Cerise
Hunter
I cursed Uncle Eden. He was one of those obnoxious types of people who could get up early in the morning and be super happy for some reason. This had led to him refusing to let mom sleep in most of the time, which had trained her to be able to tolerate mornings more than the average person as well. That, in turn, meant that mom also refused to let us sleep in too. She had poked and prodded me until I was forced to rise even though I stayed up late to do a good portion of my homework exactly like she asked me. I had no choice but to get dressed, but mom was thankfully content to leave me alone after that. I'm sure she thought I would go about my day, but what I actually did was pop downstairs to grab an apple to fool her into thinking I was moving about when in reality I placed the apple on my nightstand before collapsing right back onto my bed. Sleep didn't take long to find me. Annoyance found me quickly too though when ten minutes later my phone ran incessantly. I sent the call to voicemail at first, but the person called again. And then a third time.
"Yes?" I asked with a sickeningly sweet voice at whoever was there when I picked up on the fourth call.
"Oh, good, I got you," Mimosa answered brightly, completely oblivious to my sarcastic friendliness, "I was wondering, Coal, are you busy?"
"Since it's 8:30 on a Saturday morning, not really." I responded.
I did try to hide the tired taunting in my voice as much as possible since I knew Mimosa certainly wasn't attempting to be bothersome on purpose, but my exhaustion caused a hint of it to slip through.
"Great!" she exclaimed, still oblivious, "Would you be interested in meeting up with me soon then?"
Even Mimosa couldn't ignore the loud groan I wanted to do, so I released that noise inside my head instead. Then I took a deep breath and sat up. Honestly, it wouldn't be much longer until mom grew wise to my ruse. She would come in to actually get me up anyway, so I suppose getting up on my own and choosing to do what I wanted before she decided to give me work or something was the better option.
"What do you have in mind?" I asked Mimosa.
"It's a surprise!"
"Nope, I'm not doing any surprises. Don't you remember your last one? It was horrible. I got stuck wandering about in the rain with a broken umbrella for an hour because you forgot your phone after you refused to give me proper directions or even a destination before I left."
"Hmmm, fine," Mimosa pouted, "How about if I tell you to meet me at the Arboretum Park in about half an hour then?"
"Does this have anything to do with that fairy man you were telling me about yesterday?"
"Shhh! Don't say anything more! Just tell me if you're coming!" Mimosa reacted defensively.
I smiled at that. She was so obvious.
"I'll come." I agreed.
I got up right away to find some dip for my apple and get more of a proper breakfast before I left. I gobbled down whatever I could find, and I stood up as I ate considering I didn't have too much time. The drive to the park took twenty minutes, so I only had ten minutes to get business done. Cerise didn't help me move things along.
"So, Glade and I were thinking of going to see that new ice show starting at the rink." she randomly said as I was throwing my dishes in the dishwasher.
"Okay?" I said in slight confusion.
"The earliest showing starts at 10:30. That would be the best one to go to avoid a huge crowd."
"Okay?" I repeated, even more perplexed, "Have fun?"
"No, you goof!" Cerise reprimanded me, "What I mean is we're going to have to leave around 9:30 to get tickets for good seats."
"We? Yeah, no, sorry, Ceri, but I'm not taking you. I've already got plans." I declined.
"What?" she frowned intensely.
"Mimosa already called me, and I'm about to leave right now to meet her. I have no idea how long we'll be out, but then I'm meeting up with Azure in the afternoon anyway."
"But we can't get to the stadium or get tickets without someone older tagging along!" Cerise whined.
"Then you shouldn't have waited until the last second to ask." I shrugged.
Cerise's pouting mouth hung open as I walked away without another word. I wasn't interested in dealing with her trying to weasel me into taking them.
"Maybe we can go see if Aunt Deny will take us since mommy said she's busy too." I heard Glade suggest while heading upstairs to collect my wallet and keys.
Continue reading.