Chapter 4.10 - Domestic Bliss

 “You’re bringing friends home after school today?”

“Yep! Elsa and Nanami. We’re going to do our homework together.”

Willow smiled. “I’m so glad you’ve made good friends.”

“Me too.”

After Flora hurried out the door, Willow went about her typical day. She hadn’t gone back to work yet. There wasn’t anyone to watch Skye, and she didn’t want to leave her rambunctious werewolf toddler with a random babysitter.

So instead, she took care of Skye herself.

“Mommy, mommy, mommy!”

“Yes, Skye?”

“I waited forever! I wanna go outside.”

“Okay, but you have to stay with me, remember?”

What followed was slightly over an hour of Willow watching Skye like a hawk while Skye ran around faster than any toddler had the right to.

Eventually Skye wore herself out and they went back inside for lunch and naptime.

After naptime, Willow read to Skye for a while until Skye wanted to run around again. This time, thankfully, she was running around inside.

Flora came home from school, bringing her two friends with her. They were very polite to Willow, but quickly escaped to hang out in Flora’s room. 

Willow made them snacks, but she was mostly watching Skye. It was a full time job.

-------

“Your mom is really nice.”

Flora flipped the page of her homework booklet. “Willow’s not my mom, but she is really nice.”

“Who is she, then?”

“She’s my aunt, my dad’s sister. I barely remember my mom, and I haven’t seen my dad in years.” She looked down. “They both left a long time ago.”

Nanami was quiet. Elsa said, “I’m sorry.”

Flora smiled at them. “It’s alright. Like I said, it was a long time ago. And I have Willow, and she’s always been great.”

The mood was still slightly down, so Flora continued. “Families are complicated. Mine might be a little unusual, but I’m happy with it. I’d rather have that than have both my parents still here and miserable.” Flora remembered enough to know that it would have been miserable.

Nanami made a face. “That’s true. My parents are still together, but they can’t stand each other. They’re never going to get divorced, even though that would be less traumatic for us than watching them fight all the time and cheat on each other.”

Elsa nodded. “I hadn’t really thought about it, but I guess you’re right.”

She looked back down at her homework and grumbled, “Why do I need to write a book report? I want to be an astrophysicist. I don’t think they’re gonna ask me what I thought about Crisis Barn when I’m studying space.”

Nanami shrugged. “You can copy mine if you want.”

“I’m not going to copy yours! I’ll do it, I just want to complain about it.”

Flora smiled. “It’s nice that you know what you want to do.”

Nanami looked up. “You’re really smart, Flora. You’ll figure it out. I’m just gonna inherit my dad’s business empire.”

Elsa snorted. “You're such a rich kid.”

Flora looked down at her homework to hide her expression. She really didn’t know what she wanted to do. She just knew that she wanted to live comfortably. If she, like Nanami, had parents who led her down a path to guaranteed success… what would she do with that? Instead, her parents had left her with Willow, who’d been living off unemployment since they moved here. Flora was old enough and smart enough to know that, as much as Willow said she just wanted to stay home while Skye was young, Skye’s birth had left Willow incapable of performing her previous, physically demanding job, and there weren’t many jobs around here Willow was qualified for. Flora wasn’t old enough to work yet, but she expected she would get a part time job when she was. It was hard for her to even imagine the privileges her friends took for granted.

Author's Note: Sorry about the lack of pictures in the last scene, Flora's room is just terrible to take pictures in. I will not be setting scenes there in the future. This was a pretty quiet chapter, but next chapter will be the last one where the focus is really on Willow before it shifts to the kids - Flora will be a teenager in Chapter 12, and we'll see Skye as a child in Chapter 13. I'm trying to find a consistent release schedule (not necessarily the same days every week or anything, but just so I'm releasing chapters pretty regularly), so I'm trying to have a decent backlog of chapters for release. Next time: the conclusion of Willow's plotline, and I finally release the rolls for this generation (even though at this point you can probably guess).

Chapter 4.9 - A New Home

 

It didn’t take long before the three of them arrived in Moonwood Mill. Moonwood Mill itself was a small town, sparsely populated mostly by werewolves, but it was in a much more populous area than Willow had ever lived in. People traveled to and from neighboring towns regularly for all sorts of things, including school, which excited Flora, who would be going to a much bigger school now.

Willow, meanwhile, was desperate to see Conor, but responsible enough that she wouldn’t try to do so until Flora had been successfully enrolled and sent off to school.

“You’re excited for school?”

Flora grinned up at her. “Yeah! It’s a brand new school, so I can make new friends!”

“Alright, off you go!”

And with that, Flora was sent off to school, and Willow and Skye set off to visit Conor.

-------

The pack alpha, a friendly man named Kristopher Volkov, met them at the door and led them to the back garden. He, like Willow, was holding a baby. The babies stared curiously at each other.

Kristopher told the story of his pack as they walked through the large house. “This is a place for the lost and unwanted. We take them in and try to teach them to control their inner wolves.”

He smiled sadly down at the baby in his arms. “Some, like little Anna, come younger than others.”

He looked back at Willow. “Others, like your partner, are referred to us by their former packs. We take all sorts, although not all decide to stay. I’m glad you’re supportive of your partner’s journey.”

Willow nodded, eager to see Conor now that they had finally made it through the house.

Once they’d reached the shed, she finally saw him. She barely noticed when Kristopher made a tactful retreat.

“Conor!”

He smiled at her. “It’s so good to see you. Everything’s been so strange here… seeing you is something familiar.”

Willow nodded, then held up the infant in her arms. “This is Skye. Our daughter.”

Conor walked over, reached out, then hesitated. “Can I hold her?”

“Of course! Just be careful with her.”

“I will.”

True to his word, Conor held Skye like she was made of glass. “Nice to meet you, Skye,” he whispered.

He looked back at Willow. “I like her name. It goes with Flora, too. I’m guessing she came with you.”

Willow nodded. “She’s at school right now.” 

She smiled. “Flora loves Skye. She’s been incredibly helpful with her.”

He looked down at Skye with a complicated expression. “She’s beautiful. I never thought…”

“How have you been?”

“It’s hard. Exploring the world was always my dream, but I always thought I would have my pack to come back to every time I returned. Now that they’re gone, I feel like I’ve been set adrift. My anchor is gone.”

Willow took his hand. “I’m still here.”

“I know, and I’m so grateful, but it’s not the same. The Moonwood Collective has been lovely, but… I still feel so lost. I guess that’s what the mandatory adjustment period is for.”

“Adjustment period?”

He nodded. “I have to stay here for a while with minimal contact with the outside world. This… is so I can see you once before I go into seclusion.”

He looked down at the baby. “And so I can meet Skye.”

“We’ll still be here when it’s over.”

He smiled. “I know. I’m sorry for asking you to wait for me again.”

“I’m used to waiting.” She smiled. “But this is the last time, got it?”

“Got it.”

--------

Flora was more nervous than she let on to go to a new school. She hadn’t really had any friends at her old school, and this one was even bigger, and all the other kids had been going to school together for years.

She introduced herself to her classmates, she did her best in class - took notes, answered questions, and was generally alert and attentive.

She was expecting to eat lunch alone, but to her surprise, she was approached by two girls at the beginning of the lunch period.

“Your name’s Flora, right?” The blonde girl sat down in front of her. 

“That’s right. Sorry, I don’t remember your names.”

The blonde girl smiled. “I’m Elsa.”

The other girl spoke immediately after. “I’m Nanami.”

The two girls looked at each other, and then Elsa said, “We want to be friends with you.”

Flora was skeptical. “Why?”

“You seem smart and hard-working! Too many of the kids here don’t even try at school.”

Nanami shrugged. “My mom says I can’t be friends with delinquents.”

“How do you know I’m not a delinquent?”

Elsa answered. “You knew the answers to all of the math questions this morning, so even if you’re a delinquent, you’re a smart delinquent. I’m okay with smart delinquents.”

Nanami smirked. “Like Max?”

Elsa turned bright red. “Shut up!”

Flora leaned forward. “We can be friends. So who’s Max?”

Nanami pointed him out. “Elsa has a crush on him.”

“I do not!” Elsa looked at Flora. “But… he’s cute, right? Don’t you think he’s cute?”

Flora looked at him. “He’s kind of short, isn’t he?”

“He is not short! It’s normal for boys to be shorter than girls at this age!”

“But you don’t have a crush on him, right?”

Elsa blushed again, and Nanami laughed. They were friends from there on out.

Author's Note: And that's the chapter! First chapter back with pictures, although it's definitely more text-heavy. I'm still getting back into the swing of things with screenshots and such, so picture volume might be inconsistent for the next few chapters (or, you know, the rest of the generation... who knows?). Anyway, I've got a couple of chapters still waiting for me to format them, so expect to see those in the not too distant future. Willow's (abridged) plotline will wrap up in the next few chapters so we can focus more on the kids - sadly, not everything I had planned for Willow is feasible with the game switch, but the kids will get very fleshed out storylines before the heir poll! I'm excited, none of the kids got as much attention as they deserved last generation (the curse of the 5 kids roll) so you guys should really be able to form your opinion on who you want as heir this generation. Next time: Skye is adorable and Flora totally has her trauma under control!