Chapter 4.15 - Romance and Obsession

“Do you guys have to do that in front of me?”

Elsa giggled, and her boyfriend Max smiled at Flora. “You’re just jealous because you can’t get a man.”

Elsa pouted at him. “Max! Don’t be mean.”

Flora looked over to Nanami. “Back me up here, aren’t they a little too lovey-dovey?”

Nanami’s boyfriend Tane was also sitting with them, but the two of them weren’t doing any PDA.

Nanami shrugged. “Let them do what they want, Flora. You’re really too uptight.”

Flora rolled her eyes. They never listened to her when she said she had good reason to be uncomfortable watching teenagers make out. She was proof that it could go horribly wrong. “I’m not jealous or uptight. I just think you guys should be careful.”

Max raised an eyebrow at her. “Maybe we should get you a boyfriend too.” He turned to Elsa. “Who do you think would be a good match with her? Alex?”

Elsa lit up. “Alex would be perfect! I’ll text him.”

Flora slammed her hands on the table. “I don’t need you to find me a boyfriend!”

Nanami looked at her. “Don’t tell me you’re still hung up on Wren Grove. You guys are not at all compatible.”

Tane, who was usually quiet, chimed in. “Wren’s a decent dude, but he already has somebody he likes.”

Elsa looked at him. “Who?” She didn’t like Wren, but she was always interested in new gossip.

“I don’t know, some girl he hangs out with outside of school. He only mentioned it briefly.” 

Tane went back to his food, and the conversation continued on a different topic. No one noticed Flora’s silly smile down at the table.

-------

“Do you want to go outside? I’m bored.”

Skye frowned down at her homework. “Not until I finish this.”

Amos flopped down on the couch. “Since when do you care so much about school?”

“I’m smart!”

Amos rolled his eyes. “I didn’t say you’re not smart, I just asked when you started caring so much about it.”

Skye finished her homework and put it away. “We have a big test coming up, don’t you want to do well?”

“Yeah, but I’m not losing sleep over it. I wouldn’t think you would be, either.”

Skye looked down. “Anna scored first in the class on the last exam, and this next one is our last test before high school.”

“Anna again? I don’t get why you care so much about her. She’s so boring.”

Skye was silent. She didn’t want to admit that her father liked Anna better than he liked her, and the more she paid attention to Anna, the more it felt like Anna was genuinely better than her. She was better at school, at the very least, and it didn’t mean much that Skye could beat her at sports. So she’d become determined to beat Anna on the academic front. She refused to believe that Anna was smarter than her. All she had to do was try harder, and she would be able to do better than Anna.

Amos shook his head. “Forget it. If you want to do well on the test, go ahead. I’m going outside.”

Skye shook herself out of her trance. “Wait up! I’m done now, I’ll come with you.”

-------

It had become Flora’s routine to meet Wren on the weekends. This weekend was no different, but in another way, it was completely different. This weekend, Flora was going to tell Wren how she felt about him.

“Wren!” She ran up and hugged him. He embraced her back.

When he eventually pulled back, he grinned at her. “Flora! Happy to see me?”

She smiled back at him. “I am. Are you happy to see me?”

“I am too.” He hesitated, searching her face. “I have something to tell you.”

“What a coincidence, I have something to tell you too.”

“Do you want to go first?”

“No, you go first.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes! Stop stalling and tell me already.”

He stood up straight. “Alright, then. Flora Doe, I like you. Romantically. I want to date you.”

Flora’s smile spread all over her face. “Good. Because I like you too. And I should tell you, I only date with the intention of marriage, so you’re not getting away from me.”

He had a huge, silly grin on his face. “That’s exactly what I want.”

Shyly, he held out his hand. She took it enthusiastically, and they walked together hand in hand, talking as comfortably as they ever had.

Author's Note: As promised, I took pictures for the last five chapters yesterday - they're all done, except for a few pictures from Chapter 20, which I'll take in the next few days. Next time: Skye is a teen!

Chapter 4.14 - The Birth and Death of Dreams

 

During the week, Flora’s time was strictly regimented, with a task for every moment. On the weekends, though, her time was her own. Lately, she’d been spending that time outside.

Their house was small, and it felt even smaller now that Skye was older - Flora didn’t think she’d ever taken up as much space as Skye did just by entering a room. 

So, instead of spending her weekend stuck in that little house, she went out to the park.

She’d been sitting on a bench, looking at the natural beauty of the environment, when someone called her name. “Flora?”

She turned around. “Wren? What brings you here?”

He smiled. “I like to get out on the weekends. I usually stay closer to home, but I felt like venturing further out today. I’m glad I did.”

Flora blushed. “I’m glad you did too,” she mumbled.

“What was that?”

“I said it’s good to see you too.”

He sat down next to her with casual grace. “I haven’t seen you much at school.”

She looked away. “I’ve been busy.”

“I know, little miss overachiever.”

“Hey! I’m not that much of an overachiever. I just want to achieve my dreams, is that so wrong?”

“What are your dreams?”

Flora hesitated. She hadn’t told anyone else about this, but… “I think I want to be a botanist.”

He nodded. “I can see that. You can do science with plants. That seems fun.”

She grinned. “I think so too. What about you? What do you dream about?”

“I don’t have a dream job or anything like you do. I want to have a close family, and I want to like… live off the land, you know? Live a sustainable lifestyle.”

“You want to be a homesteader?”

“Nah, that would be way too much work. I just want to like, have a garden, maybe some chickens, get a rain barrel, you know? Raise kids who respect the environment.”

Flora nodded. “That’s a nice dream. I feel like I’m scared to dream of a family.”

“Why?”

“Because mine fell apart. My mom left when I was still really little - I barely remember her, but most of what I remember is her avoiding me. My dad left later, and I still have some contact with him, but it’s not really a proper parent-child relationship. I live with my aunt Willow now, and she’s great, she loves me and does everything she should, but when I think about having a family someday… it just doesn’t feel real. It doesn’t seem like something I could have.”

She got choked up at the end of that.

Wren patted her on the arm. “Hey. If you want a family, I believe you can have one. And you don’t have to have a traditional family if you don’t want to!”

Flora wiped her eyes and smiled at him. “I think I do want a family. I just struggle to believe that people can stick around to be my family.”

Wren looked at her. “I think you’re worth sticking around for.”

-------

Skye was excited. She was spending the day with her dad.

Her mom dropped her off at the door, but Skye insisted on knocking herself.

The door was opened by a big, unfamiliar man. “Hello there. What’s your business here?”

Skye, fearless, smiled up at him. “My name’s Skye Doe! I’m here to see my dad.”

He smiled. “So you’re Conor’s little girl! I met you when you were a baby, but you won’t remember that. Come in, I’ll bring you to your dad.”

Skye waved goodbye to her mom and walked inside. She was led behind the house to a shed, where she heard a familiar voice coming from inside.

“I found this on my latest expedition. Can you tell what it is?”

A child’s voice responded. “It’s an artifact!”

The door opened at this point, and the older man called in. “You have a visitor, Conor!”

Skye ran in to hug her dad. “Hi dad!”

He hugged her back carefully and stood up again quickly. “Whoa there! I’ve got a very important relic here, let me put it down before you tackle me.”

Skye obediently backed away, looking curiously at the other girl in the room. “Who are you?”

“I’m Anna. Who are you?”

Skye frowned. “I’m Skye.” She gestured over at her father. “This is my dad.”

Anna’s eyes were wide behind her glasses. “Really? I didn’t know he had kids. Why don’t you live here?”

“I live with my mom.”

“Oh.” Anna tilted her head. “Do you like artifacts too?”

“What are artifacts?”

Conor had turned around at this point. “Do you want to learn about my work, Skye?”

Skye’s eyes lit up. “Yes!”

He ushered her over to the work table. “This is an artifact, what you see right here. I excavate them from the ruins of ancient civilizations, clean them up, and try to reconstruct what we would have seen them doing in ancient times.”

“What would they do?”

“These artifacts, when put together properly, can have amazing powers.”

That was vague, but before she could ask what he meant, the man who’d brought her in poked his head through the door again. “Conor? Anna? Pack meeting.” He looked over at Skye. “You can come too, if you’d like.”

Skye shook her head. He didn’t try to persuade her. The others filed out of the shed, and Skye was left alone.

Skye intended to wait patiently. She only made it a few minutes before her gaze was drawn back to the artifact on the table. It had amazing powers, her dad had said. It didn’t look like it had amazing powers, but maybe they were hidden?

She picked up the artifact and turned it over. Maybe there were batteries inside? She’d watched her mom fix her alarm clock a while ago after it stopped working, and the first thing she’d done was take off the panel on the back and change the batteries. Skye had found it fascinating, the way all the little parts fit together to do something none of them could do alone. Maybe this worked the same way?

With that in mind, she turned the artifact over, looking for a part she could pry off to see the working parts inside. She found a seam, worked at it until there was a crack, and until finally the whole side of the artifact came open. Before she could look at what was inside, the door opened, and a loud gasp sounded from the doorway.

Skye looked up, while Conor was already rushing over to grab the artifact. “Skye, what have you done? You’ve broken it!”

Anna, standing just behind him, just stared at Skye with owlish, disapproving eyes. 

Conor placed the artifact carefully back on the table before turning back to Skye. “What were you thinking?”

“I was trying to see how it worked…”

“By breaking it? Skye, you’re old enough to know better. Anna’s never broken any of my artifacts.”

“How should I know about-”

“Why don’t you go back to the house. I’ll join you when I’m done with this.”

As instructed, Skye left the shed, but she lingered outside for a little longer. 

Standing outside, she heard her father’s voice once more, now much gentler than when he was speaking to her. “Do you want to watch me fix it? Be careful, I’m going to reattach the side.”

Skye made it back to the house. She locked herself in the bathroom before she started crying.

Author's Note: I finished writing Chapter 20 today! I'm planning on taking pictures for the rest of the generation tomorrow, and then the uploading spree will start. You have about a week before the heir poll opens, and then you'll have about two weeks to vote. Hopefully you can choose a favorite! Next time: romance!

Chapter 4.13 - Make New Friends, Keep the Old

 

“Where are we going?”

“I have a job interview,” Willow explained patiently.

“Why do I have to come with you?”

“Because Flora is on a trip and you can’t stay home alone.”

Skye scowled. Flora was on a trip with her dad. Skye wanted to see her own dad. But she couldn’t tell her mom that because then her mom would be sad, like she always was when Skye asked if she could see Daddy. Sometimes he would come, and sometimes he wouldn’t, but it didn’t seem to make a difference whether Skye asked or not, so she had stopped asking.

Willow noticed that she was upset. “Don’t worry, it won’t take long. I’ll take you to the playground after it’s over.”

The playground would help, but it wasn’t her dad.

When they arrived at the interview site, they met a scruffy-looking man who introduced himself as Lou Howell.

“You’re here about the training job?”

Willow nodded. “I was a member of the Sim Fu division of the national martial arts team, and I’ve been teaching martial arts since I finished high school.”

“You’re probably overqualified to be teaching us, then. Most of the pack just wants to learn some basic technique so they’re not just relying on their claws in fights.”

Willow gave a pained smile. “Still, jobs in this niche are scarce. I’d be happy to train you guys.”

Lou laughed. “Whoa, I’m not saying you won’t get the job! The boss isn’t here right now, but she gave me the authority to hire whoever I thought was qualified, and you’re definitely qualified. You’ve got the job.”

With that, Lou turned to Skye. “Who’s this?”

“My daughter, Skye. I couldn’t find a babysitter, I’m sorry.”

Skye looked up at the man, unimpressed. “You smell like wet dog.”

Lou ignored her and looked at Willow. “She’s a wolf, right? If you’re going to be working with the pack, we could help her prepare for her change.”

Willow smiled. “That would be great.”

Skye was less enthused. “Why do I need a pack?” She hadn’t actually turned into a wolf yet - her mom said it would happen around puberty, along with a whole bunch of other scary things - but she didn’t see how a pack would be able to help more than her mom.

“Well, what about a friend? My son is about your age, why don’t the two of you take some time to talk?”

Without further preamble, Skye was sent into another room with a boy who, true enough, looked to be about her own age.

He scowled at her. “Who are you?”

She crossed her arms. “Who are you?”

“I asked first.”

“Skye Doe.”

“Amos Howell.”

They looked at each other for a long moment. Then - “You have a stupid name.”

“You’re named after the sky!”

“It has an e at the end!”

“That’s even more stupid!”

Another long pause. “What are you playing?”

“Floor is lava. Wanna play?”

“How do you play?”

He rolled his eyes. “The floor is lava, stupidhead. You’re on the floor, so you’re dead. I win!”

Skye climbed up on the couch next to him and shoved him. “You’re the stupidhead! It’s not my fault I didn’t know how to play!”

The two of them chased each other around the furniture for the rest of the afternoon. When their parents came to pick them up, they were both asked if they’d made friends. In unison, the two of them chorused, “Yeah!”

-------

After Flora came back from her camping trip, she started high school.

In basic format, high school wasn’t that different from middle school, just in a different building. But Flora and her friends were determined to have an incredible high school experience, and they were willing to devote a lot of effort to that goal.

“So, rules for high school!”

“Are you really making a list?”

“You don’t understand, Nanami! Deviating from the correct path in high school can ruin your entire life!”

Flora had previously been skeptical, but with that sentence, she thought about her parents, and the letter she’d gotten from her father on the camping trip. With that in mind, she nodded. “Elsa’s right. We don’t want to make any mistakes.”

“That’s 2 to 1 for a rule list. So, first rule: we have to make sure we’re in the right extracurriculars. We’re all going to join Chess Club.”

Elsa waited for objections, but there weren’t any. Nanami hated sports and would do anything to avoid them, while Flora enjoyed chess and would take any opportunity to spend time with her friends. “Chess Club, sure. That can be rule number 1.”

“Rule number 2: we study together so we can hold each other accountable.” Once again, there were no objections. 

“Rule number 3: we’re honest with each other about our relationships. We tell each other what’s happening with them, and we tell each other if we don’t like someone’s boyfriend.”

Flora raised an eyebrow. “So I can tell you I don’t like Max?”

Elsa frowned. “You don’t like Max?”

“Not really.” 

“Why not?”

“He just doesn’t seem reliable.” He was also kind of smarmy. 

“Maybe we don’t need that rule.”

“Why not? Boys are the thing that’s most likely to ruin our lives, when you think about it.”

“Do you think Max is ruining my life?”

“Not yet, but he could.”

“That’s true about any boyfriend I could have! Who do you think would be better?”

Flora’s mind drifted to the boy she’d met on the camping trip. “Do you know Wren Grove?”

Nanami rolled her eyes. “Are you kidding? You’re coming for Elsa’s boyfriend when you have a crush on that kind of unmotivated slacker?”

Flora looked at Elsa, who looked disappointed. “Nanami’s right. Max has good grades and works hard, no matter what you don’t like about him. Wren Grove is the definition of unreliable.”

Flora sighed, looking down at the table. Dreams were never quite like reality.

Author's Note: Chapter 13 done! I'm working on a finalized timeline for getting the rest of this generation out - I want to close the heir poll around the end of September, and I want it to be open for about two weeks, so I'm going to try to get the rest of the chapters out by September 15th or so. This may or may not happen, but I have most of the rest of the generation written, I just have to finish the last couple of chapters, take pictures, and format. So expect rapid updates for the next week or so, but if you don't have time to keep up with it in real time, don't panic - you'll have a couple weeks while the heir poll is up where I won't be updating and you can catch up on the reading before you vote in the heir poll (I really hope people vote in the heir poll, I think I'm going to host it on boolprop this generation). In the past, I've sometimes done little specials while the heir poll is up, but I haven't had any good ideas for those this generation. If anyone has something they'd like to see in a special, feel free to make suggestions! But if I don't get any suggestions, I probably won't do specials for this generation. Next time: reunions!