1.27 It really is magical

Another day, another dose of radiation.

Another show to a packed house.

Some things can still be unnerving once you know what to look for. She probably looks familiar because she's one of the elementary teachers at Jyo & Jet's school. He wonders if she's special in the same way he's seen before, or another way altogether. The glowy eyes are hard to miss. Dustin does his best to brush off the queasy feeling he gets about seeing her though.

Not that he's worried about a confrontation, so much as he needs a break of time in between brushes with death, or whatever. That and he's finally making more money with his act. He has a LOT of unfinished business in that regard.

But the woman doesn't linger, and Dustin is overcome with a sense of relief that she wasn't at his show for any serious reason.

And the snowy winter sky and cold air on his face is so welcome after the stuffy interior of the bar that he runs outside to practice a little a bit more.

The little matchgirl, this story ain't. But the boy's version of that story would totally be about a magician with flashstrips.

And he stops on the way home to visit more people that he cares about. The boys are out for the evening, something about a late return from a camping trip, and so only Eugene and Lize are home.

“I reported on your act the other day,” Eugene smirks proudly. “You're way better at bullshitting people than I thought you were. Great job.”

“Thank you?” Dustin is clearly confused by the statement.

“No seriously, honest people like you don't make good magicians, but since you managed to be so artsy with it all, nobody feels like they can see through you.”

The younger man mulls this over. “Seems ironic.”

“My favorite part. Anyways, it's chilly, so get in here already.”

Male bonding.

“Ziggy Zaggy Ziggy Zaggy Oy Oy Oy!” Because sports.

Say 'Ermuhgerdddddd'

Yesssssssssss.....!

(the writer gets the fiendishly delighted moodlet)

The cousins adopted a ginger cat too.

Meet Miura Sparrow. She is going to be all kinds of awesome.

There's kind of a b*tchin social set up upstairs. Which is odd as not many parties happen here, but Eugene likes to always have a set up for people who come by, as a jock it's his duty to always be ready just ion case.

“I thought you'd be hiding more books around here.” Dustin comments to his cousin's wife.

Lize shrugs. “I volunteer at the library on weekends.”

After a few rounds of pool in which nobody can remember how to play, the game breaks up.

Dustin pulls something out of thin air and set it up on their landing. It has thick walls and he raps his knuckles to illustrate how sound it is. Nobody asks how he was able to set it all up so quickly, but it'll bother them later in the middle of the night when they're trying to stay asleep. “Let me show you the newest part of my act. It'll be an exclusive.”

Pool was boring anyways. Eugene had to get up to go the bathroom again, and Lize realized that she did want to read a book after Dustin brought it up.

“Okay well I hope I'll still be here when you get back!” He yells to his cousin who's from behind the thick layers of glass. He can't restart the trick for them to see it from the beginning.

“Jya say something dear?” Lize calls out of the side of her mouth in between scanning pages and reading comic sound effects.

“No...”

“...”

He thinks she responded, but his vision's a bit blurry under all this water. It looks like her lips moved for a second there.

Eugene meant to come right back, but he sort of forgets how to get out of the bathroom, or what he was doing before he went in there in the first place. It's anybody's guess if he even remembers that he has company right now.

(SNAP) The book shuts crisply.

“What was it you were saying dear?” Lize calls again.

And by the time she gets back up she stops, startled. Water is running across the floor from somewhere. Until she finally turns. “Dustin! It's great to see you! When did you get here?”

Dustin just smiles and waves, cool water pouring in a deluge out of his wide-banded cuffs. He's too polite to point out the obvious. They haven't always been this forgetful. “Hey Lize, figured I'd stop by on the way home, great to see you too! Do you know where Eugene went?”

She shakes her head. “Oh I don't know if he's home yet or not.” She says uncertainly.

He waits until her back is to him again to be seriously worried about her. It's not like they live on their own, but still it's unnerving.

Lize with the sahara eye defaults. She's such a cute elder!

Eugene shows up again about fifteen minutes later. “Who let you in here?” He asks conspiratorially. Dustin's pretty sure he's being trolled right now.

“I climbed in a window.” He replies back coolly.

But the old man must be feeling a bit sentimental, because something honest comes out of his mouth next. “By the way I saw your show, congratulations on becoming a national sensation. People LOVE you out here. I wasn't sure you'd be able to make it, it's a difficult business being in the entertainment industry, but I'm proud of ya, kid. You're doing very well.”

Dustin chokes up a bit and doesn't respond. He just smiles.

Eugene smiles back.

And then listens politely as Dustin launches into a diatribe about how much better the act is going to be. He's taking things in a much more serious direction, but every show will still have a huge serving of humor in it. He's adding depth and removing the cheaper gags.

The new plans get the old man's approval.

Everet's here after all. Turns out he got home a bit ago, but his parents didn't remember. “They're not usually both like this,” He confesses by way of asking for advice. “Usually it's my mom forgetting things. Then my dad worries about her and throws himself into his work and winds up all sleep deprived and he becomes just as bad. He uses up all his energy filming his segments at work, and then comes home like this, with nothing left. Can you help me convince him to take a vacation or something?”

Dustin tries to break it to him gently. Everet's dad was never going to change. “I think having too much time off would stress him out, actually. Maybe if you could occasionally take over dinner or go out with them on the weekends and you all can connect more as a family it'll help him calm down. If he's worried about your mom, he's probably trying to make enough money so you don't have to worry if they both end up needing nurses or care later in life. They probably don't want to pass a burden on to you.”

“So what do you think I should do?” Everet asks earnestly. “I want dad to stop working, but part of our move out here was paid for by his network and they own the house, dad even gets lawncare paid for by work. I think it's too much. I mean, I love living here and all, but they shouldn't have to keep working like this...”

“Everet, your dad loves to work, so don't worry about that part too much, it helps him when he's feeling stressed. Also you should probably, you know, go get a job.”

Everet frowns. “It would have to be a really good one. I don't think minimum wage at the movie theater is going to cut it for this place.”

“Then make it a good one. I'll let you know if I see any ads out there.”

“Okay, and until then maybe I can start at the theater. But, no free tickets at my booth! I can't be losing money you know.”

Dustin laughs a bit. “Thanks for the warning.”

They talk a bit more, and Dustin starts to recognize a familiar feeling, one that he had for his cousin growing up. It seems like Evert admires him. He feels proud, and old and realizes that his act, and even his entire life has to be lived well, for Everet's and Jyoti and Jet's generation. He has to be a good example for them.

Meanwhile, Eugene with the eye defaults....

And Meghan...

This old man always looks so sly. He probably knows half the town's dirty secrets to be fair. He has every right to look this way.

It's like even the pool's got a secret and only he knows about it.

They play another game before Dustin heads home and we get to see this sassy pose.

Eugene: “Don't sass me boy.”

Dustin (unconcerned): “Phoo~o”

This time Eugene leave to go to bed in the middle of the game. Thanks, Eugene. It was great seeing you.

Dustin heads out too and Lize is left to finish the game up by herself, which she is determined to do.

More eyes....

Jyoti

Jet

I thought Dustin went home but apparently the snow-covered lawn chairs looked amazing, and it was already late, so he decided to hang out.

He missed the delivery of this device yesterday.

Meghan has been working tirelessly in her lab for nearly fifteen years already, sending samples and reports and collaborating with the efforts of local, and eventually national scientists.

After one of her articles paralleling genetically modified fish with their smaller, found-in-the-wild brothers which compiled years of data and cutting edge testing and analysis she was rewarded by the college sponsoring many of her studies with this machine, which requires it's own block of transformers to be dedicated to it at the nearby power station. The city permits required to run it are extensive, but Meghan wastes no time in applying for the right to use it. The local science center begins to teach classes about 'Freelance Science' and she is used as a successful example of that.

What most of the community doesn't know is how little money Meghan has actually made doing the research she loves. It's a thankless job where research is paid for on the basis of a desired outcome (such as, “try this weird new skin cream that is supposed to make you feel younger”) and not on the basis that an item requires further research or something should be explored further (“does this skin cream make people feel different at all?”). She gets emotional at the sight of a reward like this, most days she just feels like a fan of the scientific community no matter how careful she is. There will always be people with a string of acronyms after their name that look down on her and her way of studying. But that has never mattered so little.

She also was given some reward money for the national acclaim her work brought to her sponsoring university and the Starlight Shores hospital. Of course this means a bit of an expansion to the lab, and also an area for the kids to learn chemistry.

She sleeps soundly that night.

Snowcat.

A brave snowcat. Don't fall, Miura!

She tromps effortlessly over the bridge of deep, bone-chilling water.

And leads the humans back into the house. What is she, their denmother?

Dustin and Leon let her go in first.

Leon doesn't have to like it, but apparently she's in charge around here.

Snow day back at home, so of course more tag is played.

Dustin gets home after his visit and jumps right on the chores, cleaning up the lab...

And flipping some omelets.

Once he's satisfied that the kids are eating and not running around trying to catch colds instead of each other, he instructs them to do their homework next. Jet whines at this, but Jyo shrugs, knowing she has to get over doing it before tomorrow anyways.

I guess gnomes can die? This game is so weird. And we have more of them. How many of these things are you conjuring when I'm not playing you, Dustin!? (Answer: something like six)

Jet lets his dad know ho much he hates his homework by interrupting his dad's nap and asking questions. Eventually Dustin tries to pass the questions onto Meghan, who claims she has a stomachache from eating those eggs, and Jyoti yells from the other room that her brother should “shut up and just do your stupid homework already”, at which point she gets yelled at for being impolite.

So, snow days are all about family bonding.

The kids forget they just yelled at each other, once homework is over and they can go back outside to play some more.

Which works out nicely for their parents, who really don't get to spend a lot of time together.

So Dustin pulls everyone into the (family) limo for a trip to the park.

Lorenzo is down for a daytrip.

First up, more photos for me to lose later! But we'll get to see them on the wall a bit.

Then everyone decides it'll be nice to get out for a bit. Looks like Dustin's peptalk to Everet had some impact after all.

And everyone splits up to go do the most fun looking thing.

Once Element's new “Magic is in the fAIR!” Ad campaign starts running (it'll be so lit!) Everyone will be out here, so the family gets exclusive access before the event is open to the general public.

And they take full advantage and try out everything.

Jet and Jyo decide to team up against their mom in snowball fighting.

But Meghan's no pushover and her daughter takes a ball of slush to solar plexus.

Which of course does nothing to curb Jet's enthusiasm.

'Old Man Weather' Eugene takes some B roll for his morning show here too.

And there's nothing like a game of softball to take the edge off of losing against mom. Gotta stretch out the tummy after a hit like that!

They go easy on each other for a bit.

Jet gets to skate and has the rink all to himself.

And Jyo is onto the next activity

Jet discovers the joys of buttwarming...

Dustin works on some B roll of his own, but Eugene's cameraman stops to stare for a while before filming. “How long do you think he can stay up there?” Eugene asks with a grin.

Dustin smirks right back and can't resist a little showboating. “I can do this all day, gentlemen.”

“But I don't work for free.”

He lands pointedly near the tipjar.

Jyoti's trying to figure out which creepy person made this snowman when she wasn't looking (hint: it was your brother).

“I mayyyyybe be able to tip you if I see that exact trick again.” The cameraman bargains.

They go back and forth, and a few bills make it into the jar.

Cameraman is pleased.

And the girls sit down for a snack instead of heading home starving. Meghan's hoping the kids make it long enough for some stargazing, so she cleverly begins to full them up with sugar.

And everyone joins in. Who would have thought to roast marshmallows over a firepit during winter?

But anyone who sits in front of the fire and feels the heat is going to have a hard time getting back up again for a while.

Dustin and Meghan walks back over together, hand in hand.

There aren't enough words to describe the feeling they have.

It really is magical, the fact that everyone is sitting down together, warming themselves, sharing stories of what's happening in their lives.

Everet has a business idea that might let him work with friends buying and selling on Fleabay. Jet is going to run a museum when he grows up because nobody knows how to choose great art (he got this idea into his head after a recent school trip to the gallery).

Smiling, laughing, rosy cheeks and energy expended, the group eventually falls into a companionable silence.

And Dustin and 'Drea' decide they need get in on this action.

And everyone has a lot of fun.

Meghan gets a few more samples for her collection too of course.

~~~~~~~~~

Jet has the rebellious trait, if you've not guessed it already. But I still don't think that trait gives the reaper snowman? I added the firepits to the winter festival lot and was really happy with that result. They all just seemed to be enjoying themselves there, so finally a feel good update!!

Everet is a good bargainer (I forget the name of the trait offhand). When I moved Eugene and Lize's family into town I used the freerealestate cheat so they could have a nice house. That's why I'm playing it now like the house doesn't belong to them. I figure, if Eugene was recruited by a network in a hot market like this, there would be ample compensation for the move. :P

Let's all just ignore the fact that I am about 10,000 pictures behind on this blog (that's anywhere from 20-30 posts, I save a new folder every 1,000 pictures and make about three posts out of each, a lot happens and I don't expect I'll be skipping over any of it) . I want to write so badly but it takes so long!! (sorry I'm whining I'm actually very grateful I was able to update again so quickly this time. :3 Anyways I love you all and thanks for reading!