Jiraya is given paints of his own to play with. It's not his favorite thing, but getting to push the colors around and see how they all interact is kind of fun. Dustin and Meghan are careful to get two of anything that Casimir likes to avoid any conflicts, but they also do their best to teach Jiraya the responsibilities of being the older child in the house, which is a bit weird for everyone at first.
Caz is excited to talk about going back to school. Some other kid may get ahead of him while he's out here, and if he gets a good grade, then nobody can criticize him. He's one of the few children that have no problem sitting still in class. “So when are we going back?”
“Hmm, about that... Dad, I've been thinking.” Jyoti turns to Dustin. “Now that we've found Jiraya, should we keep on living in Roaring Heights? We only moved there to find him, and the islands here are nice. We could get a fresh start, if we wanted to.”
Dustin isn't fooled by this. Jyoti is still trying to run away, even after all the time they've had in their home, and all the life experiences she's enjoyed, and all the other times she's tried to run from her problems and they've caught up to her. “Jyoti... what are you hoping will change, if we move?” He asks her gently.
“I sleep like a baby on this houseboat.” Meghan adds helpfully, walking by.
“I don't want to move.” Casimir pipes up.
“Why not?” His mom asks. “You might make some close friends in a new town, it might be good for you.”
Caz feels a chill at the thought of living somewhere like the Islands they are visiting long term. He would have to be outside all the time. “I just... don't want to.”
“We can't move.” Jiraya usually waits to give his opinion until he's the last one speaking. He's not shy, but just doesn't think he knows a lot yet, so he defers.
“Why is that, son?” Dustin asks from the couch. “You would settle in to a new place eventually. We could always split the year, between a peaceful place like this in winter, and be back at Roaring Heights in the summers, for example.”
“You can't do that. You have to wait for Malcolm and Emir.” He mentions from the easel.
The sims on the couch sit in shocked silence. Jyoti wonders who told him about her late husband and son. She certainly hadn't shared it. “Dad...?”
Dustin frowns, but shakes his head in the negative. He hadn't said a thing, either.
Casimir turns to whisper. “He believes in ghosts.”
“-and then he said, they are not ghosts, and that he knows them.” Jyoti has run away from a child this time, and takes solace in working out with her mom above decks. She had no idea what to say to Jiraya's out of place claims.
“He's still adjusting sweetie,” Meg soothes her. “Maybe Casimir said something about them and he just thinks our place is haunted too. He has so many bad memories, do you remember what your cousin Everet said after interviewing him? That there were kids... who didn't make it, who all looked the same? He's just trying to sort out what's real, and what's not. He'll come around.”
Jiraya tries not to feel sick as the boat rocks gently along the shoreline, but he has to close his eyes to the bright images that flicker on the television to make the nausea go away.
So they didn't believe him. Why not?
His dad has changed the subject. Casimir is happy to talk about art instead. Jiraya just wants that thing turned off so he can think.
Dustin and Meghan resolve to talk about the things Jiraya says more after the vacation is over. “Give him time.” Dustin says.
“Yeah, I know, it's just, things are hard enough on our daughter as it is. I'm worried about her.”
“We'll just have to pay attention to them both then.”
Jiraya needs time, but also education, Meghan thinks.
“Are you ready to get to this party, Mrs Sparrow?”
She is. They round out the vacation by running off to a club overlooking a cliff.
They stay out too late. You can take the exhibitionist off of the stage, but... Dustin, this is gross, old men shouldn't do the stuff that young men shouldn't even do...
The remaining days are peaceful, at least, on the surface.
Isla Paradiso is pretty in any weather.
Jyoti takes up a new hobby.
She and her dad decide to do a bit of this when the weather is nicer again, back at home.
Jiraya can't keep up, but it's okay. Maybe chasing other people is not the best way to live. He hasn't known how to bring up the subject of Malcolm and Emir again since the miss the other afternoon. He tries not to think about what things are like for them right now, because if he did then he would have to relive some things that he would rather not.
It's okay just to allow yourself to be, wherever you are...
to live.
The vacation is a success. Even Caz spent time outside, if it wasn't too hot.
Jiraya makes his first three simoleans...
And Dustin spends a lot of quality time with his son.
Fun fact, those cheeseburgers are going be there for a long while.
Caz and grandma bond over indoor activities and art. He's relieved that the family wasn't seriously considering moving here.
This painting is lost, of course.
Oh well, you can't win at everything.
Back home, Jyoti decides to do things differently. She hasn't painted since she was an angsty teenager who had lost her way. She tries to take life as it comes, and not try to impose her will upon every minute.
Her parents establish an arcade of sorts when they return home, as a way to leave a legacy behind for Jiraya, and their grandchildren. It's called the “Sparrow Arcade of Arts and Science”, and contains many of Andrea's research samples, Dustin's stage props and a whole lot of arcade games. There is an equal focus on fun and learning that Dustin insists will bring lots more kids in than if it were a mere museum.
(I just realized the name could be shortened to the initialism 'SAAS' and somehow it fits the family)
Dustin then buys a boat and it sits under snow cover until it warms up enough to be used.
But winter just started in Roaring Heights.
So it's time to have people over, again. Leila is pleased to see her humans have returned. She is so reliable.
Carolina is someone he knows from school.
Jiraya's promised birthday celebration is laid out, not to the scale that Dustin would like, but there are a few friends and family so it should be a good first party.
Jiraya does what he is told and blows out the candles...
...and is once again, confused.
Is this how parties are supposed to go?
Finally he just yells it out, “Is this what's supposed to happen?!”
“No, no son it isn't,” Dustin replies tersely in between fighting the flames. “It's just that the birthday inferno birthday cakes are the only ones subsidized by the government, so it's all we can get in most stores, and it could be because of the way the candles are made, sorry, I'm rambling-”
“Hurry up, grandpa!”
Nope. NOT OKAY.
His dad puts the cake out and nothing cheerful is left of it.
This is how Jiraya unlocks a new nightmare. As if the ones he has from the lab weren't enough. The people in the room, after much cleaning and replacing of furniture have done their best to assure him that it won't happen twice. Because that's not very likely.
To his credit once again, he is brave, and this event probably won't scar him for life.
So Jiraya becomes a teenager. He was neurotic, brave and technophobe, now he hates art, too. Screw that pretty cake. It was a trap. Pretty things are a trap sometimes.
Welp, have a fun youth with those ideals!
The Loki hair
The Jet
The Jiraya
He is gifted an awesome shirt that I forgot where I found. He doesn't know why people are still yelling. Wasn't it loud enough during the fire?
...also, who brought a cat over? I thought Muira was dead by this time in the story.
Dustin is immediately bragging about him. “Did you see our son? He didn't even flinch when he had to face the cake a second time. I can't stop smiling, it makes me so proud!”
Jiraya is just tired. When will a normal day happen? What is normal life supposed to be like?
Meghan congratulates him, and apologizes. “Next birthday we'll have the cake outside. I promise you're safe here.”
“It's alright mom, you had a party for me, thanks for the cake. I'm just glad we're all together to celebrate.”
Jyoti does her best not to be completely juiced during the daytime. It's not good for her health, but that's exactly why she does it. When she's pumped from working out too much, the juice might make her pass out and sleep if nothing else will. How else can she get through Jiraya's birthday?
She hears the guarded excitement in his voice, the way he's quietly afraid to say anything their mother doesn't like, how he's careful to be thankful for the recent vacation and the party. She wonders what his life was like, what hers would be if all the ifs in her mind had played out.
Finally she's tired enough to sleep the rest of the evening away. She'll have to take something in the morning for a hangover, no doubt.
Dustin tells his son how nutritious the food is, and starts encouraging him to expand his tastes a little bit.
“I'm fine with anything.” He insists.
Dustin nods. “Well, I expected you to
say that. We're going to try a lot of things from now on, so you can
make choices like what to eat for yourself in the future.”
“I
don't... what if I don't know what's good for me?”
“We can figure things like that out together, okay? Your mother and I just want you to know that you can get to make some of your own decisions sometimes. ”
“Sounds good.” He smiles.
“Then, I'd like to try an even bigger party. Something to cheer up Jyoti. I don't think... you... would want her to be sad like this.” Jiraya refrains from mentioning Malcolm. Malcolm would be upset to see her look depressed, when he's spent most of his life working hard to encourage Jiraya and his own son in places that no one dares mention. But it's all he can think about lately, is how to convince the family that those two survived. As time is passing, he's starting to get more and more memories in focus, and he recalls his promise that he would tell them...
Dustin predictably loves the idea of a party, which snaps Jiraya out of his introspection. The old man gives his son far too many ideas on what kind of party it could be. “Please just choose this time for me?” Jiraya asks, overwhelmed. “We don't need fireworks, that sounds dangerous...”
“Alright. It's winter so it's gotta be a gift giving party because those are the best. And I promise this time I won't light anything on fire. Too much. Although you saw I'm good at handling that.”
Jiraya goes to sleep that night, feeling like he's a bit too big for his bed. He wasn't ready for things to move this fast when he got his family back.
Time waits for no sim.
Meg has been in such a good mood lately.
Dustin slept like a log in his ancient sleeping bag.
...Jyo didn't sleep for very long. The energy flowing through her muscles must have burned off all that juice. Kids are allowed to get older around here, she is not freaking out over something like a birthday. Someone who was freaking out couldn't be focusing well enough to break stone, or some other reasoning.
A few hours too early to wake up, Jiraya wakes up to a fuchsia glow that comes in from the window, Casimir has decided to start the day by playing skate.
No place is perfect in all of simnation.
"WHY can't you just let me SLEEP?!"
There the teenage emotional turmoil is!
...you were way too chill about everything until now. Please enjoy now having a full range of emotions.
Dustin wakes up to prepare for another party. What could go wrong? Nothing that showmanship can't handle, probably.
...so, a few days later...
Welcome, Jet!
Jet: “Yo.”
Hi Stanley, Malcolm's older brother, who hasn't been a douche in a very long time!
Stanley: “MmHmm.”
...who keeps letting this buttwipe in?
Kevin: “I thought it was time I ruined one of your parties more directly.”
Oh, okay great. Well, go take one for the team, then.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Arcade is the extension of the Awesome roll into Roaring Heights as the family had to move, as there is no more epic basement. I realize I don't have to fulfill it twice and it wasn't Jyo's, but it makes for a nice place for the family's overloaded inventory items and I wanted to do this.
A photo that I didn't want to bloat the story with. Dustin made this face a lot as a kid. Meghan asked for a DNA sample and this was his expression.
...I can't make a gif out of everything...
Gratuitous shots of relaxation.
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