chapter 18.1 growing feelings

Discworld LegacyChapter

18.1

Growing

Feelings

Welcome back to the Discworld legacy.

Last time:- Esme became a witch, isolated herself from her family, was foul to Edward and left for university.- Edward became a teen.- Errol, Evadne, Eric and Eskarina became children.- Roxy was pregnant again.- And Dorfl and Sim!Widget fell out.

Due to this last fact Sim!Widget is reduced to watching over the family through her telescope.

Not that this stops her from keeping the family records up to date, Dorfl was right, she really did know everything he'd told her.

With Esme gone the family hoped for a chance to relax and regain some normality, but it wasn't to be. The very next night they were visited by a burglar intent on making off with the family's prized possessions.

Fortunately the house was protected by a state of the art alarm system which summoned the police while it's shrill siren woke the family and stopped the burglar in her tracks.

Edward and Eric found the burglar before the police arrived and blocked her escape route, something Dorfl was not pleased about.

The burglar may not have attacked the boys but she certainly wasn't going to go quietly with the police officer and put up a determined fight.

In the end the officer won the fight, but not without a scratch or two, and the burglar was arrested.

Edward watched as the criminal was put into the back of the police car. Adrenaline was still racing through his veins and it had felt incredible to do something to protect his family. The looks he had got from Dorfl promised trouble but he just didn't care.

Seeing him watching the officer walked over.

"It really wasn't a good idea to confront the burglar like that, it could have been a lot worse than it was."

"I know sir, but I just wanted to protect my family. And it meant you caught her didn't it?"

"It may well have done, be I'd much rather have to deal with a criminal on the run that what would have happened if she'd decided to attack you or your brother. And think about what your family would have felt if you'd got hurt."

"Yes sir." Edward hung his head, it hadn't occurred to him that he'd put himself and Eric in danger.

The officer decided to take pity on the downcast boy in front of him, "Look, if you've still got the desire to protect people when you're older you could see about joining the police force, we can always use more good officers. It's not easy and there's no guarantee you'll be accepted but give it a try. But until then leave the crime fighting to us, and get inside it's starting to snow."

By the time everything was over it was nearly dawn, there seemed little point in anyone going back to bed. Instead the children were given strict instructions to have a nap as soon as they got home from school (Edward was given similar advice) and allowed to stay up.

As a treat Roxy served up the cake she'd made for work the next day (she could always bake another, or just buy one) for breakfast.

The mood around the table was quiet as the reality of what had just happened and what might have happened sunk in.

Sitting at the kitchen counter Roxanne couldn't hide the worry she felt. Dorfl did his best to reassure her.

"Nothing happened love. The security system worked as it should, the police did their job, we're perfectly safe."

"It's not just that, it's... Oh I don't know what it is. Something happened to Esme to change her like that, maybe someone did it to her. And now the attempted burglary. I just don't feel as safe as I used to."

Roxy sighed and got up to tidy away the plates. "Maybe I'm just tired, this pregnancy probably isn't helping my mood either."

Dofl stopped her with a kiss. "I made a promise on our wedding day that I would protect you and I meant it. I won't ever let anyone harm you or the kids. Now why don't you let me get the plates and you go and relax. I'll join you in a bit."

He watched her worriedly as she left the room.

By the time Dorfl had loaded the dishwasher Roxy had fallen asleep. He sat and watched her for a while wondering what he could do to help her feel safer.

Later that night Roxy felt the now familiar pains of labour. Her timing could have been better, her nesting urges had driven her to pick up the toys in the children's rooms and labour hit just as she reached the top of the stairs.

Luckily everything went smoothly and the newest Discworld was brought into the world with a commanding view of the rest of the family.

Baby Enrico was enthusiastically welcomed by the family. He had mostly inherited his mother's colouring but he did have his father's eyes.

The labour had been tiring and Roxy quickly handed Enrico to Dorfl before she collapsed from exhaustion. Dorfl was happy to spend that time bonding with his youngest son.

Dorfl wasn't the only male in the house besotted with the new addition, Edward started spending much of his free time hovering around the nursery ready to attend to anything his brother needed.

Seeing their son happier than he had been for a good while Dorfl and Roxy subtly backed off Enrico'scare, allowing Edward to get there first if he wanted to.

Gradually Edward opened up to the rest of his siblings.

He enjoyed the big brother role he'd fallen into and they loved playing with him.

Being able to open up with his family gave Edward the confidence to start making friends with teenagers at school and he began building a small social group.

That slowly grew until Dorfl and Roxy considered putting in a second phone line just for him (or at least buying a mobile).

The only person who Edward wasn't terribly close to was Eric. While Eric liked to play with the others at times, he did not like affection and made his feelings on the matter quite clear.

Edward was greatly saddened by this but he knew Eric was like that with everyone.

It wasn't that Eric was intentionally mean, he just tended to only interact with people on his terms.

And other people didn't tend to enjoy his terms.

There was only one person whose company Eric actually enjoyed and would actively seek out, his twin sister Eskarina.

She could do anything she liked and he’d happily join in.

But if anyone else tried similar he'd probably bite them. Whether this was because Eskarina was his twin or just because she was Eskarina wasn't quite clear.

No one could resist Esk's sunny disposition and friendly nature, she quickly won over anyone she met whether they were school friends

or family members. It seemed impossible to dislike the girl and she was always ready to entertain you with a joke or silly story.

Eskarina's playfulness was shared by the other children, something that was a common theme of their school reports. After yet another set of reports with phrases like "would do very well if he would just concentrate", "needs to spend less time talking and more time listening", "if only she would show the same energy in the classroom as she does in the playground" and so on Dorfl decided to try something different.

They put in applications for all the children at Sto Helit Academy, the local private school hoping it would be a better fit. The school soon informed them that they would arrange a visit from the headmaster to perform the final assessment of the family.

On the day of the visit the kids were instructed to be on their best behaviour and Roxy greeted Mr Miceli and chatted for a while about teaching and her own ambitions in the education system.

She then headed off to make dinner and Dorfl gave the headmaster a tour of the house (that came complete with carefully posed children).

After a pleasant meal Mr Miceli was pleased to inform Dorfl that he had places available for all the children at Sto Helit Academy starting after the weekend and that there was almost certain to be a place for Enrico when he was old enough.

The weekend was spent getting everything required for the new school. The kids had differing opinions on the move. Eskarina looked forward to meeting all her new classmates, Eric didn't care and Evadne quickly got fed up of all the fuss.

"Ugh, I'm so bored with all this stupid school stuff."

"I know let's sneak out and do something."

"I'm not sure..."

"Of course it is, we could go to the park or there's the new arcade or, I know, we can go and explore that house, you know the one that's haunted. wouldn't it be cool if we saw a ghost."

"Or we could go and ask granddad to take us to the skating rink, he said he would a couple of days ago" Errol interrupted before she could come up with an even wilder idea.

"Hmm, I suppose that'd be easier"

"Yeah and I bet he'd buy us a new toy if we ask" Errol had got very good at distracting his sister over the years.

"Ok, let's go."

Edward, however, was worried.

The next morning Edward found himself staring at a fountain lost in thought. His first day at Sto HelitAcademy and he wasn't sure what he thought of the place. It was certainly a nicer building than his old school and its reputation was exemplary but he didn't know anyone there, his friends were at the old place and his siblings were too young to be in the same building. It had taken him long enough to build a close circle of friends at the old school, now he was going to have to do that all over again.

He was interrupted from his reverie by the approach of two other students. Both wore the school's uniform but one stood out more than the other, her purple hair and green skin guaranteed it.

She looked him over for a moment and then grinned "You must be Edward. Mum said that Uncle Dorfl had finally got around to getting you lot into private school, 'bout time she said."

"Sorry have we met?"

"You know Vi, it might help if we introduced ourselves" The boy smiled apologetically at Edward "I'm Sebastian, this is my sister Viola, we're your cousins, your Aunt Druellae is out mother."

"Anyway," said Viola moving away from her brother "Welcome to the academy, it's pretty neat here. We've got some time before classes so we'll show you round, introduce you to everyone and fill you in on all the gossip." Without waiting for Edward to respond she grabbed his wrist and began her tour of the school talking nonstop as she walked.

Later at lunch Viola and Sebastian insisted Edward sit with them and he was introduced to some of their closest friends. He was a little daunted at first and tried to remain unobtrusive

But he quickly got pulled into the conversations and found he was having a great time. By the end of the first day he'd made a number of good friends and looked forward to seeing everyone again the next day.

He would also have two new friends to introduce to the group, it was time for Errol and Evadne to become teens and move to the upper school. It was also time for Enrico to become a toddler although his transition had to wait until after the twins due to a badly scheduled nap.

To celebrate the triple birthday Casanunda threw a small party inviting all his children and a couple of close friends. He was getting older and wanted to take advantage of any chances he had to see his family.

They transitioned into traditionally awful outfit. Evadne in particular was reluctant to even look at hers.

"Where does this stuff even come from? No one in this family would be caught dead in this!"

After a trip to the wardrobe to find better clothes the twins returned to the party and showed every sign that their relationship would not change now they were older. Their new age did seem to affect their attitude towards life, Evadne's in particular. She was no longer interested in general mischief, no, now she wanted mischief that would be profitable. Errol was still content to be the stabilising influence, attempting to keep Evadne out of as much trouble as possible although he was spending more time socialising with people (especially girls) outside the family than before.

Once Enrico had woken from his nap it was time for his transition.

Enrico grew into a happy and bubbly toddler completely undaunted by all the sims around him.

Seeing their youngest child become a toddler and two more one step closer to moving out made Roxy long for another baby. For as long as she could remember she'd wanted to be the mother of a large family, ten was always the number that she visualised. As the children got older she was more and more aware that time wasn't unlimited, there would come a point when she was no longer able to have children and she needed to reach her dream before then.

"Are you sure you're ready for another one love? There's still plenty of time if you want to wait for Enrico to get a bit older"

"I know you think I'm crazy for wanting this but I love having a house full of children, if I could I'd have twenty or more."

"Uh, let's stop at ten love, we want to leave room in this town for some grandkids."

Roxy's desire for more children didn't mean she didn't love the ones she already had, she just felt the need to share her love with as many children as possible (she had agreed with Dorfl the ten was the practical limit). She had become adept at juggling the needs of all the kids, reaching the top of her dream career the day after Enrico joined the family made life easier as it meant she could pay less attention to her own needs.

Dorfl made sure to spend as much time as possible with each of his kids. He was more focused on his career than Roxy (and would have been quite happy with just a couple of kids) but he had to admit that teaching his children about the world and seeing them grow was the best thing in the world. He felt like the proudest parent in the world the day Enrico said ‘Dadda’ as his first word.

While Enrico was an incredibly sociable toddler it was always Edward he would seek out first when he wanted something a strong bond grew between the two boys.

"Wuv you."

"Love you too little guy."

Edward's continued devotion gave his parents some extra time to themselves during the day and was a great help to Roxy when her pregnancy started to show and the hit to her mood increased.

Edward's life wasn't all about his little brother, being friends with Viola meant he often found himself being dragged to parties or checking out the downtown hangouts. The latest place she'd found to try was a new bowling alley.

Edward found his mind really wasn't on the bowling; he was far too distracted by Dorian Ross, one of Viola's closest friends.

He tried to tell himself he was just admiring Dorian's technique, he was certainly better at bowling than Edward, but he wasn't sure he believed it.

Surely if it was just the technique he was watching he wouldn't mind Dorian knowing he was watching and Viola's technique was just as good but he wasn't watching her. Edward tried to put any thoughts of Dorian out of his mind.

Dorian had no interest in him, they were friends nothing more, and anyway he wasn't gay, he just hadn't met a girl he wanted to date yet.

Another of his friends, Alienor, gave him the perfect opportunity to prove a point (although the only one who felt the point needed proving was Edward himself) later that evening.

"I can't believe you beat Viola at pool earlier, I don't think anyone else ever has. You looked pretty cute holding the pool cue too."

"Um, thanks." Edward was a bit at a lose, he wasn't used to being told things like that.

"Do you fancy going to see a film or something sometime?"

"What, like a date?"

"Yeah."

"No, sorry."

"Oh."

"I like you Alienor but just as a friend, I'm really sorry but I just don't think of you like that, we can still hangout though." Edward was rambling, panicked slightly at the look of hurt on Alienor's face.

Edward walked away feeling uncomfortable and vaguely confused. He wasn't quite sure why he'd turned Alienor down, what he said was true, he really wasn't attracted to her but he didn't know why. She was nice, she was pretty, they always had a laugh, why couldn't he picture them on a date together.

Errol was making his own tentative way into the world of romance. Victoria was in his class at school and he’d fallen for her pretty hard. He was ecstatic when she agreed to hang out with him after school.

Evadne was less pleased, she wasn’t used to having to share her brother’s attention and didn’t take well to someone trying to 'steal' her brother from her.

Victoria was a nice girl, she wanted to be friends with the twin of her crush but Evadne was having none of it.

"Just give it up, I don't want to get to know you, I don't want to be your friend. You're just some bimbo who got my brother all gaga, trust me it won't last."

Unfortunately Evadne hadn't noticed that Errol had returned and heard her words. He was not happy.

"What the hell is your problem Evadne? Victoria was just trying to be friendly; would it kill you to be nice for once?"

"I don't have to make nice with anyone, especially not a simpering little thing like her."

"Victoria is not simpering, she's not a bimbo and she is my girlfriend. If you don't like it you can just shut up!"

"Fine!"

"FINE!"

While his siblings were warring Edward tried to distract himself with schoolwork and scholarship study but his mind kept wandering back to the outing to the bowling alley. At first he wondered if he should have been so quick to turn Alienor down, she was fun to hang out with, maybe dating her would be ok. But then his thoughts took a different direction.

What if it had been Dorian not Alienor who'd asked him out that night?

Would he have said yes?

What would have happened?

What did he want to have happened?

He had no idea what to do next, he did know that in his dreams he was happy.

That's the end of this part, I'll try not to leave such a big gap until the next but I can't promise anything.

I had originally intended to post this chapter in early January and this slide was in celebration of Terry Pratchett getting a knighthood and becoming Sir Terry Pratchett but I got busy and it's now February.

So this slide is in celebration of both the knighthood and the fact I've completed the first project for my masters (which is what delayed this chapter so long).

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Errol is a family sim, his life time want is to Celebrate his Golden Anniversary. He's a Taurus -5,10,5,10,5

Evadne is a Fortune sim, her life time want is to become the Hand of Poseidon. She's a Scorpio -10,3,10,7,1.

As you can see they're pretty opposite, they were bound to fall out some point.

Enrico is a Leo - 4,10,3,6,7

Viola and Sebastian are the middle children of Druellae and Viola (no I don't do this intentionally to confuse). They're probably my favourite of the spare spawn this generation and will be going to university at the same time as Edward (though I don't think they'll be living with him).

Viola is a Pleasure sim who wants to become a Games Designer, she's a Gemini - 2,8,10,5,0.

Sebastian is slightly freaky and a Family sim who wants to become an Education Minister, he's Scorpio - 8,1,10,7,0.

That 0 in nice points seems to be a defining feature of Drue's children, they've almost all got it.