Introduction to Generation 1

I, Sean Parodi, have always lived a rather boring life. An only child to Will and Shelly Parodi, when I was little I was a friend to everyone - especially family, I'm a big family person - but when I became a teenager, I became painfully shy. Making friends was impossible, especially since I was raised in a small farm town with a tiny population, and was home schooled. Had only two friends that weren't cousins, Emma and John, and I thought I was madly in love with John until my mid-teens, being the romantic type and all. I never really did any exercising, because I'm one of the clumsiest people I knew, so I gained quite a bit of weight in my early teen years. I suppose it looks good with my annoyingly large chest, though. Balances me out better. So, as you can see, until my twentieth birthday, I had a really boring life, and wasn't motivated to make anything of my life.
The day I was going to turn twenty, though, something changed. I was visiting the local consignment store to see what they had for birthday parties, when I met a strange looking woman.


As soon as I walked in the door, her eerily bright aqua eyes were on me. I got chills down my spine, and thought about turning around and leaving right then. But I decided to go ahead and continue my shopping, and ignore her piercing glare. It was increasingly difficult, and eventually, I looked over at her again, and she.. well, she smirked at me. Before I could even get to the counter to ask what they had in stock, I turned and headed back towards the door. I could always go to the grocery store, after all. But that was a bad idea, because as soon as I started leaving, the girl hurried after me, and then was in front of me before I could realize what was happening. Gasping in shock, I stumbled back and tried not to fall.
"What do you want!?" I asked, trying not to seem like a chicken. I'm not a coward, but I am close.
"I want to speak with you," she told me softly, before grabbing my wrist and dragging me outside, towards an empty, grassy area nearby. I noticed absently that she had an accent, but I couldn't quite place it. Normally I'm pretty good at that.
"O.. okay, what do you want to talk about?"
"I have been watching you. You have a dull life, and always want something more but are too shy to do anything about it. And you believe you are talentless. Am I correct?"
I stared at her. She's been watching me? That gave me the creeps. I had a stalker and didn't even notice? Guess I'm not that perceptive after all. "Yeah, you are.."
"But you wish to make beautiful music. Be famous. Write good books. Yes?"
"Yes.. where are you going with this?"
"Do you want this for yourself? All of it? Friends, a family, fame, fortune, talent, the courage to confront people, anything your heart desires?" Her eyes were narrowing as she spoke, and her fingernails were digging into my skin. It was really beginning to scare me, and I just wanted to get away, but I thought that if I ran, she'd just chase me.
"It.. it would be nice, yeah. Nothing anyone can do about it though.."
"But there is!" she hissed, and then grinned. Was the paint on her face beginning to glow lightly or was that my imagination? "I, Estiu Calent, can make it so you can have whatever you wish for."
I just blinked at first, then laughed nervously. "Yeah.. right. Thank you for the offer, but.. I should be getting home. It's my birthday today."
"It is your birthday, and that is exactly why I need to know today. I cannot give you this power any other day. I need to know right now, do you want whatever you wish for? No inhibitions?"
Just wanting to go, I finally heaved a sigh, "Yes, okay! Alright."
The creepy smirk returned. "Good, good."
After that, I'm really not sure what happened. I felt tingly, my insides burned, I think I convulsed a bit.. it didn't last long, before I found myself kneeling in the grass, staring at the ground in front of me, where she had been standing. I felt.. great. Had she really given me to ability to have whatever I wanted?


She had. Everything that happened that day went exactly how I wanted it to, and when I played on my piano - which I hadn't done since I quit piano lessons at least four years before - it came.. so easily. Like I always wanted it to. That entire week went so smoothly, I loved it. And then I suddenly got the notion to move to a big city, so I could become famous. I had wanted to be famous since I was.. what, five years old? I was really young, I know that. I told my parents, and even though they weren't terribly happy about me moving so far away, they were supportive. As long as I visited, which I promised I would do.
And now here I am, with my own little apartment, heading for my first trip on a subway train to go get a job in music. It suddenly struck me that I wanted to be famous for music rather than acting, and I went with it.


Oh, wow! Riding the subway was amazing, really. I like monorails better, but being underground was pretty interesting too. As I walked to the theater, I couldn't help but admire everything as I walked past it. I never got tired of admiring my surrounding when I went to big cities, and I don't think that my fascination will die, even after I've lived here for quite a while. As I walked into the theater, I noticed that there were three celebrities standing in front of the theater, and I nearly freaked out, but managed to remain calm. Jupiter Belle, child star, Moxie Logan, and Kai Leiko all in one place! Wow. But if I was going to become famous myself, I had to not freak out over celebrities.


Getting the job was far easier than I had expected. I barely went inside, and didn't even get interviewed before they told me I had the job. Man, maybe this new 'magical power' of mine was going to come in handy. They told me that my boss was Tom Wordy, and I nearly had a heart attack. Tom Wordy! He.. he was one of the most famous people in the music industry! Then they told me that having a good relationship with him would be smart, and gave me his cell number. Taking a deep breath as I left the building, I gathered up my courage. I could do this, I could. I took out my cell, and dialed his number. I wanted to do it, so it just kind of happened. I'd never been any good with phone conversations before, but this one came so.. easily. I had a long chat with him, about all sorts of things. The best part was that I actually didn't sound like a complete idiot, like I used to with conversations. I was so happy with myself, but the longer I stood outside talking with him, the more I realized I wanted to get home and play around on my new drumset. "Hey, Tom, I've had a great time chatting with you, but I should probably get home."
"Oh, sure. See you at work, Sean. It's been great chatting with you."
"Yeah, it's been great chatting with you, too! See you at work, Tom." I hung up, and nearly collapsed. My shyness was acting up a little, but I'm glad I smothered it enough to talk to Tom. I liked him already, and hoped I would get more chances to just talk to him.




The trip home was uneventful, but when I got home, there were three people waiting to greet me, welcome me to their city. That was strange, since it's such a big city, who would have known I'd moved in? I figured it must be part of what Estiu did to me. I went up to the friendliest looking face, and smiled at her. "Hello.."
"Ah!" she exclaimed, and smiled, shaking my hand. "You must be Sean Parodi, the new girl in our fair city."
"Uh.. yes. I am." I didn't really know what else to say, and just smiled and shook her hand back.
"I'm Maddie Milas, this is Kirby Wise, and in the lobby is Kaelan Gai. We're here to welcome you to Bridgeport!"
My confusion probably shown on my face, but I just nodded, and waved at Kirby, who was just standing there, staring at Maddie in a 'let's leave' sort of way. I then looked back at Maddie, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Maddie. And Kirby. I just.. how did you know I was here?" I motioned at them, then at myself, then around at the city, as if to say 'it's a big city, I'm sure news doesn't travel THAT fast'.
She smiled and waved it off. "Oh, that's just because we have a bit of a gossip group - Kaelan isn't in it, but his wife is and she makes him go to our group shindigs if she can't go - and one of our members lives in your building. We all let each other know when someone new moves into the building, and then a group of us go to greet whoever moved in!"
Well, that made more sense than my wish-granting ability pulling people to me, since I hadn't wished for people to visit me. I made an o shape with my mouth, in understanding, and nodding. "Ooh, I see. That's cool, welcoming people to the city and all."
Just then, Kirby chimed in, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but we have to get going. We have to get ready for later, Maddie, your daughter would kill us if we missed her dance party."
"Oh!" Maddie winced, and smacked her forward. "Of course, shoot. I'm sorry, Sean, but we're going to have to go. I hope to see you later sometime!"
And with that, I was alone again. I'm not sure where the Kaelan guy was, but he wasn't in the lobby when I went inside, planning to go up and play on my drumset.


When I got inside, I sat down at my brand new drumset, and started banging away on them. Now I understood why my best friend, Emma, had decided to be a drummer! I was having a blast, and played for hours, completely losing track of the time.



When I began to have difficulty seeing straight, I decided that I'd played for long enough, and looked at the time. Wow! It was after midnight, and I really should have been already getting ready for bed. I was hungry, I noticed as well, and so I grabbed a quick bowl of cereal, thinking that living alone was kind of lonely. Being in a new, huge city, with no friends was even more lonely. Tomorrow, I would make a friend. And because I wanted it, I figured I would get it. This whole getting-what-I-want thing was going to spoil me.


After my 'meal', I climbed into my cozy, crazy twin bed, and almost fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Another thing I'd always wanted - the ability to fall asleep quickly. I have always been more of an insomniac, and now I was going to have an easy time of getting to sleep, finally! My first day was satisfying. I don't think I would have traded it for any other first day in a new city. I hope the rest of my time here is just as good.