Deirdre Parodi
Age - Young Adult
Traits - Good, Friendly, Hot-Headed, Photographer's Eye, and Savvy Sculptor
Favorites - Chinese music, falafel, and orange
LTW - World Renowned Surgeon
Sign - Cancer
Possible mates - N/A
Naomi Parodi
Age - Young Adult
Traits - Loves the Outdoors, Excitable, Can't Stand Art, Workaholic, and Family-Oriented
Favorites - Latin, falafel, and red
LTW - Seasoned Traveller
Sign - Libra
Possible mates - N/A
Lyric Parodi
Age - Teenager
Traits - Virtuoso, Friendly, Family-Oriented, and Flirty
Favorites - Roots, grilled-cheese, and black
LTW - Illustrious Author
Sign - Taurus
Possible mates - Dominick Schwartz
Rhett Parodi
Age - Child
Traits - Loner, Good, and Vehicle Enthusiast
Favorites - Egyptian, shawarma, and purple
LTW - N/A
Sign - Aquarius
Possible mates - N/A
Comment or vote in the poll to help me decide which of Sean's biological children will be the generation 2 heir!
Some things happen a lot faster than others, have you noticed? I'll go back a little ways..
Jett and I had been close for quite a while. He comforted me after Buster died, but I never thought of him as husband material because he was so much younger than me. But I wanted to get married, and he was my only male friend. Quite a while after we got back from our trip to France, he and I kept calling each other and chatting. Finally, I just invited him over, and we got a little more friendly than we ever had.
"Sean?"
"Yes, Jett?"
"I don't care that you're several years older than me.. I've had a crush on you since I was a teenager, and it's just grown.."
I looked down at our hands, because he'd taken mine. I didn't know what to say. He then pulled me closer to him, and made me look into his eyes. I felt my old, wrinkly cheeks flush, and I blinked at him slightly. He smiled back at me.
"I'm getting up there in age myself, now. I'm not far off from becoming a gray old man. Would you be willing to be my girlfriend?"
Girl.. I hadn't been a 'girl' for quite a while, since before I had Deirdre and Naomi. I couldn't help but beam at his question anyway. "Yes.. no, wait, actually.." I pulled away from him, not sure what I was doing exactly, but.. wanted to get married and I was old. I had no time to be patient. I wasn't going to wait this time. Grabbing Buster's ring from my back pocket - I had been carrying it around with me.. - I nearly dropped the box, but quickly caught it and held it up to him, kneeling. "Jett, will you marry me? I need a father figure for my children. They already know and love you, and.."
"YES! Yes, yes, yes Sean, I will marry you! Yes!"
Again, we decided, why wait? It was better than getting married in the bathroom at least. Rhett watched us while we exchanged vows and rings there in front of the speaker, then kissed. It was official - I had a second husband. Like Buster, Jett decided to take my last name, because he liked it better than Atkins. I felt a little like I was betraying Buster, but I didn't want to be lonely when my little ones moved out, and wanted a father figure for Rhett to look up to.
Almost as soon as we were married, Rhett started crying, and before I could go over, Jett gently pushed me back. "Shoo. I'll take care of him - he is mine, too, now, isn't he? And he'll have to get used to me." he said, and I beamed.
"Yes.. yes he will." I said, before turning and heading into the computer room, thinking of something I needed to do. Out in the living room, though, I could see my boys bonding. It was so sweet, I couldn't think about what I had been planning on doing on the computer, and just watched them.
Eventually, though, Jett couldn't take it anymore and had to go to bed. It was in the wee hours of the morning, so I wasn't surprised. When he went to bed, I went into the living room, and decided to work on teaching Rhett to walk since it was going to be his birthday very soon. I worked on him learning to walk so long, that before long my girls went past me and to the kitchen to do their homework.
"G'morning, Mommy," Lyric was the only one awake enough to greet me as she went by.
"Good morning sweetheart. Sleep well?"
"Yeah.. I don't wanna go to school though."
"But don't you want to see Dominick?"
"That's the only reason I'm not playin' hooky."
"Well, I'm glad he's around to keep you in line, then." I teased as I watched her walk into the kitchen and plop down at the kitchen table with the others.
On her first day of school Lyric had met a boy, Dominick Schwartz. They had become fast friends, and I think Lyr had a little bit of a crush on him. I hadn't met him yet, though, unfortunately. It was only a matter of time, though, right?
Rhett's birthday came up on us from behind and startled us all! Even Rhett himself. We'd all forgotten it, and before we realized what was happening, he was aging up. I felt very bad for not throwing a party for him, but the fact that he had forgotten, too, made me feel better.
He was growing up to be a very handsome boy. The girls were going to be all over him!
But, the weirdest thing about his entire birthday? As soon as I realized there weren't going to be anymore little ones running around, I.. wanted another baby. But I couldn't have any myself, so I wanted to adopt one. I'd ask Jett first, but I was sure he'd be fine with it. He seemed to quite like children, himself.
I confronted Jett as soon as I could, and asked him if he wanted another child. He agreed that we both wanted another toddler, little boy, so I called up the adoption agency and did all the needed paperwork. The next morning, they brought by a sweet, adorable little boy named Feliks. I immediately fell in love with his deep, chocolate brown eyes, and was glad that everyone else was at school (oh, Jett's a teacher, I forgot to say) so I could have him all to myself.
Almost as soon as he was there, I plopped down in front of him and started teaching him to talk. We did that all day, because when I'm spending time with my little ones I lose track of the time. You know, time flies when you having fun!
Lyric and Rhett, that night.. didn't quite think they liked their new little brother very much yet. He cried all night, because he wasn't used to his new home. Lyric got the worst of it, because she was sharing a room with him, but Rhett got it pretty bad too, since Feliks' crib was right next to his door. I felt bad, but our house was so small it was the only place his crib would fit. We would definitely have to remodel at some point, soon.
Thankfully, everyone was able to sleep in to whatever time they wanted to in the morning, because it was a Saturday. We all had plans for the day.
First thing Naomi did was ask Rhett if he wanted to play catch with her. Awww, I have such sweet kids. They get along so well..
I grabbed Feliks immediately, and went straight to playing with my new baby boy. He loved when I played tickle monster with him, and had the cutest little giggle.
Since it was the weekend, and she wasn't nearly as stressed out as the middle of the week, Dee finally got around to working on and finishing her homework. I was glad to see that, because I had been seriously debating telling her to quit her job so she could focus on her homework after school. If she wanted to be a doctor one day, she was going to have to get to working on her schoolwork more, very soon, because she was very nearly eighteen. When I would casually mention that to her, she'd just tell me that it's under control and to not worry. How can I not? She's one of my children, it comes naturally to worry.
When she finally woke up - I let Lyric sleep in as late as she wanted, since Feliks had kept her up for most of the night, and it was her birthday so she deserved to sleep as late as she wanted to - Lyric grabbed her phone immediately, and invited over her best friend, Dominick. Finally, I was going to get to meet him!
Naomi finally got started on the garden she'd been wanting to work on for ages, after Rhett left their game of catch because he was hungry. I hope that she's more of a green thumb than I ever was, since both my Mom and I killed almost every plant we owned.
Later in the day, I decided to finally give Jett some time with our baby boy, and he carried him straight to the bathroom. I am still confused as to why he took him to the bathroom to teach him to walk, it's not as if it's the biggest room the house. That's the living room. Of course, the living room was strewn with toys..
Poor Rhett, didn't like that the bathroom was occupied. "Daddy, can you please teach Feliks to walk somewhere else?"
"Why? This is a good place, and we have two bathrooms."
"But the other bathroom doesn't have a bathtub, just a shower. I like baths."
Jett sighed slightly at that, and gave in. "Okay. I'll go teach Feliks somewhere else."
"Thank you."
Unfortunately, I didn't really get to actually meet Dominick, because my agent told me to go dance for several hours at The Grind, and preferably that night. I only saw him and Naomi chatting in her garden as I left, and smiled. He looked like a nice boy, but of course, I couldn't really tell since I hadn't gotten the chance to talk to him..
My agent was responsible for missing a very important step in my youngest daughter's life. Her aging up to teenager. I was going to have to give my agent a piece of my mind later, to either let me do the things in my own sweet time, or stop asking me do things. I'm too old to be shaking my lack of anything on the dance floor, anyway. Later, Lyric told me that it was fine, Jett made up for my not being there, with over-enthusiasm. I laughed slightly at that, able to picture it far too easily.
But, it seemed I had been right. She didn't grow out of her emo/goth stage, and in fact just grew into it, despite her being a very sweet girl. I would have told her to dress more like a regular person, but the black seemed to fit her. I know, strange, an old lady saying that emo/goth fits someone, but it just did. She was a beautiful girl, despite also having a bit of my weight problem - it also looked great on her.
The rest of the weekend was rather uneventful, but uneventful is often the best way to go. Lyric had been wanting to learn nectar making skill since we went to France, and so the first thing she did when she was a teenager was go outside, and play around on our nectar maker. Later that day, Rhett went to his big sister and asked her if she wanted to play tag with him. Being the sweetheart she is, Lyr said yes, and they went outside to play.
Jett worked on potty training little Feliks, and the little one took to it like a duck to water.
Naomi and I hadn't really.. talked much since she was little, and we'd been wanting to become close again, so we spent a lot of time just chatting whenever we got the chance over the weekend. After all, on Monday she and Dee were going to be turning eighteen, and who knows how much longer they would still stick around home?
Dee started cooking everything she could get her hands on over the weekend, and unfortunately, she seemed to have my lack of cooking skills. Somehow, she managed to burn macaroni and cheese..
Monday rolled around, and Rhett was not excited for his first day of school. Naomi tried to cheer him up about it by sitting next to him on the bus.
"It's okay, Rhett, school is fun! Everyone will love you, I mean, even if you weren't already a two star celebrity."
"That's what I'm afraid of. I just wanna be left alone.."
"Oh you silly little anti-social boy, you'll change your mind. You'll love having friends!"
"If you say so.."
I swear, that Rhett is such a little loner. More often than not since he grew up, I'd find him just huddling in our car, playing with one of his toys.
That night, poor Deirdre got fired from her part-time job at the movie studio. Evidently they'd been threatening to do it for ages, because she just couldn't balance school and work like Naomi could. When she got home, at first she started to cry, then shook herself. "No! Why should I cry? I'm becoming a young adult tonight, and will be able to go work where I actually want to work. This way I don't have to quit."
As I was cuddling Feliks, just before the girls were going to be growing up, I kind of had an.. episode. I'm not sure what you would call it, but I had realized again that I wasn't going to have anymore children after Feliks. Then it struck me - I wanted yet another child. I was much too old, but I knew there were other children out there that needed a family to adopt them. "What do you say, Feliks? Do you want another sibling?" I asked him, and he just gurgled cutely, not knowing how to talk yet.
While I was in the other room, Dee's birthday came up as she was about to eat leftovers of her burnt mac and cheese. When I finally got there, she'd already aged up into a beautiful young adult. (A/N: I love the faces Dee made during her birthday. XD)
While the rest of us were in the kitchen celebrating Dee's birthday, Naomi started to age up in their bedroom. What was it with my girls and aging up privately? At least nothing tragic happened on their birthday, this time. I started to bawl anyway, because my oldest daughters were now young adults. It wasn't even comprehensible.. where had the time gone? Before long, all five of my children would be completely independent..
I couldn't think of that. Needing a distraction, I announced to everyone, "We're going to China to celebrate Lyric, Deirdre, and Naomi's birthdays! We leave tomorrow, so get packing!" Very spontaneous, but we'd all wanted to go to China for ages, so why not?
(A/N: Wow, that is not a very good and very rushed chapter, but I've been writing it off and on since last week, so that's why it's kind of choppy. But yay, I'm finally now pretty much where I am in the game! They're only on, like.. their second day in China in my game, so yeah. I'm thinking I may post an early heir vote soon, so I can know who's heir, so I can start playing again. Probably expect an heir vote next!)
Quite a sight to wake up to, isn't it? After my escapades in the nectary, I went to sleep at our home place, and when I woke up this was going on! Guess even Mom couldn't resist flirting with such a hot guy. I mean, I'm too young for him and I wanted to go up and start flirting the moment I saw Youssef! Rawr! But then he ruined their moment by asking for a picture of her. Gosh, really? Thankfully I wasn't in the room anymore at that point, or I woulda probably exclaimed that he was ruining the mood. 'Cause he was.
Meanwhile, the rest of us were being boring. I was reading with Dee, but only until I deemed it time to go get that nectowhiz thingamahoony from that Gaston dude. Seriously, his name is Gaston, like the bad guy in Beauty and the Beast! I love that movie..
While Dee and I read, Lyric had a cold shower. Poor girl. I guess that's what she gets for being boring, but really, she can't help it. She's just barely a kid even! I wanted to give her a hug, but I wanted even more to go adventure some more.
And then I was off like a rocket to visit Gaston Dutiel and get that nectowhiz thingy from him. Upon getting to his house, I approached an old guy out front and beamed brightly. "Hello sir! I'm here to see Gaston Dutiel."
"That is me."
Oh! What luck! "Oh, great! I'm Naomi Parodi, and I was sent by Eveline Fouchier to see if I could get your nectowhiz-"
"No."
I drooped, and frowned. No? "Why not?"
"I do not know you good enough."
Ooooh, well I could fix that. I smiled slightly, and then struck up a conversation to help us get to know one another. I even asked him if he could teach me a couple of French songs, and they were really easy so I learned 'em quickly. After a little bit, I asked him for the chip or whatever it is again, and he shook his head. "Don't know you enough, Ms. Parodi."
Droop. Start again.
While I was trying to get Mr. Dutiel to gimme the nectowhiz chip, Mom was playing bass for Youssef and Lyric was reading. I have no clue what Dee was doing, to be perfectly honest. I think she was listening to Mom play the bass, too?
"Soooo, will you give me the chip? Pleeease?" I asked sweetly, and gave him what might be thought of a cheesy grin. He looked away, and I leaned over to look into his face, still with that cheesy grin on my face. Finally, he sighed and looked up at her.
"On one condition."
He wanted a picture of me, how cool is that! Being famous from birth is pretty cool, even if there was a scandal surrounding Mom about us. It's never really effected us badly, obviously! After he took my picture, he gave me the nectowhiz thingy, and that's when I heard a kid's voice. "Oh! Who is that?"
"That is my granddaughter, Noemi."
Hahahaha, Naomi Noemi. I like it. But that was not the point, and I looked at him, beaming. "Is it okay if I send someone her way? I have a little sister that wants a friend."
"Oui."
Oui was yes, right? "Thank you sir!"
As I left, I grabbed my cell and called up Lyric. "LYRIC!"
"Owww, you don't haveta shout! What is it?"
"There's a little girl at the Dutiel's house, her name is Noemi and you should be her friend!"
"... okay, where is the house?"
I directed her to where the house was, and then was on my way back to Eveline Fouchier.
Mom, Dee, and Youssef had a nice conversation.. about really random stuff. So did Lyric and Noemi, I think Lyric said they talked a lot about how big Noemi's house was? Jee, full of herself for being a tomboy. While they were having conversations, so I was I! Kinda sorta, at least, I was giving the nectowhiz chip over to the lady that hired me, and she thanked me. I got my visa level, finally, yay! Now I wanted to learn how to garden. Weird, right? Adventure, adventure, adventure.. GARDEN! That's just how I am. So I left almost immediately and went into the garden behind the nectary and went about harvesting EVERYTHING. I hope they don't mind.
The rest of the trip went pretty boringly, even with me. Lyric went back to our house thing, and watched Mom continuing to impress Youssef with her bass skillz. Dee read - she seems to do that a lot. And I gardened everything in SIGHT. And then we had to go to the airport and go back home - we were all ready to go. Even me, even though I love traveling and adventuring. Weeeell, I should hand this back over to Mom now since we're getting back into her territory.
Thank you, Naomi. And for your information, I was not trying to impress Youssef with my bass skill, I was trying to gain skill with it and he happened to be watching. He was a little bit of a fling, but we had nothing in common. I barely knew him!
On the way back towards home, Naomi decided that we were all taking too long and got in her own, separate taxi. That girl.. I sighed slightly, and got in the taxi waiting for me, Dee, and Lyric. Halfway there, though, I had a horrible realization. "STOP THE CAR!" I yelped, and then scrambled out when the driver stopped.
"What's going on, Mom!?" Dee and Lyric exclaimed from inside the taxi, and I turned back, looking inside.
"I just remembered - I forgot and left your father's remains in our second apartment!" I nearly sobbed. What kind of a wife was I?! "You two go on home, I'll be there soon, I'm going to go see if he's still there."
As they headed off, I stared blankly in the distance towards the apartment building. "I am so sorry, Buster! I will get you back." And then I was off.
It took a little while to get to the building, and I even didn't go to the right one at first, but then I found it and buzzed our old apartment. "Hello?" a girl's voice greeted me.
"Hello, this is Sean Parodi, the old tenant of this apartment. Can I come up?"
"Just a second. Meet me outside."
Outside? Why did she want to go outside? Oh well, that didn't matter as long as I got Buster's remains back. I went outside, and waited, until a girl with large hair came outside.
"Hey. I hope you don't mind that I didn't really want a stranger in my apartment."
"Well.. I don't really mind, but you see, when I moved out of this apartment I forgot and left my husband's remains on my dresser."
She stared at me. "OH. So that's what that tin box is! Glad I didn't throw it away."
I nearly had a heart attack at the words 'throw it away', but instead just went pale. "Yeah.. can I have him back?"
She made a little bit of a face. "Well, see.. I don't know you real well..."
Shoot. I chewed on my lip, then thought of something. "If you get to know me, can I have him back? Please, join my band Somebody, Get The Cat! One of our members just died recently, Aria Trill, and I need two more. Please?"
"You don't even know my name or if I'm any good at instruments.."
"What's your name and are you any good with instruments?"
"I'm Kenyatta Nolan, and yeah, I'm pretty good."
"Okay, will you join my band, Kenyatta?"
"Sure, sounds like fun, being in a band with a famous person!"
Oh, so she DID know who I was. "After we get to know each other I can have my husband back, right?"
"Right! Now I'm gonna go to bed. See you later, Sean!" she chirped and waved, then went upstairs.
At home, Dee and Naomi were taking good care of their little siblings. Dee fixed everyone mac and cheese for dinner, and then Naomi set about getting everyone ready for bed. Someday, those girls were going to make great mothers.
I had to decide what I wanted to do after my failed attempt at getting Buster back. I wanted to go home, but I needed to tell Rohan Giroux that I'd finished the puzzle he'd told me to. Naomi forgot to tell you that Rohan had requested I go to France and figure out a puzzle. I did that while Naomi was off on her own adventures.
Finally, I decided to call him and find out where he was. He was in one of the many parks, so I hurried there, and nearly froze when I saw how he had his hair and what he was wearing now that he was an elder. Almost exactly the same as Buster. It was one of my being reminded of my love and nearly breaking down sobbing moments, but I held myself together as I approached him, smiling. I told him that I completed his task, and he gave me some money, thanking me. Then I noticed that his daughter, Marlis, was watching me. I looked at her, and smiled. "Hello."
"Hey, Ms. Parodi.." Ms.. I preferred Mrs. "I heard that you are looking for one more member for you band, from my friend Kenyatta.."
I blinked, then smiled at her. "Would you like to be in my band?"
"I would LOVE to be in your band! I've always wanted to be part of a band."
"Oh, good. Now we have enough members we should get gigs." I nearly interrupted myself with a yawn, and then shook my head slightly. "Oh my. I should be getting home, I haven't been home in days. It was nice seeing you, Marlis, Rohan. Callie. See you later!" I then turned, and headed towards home. I was excited to climb into my own bed and sleep for hours..
(A/N: I am REALLY close to where I am now, so heir vote should be within the next.. two or three chapters. And, you know.. it's amazing how fast the free day goes, haha. When they were on their way home, I realized that I'd sold Buster right along with the apartment, so I decided I would use her free day to get him back, but Kenyatta would not let her in! So I decided to use the rest of my free day to complete her band, since she only ever wanted Aria and Jett in the band. Next chapter, if I remember right, Sean gets married and Lyric gets a best friend! It may be the chapter after that Sean gets married, but it's soon.)
