Chapter 4.9 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 4.11

Generation Four: Orange

Appearance: Orange hair, Island clothing style
Traits: Foodie, Good, Active
Aspiration: Friend of the World
Occupation: Lifeguard
House Goal: 40,000 worth

Hello, Mother…

The morning dawned beautifully, belying the tossing and turning I had done the night before. As Grandma Kimber had suggested, I was planning to try to break the news to Mom today, on New Year’s Eve… and my nerves had kept me from sleeping peacefully, despite the comfort of the bed, and my blissfully unaware wife beside me. By morning, I had memorized non-existent patterns on the freshly painted ceiling.

Sighing, I got up, and woke Greta for her support. With her watching, I dialed the familiar number, and waited breathlessly for Mom to answer her phone.

“Hello?” I heard, and I had to swallow twice, hard, before I could get a word out.

“Hi, Mom. It’s me. I was thinking of coming over for New Year’s Eve, would that be okay?” I said, stumbling a bit over the words. Greta put a hand on my arm, letting me know wordlessly that she was there for me.

“Oh! Charlie! So good to hear from you! Of COURSE you can come over. I have someone for you to meet!” Mom replied, sounding surprised and pleased to hear from me.

“Okay. I’m going to bring someone for you to meet, too, if that’s okay?” I asked in return.

“Of course. I can’t wait to see you!” Mom replied, and the phone went dead. Typical Mom, always in a hurry. She was probably already tidying the house like a maniac for me and my guest. With a small smile, I kissed Greta’s supporting hand, and we both turned to get dressed.

Chapter 4.8 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 4.10

Generation Four: Orange

Appearance: Orange hair, Island clothing style
Traits: Foodie, Good, Active
Aspiration: Friend of the World
Occupation: Lifeguard
House Goal: 40,000 worth

When You Need Advice…

The next day, I got up, got all dressed up, and then paced back and forth in our sad, empty, excuse for a foyer nervously. Finally, my phone rang, and I answered it quickly.

“Hello?”

“Hi, sweetie. I’m heading over to the restaurant now, meet you there?” a familiar voice asked.

“Alright. I’ll be right there.” I replied with a smile, and wiped off my damp palms on my dress, waved a quick goodbye to my wife, and began my walk to the restaurant.

Chapter 4.7 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 4.9

Generation Four: Orange

Appearance: Orange hair, Island clothing style
Traits: Foodie, Good, Active
Aspiration: Friend of the World
Occupation: Lifeguard
House Goal: 40,000 worth

A Place for Winterfest

It only took a couple of days, and our new house.. actually looked like a house. …At least on the outside. And Julius had really outdone himself. It was easily the prettiest home in Sulani. Maybe I would start a new tradition of our family actually using an architect to design their home, instead of just placing boxes as they had enough money and hoping the house would look okay.

Chapter 4.6 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 4.8

Generation Four: Orange

Appearance: Orange hair, Island clothing style
Traits: Foodie, Good, Active
Aspiration: Friend of the World
Occupation: Lifeguard
House Goal: 40,000 worth

The Highs… and the Lows

I checked the weather before heading to the bus stop, and – by the time I arrived in the frigid city – I was certainly glad I had. After a quick morning call to Magnus’ father, he had mysteriously said he was working at the main firm in San Myshuno this morning, and asked whether I could meet him there. I didn’t really want to travel that far just to talk to him, but he sounded hurried and distracted, so I assumed it wasn’t the best day to ask him to do all the traveling. Maybe something was going wrong at the main firm? I pondered on it for a while as I watched the rain pour down on the windows of the bus, but before long, my other worries had pushed the curiosity completely out of my head.

I had been to the city before, with Mom, but I had never been to this particular part. I looked around, flabbergasted at the people that were all dressed in clothes that probably cost as nearly as much as my bedroom furniture was going to… and peered awkwardly at the directions I had penned on a now-soggy piece of paper.

Chapter 4.5 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 4.7

Generation Four: Orange

Appearance: Orange hair, Island clothing style
Traits: Foodie, Good, Active
Aspiration: Friend of the World
Occupation: Lifeguard
House Goal: 40,000 worth

Meeting the In-Laws

One day bled into the next, one painting looked pretty much like the next.. and, slowly, our bank account started to grow again. I looked sadly at the bank statement, sighed, and went back to painting. To get the house livable, we needed at least twice what we had. Greta was helping with the painting, but wasn’t having a whole lot of fun with it, either. Painting was what her parents had pushed her to study…. not what her life-dream had been. So – although she was a talented painter, it held no joy for her.

I knew where her heart lay, though, and I bought several packets of flower seeds for her, and encouraged her to take a day off of painting to start a garden. Her eyes lit up in a way I hadn’t seen in a while, and she clutched the seeds closely as though they were pure gold.

Chapter 4.4 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 4.6

Generation Four: Orange

Appearance: Orange hair, Island clothing style
Traits: Foodie, Good, Active
Aspiration: Friend of the World
Occupation: Lifeguard
House Goal: 40,000 worth

A Question & A Windfall

The next morning dawned beautifully, and work went smoothly. I was back at home before you knew it, and decided to do some more painting in the hopes of getting something really good to sell so I could get the house closer to done. Sleeping next to the grey hulk of the first floor was starting to feel very silly.

Chapter 4.3 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 4.5

Generation Four: Orange

Appearance: Orange hair, Island clothing style
Traits: Foodie, Good, Active
Aspiration: Friend of the World
Occupation: Lifeguard
House Goal: 40,000 worth

(A/N: Something I forgot to mention in the note at the end of the last chapter: Greta really WAS at the thrift store in Copperdale, if you go back, you can see her in the pictures while Charlie and her mom are drinking bubble tea. I noticed it after I’d already played them getting married, and had gone back to edit and write the last chapter. Also: Charlie being gay was not something I had planned. She rolled a whim to break up with Magnus, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why until the fortune at the festival.. that and I couldn’t find any other young men.. but there were a million lovely young ladies. It wasn’t until later that I, like Charlie in this chapter… realized what I’d done.)

What Have I Done?

The next morning dawned with a healthy dose of rain from the sky, and I blinked my eyes, stretched, and then remembered. I was married. I glanced over at the still-sleeping mermaid beside me, and grinned. Married. For better or worse, and all that jazz. As the rain washed down over my face, I contemplated the current turn of events. Wouldn’t Mom be proud of me? I had picked out my lifemate so much faster than she had, and I had started my home-building already. It was going to be gorgeous, too.

Chapter 4.2 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 4.4

Generation Four: Orange

Appearance: Orange hair, Island clothing style
Traits: Foodie, Good, Active
Aspiration: Friend of the World
Occupation: Lifeguard
House Goal: 40,000 worth

A Change of Heart

My little beach had been transformed within a couple of days. I was, once again, saving away for the upstairs and roof of my house … and perhaps some doors and stairs to actually get INTO said house. I cavorted in the waves nearby, reveling in the fact that things were moving along so fast.

Magnus had been with the crew that had built the house, and I was glad to see that he appeared to be suffering no after-effects from me breaking up with him. In fact, one of the work days, he had taken off his shirt while working, and I had noted that he looked good without it… and a niggling unease started in my mind. Why was it I had so much trouble finding chemistry with such a good looking island man? He should have been perfect husband material… but somehow, I couldn’t see myself with him.

Chapter 4.1 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 4.3

Generation Four: Orange

Appearance: Orange hair, Island clothing style
Traits: Foodie, Good, Active
Aspiration: Friend of the World
Occupation: Lifeguard
House Goal: 40,000 worth

The Lonely Gnome

Morning dawned somewhere beyond the fog, and … somehow… when I waded back to shore, there was a Gnome sitting next to my mailbox. Oh yeah. It’s Harvestfest. Pangs of loneliness assailed me as I realized this was the first time I’d even not been around my family and friends for a holiday. Feelin maudlin, I pulled out my phone and flipped through my contacts. One caught my eye. My biological Father. Sure, I’d always known he hadn’t been a Mermaid, and that my beloved Dad, Kado, wasn’t my actual Father. We just had never really talked about my real Father much. So, on a whim, I tried out the new Social Bunny app on the phone, and sent him a friendly message. I had no idea what would come of it, but at least I’d made the first step.

Chapter 3.13 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 4.2

Generation Four: Orange

Appearance: Orange hair, Island clothing style
Traits: Foodie, Good, Active
Aspiration: Friend of the World
Occupation: Lifeguard
House Goal: 40,000 worth

Day One

I didn’t even make it to my new home before Mom called and insisted I meet with her to go shopping. She insisted that it didn’t count as her helping me out, because it was just clothes, and, quite frankly, she said she should have taken me for a makeover before now. I’m not sure whether I agreed or disagreed, but – it WAS Mom… and I always valued spending time with her, anyway. Plus, I was curious about the Thrift shop.. and whatever the heck bubble tea was…?