2.1 An Aggressive Confidence

The warm weather lures Fairuza back to her old habits, running laps around the town.

She winds up at The Blue Lagoon, her old favorite sports bar, where she can watch the game. Her partial ownership of the Aurora Skies sportsball team is, at this point, purely a monetary thing. Her actual involvement is very little.

Cassidy Wrede hires Fairuza to give her some weights training though.

Having rolled Opportunist, I cannot let Fairuza ignore this.

Cassidy takes a bathroom break. Fairuza spies her daughter Astral using some equipment nearby and is immediately reminded of her pie in the sky wish to have five grandchildren.

Fairuza watches her daughter struggle for a while before she starts to offer pointers.

"I don't need HELP, Mom! I'm fine! I'm pumped! Rrrrggghh!"

Heeeeey, it's Jonas.

Lynx has aged up to young adult.

Though Fairuza doesn't see much of a difference.

"Stop being such a meme! Use a cooldown!" Lynx shouts into his mic, seemingly oblivious to his mother's presence as she wanders through the house.

She can't say his constant gaming hasn't paid off. His infamy in the online gaming community landed him a job as a beta tester for Cuisine & Contracts' game development. Sometimes she can't tell if he's working from home or gaming for pleasure.

It's a nice day for grilling. Fairuza enjoys standing on the porch, feeling the sunshine on her face. Her husband is dead and three of her children have left the nest... she can't stop thinking about it, about the emptiness of the house.

She isn't sure if Lynx will leave her, too, but for now he's still here and she takes care of all the little things for him. The cooking, the cleaning, the laundry. She doesn't take his money when he tries to help her with bills. She just wants him to know she loves him and she'd take care of him forever.

Rock's death left her feeling like she had so much love left to give him, as if more of it welled up inside every day, and she can't do anything for Rock anymore so she does things for their son instead.

Mariposa Fernandez.

She was attractive enough as a teen, Lynx thought, but now that she's an adult he can't take his eyes off her. She struts through the town with an aggressive confidence, casting judgment upon all she sees.

"I'm only wearing this nerd shit to appeal to you," she says, gesturing at her breasts, or rather the design on her shirt that stretches over said breasts. "I hope you like what you see."

 Lynx is normally able to play it cool around her, self-assured of his own intellectual superiority, but suddenly he finds himself blushing and mentally stumbling over what to say to her. "Y-yeah you're pretty hot," he manages.

"Then I want you to take me home and woohoo me," she says, as she grabs the sides of his head firmly, lovingly... possessively.

Lynx smiles nervously. "You realize you're saying this in public right now, right?"

She stares blankly. "You want to woohoo in public on my first time? Okay then."

"That's not what I..."

"We aren't kids anymore Lynx. I want to make you mine."

What the hell? Lynx's instincts are at war. This is all going too fast, this is too many red flags, but on the other hand this sort of behavior is what he's come to expect from Mariposa... and damn, he wants it too...

 

Their impatience leads them to seek the closest semi-private space available, so they end up woohooing in the festival's hot air balloon. It's awkward, it's thrilling, and thunderclouds roll in ominously as it happens.

After it's done, the pair celebrates their adulthood with some ice cream.

Mariposa quickly finds a flaw in her dessert. "This is the same color as my shirt. I don't know if I can eat this. It's like eating me."

"I can take your shirt off again," Lynx offers.

Mariposa seems to consider this, then shoves half the cone into her mouth.

Lynx isn't sure how to interpret that.

Mariposa follows him home and watches him make mac'n'cheese, the extent of his culinary skill and his favorite meal. His mother never seems to make it, always insisting he try healthier options...

"This is my home now," Mariposa remarks. "This is my kitchen."

"Um, no," Lynx snorts. "You just invited yourself in."

"Is that Mariposa?" Fairuza calls out, from where she's watering plants. "Is she staying for dinner?"

"I have dinner taken care of, Mom!" Lynx yells, annoyed.

 He just wanted Fairuza to butt out of his relationship with Mariposa, but, y'know, not like this.

Mariposa feels very sad, watching her boyfriend cry. She remembers how she felt when her own parents died, leaving her crying alone in the house until a social worker came for her.

Lynx allows her to stay the night to comfort him.

They fall asleep in each others' arms eventually, only for the burglar alarm to go off.

Mariposa embarrasses Lynx by yelling at the cop.

"You're just a fascist crook pig yourself! Get off my property!" she screams.

The policeman doesn't even turn around to look at her. Everyone at the station knows to ignore Mariposa Fernandez. She's been annoying them ever since she was a kid.

Graduation for Lynx's age group is on the same day as his mother's funeral.

Astral is so busy crying that she's a no-show for both, but Ivy drags her entire family along.

Lily is now in the child stage, and Andrew is a toddler.

The graduation ceremony lasts for several exhausting hours.

Mariposa's former classmates vote her Most Likely to Offend Others.








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Etc.: Since Lynx is the heir, Epiphany has joined the other spares on the downloads page.