46 - Teamwork

Maia decided to celebrate getting 25% of the way through her baby challenge by treating herself to a makeover.  After getting some new clothes and a new hairstyle, she went to the spa and got a facial and a mani/pedi. She felt refreshed and confident.

Confidence was something she needed right now, because she had an appointment to meet with the famous and powerful Crumplebottom sisters, a trio of witches who led the witches coven of Moonlight Falls. 

Maia was nervous, but she felt it was important to try to get the different types of supernatural townsfolk to see how working together would benefit the community, and she hoped the witch sisters could help her realize that goal.

At their meeting, Maia told them about the birth of her daughter, Rowan, who was conceived on the night of a red full moon, and also how Maia herself had also destroyed a zombie that night.

The sisters were very quiet.  They knew the legends, and what the birth of a red witch portended for the town.

Maia went on to explain about the advice she’d been given by the fortuneteller, Kezia Tem— having her children learn to work together no matter their supernatural type.

“And I have been working on that,” Maia told them. “My werewolf son has been hunting collectibles for my witch children to convert, for example. All of my childrens’ powers have grown exponentially, and much faster than they likely would have if they only practiced on their own.  And that made me realize how much better everyone could be prepared, instead of only consorting with their own types. I believe it is in the town’s best interest if all the residents of Moonlight Falls tried doing the same.”

“Training your children in such a manner is fine, but how would this work on a large scale?” Belinda Crumplebottom asked with concern. “You can’t mean to have witches’ disband their covens, or werewolves their packs, and just throw everyone together untutored!”

“Not at all! The learning and sharing of specialized information pertinent to each group is very important, and I recognize that,” Maia sought to reassure them.  “But I think occasional town meetings with all the groups present, a National Registered Association of All Supernaturals, would help to teach cooperation rather than encouraging isolation.  If the worst case scenario happens, I believe the town as a whole would be better prepared.”

“It’s a good idea in theory, but many supernaturals have an aversion to other types.  How could we possibly get them to even consider working together, especially the vampires?”

“Well, I was thinking at the upcoming summer festival, we could have a relay race, one that relies on teamwork between different supernaturals.  Each werewolf would hunt for a collectible, and then pass their item to their witch partner to convert them until they had a seed or harvestable.  Then, the fairy partner would plant and bloom them until they were able to be harvested. I would anonymously donate simoleon prizes to the victors, but really, all the participants would win. Not only would everyone’s personal skills be improved with the practice, but it would show how working together benefits us all, which may make supernaturals begin to see one another in a different light.”

“As for the vampires,” Maia continued, “they wouldn’t be able to participate in a daytime relay race due to the sunlight, but I think it would be wise to include them in future plans for protecting the town at the supernatural association meetings.  Since they are comfortable in darkness as well as very quick, they would make excellent messengers and nighttime spies, and could give us early warning in the event zombies were to attack. Rowan’s own father is a vampire, and I thwarted a zombie attack because of him. I think he and other vamps like him would welcome the idea, and the chance to prove themselves valuable assets to Moonlight Falls.”

After a bit more discussion of the details, the Crumplebottom sisters agreed to add the relay race to the summer festival featured events, as well as considering founding a supernatural association, and Maia left, feeling quite content with her accomplishment.

When she returned home, it was time to see her teens off to prom. Lavender and Vanilla were going as a couple, while the others were just going to dance and have fun with the rest of their classmates.

Aiden got into a fight, but was crowned Prom King.  Vanilla was crowned Prom Queen, and she and Lavender had a lovely time together.  Ashton, Gumdrop and Jelly Bean all had fun as well.  But Addison and Skittles had the best time of all, leaving prom as new romantic interests, and made their steady status official when they returned home.

The next morning, Maia and Parker’s fairy triplets aged up to toddlers.

Aylin

Alaric

Arielle

All the kids started playing with their IF’s immediately; Aylin with Hesper, Arielle with Vesper and Alaric with Jasper.

It was also time for Rowan to age up. Happy birthday, Rowan!

Maia had invited Braeden to the celebration, and while he was there, she mentioned her idea to him about the possibility of vampires joining the soon-to-be founded supernatural association. After a lifetime of being shunned by vampires and townsfolk alike, Braeden was definitely interested.

And though Maia couldn’t believe the time had gone by so quickly, her teens were ready to become young adults.

Happy birthday, Lavender!

Happy birthday, Vanilla!

Happy birthday, Aiden!

Happy birthday, Skittles!

Happy birthday, Ashton!

Happy birthday, Gumdrop!

Happy birthday, Addison!

Happy birthday, Jelly Bean!

And then their graduation arrived.  They all graduated with highest honors and Vanilla was selected class valedictorian.

Lavender had become a skilled gardener, and began working with the plants at Heritage Community Gardens with her IF Vanilla by her side.  

They also had a private wedding outdoors under one of the garden arches, and both were lovely brides.

Aiden began work as a professional athlete, and his IF Skittles went into politics.

Ashton decided to delve more deeply into collecting ingredients for potion-making and become an alchemist, while his IF Gumdrop began working his own magic and creating concoctions at the diner in the culinary career.

Addison got a job as a private investigator, while her IF Jelly Bean went into law enforcement, planning to become a forensic analyst.

Maia hugged her children goodbye.  As always, it was tough seeing them go, but she had prepared them for their futures as best as she could, and they were eager to begin their lives on their own.

Finally summer arrived, and with it, the festival. The day of the relay race was at hand.

Before it began, some of the mystics practiced trying to see if they could predict the outcome of the race.

As Maia had suggested, each team was made up of a werewolf, a witch and a fairy.

The werewolves hunted until they found a collectible to pass to their team witch.

Next, the witches cast conversion spells on their item until they turned into a seed or plantable item. If they destroyed the item during the process, their werewolf had to start over and hunt until they found another item for the witch to convert. Once they had a plantable item, the witch passed it to their team fairy.

Finally, the fairies planted and bloomed their seeds until they had plants ready to harvest. They all had to harvest and re-bloom the plants until they had 10 harvestables to turn in.  The first team finished was the winner.

The winning team won a prize of 3000 simoleons to share, each team received a participation trophy, and all the harvested ingredients were donated to the local alchemist’s club.

Shea’s boyfriend Brandon Goddard, who was employed as a journalist, interviewed the contestants for an article he was writing for the local paper, and he planned to advertise the upcoming town meetings for all supernaturals as well.

Maia congratulated everyone, and asked Wulfric Sekemoto, the werewolf from the winning team, to assist her son Sebastian with learning his werewolf skills.

After she returned home, it was time for her twins to become teens.

Happy birthday Sebastian!

Happy birthday, Isabelle!

It had been a long week, and Maia had yet to work on toddler training with the fairy triplets, so using the idea of teamwork from the relay race, she enlisted the help of Bas and Belle. They played rock, paper scissors to determine who did what.

Maia taught each of the triplets to talk, Isabelle taught them all to walk, and as the loser of both rounds, Sebastian got potty duty.

“Ugh, potty 'doody!' I'd rather grub for bugs!”

By the end of the day, everyone was worn out and the toddlers were especially cranky and overtired.

Maia was exhausted too, but finally managed to get the babies settled for the night and climbed into bed gratefully.

She was just about ready to fall asleep when she heard a sound outside one of her bedroom windows, startling her. It almost sounded like hail striking the window panes, but the moonlit night was clear and cloudless.

Maia sat up at the edge of her bed and listened. What could be out there?