2.11 Eudaimonia

Finley has no idea how to describe what she's been through to her mother.

Finley and Junpei appeared in their front yard in Hidden Springs, when moments before they were in Bridgeport, in danger of being killed by both sides of a civil war. They offer no explanation of how this occurred. Talking about 'fairy magic' might ruin Finley's credibility as a journalist.

She's together enough to know that.

No use telling even Reisa that detail.

"Finley? Hello? Earth to Finley Archer!"

Finley smiles. "Mm?"

Reisa frowns. "Well forget it then. I'm just glad you're back! I was starting to worry... you know..." her voice grows quiet, "that you wouldn't be coming back."

Finley visits her boyfriend in his apartment.

Don't leave, don't go, she thinks at him, fiercely, but he can't hear her, because she's not using her words like she should be.

Tim sees her emotional wounds and doesn't press about the source, doesn't ask the reporter what's going on out there because he'd rather not know what he'll be facing out there or why. Instead he tries to bandage them with the nothing words she wants to hear and sear them closed with warm kisses. 
 

 He keeps nothing from her, and he tells her he loves her.

Finley, by contrast, is full of secrets.

There are basic facts to be reported. This, Finley can do.

Her articles are terse. She offers no extra words to indicate her feelings about what she is writing. The facts will speak for themselves. Unfortunately, there's a lot she can't say. 

Futility.

The last thing Finley saw of that dungeon was everyone else being shot to death. Bullets sailed straight through her. Hit the person behind her.

What if they'd have stayed in their cells? What if she and Junpei hadn't found a way out? Was everyone mistaken for terrorists, and if so would they have been spared if found pathetic and imprisoned as they were? Or would those vicious creatures from Supernatural Control have killed them anyway?

Finley thought being high would make all the feelings go away. She took some of her boyfriend's stash; the hardcore stuff, the bathtub-gin version of Landgraab Pharmaceutical's drug Eudaimonia. Breathing in its vapors can cause all sorts of fun things, and Tim's been clean for a long time now, he won't be needing it.

Junpei said this was a terrible idea. And he meant it. So why did he find something to burn it in and humor her?

Or did she do that?

Who's thinking what?

One or both of them is struggling with survivor's guilt, one or both of them is thinking about kittens, how Finley's pink hairtips make it look like she has two giant pink eyebrows, and it's definitely Junpei who walked back into this bedroom for the first time in a long time and realized everything in here is junk, it's all junk, why was he ever collecting rocks and why did he keep all of his childhood toys? If he ever had any attachment to it, now it's lost and nothing feels real anymore.

"That's depression," Finley says.

"Maybe we're in a dying dream," Junpei says. "We're still in the dungeon."

"You finally get a girl to kiss you, and she dies," Finley points out.

"I think she's okay." Junpei would explain how he sensed her reaching for him, how he didn't see her injured or feel her die. His theory is Meela was transported elsewhere. He'd explain that, but for a while, he's distracted by the sound of his fingernails clicking together. "Wouldn't have worked out between us anyway."

"Because you pushed her away. She was totally into you."

"Then she has awful taste. Not surprising since she drinks blood."

"Do you want to be alone forever or something?"

"Yes!" he snaps, too forcefully.

"Wh-"

"This is not a conversation I want to have with my sister!"

All at once, Finley sees the source of his deliberate romance-avoidance.

"You sensed WHAT!?" Finley is overcome with horror.

"I didn't say anything..." Junpei whines. This is exactly why two psychics shouldn't get high. The drug has barely even kicked in and their fragile world is already shattering.

"But I didn't... I didn't think..."

"You thought woohoo was magical and special and immune to psychic projection? If. Only!"

"Maybe I did! Nothing happens when we, like, touch ourselves!" She pauses. "I assume you have, at some point, touched yourself, and I didn't freaking know about it."

"There's a difference in intensity. I guess." Junpei scowls at the floor. "When he was screwing you, I thought we were gonna die."

"It didn't hurt that much," Finley protests.

"I wasn't trying to spy on you," Junpei sniffles. He can sense the different concerns swimming around in her head. Anger, disgust, guilt. "I don't want you to give up being normal for me."

Finley calms down, and sits down, dizzy. Maybe the drug is, slowly, doing its job.

"It'll be alright," she murmurs. She kisses Junpei's forehead. "We'll find a way to stop that from happening again. I promise. I promise. I'll fix it."

"Sorry," he mumbles.

"Your hair." She giggles. "It's so soft."

"I know. I know you know I know you know I know. I know. Things."

The first thing they try is the symbol. It fails.

Finley's always thought it looked like some curly moth antennae, but who cares what it looks like, it should suppress their psychic abilities. They shouldn't be able to transmit or receive any extra information. And to an extent, that happens; as soon as they've got the design exactly right, they notice they cannot sense their mother's presence in the living room, or the faint ripples of existence from neighbors down the road. It's horribly unsettling. It's like having any other sense taken away. 

But the worst part is, they can still sense each other.

"This brings up more questions than it answers," Junpei complains.

Are they, on some level, not two separate people?

When Finley said she'd fix it, she didn't mean she'd give up trying to block their connection and instead put all her energy into crafting a spell to knock her brother unconscious for the nights she intends to go out. But that's what ended up happening.

Waiting for Junpei to turn around was easy. Hiding her intentions was the tough part.

It is a deep unconscious, with no dreams.

She was terrified to try it the first time, terrified something would go wrong and she'd hurt him and he'd never wake up. So she stayed home that night and watched over him, and she felt creepy about it, and she told him how something had snapped, something was out of control. "Telepathy is a bad power," she sobbed. "I am a bad person."

The night after the first night, though...

She forgets about her guilt. She forgets about everything.

They don't have long to be a couple before Timmothy is deployed somewhere.

 

Junpei blinks. "...What? I fell asleep before the good part?"

He was watching TV, and then... he's waking up now.

"I don't know," his mother answers. "You were dead to the world when I got home. And your sister just got home now." She pretends to turn her attention back to the television. "Do you ever get tired of sleeping your life away?"

"Don't worry about my hair!" Timmothy says, when the time comes for him to leave. "I swear it'll be grown back in by the time you next see me."

His joking brings a hint of a smile to her face. "I'll wait for you," she reminds Tim.

Bye-for-now kiss.

Finley is the only one here to see Timmothy off.

"Who's a cute baby?" Arethusa coos to her young niece, Accalia and Vance's daughter Jasmine. "You are! Yes! You are!"

"We have a visitor," Accalia says flatly.

"Hello," Junpei greets his old schoolmate politely.

"Hello, psychic boy," Arethusa responds blithely.

"I guess Accalia's told you all about my family..."

"Yes. I love that there's someone around here weirder than my family."

"Uhhh..." Junpei is pretty sure being a plant-person is weirder than being psychic, but he doesn't want to be mean. "Okay."

Junpei is here to ask for Accalia's help in learning how to counter dryad magic. He invents a half-truth to cover the complexity of the real truth, telling her a little bit about precognitive visions he's had, while leaving out the detail that they were technically Chet's visions. Based on what he's seen, there's a chance he may someday be in a confrontation with Alexandria.

Accalia sighs. What the hell...

"I heard that," Junpei says.

Accalia tries not to be annoyed. He doesn't mean to be a spy. Her thoughts are just too loud. "Archer, it's forbidden for me to teach an outsider how to negate our abilities."

"Oh noes," Arethusa mocks, "Colony laws!"

"It's nothing to laugh about. We're an endangered species. We protect our own."

"This person isn't part of your colony, and there's a good chance she's lost her mind..."

Accalia shakes her head. "I know, it sounds silly to you, but if Nesswen found out..."

"She won't. She never comes here." Junpei narrows his eyes. "Accalia, someone could get hurt."

"Hmph. Yes. You. You should attempt to avoid this expected confrontation entirely."

"I don't know if I can. I wouldn't be bothering you if I didn't really think I need your help."

__________________

Accalia is not classified as an elemental, but she is in her element, all the same. "I can attack you from anywhere," she warns, as she turns a shrub in front of them into a writhing, monstrous thing Junpei is tasked with keeping away from him. 

 "Yep..." The threatening display looming in front of him is just a distraction. At any moment, Accalia will cause the grass under his feet to change shape and grab at him. Or worse. She is hard to predict, even when she's giving hints.

"If you can't learn to counter as swiftly as I can manipulate, there's no point. Any serious dryad mage would be able to rip you to shreds."

As time has passed, Junpei has learned to be faster. But he's not yet fast enough, and he can only hope there is still time...

Long after Timmothy is gone, Finley discovers she's pregnant. 

"What if Tim doesn't want to be a father?" she frets. "What if he gets mad at me?"

"It takes two," Mab reminds her.

Junpei doesn't say anything. Suddenly those times he fell asleep in the middle of the afternoon for no reason make perfect sense. He hasn't been thinking about them lately, since the incidents stopped, and now he's not sure what level of angry he should be. Very angry? Medium angry?

"I am so sorrryyyy," Finley whines, once their mother is out of earshot.

"Did you drug me?"

"No... I used a spell..."

"Even worse! What is wrong with you?!"

She tears up. Junpei doesn't have to be a psychic to know the tears are real. "I felt like a monster. I swear, I will never do anything like that to you again." Suddenly, everything is back in perspective, and Finley can scarcely believe the way she's been acting.

"Alright, alright. Let's not be hasty. We might need the spell again on your due date."

"A-are you sure?"

"No! Don't ever do something like that again!"

 They could never stay mad at each other for long.

With a grandchild on the way, Mab is concerned about how badly the house's appliances need replacements. Upgrading them herself is cheaper, though.

Finley is scared.

She spends some afternoons at the lookout, alone, thinking about parenthood and the consequences of screwing it up.

She wonders if she should reach out to Timmothy's family. They'd dropped all contact with him, but he hoped it wouldn't be permanent. Maybe it would be a good time to open some communication with them, let his parents at least know they can expect a grandchild.

Then again, Timmothy wants to be forgiven on his own terms. Rushing along a reconciliation might upset him. So it's decided, she'll say nothing, and hope word doesn't get around before Timmothy can come back home.

Harassed by the elderly!

Finley's articles about Bridgeport have made her infamous around town as a "vampire sympathizer". 

 

Eunice Pertridge does not approve of sims getting pregnant out of wedlock, either.

"Who is the father? A vampire? We don't want vampires in Hidden Springs!"

Normally nobody romances anybody in this town with everyone hearing about it by sundown, but Timmothy and Finley managed to keep things so low-key and private that even Reisa assumed Finley had found a big city lover.

"We're going to have to expand the house." Junpei's anxiety grows at a proportional rate to Finley's belly.

She is in no mood to worry about where the crib is going to go. "Look at this! Look at this tripe!" She begins reading from the paper: "Representatives from Strangetown strongly urge to stop all further space exploration at yesterday's Council of Countries session. They cite THE UNKNOWN as reason to halt all expeditions. Sim Nation's General Serif disagreed, and is quoted as saying We can whoop this 'unknown'. It will be like sharpened claws tearing through wet paper."

Junpei finds he's been staring blankly out the window. "...Sorry, what?"

"Forget it. I'm boring you. You don't care about current events. I get it."

"Have you thought of any names?" Junpei asks.

Finley gives him the evil eye. Just one, peeking out from behind the newspaper. "It's too early for that." And she's hoping Timmothy can help her choose.

"You are so moody! How about... a random Japanese name?"

"No."

"But then I'll be less alone!" Junpei begs.

None of the garden plants died under Mab's care. Junpei makes some new additions: onions, ghost chili, and carrots.

"In my spare time, I'm learning how to fight you," he quips.

The vegetables have no response.





________________________________________
Etc.: Eudaimonia is a Greek word. The drug in this story is fictional.

For those who don't have their sims read the newspaper... Finley's reading there was an actual popup I got when she read the paper.

Mab has Shang Simla ancestors, so it's plausible that Junpei is actually named after a distant relative. Possibly funnier if it's random, though.