1.5 Only One You

Well, good morning to you, Damaris. 

It's not even that she's not making money. I just keep forgetting to have Damaris pay the bills. 

"Mommy, when do I start school?" Dot's been going stir-crazy, "I want to meet other kids..." 

"Soon, sweetie." Dot aged up on a weekend and hasn't gone to school since then. 

While Dot eats her breakfast, Damaris thinks idly of Juan. 

Poor guy. He lived all alone. No family. No friends. 

She pats Dots head, "I love you, Dot." 

"I love you too, mommy." 

All too soon, Damaris has to call a sitter and head out for work. She's not even safe on the weekends from sing-o-grams. 

Apparently, this Marc fellow here hasn't been doing too well at work. His ex-girlfriend felt bad for him and ordered a sing-o-gram. She must care about him a lot, she thinks after she finishes a heart-warming rendition of her newest song, "Do your Best". To try and cheer him up even though they aren't together anymore. 

Marc only smiles thinly at her, "Amy sent you, huh?" 

"Amy Bull, yeah. You guys must be good friends." 

Marc scoffs, "That's what I want. I guess she still doesn't get that we're over." 

Damaris tries to maintain a neutral expression, "Maybe it's just because she cares. In general." 

Marc shrugs, "Still. Thanks for your time... tell Amy I say thanks too." 

Not long after, Damaris has to take time off of work again. She's pregnant with Juan's baby. She's excited about having another child, and drops by her friend Goodwin's house to share the news before she goes home.  

"That's wonderful!" Goodwin beams, ignoring the stink-eye of his mother-in-law, "I'm so happy for you. Me and Jenni are expecting, too!" 

"Hmmph. Popping out another one, huh?" 

Goodwin pointedly ignores her. "If you ever need anything, Damaris, me and Jenni are here." 

"In my house," Renee mutters. 

"Thanks, Goodwin. All I need right now is a nap..." 

Goodwin gives her a blanket and turns out the lights. "I'll wake you up in two hours," he promises. 

Damaris is out like a light. 

She returns in time for dinner with Dot and some....quality time...with Quartz. 

"If it's a girl, can I name her?" Dot asks excitedly, counting the number of names she can think of on her fingers. 

"I dunnnnno," Damaris teases, "What if it's a boy?" 

"Then you can name him. I don't know any good boy names..." 

"No boys in your class with nice names?" 

Dot shakes her head, "Those are their names. We can't give the baby someone else's name! That would be stealing." 

Damaris smiles, "Hmm, I guess you have a point. We can come up with a name together." 

"Cool!" 

Dot helps out at home if prodded enough. 

Why do we get newspapers anyways? she thinks sourly to herself, We don't even read them. 

Damaris's tips and album sales finally amount to something substantial. She spends most of the money on a room for Dot. 

Well, barely a room. Damaris is hoping before the warm summer months are over that she can expand the room and separate the opening for the stairs from the rest of the room with a wall. At least for now, though, Dot can sleep in her own bed and away from a restless Quartz. 

After her first day of school, Dot stops by her dad's house for the afternoon and later dinner. 

"What's your cat's name?" she asks when she arrives, "Can I pet him?" 

"That's Polly, so a she. Sure, but be-," 

Polly hisses at Dot before she can pet her. 

"Careful," Wei sighs. "Don't worry," he says when he sees Dot's downcast expression, "Polly is mean to everyone." 

Somehow that doesn't make Dot feel better.

Back at the Sykes residence, Damaris is trying to coax out Quartz's first words. 

"Butterfly." 

"Quartz!" 

"Butter....fly." 

"Quartz!" 

"The butter...that flies." 

"Quartz!" 

She sighs. Why does her kid sound like a pokemon? 

The seasons slowly change and Damaris delivers a healthy baby boy. Since there are "no good boy names", Damaris takes on the task of naming him herself without Dot's help. 

She settles on Aloiso. She's pretty sure no kid in Dot's class will have the same name. 

Damaris sees winter as an excuse to wear these ridiculous  luxuriously cow-patterned pants. 

I wish the game would let her perform in her outerwear. It must be freezing in that dress. 

For her "special snowflake concert" she sings several winter-themed numbers, including the incredibly cheesy, "A Million Snowflakes: But Only One You". 

Apparently Marc Brandt was a fan of her last sing-o-gram. Despite the nauseating lyrics- a million snowflakes, all unique, but only one you, you're what I seek- he seems to get something out of it. 

The crowd grows little by little as her performance goes on. 

Water break before her last song. 

No matter how cliched, cheesy, or derivative her lyrics are, no one can deny that Pale Vamp sings with feeling. 

"Thank you all for coming out tonight! I LOVE YOU, TWINBROOK!" she yells, bowing deeply for the crowd. 

Yes, that enormous crowd... 

Always happy to see return listeners, Damaris chats with Marc after changing into her outerwear. 

"Did Amy send you here?" she asks, a joking smile on her face. 

He shakes his head, "Nah, this time it was all me." 

"It's too bad you don't have any sets or anything. It would be really cool if you could have a backdrop, something maybe dark? To offset your...exuberance." 

Damaris snorts, "Bubbly pop in front of a cemetery or something, is that what you're saying? Sounds super...deep." 

Marc grins, "Deep concept for deep music." 

Even though she punches his shoulder, she can't help but laugh. "Good point." 

"But seriously, set design can do a lot for a concert... it sounds cheesy, but it can convey a deeper meaning to your songs." 

Damaris nods, "I get what you're saying. I do wish I could have an actual set- though I would stick with bright colours. To keep it 'deep'," she smiles at him, "But actually I'm not really trying to give a, er, deeper message or whatever. I just want my songs to make people feel nice." 

Marc considers this for a moment, "I guess that's what it's all about, right? What the artist wants to say." 

Damaris shrugs, "I never thought too much about it. But if it means I'm right..." A slow grin spreads across her face. 

"Hey, how about we get something to eat? We can talk more about my shallow, soulless music somewhere warm." 

"Sounds good to me." 

Dinner comes and goes, but their conversation lasts past dessert. Topics have changed several times, and Marc is now listening patiently as Damaris gushes, in detail, about all of Dot's and Quartz's achievements. 

"...and wow he plays so nicely with his sister," she beams, "I was worried that they would fight all the time, or become, like, sitcom arch nemesis or something. But they're so nice to each other!" she leaves out how in all of Dot's make-believe games that Quartz still insists on playing characters named "Quartz." 

"Your kids sound really nice." 

Damaris smiles apologetically at him, "I've been droning on forever now, I'm so sorry. How about you? Any family?" 

Marc shakes his head, "No, haven't spoken to my parents in a while. I moved out right after I graduated. No brothers or sisters. No kids, either. I'm not really looking to settle down, though." 

Damaris nods as if she understands, but can't help but say, "That sounds...lonely." 

Marc shrugs, "It's good for me. Nothing tying me down. And I still have friends, so I'm not totally alone." 

"Maybe one day if you have kids you'll change your mind." 

Marc frowns, "Let's not even get into that, you sound like my parents..." 

"Woooowwww, that's pretty much the ultimate insult you can say to a woman, you know? 'You sound just like my mom'. Cold." 

Marc puts his hands up in an apologetic gesture, "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that... I just meant I've heard that argument before. Anyways, it's late... but maybe we can see each other again sometime?" 

"Only if you don't compare me to your mom." 

"That's a promise." 

In the meantime, Damaris starts spending less time busking for tips. Her gig was well-received and she's hoping the money from it can tide them over until it's warmer. 

"That's it, Quartz. One foot in front of the other." Damaris says soothingly. 

Quartz toddles valiantly forward, but still can't stand upright on his own. He frowns and begins crying at the top of his lungs. 

"No! No! No!" he's recently expanded his vocabulary with very useful words. 

She puts him down, "Let's try again..." 

He thrashes, "No! Noooo!" 

Dot shoots a pleading look at her mother. 

"Ok, let's have a break, we'll try again later..." 

Quartz happily scurries away. 

Soon he's able to walk on his own. He joins Dot on the bus to school. 

Only Aloiso needs a sitter now, giving Damaris some leeway with baby sitting fees. She sings for tips inside of the warm, but unfortunately mostly empty, firehouse. 

She eventually gives up when Dot and Quartz arrive after school, driven there by Wei. 

It's Dot's birthday! She's been telling everyone she sees. Damaris booked the firehouse for Dot's birthday, wanting it to be extra special! 

"Does Twinbrook have a lot of fires, miss?" 

"Not at all," Blaise answers. Not enough is what she really wants to say, but she can see Damaris and won't risk getting a lecture from an angry parent...again. "But the ones that do happen are put out quickly by the fire department!" 

"Your job sounds so awesome. I bet you're super strong too!" 

"Haha, I try to be!" 

After chatting with the party guests, Dot and Quartz go outside and make quick use of the trampoline. 

"It's not fair. Why do you get to go to high school and I don't?" Quartz pouts. 

"Beeeeecause I'm suuuuuper cool!" 

Quartz bounces up to her level, "Ha no one is cooler than me! My dad's a rockstar!" 

Dot rolls her eyes, "My dad can use excel!" 

"What's that?" 

"Something only cool people use!" 

"Do you even know what-," 

Dot clambers off the trampoline, "Tag, you're it!" she runs away. 

"That's not how tag works!" he jumps off and runs after her anyways. 

Damaris is quickly back to entertaining. Goodwin places a jar next to her. 

"Oh, I'm not looking for tips, I'm just doing this for Dot's birthday..." 

Goodwin pats her shoulder, "Consider it as everyone chipping in for Dot's present...if they choose." 

Damaris smiles, "That's really nice of you Goodwin, thank you." 

"Plumbob!" 

"What?" Dot hisses at her brother. 

"Her voice... she doesn't sound like the singers on the radio!" 

Dot hits her brother's shoulder, "Because it's real life, dummy." 

"I'm not a dummy!" 

"You are too, dummy!" 

Wei unintentionally breaks up their brewing argument. 

"Happy birthday, Dot!" he gives her a hug and an envelope. 

"What is it?" she starts opening it, but Wei stops her. 

"It's a birthday present. Open it at home." 

Dot obeys her father, mostly because she's aging up.

Wooo!

This was actually Dot's default outfit. I liked it and didn't change anything. 

She really looks like her mother. 

At this point most of the teen and child aged guests go home, Dot and Quartz included. Damaris stays behind to say goodbye to the other guests. 

"Thanks for coming. I didn't think you'd come to a kid's birthday party though." 

"Well, I was in the neighbourhood, soo..." Marc gives unconvincing excuses. 

That doesn't matter at all to Damaris, though. 

"I'm getting more tips now! The good review of my concert really helped!" she beams. 

"I'm happy for you! Maybe now you can get a set. For your deep music." He winks. 

She leans forward and gives him a lingering kiss. 

"Your support is much appreciated." 

Much appreciated. 

Yeah, probably a good thing all the other guests are gone now. 

"I have a tattoo on my back," Marc mentions when they break for air.

"Maybe I should have a look..."

Her inspection is quite thorough.

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AN: So I actually didn't realise it when playing, but Marc and Damaris have some chemistry! I always had a soft spot for Marc Brandt in my Twinbrook saves.

I also didn't take good pictures of Dot at Wei's house, which is why we only see them outside. Unfortunately Wei was often not home after that so I couldn't send Dot over again in story.

I also somehow got very few photos of Aloiso as a baby and a toddler. We should see more of him in the upcoming chapters.