2.16 Siblings

For this week's social outing, I send Dot out to see her half-brother, Woodrow Bull. 

Woodrow is single, childless, and lives with his half-brother, Erick. They both work at the science lab. 

"I don't suppose you've met my sister, then," Dot sighs. Ume texts frequently but never has time to call. Dot wishes her younger siblings would check in more. 

Woodrow thinks, "Is she the one with pigtails?" 

"No..." 

He shrugs. 

Woodrow is much better at dancing than he is remembering acquaintances. 

"My hair isn't dyed. I used to think my mom was exposed to tiberium during the pregnancy or something, but it turns out it's natural." Woodrow tells Dot a large variety of random, unconnected things. 

Dot's just happy to learn about her sibling. "What was your mom like?" 

"Huh?" Woodrow is surprised by the question. His mother passed away some time ago. "She was a stylist. Really into "aesthetics" and stuff like that. I never understood it. Her clothes had weird patterns... I used to scream whenever I saw her reptile patterned stuff."

"I was completely convinced her snake handbag would eat me in my sleep," his laugh is a little too forced for Dot to dismiss this as a child's overactive imagination. Woodrow doesn't pick up on her discomfort. 

"Do you ever go fishing?" 

"Uh, no-," 

"Don't! You know what kind of fish they have at the lab!?" 

"Robot-fish..." 

Woodrow barely registers she's said anything, "One moment you're tweaking aquatic ecosystems and the next they ask you to put circuits into fish! And they say I'm the weird one!" 

He trails off, looking disturbed until he suddenly looks at Dot and smiles. 

"Sorry. Tangent. It's hard to focus sometimes..." 

Dot smiles back, "No, don't worry. Your job sounds really interesting. Too bad I've never been good at biology..." 

"I should go," Woodrow says abruptly. 

Dot blinks. "Alright..." 

He pauses to hug her goodbye, then leaves without even waving. 

Dot scratches her head. She has a lot to learn about her little brother... 

In the meantime, Dot sets to promoting her daycare online. In her long absence the kids she used to look after are in high school already. She needs to reach the new families in town. 

She frowns at her video editor. She wanted to make a promotional video, but she can't figure out how to overlay audio onto a video... 

"I should call Santos..." she mutters. 

Santos isn't home right now. He's finally been given an interview for work and he will not mess this up! 

He's been sent to gather information about DeAndre Wolfe, the only rockstar Twinbrook's had since...well, ever. Santos starts with the late singer's son, Quartz. 

Hm. 

Quartz, skilled at talking about himself even with no one around, is not phased by this glitch. 

Ouch. 

After this, I put Santos on the clipboard in "edit town" mode and put him back into the household. His wishes are deleted, but at least he has corporeal form again. 

Quickly checking in to make sure Tatum still has her physical form. 

Santos is back! 

"How did the interview go?" Dot is unaware that her "dad" briefly phased out of existence. 

Santos stretches, "Weirdly exhausting. But your brother had a lot to say... did you know about his 'singing debut'?" 

Dot laughs, "His performance in the school talent show." 

"I figured..." 

"OH you're so precious!" Damaris reaches in to pinch Kaira's cheeks. 

"Whoaaaaa grandma," Kaira dodges her grandmother's pincers, "I'm not a baby! No pinching!" 

Damaris isn't the least bit deflated. 

"There's my other precious granddaughter!" 

"No pinching!" Tatum hurries away. 

Damaris pouts. Her grand-kids are no fun. When will her other kids have their own children? She doesn't have forever.

Dot invites Woodrow over for some coffee. He finds their trampoline way more fun than caffeine. 

"I haven't been on a trampoline in ages," Woodrow says, testing the trampoline's bounce with a small jump. He's satisfied when his foot shoots up in the air. 

"Me either. But I'm sure the kids from daycare will use it." 

"I think I'm getting spacesick," Woodrow reports queasily. It doesn't stop him from bouncing as high as he can during his next jump. 

"Are you alright?" 

"If I close my eyes, it's like I'm a bird!" he doesn't want to admit it's because he feels like throwing up. 

Still, Dot can see he isn't feeling well. 

They get off the trampoline. Dot regales Woodrow with some daycare stories. 

"This one time, Renee William-Brown comes strutting in. She looks at me like I'm dirt on her shoes- 'I can't believe I have to go outside for this brat. He wanted me to play tag. You believe that? Tag! As if he's a five year old!' I actually had to remind her that her grandson, was in fact, four." 

"And she huffed at me! 'Then you go outside and eat ladybugs or whatever he does out there.' I told her insects are very nutritious. I swear she wanted to vaporize me with that glare she gave me..." 

Woodrow has his own stories. 

"I used to tend the Cow-Plants. After the second time I locked myself overnight with them, I got promoted to work with the fish instead. I think they just didn't want me to get eaten by accident." 

"Second time? No one let you out?" Dot is...concerned...about the conditions of Woodrow's workplace. 

"I'm also not the last one to leave anymore..." 

The hour grows late and cold. Woodrow hugs his sister goodbye. 

"Let's do this again, alright?" 

Woodrow nods. "You have a nice trampoline." 

With those words, he begins his long walk back to city centre. He forgot to tell Dot that he left his car parked in front of the library before she drove him here. 

"Stop it," Kaira hisses. 

Tatum's brow furrows, "I'm just eating..." 

"Not you! Him." 

Tatum looks around the room. No one's there. 

"I don't see anyone..." 

"It's not like you need a microscope to see him. He's right there!" Kaira points angrily to the fridge. 

"...Sure. What's your friend's name?" 

"He's not my friend! But his name is Lu." 

"Is he a doll, by any chance?" 

"Well, yeah. But he's bigger now! The same size as me!" 

At Tatum's skeptical look, Kaira's tone becomes irritated. 

"I saw in your potion booklet that there's a potion to make imaginary sims real-," 

"Don't go through my stuff!" Tatum snaps. 

"The book was lying on the floor! Stupid head." 

Tatum glares at her sister. 

"The book says you need a bunch of stuff, but it should work..." Kaira couldn't make sense of the equations in the "high school" version, but in the "for elementary schoolers" section the list seemed simple enough... 

Tatum is about to tell her sister that this potion is probably just a gimmick, but the Kaira keeps talking. 

"Once I give Lu that potion and he turns real, you'll feel super dumb." 

"Fine. I'll try making it. What was on the list?" Just to wipe that smug look off of her face... 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AN:  "The one with the pigtails" is one of the other women who works at the science lab, Quartz's half-sister Dina Bayless-Wolfe. 

Despite having the family oriented trait, none of Dot's siblings have had kids yet! Pancho is married to Marcie, Quartz is married to Shanda, Aloiso is married (but his wife is already in the elder stage), and Ume is single. 

I never had Quartz or Aloiso quit their high school part time jobs, so they both still work in the spa. Pancho is in the music career. 

I can't remember Kaira's third trait, but she's a perfectionist snob otherwise.