Lune Valley: Episode 4x01
Warnings: wacky supernatural antics, shirtless men, questionable swimwear, gratuitous water balloon fights, weird science
Kirby's week was quite full, between working hard to establish a place for his community in the wider SimNation,
and studying hard to master his magical craft.
Things weren't all work, though.
Several nights, long after the rest of the town's residents were snug in bed, Odette came by Kirby's house to visit.
As it turned out, she was quite fun-loving.
And she had quite a good arm.
During her visits, they talked quite a lot and got to know one another. Once, Odette expressed how much she missed the sunlight and other people, and Kirby decided to tell her about his magic.
When she didn't believe him, he cast a good mood spell on her.
She was quite stunned.
She was also impressed and they soon agreed that Kirby would spend some time studying his spell books to see if there were any magical cures for vampirism.
In the mean time, he attempted several spells each time she visited. Although one did momentarily make her skin's appearance less pallid and her fangs less prominent, none of them actually worked.
She told him not to worry. After all, she had nothing but time and could easily wait for as long as it might take him to search for any magical assistance.
The fact that someone might have a positive and useful need for his magic pushed him to work ever harder at his studies. He had never before considered the possibility that his magic might be able to help people.
On a hot summer day, Stu showed up at Kirby's house early for the weekly meeting, just as Kirby arrived home from work.
Kirby decided to start the party early. Stu was surprised, but thought it was a great idea after he shook himself off. The two men rushed to change into their swimsuits before heading back out on the lawn.
Kirby hefted the weight of his balloon once.
Then he drew back...
... and let it fly! "Ready or not! Comin' atcha!"
SPLASH!
Stu sputtered a laugh through the cool, refreshing spray.
"Booyah!"
"Time for another!"
"Not so fast!"
"Let's see how you take the heat, man!"
The boys had quite a bit of fun, but soon, the rest of the townsfolk began to arrive and they had to dry off and head inside.
Stu joined Callum at the chessboard while Kirby chatted with Nora.
Outside, Effie arrived to find Teresa playing in the front yard by herself. Effie joined the little girl for a game of Mary Mack and the two were fast friends.
They headed inside, because Effie was suffering a sunburn already, but they continued to talk together happily.
Eli interrupted Kirby to say he needed to get back to his garden. When Kirby turned away from Nora to say goodbye to Eli...
... a fight broke out.
Effie, unsurprisingly, was the clear victor.
George distracted Teresa by sending her through Kirby's bedroom to the bathroom. When she returned, she joined him at the recently vacated chess table.
Stu attempted to comfort his sister, but she felt so miserable, she decided to simply go home early.
Stu didn't feel like joining her yet, so instead, he turned to the chess game between the Medinas.
They were all silent for several long minutes.
Finally, Teresa said, "Can we, uh, talk now? This is getting kinda freaky, okay?"
"All right, then tell me about our science lesson yesterday. Do you remember what we talked about?"
"Ugh, do I have to?" Teresa sighed when her father gave her a stern nod. "Fine. We talked about the planets. Jupiter's the biggest, Mars is dead, we live on Earth, Saturn's got rings. Blah, blah, blah."
"It'd be more interesting if there were robots."
"Really? Why do you say that, Teresa?" Stu joined in. He studied the girl intently, listening to everything she said with complete seriousness.
"Because robots work really hard! They'd keep Mars from being all dead and they could skate around on Saturn's rings and that'd make stuff easier to remember, too. Plus, I mean, come on! Robots!"
"You know, that would be pretty cool. And you could be right, maybe there are robots skating on Saturn's rings. What about Jupiter? Or Mercury? How do you think the robots would handle the other planets?"
George listened to his daughter and his friend as they continued talking. Teresa listened with interest and delight as Stu talked to her and drew her out into talking about science, which had always been one of the subjects she'd shown the least interest in.
Watching them gave George an idea.