Chapter 10 - RTFM

"If you had three wishes, what would it be?" Yoshi asked, fondly remembering the time her Dad asked her that.  She'd wished that her tummy wouldn't be so hungry all the time, and that wish had come true.

Maybe Xerxes wish would bring them good lucky, too.

"I want to kill Zombies!" Xerxes said with a bloodthirsty eagerness. "Pow! Pow! Pow!" he called out, pretending to fire guns.

It's as good a wish as any!

She greeted Orlando when he got home.  They were a cute couple, but not nearly as romantic as Zoe and Craig. 

Impatient, Yoshi pushed the chair out of the way.  She couldn't exercise in the kitchen with it in place.

Inspired by his wife, Orlando threw on his spandex and started warming up in the room.

It was too bad they had to work out in different rooms because of spacing constraints.

"Dad! Wasabi smells funny!" Xerxes called as he taught Webster to do a trick.

Orlando panted, trying to catch his breath. "I'll get her in a second," he said, sounding winded.

Finally recovered, Orlando got up, his leg muscles screaming at him and hobbled over to get Wasabi from the box.

"Watch her for me for a second," he told Xerxes. "I'm going to go soak in a bubble bath."

PEEEK... A....

BOO!

Xerxes rewards Tucker for coming when he called him.  Now he wanted to work on getting the pup to bark when he said speak.

Tucker just looked at him quizzically.

Wasabi laughed happily on her birthday, clapping her hands and cheering.

So this was quite unexpected.  I shouldn't have been surprised, this is what happens when you put your baby in an empty box to sleep.

"Can I sleep her?" Wasabi asked.

Yoshi nodded. "Yes sweetie, your brother is going to start sleeping downstairs."

Wasabi nodded thoughtfully.  "Good, I don't want to sleep in a box anymore!"

"Hey girl, what are you doing out here in the cold?" Orlando said, reaching down to pet the little dog. 

He glanced up as the snow really started to come down.  "It's too cold for you to sleep out here tonight.  You're coming home with me!" he said, picking up the little puppy and carrying her back home.  "I know someone that's going to love meeting you!"

Creepy, levitating candlestick foreshadowing.

"GRANDMA!" Xerxes cried with fright.

"You made me pee a little!" he said.

Okay, maybe a lot.

Oh for the love of boolprop!  That was a family heirloom couch!

Which one of you did it?

Xerxes raced upstairs. "Can I sleep up here with you guys?" he asked.

"Bud, you smell like pee? Did you wet the bed?" Orlando asked, waving his hand in front of his face.  "Aren't you a little old for that?"

"I hate sleeping down there! The ghosts scare me!"

Seeing how tired was, Orlando relented.  He would wash the bedsheets after the kid woke up.

Yoshi was glaring daggers at him while she made breakfast.  "You better get those dogs under control!" she threatened.

"I'm sorry sweetie," he told her as he cleaned up the mess in the living room.

Just an update to let you know we still have roaches.

Their surprise outing was delayed a few hours to let Xerxes get some extra sleep and shower.  They brought the whole family and all the dogs. 

Orlando signed Tucker and his new girl dog, Pepper, up for guard duty.  Those little yap dogs could really sound an alert!

Aw, look at all the dogs playing together.

With a confident stride, Yoshi headed towards the volunteer board.  It was finally time to follow her dream.

Ever since she was little, she'd looked at the obstacle course with longing.  You couldn't run the course unless you were in the patrol.  Well, this is it! she thought as she signed her name on the sheet with a flourish.  She was joining the military!

She tapped the timer on her watch and took off, leaping over the hurdles, ducking under the netting and finally vaulting over the rise before jogging back to the start and doing it all over again.

It was weird seeing the soup kitchen so empty, Orlando thought as he prepared some lunch.

He wondered where everyone was...

Giggling, the kids ran from the barracks when they heard Dad call their names. 

"Why did Mommy sign up for the stable course?" Wasabi asked.  "Does that mean she won't be home with us all the time anymore."

"Mom and I are going to work out a schedule so we're always home with you," Orlando promised.

Xerxes peeked at his Dad and saw he was distracted, then grabbed a piece of his bread, balled it up and threw it at the girl next to him, then laughed at her reaction.

"Cretin," she snapped before ignoring him.

Oh Pepper. You are going to stink.

Wasabi was thrilled there was a little girl her age!  "I've never had a best friend!" she said, spontaneously hugging the little girl.

"Me neither!" the little girl said, returning the hug.

(They still don't.  They're not even friends yet. That's the earthy hug gesture. But the girls looked so darn cute!)

Feeling mischeivious, Xerxes continued to torment the pretty girl.  He wasn't sure why. 

Finally, she snapped, "I'm going to get you!"

Xerxes took off, dodging through the milling people.

Oh Tucker! It was you that destroyed the couch, isn't it?! No treats for a week!

Gaining 2 body, Yoshi climbed the final obstacle and dropped to the ground.  She was ready for her first patrol!

The holes in the yard were driving Orlando crazy.  For some reason, he wasn't able to fill them in.  Maybe the ground is too hard, he wondered.

Testing his theory, he grabbed a shovel and dug a hole.

And then was unable to fill it.  He would just tell Yoshi that a dog dug the hole.

Yes, I know we still have roaches.

Go inside already!

The pups run off when the security pet carpool arrives.  They're so cute!

"Good luck!" Yoshi calls after them.

Xerxes was bouncing around on the couch while the girls are.  "Not! Hungry!" he called in-time with as he jumped.

GASP!

"WHY? WHO? WHEN? WHYYYYYYYYY?"

Yoshi tried to take a calming breath and keep from freaking out.  But her mom's ashes were on the floor! THE FLOOR!

(*AN: I almost had a heart attack. Paused it and then googled what to do. I vaguely remembered something about breaking urns and 7 years of bad luck!  Thankfully, from what I can tell, I have nounlinkondeath mod, so I should be fine.)

Carefully, Yoshi pieced the urn together and returned the ashes as best she could. 

"XERXES!" Yoshi yelled, slamming open the bedroom door. "Did you knock over the urn and break it?" she demanded.

He glanced down guiltily. "I was bouncing on the bed," he admitted.

The lecture that ensued was so loud and severe, that even Orlando cringed.

Properly chastised, Xerxes headed to bed, contrite.  "Sorry Grandma. Good night," he told her softly.

At night, the family slept, dreaming peaceful dreams of a warm world with no Zombies, I'm sure.

This was what she'd been waiting for, Yoshi thought as she strapped on her vest and headed to the meet the carpool.

They were lucky, Yoshi's hours were from 7 am - 1 pm & Orlando didn't need to go in until 2 pm.  Someone would be home with the kids at all time.

"What do you guys want to do today?" he asked the kids over breakfast.

FOR THE LOVE OF PLUMBBOB! WHO DID IT AGAIN?

Wasabi is suspiciously in the room "playing" with Webster.

"Oh plumbob, your Mom is going to flip her lid," Orlando muttered under his breath.  He had one job, to watch the kids. And one hour in, her mom's urn had been smashed.

He glanced over at Wasabi, highly suspicious. He'd picked up a few tips about solving crimes in the law enforcement.

Frustrated, he threw the stack of boxes they'd used as a changing table in front of the nightstand.  Try to get it now, kiddos.

Yoshi hopped out of the car, stoked from her first day.  She'd seen and learned so much.

"You did great for your first patrol," Matthew said, shaking her hand.

Just then, Wasabi ran up and said in a rush, "Everything's okay. Dad fixed. K! Bye!"

"What was that about?" Matthew asked with a laugh.

Yoshi shrugged. "Who knows! Kids!"

I don't know how many times I have to tell her to leave them alone.  I would let her do the Roach Stomp Dance for awhile longer as punishment, but I'm scared of the flu. 

Wasabi heads inside and starts sobbing.  "There are roaches Daddy!"

"Honey, I'm running late.  Tell me all about it when I get home."

"But Daddy! There are roaches!"

Orlando looked at his watch. "Honey, pick up Tucker and move out of the way, I need to get to work!"

People and dogs are literally stepping over each other!

(*AN: UGH! The bottle necks in this house drive me crazy! This trailer is getting crowded! Lol!)

I debated long and hard about whether to stop Tucker from destroying the bed.  Pro: it would free up space for other stuff in the room.  Con: Pissed off ghosts trying to kill people.

Thankfully, Tucker made up my mind when he stopped to go catch his carpool.

Yoshi was excited when she saw Christopher walk by.  He was the infamous leader of the neighborhood watch patrol.  She'd heard so many amazing stories about the time he worked with Andres Legende, before he became a Zombie.

Perhaps she shouldn't have brought up the sore subject.  Christopher quickly dismissed her.  She hoped this didn't affect her chances of getting a promotion...

Timidly, she said goodbye and excused herself.

Xerxes was playing Battle Chess when he saw a real life soldier walk through the livingroom.

He hurried after him, asking a ton of questions like "Have you ever killed a Zombie?" and "How many guns do you carry?"

Matthew was indulgent, ruffling his hair and answering all his questions.  He hoped one day, he and his wife had kids as cute as he was.

Xerxes watched Matthew go, still in awe.

"I'm gonna be a soldier one day, too," he told himself.

Coming home late at night, Orlando faced a tough choice.  Lieutenant Smith was telling him that he had to come in during the morning shift now.  He tried telling his boss that he and Yoshi needed to split shifts so someone was always home with the kids.

"Isn't your son going to be a teenager soon?" the man had asked.

"Well, yes, but I'm not sure if I should be leaving a child home alone with a teen," he argued.

(In fact, I'm not even sure Orlando should even be working in the law enforcement career right now!  I looked back and realized I misread the rules.  *facepalm*  He could only keep the job if it's in the same tier.  Which means I have to get Yoshi to the top of military first.)

Frustrated, Orlando told the Lieutenant where he could stick it, effectively quitting.  It was his wife's turn to reach her dream.  She'd waited long enough for it.  He would stay home with the kids.

Yoshi was so touched by her husband's sacrifice for her.  He'd quit his job so that she could do something she'd dreamed of doing since she was a girl.

"Mom said I could paint my alcove any color I wanted to," Wasabi bragged.

"Hey! That's not fair! I want to repaint my room!"

Wasabi shook her head. "No me!"

The kids argued about it so much, Orlando shut it down by telling them no one got their room painted until the rest of the upstairs was finished.

"But that's gonna take forever," Xerxes grumbled.

"If you want to join the military, you're going to have to focus on being active," Orlando encouraged his son.  "Give me 20 jumping jacks!"

Xerxes started bouncing and waving his arms around.  "What do you think Dad?"

Orlando clapped.  "Well done. Very nice form," he said proudly.

The front was starting to look pretty shabby.

Wasabi was stroking Webster when she saw the stuffed animal under the bed.  Reaching under, she pulled it out and smiled.

"Can I have Peaches?" she asked, holding the stuffed bear in her arms.

Xerxes glanced at her distractedly.  "Peaches?" he asked, then saw his childhood stuffed animal.  "His name is Mr. Wiggles!"

"Aren't you too old for stuffed animals?" she asked, popping her hand on her waist.

He conceded.  He was too old for stuffed animals, even if he slept better with Mr. Wiggles under his bed.

Xerxes rarely saw teens pass by this way. He was pretty excited when he ran into Ivy.

There's no need to be rude about it. Just say she's not your type and move on.

Firmly placed in the Friend Zone, the two teens pass the afternoon chatting.

I like how Tucker just sat down right next to the trash can he destroyed.

It's a good thing he had to catch his carpool.

Yoshi tried not to be disappointed that she didn't get the promotion she was expecting.  Christopher told her not to be impatient.  "I'll tell you when you're ready, and you're not ready," he'd told her firmly, then adding, "Don't go running off half-cocked, neither!"

It was nice to see the kids playing nicely together.  Xerxes threw the ball towards his sister hard, laughing when she squealed and threw her hands up. "Sorry!" he said with a small shrug.

Wasabi nailed him right in the nose in return.  "Sorry!" she mimicked him.

Guess who else didn't get his promotion?

Determined to prove Christopher wrong, Yoshi threw herself into mastering her mechanical skill.

Riding high, she tried some of the Life Elixir her mom had told her about.

Wow, that was some good stuff!

Maybe another sip...


*AN: Uuuuuuuuugh.  I had Orlando working towards Law Enforcement TOC this entire time, when I could've had him working towards Military.  "If a Townie at the top of a career joins the house as a spouse and that career is not lifted and is in the current restriction level, it is lifted instantly. ... However, they may not work toward lifting a different one in the meantime"  WTF RTFM! *face palm*  That was some spectacularly bad planning on my part. Lol.  Thanks to the Elixir, Yoshi now has another 2 weeks to reach the top of military, though. *fingers crossed*

Another funny moment was when I adopted Pepper because I started thinking about puppies. I can't help it, apparently.  I was so excited to finally see a girl dog that would make cute puppies with Tucker.  Lol.  Then I looked around the trailer and tried to figure out where the heck to put a dog house for breeding.  Part of the reason I wouldn't have cried too much to see the bed get destroyed.

And Zoe's urn being smashed, not once, but twice, OH MY GOODNESS! Those kids are trying to kill me! Although, this town has survived an apocalypse, I'm pretty sure it could survive a fiery ball of fire...

Discarded refrigerators are starting to fill up my yard.  The fridges must be very light with no food in them!

I've been thinking about grabbing a chair and couch and putting them on magisplay tray and throwing it outside to junk up the yard for aesthetics.