(Click on the images to see them larger; a lot of them have been cut short)
Recently, Petal had taken a keen interest in the world around her. She might have been growing, but the world around her had just been getting larger as she read and absorbed more and more of her environment. It was only a matter of time until she noticed the telescope in the backyard, solitary and beckoning to her cause.
While her brothers and sisters played tag in the distance, Petal spent many a day and night staring through her telescope, content to be watching the stars above. She often kept a notebook at her hip, for recording the position of various stars and comets. As much as she enjoyed her new hobby, however, it also made her feel even more removed from her siblings. Axel, who had used to look up to her so dearly, was growing away from Petal and closer to Lotus, and the diversion of their interests only deepened the split between the two.
It had started to take a negative effect on her. Petal would often stand alone in the bathroom, sometimes staring out the window while contemplating several mysteries, things that made her head hurt and wanted to make her scream for reasons even she did not entirely understand. What had happened between her and her brother? Did Axel and Lotus secretly laugh at her behind closed doors? Sometimes, she'd anxiously check on the state of her telescope, half expecting to find her siblings smashing it to the ground just to see the look of hurt on her face. She was prone to constant headaches, and concentration in school became even more difficult. And another ever prevalent question: who was her father? All the other children had them. Why not her? Nothing was fair, and everything hurt. Yes, Petal was developing into quite the Neurotic.
First, Jessi examined the playroom. Against her better judgment and goaded on with the little extra weight in her pocket due to a few successful book releases, she splurged on a little play stove. It would be great to raise a Natural Cook. Or was Strawberry already one? So many questions that she'd never know the answer to.
She then decided to examine the play tables individually. Axel had organized his table neatly, which shocked Jessi, as she recalled Hubert Galatica, her son's father - more specifically, how he had rooted through her fridge without her permission, left the dishes on the counter for her to clean, and then asked rather rudely why she wasn't in bed with him yet. "Hopefully," Jessi sighed to herself, "he won't be inheriting his father's slob trait." After all, there was enough to do without constantly cleaning after her rowdy little boy!
Axel, meanwhile, had began to paint, the easel oddly empty as Lotus refined her Athletic trait to the tune of Kid radio. It was here that he discovered his Artistic trait coming to fruition. The brush had felt just so natural in his hand, almost as if it was specially made for his fist.
And Lotus, valuing her privacy, which was obtained only every so often with two siblings and a nosy mother, was exercising passionately in a half-room.
Fortunately enough, she didn't have to feel so sentimental, because soon, she could do it all over again. On Monday night, the pains once again started. The babies were coming.
The first contraction had arrived as she made her way to the kitchen, in search of another round of french toast topped with peppers and sauerkraut. At first, she thought that it was a rather cruel baby kick to her spleen. It had only been two days. But as her knees sunk to the linoleum floor, she knew that it had to more, and the rupture of her water only convinced her further. Strawberry's child was rather intent on coming into the world with a bang: sure, child birth was usually painful with no anesthetics or doctor assistance, but this child was practically dragging out Jessi's intestines along with her.
Worried, she turned to the side. All three children weren't home: Axel was most likely off traversing the art museum, Lotus was cleaning off the school's bug cage after school (as punishment for snipping off a girl's hair with a pair of safety scissors during craft time, naughty thing), and Petal, bless her heart, was visiting the home of a school acquaintance - who she largely ignored to do her homework. Well, wouldn't this be a surprise to come home to? Jessi rather liked the idea of giving birth in a quiet home: no anxious children to stress her out.
Well, of course, that was a calming idea until Axel walked in, home from his trip. She tried to play it off cool, casually wiping away her broken water with a dishtowel Lotus had left on the floor. Maybe it was her Jessi had to worry about developing the slob trait.
Of course, what with a baby or two dripping from her loins, she couldn't exactly keep the facade on for long.
Jessi didn't know whether to admire or detest that at a time like this, the only thing Axel was considering was his own wellbeing. Or be worried that her none-too-bright son wasn't exactly making sense. But eventually, she managed to get him to stop crying long enough to walk her to the nursery/guest room, where she gave birth to a healthy baby boy. She named him Mars; it was the most punk rock name she could think of giving him without embarrassing the poor kid for the rest of his life, in memory of his father.
His eyes were a little on the huge side, a trait definitely directly from his father, but at least he hadn't inherited that sickly yellow skin. Only time would tell just how much like his father little Mars was.
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