Chapter 2.18: Old acquaintances

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From Luna's diary

Like every other day, this morning I went to the hospital to start my work shift. I do like my job, my dear diary, but after so many years I can't deny I would like to retire and relax for a bit. However, there is no one else who could fill my role of medical support for the undercover aliens in town, so willy-nilly I can't retire yet.


The boys, on the other hand, seem to be doing well even without their friends from the scout group. Aster is painting again, even if I still struggle to understand his art...


Leo and Orion instead often play chess in the park in front of the house. They have very different characters, but we are all glad to see them managing to get along so well. Even though no one else seems to know what they are talking about all the time...


Orion: You seem to have recovered pretty quickly, after all that mess with Claire.
Leo: (vague) Well... it's not like I had any alternative, you know.
Orion: (sceptical) If you say so ...


Orion: Even I can read on your face you're hiding something. You should be more careful at home, you know?
Leo: I don't know what you're talking about, I'm just glad I got a good grade on the graduation exam. You did even better than me and Aster, why don't you celebrate?
Orion: Changing topic, I see...


Leo: As if I was the only one keeping things to myself



And here I am, cooking cakes once again. For sure this isn't a healthy diet, but with such a large family it's unavoidable, I guess.
In particular today it's a very special day, the twins are turning 18 and can't wait for it. 


Maybe the cats are the ones who are getting hurt the most from this hyper cake-ish diet... 

Luna: Amazonia, the cake's not for you!
Amazonia: Mew....








We also organized a little party and invited some neighbours. The boys would probably have preferred to invite their friends from the scout group but, in that case, we would also have been forced to invite Mr S.'s daughter. Luckily Leo was the first to admit that it would not have been a good idea, so we managed to avoid turning this into a teen drama.


Luna: Are you okay, Leo? You haven't talked much in the last few days...

Ever since we found out about Claire and Orion erased her memory, to be precise.


Leo: We were just studying for the exams, that's all.
Luna: Well, for sure you three were studying very hard...

Admittedly I wasn't completely convinced by his words, and so I preferred to also add:

Luna: Whatever you decide to do, just don't keep any dangerous secret from us, okay?
Leo: I know, I know...

I don't know exactly what is passing through his mind, at least he seems to have recovered quite well from that bad experience. I can't avoid being worried for him but, on the other hand, he is probably old enough to make his own choices...


Also Aster pretended to celebrate his birthday together with his brothers, to be coherent with our fake IDs in which our children are listed as a triplet. We have already decided to celebrate his real birthday in private in a few months, of course.

The birthday party was proceeding smoothly until the late afternoon, when someone knocking at the door made it take an unexpected turn.


I didn't know her, but I just thought she simply was some friend of our sons who came to wish them a happy birthday.


Aster: Hi, Roberta. There wasn't any need to come, really...


Roberta: But it's an important day, isn't it?
Aster: Ehm, I...


Roberta: happy birthday, Alex.
Aster: (embarrassed) ...

Aster immediately stepped back from that hug and wasn't even able to answer her "thank you". On the other hand, we could all notice how he was blushing to the tips of his ears.

That girl, on the other hand, seemed to be hoping for a slightly warmer welcome, and by then could no longer hide a disappointed expression. So she just waved her hand to Leo and Orion, to politely wish them a happy birthday too, and then she found an excuse to leave.

At that point, we all turned to Aster expecting some kind of explanation. But his distress was evident, and he just shook his head and went hiding in his bedroom.

Without thinking twice I followed him, we could not ignore such a scene.


Luna: (kindly) Aster, are you okay?
Aster: ...

He seemed so sad, but he was still refusing to say anything. There really wasn't anything I could say to help him?

Luna: (cautiously) You seem to like that girl a lot...
Aster: ... her name is Roberta, she is in the scout group too.
Luna: I have the impression that you like her too, isn't it?
Aster: (worried) ... you don't want to read my mind like you did with Leo, do you?
Luna: No. But I would also appreciate it very much if you explained to me what troubles you so much.

Aster hesitated for quite a while, before being able to tell me:

Aster: ... she doesn't know we're aliens, of course she doesn't. And I just can't keep telling her lies over lies about us. And then I'm afraid that something could go wrong, and that if it happens I should erase her memories like Orion did with Claire... But I don't think I could ever, I mean...

I thought about it for a moment. On the one hand, exposing ourselves to other people outside our family would be risky for everyone. On the other hand, however, we decided to pretend to be humans to be able to live happier and easier lives, and to be sure that Mr. S. rules couldn't preclude any possibility for our sons. No matter what, I won't allow them to make any more sacrifices than the ones absolutely needed for the success of our cover.

Luna: With Claire the situation was so much more complicated, she had found out about Leo in a public place during a scout gathering and she also risked letting the information slip in front of her father... That was practically the worst-case scenario for us, can you see it?
Aster: ...
Luna: On the other hand, from what I can see you and Roberta know each other well, don't you trust her?


Aster: I ... yes, I think so.
Luna: (encouraging) then I'm sure everything will be fine!


And then, even if something went terribly wrong and Aster wasn't able to erase her memory by himself, most likely I, Hermes or Orion would have been able to take care of the issue before it turned into a real problem...

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We managed to live in peace for almost a week, before yet another misadventure hit us.


Orion: So this is one of those famous spaceships...



Luna: I don't get it, why do they keep returning to us? I thought I've been clear enough the last time, we won't help them!


Hermes: This time they are surely taking longer than usual to bring him back, it's almost morning...
Leo: (serious) To be honest, I'm starting to think he won't return.
Luna: What? Why shouldn't he?
Leo: Well... Orion is curious, and he doesn't mind breaking the rules. If the rebels asked him to help them, he could have answered in a very different way than you did, mom...

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From Orion's Diary



The journey to Sixam left me a bit dizzy, but it's intriguing to be here again. My parents only took us here once when we were kids, so it will be interesting to have another look around. Come to think of it, it's also been a while since I took off my disguise. I have to admit I was missing the pointy ears and all the rest quite a bit.

In comparison with what I could remember about my previous trip here, the place seems almost the same. Only the temperature seemed a bit cooler, was it just a seasonal variation or the effect of the dying star my parents were always telling us about?


Orion: Hey, old man, was it you who brought me here?
???: My name is not "old man", you know? I...
Orion: So, what do you want from me? I don't think this is just a courtesy visit.


???: We were told you could be willing to help us, we...
Orion: Who told this to you? And help you do what?
???: I think you know her, she is ...

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I didn't expect to return to Oasis Spring ever again. I also had to change my disguise a bit and come up with a new name to avoid being recognised, because I was surely taking a big risk. However, when that old alien told me that my name was brought up by my cousin Celine, I couldn't help but come here to talk to her in person.


Orion: Hey, is anyone home?


Celine(yawning) Ehi, who are you? What do you want?


Orion: ¡Hola, yo soy Orlando!  C'mon, you don't recognize me anymore?

Celine just stared at me with a puzzled expression for a while, before widening her eyes and ordering me:

Celine: What the heck are you wearing, you idiot! Just get in the house, c'mon!


Celine: I sincerely thought you had much better tastes with your disguises, why those moustaches?
Orion: I needed a radical change before I could return back here, right?


Orion: I didn't expect you to be part of that group of aliens that still abducts people. Did your boyfriend take you in?
Celine: Actually, the opposite had happened.
Orion: Oh.
Celine: I think you have a lot of questions, don't you?
Orion: Well, of course I do. For example, why do you keep abducting people? By doing this you only get more people on Mr S. side.
Celine: Mainly, we do it because we need test subjects for some experiments.
Orion: Oh.


Celine: I see... I probably could have told this to you even earlier, you seem to be quite intrigued already.
Orion: Well, I can't deny it.
Celine: Then you would probably enjoy a tour of the labs as well... I really think they would be the perfect place for you.
Orion: Labs? On Sixam?
Celine: Some are also on spaceships, but the main centre is hidden on Sixam, yes.

The alien technology left on Sixam is immeasurably more advanced than any terrestrial device, but since we moved to Earth the knowledge of those technologies is progressively being lost together with the fall of the original Sixam establishment. I was starting to see what the purpose of those rebels was, they were simply...

Orion: I think I got what you are doing. When can I start?
Celine: I was sure you would answer like that. Let's go, there is a lot to do!


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§HermioneSims§ Corner

Are you worried about what Orion could be doing now? For sure I am.

I'm also opening this parenthesis to point out that, technically, also Aster aged up during this play session just one day later than Leo and Orion. However, I didn't manage to add these pictures without making the chapter even more redundant. So, here there is adult Aster:



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