Chapter 9.17: Family time

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From Gaia's diary

I'm in a great mood these days, and also my job is contributing a lot to this. 

It's been a few months since the flood, the reconstruction is over and we can finally get back to new and more interesting projects. This place is almost unrecognizable from the old industrial port where I moved in, now it's full of greenery and solar panels.

I even managed to put some grass on the roof of the small neighbourhood bar, don't you think it livens up the atmosphere, my dear diary? The stellar core plant behind the hill, the one wanted and financed by my parents to fuel the growing energy demand due to the spread of teleporting, is now working at full capacity, and the neighbourhood has been completely redeveloped. More and more people are now deciding to move here from the city right now, isn't it incredible?

I still have so many ideas about this place, but I think that Tommy and my other colleagues have started to consider the renovation plan for the area as concluded by now. They will probably soon relocate me to some new project, who knows what it could be...

In the meanwhile, I'm very proud of what we managed to do, and I'm confident we'll do great also with the new work challenges we'll face in the future!

And of course work isn't the only reason why I'm so happy, after the kids went to sleep I had a great date tonight!

Diego: Well, see you in a week, then!

Gaia: I can't wait!

Diego is heading off to Tomarang, he's been waiting for this journey for months now. This is the first time since we started dating that our schedules don't allow us to see each other for a whole week, but I'm not too worried. The kids and I have a lot in the program, when Diego will be back we'll have a lot to tell each other!

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Petra: Hi, mom!

Gaia: (surprised) Oh, hi Petra! Is school over already?

Petra: (perplexed) You seem more distracted than usual, did something happen?

Gaia: What? No, of course not! I was just, ehm... Counting the beetles!

Petra: What, were you counting them? How boring... Sorry if I don't help you, but I rather do my homework.

Well, I guess Petra wasn't wrong, dating someone after so many years is certainly quite distracting... But I also think it's still early to talk about it with her and her brothers, so I preferred to change topic very quickly.

Gaia: Rather, I was wondering... By chance, are you bored being always alone?

Petra: A little bit, but it's not too bad.

Gaia: You see, I was thinking you could try to invite some of your schoolmates to our place, after school. You could play a bit, or do your homework together, or whatever else.

Petra: What, inviting a schoolmate? Uhm... I'm not sure, I don't like playing the same games as them. I think it would be boring. 

Gaia: Are you really sure they don't want to try something new, though? I don't think it can be that hard to convince them to play video games together, for example.

Petra: Well...

Petra doesn't really like her schoolmates. In part I suspect it isn't easy to be her friend, surprisingly she gets bored easily with many childish stuff. If we add that the neighbourhood school is pretty small and with few kids, it's not so surprising she isn't making any friends. 

She seems to have given up already, but I haven't instead. How hard could it be to find some other kids willing to play a bit with her?

The following day...

Petra: Can't we finish our homework before playing with the Simstation?

???: C'mon, I could have done my homework at my place too!

Well, today I went to pick up Petra in front of her school, chatted a bit with another mom, and tried to arrange a playdate with her daughter. Petra wasn't really impressed, from the dirty looks she gave me I'm already sure she'll complain about it for days. It's not easy to find someone who gets along with her, today I can admit I lost this battle, but I'm not ready to give up yet. 

At least, Petra didn't seem too mad at me, and ended up proposing to that girl she didn't really like to help me with some preparations. Indeed, today we are setting up a bit party: it's the twins' birthday, and it's gonna be fun!

I'm sure the cake will be perfect, Diego insisted on giving me one before leaving for his travel. This time he decided to play safe and make one full of chocolate, I couldn't wait to eat it either!

Gaia: Ready to blow the candles, Alec?

Alec: Candles, candles!

It's incredible to think they grew up so much already. They are so cute, don't you agree, my dear diary?

As it always happens at birthdays, they were covered in presents. They can't wait to play with all their new toys, but their favourite one happened to be made by Techna.

A drone, how cool! Alec, Nico, and even Petra played with it until they fell asleep, it's been a while since the last time I've seen them so focused on a new toy.

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Alec and Nico would spend all their afternoons playing in the garden, since I taught them some climbing holds to use on the monkey bars there is no way to make them come down until it's dark.

Petra, on the other hand, is spending more and more time with Techna. The first likes to learn and the latter likes to teach, so I probably shouldn't worry too much about this.

What does worry me, however, are the topics they talk about all the time. Is it really appropriate to talk to kids about the doomsday scenarios related to climate change, the lack of resources and so on?

It was time to discuss it a bit with Techna, just to be sure.

Gaia: I've noticed that you and Petra have been spending a lot of time together. But what do you talk about, all the time?

Techna: (vague) She is a very curious child, she mostly asks me questions about how much she studied at school that day, what she hears on TV, or how we robots work.

Gaia: I see… However, the other day I heard you discuss in detail about extreme rain events, with collateral damage and all. Do you really think that it's a good idea? She's still a kid, I don't want her to have nightmares!

Techna: I admit I didn't consider this aspect. Actually...

I have always trusted Techna. I mean, they literally helped me raise my children, why would I start doubting them now? And yet, even after all these years, I still know so little about what they really think, what their plans for the future are, why they bother helping us, and so on.

I'm probably overthinking this a bit. However, keeping an eye on them doesn't cost me anything, so...

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Today it's a great day, my dear diary. There is great news, the ski plants at Mount Komorebi reopened last weekend!

So that the ski season is officially open again, why not take this chance to teach the kids how to ski?

Nico: This snow is so slippery... Do we really have to go up there, and then slide down? 

Gaia: Yes, doesn't it sound like a lot of fun?

Alec can't wait to try skiing, Petra was indifferent as often happened when I suggested any activity to distract her from her experiments, while Nico seemed terribly scared.

I'm not surprised, Nico has always been the most scaredy-cat of the three, but in the end (usually) he doesn't hold back when he has to try something new. So we went ahead, with his twin trying to cheer him up.

Nico: No way, it's way too high! I'm not going down!

Petra: Well, then I'm going first! 

Petra and Alec did very well for their first attempt, they managed to slowly go down the slope and stop without falling. Nico, on the other hand, continued to refuse to go down, and the only proposal that could change his mind came half an hour later from his brother, who suggested sharing a sledge instead.

I thought we were having a fun afternoon, but I guess the little ones didn't really agree. A couple of hours later a small festival started at the bottom of the slopes, and at that point it was impossible to convince them to ski again.

I mean, I'm happy they enjoyed the snow festival, but I'm a bit sorry they don't really seem to enjoy skiing as much as I do. 

Still, I don't intend to insist: I still remember all too well how much I hated it when my father did it with me, when he wanted to teach me to swim at all costs. If they enjoyed this day, they will be the ones to ask me to go back.

But this didn't mean I couldn't go skiing a bit on my own on the serious slopes, as they have fun at the festival. I didn't try that slope in a while, I wanted to see if I was still able to complete it or not. 

Wow, what a jump! It's impressive that I'm still capable of doing such acrobatics!

…even though I keep falling at the end of the slope, I don't understand what I'm doing wrong.

And so our first time on the snow all together passed. I think it was a lot of fun, I hope I'll snow a lot this winter so we can return back soon and play together!

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Back to Evergreen Harbour, Petra couldn't wait to get back to work on her experiment table, but I decided to suggest something different. I still think that there must be some kids her age that she can get along with, I just need to convince her to come out of her room and meet new people. So, pretending nothing had happened, I suggested that we go to a playground that I know to be very frequented at that time of the day, and hoped for the best.

Gaia: There's a whole pirate ship over there, why don't you try to play in there? I'm sure you'd have fun, like at the snow festival!

Petra: But I don't know those kids, I don't want to...

Gaia: Why don't you at least try? If they aren't nice, we'll go home right away, I promise.

Petra: ... if you insist...

So I sat on a nearby bench and observed, while Petra looked around suspiciously. Her attention was soon drawn to another boy nearby who had just started doing his homework, I bet she wanted to ask him what he was studying.

It's pretty clear by now that Petra is a bit of a nerd, and from what Petra later told me that boy is even nerdier than she is. If I remember well, his name is Michael. Soon another little girl with her hair tied on top of her head joined them too (I'm quite sure her name is Emma instead), and the three of them played pretending to be boarding pirates until sunset.

Eventually, I was the one who had to say it was getting late and that we had to leave for dinner. I really felt proud this time, I was so happy seeing Petra having fun with someone other than Techna and her brothers.

I'll ensure Petra will remain in touch with these kids, this could be the start of a long friendship!