Chapter 9.18: Caught in the cookie jar

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From Gaia's diary

Nico: Oh no, a thunderstorm!

Gaia: (from inside the house) Don't worry, if we all stay indoors the lightning won't hurt us!

Nico has always been a bit of a coward, but ever since that time Diego was struck by lightning and the entire region suffered various floods due to torrential rains, he's really terrified of thunderstorms.

The rest of us, on the other hand, aren't really worried about the rain this time. It's just a normal rain shower, and today we were planning to spend the day indoors anyway: it's Harvestfest, it's time to cook!

Diego: I had never thought of adding lemongrass to a roast turkey, how did you get the idea?

Techna: By cross-referencing the compositional data of various aromatic plants with the reported tastes of you humans, I calculated that 1,568 mg per kg of turkey would optimize the flavour.

Diego: I see… Let's try and put it into practice, then.

Diego's bakery was closed today, so he offered to come here early to cook us the traditional turkey. Even if his strong point is cakes, he does surprisingly well with other recipes too.

Gaia: Hey! Any news from Tommy and Vale?

Diego: They'll be here soon, just in time to eat the freshly baked turkey, I might add!

Techna took that information as a kind invitation to go back to the attic and recharge their batteries, while I and the kids set up the table. 

Diego: Lunch is ready!

Thomas: It tastes great! But the spices are a bit weird, what did you use?

Diego: There's a hint of lemongrass.

Valentina: That's what it is! But how did you think about it?

Diego: Uhm...

The question was unintentionally tricky to answer: he couldn’t say that Techna had suggested it to him, right?

Gaia: … It must have been a combination you tasted on some trip, right?

Diego: Yes, that's surely why, I just can't remember exactly when… Oh, right, that is it! Once, in Appaloosa, I had dinner in an old diner, and…

Once the food was finished, the kids quickly got tired of sitting at the table listening to our boring grown-up conversations, and ran off to their rooms to play. We, on the other hand, continued talking for hours and hours, with people like Diego and his sister Valentina at the table it's practically inevitable.

Valentina: The Evergreen Harbour area has improved so much since we were kids, what did you do with all that garbage?

Gaia: Most of it was recomposed, and the recycled material ended up in new benches and in the community areas!

Diego: That's really cool, isn't it? They've taken recycling to the extreme, it's crazy!

Valentina: Speaking of crazy things, rather, could you help me solve this mystery? You see, it's been weeks now that Diego talks nonstop about you, Gaia, how can you explain this?

Gaia: (Playing dumb) W-what?

Damn it, did she really start to suspect something so soon? I mean, there shouldn't be anything wrong with telling Vale and Tommy, but... But we have our reasons to keep it secret for now, we still have a lot to understand the direction we want to take, and we don't want to feel pressured by others. Also, having them ask questions about it is embarrassing, that's it, and I'm quite sure my expression told it too. 

Valentina: Okay, maybe we can talk about this another time, then. Anyway, we have other plans for dinner, right Thomas?

Thomas: Yes, actually we should hurry up and go home.

Valentina: See you tomorrow then, Diego! (Whispering) And don't think you can avoid my questions for much longer, okay?

So, within just a few weeks, Vale (and consequently Tommy) had already guessed (at least) something. I'm afraid keeping secrets is not our strong point... But we didn't get much time to really think about it, the worst had yet to come.

A few hours later, in the middle of the night...

Dear diary, last night we all had such a scare! Alec had just gone to the bathroom, when...

Alec: What the... fire! AHHH, HELP!

Diego: Don't worry, I took a fire extinguisher!

That's right, one of the toilets in the house suddenly caught fire, just when Alec was alone in the bathroom in the middle of the night. And it was Diego who ran into the bathroom with the fire extinguisher in his hand to save him. Apparently, since he works in a bakery he is required to take fire safety courses, and luckily I had installed a fire extinguisher in the corridor of that floor. 

Luckily Alec was just very scared, but with very minimal injury. At that point, however, the children had at least two very good questions to ask us.

Nico: (hesitant) How are you, Alec?

Neo: Not too bad. I think.

Nico seemed particularly worried about his twin, we are all sure that soon even the fear of fire will be counted among his many fears. Petra, on the other hand, was furious like we have never seen her, and demanded a good explanation for what happened.

Petra: This is absurd, how did the toilet catch fire? And it's not even the first time I've seen it make sparks, it's very dangerous!

Gaia: You're absolutely right, I-

Petra: But how could this even happen? There shouldn't be anything flammable in there, right?

Gaia: Well, this could be my fault... I recently tried to install composters under the toilets around the house, but I guess something went wrong...

Techna: Considering what's left of the toilet in question, I'd say that there was a build-up of methane gas that ignited following sparks created by the metal mechanism of the flush.

If the concentration of gas had been just a little higher, instead of catching fire the toilet could have exploded, I can't even think about it! At first glance, the composters seemed like a good idea, but now I'm more determined than ever to dismantle them as soon as possible.

Gaia: ... I'll dismantle them right away, it's too dangerous.

But Petra still didn't seem at all satisfied with the answer, the second uncomfortable question was about to arrive.

Petra: Rather... But what is Diego still doing here? It's five in the morning!

That question was absolutely legit, yet we didn't know how to answer it.

I mean, for us adults it's obvious what happened, right? Diego had been with us all day, and since we hadn't seen each other for a while, I suggested spending the night together. According to our plan, we would then have woken up before the children so that he could sneak home without being noticed. Sounds easy, right?

But we certainly didn't expect to be waken by a burning toilet, nor to have to give any kind of explanation at that time of morning.

Gaia: Well... You see, Diego was very tired last night, after cooking for us all day and everything… So he asked me if, please, he could stay here and sleep a bit.

Alec and Nico seemed to be satisfied with the explanation, but I was sure that Petra would have needed much more. My explanation had so many flaws, she was certainly wondering why Diego hadn't simply teleported back home, for example.

But then Petra had come out with a comment I wasn't expecting at all, saying:

Petra: If he's your boyfriend or something, you can just say it!

She had then shrugged her shoulders, and with a yawn went back to her bed. Once again, Diego and I were too stunned to say anything. It was Alec who brought us back to reality, by timidly rising his hand to ask:

Alec: My hand hurts a bit here, I think I need a band-aid…

Gaia: Sure, darling, I'll take a look right away!

So I jumped up to help Alec wash away the ash and check again he didn't have any serious burns. Once I'd established that going to the hospital probably wouldn't be necessary, I grabbed the wrench to dismantle the explosive composters from the toilets throughout the house right away. There was no way I could go back to sleep after what happened, anyway.

Gaia: Oh, you're preparing breakfast?

Diego: It seems like the least I could do, we were all so scared... We need something sweet to lift our spirits a bit, right?

In fact, the hearty breakfast had calmed our spirits a bit, but one thing was clear: we had to hurry up and decide what to do.

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A few hours later, at Diego's bakery...

Diego: Whether we like it or not, I think everyone's figured it out by now. You should see how many messages Vale has already written me, if I step in her place today it will sound like a police interrogation...

Why does it take so much effort for us to share the news of our relationship with others, anyway? We are independent people, and we don't want the constraints of a traditional relationship to prevent us from cultivating our passions, but would it really cost us that much to make the news official? Are we just afraid of other people's judgment, or is there something else underneath?

Diego: ... and here's also a message from my aunt, fantastic...

Gaia: From your... aunt?

Diego: Well, yes. I mean, I don’t really care if Vale knows about this, I’m sure she’ll be happy. But she’ll certainly let something slip to Mom and Dad, who’ll tell my uncles and aunts, who’ll tell to the grandparents, and then their cousins… And they’re already constantly asking me why I’m not married yet, when the first grandchildren will come, and so on. If they knew we were together, they wouldn’t leave me alone. They already do the same with Vale, she always says to be patient with our relatives, that this is the way they're used to, but...

If everyone in her family is as talkative as he and Vale are, I can easily believe that news always travels so quickly between them. However, from those few words, I could already tell that he was part of a large family with high expectations of him. Not an easy situation, in short.

Diego: … I think it’ll be a lot of work, but I can’t do much other than explain to them how things are, right?

Gaia: While I will have to explain the situation to the children...

Let's be honest, my dear diary, the main fear I have right now is to upset my kids. What if I can't find the right words? Or if they felt neglected because I'm spending some time with someone who isn't their dad? Or...

Enough, my dear diary, even if it's scary and difficult, at this point I have no choice but to be honest!

Gaia: Petra, can you come downstairs? I have to talk to you about something important!

I have to remember my children are growing and surprising me with their maturity day after day, they'll understand. I hope. 

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A few hours later

Now that I talked with them, I'm starting to think I was overthinking this a lot for no reason. All three listened to me with a perplexed face for a while, and the moment they realised not much will change for them they simply went back to their homework and toys. 

I guess I was worrying for nothing, don't you agree, my dear diary?

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§HermioneSims§ corner

I'm opening this corner for a very brief game-related warning: if you haven't ever seen a toilet catching fire and want to prevent it, be extra careful with the "Composting Container upgrade" to the toilet (I think it's one of the eco-updates coming with Eco lifestyle). Apparently, making compost out of your "toilet organic wastes" can accumulate flammable material and trigger spontaneous combustion.

When playing this part I didn't know it, I had to learn the hard way!