Chapter 44: River Monster

Thessaly and Riley have a daughter, Quinnell.

"Hey, is that my jacket?" Riley asks.

"It is," Thessaly answers, "I didn't think it would fit you anymore. You've grown a bit since high school, after all. And I needed something to go with this dress."

"It looks way better on you than it ever did on me," Riley answers, grabbing her into an embrace.

"Well, I wouldn't say that," Thessaly laughs, "Listen, I was thinking we should have another baby," she says, changing the subject, "I was an only child, and I want Quinn to have sisters and brothers."

Riley agrees to her plan, and they get started on the second child right away.

By the time Quinnell is having her first birthday party, Thessaly is showing again.

Chanda and Sheridan have become elders.

Despite the wrinkles and gray hair, Chanda is still gorgeous.

Quinnell gets brought to her birthday cake.

Demond couldn't make it to the party, as he had a game that evening, but his daughter Jordan, now a teen, came to watch her niece become a toddler.

While their guests are in the dining room eating cake, Thessaly and Riley take advantage of a moment of privacy.

It's too early in her pregnancy to have much of a bump to show, but Sheridan wants to check on it all the same. Behind him, Dulce's daughter Marta looks on.

The last guest to leave is Demond's youngest daughter, Devon. Miraculously, she's inherited the vampire trait without having blue skin, a vary rare occurrence.

Demond drops by himself the next afternoon to listen to his son boast about his little girl.

"I'm so proud of you, son," Demond says, hugging him tightly.

Riley remains amazed that he lucked into getting a father that doesn't want to hassle him all the time about not having a job.

Before he leaves, Demond checks in on his next grandchild.

Riley jams with Quinn.

They can't go out clubbing much while Thessaly is pregnant, but they can still party at home.

When Thessaly goes into labor, they all go to the hospital together.

And they bring home another little girl, Kennedy. Thessaly worries that she's dropped a family on Riley too soon. Knowing how much he loves going out and staying out late, she fears that the responsibilities of parenthood will make him resent her.

If Riley is harboring resentments, he's keeping them close to his chest. Watching him interact with his daughter shows him as nothing but a man who loves his children.

"How sweet," she sighs, smelling the roses he brought her.

"Riley, I need to know that you're okay with this, our life. That you don't resent us for tying you down," she says, getting it out there so she can stop worrying about it.

"Resent you for making me happy? Where is this even coming from?" he asks, bewildered.

"We don't go out as much as we used to," Thessaly says, "You could be a rock star or something, not stuck at home changing diapers."

"I love you, Tess. I love the girls, and I love our life. I've never wanted more than this. To be a family."

 There are gaps in his memory, he can't remember being a toddler, or anything of his life before Demond found him, so he doesn't know if anyone ever took him to the park, if he had a loving family with siblings, cousins. His past is a mystery, but his present more than makes up for it.

She was worried about their lack of a nightlife since the girls were born, so Riley hired a babysitter and took her out to Cathedral, where they dance for hours.

They go into the bar for a drink, and Marjorie Vamp approaches him, drunk enough to hit on a married man half her age.

As though the club announced tonight as Cougar Night, another woman comes to hover around Riley, hoping for attention. Thessaly gets up from her stool, ready to defend her territory.

Some people just do not take a hint.

It's still hours before the club closes, but Thessaly and Riley go back home before the cougar pack got any wilder.

It's only 2am, and they normally don't go to sleep before 5, so they have hours to kill before they're tired enough to sleep.

"What do you think about having another baby?" she asks.

"Tess, I want enough children to fill this house. And it's a pretty big house," Riley laughs, "But are you sure you it's what you want? I don't want you fretting over it later."

"We want the same things, Riley," she says, "We always have. I just forgot that for a moment."

Riley smiles, and kisses her, "Then let's have another baby."

Their attempt at getting pregnant was once again a success.

"Are you okay?" Riley asks, coming out of the shower.

"I'm ecstatic," Thessaly answers with a smile, "And nauseous."

Riley got a gig playing guitar for a business party. When he came home, he found a vampire playing bass in his front yard.

The vampire is his uncle Santos, Demond's younger brother, so Riley invites him in to jam.

"Maybe we should start a band," Riley suggests. It is nice to have someone to jam with.

"I'm a top secret researcher," Santos says, "I'm not really a musician."

"I'm not asking you to give up your day job or anything. Just to jam."

"I don't know, performing for humans seems kind of...beneath me," Santos says.

Riley rolls his eyes. Vampires. "I doubt we'll get to the point where we're actually performing in public. It's just to jam."

Santos finally agrees to form a band, and after some discussion, they decide to call themselves River Monster.

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Challenge Notes:
I used a random band name generator for Riley's band name. The same generator also came up with 'Showers After Head', which I'm still laughing about.

Thessaly got a new casual outfit and a new formal outfit, plus a maternity outfit. Riley got a new formal.
I still haven't done anything about property mogul. I'll probably buy a nightclub, and two rabbitholes. Still plenty of time, and the family has way more than enough money.

The roll for Gen 8 is Couple, 1 child, primary career movies/acting, secondary carer artist. The goal is Opportunist and the misc. fun is Fashion Diva (again!).
So this will be my third go at the artist career in this legacy. Lucky for me I like that one. I've never done Opportunist before, and that's one I came up with. So, I'm happy about that.
I did roll for heir, third child. But, my past 3 heirs, Tamsin, Sheridan and Thessaly, have all been pretty much identical in facial features. So, if this third child is a Thessaly clone, I'm going to override the roll and choose one that has more of Riley's features for the sake of genetic diversity. Also, I'm hoping for a redhead.