Recap: Waffles and Cid aged into elders, Russel and Feign aged into children, Cid aged into a young adult, and Irwin achieved his Lifetime Wish. Irwin also cryptically asked Cid to watch over future generations, to which Cid agreed.

Cid, having spent all of his most recent time reading recipes, decided he wanted to learn the gardening skill. He loved the idea of having fresh home-grown ingredients in his culinary masterpieces, so he ran off to the Science Lab to take a class. As soon as he finished, he started sneaking fruit and vegetables from plants already growing around town. Some were, admittedly, plants that belonged in someone’s garden, but he figured they wouldn’t notice. And if they did, it’s not like they would have any idea who stole their seeds.

Upon returning home, Cid created his own little gardening space in the corner of the lot.

He started planting his stolen seeds immediately.

Gardening became his passion. He would spend hours outside planting new fruits or vegetables and even plucked weeds in the worst of weather.

Waffles was incredibly affectionate in his old age. He rubbed up against everyone’s legs every chance he had, hoping for a pat on the head or a treat. The family loved him, so they complied with all of his secret demands.

Cid had become a good friend of Waffles, as whenever he finished gardening, he would come inside and tend to the kitty. Irwin was beginning to have a difficult time bending over to pick Waffles up and clean him, so Cid took over the responsibility. Waffles purred in delight as his fur was brushed. To thank Cid, Waffles would go outside, catch a rodent, and present it at Cid’s feet. Cid would politely take the gift and then release it when Waffles wasn’t paying attention.

Before long, the twins aged up into teenagers.

Russel’s Slob trait finally kicked in and it was blatantly obvious to the entire family. Feign hated eating with his brother, as Russel would just shovel food into his mouth like it was nobody’s business. Not only that, but Russel would leave his clothes lying around the house, expecting other people to clean it up. He left a disgusting trail all around the house that started with dirty plates and ended with a lingering stench caused by his lack of showering.

Russel’s new trait was Party Animal. When he wasn’t dirtying the household, he could be found dancing in his underwear.

Feign, on the other hand, became Brooding as a teenager. He didn’t get along very well with Russel, as Feign seemed to be turning more and more into an introvert as he grew up. Russel was very… out there… whereas Feign enjoyed quiet nights thinking about the world around him.

Homework was a battle every night. Russel didn’t even try in school. He felt the subjects being taught were completely irrelevant to his ultimate goal in life. He wasn’t sure what it was quite yet, but he knew it would have something to do with music. Becoming a rock star, maybe? Professional dancer? Either way, there was never any homework on that particular area of interest, so it made all of the rest seem pointless.

Feign just plain didn’t enjoy homework. He was already Unlucky when it came to personal matters — such as finding friends or getting on a teacher’s good side — so what was the point in acing his homework? He would have much rather spent all of that extra time brooding in his room.

Fantine never allowed the two a night off, however, and would make sure to monitor their work habits. If Russel started dancing in his seat or drumming the table, she would snap at him to knock it off. If Feign started daydreaming, she would nudge him hard and point to the papers in front of him.

Cid tried mastering his alien-abilities with the intention of fully embracing his mother’s heritage. He found he could repair objects with nothing but his mind. To hone this skill completely, Cid would use electronics until they busted, then fix them.

Cid still made a point to spend time with Irwin, who was now almost never seen without Waffles by his side or on his lap. Waffles and Irwin were still as close as ever, especially now that they were both becoming less active. Their nights were spent either on the couch watching Animal Planet’s kitten specials, or pointing out all of the frauds on the Psychic Channel.

Cid loved the both of them dearly. He insisted to Irwin he retire from his fortune-telling, but Irwin had none of that.

“I’m just saying,” Cid argued, “if you retired, you could spend all of your time with your family. You could watch TV with Waffles as much as you wanted, and you wouldn’t be coming home exhausted at three in the morning.”

Waffles purred in response, enjoying the thought of being pampered 24/7. Irwin scratched beneath his chin. “I’ve already told you, Cid, I have no desire to quit just yet.” He turned to his first-born and winked. “Perhaps one day I will, but the world still needs me at this current time.”

With the intention of getting her sons hobbies that didn’t involve dancing or brooding, Fantine built a room onto the house meant specifically for activities. She even placed Waffles’s cat tree in it so he would be able to spend time with the twins.

The idea was a good one. Russel attached himself to the piano quickly, banging his fingers against the keys until he could make notes hit the ear in just the right way. Feign was glued to the computer. He started writing down all of his thoughts about the world and the people in it, eventually turning those thoughts into actual stories. Waffles adored the new placement of his cat tree, as it gave him the opportunity to befriend the two boys. During intermissions in the twins’ newfound hobbies, guess who they played with?

Cid wanted to join in on the bonding, so he bought himself an inventing station so he could learn yet another new skill. Inventing was much harder to learn, and Cid didn’t enjoy it as much, but it was his mission to learn as many skills as he could, so he pushed through the boring parts until he was able to make some gadgets.

One afternoon, Russel went to the park. He spent some time dancing to music stuck in his head before wandering off.

A fairy was nearby and she looked like she was Russel’s age.

She set herself up a little picnic. Russel’s eyes widened and he smiled, assuming the best way to meet her was to invite himself to her picnic. He plopped down beside her, grabbed a plate, and shoved the food in his face. The fairy gave him a confused look, but continued eating and didn’t shoo him away.

Russel gulped his last bite and stood up, holding out his hand to her. “Hey! I’m Russel!”

She looked him up and down before taking his hand. He lifted her to her feet and led her away from the picnic blanket. The fairy was a little weirded-out by Russel, but she introduced herself as Lena anyway.

“Lena! Nice to meet you!” Russel’s heart started banging hard against his chest. He had been a fan of the supernatural for a long time and now, finally, he had met a fairy. He wasn’t sure how to act. Part of him wanted to ask for her autograph. The other part tried to settle himself down just enough to act like a normal person. “Do… do you live around here?” he blurted.

Lena scratched the back of her neck. “Uh, yeah, like, two blocks away,” she answered.

Russel nervously dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out one of Cid’s little trinkets he had tossed out after a particularly frustrating inventing session. “Here! I want you to have this! I didn’t make it for you or anything, but I think you might really like it!”

“Ummm, I don’t want this,” Lena scoffed. She thrust the gift back at Russel, now officially creeped out by him.

As she turned to walk away, Russel ran in front of her and held out his hands. “No! Wait! I’m… I’m really sorry, I just…” He slapped himself in the face to get his thoughts together. Lena backed away a bit. “Okay… so, I’m a huge fan of the supernatural, and I’d always been crazy about fairies.” Lena backed away further. “No! Not like that! Not crazy…!” He sighed in frustration. “You’re so pretty… you’re making me so nervous I can’t think straight.”

Lena paused. She blinked a few times, watching Russel squirm in this now-uncomfortable situation. She then smiled. “It’s okay– Russel, is it?”

“Yes!” A grin emerged on Russel’s face.

Lena was able to look past the awkwardness of Russel’s first impression and stayed talking to him in the park until nightfall. The two didn’t have very much in common, and Russel had begun to think Lena was a bit of a Snob, but it didn’t matter. His hormones were raging at this point, and by the end of the night, Lena had become incredibly attractive to him.

Russel couldn’t take it. He grabbed her by the waist and planted the sloppiest kiss on her lips. She pulled away shocked at first, but then decided making out was a good idea, and pulled him back in for more.

Russel had completely forgotten about his curfew. He was reminded once a cop pulled up to the park and demanded he come with her. Russel was elated this officer was a fairy, so he didn’t even mind getting into the back of the police car.

Russel tried sneaking into the house once the cop dropped him off, but Irwin just-so-happened to be coming home from work at the same time. Russel bolted to his room, hoping no one saw him come home late. Irwin stomped after him and pulled him outside of his bedroom door.

“Where were you?!” Irwin screamed.

Russel scowled. “At the park, like I said I was.”

“Do you have ANY idea what time it is?”

Russel rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said, a twinge of sarcasm in his tone.

Irwin pressed his fingers to his eyebrows. “Russel… it is almost four o’clock in the morning. Your mother and I have been worried sick. She called me in tears while I was at work because she couldn’t find you.”

“Dad,” Russel yelled, “I’m sixteen years old! I can take care of myself, you know!”

Their argument ran straight until morning, waking Feign and Fantine up before their alarms. The school bus would be arriving in an hour, giving Russel absolutely no time to sleep or do his homework. He wound up sleeping in the middle of class and turning in his unfinished assignment, landing him detention for the next couple days. This did not blow over well with Irwin at all, so he grounded Russel.

Cid’s inventing skill wasn’t progression hardly at all. The only things he created from the bench were silly trinkets and gadgets that had no use to anyone. Every now and then, he would also catch himself on fire.

Most of the time, Irwin was around to put the fire out, and when he wasn’t, Waffles would run around the house mewing for someone to come help Cid.

Maybe inventing wasn’t the best skill to try to master…