Donoph's sulking finally gets Cliff's attention.
"If it's about that girl, son..." Cliff rests a hand on the boy's shoulder, but Donoph won't meet his eyes. "She's a waste of time if she doesn't recognize your worth already. You deserve someone who likes you for being you, not someone you have to impress and beg for affection."
"It's my fault," Don argues. "I wasn't respectful enough to who SHE is. I kept trying to force my interests on her."
"That's a very mature observation. I didn't know you were doing that. But you know, shared interests is the bedrock of any type of relationship. If you can't connect with Millie, you shouldn't pursue her."
Donoph's sister seems to have everything he doesn't.
But Donoph can't possibly be jealous of a neurotic and a geek. So he's just happy for them.
"And that grave is my great-great-great-great grandma Nol Archer's," Stella explains, as she and Piroj pretend to stargaze. "She wrote a lot of really embarrassing romance novels about elves and stuff. If Archer wasn't such a generic last name, I'd change it just 'cause of that."
Piroj smiles and nods. Always inquisitive, he hopes to see and study specters tonight.
Donoph soon gets a retry of his date with Mildred. They circle around this graveyard and descend stone steps into the underground gathering place known as Crypt Club.
Mildred strips down to her clubbing wear.
The bartender hates it, seeing as it's not quite the image Crypt Club is going for.
"Did you try to date my cousin?" Donoph feels no shame asking this on the dance floor. Unlike the other night, which was packed, tonight he and Millie almost have the place to themselves. There is no one close enough to overhear.
Mildred continues dancing, but frowns, looking frightened and cornered.
"I'm sorry," she finally stammers.
"Well, why did you do that? It's disrespectful to Scott and Dot's relationship."
"Ha!" She snickers. "Scott and Dot..."
Donoph glares. "Millie..."
"It was stupid of me! My mom asked what you were going to do for a living and I... I... I didn't know..."
"Because I don't know yet," Donoph finishes for her. He sighs. "Is it really that important?"
"Of course it's important! I'm trying to plan for my future."
"Do you think I'm a waste of time?"
She says quietly. "When I asked Scott out... you and me had only been on ONE date. I know we've been friends since we were kids, but... I wanted to see other guys too."
"I guess we never had an exclusivity talk."
"We can have it now," Mildred tries to to soothe him. "I want us to go steady."
"What?"
"What what? What's the matter?"
"I'm thrilled! I just hadn't even got to the part where I beg forgiveness for taking you to a park. You deserved more consideration than that."
"And I shouldn't have tried to date your cousin. We're even."
Wren's musical talent is complimented by the ghost of Melody Archer, nee Grisby.
This moment has long been a fantasy of Wren's.
Donoph tries to impress Mildred in a way that might actually appeal to her: a love song.
Mildred is impressed, for once.
She leads him around the corner to the jacuzzi...
....and Donoph finally feels things are working out for him.
"Get me a drink," she whispers.
The mixologist crafts some nectar-less mocktails for the teens.
Unfortunately, the kids don't get to enjoy their drinks before the curfew hour strikes and cops bust into the club.
Mildred hides in some bushes. Donoph's plan is to hop into the police car he drove to the club, and drive home, evading the coppers neatly. What cop would suspect one of their own?
Uh oh.
Turns out Vinca was the one who dispatched the cops in the first place.
Javier Archer's ghost could not care less about the potential grounding going on next to him.
But you know what? Being grounded is for losers. The cool kids sneak out.
In firetrucks.
Sadly this outing will be without Mildred, who is too busy obeying her mother's command to not leave the house for the entire weekend.
Oh yeah. Out with the little sister and her boyfriend.
Endless excitement.
Piroj worries about how people could be responding to his posts on the community forums.
Rock on, Cliff.
Stella washes her hands over and over, hoping to keep deadly diseases at bay.
Death visits the Archers' home.
Luckily, he is not here for Stella.
Ace cannot bear to place his wife in the same courtyard as the other graves.
He sets her gravestone in the garden she worked so hard on.
Wren tries to comfort Ace, in some way, by haunting these cheeses.
The Archers have a collection of truly bizarre plants thanks to Wren's freelance science'ing, but the woman never sold anything. Especially not the Life Fruit, which seems so charged with energy, it's probably deadly.
Ace misses the warmth of the woman curled up next to him; warmth that possibly kept him alive, when they had nothing but a firetruck and their clothes to sleep in.
Ace does not have to miss Wren for very long.
He dies in the garden, as if the universe itself frowns upon his fumbling attempts to manage it.
Ace has lived a long and fulfilling life. Still, he is terrified of its end, and begs for more time.
But Grim has no sympathy for him or his poorly-dressed daughter.
That gravestone looks taller than Donny.
He just hopes his life will somehow measure up to his mummy-fighting grandfather's legacy.
"It's all wrong!" Stella cries. "This grave should be placed symmetrical to Grandma's! Why did Grim leave it here?! I don't want to move it!"
Her outpouring of grief is one of brutal honesty. Her brother lets it slide; he knows she meant no trivialization of her grandfather's death.
"Do I HAVE to go to school?" Donny doesn't want to go to school; his eyes are red and puffy.
"Yes," Cliff replies. "Yes you do. Now run or you'll be late."
______________________________________________________________________
Etc.: Don was out after curfew and busted by the police (I could not cancel his actions), but instead of getting in the waiting police car, he whipped out Wren's police car and sped home! When he got home, Vinca was waiting to yell at him. One of the funniest glitches I've seen yet.
Wren's LTW was 8 perfect plants. Starting from nothing, she got very close. But she failed. I feel slightly bad about her pint-sized grave. Ace's LTW was something involving money. He achieved that early on.
It hasn't made it into the story, but Sylvia (hellgirl) reproduced.
His name is DeAngelo.
Nero married the daughter of Juliet Verona and now has a son. I intended to work that into the story, but Wren had to go and die before I could have her visit.
