Chronomancy Part 3b: Hermione

My sister was trained for this.

It was always expected that Willow would be the survivor - the mother of the next generation of witches, taking us ever closer to the birth of Grannie. (My family is weird. We'll get to it).

Turns out, she was just a very clever little girl. And unfortunately for her - for me, too, really - I'm even more clever still. Her attempts to fool everyone, even the timeline, into thinking she was the one, were almost entirely successful. But I was close to Uncle Gandalf before he died, and he showed me the magic innate in music. I even followed him for a while, though I'm more a rock chick than a symphonic gal. We had talked often about how to recognise when a note is off key, and something about Willow just always struck me as off kilter.

It wasn't her powers. She was a witch alright, at least as talented as I was. It was more that she was always getting the worst of luck - as if providence had set itself against her personally. One night while she was snatching a Van Gogh for her criminal bosses, I engaged in a little theft of my own. I found the journals, and - well, she already told you. Long story short, I'm the real heir, which means I'm on the hook now for kids. I have a lot of reading to catch up on; Dad always spent more time with Willow, understandably enough, and while my treacherous sister is sufficiently contrite that she's relating what she knows, I am forced to subject all her information to a certain amount of scrutiny.

Last time I'd noted that because of the time frame, I was switching heirs. I very rarely do this - the heir is almost always the first born legal child - but it's important to be flexible.

The Art Appraisal careers cannot be recommended; the hours are short, and at least in my case, there are often no bosses around for the higher levels, so you can't Ask for Promotion. But in fairness, I am certainly still in "hard mode" here - witch lifespan, no Education, no Science/Gamer - so I have no Ambitious Sims and no Work from Home ability. In better conditions, they're probably fine.

Tara was a lot of help there, though. You can't con a con-woman, as they say, and she's the best of the best. A little subterfuge on her behalf and now the mob has lost our address - we can finally start to think about savings. It's true we've invested in several businesses around down, but there's nothing like money in the bank.

Week 21, Day 6, Criminal lifted. Err... "yay"? The money is largely irrelevant and I can't do anything significant with beds until I lift Paranormal. But I guess it had to get lifted some time. Tara has 21k to go until she's 150 (she got The Tinkerer earlier), with about 7500 locked - so we'll see how this goes.

We always thought Willow was intended to be the one that brought in the next generation, but since it's me, I didn't have a lot of time to waste. I wasn't getting any younger. The only thing I knew about Jeromy from Amy was that he was under 40 - and frankly, that was really all that I cared about. I'm sorry kids - it's not that I didn't come to care for your father, but the luxury of a long courtship just wasn't something we could afford.

Week 22, Day 1. Because even with Hermione, it's cutting things fine. She'll get the lift in 2 more days, leaving her with 8 days until she is an elder. Enough for two pregnancies, but not with a lot of spare time - I didn't want to be mucking around romancing the beau, I wanted to be able to get her pregnant the day before she lifts. Of course Jeromy already had a partner, but I've never considered that any sort of barrier in an Apocalypse Challenge (and you shouldn't either).

This pushes the time to 5 days for the clear, thanks to the day off, but the math still works - I get her pregnant on the Thursday, she clears on the Friday before the baby bump, has the kids on Sunday and gets pregnant again in time for another try.

Jerome is a bit of a prize- he has 2 days until he's an adult, and he's Clumsy, Excitable, Neurotic, Over-Emotional, Workaholic (so not that bad). He also has Athletics 2 (I trained him a few hours the previous day), Handiness 4, Painting 2, Writing 3. The LTW is Renaissance Sim, which he can surely get, but it won't count. As soon as he's officially missed work, I have him quit as per Master Thief rules and roll for a job: a 3! Jackpot! I get him Education and never look back. All he needs are the bookshop career, Athletics stuff (which I'd get anyway), and the Writing stuff. I get him a job in the bookshop career immediately and then hit the treadmill.

While I did appreciate Willow's attempts at redemption - her contacts with art fences allowed us to bring considerable pressure on the council, with the consequent of some much laxer labour laws - I just didn't feel I could ever really trust her. When she mentioned that her contacts had offered her some lucrative career opportunities elsewhere, I packed her bags for her and encouraged her to pursue them. She got the hint.

Amy's contribution was less important - it's nice that we get further relaxation in the building codes, and it's very nice that we can finally start to purchase luxury goods now that her art appraisals have given our community some possibly of exports - but those restrictions were not felt particularly heavily. On the other hand, she never falsified Grannie's journals either, so she can certainly stay for a while.

Week 22, Day 4, Master Thief and Architect both lifted. Willow immediately moves out. Amy, however, has 141k in LTR points and a decent chance at making 150k, so for the moment, she can stay.

Uncle Gandalf was right. There is magic in music, and while he figured out some of the tricks, in the hands of a true witch there is real power here. I feel much like Grannie did, when she spread the message of hope; I have reinforced that message now, and people are no longer solely focussed on survival. Within weeks, we have toys, fashions, and even hair styles.

And I am spending most of this exciting new time with my head over the toilet, because Jeromy and I are pregnant. We're using all the fertility magic that I know - which is considerable - as well as the tuning frequency that Grannie mentioned in her journals. Fortunately I'm in great shape because I'm not sure I would survive it otherwise. I wish Tara had stayed, but there was little left for her here - she'd always been close with Willow, and never really got over the fact that I took over, regardless of the circumstances.

Week 22, Day 6, Entertainment is lifted. Hermione is about 15 hours or so pregnant, with 5 days to go until she is an elder. Both she and Jeromy have Fertility Treatment; she will now be subject to the kids channel until she gives birth (since I can do that, with infinite workouts).

It's time to take stock again. I want triplets, and there are only 2 free slots. Amy is on 147k, Dumbledore is on 149k, and Tara is on 140k. So unfortunately, Tara has to move out here, and the other two really need to kick it into high gear too.

There are times I wish I'd never uncovered Willow's forgery. Grannie's journals were very clear, but that didn't make consigning my brother to a watery grave any easier.

Week 22, Day 7, drowning tombstone.

Nor did I find it easy to fool my sister into speaking the death spell, with the knowledge that the lack of ambient mana and her lack of innate ability would cause it to backfire.

But these events had to happen - in a sense, had already happened. Grannie's journals are very clear, and she would know.

Grannie is a closed loop. She is the serpent that eats its own tail - both ancestor and descendant. If things do not transpire as she directs, then she may never exist, and then we may never exist. We know this, because this is not the first version of the loop.

It makes little sense to talk of "before" and "after" with timelines, but I have no better words. There was a society that merged technology and magic. It flourished. And from the fusion emerged a new kind of technomagick called Chronomancy. Time travel.

There were attempts to build devices to allow this, but they only ever seemed to work in the presence of certain features of the environment; this environment, the gods decreed, did not contain those features. Magic was needed, and magic was used.

And the apocalypse was the result.

It could not simply be averted. It had happened. To avert it would cause a paradox. Only an elite team called the Timeless had an answer - to create their own paradox. Not to avert the apocalypse, but to lessen its severity and duration.

The ouroboros. Grannie. Poledra Sorcerous, the first and - in the new timeline - the only Chronomancer.

Would my siblings have died had she not decreed? Did her decree cause those deaths, or merely describe them? Is free will at all meaningful? I must dance to the orders of my forebear and my descendant, and I cannot escape the chains that bind me.

Later the same day, ranting tombstone.

And how do I know this, when my father did not?

I know because Morgana knows. Morgana - despite lacking any innate magical power - rediscovered alchemy. While of limited direct use - the toxic ash would not support the crops we'd need to make potions - she gave me just enough hints, and just enough stolen materials, that between us we were able to unlock the remaining safeguards on my ancestor's notes.

My magic powers were now at their peak. I ended the zombie plague with but a word.

I realise I keep calling Grannie my descendant. I guess it's because the better word is hard for me to accept.

Week 23, Day 1, Paranormal lifted. I still want her LTW, but she's going to have to hurry. She's got Writing 10, and about Painting 9.5.

With both Military and Paranormal lifted, I change the lunar cycle to be permanently at "first quarter". No more zombies.

But I had better start referring to her as my daughter.

Morgana had given me so much. But she was fated to give me one thing more.

And now the circle completes! I have 6 restrictions remaining including Alien Technology, and Jeromy is already working on Education. Meaning of course that he won't finish it in time for it to be useful, but there's always Midlife Crisis. With 1 days to go until she is an elder, Hermione is pregnant once more.

Both Saruman and Poledra are witches, but technically I don't actually need an heir here, since with fertility treatment + constant Kids channel I cannot really fail to get at least twins, and that will be all I need.

Destiny is a cruel mistress, and Morgana's death by starvation was perhaps the unkindest cut of all.

Week 23, Day 5, Starving ghost achieved.

And now that Poledra is born, all my future children have the spark. If ever there was a child of destiny, she is it - I will endeavour to love all of my children equally, of course, but Poledra - well, how many of us can say that they raised their own grandmother?

Week 23, Day 6, 3 more kiddies. That means I have a spare, so I might as well go for one of the optionals. All three of these are witches.

As this is now the last generation, this makes a good point to switch off. Tune in next time for the exciting - well, tolerable - conclusion!