1. Welcome back to A Night's Tale.
Last time, we saw births, birthdays, and Meadow fall pregnant with,
hopefully, the last member of the generation.
Some of the pictures may look slightly odd in this chapter, I took my
defaults out after playing some of the important things. The difference
isn't very noticeable, in my opinion, but I thought I'd give you a heads
up anyway.
Anyway, onto the chapter!!

2. “In order for this to work, I require training on the human condition,” a
voice was saying in the well-lit room.
The other person in the room fidgeted.

3. The other person, an alien, shuffled a little more, “It may be difficult for
you to study human nature without practise on Earth, drone.”
“So find me a way to learn from home,” the person commanded,
“looking human is not enough these days, they can tell when they see
a half-breed!”

4. “You look like an ordinary human,” the alien assured, “not a half-
breed.”
“Enough,” the person commanded, “I know how we can study human
nature. A family has irritated us aliens attempting to summon us for
almost half a generation now...”

5. “I presume you speak of the Night family?” The alien suggested, his
tone growing irritated.
That family had interrupted his experiments on a number of occasions,
by sending their dominant male to get pregnant.
The non-alien nodded enthusiastically, “I think it's time we taught the
Nights a lesson, do you agree?”

6. “Only two of the children are half-breeds, ma'am, the other two have
no business with us – one isn't even born yet,” the alien ducked his
head, trying to remove thoughts from his head.
“They are all members of the Night family, they all receive the lesson,”
the person said, determinedly,”any descendant of that annoyance
Jack Night is a risk to society. Any society.”

7. “Then I shall see that they are claimed shortly after the youngest has
celebrated their teenage birthday.” The alien sighed. He didn't want
any business with humans. Half-breeds were bad enough.
“Good to hear,” the other person stated, and let out a laugh.
---------

8. Over at the Night's house, Stella was waking up on the morning of
Spiral's birthday. During the night, it had heavily snowed, and school
had been cancelled.
“Merc,” Stella yawned, “Mercury, wake up! Snow day!”
“Mmmrrr.” Merc moaned, “Why are we getting up if we have no
school?”

9. “I knew there was a reason we got up early,” Mercury grinned. Stella
just rolled her eyes.
“If only Spiral was big enough to play too.” Stella said, shaping the
bottom of the snow pile a bit more.
“He will be soon,” Merc answered, shoving more snow on their
snowman.

10. Spiral was still eager to join in, whether he was old enough or not. So
he toddled out into the snow and watched his older brother and sister
build their snowman, smiling and enjoying the weak winter sunshine.

11. And, of course, what snow day is complete without a snowball fight?
Mercury seems to be very good at tricking Stella. But they both had
fun, and that's the main thing.

12. As night came closer, preparations for the birthday began. Including
Jack getting puzzled over what Spiral wanted.
“I would launch into a sentimental speech about how I'm sad there's
no toddlers in the house, but Meadow is pregnant,” Jack sighed, “and
I'm glad to be free of toddlers for a little while.”

13. So apparently, I lost the picture of the actual cake part. Instead, I have
this picture of a freshly transitioned Spiral!
“I got bigger!”
So did your forehead, apparently. That hair now slices into your face.

14. So Spiral gets a shorter haircut. And the elf ears are on display much
more now.. Did I mention he has no nice points? Not a kid to mess
with.

15. Eager to get to know his siblings, Spiral spends the rest of the evening
running around and talking to Merc and Stella.
“We're aliens! It's cool!”

16. Meadow also started showing her pregnancy. Hopefully, the final
pregnancy.

17. I have never had siblings this close in my game before. But Merc,
Stella and Spiral all get along great.
“I had a weird thought after the birthday last night,” Merc said, worried,
“the aliens were angry with Dad...”
Stella and Spiral exchanged a glance. Mercury shrugged, not knowing
what more he could tell them.

18. “Don't worry about it, Merc,” Stella said, sweetly, “why would the aliens
be mad with Daddy? They got research, he got two sons...”
Stella had a good point, but Mercury pulled a face all the same.

19. “I agree with Stella, Merc,” Spiral said, uneasily, “the aliens won't be
angry with Dad. He helped them out.”
Merc tried to smile at his siblings, as they smiled supportively.

20. “I still feel weird about the whole thing,” Merc told them, “but if you
guys think we're safe then we probably are.”
Stella and Spiral nodded at him, and they changed the subject.

21. Of course, fate couldn't have the Night family feeling safe for long.
A burglar came creeping, in the dead of night...and guess who had
forgotten a burglar alarm....

22. Luckily, Jack was awake at the time and was able to call the police.
And then he went and tucked in each of his children, making sure they
were all okay while the police did their work.

23. Good triumphs over evil who try to steal our computer.
Jessica Ebadi ended up staring right at me,almost questioning me why
she turned to a life of crime.

24. The entire saga was enough to push Mercury to tears. He truly didn't
feel safe, and the burglar incident hadn't helped at all.

25. Life doesn't ever stop. The morning after the burglary brought good
news, too. The last of the Nights (with luck!) was about to make their
appearance.

26. It taught Mercury about where babies come from, anyway.
He looks like he's about to burst into song over the whole thing.

27. Baby girl Cara was brought into the world. So far, she looks more like
Jack but with Meadow's hair colour. But we'll see. All babies look the
same, afterall.

28. Just a bit of proof that these three do pretty much everything together.
Seriously, they are the closest siblings I've ever had.

29. Cara aged up pretty soon, turning into a cute toddler.
Cara has a personality of 10/2/4/7/6, which makes her a Virgo. This
makes her the shyest of the four kids.

30. Time passed, and the kids brought Shelby home from school with
them again.
The four of them exploded into a crazy game of cops and robbers.

31. Spiral being a robber, obviously. I just found his shooting face
amusing.
Also, did you know mean kids kick their playmate when they're down?
It surprised me to find Spiral sneakily kicking Stella when he'd shot her
to the floor.
She didn't once complain about it, though.

32. Shelby was quickly becoming one of Mercury's best friends, however.
She was at the house everyday after school, usually playing cops and
robbers with Merc.

33. “Oh no! Merc! I only pretended to shoot you!” Shelby gasped.
This is the scariest glitch I've ever had in my game. Merc's head went
back into place almost straight after I took this picture, but it was
really, really creepy.

34. No one else seemed bothered by Merc's bizarre head moment.
Stella carried on shooting at Spiral.

35. Spring brought with it a flurry of birthdays.
Mercury and Cara shared the first birthday in spring. The eldest Night
was becoming a teenager, while the youngest was becoming a child.

36. Mercury rolled Romance, of all aspirations. I don't really know what
Merc was suited to.
He has a lifetime want of becoming a rock god.

37. Cara grew into a rather girly child, and is already showing signs of
inheriting more of Meadow's features.

38. Stella walked into her room, which she now shared with Cara, and
took a step back.
“What...the...pink?” Stella looked at the walls, questioning how they
came to be pink.
Stella couldn't call herself a tomboy, but she certainly knew how to
keep up with her brothers. The room was...just a bit too pink.
But, in order to save herself from an argument with Cara, Stella
silently agreed to put up with the pink.

39. “Whoa...what happened to this room?” Spiral asked, stepping into the
Girl's room, looking for Stella.
Cara turned round and grinned – she was so happy she was finally old
enough to hang out with her siblings.
“Hi Spiral, isn't the pinkness awesome?”

40. “Stella's not that keen on pink,” Spiral said, bluntly. He wasn't tactful
like Stella was.
“But it's beautiful. Our room is perfect.” Cara decided, gesturing to the
pink around her.
Spiral pulled a face.

41. “There is such a thing as too pink,” Spiral chuckled, causing Cara to
shake her head, laughing, “have you seen Stella? I want to play cops
and robbers.”
“Nope,” Cara added, hopefully, “but I can play.”
“No thanks,” Spiral shrugged, “I don't want to play with a girl...”
And with that, he disappeared, looking for Stella.

42. It was the afternoon before Stella's birthday, and the Night kids were
having an epic water fight in the green space behind their house.
Spiral showed no mercy, as did Stella and Mercury – they were no
strangers to water fighting. Cara, however, was a bit hesitant to join in.

43. Stella was very good at avoiding the water balloons fired at her by
Spiral and Cara.
Grinning like a fool, she moved out of the way of Spiral's latest throw.
“Nice try,” she called, “now actually aim when you throw!”

44. “Alright! Revenge!” Stella announced, throwing and catching her lime
balloon.
Spiral prepared to duck and dodge.

45. “I'll join you in that revenge effort, Stella!” Mercury announced, aiming
with his blue balloon. Nodding once at each other, Stella and Mercury
fired.

46. Stella's balloon hit Spiral square in the chest, whereas Mercury's
balloon sailed right past Spiral...

47. ..and directly splashed Cara. She squealed, and turned her head,
dripping from head to toe.
Mercury, Stella and Spiral held their breath, waiting to see Cara's
reaction to the water balloon.

48. “Oh, you are for it now,” Cara started, grinning evilly as she raised her
balloon. Mercury chuckled.
It seemed Cara truly was like any of the other Nights under the layers
of pink and squealing about getting hit by the balloons.

50. Soon, it was time for Stella to grow up. Due to the rain, the cake was
inside, but it didn't matter to Stella either way – she was looking
forward to being a teenager at last.

51. Stella grew into a pretty teenager, with longer hair and short-shorts.
She rolled popularity, which is fair enough. She also wants to be a
Rock God.

52. “This is so cool, Merc! When Spiral is a teenager, the three of us
should hang out!” Stella was excited.
I do feel bad for Cara, because she's so much younger than the other
three she tends to get left out of their plans...

53. Spiral's birthday was directly after Stella's, and on the afternoon of his
party, Mercury brought a good friend back from school.
“Shelby, I see you've grown up well,” Merc smiled. He was no hard-
core romancer, more of a sweet romance sim.
“You did, too,” Shelby smiled.

54. Merc and Shelby then proceeded to hit each other with pillows as the
school bus pulled up to drop off Cara and the birthday boy.

55. As the family waited until six 'o' clock, they spent time with each other,
and for the first time in a long time, one of the oldest three decided to
play with Cara.
Which was nice.

56. And so Spiral's birthday arrived, outside in the summer air.

57. And here Spiral is as a teenager! He looks quite a bit different to
Mercury, if you ask me.
Spiral rolled pleasure, which I think suits him perfectly. His lifetime
want is for 50 first dates

58. Spiral wastes no time as a teenager, and immediately turns his
attention to Shelby.
He could have at least waited until his mother and sister left the room.

59. Mercury sat down on the sofa next to Stella, and smiled. She grinned
back, but she was slightly concerned.
“So you and Shelby...” She began.
“What about it? We're just friends,” Mercury said, coolly.
Stella raised an eyebrow, “so it doesn't bother you at all that Spiral is
flirting with her in the next room?”
Mercury suddenly wanted to frown and complain. Instead, he just
shook his head at Stella. She gave him a questioning look.

60. “Okay, so it bothers me a little...” Merc admitted.
“Then why don't you talk to-”
“He's happy,” Mercury interrupted, “I'm going to go outside and play
catch with Cara.”
He left quickly, leaving Stella to her thoughts.

61. Spiral and Shelby moved into the living room, the pair of them smiling.
“Are you sure you have to go?” Spiral asked, playfully.
“I really do,” Shelby giggled, “but I'll come over again soon.”
“I'd love that,” Spiral admitted, “but before you go...”

62. Spiral kissed Shelby, and that little on-top-of-the-world feeling made its
way through his veins.
He wasn't thinking about anything else.

63. Merc was completely clueless as he walked into the living room. But
as soon as he saw them, he decided to pretend he hadn't seen them.
Instead, he made his way to his room. Spiral didn't even notice anyone
coming in the room.

64. Mercury found himself reading in his room, avoiding any conversations
with Stella or Spiral.
He couldn't avoid them for long.

65. “Dude!” Spiral called, throwing himself onto his bed, “You'll never
guess what happened at the party tonight!”
“If this is about Shelby, you can stop there,” Mercury stated, in a cold
voice. Spiral frowned.
“Oh, so you know...” Spiral paused, “What's up with you?”
“Nothing!” Mercury snapped.

66. “No, something has ticked you off, what is it?” Spiral asked again.
Mercury sighed, irritated, “Nothing. Just back off. Go play with Cara or
something.”
Spiral narrowed his eyes, “I think I know what this is about.”

67. “You're just jealous, aren't you?” Spiral questioned, angry, “You didn't
want Shelby until I started dating her, so just stop throwing a tantrum.”
Merc looked up from his book, “do you see me throwing a tantrum?
You're the one getting all wound up over it.”
Spiral got up and stormed off, leaving Mercury reflecting on the
conversation.

68. In the time that followed the argument, Merc threw himself into
learning the guitar, blocking out the world so it was just him and his
new guitar.
Occasionally, he would let Stella and Cara into his world. Anyone
except Spiral.

69. Spiral kept himself busy, too.

70. On the afternoon of Cara's birthday, Stella had decided enough was
enough.
“So, when are you and Merc going to sort things out?” She asked,
Spiral frowning a little.
“He's being childish. And I'm not giving up Shelby.” Spiral stated.

71. “Don't you care that you're hurting him?” Stella asked, quietly.
Spiral paused before answering, uncertain, “No...”
“You do. Look, just talk things over with Mercury, okay? I don't want
my two best friends fighting. It sucks.”
“I'll try. For you, Stella.” Spiral grinned, “Now, let's celebrate a
birthday.”

72. Finally, Cara was thinking as she waited by her cake, I will be old
enough to hang out with my brothers and sister. This time for real.

73. Despite the arguments taking place between the family at the time,
they all joined together to wish Cara into her teenage years.
It was a sign that time was moving forwards.

74. “Leopard print shorts?” Cara questioned, with a cheerful laugh.
In the background, Jack grinned, “All my babies have grown...”

75. Cara grew into a pretty teenager. She rolled fortune, with the lifetime
want of becoming head of the SCIA.
And so the party continued, the Night family blissfully unaware of the
aliens and their plans.

76. The night after the party, Jack was at work, and Meadow was
returning from a trip to the library.
“Kids,” she called, “I'm home.”
Silence greeted her.

77. “Kids?” She called again, filling the quiet, “Mercury? Stella? Spiral?
Cara?”
How could they all be gone? Meadow decided to do a quick search of
the house.

78. But the house was completely empty.

79. Back in the living room, Meadow worriedly headed for the phone.
“I'd better call Jack...the kids are all missing...”

80. “Let the half-breed and human experiments and observations begin,”
The alien said, carefully watching the Night children through the glass.

81. And this is where I leave you! With a picture of the kids!
What's going to happen to the Night kids? What will Jack and Meadow
do?
And also, because I love all of the kids too much, there is an heir poll.
So go and vote for your favourite, if you like.
Thanks for reading!