Today is a special day for the Landgraab Coven.
Daisy has returned from some extended travels, and with her she’s brought a new addition to the coven.
“Hey ladies, I’m Melinski Silversweater!”
“Silversweater?” asked Betsy. “As in a Silversweater like the Sage Simeon?”
“Yeah, he’s my husband. In another Save, that is…”
“I found Melinski trapped in the Multiverse,” explained Daisy. “I was hoping we can find a way to return her to her own Simeon one day.”
“We’ll do all we can,” said Gemma.
“And you chose a good time to join the Coven,” chuckled Dolly. “Nancy is confined to a highchair these days.”
“Good to know, I guess…” frowned Melinksi.
Well, the Landgraab Coven is certainly a lot more harmonious these days!
It’s anyone’s guess as to why that may be…
Dolly and Gemma stole a moment alone together after the Coven meeting.
“What do you think about this new girl, Melinski?” asked Gemma. “She seems pretty badass, right? And cute, too!”
“Should I be jealous?” teased Dolly.
“You never have anything to be jealous of, Dolly Zest. You know I’ll only ever have eyes for you.”
Dolly found herself blushing.
“You’re quite the charmer, Miss Charm.”
“I speak only the truth.”
Everything is more magical in the Magic Realm.
These two are so wonderful together.
They woke up and autonomously began slow dancing first thing in the morning.
I can’t with the cuteness, ahh.
Gemma then proceeded to cook a huge batch of Mac n cheese in the cauldron… for breakfast.
She didn’t seem to appreciate the judgement from the Watcher.
“Hey, it tastes pretty darn good. If you don’t mind the tree bark aftertaste that is. I don’t know what could be causing that…”
Dolly is on babysitting duties today.
She pulled Nancy in for a big hug when they arrived at the park.
“You’re going to be a good girl for me today, aren’t you Grandma?”
“Mwe always good gwirl.”
Mm-hmm. Who are you fooling there, Nancy?
Nancy appeared super excited by all the equipment in the park, but it was the slide she wanted to go on first.
She got pretty scared once she got on there, though.
That face…!
Next up was the extremely low-poly ball pit.
Nancy had a blast in that one!
A few hours of playtime later…
“It seems like you had a lot of fun today, Grandma? We need to go home now, though. We’ll come back again soon.”
“Why we nweed to go? Dwolly have no jwob. We stway longer.”
And so they stayed longer…
Some things never change, it seems.
When Dolly dropped Nancy back off at the Landgraab Townhouse that evening, she popped in for a quick visit.
“Wow, Betsy. She’s really hard work, isn’t she…”
“You think? Try living with her…”
One day, the Landgraab Coven were out for lunch at Glimmerbrook’s most popular cafe spot amongst spellcasters.
“Umm, Melinski… isn’t that your husband, Simeon? Well, not *your* husband. But you’re married to a version of him in the multiverse, right?”
Melinski gasped as she laid eyes on Simeon.
“Are you okay?” asked Betsy. “It must be hard seeing him… even if it’s not actually the guy you love. Gosh, multi-verse travel is confusing.”
“Yeah, but… it’s not even that. He’s just… well, so much uglier in this Save.”
(Sorry Simeon, but it’s true. Your so much hotter in Melinski’s game).
Melinski wasn’t the type to let an opportunity pass, so she approached Simeon.
“Hey, buddy. How much do you know about travelling between Simverses?”
“Um. It’s pretty impossible, actually. Who are you, anyway?”
“Wrong answer. Look, I could use your help. You’re still a Sage in this Save, right?”
Some weeks later, Dolly received an invite from Ichika to join her at the gym. She was grateful for a chance to blow off some steam.
Lately she’s been feeling a bit like… well, ‘supporting character’ material.
She didn’t care for it.
Dolly was certainly happy for Betsy in her ascendance to Coven leader - but now what about her?
She is a Self-Absorbed Genius after all, and she’d always expected to be destined for great things!
She just felt a bit lost these days. What was her purpose? Everyone else seemed to have one but her.
By chance, Dolly’s dad Johnny suddenly turned up at the same gym.
She seized the opportunity to relay her worries to him.
Some fatherly advice would be perfect right about now.
“I’m afraid this is the life of a Spare, Dolly,” said Johnny. “We just have to find our own place in the Legacy.”
“I see.”
“Don’t ever think you’re any less important because of it, though. You’re a superstar, my girl.”
Johnny is such a sweetheart.
Dolly knew Johnny’s words were well intentioned, but they did little to help. She didn’t need to be told she’s a superstar, she already knew it.
She had just one thing on her mind now though - she needed to find a way to show the world her true potential.
Spare shmare!
It wasn’t long before Dolly spotted an opportunity to prove herself. She’d noticed Simeon & Melinski in a heated discussion in the Magic Realm one day.
“I gave you a much needed makeover, and STILL you won’t help me find a way home?”
“Melinski, please… I would if I could. I know nothing of the multiverse though, and it all sounds far too dangerous anyway…”
“Perhaps I could help?” said Dolly. “You’d be surprised at the ancient tomes I’ve found laying around Charm Manor.”
The pair looked curiously at her. They hadn’t even noticed she was there.
“Really? Hmm. Though perhaps we should run such a thing past your Coven leader first.”
“Oh, Betsy has other things to worry about. C’mon, just let me help you both out.”
Dolly quickly realised she may have bitten off more than she could chew, though.
She couldn’t find any reference to multiverse travel anywhere within the library of Charm Manor.
She thought long and hard about where else she could look…
And then it occurred to Dolly, where better to find information on obscure and forbidden magic than in Nancy’s old library?
She headed straight over to the Landgraab Townhouse, and made up an excuse when Betsy enquired as to what she needed from the library on the top floor.
She wanted to work this out on her own.
Plus, she knew Betsy would probably put a halt on things, were she to find out what she was doing.
Several weeks of delving through Nancy’s surprisingly vast collection of spell books flew by… but then, just as she was about to give up, Dolly suddenly found what she needed.
She went straight to Simeon and Melinski to tell them the good news.
“Look Simeon, I’m already married, okay? Yes, to a version of you, but that’s beside the point. And you’re married too. You’ve got to stop with… oh, hey Dolly! Didn’t see you there.”
“I’m sorry, was I interrupting something…? I just came to let you know I finally made a breakthrough… like I promised I would. Meet me at the old ruins tomorrow night, okay?
“At the old ruins?” scowled Simeon. “Why there?”
“I just think it’s better we avoid any prying eyes here at the castle.”
Dolly seemed to have a hard time sleeping that night.
She even got out of bed for a 3am cocktail.
It seemed the usually unflappable Dolly was feeling rather tense and nervous about what she was to attempt that evening.
This was her chance to prove herself as more than just a worthless Spare though. She knew she could do it.
At breakfast that morning, Gemma noticed Dolly wasn’t her usual self.
“Is everything okay, Dols? You seem a little tense. What’ve you got planned for today?”
Dolly hated that she’d had to keep this endeavour a secret from her girlfriend, but she didn’t want to get her in trouble should this backfire. This was her risk to take alone.
“Yeah, everything is completely fine, and no… I haven’t really got much planned for today. Just, uh, helping some other Spellcasters out at the castle.”
Gemma knew Dolly wasn’t being completely truthful, but she wasn’t the type to push the matter.
“Okay… well, that’s cool. I’m sure you’ll go ahead & smash… whatever it is you’ve got to do for them.”
Evening soon arrived, and so Dolly met with Simeon and Melinski at the old ruins.
“So what are we doing here?” asked Simeon. “I’ve got to say - I’m having significant doubts about all of this.”
Melinski scoffed.
“If Dolly has found a way to get me home, I want to at least give it a try.”
“Okay… so what I found was an old spell buried away in Nancy’s things. It seems she’d actually travelled across Saves quite a bit in her time.”
“Trusting the magic of Nancy Landgraab… well, this hardly eases my concerns. Melinski, why don’t we head back to the castle and find another way? This is far too risky and...”
“Simeon, stop! How many times do I have to tell you? I already have my own sexy Sage back home. I’m sorry, but you need to let me go. It’s time for me to return to my own Simverse.”
“So let’s do this, then?” asked Dolly.
They all nodded, even a reluctant Simeon.
The trio stood before one of the fires lit around them, and Dolly began casting the spell she had memorised from Nancy’s old spell book.
“I hereby call upon the Watcher to open the Portal of Trayfilerium!”
Dolly and the others watched on, as the flames slowly turned a shade of deep purple.
Melinski smiled.
“Ah, that’s my own Watcher’s favourite colour. This has to be a good sign.”
They waited in silence for a short time, watching the purple flames as they danced playfully in the night’s breeze.
And then the portal appeared.
Its safe to say they were all surprised it had actually worked, most of all Dolly.
Melinski felt a sudden tug, as if the portal beckoned her.
A voice somewhere within it begged her to enter. A voice she recognised.
She knew home wasn’t far away now, and she walked calmly into the portal with a smile on her face.
“MELINSKI NO!! WAIT FOR ME!”
Dolly watched as Simeon suddenly disappeared into the portal after Melinski, moments before it closed up behind the both of them.
Suddenly, she was stood there all alone.
“Oh, llamapoo. I think we might have just lost a Sage.”
Two days later, Dolly had been called before (what was left of) the Sage Council.
“How is this my fault? I didn’t make that man follow her into the portal! If anything, I should be congratulated for an incredible piece of advanced spell-casting!”
“You opened an unpermitted portal to another Simverse. Do you know how dangerous that was? You broke so many rules Miss Zest, and we lost a 600 year old Sage in the process. I can only imagine the hell he must be in right now.”
“He’ll get over it,” sulked Dolly.
“Your lack of remorse is chilling. We have order in the Magic Realm for a reason. If we allow any one Sim to disobey it, then anarchy will begin to run amok.”
The Coven weren’t much happier with Dolly either.
“Do you know how hard I’ve been working to rebrand the Landgraab name,” sighed Betsy. “And then you go behind our backs and do this? We are a Coven, and that means working as one entity. What possessed you to be so selfish?”
Dolly stiffened up, her cheeks flushed.
“I just wanted to accomplish something on my own for once…”
“Well Dolly, you certainly did that…. and, well… now the Sage Council has left me no choice but to expel you from the Coven.”
Betsy couldn’t even meet the others’ eyes, and Dolly let out an audible gasp.
“Expel me?! Why are you being like this? You may be Coven leader now, but that doesn’t give you the right to act like Nancy.”
“Me?! I’m hardly the one whose been acting like her.”
“Gemma, if I go, you go too right?”
“Dolly, you can’t ask that of me…”
“You’d really stay in the Coven without me? I thought we stuck together.”
“That’s what I thought too, but then you kept secrets from all of us. Including me…”
sigh
Nancy would be so proud…
Dolly has come to stay with her dads Gianico and Johnny for a few days.
She needs to regain some perspective on things.
Perhaps she had been overly reckless…
When the Watcher loaded into Gianico and Johnny’s household, he found Teddy and Elsie ‘playing’.
Although, judging by Elsie’s face in that second shot, its unclear how much play was actually involved!
Be good, kitties!
Despite the circumstances, Gianico and Johnny were so glad to have their daughter back home again for a few days.
They had missed her since she had moved into Charm Manor with Gemma.
That didn’t mean they weren’t worried about her though. Dolly could often feel their watchful eyes boring into her.
It was obvious they were concerned about how things had been going in the Coven.
Dolly had always been self-assured, but never reckless.
“I knew we shouldn’t have let my mother anywhere near our daughter,” sighed Johnny, when he and Gianico were later alone in the hot tub. “She gave us enough warning signs over the years.”
“We could hardly have denied Dolly the opportunity to develop her Spellcaster powers, though. She’s her own person, at the end of the day. She made these choices of her own accord…”
And just because the Watcher rarely gets to play with his favourite boys anymore, a little woohoo session followed.
Did it suddenly get hot in here…?
Dolly and Gemma soon met up for some bubble tea.
They’d missed each other over the last few days.
They caught up on the little things, like how Gemma was faring looking after their houseplants, but steered completely clear of any talk of the magic realm.
They then played some table football to help break the ice.
They had never been in a fight before, so this felt like very unfamiliar territory for them both.
Things felt particularly awkward towards the end of their meet-up. They couldn’t avoid the topic any further.
“I’m so sorry, Gemma. I should never have kept all of my plotting secret from you. I was just trying to achieve something in my own right… and I didn't want to drag you into anything…. and… well, I know it was so wrong of me to ask you to leave the Coven.”
“Come home already. I hate being in a fight.”
Dolly truly was sorry for the hurt her actions had caused Gemma.
That was the extent of her regret, however.
She still thinks she did an amazing job sending Melinski back home, and in her eyes Betsy and the Sage Council are completely overreacting.
Why does everyone have to be wound so tight all the time?!
The Watcher is just glad these two aren’t fighting anymore <3
