ivorylegacy-blog

[ivorylegacy-blog]

3 Months Later

...

"Ugh. Is this gonna be a thing now?"

The rest of the table remained silent. "Excuse me, Link?" Cream growled.

"I mean do we really have to act all depressed every time we're together? Grandma's the one that died. Not us."

"I'm sorry Junior, is the mourning of my dead Mother making you uncomfortable?"

"You can be sad but are you ever gonna get over it? It's been months, mom." Link said clearly annoyed.

"How would you like it if I said that about one of the greatest joys in YOUR life?" Cream said. 

 "She wasn't that cheerful! There, I said it! That whole act in the last week was something she crammed in so she could get in good with the big G."

"What are you ON right now, kid? Grandma was NOT religious in any way shape or form."

"Plenty of people get religious in their last moments." Link argued. "There's so many threads about it."

"OHH MY GOD, not this shit AGAIN."

"Link, stop being edgy for ONE second and acknowledge the fact that my Mother, your GRANDMA had done  positive things in your life like a decent person."

"All she did was drink behind people's backs. Soooo positive." 

“Welp!” Aryll said, hopping out of her seat. “Back to my room I go.”

Cream and Link stared each other down while Aryll and Jabari left the table.

"Fuck this. I'm going for a jog." Link shoved himself out of his seat and walked off.

Jabari stepped back into the dining room.

"...You want me to follow him?"

Cream shook her head. "If he feels bad about what he said, he'll do it on his own."

"...This again..."

"...It's..." Jabari sighed. "It's just how life goes."

[ivorylegacy-blog]

"...I know I should have prepared a speech. This is my Mother we're talking about... you only get one of those.  It's just not something you really think about...

...She was so... alive, you know? ... I never thought for a second that she'd...

...No. That's not true. There's been a few times.

But I knew she'd come through. There's been so many rough times where I'd worry so much about her. Sleepless nights where I'd stay awake, wondering if she'd be okay. 

But she was strong. I don't think anyone in her life can say that my Mom wasn't strong.

And I don't think anyone can say that she wasn't a great person. No matter what the situation was... even if she didn't know what was really going on, she tried to do the right thing. The good thing. That's the kind of person she was.  

She was so many things. Talented, beautiful, kind... strong... loving... understanding... 

I'm... I'm so happy that she was able to stay in our lives for as long as she did. 

Because for all the trouble we, as a family, have given her... she could've stepped out. 

She could've blamed us. 

 But she never really did. All she really did was love us and talk to us. And comfort us. 

And try to help.

 She's my role model. And she should be all of yours. She was the most wonderful person I've ever met. And I know a lot of wonderful people. ... And... I hope that her memory lives on in the rest of us. I hope you all remember her fondly. I will too.''

[ivorylegacy-blog]

Cream is spending more time with her Mother. They have long talks about the past. Before Mint royally fucked up, Cream was always the least favorite child. In her old age Candy could finally admit that. And though it took some self reflection and coming to terms with her whole debacle with her husband, Candy finally started understanding why she thought that way of her daughter. She understood that it was all bias and misunderstanding. It wasn’t fair to Cream. She gave a whole-hearted apology to her daughter to make amends.

Suddenly Candy was herself again. She threw a huge party at her house, talked to her guests, hyped them up. As if she was still a spinmaster, going to parties and showing off her entertaining abilities.

Even Mint, who she hadn't talked to in years, seemed to suddenly be an old friend. She acted like nothing was wrong. It was just her and her son, talking about Mother Son things.Mint didn't buy into her demeanor at all. But she continued.

It didn't seem to be an act. She was so genuine and open about her feelings all of a sudden. She treated everybody with immense hospitality and talked to them as if they were the most amazing person in the world. It was almost frightening.

"Mom... the party's over. You know you don't have to keep playing, right?" Cream asked nervously.

"Oh, sweety. I just like to play."

Cream sat and listened to her Mother play for another hour.

A few times she tried to initiate conversation with her. They would have a small talk conversation, and then it would just die down.

 Candy kept in touch with her family.

Even when she was sick she would invite her family over just to talk about things. Anything, really. About her life, about nature, about yoga. Anything.

She talked about how grateful she was that, in her ripe old age, she was surrounded by family.

That was a gift that she could never repay to them.

Her sister Yuki was concerned. She said Candy wasn't acting normal.

Candy, insulted, told Yuki that this was the most normal she'd been acting in years. 

Yuki was awkward, but in an instant Candy forgave her.

She wanted Yuki to know how much she loved her and she was happy that she was still around.

There were some days, though, where she couldn't get anyone to come over.

Sometimes they were just too busy for her.

On those days she wasn't bothered. 

She would spend all her time in the room she loved most. 

The courtyard that Milky made for them.

Where he wanted to be buried.

The following morning, Vanilla came over to visit Candy. Link answered the door and looked at her with a pale, mortified expression.

Vanilla was silent for a few moments. 

"....What's wrong, Link?"

"...Don't make me say it. You know what happened."

Vanilla said nothing.

[ivorylegacy-blog]

Puberty is hitting the town of Newcrest strong.

Link gets back into the habit of throwing huge parties at his house.

Since he still always saw them at school, he kept a superficial bond with all of his neighbors.

Von, his cousin was still a glutton as always, stuffing his face with any food he could get. Link envied Von's fast metabolism.  Light Gothelle dyed his hair white, but despite that his affinity for his white haired friend had plumetted pretty quickly. What used to be insensitive jokes turned into conniving attempts at defamation, and now Link had been reciprocating. However, Light was more popular and way more liked than Link, so it didn't really matter what Link said about Light.

The real talk of the town however wasn't Light, it was the Hansen siblings. People would always jokingly call Jaden and Christian the Handsome Brothers. Christina was left out because girls can't be called handsome. But the nickname for the hansen twins was the Hansen Angels. 

Many people considered it a blessing if the Hansen Angels interacted with them, but it surprised no one that Link Ivory got in with them. They would always say the only reason they hung out was because Link had money.

Link was also still friends with Daisy, who was stepping out of her shell and getting more and more friends.

But now, Link's focus was on Christina.

Christina had always been cute, but puberty hit her like a ton of bricks -- in the good way. She legitimately looked like an angel.

She was completely oblivious to Link's attempts at flirting, but that was fine by Link for now. They were good friends.

He was now inspired to become fit.  Every morning he did push ups before he went to school.

He even asked Greg if he could use his gym.

He asked Greg's daughter Ria, for more advice. She told him that Greg is now the leader of Powerhouse, and he should definitely join.

Link’s life was about to hit a turning point.

[ivorylegacy-blog]

They Grow So Fast

Link spent a lot of time on his own for a while. He played a lot of video games and talked to his sister.

As a 7 year old, he isn't a very good father.

He also spent a lot of time stimulating his brain. He still played with Daisy, on occasion, but this was only because Cream encouraged him to socialize. He mostly played chess with her. The fishing slowed down immensely.

Cream worried about what anti-social behavior might do to him. But every offer she gave to take him to a friends house, he debated with her that it was more beneficial to research science.

Aryll was turning out to be a little sass master.

Sometimes her words would have a bit of bite to them, but most found her charming. Except for Vanilla since for whatever reason, Aryll seemed to want to roast her the most. Vanilla was put off by it. Cream found it hilarious, though.

Mint didn’t seem to enjoy his niece's company either.

Thanks to Aryll, the monkey bars were finally being taken advantage of. She enjoyed staying fit.

She also enjoyed singing and putting on puppet shows just for fun.

She was a little bit of an oddball, considering when the house had a home intruder, the valiant Aryll simply went over to confront him.

He tried to threaten her, but she wasn't buying it at all.

She looked at the intruder like he was nothing but a nuisance.

The man was so thrown off by her lack of fear that he figured it must be some sort of trick. So he left the house empty handed.

[ivorylegacy-blog]

Refusing to feel discouraged from Light's mockery, Link continues to hang out with his friends whenever possible. Link has his Dad take him to the Humor and Hijinks festival to have fun with all his friends at once.

It started off as all of them playing together. They all joined the humor side and tried to rack up points, but Link could tell something was off.

Slowly, Link's group of friends seemed to disappear.

"They all seemed like they were heading to the museum." Jabari remarked.

Link couldn't help but be hurt. His group was still together, they just decided to hang out somewhere else. Without him.

A little later, a familiar face caught Link's eye.

"Hey, Christi!" 

Christina nervously came over. "Oh, hey, Link!" 

 "What's going on? Where'd everyone go?" Link knew of course, but he wanted to know why. Maybe this was a chance to figure it out from her. Maybe it wasn't what he thought it was. 

 "Um, they went to the museum." Christina said. "They decided the hijinks festival wasn't that cool." 

 Link quirked an eyebrow. "So they go to a museum instead?" Christina looked back at the museum. 

"It's a pretty cool museum." 

 "Hey, that's cool. I'm a total museum guy. I just thought this hijinks thing was... you know. More their level." Link smiled. 

He waited for Christina to laugh, but she didn't.

"But uh, hey, I'm cool with ditching the festival! Let's go to the museum!" Link said.

"I don't know if that's a good idea Link."

"Why not?"

Christina was silent again, glancing back toward the museum. "Ummm I better go back. Daddy said to stay with my brothers."

There was another bout of silence between them, then Christina was on her way.

Link couldn't help but feel anger bubbling up inside. Jabari put a hand on Link's shoulder.

"Why don't we watch some of the ameteur comedy routines?" Jabari asked.

Link crossed his arms and huffed. "They're all gonna suck."

Jabari smiled. "That’s the point. It's like a real life cringe compilation."

Link slowly smiled and followed his dad to the microphone stand.

They spent the rest of the festival together. Link spent a lot of his time socializing with adults instead of children. But he enjoyed it, and shared many intellectual conversations with them.

One of the things that came up was politics, of course, since Link was the grandson of President Ivory. He got into a small debate in economics, but his dad encouraged him to stay out of politics.

"Small talk isn't a place for politics," Jabari said.

The humor side did win in the end. Jabari and Link decided to watch the fireworks together, celebrating their victory.

[ivorylegacy-blog]

Since Link is always bragging about his gigantic house to the other kids, he decides to throw a house party. Daisy comes over incredibly early, so Link plays chess with her to pass the time.

"Are you really that bummed out about the rest of the neighbors coming over?" Link asked. Daisy looked wary.

 "Aren't you?" 

 "Why would I be? The house is huge. If you don’t like someone go to another room.” He said.

When the other kids show up Jabari acts as the host, keeping watch over them while they play outside. They don't immediately go to Link, so Link brings out the food early.

Link is a little thrown off by Light's outfit. "Light. Why are you wearing that?" Link asks. 

 "Cuz it’s cool. What’s the problem?" 

 "It's not Halloween." Link frowns. "

So what? It’s not dinner time but you just can’t wait to eat, right?” Light jokes.

Link feels slightly embarrassed by this comment but goes back to socializing.

Christina walks over and Link's eyes light up. "Hey Christi~" Link waves.

 "Hi Link~" Christina returns his greeting, oblivious of the implication. She looks at the pancakes in his hand. 

"Ooh, are we having pancakes for dinner? That's wild!" 

 "Uh, no haha, we're having mac and cheese and taco casserole. These pancakes are leftovers." Link answered nervously.

"Haha, what, you need to have 3 meals for dinner, marshmallow boy?" Light joked. "You even gonna leave any for us?"

Link's heart sank.

"Oh Light, that's a mean joke." Christina giggles. "Daddy says whatever people eat is their business."

"Pfft, adults just say that because they have no guts.” Light scoffs. “If he’s gonna offer us food there better be some to eat, right?”

Christina shares a little giggle with a few other kids. Link turns pink and quickly leaves the room.

“Jeez, marshmallow boy can’t take a joke.”

 His pain is followed by intense anger as he storms outside and slams the front door. With fists tight and white knuckles, he’s ready to blow up, but he doesn’t want to make a scene. His parents taught him to be responsible. 

Daisy catches Link’s eye, passing him and heading into the front yard. She meets eyes with him and sits down at the chess table once again.

Reluctantly, he plops down in the other seat and sighs.

“I can’t believe they just. All laughed.” Link says through gritted teeth.

“That’s why I stay away from them.” Daisy says knowingly.

[ivorylegacy-blog]

Cream’s comedian gig is doing pretty decently. She has plenty of opportunities to keep herself busy with writing routines and coming up with new jokes. Being an on and off children’s book writer, Jabari has plenty of free time on his hands.

Every now and then Jabari thinks back on that day that changed everyone's lives and wonders if there could have been some other way. If maybe he was wrong in having an affair with Cream and crashing her Father's plans. He wonders that, if he hadn't been so selfish, that Milky would still be alive to care for Candy in her old age.

Link sees Jabari standing outside and brings his little sister out with him to cheer him up. He acts overly happy to see Jabari and hypes up Aryll in the process.

The three decide to watch a nice movie together to make Jabari forget about his woes.

It also encourages him to reconnect with his sister, June Datta.

The more people Jabari has to support him the better he recovers. 

[ivorylegacy-blog]

The Neighborhood Kids Pt. 2

The neighborhood is really growing. Before work Cream decides to help Link out with meeting his neighbors. He's particularly scared of this one huge, creepy looking mansion, so they tackle this one together.

"So nice of you to let us in! I don't know how ya did that uhhh, spooky door openin with no one to answer it, but, good stuff! I like a neighbor with tricks up his sleeve."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Cream Ivory."

Link raised his hand timidly. "I'm Link Ivory."

"Oh, what a quaint young fellow. Good day, my name is Dante Gothelle. I have a son about your age, Link. His name is Light. I'm not quite sure where he is right now."

Cream's phone begins to vibrate. She hops up and turns away from this violet eyed stranger. 

"Well, I've got to get going. Link, are you coming with me?" Link shakes his head, fascinated with the strange man. 

 "I’ll be out there in a sec, Mom.”

 Cream quirks an eyebrow and turns toward the door. “Don’t stay too long.”

Link sits down in front of Dante with a confident grin.

"...Soooo... You're a vampire, right?" 

"What! Oh, don't be ridiculous, Link!" Dante seems plenty flustered, before deciding to gently shoo Link off to join his Mother.

Link sees Light, Dante’s kid, as he passes by in the hallway but doesn't take much interest in him since he acts so normal. He throws off Dante's groove, Link thinks.

One of links neighbors has a little shack for a house. The door is lingering open, so Link pops in for a little visit.

Link greets the girl several times, but she's so into her show, in a complete trance, that she doesn't notice him at the door. He takes a huff and plops down. 

"Hey, quiet girl, I'm right here. Nice to meet ya, I'm Link." She finally turns her head.

"...names Dianna." She says.She's silent again. 

Link frowns.

"Man. This house is really tiny." Link comments. 

Dianna shrugs. "Meh.  It's alright."

He doesn't get much enjoyment out of her so he moves to the next house.

"Hey, nice to meet you neighbor." Link says in a cool manner. "I'm Link. Just saying for the record, I was here first."

"Ooh, pleased ta meet ya Link! My name's Carmen!" Carmen exclaimed throwing her arms around Link.

"Uh--" "Daddy! I caught myself a white friend!" Carmen called to the other room. 

"That's great honey!" A man called from the other room. “Don’t need to say that he's white though, no need to point that out, it doesn't... doesn't really matter."

The last two kids he meets are twins, Ari and Ria. Ria scoffs at Link and makes a comment about his weight and Link shoots back by calling them cabbage patch kids. They don't get along that well.

[ivorylegacy-blog]

Night Terrors

There are many nights when Link Ivory leaps out of bed screaming.

Even when he's awake, images of splattered blood and creepy goblin men surround his room. A faint sound of breathless screeching linger in his ear drums.

In the early mornings Link goes to his Grandma Candy for help.But Candy tells him that he's not allowed to be in the courtyard. 

She tells him to go back to bed.

"Dad... the bloody goblin's back."

"Aw, Link. You're playing too many games again. Don't worry. The bloody goblin isn't real. You're just too creative for your own good."

"It just looks so real, Dad." Link sighs.

"Don't worry. That stuff goes away over time. All kids have over-active imaginations. And all kids have to get enough sleep before school."

"Okay, but... can you tuck me in?" Link asks.

"Sure thing, buddy."

[ivorylegacy-blog]

The Neighborhood Kids

Despite Link spending most of his time out and about, he still did his homework every day. His neighbor Javier was a teacher and encouraged him to get good grades.

His son, Sebastian preferred to watch wrestling and made fun of Link for doing what adults told him to do.

He also met the Hansens, a family of six.

First Jaden, the oldest brother. Next, Dinah.

Who spent a lot of time sunbathing and playing on the slip and slide with her kids.

Her oldest son’s disgusted whenever he sees her like that. But Link doesn't mind. In fact, he makes a comment about the nice ‘view’ their house has. 

Christina and her twin Christian came back from the pool and met up with Link. Christina is particularly shy and is unsure of their new guest.

But Link opens up to her. He's particularly drawn to her and talks to her the most.

[ivorylegacy-blog]

Link also hangs out with his cousin Von, and some other kids who wander the park.

During one of their park adventures Cream meets someone with a familiar face. A Wiggins. One of Heath's nephews.

Compelled by the concept of closure, maybe to make peace with a ghost or something superstitious like that, she comes over to the Wiggins house and gets to know the nephew.

She can't tell the Wiggins what actually happened to Heath, but she does make pretty good friends with the young teen. He's open and trusting to her.

Anyway!When Aryll's hair finally comes in, Cream is surprised to find that with even with her red haired, completely non albino husband...

BOTH of her children are completely albino. White hair, red eyes.

"Milky didn't have anything to worry about after all," Jabari said. "You have like... super genes."

Cream sighed. "Yeah. ... Remember how happy Dad was to see Link?"

Jabari became sullen and nodded.

"I really... wish he got to see Aryll."

Cream noticed Candy's anti-social behavior was coming back. Candy was happy on the outside, and she never drank in front of the kids. But she seemed dejected and unresponsive. Like that day.

Cream tried to cheer her up by having her play with Aryll. Or watch Cream play with Aryll. Candy smiled softly, but mostly just watched idly.

[ivorylegacy-blog]

After the ceremony, Cream's sister Vanilla catches somebody lingering outside and decides to go check it out.

She informs Cream as well.

Cream asks why he didn't actually see the ceremony, and Mint begrudgingly explains that he doesn't want to make the situation tense, being in the same room as Candy.

Still, they sat down and had a little sibling reunion.

Vanilla, not fully understanding the situation, does her best fake smile and talks about the happy things.

Candy is aware of his presence.

Skylar is too, but hearing Candy drunkenly call Mint an evil person confuses Skylar and he decides to just stay near his Mom. He never liked confrontation.

Cream tells Jabari she's pregnant. She wanted it to be a surprise but her belly bump is noticeable in white so it was obvious.

Overall she has a great time at her wedding night and prepares to settle into her new estate.

Candy, on the flip side, discovers a new love for drinking.

After a long month of furnishing the entire thing, they now enjoy their new estate -- Milky's final gift.

It’s placed in the heart of Newcrest, next to Vanilla’s house. 

Milky's coffin and headstone is also moved into this estate, in a peaceful courtyard in the center. Candy visits it often.

Jabari and Link spend a lot of quality time together, playing video games and watching TV. He becomes a young kid, enthusiastic and bright eyed.

Finally, Cream gives birth to a baby girl.

Jabari and Cream decide on the name Aryll.

Link's first reaction is to be upset. He didn't want a little sister. He thinks she'll be more important to his parents.

Jabari encourages his son to be empathetic to his new sister.

He doesn't interact much with her, however. He decides that he wants to go out and meet kids his age. The neighborhood in newcrest has really blossomed in these past months. A lot of new neighbors coming in and snatching up lots.

So Jabari introduces Link to his new neighbors, starting with their closest neighbors, the Hardings.

Brian Harding has a daughter named Daisy that Link gets along with pretty well. She goes fishing with him, and he lands a nice catch.

Daisy lands an even bigger catch.

Link and Daisy really hit it off. He visits her often and seems satiated with only talking to her and playing video games for a while.

Candy is opening up too, a bit. She talks to neighbors sometimes, and her sister. But she mostly just drinks. 

[ivorylegacy-blog]

Candy finally completes Milky's book. She tried to maintain his original thoughts as much as possible, spellchecking and editing everything to be perfect. She puts it out on the market, titling it President Ivory's Legacy.

The family is told that their estate will be ready for them in a month's time, so Cream throws a going away party at their house. Link is a little anxious of meeting new people, so Jabari tells the guests to wear childlike costumes so he'd feel more comfortable.

It goes over well. Link is the star of the party and is coming out of his shell quite nicely. 

Which is great, because honestly, as shy and intelligent as Link was turning out to be, she didn’t want him to grow up to be a Mint situation. Cream wanted to expose Link to as much social interaction as possible.

And finally, Jabari and Cream become officially married.

[ivorylegacy-blog]

Candy gets a call from an advisor of Milky's.

 She's told that Milky had been working on an Estate for his family. In light of Milky's recent passing, they are obligated to inform her as well as transfer the property over to them when it's complete. 

  Candy is unsure of how to take this. 

Meanwhile, Cream finally finds the location of Mint. She's not entirely sure what to say to him, but this is her twin. She must confront him either way.

"This is it?"

She walks into the house, greets Mint and starts up a conversation with him in his freakishly small living room.Inside the house the walls are rough and so is the floor. Some wood panels creak and show signs of splintering between them. 

"Jesus, how do people even live in this?" Cream groans.

"Wow. Excuse me for not having the option of living in a mansion." Mint jeers.

"Oh please, Mint. We were born in the same house. Don't even try to check my privilege just because you fucked everything up for yourself." Cream says.

Mint glowers. "Did you come to my house to reunite with me or shit on my living conditions?"

“To get some answers. But I can do both.” Cream answers.  "How could you do something like that to Mom?"

Mint furrows his brow, silent for a few passing moments.

"Well it's not like I planned to be attracted to her. You know how Dad is. He doesn't care about victims of pure circumstance. He never has."

"Uh uh. Don't try to pull this victim bullshit." Cream says. "This is on you!" 

"Wha-- seriously? After all he did to you, you’re on his side?"

"Don’t make this about Dad.” Cream chided. “This is about you and your fucked up brain thinking for one second that it’s okay to sexually harass someone. And Mom, of all people! Seriously! In THIS situation? Dad’s cruelty was appropriate.”

 Mint huffed defiantly and paced away from the couch. 

In that moment Cream felt a blunt pain in her stomach and felt a little queasy. Morning sickness always got to her like this. The confrontation wasn't helping either.

"I don't have to take this, Cream. I have a life now. Far away from our weirdo parents. And I'm fine with that!" Mint said.

"Mint, seriously." Cream stood up, her brow furrowed as she stared at her brother. "Give me some answers. As far as I ever knew you weren’t always this... angry weirdo. Where did this come from?”

Mint thought long and hard. He released a sigh. "Look. It's not like I was the most socially adept teenager. Even at 18 I didn't know how to do the whole... social queue thing. Even when I walked in on her Mom was being friendly, like... I thought she liked it too."

"...Do you actually think I buy that?" Cream says, "How could you even be THAT socially awkward without being on the spectrum?"

"Look, Cream, it's not like I like looking back on this stuff." Mint says.

"That's such bullshit though!" Cream insists. "You seriously expect me to believe you continuously walked in on Mom because you thought she LIKED it? In what world does that make a lick of sense?!”

"Well that's what I thought, Cream! I was a teenager. I don't know what to tell you beyond that," Mint shrugged.

"You were seventeen! You were practically an adult, and you’re not immature so don’t even play that card!"

"Okay, stop. Don't act like for a god damn second that you didn't know something like this wasn't possible. After all that Dad raised us on?"

"I--.. what?" Cream utters.

"That whole pro-albino schpiel? 'Find a beautiful white haired partner?' How did he not expect that to backfire, being in an all albino family?"

Mint continued, "And do you really think it helped for them to be such sex freaks on top of it? I mean hell, don't tell me that you never heard them. Doing it in their bedroom, the backyard, even Vanilla's room when she was doing Yoga on the lawn?" 

Cream was silent.

"When I was 13 I walked in on them a few times in the middle of it. They didn't even notice. If you wanna talk about recklessness. It was them. I was a direct product of their recklessness."

"...I..." Cream started, but gave an exasperated sigh. "Jesus Christ, this is.. such a mess."

"You wanted to understand. There you have it, Cream." Mint said. "I did something fucked up. I had a lapse in judgement. But don't act like they had nothing to do with it. They raised me. They raised all of us, poorly."

Cream glared heavily at Mint. "They were our parents."

“And Dad was a sociopath.” Mint scoffed. "I'm a creep, Vanilla's a slut, and Skylar's on his own with a gold digger for a wife. Yes or No?"

Cream opened her mouth to speak, but growled, unable to find the words."You're unbelievable."

Mint quirked an eyebrow. "Wow. I never thought I'd make you speechless."

"Don't let it go to your head, asshole. Like you said, at the end of the day you're still a creep."

Mint rolled his eyes. "Yeah. I'm a creep. That doesn't mean Mom and Dad are helpless victims of my crime."

With a little more back and forth, Cream realized it was useless to keep repeating the same things. She changed the subject and explained to Mint the true circumstances of Milky's death. Mint had only heard about the official story.

She left the lot with a better understanding of her brother, and a minor resemblance of their childhood bond.

But what Mint said left an unpleasant pit in her stomach. If the Ivory's parenting churned out a skank, a creep, and a marriage doomed to fail... what did that mean for Cream? What was her big failure?

[ivorylegacy-blog]

A few months pass.

Then a year.

Cream's comedian career is a bit stagnant at the moment. But they've been getting by. Candy is supporting them.

As well as Jabari.

Jabari kind of just stayed. At first Cream was anxious about the fact that Jabari had the resolve to shoot another man, but when she really thought about it, the fact that he saved their lives made her love him even more.

Candy has found that going through her old photos is her new coping method. She looks at photos and deeply reminisces about how beautiful those moments were.

While she's looking through these however, she finds a massive file. A document that was last updated the day that Milky died.It's messy and incomplete, but it moves Candy all the same.

He'd been writing a book. An Autobiography; mostly, but also words of advice he wanted to give to the rest of the world. The idea that Milky would never get the chance broke Candy's heart.

Jabari is getting closer to Link every day. Link seems to be very smart, and it's fascinating to Jabari to see Link learn so fast.

The living room usually remains abandoned. Everyone remembers what happened in that living room. They can't help but feel a depressing energy... looming over.

Cream and Jabari are convinced that Candy keeps turning on Politisim to make it seem like Milky's still there watching it. Meanwhile, Candy, who stays up stairs typing away, is sure that her daughter is the one watching Politisim to reminisce about when Milky tried to teach Cream politics.

It's not something they really talk about.

[ivorylegacy-blog]

Link has been hiding quietly in Cream's room, but is rattled by the gunshot. They hear him crying from the other room.

"It's okay, sweety. Everything's going to be okay." Cream says to Link. She insists on this but she can feel panic swirling in her gut.

To have her young kid around this makes her anxiety ridden. What will this do to Link in the long run? Will he forget this ever happened, being so young? Will this mess him up for life?

Still she comforts Link as if she has everything under control. It's all she can do.

The "Royal" Family has press protection. It would reflect badly on the nation if their leader was capable of being stabbed to death in his own house. The story is promptly covered up. President Milky Ivory was old. He passed during heart surgery. That's what they say. 

Incidentally, Heath died a few days later during a hunting trip with his buddies. A freak accident. A gun safety failure. That's what they say.

The one honest thing about the whole debacle was that no funeral was held for Milky.

He'd rather they go about their daily lives rather than pretending their whole world stopped for him.

But for Candy, it did stop. She became a shell of her former self. She wandered around the house, silently. She didn't go out anymore. Didn't see her sister. She only read books. Played soft piano. She had so many unread messages on her phone, but she never wanted to check them.

Many times Cream stopped her in the hallway and tried to get her to talk about it. But Candy couldn't. Finally, one day, Cream stopped her while she was lingering in Link's room. 

 "Mom... I know you're not in the mood to talk, but... I... I just want you to know that... they placed a memorial headstone for Dad in the lawn. " Cream said.

Candy was silent, but Cream took a breath and went on. "...We should go say goodbye... shouldn't we..?"

"Hey... good job! You almost got them stacked."