Chapter Twenty-One: A Meeting and a Festival

 Narrated by Caroline Masterson

As I gazed over the city, I knew that I would never tire of the view; luckily I wasn't afraid of heights! 

In particular, I was musing on the fact that I had never held a meeting of my little "Spellcasters Unite" club I'd set up ages ago. In fact, it had become a running joke on our little SimsApp group, the fact that we never had meetings. Of course, we had all families and jobs and other obligations, but our children were at the age where they could look after themselves now, so we were running out of excuses.

In fact, that evening, I sat down in the living room to send a message to the group.

Guys, this is getting a bit silly now. We need to hold a meeting! How about we go to the Magic Realm and have some fun?

As I guessed, the first response was from Anastasia Paraskevas.

Hahaha. Yeah. We say that and then it never happens!

Ah come on, I replied. We can't just use SimsApp forever. Helen's a teenager now, right? She can be left alone.

Ok, fair, Anastasia replied. Let's all gather there as soon as we can.

The following day, with Peter having an evening off from work, I decided to put my money where my mouth was and hold a meeting. I grabbed my Glimmerstone. Ever faithful, Coco looked up at me as if to ask whether she was coming too.

"I'm not going to be casting any spells, sweet kitty," I explained. "So I don't need you as my familiar. You go off and have fun with Heidi."

When I got there, Simeon Silversweater was standing near the archway, greeny-blue symbol above his head denoting that he was the Practical Sage. When I'd undergone the Rite of Ascension, he'd explained that the symbol was always there, to make it clear to newcomers who he was and which branch of magic he represented. The more experienced Spellcasters tended not to take notice of the symbols. 

"Hello, Simeon," I said, "how are you?"
"Very well, thank you," he replied. "You must be Caroline. How are your children? You've got four now, haven't you?"
"Yes. They're all teenagers," I explained.

"Ah. So they're able to use their magic now," he nodded. "Are they enjoying it?"
"Oh yes. They've got to balance school and magic, so they haven't been practising as much as they'd like."

"Of course," Simeon agreed. "We're only at school for such a short time, but you can practice magic for years beyond that. They've got time."

We'd all agreed that, even though we'd be in the Magic Realm, casting spells could potentially be problematic, as well as cause us to raise our levels of charge too high if we weren't careful. The other members said they'd be fine to practise at home, and I was relieved, as I would have felt responsibleif anyone had suffered from the effects of overcharge. As a result, we mainly used the meeting as a place to chat, swapping tales of our experiences with magic and the mishaps we'd had. 

I decided to go and experiment with the cauldron. Peter's magic rank was a little higher than mine, and he knew more spells and potions overall. My magic rank was also fairly high, but that was mainly down to using Repairio and Scruberoo around the house. 

The following morning, I decided to improve my magic skills further, and took a magical tome from the bookshelf in the living room. I'd thought that the Delicioso spell sounded like fun. 

With Peter snoring lightly beside me, I sat cross-legged on the bed to read. One of the small yet fun things about improving my magic rank was the fact that books now floated above my hand. 

Putting the book back once I'd learnt the spell, I noticed Coco hanging around my feet. Contrary to what most people thought about cats, Coco was pretty sweet and affectionate. 

"Are you lonely, little Coco?" I cooed. "Come here, let me give you a cuddle."
She didn't protest as I lifted her up. As my magical familiar, we had a close bond. 

"Oh, you are so soft," I whispered. "I'm lucky you're so sweet and affectionate. Such a good girl."

On the following Monday, there was a special "Meet a Celebrity" event going on at Orchid-a-Go-Go over in Del Sol Valley. I decided that it would be fun to go along. 

When I arrived, there was a young man standing around in a sparkly green jacket, watching bemusedly as people swarmed around him excitedly.

"Being a celebrity is a bit weird, isn't it?" he asked, spotting me.

"Absolutely," I nodded.

Although I wasn't normally someone who deliberately courted attention, I decided it might be fun to try and incite some cheers from the crowd. Some did cheer, but a few looked rather bored, as though they thought I was a bit desperate. It didn't bother me, as I knew I was never going to be a hit with everyone.

Later, Peter arrived and decided to play the guitar. Since the main celebrity event had finished, many of the crowd had gone home, but I watched as did a couple of others. 

Back in San Myshuno, the Humour and Hijinks Festival had begun, and we all went as a family. Although we knew that pranks were mostly harmless, we still preferred telling jokes to playing tricks on people, so we all joined the Jokesters team. Summer had begun and it was warm, enhancing the smells from the nearby Vietnamese and Moroccan food stalls... oh, I loved the city lifestyle.

I'd had to develop my comedy skills many a time for a lot of the film and TV roles I'd had, and it stood me in good stead as I stood behind the microphone to crack a few jokes. Although not many people ended up watching me, they were still appreciative and didn't boo or heckle me. The Jokesters ended up winning, and we stood around to watch the fireworks display before heading off back to the penthouse and to sleep.