The Discworld is a Matriarchial Society

[deaths_heritor]

[to family]

Since I don't think we're expecting any more new arrivals, I suggest we begin establishing some ground rules for us all to follow.  A tight ship is a happy ship.  For those of you less apt to picking up on this sort of thing, that's code for 'assigning chores', but there are other things that might bear discussing.  If we're going to

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[Family]

[strike_you_out]

Chores?

[Chores and reading assignments? Why you do.]

[deaths_heritor]

Chores.

Don't worry too much. I'm rigging the chore box to get Edward stuck with all the nasty ones.

[strike_you_out]

[A widening grin overtakes his face.]

Good to have you back.

[deaths_heritor]

You don't mind taking care of the dishes every now and then, do you? And I don't mean smashing them.

[strike_you_out]

[Slugger would make the claim that he doesn't eat anymore to try and get out of this if it weren't for the fact that he still enjoys dessert so much. After a moment's contemplation...]

Deal.

[deaths_heritor]

[And so, another pawn is successfully manipulated. Uh. That is, another child is... pleased. Susan smiles.]

You can have dibs for Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. Luke will take the other shift.

[strike_you_out]

[He only does this because he likes you. And because he's certain the pony would be happy to do it if he promised to play with her.]

Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

Anything else? Besides chores...

[deaths_heritor]

Pinkie Pie and Luke probably have some things they'd like to ask. Otherwise, it's nice that our house is full up now, don't you think?

[strike_you_out]

Better than living with drones.

[Said with a shrug. Speaking of which, there is one thing he's been thinking about since the 4th of July and he looks suddenly thoughtful as he goes about trying to put it into words.]

Susan. What if what happened happens again? What if they change our memories again?

[deaths_heritor]

[Susan will attempt to respond as nonchalantly as she can.]

I don't doubt it will happen again. You remember Valentine's Day, of course. There's nothing we can do but hope they keep it to this minimal level of japery.

[strike_you_out]

[Japery? Valentine's Day? Slugger remembers being very irritable around that time and having bizarre feelings... mostly for Ai, but nothing like this. Susan's experience, he realizes, must have been entirely different. Worse, probably. Which makes it even harder to believe that she would simply accept it.

Though its fairly subtle, he becomes visibly more tense.]

But there has to be something. Some way to prepare.

[...Right?]

[deaths_heritor]

[She'll pause for a moment or two.]

I'd like to tell you otherwise, but there's not much to be done. If we knew when permanent droning was coming, we could send people off with a goodbye. We can always be wary around major American holidays - that seems to be a good rule of thumb.

Otherwise... Well, what to do against having your memories altered? Keep a diary. Leave it out in the open. Remind yourself with little notes if you feel you need to, leave a tape recording, do your utmost to jog your memory. But in the end, they could brainwash us severely enough to ignore all of that as well.

[strike_you_out]

[He's given considerable thought to most of the points mentioned and has even put together his own 'journal of truths'. But that last one seems like a hurdle that can't be jumped no matter what. His shoulders slump with his next outward breath.]

I know...

[deaths_heritor]

[A hand will settle briefly on his head.]

Chin up. No matter what might or might not happen, moping about it is certainly one way to make things worse. While we can't do anything about the problem itself, we can do something about the way we react to it.