Gaia’s Roots: Chapter 1

Gaia’s Roots

A DITFT Challenge

By Ani-Mei

“Every family tree starts with a single sapling.”

So you’ve clicked the link so you must be interested in yet another one of my projects, a DITFT challenge. In case you don’t know, DITFT

stands for Differences in the Family Tree, a 16-generation legacy where each generation is a new and unique challenge. This is more of a time filler for my legacy which is currently on generation eight and no where near ready for the final confrontation between the legacy heirs and Xylen. Anyway, this new project is a chance to

explore some different frontiers in terms of a legacy where every generation is unique from the one before it, meaning there is no

over all universal theme to follow. The thing about this is that I will not be doing the usual intro of the founder, stats, aspiration, T-ons

and T-off, this is going to be told from the POV of the current heir/founder. I will still give you names of course, but anything else is

a mystery.

Chapter 1:

My Humble Beginnings

I made my home in the small town of Pleasantview, it had plenty of land and lots of opportunities for growth. My parents left me a modest

amount of money with which to begin my own life. I purchased a small home near the lake that had enough room for me to start my own

garden on. I am a man who enjoys working the land with his own hands and carving a living from it. I will only eat food I’ve grown myself, none of that over-processed crap they try to sell you in a grocery store. I did some digging around for my garden when to my surprise, I unearthed a treasure chest. The money from selling it to the museum would keep me

afloat for a while, I will eventually have to get a job for the other expenses that will come with home ownership.

But for now, I’m fine for money. I have gotten a better hang of this gardening thing, I suddenly learned I could talk to the plants after about a week of tending them. They must be saying thank you for all the care I gave them. I know I will

have to find myself a wife to settle down with, I surely don’t want my family’s name to die with me. Tomorrow I think I’ll

head into town and see if I can find someone, I sure hope she likes working the land…

Remember that trip into town I mentioned? Well it wasn’t exactly in town, more like a secret lot that I happened to

stumble across when I got lost. The woman there was very friendly about it, she said something about knowing that I’d

come by eventually. Who really knows that kind of stuff before it happens anyway? Well she did, and as it turned out we had a

lot in common. Our love of Nature and working the land brought us together and from there we got to know each other quite well. Naenae is her name, it’s rather unique and I like it. I asked her to move in with me, and to my surprise she said yes.

My humble little home is finally beginning to feel complete.

I knew she was the one for me, so like a gentleman I did the right thing and asked my lovely Naenae to marry me. Now I am

an old-fashioned guy and I believe that if you truly love someone , then it’s best to wait for after marriage to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh. And I wanted to spend my life with her, and she wanted to spend hers with me. We were both anxious

for a family, which just so happens to come along with marriage so why wait?

I didn’t really know anyone in town and I had very little money to throw Naenae the wedding she deserved, but she said as

long as she was with me, then it didn’t matter if she got a big wedding or not. Did I mention how much I love that woman?

She looked into my eyes and said:

“Chris, I love you more than anything in this world and it would my honour and privilege to be your wife.”

I’m sure I had some witty remark for that at the time, but it escapes me at the moment.

Because I am a gentleman, I won’t repeat what happened next here in these pages. Needless to say, it was worth the wait for marriage. I think I heard a lullaby somewhere in the distance

that day.

With my lovely wife expecting our first child, I had to find work to support my growing family. I took a job in the Military and

part of that was research on unusual occurrences and creatures, however, while spraying my fruit trees one day; I

never expected to gain first hand knowledge of them myself. It was a strange sensation to say the least. Now with only three needs to take care of, it made my job easier I think anyway.

The day I saw her “pop” was one of the happiest days of my life. She looked so radiant and happy to be expecting our first baby. I must admit, it made her a lot prettier to me. I knew it

was time for an extension onto our little house if we were going to have a little one. Good thing I was moving up the

ranks quickly in the Military, mainly due to my new “condition”. Naenae took a job in Education, I told her that she

didn’t have to do that, and that I was more than capable of providing for all of us, but she won the argument, and it’s not

wise to argue with a pregnant lady if you know what’s good for you.

I had just come home from work when I saw Naenae outside, I was about to ask her what she was doing out here, then she clutched her belly. My heart leapt into my throat, it was time

already to meet my baby.

She handed me my first born daughter, she looked just like her mother. I was about to kiss her when she suddenly clutched her

belly again. I could not believe it, I had twins!!

I had a son as well, we called our daughter Avoine and her twin brother Kale. We both agreed that nature-themed names were

appropriate for our children. Avoine is French for oats and Kale is a leafy green vegetable. I knew Naenae had a life-long dream of seeing six of her Kids get married and I couldn’t argue with her. The more hands I have around the house to tend the garden the

better I say.

One night Naenae was tending to the vegetables when she started to feel strange, dizzy, and short of breath. I knew what

she was in for, having already been there myself…

It was nice to have someone to share my experience with as a living plant. It reminded me of the outfit she was wearing the first time we met at Peerless

Park. She was eager to try out the spawning thing that those who have our condition can do, and truth be told I was just as eager to see her do it too. It

sounded like it was truly something unique to see.

It was time for the twins’ birthday later that week, Naenae did spawn a Pod Baby soon after she became a plant. And since the Pod Babies that are spawned are already older, her Pod Baby, Magnolia, became our oldest daughter. But she would soon be joined by our twins so she won’t be lonely. I learned that a Pod Baby doesn’t grow into a child as one would expect them to, so Naenae suggested an option for Magnolia, a cure. At first I was

leery of this “cure” I was worried that it would hurt her, but Naenae assured me that the cure is 100% real and the gypsy who sells it is reputable. I called her gypsy friend and purchased five bottles of it, just in case we ever want to be human again and for

the future three kids who might want to take the cure as well.

As usual, my dear wife was right, and the bonding experience that Magnolia got to have with her younger siblings was

priceless. I wouldn’t change this experience for the world, my three beautiful children deserve the chance to become close.

And I got take a once-in-a-lifetime shot of the three oldest children together.

I enjoy moments like this, just the three of them together, being kids. It was soon apparent that our little family was

going to be getting bigger soon, Naenae was so thrilled with the way Magnolia turned out that she set about to spawn some

more as soon as she was able to.

To my surprise, she spawned twin boys. I had no idea it was possible to spawn twins. This is my favourite picture, our twin

boys Cypress and Willow. Though I would prefer to call him Will, for all I know when he grows up he might prefer it too. One more and our family will be complete, so while I learned first hand what it’s like to be one of the unique creatures I

research at work, this was a great chance to try out another unique occurrence, a male pregnancy.

It worked, as this picture shows. However, this was not the result of a telescope date, more along the lines of an assisted pregnancy. This baby would be the sixth one and once it was

here, our family would be complete. But this was also Magnolia’s birthday, I can’t forget to mention that important

detail.

They grow up so fast don’t they? It would be soon time for our twins to have theirs too, and then the boys after that. I

sometimes wonder if Naenae misses this precious younger stage, I see her looking at the boys sometimes and she’s probably

wishing that they could stay that small forever.

I remember this day, Kale and Avoine growing up together and in perfect twin-synch too. All of my children are worthy of carrying

on my legacy, it’s too hard to choose just one of them. I know how easy it is to lose contact once they get older, and I

remember going through that when I was their age. I just hope that they all remain close as they grow up and that they don’t

forget their dear old dad either. Time will tell, as the saying goes.

At least Cypress and Will have a little while longer as toddlers. I can take a few more shots like this one of them. I’m glad

their older siblings sat down to play with them, it’s nice to see them all together like that.

For a chapter, I think this is pretty good. I could go on forever writing down my thoughts like this. I know this will be a

memoire that my family will treasure for generations to come, a record of how I began building a life here in Pleasantview. Because our history is the root of all our experiences in life.

Regards,Chris.