Artificial 7: Genesis Requiem

Chapter 29: Changing Mentality

(Artwork is done by AI. It's Selena in her gym clothes)

Narration: It was a cold winter day with everyone having fun in Dolly Wood. Everyone road some rides,
Seth acted as their tour guide and took them to some plays just like his grandmother did for him when he was a kid and before she went crazy.
Everyone had fun looking around, enjoying the country view,
the rides, the plays the food.
As usual,
Seth paid for everyone's food,
and he sat down next to Selena,
both munching on corn dog and fries as their really wasn't healthy diet foods here.

Once the day was over,
Alexander and his squad decided they've had enough for one day and left the park,
as for the twins,
they also split off to do their own thing. As for Yuzuhara and Zoey?
They went to the restroom,
leaving Seth and Selena to watch the holiday light show.
"Hey, Seth."
Seth looks at Selena.
"Huh?"

Selena puts her hands on his shoulders and stands up on her tip toes,
and gives Seth a kiss,
much to his shock,
and his heart rate accelerated.
"W-What w-w-was that for?!"
Seth was blushing like hell and trying to calm his beating hearts.
"I wanted to test something."
Selena replied.
"Test what?"
Selena didn't respond as she continued watching the holiday show,
and all Seth could do was watch as well.

Yuzuhara and Zoey rejoined the two along with the twins,
and once the show was over,
they began to walk back to the tram where it dumped them off at parking lot C.
Seth couldn't bring up the question with the others there,
and chances are,
Selena wasn't about to talk about it with the others present.
(I know what you're thinking, Seth. That test was to see if I had feelings for you annnnnnd I don't.)
After that vacation,
Seth still didn't get an answer,
and things went to business as usual.

Christmas rolled around,
and Seth managed to talk Selena into celebrating Christmas with him and everyone else.
Selena didn't want to,
but having a child changes you. Normally,
Selena would go out,
buy flowers and put them on her parents' grave,
but she can do that later.

Selena gets with the twins to buy gifts for baby Natalie,
then she gets with Shimura and Himiko to help her wrap the presents,
and Shimura had never felt happier to see his adopted granddaughter celebrating it for a change and with people she deems as family.

That Christmas,
she kinda remained silent and hung to the back as everyone celebrated.
Though the twins,
Seth and Shimura noticed, and Shimura got Kenneth to skip a couple of people to get her,
her gifts.
Selena sat on a stool as presents piled at her feet.

From Seth and Zoey,
it was clothes with a spacial rune so that it could shrink or enlarge to fit any size. From Yuzuhara,
it was a new phone case and a long extendable charger.
From Shimura,
it was a Christmas card with $100 in it. From Himiko,
she was given a cookbook.

The Christmas party was going great, everyone was having fun,
Zoey managed to get pictures of everyone,
and Seth mostly got pictures of the baby and everyone else.
For Selena,
though,
the memories came pouring in as her parents died near Christmas day.
The memories were too much,
and she excused herself from the party and returned home much to Shimura's sadness.

January of 2019,
Selena booked a flight to Mexico and laid flowers at her parents' grave.
It was cloudy,
and rain clouds set in as Seth arrived. Seth pulls out his umbrella for her as the rain starts to pour,
and he stands there in silence,
letting Selena do her thing.

"You followed me?"
She asked with some level of irritation. "I saw you leave the party, and the twins told me you don't celebrate due to the death of your parents. So I came out here to be your emotional support." Selena doesn't even look at Seth,
and she just stares almost lifelessly at the graves.
"Alright."
She said.