'Moptail' universe notes

Notes and summary of "moptail" universe  

Milu, a moptail girl born into slavery, like all her kind, lives with her mother and her mother's "family" (the people she serves) until she is about 7, at which point she is sold to another rich family. There, she meets the family's son, Mitchel, who is about her age and very interested in her. Mitchel becomes upset with his family and the rest of society when he finds that moptails are slaves and that nobody seems to consider them people. He makes it his personal goal to do what he can to help them, or at least Milu. Through the next decade or so, he finishes his basic schooling as efficiently as possible and moves onto advance studies enthusiastically. Nobody (except perhaps Milu, who has become his confidante, his best friend, his beloved) knows that he is studying human and moptail genetics. His eventual goal is to insinuate himself in higher circles of respected scientists and scientifically prove that moptails are equal to humans. More selfishly, however, he wants to find a way for humans and moptails to conceive children together, because he has fallen hard for Milu and is determined that they should a family and she should have a normal life, same as any human woman.
Mitchel is getting close to a scientific breakthrough in the genetic codes when his parents begin pressuring him to marry. He expresses an interest in marrying Milu, which they forbid and dismiss as ridiculous, saying they would give her to him as a mistress after he was married. He is disgusted by their attitudes and decides he can no longer pretend to be "one of them", so he begs Milu to run off with him and start a family all their own, one where her children won't be subject to slavery.
So they run off and settle on the outskirts of a little town by the sea. Mitchel continues his research, primarily the bits about combining their genetics, and works as a physician to make money. Milu becomes a seamstress and designs some outfits for herself that make her moptail features less obvious. (With her ears pinned back and some make-up on, she occasionally goes into town to deal with customers etc.) They eventually do have a son, who they name Mika.
Mika, who dresses as a girl to hide his identity as a half-moptail, has been friends with local boy Yoseph since they were young. Yoseph lives just down the road from Mika and his family, closer to each other than the town, which is why they play together often.
When they are maybe 7 or so, Mika shows Yoseph his tail, and makes him promise not to tell anyone. Yoseph is normally a loudmouth, but is good at keeping secrets if he knows they're secrets. He has seen Mika's ears before but not really thought anything of them. This is one of their first times playing unsupervised by Mika's parents. He shows Yoseph his feet sometime not long after that, with another promise not to tell.
When they start getting a little older, maybe around 12 or 13, Yoseph admits that he 'likes' Mika. That is when Mika tells Yoseph that he is actually a boy. Yoseph simply says "okay" and Mika thinks that's that, but Yoseph comes back and says that of course he still likes him, as it's impossible to stop liking someone so suddenly. Mika says that he thinks he likes girls, which causes Yoseph to become pissy.
At some point Yoseph becomes annoyed at Mika's liking girls and begins to crossdress, which both he and Mika know is ridiculous. That seems to break the tension between them. They both still know that Yoseph likes Mika and Mika thinks he likes girls, and that's that. Mika becomes somewhat used to being in a half-relationship with Yoseph. Around this time, Mika and his family explain to Yoseph the whole situation about their moptail heritage.
Around the age of 14 or 15, Milu worries about if Mika will continue to be able to live like this. He is obviously flat-chested, and she worries that people will become suspicious, but also worries that Mika's voice will start to change, though Moptail men don't have particularly deep voices. It's impossible to know how Mika will be as an adult.
They start to think about moving to another place, but there is really nowhere they can go where Mika could hide any better than he is now. Yoseph becomes defensive and angry when he thinks they may leave with no input from him, especially as he considers himself part of the family.
At some point, Mitchel hears from his father and the man decides to come visit because he wants to see them (or meet his grandchild). Mika is excited and nervous, unable to decide whether he should portray himself as a girl or boy and whether to tell his grandfather the truth.
They end up staying in their sea-side cottage, expanding it as necessary to accommodate their family. In Mika's early teen years (or thereabouts), Milu has another child, this time a daughter named Milly. Milly seems to be more confident than Mika, probably due to not having to hide her identity as strictly. She looks very similar to Mika, except that her tail and ears are longer, and her hair is closer to Mitchel's golden color than Milu's off-white. She is very mature, but also seems constantly anxious throughout her childhood. As a teenager, she elopes with Yoseph's older brother Fredrick and embarks on a journey to discover more about her heritage. The two have a child, but it ends up being raised by Mika and Yoseph. This, conveniently, significantly reduces any suspicion about Mika's gender/etc, though whether anyone in this quiet little town really cares is still up for debate.

Yoseph's brother -- Fredrick
Yoseph's mother -- Charlotte
Yospeh's father -- Thomas
Mitchel's mother -- Maxine
Mitchel's father -- Martin

Approximate ages:
when Mitchel and Milu run away -- 24
when Milu gives birth to Mika -- 27
When Milu gives birth to Milly -- 40 (Mika is 13)
When Milly runs off with Fredrick -- 15 (Fredrick is 29)
when Milly sends her child back to be raised by Mika and Yoseph (Milly is 16, Mika is 29, Milu is 56)

Wow, lining up the generations really puts things in perspective.