Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Chapter 1.23


Chapter 1.23- So Many Mistakes




                As Buck was being accosted by the kids, Helen was in the backyard being accosted in an entirely different way. She was trying to make sure Barfer had food enough for the night when she found herself face to face with the Unicorn. He was the same as had appeared the night before and had blessed her. Surely, he wouldn’t be back again so soon. And yet here he was in her yard.
                The shinning animal nuzzled her gently, and as he did Helen could have sworn she heard a voice...
                “Be careful of what you take. For what you take you shall lose.”
                She had barely registered what she thought she heard when the unicorn began to shimmer, fading before her eyes. Unbeknownst to her, all memories she had of her day melted away into a summer haze along with the majestic animal.
                Standing still a moment longer puzzling over what might or might not have happened, Helen forgot completely about filling the dog bowl as well and went to bed. 



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                When she rose the next morning, the incident and the unicorn’s advice had slipped from her mind entirely. Instead, Helen went about business as usual. Fed the kids. Made sure they were all dressed. Then went about making sure the house was in perfect order.
                After cleaning the kitchen to within an inch of its shelf life, she went into the girls room. Phedra only occasionally remembered to make her bed. Layla was yet to remember to do it. Then her phone rang.




                “Lily Pad,” she answered the phone. It was not a cordial greeting. It was merely an acknowledgement. Trenton’s now ex-wife should have no business calling her. At best, they were cold acquaintances.




                “What do you want, Lily Pad?” Helen’s tone was unusually curt. Her dislike of the situation and woman on the other end put her on edge.




                “Really? You’re sure it’s Cyrus.” Helen’s shock crashed through her in waves. How could she be hearing this? How could it have happened under her nose?




                “No. No…. I totally agree, amazingly enough. I agree with you… Yeah, that is a complete shock, isn’t it?” Helen chuckled, low and nervous, rolling her eyes.

                “It can’t continue. It’s not acceptable to me, either. Just a quick question, how did you find out?”




                “Ok. Okay now, I have no doubt of what Sadie says she saw. But let’s be frank with each other. Sadie is William’s daughter, and I know for a fact that she inherited some of my brother’s madness. A lot of it in fact. I have friends at the fire department and they have friends on the police force, and I know half the doctors in town. It’s well known around town that Sadie-”




                “Oh… Is that so? Mrs. Jeffs would indeed be a reliable person to ask for verification. Cyrus has a class with her and speaks of her, obviously as does Olivia.”




                “What are you going to do? … Mmm-hmm… Yeah… Ok. Well I need to talk to my husband first, before we deal with it. And I bet that if you tell Olivia before we tell Cyrus that she’ll find a way to- yes I am implying that she would sneak around you. You are her mother. As I was- Oh, get over yourself. As I was saying-” Helen raised her voice to talk over Lily Pad. “As I was saying we need to do this at the same time so that they cannot collaborate with the other… Well, as I said, I need to talk with my husband first and tomorrow is Phedra’s birthday, so that’s not a good day. Can we give it like 4 days? … Yeah… After school… Do you want to let the principal know? Ok… Yes. Thank you for letting me know… Uh-huh. Buh-bye.”




                Helen stood still for a moment, trying to soak in what she had heard. Lily Pad was a difficult woman to trust, but as she had been talking memories had surfaced where she thought she had seen Olivia with Cyrus… somewhere… doing something… maybe. It was hazy, but it was there. And if the teacher had confirmed it… Well. She’d just have to break Cyrus’ heart.



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                Phedra’s birthday fell on a cold and rainy Monday. Trying to leave plenty of time for homework Helen always tried to have a cake ready to go the moment the kids got home from school. Today was no exception, even if Galen did drip all over the carpet.




                Phedra is actually the first one to notice that something is wrong this time. The cake looks a little funny after she blew out her candles.




                Buck doesn’t notice it until the flames are actively creeping up the table legs. The rest of the family still hasn’t registered anything out of the ordinary.
                Phedra is gettin’ out of the way of the fire. She paid attention when the fire department visited class. She knows the number you dial, and does so.




                Buck, however, has run outside. For a moment he stops, trying to stop the blood pounding in his ears, trying to control his breathing.




                It didn’t work.
                Rain drenches Buck as he lies senseless on the ground. A particularly large drop thoroughly soaks his hair.




                By the time Buck has been able to rouse himself the firefighters have already arrived on scene.
                “Hey,” The firefighter says as she leisurely strolls past. “Hey, don’t I know you? Is this the house that likes to play with matches?”
                Buck doesn’t bother to answer, glaring at the woman instead.




                When the firefighter opened the door, all Buck heard was Helen.
                “Where on Sim Planet did he go? Don’t even think about it Phedra. Not until your Dad gets in  here.”
                Buck tries to get back inside where someone has already doused the fire, and set out a fresh table and cake.




                Phedra is totally ready for this. 
                The firewoman stops, staring hard at the lit candles on the cake.
                “Doesn’t play with matches my ass,” she smirks to herself before turning to leave.




                Making a wish was easy. Phedra was ready to go out and explore the world. Nothing would stop her. Nothing could hold her back. Nothing




                Sparkles!




                And a teenage Helen clone stands in front of them all.




                Seeing just how much her daughter resembles her leaves Helen stunned. It brings back so many mistakes she made at that age. So much that she wishes she could take back. It also makes her wonder if she needs to stop Cyrus sooner than was agreed upon. She was sure that she would have upcoming problems with Phedra to deal with soon enough also.




                “You know,” Cyrus offers tentatively. “You know that if it wasn’t for the hair and eye color, I’d swear you were a clone of mom.”
                Phedra doesn’t respond immediately, making Layla think a fight might possibly break out between her older brother and sister... again.
                “Nothing wrong with being a clone,” Phedra finally says. “Though who had this coloring in your family mom? I know it’s not Dad’s.”
                Helen chokes, and doesn’t answer right away. Buck has already left for his shift and she knows that she’s got to scramble for an answer. Maybe one day her oldest two will be ready for the surely startling revelation that they are not Buck's biological children. But not today. No, not yet.




                “Look, Phedra,” Helen chokes. “I know we talked about you getting a part time job once you were a teenager, but I would really rather you focus on school work for now. Ok? If you cope with your school work and would rather have a job, instead of an after school activity, then we’ll talk about it again.”
                Phedra doesn’t argue. And though she finds it strange that her mom would avoid the question, she figures it’s just too painful to talk about in front of the kids. Cyrus and Phedra know that there are painful things in the pasts of their parents and have gleaned snippets over the years, though the full story is still murky and broken. Instead, she gets up to wash her plate.




                Phedra stands still near the sink. She would be joining Cyrus at the high school tomorrow, and was already actively plotting on how to best squish him (grades-wise) while she's there.
                Cyrus notes that she’s quieter than when she was a kid. Maybe Fay won’t be so bad after all.

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Total.Helen.Clone. She was before the extra genetic blending mod. It shows. Check out both of them in the Generational Goals tab to see it better.

Effindamngaaaah. Totally forgot they still don’t have a smoke detector. Cyrus put out the fire. It was out before the firefighter arrived.

Aaaaaand I'M CAUGHT UP!!! I have pics in the can and wonderful things to write about them, but I'm now going to try and downsize to "not once a day" updates. lol. Maybe every three days or so. We'll see.

27 comments:

  1. Woot! And I am finally caught up! You had lots of updates in Jan, lol :D

    Poor Cyrus, he is stuck in a Romeo/Juliet situation. Forbidding teens, especially teens in like/lust/love never seems to work very well.

    Buck is too funny! :)

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    1. Actually... You win! The quotes the teens greeted each other with last chapter are from Romeo and Juliet. And you've hit the nail on the head. Cyrus may have been mostly raised by Buck, but he's still Helen's child and has her hard head!
      I love Buck, too. He's so much fun.

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  2. Pretty Phedra.
    I hadn't realised that Cyrus and Phedra still don't know who their fathers are. I'd assumed they would work it out themselves. That will be a fun conversation...
    I love that you had yet another birthday cake fire, and Buck of course freaked. Was that one of the firefighters who came the first time? And did you get fined because the fire was out before they arrived?

    I'm jealous of all the unicorns. I've still not seen one (although, I still haven't tried searching. I'm awful at exploring new content when I get expansions. I just use the CAS items mostly haha)

    I want to see what Helen does about Cyrus, and I'm going to miss the daily updates, but I'll have to get over it haha

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    1. Secrets, Gemly! Secrets! There still have to be a few left out! and then more More MORE next generation! I swear I get more birthday cake fires... ugh. It was indeed one of the firefighters from the first fire. Story Progression has an occassional glitch where it doesn't do anything with the EA firefighters. I predict this chick is going to be around a while. They didn't get fined. O_O I don't know how, or why or what went right (or wrong) but they didn't. Shocking, huh?
      That blasted unicorn appears on the home lot each and every night and has for like 2 solid weeks in game. And every time it appears Helen goes running after it, feeds it treats, it blesses her, and she sparkles the next morning. EVERY NIGHT. I fianlly Register/Animal Controlled it away.
      Ah! What Helen is going to do about Cyrus... I'm still staging that one. It's going to get all angsty and stuff. I'm SO excited! I had been planning on getting the whole bit roughed out today and out hopefully tomorrow night, but my little buddy is home with Pink Eye. No Quiet Haven for writing today. :(
      There might still be times when I update once a day when I spew out 6 chapters in a sitting. We'll see. :D

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    2. Oh, I hope he gets better soon! Partly for selfish reasons I'm afraid. I'm excited about the next chapter now! haha

      Maybe I never want to meet a unicorn now... I really don't know why I bought pets. Maybe I should force my sims to get a pet in my legacy. I've got gen 3 all planned out, so gen 4s story is 'heir got a cat'. Sounds exciting! ;)

      It will be harder to keep secrets if you end up rolling single parent with one child for one generation... Hopefully you'll be blessed with loads of kids!

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    3. Oh, I bet I can still create lots of past misdeeds. MWUUUAAHAHAHAHA! I already have. lol
      I've got three chapters written, but I woke up at like 3 this morning with my head SCREAMING at me because I'd accidentally left out a crucial plot point. Doh! Which is why I'm holding them just a little longer. This all needs to dovetail or it's just going to be a mess I'm afraid. And then I've decided to reshoot one of the lynch-pin scenes... AGAIN. So, maybe tomorrow. :)

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  3. Phedra did grow up lovely.
    And, Helen, trying to stop your teen son from dating Olivia isn't going to go well, I'd bet.
    <3 Buck

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    1. Poor Buck. He'd love the sprinklers from Sims 2, wouldn't he? lol

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  4. This is going to get messy. I doubt Cyrus is going to react well to Helen trying to stop him dating Olivia.

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  5. lmfao at Buck passing out again!!

    I was wondering where you were going with the whole unicorn thing, but I get it now. Interesting way of handling that :)

    Extra genetic blending mod? I need to find this!

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    1. Hmm, which one is it? I already have Twallan's SP. And I'm not sure I want to mess with Awesomemod again. I hate their forums. I used Awesomemod exclusively back a couple years ago, and even made a donation to the site. The very same day as I made the donation, some people in their forums ripped me to shreds for daring to defend a newbie and bothering to answer his question. Unless things over there have changed, I have no interest in dealing with jackasses or supporting such a site monetarily.

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    2. It's at Mod the Sims... here--->http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=491612
      And I understand about the Awesomemod site. I lurk to find answers to questions I have, but I will never NEVER have the guts to post there. I love this mod. Layla has Helens brow, Bucks eyes, Bucks nose Helens mouth and Helen's dad's jaw line. Galen borrows a LOT from Helen's dad, though he has Buck's eyes and nose. It's SO cool. It's also compatible with Twallan's genetic blending and they seem to kind of work together. Love it!
      This new arc is going to be very similar to the first 8 chapters here where I had the characters out to hide something. Unfortunately, it means you're going to have to remember a lot that went on previously. It should turn out super fun though. Angst! I even requested a pose from a creator today that'll be in use later on. So excited for it all to unfold!

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    3. Totally just downloaded that. Even though I banned myself from getting anymore CC/mods til feburary.
      I broke that ban the other day anyway, I *needed* more hair...

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    4. Awesome! Wait till you see the babies that it creates. ;)
      lol... I've tried that self-ban before... The splurge on the other end wasn't pretty. HA!

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  6. Woot woot! All caught up. I can't wait to see how all the drama unfolds. I'm on the edge of my seat!!

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    1. Hopefully you won't have to wait long. It's nearly there.:)

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  7. That pic with the cake where nearly everyone seems to be staring directly at the camera freaked me out. Yeah, I know, I know... I'm such a chicken (almost as bad as Buck) LMAO. It was rather weird, even though I suppose they were staring at the candles.

    And, believe it or not, I've yet to meet a unicorn in my game. Of course, I haven't actually PLAYED for months (I only open my game for staging pics, and that's about it), but still... I might just start looking for one, hmmm...

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    1. I had a sim direct the megaphone directly at the screen to rant at me the other day. Kinda freaked me out too. I know they don't know about us, but I do wonder... lol

      Aw, you've gotta just play every once in a while. It helps keep the old juices going. I use those play sessions to find something funny to stick in. But the unicorn is neat. If you're looking for one, just look into the night sky above your town and you'll see something that resembles northern lights. That's where you'll find the unicorn most likely. It seems to have been glitched in that particular save. lol

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  8. What is the big, honking deal? Both of the women aren't with Trenton anymore, and they're acting like children with the feud. And she KNOWS she's going to break her son's heart!!! K, I'm pissed at those stupid moms.

    Fay is really pretty. :)

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    1. Helen never really grew up when it came to... Helen never really grew up. lol. A lot of her reasoning was mostly pouting because someone didn't do it 'her' way. lol. Lots of people get pissed at Helen. It's okay. *nods.
      Thank you! She's quite the looker. <3

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