Saturday, April 27, 2013

Chapter 2.12-The Harder I Try




          Cyrus’ house did not have nearly enough places to sit. Though, for once, Layla was able to use tact instead of blurting out that eating here would be difficult. Instead she proposed eating out and just coming back here for conversation afterwards. She even offered to pay. That way, the kids would have toys to play with and stay out of the adults’ hair while they talked later. It also meant there wouldn't need to be any clean up afterward. Wasn’t she clever.







          Corinne, however, had cornered Cyrus begging him to read her a book while Olivia expounded on her new job to George. And though Layla embraced to opportunity to talk more with Phedra, the group was fractured where she would have preferred more harmony. There were more Sixkiller siblings in one room right now than there had been since Layla was Corinne’s age. Shouldn’t the three of them be more in sync?






          Corinne refused to hear no and had approached her Aunt Phedra for storytime instead. So Layla made her way over to Cyrus.

          George had spent most of the day staring between his wife and sister in law. Their temperaments were incredibly different. Their coloring was nothing alike. But to him, it was as if they shared the same face. Only Layla’s jaw was stronger than Fay’s. He found the contrast between the two fascinating.







          “Claudia looks like LilyPad,” Layla meant it as a question. She kept confusing the girls’ names.

          “No,” Cyrus chuckled. “You haven’t figured this out yet Aunt Layla?”

          “No,” she sighed. “And it seems like the harder I try the worse I do. I think I called the oldest one Candice a little while ago. That seemed to offend her, so I’m pretty sure I got that wrong.”







          “Watcher help us if you ever have kids, Laydee,” he said. “That is Corinne. And at her very ripe age you really offended her by calling her by the toddler’s name.”

          “I’m not that bad.”

          “Oh, yes you are,” Cyrus rolled his eyes. “But it’s why we love you. ’Cause no one else could stand to have you around.”

          “Hey!”

          “It’s just the truth!”






          “So the Lady Bug kid is Candice?”

          Cyrus’ laughter rang through the room.

          “Laydee, I’m signing you up for a logic course! This isn’t that hard!”







          “Says you,” she retorted. “You live with them. Back to Lady Bug Girl.”

          “Claudia.”

          “Claudia.”

          “Da!”

          “Yes, you sweetie!” Cyrus turned to smile at the toddler who’d responded to her name.







          “So…” Layla shrugged at him.

          “Corinne is the oldest. Candice is pink.”

          “And lady bug girl is Claudia.”

          “-Yes, that’s Claudia.”

          “-DA!”

          “Aunt Layla is just being silly, sweetheart,” Cyrus turned back to his daughter. “You’re ok.”







          “Thank the Watcher Henry is still swaddled in blue or I’m afraid you’d really be confused!”

          “Look, until a short while ago I had no nieces. I had no nephew. I had Galen- which basically means I had Arden- and I had dad with mom’s occasional presence. I’m still trying to wrap my head around this.”

          “You’ll get it,” he patted her arm in a reassuring manner while looking anything but.







          Layla decided to ask if Cyrus had been able to take up fishing again since he’d been in town while Phedra and Olivia chatted.

          George was again comparing profiles.

          The Sister In Law.







          His wife.

          He’d been prepared for the same nose or mouth or something, but these two looked a lot alike.







12

          Sister In Law.







          Wife.

          And nothing of Cyrus in either of their looks. Strange.







          Wandering back to Layla, Phedra went into explaining some more of the expedition she had George had signed up for. Unfortunately, behind her, Cyrus was closely questioning her husband.

Olivia and Cyrus said they would be happy to take care of little Henry until the return of his parents. However, they couldn’t understand how the two had been able to make such a decision. The tight grip George kept on Henry almost confirmed to them that there were misgivings.







          Trying to talk a little louder and more enthusiastically fooled only Layla. Even Phedra’s face showed she felt the sting in Cyrus’ words.







          “So I’ll get to do a lot of solo flying without a scientist on board,” she plowed on, raising her voice a little more. “I’ll have the potential to actually discover an island that no one has ever set eyes on before!”

          Showing her approval with smiles and pats on the shoulder, Layla could hardly tell anything was amiss.







          “It’s going to be hard enough for me to walk away from him in the morning,” George’s deep timbre tones easily carried the short distance to his wife and sister in law. “I know Fay has got to be feeling it even worse.”

          “So will you get to name any islands you do discover?” Layla asked, not noticing how far away her sister was suddenly.

          “But she’s determined. It’s like she’s pushing for this as some kind of punishment for herself. So we’ll go.”







          “Uh, Fay?”

          Drawing a breath Phedra focused again on her sister.

          “I’m-I—I’m-I’m sorry,” she stuttered. “What-what was that?”

          “I asked if you’ll get to name any islands you discover?”







          “Um, I don’t-I, uh-I- I don’t know,” she said. She tried to smile at Layla but it quickly fell, along with her gaze.

          “It’s a big step. And don’t get me wrong, a baby will be nice around the house again, but we just want to make sure you two are really sure.” Cyrus wasn’t about to let this drop.

          “I’m not cut out to be a mom,” Phedra whispered to Layla. “I have no idea what to do when he cries. And he cries so much, and sometimes I just want to get away from him. I need to get away from him. And that makes me the most horrible mother ever and George has no idea. I can’t wait to go.”






          “Hey!” Layla stooped to find Phedra’s gaze, whispering. “Hey, you’re a great mom I’m sure. Look, Cyrus’ girls already like you better because you are a mom.”

          Tentatively, Phedra’s eyes met hers.

          “And you know what? You’ll be back before you know it. And then Henry will have grown out of the baby stage and will be able to tell you what he wants and needs. Then, when he’s grown up enough, he’ll be able to tell his friends all about how his mom discovered ‘Henry’s Island’ and how you named it after him. He’ll be so proud! Just think of it!”







          “Yeah,” Phedra still struggled to find her smile, but she did try to reassure Layla. “Yeah, he’s not going to know we were ever gone. We’ll be back before you know it and he’ll be so proud one day.”

          “There ya go.”




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George really did keep staring between Layla and Phedra. I finally put a stop to it by keeping someone interacting with him as I was afraid he’d end up with Wimbeldon neck. Then, I almost ran into a problem with George and Olivia. Catch it on the blooper page along with a zombie-rific party thrown by Cyrus.


There is a little more of Phedra’s explanation. She's not really sticking around to see if she can deal with it, but being a mom can be an incredibly foreign feeling for some and maybe Phedra can better come to grips with how things have turned out away from Henry. She’s lost her way and is resentful toward a lot of things and people, most of all toward herself. She has handled falling in love, but she really wasn't ready for a baby. She’s got to let go and accept life as it has happened before she can move on. Layla's answer and opinion left a lot to be desired, but Layla had no idea how to respond to that. And that's going to haunt her for a long time. Really haunt her.

This is kind of a two parter also.  Just FYI. There'll be more of this particular scene in a few days.

15 comments:

  1. I feel bad for George, being dragged away to go island hopping when he'd rather be home with Henry.
    Phedra is all kinds of messed up, which is sad. I do understand where she's coming from. I've never wanted kids either, which is why I don't have them. But when you do have a kid, that's your responsibility, and running away from it is just all kinds of wrong.

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    1. George is the sweetest born in game sim I've ever seen. His traits are all good ones and I hate doing this to him.
      Oh absolutely with Phedra! She's pulling a Layla and running away from her problems instead of finding a way to deal with it is not right and it's unfair to the baby and George both. Of course, Layla didn't help when she attempted to push her out the door as a way of coping.

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  2. I think maybe Phedra has a bit of post-natal depression (is it post-partum or something there? I dunno, depression after giving birth.). She's obviously not connecting with Henry as she should, and unfortunatly isn't sticking around long enough to get help. I hope when she gets back she'll connect, or while she's away she'll miss him, and Henry really won't know she was ever gone.

    I'm with Layla, I'd never have known what to say! I hope you're not going to have Layla haunted by it too much, because it's not her fault Phedra is running away from her problems!

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    1. It's post-partum over here. And I do. And I think that she genuinely is overwhelmed. And I think she's incredibly selfish right now. We'll see how things unfold.

      Layla didn't really get an easy one there did she? But she should have reminded Phedra that it's George's baby too and that she has obligations to him at least. Layla may not get the mom thing, but she does get the relationship thing. And she knows that she pushed Phedra out the door, so how much of that will haunt her will really come back around when she gives birth to her own.

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  3. I feel sorry for Phedra now, I hope when she gets back she'll be able to connect to Henry better.

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    1. Also, do you think I could steal Phedra and Layla to help populate my new world please?

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    2. Sure! I've not saved Layla as a YA yet, but I actually just saved Phedra last night. So let me track down her CC and I'll get her posted today (I'll put her under the downloads tab up top until I get the other downloads up there.) But Layla is currently available under the Generational Goals tab as a teen, both CC free and with all her pretties.

      I hope Phedra will get a chance to connect to Henry better also. We'll see how it works out.

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  4. Well they've all been apart for some time, especially Cy, so it's not surprising they couldn't sync well at first. Initially I was thrown off by George...hadda think back and remembered he's Phedra's hubs. LOL at him looking back and forth, he really was!

    I'd notice that before, how much alike in the facial features Phedra and Layla are.

    It's sad how Phedra feels about being a mother, and how George doesn't seem to want to leave Henry, but loves Phedra enough to follow through with her wish to go on this expedition. And sadly, I can understand how this is going to haunt Layla quite a bit in the future.

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    1. Oh George! I've never had a sim do that before. It made me laugh and I had to use it. And Layla really was all confused by all the kids. So funny.

      The only difference between the two is their cheekbones and their jaw line (Layla got Buck's jaw, but Phedra is almost a carbon copy of Helen.)

      It's really going to hit when she gives birth herself, but even before then she's probably going to see that she shouldn't have pushed for her to leave. George is really getting the short end of the stick and has no idea.

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  5. Sigh. What a messed up family. I feel bad for Phedra...having a kid she doesn't want. But it's not really fair to George or Henry. I hope she figures life out before it's too late.

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    1. They really are aren't they? It's really not fair to George or Henry and she isn't doing right by either of them. That should have been a joint discussion, and holding back such a big thing from George is really awful. I hope she does too.

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  6. Can I smack them both now? And Cyrus too for good measure? Layla's just getting used to this 'new' family. He can't expect her to remember everything all at once.
    Lol, sometimes, I'd test my boyfriends by bringing them to a family function. Ever seen that movie 'big fat Greek wedding'? Hehe

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    1. Yes! Swat away! lol. Layla also isn't paying great attention to the kids and is avoiding them. Might help to remember names if she looked at them for longer than a glance. xD

      LOL! Hubs is still so confused by my mom's family. Heck, until we moved to where the lived (long way from Colorado to Mississippi) I couldn't keep names straight. xD Big families are so much fun! (Mom was youngest of 8, There are 27 of us first cousins, most of them have at least 3 kids of their own, mostly more (I'm an anomaly with only 2,) and all of them live on the same road (again with the odd one out. Haha)

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    2. OMG! A good deal of my family all lives on old family farm property now slapped in an overcrowded suburb! We call it 'the compound.' Weeeeelllll, My mom is the youngest of 3, but my grandmother's family is enormous with all her cousins, and they'd just come on over! Every since she died, though, it hasn't been the same. I'd thought my closer family would get huge considering I have 3 sisters...but for a long, long time, I was the only one to procreate, having 3 kids. I have 1 niece. But my husband met the huge version when Grandmother was still alive.

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    3. Oh wow! So extended family even! That gets really confusing fast for strangers! Ha! Yeah. I can't get too far past the immediate family without getting confused myself. Ha!

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