Friday, March 28, 2014

Chapter 3.1- The Only One

            It was certainly true, what they said, about the number 1. It was the loneliest number Mariah had ever known also. Not that she’d intended to be the only one in the kitchen as she stepped up to the cake.
            Her mother was off doing who knows what, and Mariah didn’t feel like wrestling with her. She’d tried to call Andre, but he and Kelci were at some dinner party her dad was throwing for the big wigs in his company. If she’d wanted to, she could have called Roger. He would have been here in a heartbeat she knew, but something held her back. And so it was her, and only her, celebrating her birthday.


            A particularly heavy roll of thunder dully shook the window panes.
            At least the weather mimicked how Mariah was feeling. The sun was still out revealing a blazing sunset, but the sudden downpour was gloomy and dreary, muting the brilliance of light.


            Shrugging a little, Mariah watched the smoke from her candles drift upward. Oh well. If nothing else, she was graduating tomorrow, finishing with school forever. That was something at least.


            Well, uh, look out world. Here I come, was Mariah’s wry thought to herself as she posed, trying to get used to her new body.


            Oh, who was she kidding anyway? It was high time she got used to being alone in the big house, doing things by herself, for herself. She was being pathetic! Wanting someone else to be here? Puh.


            Feeling useless because she had no one to take care of since her mother was actually being active, for once? That shouldn’t be bothering her! She should be happy! She wasn’t a teenager any longer!


            And so she sat to nibble at her cake, trying not to think about how many more empty hours had to pass before graduation tomorrow, before Andre would come to say his goodbyes, before her mother would pass leaving her truly, and utterly, alone.

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            Mariah checked the stove for the umpteenth time that day with the burner ON. She’d been so nauseous though! Surely the stove wasn’t getting hot enough and so she was eating undercooked foods. Then she’d get worms. And mutant bacteria. And she’d die an agonizingly painful death in the hospital while news channels obsessed over her grizzly demise, using it as a warning to all other sims to properly cook their food.


            Yet no matter how much she checked the temperatures on all her cooked foods with a food thermometer, the nausea persisted.


            It could also all be chalked up to losing her mother. Waves of grief would also hit her at random moments. 


            Of course, a lot of that could be guilt over selling off so many of her mother’s precious collectables shortly before she died.
Layla had emerged from her room, took one look at the bare floors and thin shelves before suddenly expiring. Mariah was sure it was her fault. She shouldn’t have changed things around. She knew it was traumatic for some people in her mother’s condition to have things suddenly change.


            The worst was when the nausea and the guilt of grief would hit at the same time. When she’d gone to visit her parents’ graves to lay flowers she almost thought she’d have to find a bush the nausea was so bad.


            Slowly, Mariah adjusted to being on her own. Roger would call occasionally to give her updates on how Police Academy was going for him and she began to think about getting a job herself. Maybe the tedium was causing the nausea?


            Or maybe not.


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            I Don't



            Is Over



            I Can't



            Never Wanted



            The End


            Massaging her temples, Mariah read through the letter in front of her again. Again, the words slipped through her mind leaving only traces of their meaning behind. If only the pounding might stop, maybe she could focus.


            “Dammit, Mariah!” Roger’s voice boomed out after beating fiercely on the door for the umpteenth time. “I can see you through the windows! And I hear you crying! Let.Me.In!”
            A few hiccupping sobs was the only reply she would give him though. Or could give him either.


            “I know your mom is gone,” Roger’s voice finally had softened enough for her to hear the slight catch. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to be here for you. But Academy is over and I’m here now. Please let me in.”
            Judging by his shadow, Mariah assumed he’d put his forehead against the glass and she scoffed. Wouldn’t this all be so much simpler if it were only about her mother?
            “Please, ‘Riah.”


            Sighing heavily, she rolled her eyes. Maybe if she just let him in he’d see the mess she’d created for herself. And then he’d go away. And then she could figure out just what the letter was saying, determine how bad it all actually was.
            And despite herself, she was curious. She hadn’t seen him since graduation. How had he changed after training to join the police force?
            “If you don’t open this door by the time I count to five, I’ll break it down!”
            There was no need for that. And so she hefted herself out of her chair, slowly, trying to keep her precarious balance.


            But she was too late. She’d barely taken 2 steps when Roger finally tried the unlocked door knob and came crashing in, nearly falling himself.
            Well, Police Academy hadn’t made him that much more coordinated. Oh well.


            Eyes closed, she took a deep breath, trying to give him time to regain his composure. Then she squared her shoulders, defiantly showing him just what kind of a state she was in. Hair unkempt. Makeup smeared and melting. Tear stained. Round bellied. 


            Then she saw who stood in front of her.
            That was Roger?
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*Ducks and hides from Urunwa. Better shots will be next time! I promise! But I did promise, and deliver, shots of Roger without glasses this time. Sorry they’re so far away.
            Welcome to Mariah’s rein as the 3rd Sixkiller Heiress! Woot, yay! So, quickly, just to make sure it made sense since a lot of that was silent. As you can see, Mariah grew up all and she’s Layla passed the day after Mariah aged up. I’ll put a pic or two up of her passing on Tumblr, but it wasn’t anything special. It happened shortly after Andre came over graduation night. (And I hope you noticed that he didn’t even stay the entire night.) After that it was just, well, Hey look! Generation 4 is on the way!

32 comments:

  1. Fiiiirst! Now back to reading.

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  2. Wow, you're fast! And I didn't pick up on Andre not staying the night, since it wasn't obvious it was only one night (to me). I kind of thought they were somehow seeing each other on the side. But now I realize I've missed at least one chapter, so never mind.

    "Then she’d get worms. And mutant bacteria. And she’d die an agonizingly painful death in the hospital while news channels obsessed over her grizzly demise" - hahaha! Do you use the hypochondriac trait mod, by any chance? I do, and it drives me batty, but it's also a lot of fun.

    Poor Mariah, all alone with a baby. Good thing she has Roger! I suppose he turned out hot, judging from her reaction. Lenses and rippling muscles I can only assume, Clark Kent style.

    She grew up beautiful, but we all knew that. Can't wait to see the baby! No strike that, I mean the toddler.

    Nice touch with the newspapers on the porch piling up while she's grieving. I think she has to let go of the thought that selling a few gems killed her mother though! That can't be healthy.

    At least she felt well enough to put on some nice earrings & a necklace!

    The letter poses looks really nice. What's that huge wad of money about? Is it for the baby? That's one really odd way of being a father, in that case, Andre! I demand some answers!

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    1. We are moving quickly this generation! It's really amusing to say 'Welcome to Generation 3! Say hello to Generation 4!' all in one breath. lol

      I had fun with that. No! I'll have to look for that! It sounds fun! This was just her neurotic trait running amok. She's super obsessed with the stove and checks it at least twice a day.

      Oooh! Clark Kent! I like that one. And I think he's a rather good looking sim. But I'm very biased. ;) You'll get to judge for yourself next chapter.

      Lol! The toddler. Yup. No point looking forward to a generic larva is there. ;)

      She will. She's really just using that as an excuse. She'd thought when her mother passed it would be easy and she wouldn't grieve. Now she wants a reason. But when that need is over she'll forget.

      I'm going with, she woke up in a much better mood than she's currently in. Ha! I did debate taking the earrings off, but but but. I decided to be lazy and not fiddle with CAS. :P

      Thank you! Mmm! We'll find out about that wad of money next time.

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  3. Is it bad that I started singing the last verse of "Do you wanna build a snowman?" when Roger said something like 'Let me in'. *starts singing a parody which is badly out of tune*

    So, taking that the baby is Andre's? It seems like she's almost repeating what Helen did, apart from Andre's not getting married (Is he?)

    The letter poses are good, and I loved the pose where she was hugging Andre and you could see in her eyes that she was sad. I wish I was better at posing...

    I honestly can't wait to see Roger's reaction to everything. Mariah who said she never really wanted kids has a kid on the way... Kinda ironic.

    It was sad how she had to celebrate her birthday on her own though, but I suppose she's never really been one for extravagant parties. I noticed that the cake was different (Yes, I notice cakes) and how did you get it to be green? I want a green cake...

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    1. Aw. I haven't seen Frozen yet. We wanted to take my little girl, but movies are only at our local (tiny!) theatre too briefly.

      Yes. That's Andre's. The game may think Mariah is Naughty, but she's not been with anyone else. Hmmm... Almost. But there will be a few key differences that will come up.

      Lol. Thank you! There were only a couple this time. More later. ;) The hugging pose! It is awesome isn't it? I adore it. It's by Stefizzi and you can find it here:

      http://stefizzi.tumblr.com/post/31551954367/hi-everybody-if-you-are-reading-this-this-means

      She has a lot of other awesome poses too, so enjoy!

      Very ironic. ;) His reaction? *sigh. Poor Roger. He wants Mariah for himself so bad. ;)

      Nah. She doesn't like a lot of people around. Ah! The cake! Have another link!

      http://sunnyccfinds.tumblr.com/post/78863121637/how-did-you-get-the-birthday-cake-to-look-different

      And I'm betting we'll never see another EA cake in your story again! ;)

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    2. Cripes! Sorry! This is Stefizzi's posepack with the download link:

      http://stefizzi.tumblr.com/post/31741565355/welcome-welcome-welcome-here-it-is-the

      The other only takes you to pics of the poses. Doh!

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  4. AAARGH!!!! :D No, really though, there are shots of Roger without his glasses..... Just very, very, very faaaar away.... You're going to put him in sunglasses next time right?
    Poor Mariah, that's one sad birthday, and she thinks Layla died because of some stuff that was gone. No wonder she's neurotic, if that's the trait, that is. Never noticed how much she looks like Ignacio though.
    Unless I misunderstood, the letter is from Andre, about him not wanting anything to do with the baby? Is that why the money pile is there?
    And Roger stood hammering on the door, when is was open all along :D His reaction is going to be interesting. Hey, maybe he'll have to put his glasses back on. To properly see what's going on ;P

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    1. Ha! Thanks for the idea! lol. Noooo. I'm ready for him to be glasses-less.

      Yes, she is neurotic. I think... hang on, I'mma have to check. Indeed yes! And IKR? She's got a lot more of Ignacio in her than I'd thought. I put her in Tibi's hair and lo and behold! They look like sisters! Which was a shocker to me. Ha!

      You are far too good at guessing. We'll know for sure next time though. ;)

      Yeah, poor Roger. xD He can't catch a break can he? *sigh! Ah, Roger's reaction! It will be interesting to see.

      NOooo! I do want his eyes seen. In fact, I'm already wanting to change his hair because it's too much in his face. lol

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  5. What held her back from calling Roger? And bad Roger, not remembering her birthday. Oh, well I guess because he's at police academy? Can't wait to see him in his uniform.

    And not even Layla...but that's not surprising, given her condition. Not much of a celebration :( But yay for chapter 3.1!

    Oh, Layla's gone :( Well, selling her collectibles was probably for the best anyway. Sorry Layla!

    Yes Mariah, tedium causes nausea. Not that after-graduation hook-up, no.

    NOooooo! The letter was from Andre, wasn't it? That bastard. Roger had perfect (or bad) timing showing up when he did. He must be shocked...angry...heartbroken. Maybe he can find something to bust Andre for and throw him in prison.

    And Roger lost the glasses! OMG. NEEEEED better pics of him!!!

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    1. A tiny part of her felt that she needed to do this alone. She figures Roger will eventually find himself a girl and go and settle down and she won't even have him. Call it, she wanted to get used to it. And yes. He forgot because he was all caught up playing policeboy. Me too! In game he's still just a snitch so no nice trim outfit yet.

      Hey! I'm super proud that I finally made it to 3.1! Hopefully it won't take 9 months to get to 4.1. Ha!

      Well, Rules were the big factor in selling it all off. The second she hit Elder I went ahead and sold as much as I could since no one else can see any of it now. It's all object delete if I want rid of it from here on in. So yes. For the best. lol.

      She's deep in denial isn't she? ;)

      We'll find out more about that letter next time.

      Roger? Well? Let's just say it's a good thing Andre isn't in the same town or he probably would have some problems. lol.

      Yes! No glasses Rog! Next time! Better pics next time. ;)

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  6. Well I've been reading pretty religiously ever since Ignacio died, (I just keep forgetting to friggin comment cause I read on my phone!) but I am loving Mariah as your heir. She's pretty, she's tough, and she's just naive enough to make it almost tragic that her high school love affair went belly up after she got pregnant. I wonder, did Andre send that message before or after finding out about the baby?

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    1. Ha! *Hugs! How are you? Mariah is so much fun. I luff her too. She's so opposite of Layla it's really refreshing. She really is naĂŻve isn't she? lol But you're also right that it's not quite tragic. Though we might hold of on telling her that. She might get rather pissed at us. Lol!

      Ah! We'll find out just what he knows and when he learned it all next time. ;)

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  7. Aw, poor Mariah - celebrating her birthday alone! (I loved the green cake, too!) She is a *beautiful* adult! The bright clothes seemed a bit out of character, though, but I LOVED them. It really made her eyes stand out!

    Hehe, loved her trying to figure out why she was feeling so sick. When I first found out I was pregnant (in my long-term, committed, but unmarried relationship), I was feeling sick all the time & I told my mom. She said, "Are you pregnant?" I scoffed at her silliness, "No, mom. It's called *morning* sickness for a reason." I, to this day, accuse her of jinxing me. She stoutly maintains that she had nothing to do with it at all. ;)

    And Roger coming by to see her after the Academy was finished was sweet. Love that he didn't try the unlocked door first. :) I am curious to find out if she didn't call him after her mother passed away, just like she didn't call him for her birthday. (If that's the case, I can imagine Roger is going to be MAAAAAD!) But, I'm willing to bet he's going to step in anyway & be her knight in shining armor. :)

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    1. Cake link for you too!
      http://sunnyccfinds.tumblr.com/post/78863121637/how-did-you-get-the-birthday-cake-to-look-different
      Enjoy!

      Thank you! Yeah her clothes aren't quite her norm, but I think she's going to change outfits again fairly soon.

      LOL! I did that too! I'd actually been diagnosed with the flu, and we just thought I had it for 2 and a half months before my (now)husband finally made me take a test. Found out a few days later we were already 3 months along. And FWIW- we didn't marry because of the baby. We'd already been engaged for a little while. I just pushed the 'wedding' back until after our son was born to piss off a few people. Ha!

      Nah. Roger would never try the doorknob without being invited to first. He's good like that. :) Hmmm! That's a good question. We'll see next time how he found out about Layla, and also just how he feels now that he knows the rest of the story, as well what he'll do now that he does know.

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  8. (Zooms in on the picture of Roger) Ughhh still not close enough to get a good view of him! Like his new hairstyle though!

    Ok going to start back from the beginning. So sad that Mariah celebrated her birthday alone. Mariah grew into a beautiful adult. :D

    Andre looked good as an adult but he's still a smuck. Couldn't even stay the whole night with her. Talk about love em and leave em man. Smh

    Oh gawd Layla's gone. :(((

    Ok I just need to say how brilliantly you did this...first Mariah celebrated her birthday alone, then Andre left her alone graduation night after only spending a moment with her and then Layla died leaving her truly alone in the house..my goodness what a lonely chapter :P

    Ok Andre has fully pissed me off now. That letter, I know it was from him. That stack of cash...Did he just give her hush money?!! Why that no good son of a *****!!!

    Ooooo when Roger finds out....Haha!!

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    1. Lol. Next time! We'll see how he looks next time. ;)

      An thank you! I think she's lovely too! Yes, Andre makes a far better looking adult than he did a teen. But there's a reason behind that also. ;)

      Yup! I almost called it Utterly Alone, but meh. She's not completely alone. She just didn't know baby was on the way.

      Lololol! Next time. Next time! We'll get into that. ;) Though I'm betting you've made a very good guess!

      Oh yes. When Roger finds out. Poor Roger. =D

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  9. Okay, here I am, holding my complete works of Shakespeare hardcover; I dug it out of storage for this very reason. Where's Andre? It's clobbering time! D:<

    Oh, Layla. :c I'm so sad to see her go. Mariah grew up to be pretty, though. Too bad she's so alone. And being alone and neurotic cannot be good for her. I feel bad for laughing at her imagining all the gross things that could kill her.

    Poor Mariah--how horrible she must feel. I can't even imagine...I'm glad Roger's there. Hopefully he can help her. Oh, and he's a total hottie now, right?

    Great (though sad) start to your new generation!

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    1. Andre is currently cowering in fear that there is a possibility of a mob coming after him. lol We'll see him again sometime. So keep it (kinda) handy. ;)

      No. Alone and Neurotic don't go well together do they? The kind of feed off of each other. At least a baby will be on hand soon enough so she can be neurotic about it's snot and spitting up and all of that. lol. Nah, don't feel bad about laughing. If she weren't so hormonal, she might join in even.

      Lol. I think Roger's pretty good looking. But I'm also quite biased. We'll see him next time. And as for Mariah, she's a pretty tough cookie. She'll pull herself up by her bootstraps I'm sure.

      Thanks! And hey, at least starting it off so low, things can't get too much worse.

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  10. Grrr, Andre is such scum, if it weren't for the effect it'd have on Mariah I'd wish everyone could find out about what he's done to Mariah (and I'm positive the letter was him telling her he wanted nothing to do with their child).

    I feel so bad for Mariah, but at least Roger is here and I have faith in him stepping up for her.

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    1. Andre is a very smooth operator, so scum fits him like a glove! Unfortunately though, you're right. The effect something like that would have on Mariah wouldn't be good. At least this way, she's got a shot at 'normal.' lol. We will find out just what that letter is about next time.

      Roger is indeed there now. We'll see how he reacts soon. ;)

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  11. I've been keeping up but I'm horrible about comments. Mostly because I do 12 different things at once and get distracted. I'm re-installed all my store content at the moment and that frigging launcher takes forever so I'm all eyes here!

    Poor Mariah. It's sad that the one person she didn't keep at arm's length (Andre) has pushed her away. She's had a hard life already and the only constant in it is Roger. I can understand why she would be wary of letting him get way too close (as he seems to want) in case it doesn't work.

    I love how she is the opposite of Layla in pretty much every way, right down to how early we get heirs!

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    1. Gosh! I don't blame you on doing something else during your wait! I'm thinking there's going to be a time coming up in story where I take all my store content out, convert to package, and leave it that way. I hate the launcher with a passion anymore.

      Yuup. If Roger had pushed a little harder, it might have been him and she wouldn't be here now, but then again. That's why we roll for our generations. ;)

      Mariah really is the opposite of her mom and I love her for it. I'm also really happy to be able to say Generation 4 is already on the way. Ha!

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  12. LAST!
    :( :'( Sorry. I'll get my team of doctors to fix this mess soon and then maybe I have a shot at being first. *cries on shoulder*
    Ok. I'mma read now.

    Luuuurve the new blog look, especially that top bar thingy :)

    Mariah looked so sad at her birthday, I think EA's lack of ability with smiles may have helped there, but wow. I feel awful for her.
    And her all alone at that long dinner table was downright depressing, missy! :(

    And now Mariah's pregnant and Layla's dead! Wow. Those four pictures showed some time passing, I guess?

    WHAT WAS ROGER?! LEMME SEEE!!!! Daymn, you're evil.
    LOVE Mariah looking unkept, btw. She actually suits it really well, is that cruel of me to say?
    Oh, I bet Roger doesn't even know about Andre still! And now Mariah and Andre are over, and Mariah will be a single mummy, and Roger is gunna be really hot, isn't he? Damn, let us see!

    Sorry for the lackluster comment, I'll try and be better next time you post but I can't promise. I may have to re-read this anyway, and if I do I'll re-comment, agreed? <3

    Lets see what gen 3 has in store for us!

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    1. Aw... just that you showed up is all that matters. *hugs

      Thank you! Yeah, I like the new banner lots too. I had a lot of fun marbling it.

      If the sim has a negative moodlet during birthday's they'll give you those awful frowny faces. Mariah was still mourning her dad, so there went my ability to ignore her birthday. lol. Oh, who am I kidding. I'm addicted to sparkle shots. xD It was supposed to be depressing. At least she'll be able to put toddler on a chair at the table with her soon.

      Actually, those 4 pictures were 1 night. We've only skipped 2 game days actually. Mariah grew up in the evening, the next day was graduation and Andre came over that night. The next morning Layla passed. That night Mariah popped. We skipped 2 days, and then she gets the letter.

      Very evil. >:) Nah, it's not cruel. Her look is going to change a bit soon just because she wears so many different looks so well.
      Nope! Roger does NOT know about Mariah's time with Andre and just how involved it was. However, he's not totally stupid so I'm betting he'll figure it out pretty soon.

      Aw! It was an awesome comment! You know why? Because you read and then told me so. That's all that matters.

      Yes! This generation has a lot of fun in store. Heeheehee

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  13. Great chapter-very poignant and sums up her non-traditional childhood (not sure that is the right word here)! Not describing the details of all the major events that took place in such a short period of time while using amazing pictures really made a statement! After reading all the comments it seems the pictures let us all imagine what we think she was feeling and thinking. Glad to read that Roger was at the academy when Riah aged up and Layla died, otherwise he'd lose major brownie points for not knocking down the door THAT day! That stack of cash makes steam hiss out of my ears-that "man" is a slippery selfish bastard! As everyone said, Riah is beautiful and since it looks like Andre is way better looking as an adult, hopefully her surprise will be just as lovely. I wonder if her sort of detached, numb state will have any effect on how she breaks the awful news to Roger-both the fact they were bumping uglies AND he got her pregnant and (I'm guessing from letter and cash) he can't be bothered to be a father, what with his all important upward scrabbling. Wouldn't it be great if Riah dropped by Kelci's parents house to drop off an ultrasound pic and ask them to, pretty please, send it along to Andre since she doesn't know how to reach him? Ok, so she has to fib a little about the not knowing how to contact him, but STILL! He so deserves the fall out and we'd all love to watch! Muhwahahaha!

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    1. Aw! Thank you!

      And yes. Had Roger been able to be there he would have been. As it is, he's there the first moment he could be. Which is something at least.

      I'm betting pregnancy hormones will play a pretty big factor in how Mariah breaks the news to Roger. Also, Roger's initial reaction will play a big part in all of that.

      I've seen the surprise. It is indeed lovely. =D

      There will be fallout. I can promise that Andre won't get away with this. I just can't say when or how yet because Mariah is still carrying a torch for him despite his perfidy. Though, to a degree, her eyes are starting to open as to his truer nature, so she's not completely his dupe any more.

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  14. I just remembered that Buck is dead and I decided I don't like this blog and I won't be catching up. MMkay? ;)

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  15. DEFINITELY ON MY SH*T LIST!!! OMG! WTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ..... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    And since you left that mean cliffy, I'm not saying another word. :x
    ;)

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  16. Oooh, can't wait to see how Roger looks now! And of course Andre turns out to be a scumbag... grah. Poor Riah :(

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    1. *sigh. Roger. He's my take on the Ugly Duckling story. <3

      Yup. Total scumbag. =/

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