Friday, July 19, 2013

2.1 - We Will Come

~After trying for hours to get my old saves to work once they were transferred to my new PC, I've decided to once again do a time skip.  I'm really bummed about it as I love Ari and would have liked to expand on her story, but the only options I had left were either to: 1.) try to recreate everything that I had done up until then, 2.) rewrite Ari's generation from the start, or 3.) do another generation skip and move forward with her daughter.  Option three ended up being the most reasonable since I would have to start from scratch anyway.  So without further ado, here is the introduction to generation two and the restart of the Dean Legacy.  I hope everyone likes it. :)

"...Vivika needed to leave this place, but she couldn't bring herself to. She had told herself that this retched town was a haven, a home.  The truth was she was too much of a coward to move away. If she did, she would be willingly severing her last connection to him. She would have to admit defeat, she would have to finally give him up. That was something she could never do.

With a sigh of resignation, she turned off her lamp and lay on her bed hoping that a deep sleep would give her reprieve from her loneliness. She knew that effort would be in vain. He filled her dreams just as much as he filled her waking hours and there was nothing she could do but simply give in.

The soft knock at the front door woke her just a few hours later. It was a subtle knocking; as if the person visiting her at this late hour was not entirely sure they wanted her to answer the door.  She was about to give the visitor that satisfaction and go back to sleep, when the sound of a familiar voice coming from outside startled her. Was this a dream?

Vivika walked slowly to the door and peered through the adjacent window. Her heart pounded loudly in her chest when she saw his dimly lit features under the porch lantern. Ryan. He was here.  He had told her he never wanted to see her again and had avoided her for months now, but he was here. She had almost grown comfortable in her misery when he wouldn't acknowledge her existence if they happened across each other in town because that meant she never had to hear how much he hated her again.

Her hand hesitated near the doorknob. She could ignore him. Go back to sleep and prevent herself further agony, but it was him and he was here and she had to see him; even if it meant facing his disgust of her again. So she opened the door..."

"This book is so damn stupid!" Amaya exclaims, falling on to the floor in a dramatic heap of pink and red.

Bellegere closes the book with an exasperated sigh. This is the third unsuccessful attempt to entertain her impatient cousin.

"I'm bored."

Bellegere stretches her tense limbs, still aching from her stressful first week at the local restaurant, and joins Amaya. The floorboards are cool enough to make her stifling living room somewhat bearable. "We can go to the festival."

"Yeah, but then I have to get up." Amaya smirks when Bellegere grunts loudly in frustration.

"Why am I letting you stay here again?"

"Because you love me."

Bellegere smiles. "Yeah, I guess I do."

"It's seriously an oven in here." Amaya groans, getting up and prodding Bellegere to do the same. "Take me to this festival.  Anything is better than cooking alive in here."

Against Bellegere's better judgement, Amaya manages to convince her to enter a water balloon contest. Amaya has always been the more athletic of the two and it is never more obvious than when she is dodging all of Bellegere's weak throws.

"All right! You win!" Bellegere scowls. "Now we do something that's more up my alley."

Bellegere's "alley" is food, both cooking and eating. Her parents used to joke that her stomach was a fathomless black hole and she intends to put that to use, if only to rub her victory in her cousin's face.

"And that's how it's done!" Bellegere cheers loudly, earning grimaces from her opponents.

Amaya smirks. "Probably not something to brag about Belle."

A hollow victory.

The face painting tent calls to both girls.

"Holy shit! You look... beautiful." Bellegere snickers.

Amaya frowns, the heavy pink paint on her lips only making her look garish instead of disappointed. "You're going to take pictures of this, aren't you?"

"Well, memories do need to be preserved."

Bellegere drags a reluctant Amaya to the nearest photo booth.  "I promise I'll keep the pictures in a hidden spot."

"No you won't." Amaya counters with a sly smile. "You'll frame it and put it in the living room."

"I'm prepared to fight you on this."

Amaya shrugs. "It's pointless. You will find a way to hang it somewhere publicly whether I fight against it or not."

"True. Let's do this then!"

They spent the rest of the festival attempting to not die on the skating rink, of which Bellegere was certain she was close to doing a few times.

On the way home, the girls spot a new addition to their block - specifically, right across from their house.

"A travelling con artist." Amaya scoffs. "Welcome to the neighborhood!"

"Quiet!" Bellegere places her hand over her cousin's mouth with a deep frown. "Don't be so loud when you're being rude. Whoever lives here might hear you."

"And do what? Put a spooky curse on us?"

"Or I could tell your fortune." Bellegere and Amaya jump at the sudden appearance of the old lady. Amusement is evident in the old lady's intense stare.

"Not interested." Amaya grabs for Bellegere's arm, clearly on a mission to get away from the strange woman.

"It's free." The old woman raises her brow, accentuating the tattoo on her forehead, with a wide grin.

Bellegere pulls away from Amaya's grip. She has an uneasy feeling about the whole situation, but she also feels strangely compelled to take the woman up on her offer. "Free is always good." She smiles nervously, motioning for Amaya to come with her. Amaya, to her credit, doesn't fight Bellegere's weird compulsion and follows.

"Have a seat, have a seat." The old lady motions to the two empty chairs surrounding her small table.  The globe in the middle is just large enough to dwarf the small woman before Bellegere and it emanates an energy that is two parts comforting, and one part utterly foreign.

"What is your name, child?"

"B-"

"Beatrice!" Amaya interrupts. "Her name is Beatrice."

The old woman laughs quietly, her shrunken shoulders shaking with her small chuckles. "No it is not, but if you prefer Beatrice then that is what I will call you." Without skipping a beat, she whispers a few words that are unintelligible to her companions and the orb begins to glow.

Bellegere is momentarily mesmerized by the floating orb and symbols, unable to contain her amusement of the whole spectacle.  Amaya, however, is obviously unnerved.

"It is clear that you both are new in town." The old woman says, breaking the silence.

"I'd be surprised if you didn't gather at least that much, seeing as you live across the street from us." Amaya points in the direction of their house with a mocking smile. "Travelling con artist, just as I said."

Bellegere is about to scold her cousin when the woman continues on, apparently undisturbed by Amaya's comments. "Moonlight Falls called to you, didn't it Beatrice?"

"No." She answers slowly.

"Oh? I see here that you were offered jobs in more populated cities, where your cooking talents would be duly appreciated, but you chose to move here. Something about this place seemed... comfortable, inviting, necessary. Do you still deny it?"

"H-how do you know that?"

"You belong here, just as your cousin does."

"Have you been rummaging through our mail or something, you old bat?" Amaya interrupts. "You didn't do your research very well. I don't live here, I'm just visiting."

"You will live here though. You know that as well as I."

 A tingle travels down Amaya's spine at the woman's certainty. "No I don't. What exactly are you getting at?"

"That you see things too. Things that come to pass and you are scared to your very core of it."

"Excuse me?!" Amaya stands suddenly, knocking the chair over in her anger.

However, yet again, the woman ignores Amaya's outburst and casually turns her attention back to Bellegere. "And you, child. You also have a gift that frightens you. A contained power that you are constantly afraid will loose itself when you're the least ready. That could happen, Bellegere. That is why you need training. You both do."

Bellegere wrinkles her nose in concentration, trying to voice the many questions she has; but nothing comes out except a small gasp.  Amaya takes the opportunity to grab her cousin's arm and drag her away. "Let's go." She pleads. "This woman is plainly insane."

"When you're ready, we will come." Amaya and Bellegere both hear the blind woman's words as they walk briskly back to their home; the weight of the statement causing nothing but silence between them until they reach the safety of their front yard.

Bellegere softly disentangles her arm from Amaya's strong and shaking grasp. "You can let go now." She says quietly.

"Oh. Right. Sorry." Amaya lets her limp hand fall to her side. "It's raining. We should go inside."

"Amaya... maybe we should -"

"I don't want to talk about it." The redhead interrupts. "I just want to go inside."

"You go ahead." Bellegere leans on her porch banister with a weak smile. "I'll be in shortly."

Amaya nods curtly, an expression of worry hidden beneath her cool gaze. "Suit yourself."

Bellegere lets the raindrops pelt her skin as they fall, not even noticing when her clothes begin to soak through. Instead, she focuses on the unassuming caravan across the street. The old woman is nowhere to be seen, but her presence is still felt just as strongly as her parting words.

"When you're ready, we will come."

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Uneventful chapter, for the most part.  I just purchased about four expansions at once, so I'm still slowly discovering all the goodies they have - hence the incredibly long chapter of a seasons festival. Also, what is going on with Bellegere/Amaya's parents will be explained later in the story. In case it isn't obvious, Amaya is Niles' and Cosette's only daughter and Bellegere is Ari's (and a yet to be revealed father's) daughter.

I stole Bellegere's name from a minor character the A Song of Ice and Fire series. To be entirely honest, I'm not sure what the official pronouncement is - but I've always assumed it sounded like Bell-eh-jeer.

Side Note: The beginning of this chapter is a story that I wrote long ago. It was a pathetic attempt to write romance/drama that I gave up on. It was interesting going through and editing that piece of crap and now you all get to read and share in my embarrassment. *shrug*

Anyways, I'm glad to be back! Thanks to everyone for being so supportive and generally awesome. You all are the reason why I love and remain within the sims community. <3

20 comments:

  1. GIGA'S BACK! *huggles*

    I didn't understand the first part at all cause I haven't read any of your earlier chapters, but the writing was fabulous! I really, really enjoyed it. :D And wow, Bellegere is *gorgeous*! I want! (If you ever feel like uploading her, that is. :)

    So... Magic, huh? That's exciting. :D I can't wait to find out more. That lady was a bit... Creepy? Unnerving? But interesting, too. I don't know, I don't get a good vibe from her, but it's still too early to tell.

    Great chapter!

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    1. *huggles back* Thanks Colleen!

      Eh. The first part wasn't from my previous legacies. It was just a crappy book that Bellegere was reading to Amaya in the hopes that she'd stop pestering her for entertainment. It backfired. :P

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  2. I love how you write your characters---they are always so believable!

    I'm sad that you weren't able to get your old save to work, I really liked Ari, and I'm curious what happened with her. Obviously she had a daughter, lol I hope Jarrod is the dad actually, I liked him better than Quincy---though---I'm sure the dad could be some unknown sim too, lol

    Maybe Bellegere could read the end of that book? Just when it was getting interesting--she ends, lol I'm curious about all sorts of things, it is my natural state of being, ha ha, but as I was reading the beginning I really was curious about what Vivika did that was so awful, and why Ryan showed up on her doorstep in the middle of the night after weeks of silence...and then I find out it was only a book. *sad face* lol

    Ahem, back to the real story---I'm so glad you decided to continue on. Bellegere (and Amaya) are both pretty girls, and I am intrigued about the old woman and her cryptic words. I look forward to the next chapter! =)

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    1. Haha. If I feel so inclined to trudge through editing that story again, I might be inclined to add some more snid-bits later on. Maybe it will be a guilty pleasure read for Bellegere? :P

      Thanks for reading/commenting!

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  3. Bellegere in my head was pronounced "Bell-ige-er-ee", so I'll change it to your pronunciation if I remember.

    So, Bellegere and Amaya are the characters, was the bit at the top just for fun, or was that a vision one of the girls had or something?

    They're both gorgeous, and I can't wait for more! (I like the seasons fesivals. I'm about to go to the love day one for the first time, so that will be fun! :D)

    (Just read your reply to Buckleys comment. Ah, so that wa the book. Sorry, I'm dumb :p)

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    1. I should have edited the book pictures to look more dream-like so people wouldn't get confused. Ah well.

      The festivals are great, aren't they? I am really loving the Seasons EP so far! Especially the fall/winter changes. So darn pretty!!

      Thanks!

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  4. I liked your start, it was a surprise when I realised that it was a book your characters were reading :)

    I'm very intrigued by what the old woman said and even more so by the two girls' reaction to it

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    1. Out of the two, Amaya is more disturbed by the old woman's words - but that will be explained later. I'm glad you're intrigued! I know these types of stories are written to death, so I'm hoping to make it unique enough to keep it interesting. We shall see.

      Thanks for commenting. <3

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  5. Awesome start, Krista! I loved how you started with Amaya reading another story, that's a fun literary device. =D

    And, oooh, intrigue and mystery, yay!

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  6. You're Back! Hurrah!

    Loved how it started as another story that was in a book they were reading. It made a really neat introduction for your characters.

    And have fun discovering all the new stuff! The festival really is a hoot and gives lots for simmies to do outside of their house.

    And now, just what did the old woman mean with all of that? What is Bellegere hiding and what is Amaya so frightened of? And I So hope that Bellegere is Quincy's daughter!

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    1. Thanks Sunny!

      The festivals really are fun (so far anyway). I can't wait to see the winter one. :)

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  7. Ew, deleting my comment and making me remember my old wordpress stuff to say something >:

    Anyways. Welcome back!

    Um. I've forgotten everything else I said :( Oh, except italics is maybe an option for future book snippets so people aren't confused?

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    1. Good point. An easier solution than re-editing the pictures. :D

      Thanks for the welcome back/comment!

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  8. Very well written, and interesting! It didn't come off as uneventful at all. In fact I'm a little intrigued about what the fortune teller meant by "WE" will come.

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  9. I'm happy that your back. The new computer produces lovely pictures as well. Bellegere is quite lovely. Great start and I am certainly looking forward to more. Gotta find out what the crazy old lady meant!

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    1. Thank you so much, heaven!

      I am loving the new computer so darn much and I'm excited to be able to take detailed pictures for once. :D It sounds really lame, I know, but I almost cried a little when I saw how pretty my game now is compared to the pixelated mess it was on my laptop.

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  10. All caught up with your legacy now! Whoo hoo!

    I'm glad you got your new computer, sad that you couldn't continue with Ari. Also, YAY for improved graphics. It makes the game so much more enjoyable when it's prettier to look at in my opinion. I'm so excited for the storyline you've created so far. I can't wait to see the girls' gifts and what all that entails. I can't wait to see who Ari ended up with too.

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    1. *high fives* Yay! Thanks for reading. <3

      Oh gawd yes. The improved graphics definitely makes the game much more fun, especially seeing all the pretties that I missed with my laptop (weather, for instance).

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