Monday, September 24, 2012

Chapter 13: Puzzling


Elliot and Shelly eagerly await the arrival of their firstborn.


Elliot's fame as an acrobat has landed him steady gigs at the live how venues normally reserved for musical performers like his father.


Back at home, Shelly frets over the ghastly greenish cast the light of the full moon gives her skin. Sure, it does the same to everyone, but she can't help but feel like she should somehow be immune from its effect.


Perhaps it was her distress at her appearance, or perhaps it was just the right time, but Shelly goes into labor that night. Elliot rushes to the hospital still in his costume. As they wheel Shelly into the delivery room, the adoring nurses wrangle Elliot into an agreement to give a free performance in the children's wing. "For the sick kids," the head nurse insisted as her eyes made a slow and lusty journey from his collarbone to his navel.


That morning Elliot and Shelly bring home a son, Kyle.


Shelly went a little over budget on decorating the nursery, but Elliot doesn't mind the indulgence.


In Shelly's mind, her son is a strong, handsome teenager, captain of the basketball tam and prom king, just like his father. Maybe he'll even go into the career in professional sports that Elliot rejected. Shelly will be so proud of him...
Young Kyle, as unaware of his mother's projections of his future as she is of her hair tickling his nose, sneezes.


Someday, her son will be everything she hopes for. Right now, though, he doesn't do much, so Shelly plops him into his swing and gets to work making her nectary everything she dreams it will be.


Though he still has his steady gigs, Elliot finds himself spending more time at home with his son than out working. Heath had sometimes confided in him that he'd wished he could have spent more time at home himself, and hated relying on babysitters to take care of his kids while he was outing performing for tips or auditioning for more gigs to fill every night of the week. Heath had needed the money, though, to keep a roof over their heads and keep them fed. Elliot is not as pressed for money as his own father was, and enjoys the luxury of staying home during the day when he wants to.


Elliot is also finding himself to be the prime caregiving for the 3am feeding and diaper changes. Even though Shelly is a light sleeper, getting her out of bed at the hour is more difficult than just getting up and taking care of Kyle himself.


Farrell was in the junkyard picking up scrap for his workbench when he felt an odd sort of urge to visit Whinny Park out neat the equestrian center. Usually nothing can distract Farrell from his task, but this urge would give him no rest until he appeased it, so he packed his scrap into the car and drove out to the park, where he found Moth waiting for him, a huge grin on his fae face.

"Iwas hoping Aouregan wouldbe withyou," Moth says, his smiling dimming a little when he sees Farrell is alone. "It has beensolong since I've seenher."


"Moth, who is this Aouregan you keep mentioning?" Farrell asks.

Moth gives him a puzzled look. "You still haven't found her?" he asks, "She's waiting for you."

"In the past?"

"No, inthe now," Moth answers.

"Can you tell me where she is?" Farrell asks.

"I can!" Moth says brightly, then frowns, "Except--I donot know. Sorry."

Farrell lets out a small sigh. "How do you know she is waiting for me if you don't know where she is?"

"Becauseof the spell," Moth says, "I will comeback whenyou find her!" he gives one last friendly shout before shrinking down to his small butterfly form and fluttering off into the sky.

"Wait!" Farrell calls after him, having so many unanswered questions, but Moth is long gone.


He's worked non-stop on his time machine for weeks. Even when he's not physically at his bench working on it, his mind is going over the plans in his head, making adjustments, recalculating the equations. Sometimes he makes his biggest breakthroughs when he's at work on another project, so Farrell takes a break from his bench to fiddle with Shelly's nectar press.


"What are you doing to my press?" Shelly asks in shriek, coming through the barn to get her gardening tools.

"I'm making adjustments," Farrell says, not looking up at her, "To make it more efficient. You'll be able to get more bottles with each pressing."

"Oh," Shelly says, biting her lip, "Thank you," she says, and sways a little, supporting her weight on her left and right foot in turn, "I guess...I'm sorry for all the times I called you retard in high school."

"I wouldn't take your assessment of my, or anyone's, intelligence seriously, Rochelle," Farrell answers, still without so much as a glance in her direction.

Shelly folds her arms over her chest, sure there was a dig at her in there, but not quite able to get it. "Why are you helping me, then, anyway? I mean, by upgrading my press?"

"I don't understand it, but my brother loves you," Farrell says frankly, "He wants you to be happy and successful at your business, and I can help with that, so I do."

Shelly finally leaves him alone and Farrell continues making his adjustments. As he's working on tis simple task, his subconscious continues puzzling over the time machine. "That's it!" he exclaims when the idea bubbles forth into his consciousness, and runs back over to his workbench. At last, he will have his time machine.

_____________________________________

I really like the idea of moon phases. But the visual effect of the full moon ruins pictures. I thought it would be okay, that I could just not take pics on full moon night, but then when important events, like Shelly going into labor, happen on a full moon, I can't just avoid it.
So, unless a mod comes out that kills the ghastly green glow, I'm a reluctantly going to have to disable the lunar cycle. Boo!

Since my previous scene with Moth was in France, Moth is a citizen of France, and as such is eligible to show up in my town as a French tourist. I don't know why his wings didn't show. He also was missing the fairy interactions when Farrell was talking to him. However, he did float while playing tag with another tourist, and gave her some fairy dust, so he's clearly still a fairy. *shrugs*

For the Luxury and Expansionist goals, I'm going with the spirit of the rules rather than the letter. I bought the house nearly empty and intend to furnish every room lavishly. The nursery is the first, though there's only so much you can do with that. I hate canopies of any kind, so I bought a CC crib that is cheaper than the expensive EA crib, but still pricier than any other crib. And I decked it out as much as possible, even buying curtains. I rarely bother with curtains, lol.

31 comments:

  1. I love the baby room! I really want that freaking baby swing but I don't have the money for the Simpoints. :(

    I can't wait to see Farrell's time machine!

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    1. Thanks! I had fun decorating the nursery.
      Time machine is coming soon!

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  2. I love the crib you used, its one of my CC favourites <3. And the nursery itself looks GREAT. I suck at decorating...

    Farrell is such a good brother/brother-in-law, and I hope Shelly finally starts treating him like family. He's making an effort and so is she. I'm also excited to see Aouregon... whenever she decides to show up.

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    1. Shelly has had a hard time accepting Farrell. And Farrell in turn doesn't care that much about her either. But they both are willing to deal with each other for Elliot's sake.

      I am playing with Aouregan now, getting her ready for her debut. =P

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  3. I think the nursery is really cute. And, just to disappoint his mother, I am waiting on finding out that Kyle's favorite color is pink and he wants to be an artist or something creative as such.

    Moth makes me giggle. He is so spacy and absent minded that you can't help but like him.

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    1. LOL, heaven. In a 5 kids roll, I never choose the eldest heirs, so for Kyle I random rolled his traits. So far it's Friendly and Charismatic, which Shelly would approve of, mostly. But I will laugh with you if he chooses not to live up to his mother's expectations. His favorite color is Spiceberry.

      Giggling is the perfect response to Moth, I think.

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  4. The house is looking really great. =)

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  5. So imaginative. :)
    Elliot is such a cutie. Too bad he can't be a stay-at-home Dad. I bet he would miss his performances though.
    Moth is such a fun character, like a kid on a sugar rush, that's what he reminds me of. *LOL*
    I hope the time machine works.

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    1. Thanks, Zhip.
      Even though Elliot isn't too worried about, he's still the main breadwinner, and I have a lot of rooms to furnish this generation. So he does need to work. But, the gigs at the better clubs pay a lot, so he doesn't have to busk for tips so much like Heath had to.

      Like a kid on a sugar rush, that's the perfect description of Moth, lol.
      The time machine had better work, I have a whole storyline based on it. ; )

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  6. Also glad Elliot is getting plenty of time to be a father to his son. And echoing Cece, I hope Shell can make an effort to treat Farrell like family.

    I hope we get to find out who Aouregan is soon!

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    1. Elliot really wants to be a good father. He doesn't have Shelly's mania for a 'perfect' family, but he does want a stable, loving one.
      Aouregan will show up soon, I promise.

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  7. That is a darling nursery! I don't like the canopy cribs either, it is way too hard trying to get pictures of the sims holding their babies with that stupid canopy in the way! lol

    Shelly is hilarious. While I know you hate the full moon lighting, you wrote it into your story rather seamlessly. Shelly's reaction was funny. I hope she tries to treat Farrell better too, who cannot like Farrell anyway? He's a sweetie.

    *waits patiently for Aouregan*

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    1. Thanks, Nirar! I like my nursery, too.
      Shelly is this generation's comedy relief, lol, Well, her and Moth, I guess.
      Shelly is shallow enough to care for Farrell, but maybe she'll come around eventually.

      I'm glad I've been able to create such anticipation for Aouregan. Now I just hope she'll live up to it, lol.

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  8. I can't wait to see this mysterious Aouregan. And find out her connection to Farrell.

    As stated above, I really do hope that Farrell and Shelly are able to get along eventually. Right now, it seems that they're getting there - although I'll admit that I was kind of happy to see Farrell take a dig at Shelly for once.

    MOAR MOTH PLEASE! <3

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    1. Well, I know you've already read chapter 14, which had more Moth and Aouregan, lol.

      I did think Farrell needed to get a good dig in at Shelly. It was even better that it kind of flew over her head, lol.

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  9. Moth is great fun and Farrell's taking all the cryptic stuff well in stride. I appreciated the awkward exchange between Farrell and Shelly. The nursery is everything a snobby vain sim Mother would buy and decorate with, haha (and I know quite a few real humans who have gone overboard like that too)! My poor snob Emma couldn't do any of that - not only under the Going green restriction but also living in a tiny shoebox of a house that had a closet for the baby's room haha!

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    1. I adore Moth. <3
      I rally enjoyed Farrell's subtle put down of Shelly. It will be hard for the two of them to ever be truly friendly, but they have Elliot in common so they have to try.

      I'm glad Shell doesn't have to go green, lol. In fact it's the opposite with the Luxury goal, I have to indulge her snobby vanity.

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  10. I really enjoyed Farrell's interactions with Shelly. I'm glad there hasn't been any real animosity there. I'm hoping she'll be a little more accepting of him now. I'm also really hoping Kyle defies his mom's expectations.

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    1. Shelly's still the high school popular girl, and she hasn't changed much, and it twill always be hard for her to accept Farrell. He doesn't fit into her idea of what people should be, and more importantly, he's not part of the perfect future she envisions for herself and Elliot.

      I've been random rolling Kyle's traits, so whether he conforms or defies his mother's expectations is up to chance right now.

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  11. Wow, now THAT is a nursery!!

    Also, I love Moth and his speech pattern, so cute!!

    Can't wait to see this time machine up and running!!

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    1. I don't usually put that much detail into nurseries, but I had the Luxury goal going on.

      Moth is forever one of my favorite minor characters.

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  12. What a beautiful nursery!!!

    Can't wait to see Farrell find out more about Aouregan

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    1. Thanks!
      I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far. Farrell will get to learn more about Aouregan in the coming chapters. =D

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  13. That's a neat idea for the luxury roll which I will take inspiration from when accomplishing it myself now. :)

    I hope Kyle will grow up to disappoint his mother. Lol!

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  14. That babies room is just awesome! I'm so terrible about decorating for babies. I usually just throw them a crib in mom and dad's room and pray for childhood to come quickly. ;\

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    1. Thanks! For some reason I love doing nurseries. I don't actually enjoy the baby and toddler stages, but I love decorating for them, lol.

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  15. The nursery looks great! Shelly has high expectations for her kids. I didn't expect anything less. Lol. I'm glad Moth made an appearance this chapter. Can't wait to see Farrell in his time machine.

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    1. I really went out on that nursery. For some reason,I just really love decorating nurseries.
      Shelly does of course have really high expectations for her kids.
      Moth always makes me happy too. =D

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  16. I was thinking that being born on the night of the full moon should have some type of effect on the babe...would be interesting if EA had given a hidden trait to kids those nights. Something like "Howler" or "Luney" (Insane trait added for the night?) Can't wait to see how the little guy turns out.

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