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Post by NotJustaBook on Oct 28, 2013 16:36:02 GMT -5
1.8. The End of an EraTime was cruel and time was kind. Time gave me Aërope, disciplined but excited, always eager to see more and more of the world. Time gave me Pasiphaë, eccentric and inventive, and in time easier to impress. Time gave me Ariadne, timid and fond of the indoors and with an eye for photography we discovered in her teen years. They all turned out beautiful, eccentric, ambitious, brave, cowardly, adventurous, kind. Each had her little quirk and her little thing to say. Time brought new acquaintances, teaching Aërope that she was more beautiful, more desirable than she had ever dared hope. Carlo called Zackary, originally a friend of Pasiphaë, 'that boy' and looked like he would bite his head off, but one look at Aërope's smile made him roll his eyes and smile. He kept an eye on them, but he let it happen. Time made Pasiphaë patient. I never thought I'd see the day that she would sit down to a game of chess without any intention to make it part of her plan to rule the world. And time made my little Ariadne brave. She braved the outdoors and arrived triumphant, with a radiant smile, from the grocery store. “I've got a job,” she said. “After school. I really got a job! Me!” Time gave me so much. I never stopped to think, that as time passed, and time gave... Time would take away. And time came crashing down. Wrinkles and grey hair was cosmetic, and inside, I knew, he wasn't really old. He wasn't really ready. I wasn't ready. Three young girls weren't ready for him to leave. I barely heard the cries around me, because my own world was spinning and shrinking, imploding on itself until only faint sounds and Carlo's face was left. “Dad!” someone yelling. “No!” someone sobbing. A someone reaching out. Carlo's voice. “Please, Persie, don't...” And no more. I think my story is over. I think time has given and taken all I could get. For just a while, I want to be selfish. I sent the girls abroad, to let me suffer on my own. To think of all the things that could have been. The weddings missed, the grandchildren not met. The times I didn't pull him close, the times I didn't kiss him, the times we didn't laugh because time wouldn't let us. For now, this is the end of an era. For now, I want to be alone. Author's note: And this is the end of generation 1. Next up - the heir takes over.
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Post by KaseOfHearts on Oct 28, 2013 17:30:20 GMT -5
Even though I knew it was going to happen, it still is such a heartbreaker. I love the way you wrote it, and I think that, as well as Carlo being such an interesting and developed character, the structure of the update is incredibly resonating. The feeeeels.
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Post by Jane.Eyre.Force on Oct 29, 2013 6:41:25 GMT -5
ALL sim children have what I like to call 'pudding face syndrome'.
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Post by NotJustaBook on Nov 2, 2013 11:17:50 GMT -5
2.0. The Dog and the RedheadI am Pasiphaë Ithaca and if you're sitting there thinking 'Wow, that name is quite the mouthful!' I couldn't agree more. That's why my friends and family have taken to calling me Passie, because few people like to risk breaking half of the bones in their face just to call me over. I'm grumpy, eccentric, a heavy sleeper and easily impressed – not going to lie about that last one. Show me a stick bridge over a shallow puddle and I'll call it an architectural marvel. I recently lost my father – I know, what a way to lighten the mood. Tell them all about your silly name and then break it to them. When he died, things didn't slow down the way I expected. Time just kept passing for some reason, and the only one who seemed to have a hard time coming to terms with that was Mum. I tried desperately to catch her attention for days – feigning teenage moodswings, threatening to stay out past curfew, rigging the shower to colour Ariadne's hair purple – but it didn't seem to work. Finally, she took us all aside and said she was going to send us abroad. Of course, because my sisters and I have nothing in common, she picked three different destinations for us. Aërope, she's my older sister, went to China. She's always been disciplined and focused on the things she does, and now she'd decided to go for martial arts. She came home with a belt that I don't remember the colour of, and stories of a Chinese woman she had a nice chat to. That's my sister for you – she's so sensible. Sure, she's possibly even more excited about everything than I am, but she just... gets things done. Life demands that she get a hobby? One hobby coming up. Life demands that she get a boyfriend? Enter Zackary, that guy I'd just sort of talked to once who came over because he said he wanted to play chess (in reality, he had a thing for Aëy and he was completely transparent about it). Yeah, Aërope always came through easily. Ariadne went to France, because scaredy cat that she is, exploring tombs just wasn't her thing. She had a nice relaxing holiday, unlike some others (yeah, I mean me) – tasted good nectar, chatted to Frenchmen and apparently not much more than that. Some people have it easy, sheesh. Of course, when she came home, she had to work on homework and the job she found for herself – guess she needed some time off from all that. And then there's me. For some reason, I couldn't settle for nectar sipping and faking knowledge of great art at a French museum – I picked Egypt. I tried relaxing. I sat at the Base Camp, roasted food on the fire, chatted with locals and hunky adventurers and... got really bored. That's why I decided to explore the pyramids. Now, if you ask my mother, she will swear that I'm lying through my teeth, but I found gold and treasures and met a mummy. No, really! A real live (well, sort of live, you know) mummy. I tried persuading him to join my army of snowmen so that we could take over the world but you know what mummies are like these days – so difficult. Require way too much pay – and health insurance, too. Nah, I'll stick with snowmen. Eventually, the trip was over, everyday came back and we all returned to find that not much was changed. Time was still passing relentlessly and Mum, who hadn't had the advantage of nectar, martial arts and mummy chasing was still miserable. And that figures, really, but... it still felt weird. She would prefer to stay in bed when she didn't work, and while her and I used to be the closest friends, she hardly had the energy to say a word. Now, I'm not much of a people person, and I know that. I wanted to talk to her about it, let her cry on my shoulder and talk about dad until the pain passed, but I didn't know how. Whenever she came home, she gave me that tired smile and went to bed, saying work had been nightmarish and busy and would we mind if she went to sleep? Of course not is what we said. And it hurt, so with my anti-people skills, I hatched a plan. I always said: when everything else fails, buy a puppy. Or maybe I didn't but now I certainly do. Mum was at work when he came and to her surprise, she came home to find a soft, brown little puppy that I'd given the theme appropriate name, Achilles. “You bought him?” she asked, but even though she looked more surprised than happy, she knelt down to pet the little guy. “Why?” “Well, I... thought we needed a dog. He can chase of burglars and... that creepy university mascot.” Aërope and Ariadne both nodded enthusiastically at that. “Isn't he cute?” Ariadne said, already smitten with the little guy. Aërope added: “Yeah, Zachary told me that having a dog will bring a family together.” Well, good thing my silly plan was approved by Aëy's boyfriend – couldn't have him not approving. For a while, we were all silent and I wondered if I had seriously messed things up this time. It wasn't like I imagined that a dog would replace dad in any kind of way, but I wanted someone there for her. She was just absentmindedly scratching Achilles behind the ear for what felt like a long time. Then she finally stood and picked him up. “He's wonderful,” she finally said. “He really is. What a good idea, Pasiphaë.” With that smile on her face, I didn't have the heart to ask her to call me Passie. I just enjoyed that first smile on her face since dad passed away. Sometimes, the ones with no people skills do win. A little. At least the dog I bought distracted Mum from Aërope and Zachary having their first kiss nearby. Or maybe she just chose to give them some space. Author's note: Woah, sorry for the lack of updates lately. I'm insane enough to have joined NaNoWriMo again this year and I'm already supposed to be working on my bachelor and... long story short: I'm insane. I'll try and actually update more in the future, at least with these chapters...
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Post by KaseOfHearts on Nov 2, 2013 12:34:52 GMT -5
Pippin is going to be so happy with this one. Hehe.
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Post by Jane.Eyre.Force on Nov 4, 2013 5:42:07 GMT -5
Oh, lovely update! I read it whilst munching down on my breakfast and have come to the decision that it was the best breakfast ever purely because I had some fantastic reading material. Pasiphaë is a brilliant narrator!
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Post by NotJustaBook on Nov 4, 2013 13:28:20 GMT -5
Oh, lovely update! I read it whilst munching down on my breakfast and have come to the decision that it was the best breakfast ever purely because I had some fantastic reading material. Pasiphaë is a brilliant narrator! Oh you! *blush* Seriously though, I'm glad you like her way of narrating She was so much fun writing, I remember - especially after Persephone's more melodramatic voice, Passie was a breath of fresh air
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Post by pervasivescariness on Nov 4, 2013 14:11:26 GMT -5
Oooh excellent chapters! My heart felt ALL THE FEELS! Achilles is freakin' adorable, btw.
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Post by NotJustaBook on Nov 5, 2013 8:42:40 GMT -5
2.1. Junkyard Girl
Why am I zooming off in the rain like that, you ask? Well, it's been nine months since Dad died and since then, I'd found myself a hobby. I was going to revolutionise the world as we all knew it – I had it all planned out. But the great inventions of a generation didn't come on their own, and so a creepy old lady told me that the junkyard was the place to go if you wanted to be a master inventor. Hence driving in the rain. Some girls might have preferred to spend their teenage years chasing after boys or... making flower arrangements (what, I don't know what normal teens do), but I preferred finding scrap at the junkyard. In the rain. I was sifting through the pile, thinking about the things I could make with the strange things I found, when a voice cut through the air. “Hey, you, are you crazy?! Get in here!” It was a boy, around my own age, I was guessing, who was waving at me from the shack on the property. I raised my eyebrow at him. “Just come in here, there's a thunder storm coming. It's dangerous being out there.” I did what he said, though not without rolling my eyes. The shack was small and other than me and the rude boy, there were a couple of other people huddled up to avoid the rain. “You know, I'm pretty sure getting hit by lightning is a very rare occurrence,” I said, and he smiled. “Well, I may have exaggerated a bit.” “You don't say.” “Well, it's because you're pretty, I mean, I guess you are, if you don't mind.” I snorted. That was the most hilariously failed flirt I'd ever experienced, so I decided to bail him out of the misery. “Yeah, I am very pretty. Would be too bad if my hair was messed up or something. Anyway, don't you think we should properly introduce ourselves? I'm Pasiphaë.” “Gesundheit.” I glared at him. Rude. “Right, I'm... Junior...” I think I was silent for a moment and then I burst out laughing. Turns out, I was pretty rude, too, and he didn't take it too well. He mumbled something about a stupid name and said he had to head off. Well, two could head off like that. I'd just had a brilliant plan for changing the world myself, so I hurried home to put some of my scrap to work. I was going to change the world! Revolutionise the universe! Just you wait, I thought, four days with me in charge and the world would soon be like a sci-fi movie... Oh, well, no rush. I started small and worked my way up, and Junior even called me later, apologising for being so rude. I did the same and had to stab myself with a nearby pencil to prevent myself from laughing when I said 'Goodbye, Junior'. Meanwhile, our little doggie wasn't such a little doggie anymore. He grew up into quite the lovely, big dog. Aëy, Ariadne and I hardly had time to celebrate our grown up doggie, though, because prom was coming. Unsurprisingly, Aërope was going with Zachary, while Ariadne and I hadn't found anyone. Ariadne had gotten herself a job at the grocery store and said she'd rather work than chase after boys. I tried out something like that: 'I'm so busy setting myself on fire and running to and from the shower – I simply don't have the time.' Then I thought, hey, I could ask, but then I didn't get further in my thoughts, because Junior. The name still made me laugh. And so, prom came, and both of us went alone, but in style.
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Post by Jane.Eyre.Force on Nov 6, 2013 9:56:35 GMT -5
'Some girls might have preferred to spend their teenage years chasing after boys or... making flower arrangements (what, I don't know what normal teens do)' <-- Okay, I love her.
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Post by NotJustaBook on Nov 6, 2013 12:26:36 GMT -5
'Some girls might have preferred to spend their teenage years chasing after boys or... making flower arrangements (what, I don't know what normal teens do)' <-- Okay, I love her. Ahaha, I'm glad you like her. Bit proud of that quote - not gonna lie.
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Post by NotJustaBook on Nov 8, 2013 10:11:28 GMT -5
2.2. I'm the Queen, Bow to Me, Peasants
Things sure did happen on the night of prom. Zachary and Aëy couldn't be torn away from each other for more than a second, as was predictable enough, but scaredy little Ariadne got in a fight. When I came home and said 'Guess who got in a fight?' she immediately said 'Oh, no, Passie, not again.' For your information, I never got in any fights before. Arguments, sure, but that's different. Me, I was made Prom Queen, for some reason. I sure didn't feel much like a queen – my grades weren't doing so well, and then there was Junior, who was there and who was too embarrassed to even talk to me, until I poked him in the ribs. We agreed that we should probably see each other again soon, and I admit, I did feel a bit red in the face when we left that night. And I tried the whole dating thing the next night. Now, I don't even want to talk about. I spoke, I said the wrong thing. He spoke, he said the wrong thing. We were both tired and I was grumpy and suffice to say it... Didn't end well. After arguing back and forth, I said we'd just be friends. The look on his face pretty much mimicked how I felt. I tried not to cry, when I spun and said 'See you at graduation'. After that, I pretty much stuck to the Junkyard. Digging through trash is more therapeutic than one might think. Maybe I should have told someone, Mum or Aëy or Ariadne. But it felt wrong. It felt like they were always moving forward, and I felt like a failure. True to what I'd said, Junior and I did stay friends, best friends, but it was always like everytime we tried to talk, there was something looming under the surface. If I was feeling particularly grumpy, we'd part and I would be sure that this time it was really over - and then he called back the next day. Friends it was, then. Inventing was the only stability in that. If I continued my inventing, maybe I would be less of a failure? Mum was getting more and more fond of Achilles – the two of them were best of friends now, and she was bringing home more and more cash every time she went to work. And life was busy shaping itself around Aërope. It always seemed like she had everything under control. Her and Zach had already planned to go live in his family's house after graduation was over. Well, all I could think was, that the sooner that part of my life was over, the better. I'd be different, I swore to myself. I wouldn't be a failure anymore... Author's note: The next couple of days, I'll try and get up quite a few updates because almost all of next week, I'll not only be away, but I'll be in a place with no Internet readily available (me, panicking, noo hahaha not at all, I'm not an Internet addict or anything). So yes, unless I'm lousy and forget, I'll put up some extra chapters the next couple of days.
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Post by KaseOfHearts on Nov 8, 2013 15:25:46 GMT -5
Yay! Young adult Ithacas! Also, Junior is adorably awkward. Let's hope he grows out of that with an age up.
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Post by NotJustaBook on Nov 9, 2013 17:23:57 GMT -5
2.3. A Mature and Responsible AdultOur first night as mature and responsible adults started out great – with a robbery. Mum woke up to find a thief in our home and when she called the police, she witnessed the deadly fight between a policewoman and the female thief. And it ended with the thief winning and running off with our shower. No, really. I don't know how she did it either. Luckily, as Mum put it, we weren't as poor as back when her and dad just had us, so we replaced the shower right away – and added a burglar alarm as well. Well, honest, we added a whole new house. It was time, after all, to not just live in a box, and I do believe what we had built instead was much more like the rest of Monte Vista. And just in time for Aëy's wedding, too. They didn't want a lot of bells and whistles, as they said. Just a simple ceremony, in the new house, with Mum and me looking on. Ariadne would have been there, but she was at work. Regardless – we all cried and then they took off to their new life. And Ariadne went with them. She smiled and said that, yeah, their house was pretty big and while ours wasn't exactly tiny, it did seem like it would be better with Aërope and Zackary. It was in the middle of the city, too. After they all left, I sat down with Mum and tried to keep my existential crisis at bay. She was reading one of her medical journals and finally looked up. “So, when are you leaving?” I almost had a heart attack. “You want me to go?” “Oh, no, I just thought it would be easier to take over the world from the town centre. There aren't that many minions in this part of Monte Vista.” “Oh, I... yeah...” Honestly, the idea of getting by on my own seemed as foreign as taking over the world by now. How could I take over the world, if I couldn't even contain my grumpy nature long enough to have a nice date with a guy that I liked? Mum looked worried, so I quickly plastered a smile on my face and said: “Don't think you'll get rid of me that easily! I'm not going anywhere. I can... take over the world from here.” The Next day was graduation. I looked and felt equally stupid as they handed me my report card – a B. Both my sister had As, and I left from there with the dubious honour of being dubbed 'The One Most Likely to Be Mediocre'. Everything I'd been going through lately, summed up in what my classmates actually thought of me. Prom Queen? More like Pity Queen, I thought. I tried figuring out what I'd do with my life. I should go find a job, but of course there was my inventing... it just didn't seem like something I could do with the rest of my life. The rest of my life! Me, an inventor? In those days, it felt impossible. And so, I ran away. Author's note: The flat I'm going to stay in next week does have wireless. Wooooo! So expect regular updates!
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Post by PeregrineTook on Nov 9, 2013 19:10:02 GMT -5
Passie is lovely and wonderful!!! Thanks for making the redhead the heir, exactly as should always be the case. Loving this storyline and the Greek name theme throughout.
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