Wednesday 27 February 2013

3:16 The Meaning Of Friendship

After screaming the house down for close to forty-five minutes, and pulling at various peoples legs, Kaity finally managed to convince Madison and the Lansing children to stay without having to say too much.
She couldn't bring herself to tell her beloved cousin that if she had gone to visit her fathers grave, she would not have come home. What would have happened to her after that, she didn't know. And she could only hope that stopping her from going tonight had changed things and she would never have to find out. Besides, it was Kaity's birthday in just a few days, and she'd be starting school. She wasn't too fussed about school, she'd rather sit in the library and teach herself, but she could see the advantages of spending time with her peers too. She may be a genius, but she wasn't socially inept, and she knew having friends outside the family would help her out as she grew older.

Madison watched the young girl, effortlessly making even this battered old xylophone sound good, and wondered what had got her so panicky earlier. She seemed calm as anything now, like any child her age should. She had refused to sleep though, so Madison had decided to stay up with her until she was tired. Taylor had offered, but she had work in the morning, and Madison had forced her to bed.

A couple of hours later, Kaity started to get sleepy, so Madison tucked her in.
"No more dreams tonight, okay honey?" Kaity nodded sleepily, and Madison left her to sleep.

She headed downstairs, to get some sleep herself, and was surprised to find Taylor sitting at the table, crying.

 She took the other seat opposite her, and wondered the best approach. She had a pretty good idea of what was wrong, though.
"I told you to go to bed." She scolded playfully. "Go on, spill."
"It's Kaity." Taylor replied, after taking a few seconds to compose herself. "I don't know what to do, Madi! First the nightmares, and now... Well, I don't even know what that was today! She just freaked out and I have no idea why."

The room fell silent for a few minutes, as the sisters thought about the evenings events.
"She did seem very insistant that we stay in. I wonder why?" Madison asked to the room, knowing Taylor didn't know the answer either.

"I just wish I could help her." Taylor said quietly, as a fresh wave of tears flooded her cheeks. Madison looked at her sister, and wished she knew what to say. "If any of this has anything to do with... With her..." Taylor's tone had changed to anger, and she creased her nose in disgust as she spat out her last words. "I swear to God, Madi. I don't care if I go to jail for life, I'll do whatever it takes to get her to leave us all alone."
"Tay, you don't mean that. Sure, she's a dirty evil bitch, but if you did anything..." Madison knew exactly who her sister meant. She sighed as she tried to find the words to explain herself. "Just don't stoop to her level, Tay. You're better than that. You're better than her. You're a brilliant, kind, loving mother, aunt and sister, and she's nothing but scum." Taylor looked up at Madison, and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Thank you, Madi." She forced a smile, and jumped out of her chair, rounded the small table, and pulled her sister out of the chair and into a tight hug.

Madison was a little shocked by her sudden movements, but soon responded, wrapping her arms around her sister and pulling her closer.
"I promise you, Tay, we can get through anything together." Taylor rested her forehead on Madison's shoulder as she started crying once again.
"Madi, I love you, you know that right?"

"Of course I do! I love you too, and honestly, we can get through anything. I mean it."

_____

"All hail Queen Shaena! Ruler of the toybox, and most beautiful Queen in all Simnation! May all her loyal subjects know that today is her birthday!" Shaena had been over-the-top excited at school all day, and had even got into a little trouble for it. It wasn't just that it was her birthday, meaning she started high school tomorrow, but it was her triplet cousins birthday too. Which meant finally she and Kaity could go out to places together and do real best friend things.

It wasn't long until the party was in full swing and Shaena blew out her candles. The triplets didn't have cakes of their own, it would have not only have cost too much money, but it would have made endless cake leftovers that would most likely never get eaten. The Mattells in general ate healthily, and cake was a very rare special treat.

Shaena looked around the small gathering of family and close friends. It was mainly family. Summer and Layla were here, but Summer was practically family, while Layla surely would be one day. Shaena had hoped Summer would bring Bonnie, her daughter, as she wasn't much older than the triplets and would have made a good distraction for Rose and Jake so she and Kaity could sneak into a different room after the ritual. It didn't matter too much though, there were enough people to distract them so they could be left alone.

 The party guests were being well entertained by the family members, and the house was filled with chatting and laughter, so Shaena and Kaity headed upstairs for some private time.

"Shae, I need to tell you something, but I need you to promise you'll never tell anyone. Ever. I mean it." Kaity looked deadly serious, and Shaena was a little worried.
"I promise, Kait. Your secrets will always be safe with me."

"I have dreams and nightmares. But I don't think they're the same as what everyone else has." Kaity started. Shaena was giving her her full attention, so she carried on. "They're really real, and they feel different to normal dreams. It's like I'm standing there, watching something happen, but there's nothing I can do to stop it."
"Kaity, everyone has dreams that feel real, it's nothing to worry about."
"No, this is different." Kaity wondered if she should really be saying anything at all, what could this kind of information do to Shaena? "They come true."

Shaena looked to her feet, wondering whether to believe her cousin.
"Shae, I didn't want to tell you this, but the night before you asked to go see your Dad's grave..." Kaity trailed off, seeing Shaena's eyes light with recognition, clearly remembering how she'd made such a fuss about them not going. She still hadn't been, but hoped to go in the next day or so, as her mother had promised.
"What happened in the dream?" She questioned. As Kaity decided how much to tell her, she took a deep breath.
"I saw you, Luis and Aunt Madison at his grave. You were all dressed up, like it was a special occasion, and it was a full moon. I couldn't hear anything, it was like a silent movie, but a man appeared in a flash of blue light behind you. Your Mum grabbed you and pulled you out the way, and it looked like Luis was protecting you both. He looked angry and you were crying. The man pushed him to the side, and then tried to grab you. Your Mum fought him, and you fell over, but quickly got up again when the man pushed her to the ground too. And then he took your hand and you looked terrified."
"And then what?" Shaena couldn't believe her cousin had stopped there.
"And then it ended and I woke up. I think he was going to kidnap you or something, but I can't be sure." Shaena stood there in stunned silence for a minute. She was about to reply when Jake came in.

"Mummy says it's bedtime, Kaity. It's eleven thirty and we start school tomorrow. She also says don't expect to be allowed up this late every night." Jake continued walking through to the bathroom, presumably to wash up before bed.
"Yeah, wait a minute, Jake. She'll be in bed soon." Shaena was annoyed by the interruption at such a crucial point in the conversation.

"We should probably go to bed, Shae"
"No, wait! Do you promise to tell me every dream you have?"

Kaity turned to leave the room as she replied.
"Yeah, I guess. Look, we'll talk about this more another time, you start high school tomorrow so you should probably get some sleep too."

_____

"I seriously feel like I've not seen you in years, Summer! We need to catch up more often!"
"Oh, God, I totally agree, Tay. Can you believe we've both got kids in school now?"
The party was winding down, it was gone midnight, and as it was a Thursday night, all the guests had either work or school the next day. There were still a few milling around. Taylor didn't mind, but the few who were left she didn't even know. They must've either been guests of guests, or crashers.

"I know! Feels like just yesterday we were at high school! Hey, how about you sleep over, like old times? Bonnie's at her Dad's, so you don't have to be home til after she's finished school tomorrow. You can sleep in my bed with me." She pointed to her bedroom door as she finished, as if Summer didn't know where her best friend's bedroom was.
"I'd love that, Tay!" Summer smiled at the idea of feeling like a kid again.
"Ok, I'll just kick these guys out."

_____

The girls had been talking on the end of Taylor's bed for close to three hours, and the conversation had drifted to Kaity and her dreams. Taylor took advantage of her lifelong friend being here, and poured out her heart, spilling tears as she went.
"I just don't know what to do! What if they don't go away as she gets older? What if she has these nightmares for the rest of her life?" Taylor didn't expect a response, and she didn't get one. Summer just held her tighter. As a human, she'd not had any experiance of things like this, until Bonnie was born, the Mattells were the only connection she had to the supernatural. It was different with Bonnie, though. She was a vampire, like her father, and he was always around to support her and give advice. "I'm sorry, Sum. You don't need to hear this, and it's getting... Early. Maybe we should get some sleep? I have to be up and ready to leave the house in 5 hours."

The girls pushed up off the bench at the end of the bed, and settled themselves on top of the covers. They still had no intention of sleeping, as Taylor's nightwear, and the shirt she'd pulled out for Summer to wear, still lay on the floor where they'd left them.
"Sorry, Summer. How's things with you and Bonnie? You realise you've never properly told me what happened between you and Cortez?" Summer sighed.
"Best get comfortable, Tay. It's a long 'un."

Taylor rolled herself over onto her back, and pulled the pillow under her neck.
"Done. Spill."
"Well... It all started when we got drunk... Well, no... You know when it started, you were there, but this bit started when we got drunk. We weren't out together. He was out for someone's bachelor party, and I was just catching up with Chiquita. Chi had to go, you know what crazy hours she works, but I didn't want to yet. So I figured I'd just have a couple more drinks, and then call it a night. Then Cortez spots me, and comes over. He kept buying shots. Rounds for the group he was with, but he'd get me one every time as well. I should have stopped hours before I did, but before I knew it, it was closing time. He practically carried me to a taxi, and had to help me to my door. I insisted he stay, and he was in no fit state t think straight himself. So then, well, you can work this next bit out... And then when I was pregnant with Bonnie, he took me out to dinner once or twice, but it was just so awkward and I figured it'd never work, and I should just accept the fact that I'd followed in my mothers footsteps and was destined to be a single mother."

"And after Bonnie was born, obviously I wasn't going to stop him from seeing her, so he came round loads when she was too young to stay with him overnight. And so we ended up spending loads of time together, and then... I dunno, he just asked me to try dating again, and I said yes. And the rest, they say, is history..." Taylor giggled at the cliched way her friend ended her story.
"That's a sweet story. I hope I can find someone one day."
"Aw, Tay. You will! Don't forget you've got like a billion more years than me!" Both girls were suddenly saddned by the thought of Summer dying. It wasn't long before she'd be old and grey and thinking of retirement. Taylor was still in her prime, and it was horrible seeing her best friend age. They'd been through everything together, and Taylor didn't want to imagine life without her.
"Uh, Summer... It's three thirty. I really need to get some sleep..."
"Oh, God! Ok, lets get some sleep."








I apologise for how jumpy the party/birthdays are. I had save errors and just aged them and then threw another party in the end.

Blurry! Sorry. I think from day one Kaity was winning, but Rose caught up near the end. Because of Rose's popularity, I'll make sure she has a big part throughout her child and teen years, don't worry :)
Oh, I decorated the rest of the house now! And it's all fully furnished :)
Sorry, no more chairs though! Eek... 
 And now for the age-up picture spam:
Good, Friendly, Artistic and Brooding
Excitable, Clumsy and Absent-Minded
Loner, Brave and Loves the Outdoors
And your heir:
Genius, Clumsy and Family Oriented

15 comments:

  1. I'm glad Kaity has Shaena to talk to to, and Taylor has Madi and Summer.
    I loved Summer's story bout her and Cortez.

    The kids all aged up nicely. Shaena is really pretty!
    I'm glad Kaity convinced Madi not to go to the cemetery. I wonder who was trying to kidnap her? Trish still up to her tricks, or are there new evil types after her now? She's obviously got interesting abilities that baddies would love to get their hands on.
    I'm looking forward to Kaity's generation!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kaity and Shaena are going to go through a lot together. They really need each other, and they're both going to have to be open with each other to get through it.

    Summer's story is something I planned out when they were children! I of course, had to intervene, as they weren't going to play along on their own, but Summer ages to elder in 4 days :( so I figured I should tell somebody else their story before it was too late.

    Shaena looks a LOT like Geoffrey. She also looks a lot older, when I was proofing this, I got to her picture and thought I'd accidentally aged her to YA :|
    Kaity's chin, however, annoys me. I hope it goes at teen stage, because it was fine in the YA previews I did. And her nose is huge in profile, and it wasn't in CAS as YA... I'm a little worried that she'll look completely different!
    Anyway, I'm looking forward to Kaity's generation too, there are a few 'years' yet, but her storyline starts now anyway.
    Also, I'm really pissed off that witches have no powers in childhood. Hmph. >:(

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yay for a new chapter up! I swear I'll have something up by the end of this week. Birthdays galore! Gracious! And the crashers are why I just don't throw parties. I'll invite over anyone if I want them there and just do cake then.
    Poor Kaity! Though at least she has Shaena to talk to. That's a big burden for a child to carry. Hopefully, she'll be able to cope alright.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The original party had no crashers. When I threw the mock-up party there were three. I wouldn't have had to throw a party if Layla wasn't a loner. Not that it makes any sense, but she refuses to come over or go out or go on a date with Luis, but she'll come to a party and meet all his distant relatives! I can't even ask her to go steady. But I think thats because Luis has the 'naughty' reputation. No idea why...

      This will be the last one with so many birthdays, I have toddler and child stages both set to 7 days, and so it just worked out that Shaena and the triplets shared two birthdays.

      Kaity's body may be child-like, but she has an adult brain and can handle a lot more than you think. I hope. She'll need to if she's going to cope with the new torture I'm sending her way...

      Delete
    2. Huh? I had no idea Loners wouldn't do any of that. Wow. Then again, if ever I need Anthony to come over I just MC "add sim", and Bam! There he is. Right where I need him. Though he invites Layla over ALL the time. Shoot. I'd just MC their relationship handle to what you want it to be. If their relationship bar is high enough I don't see it as cheating. You've obviously done the work then.
      A Naughty reputation huh? Has anyone else flirted with him by chance? Or has an inappropriate sim kissed him?

      Delete
    3. Well, seeing as I did all the relationship stuff at the prom in a seperate save, I assumed it wouldn't count as cheating to MC their relationship up when I dropped her in the legacy town. As a 'tax', I didn't pull it all the way, but if I can't get them together I'd just gunna MC marry them before I move Luis out.
      But yeah, Layla is really annoying and totally hates me. Glad I dropped her next door, really...

      I realised after saying about the naughty reputation, that at his REAL prom, he met a girl and got a romantic interest even though they're still aqquaintances.
      She wears a horse riding hat, and I don't like her.

      Delete
  4. I'm glad that Kaity told Shaena about her dream, I hope the two of them can find a way of understanding it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They will work it out eventually, at the moment it's still fairly new. There will be testing involved, and hopefully nobody gets hurt! But I'm glad that they're in this together too.

      Delete
  5. Now that I see them aged a little more... Jake is getting cute!

    Mkay, so everyone aged up. \o/
    I hope Kaity's dreams don't freak out Shae. Then, what if the girls trying to keep the dreams from happening means that they made it happen. that makes my head start spinning the more I think about it.

    So THATS the story of Summer and Cortez. :D Cute. I love the whole 'and then I had another drink, and then I had another drink, then I realized I should've stopped but it was too late...' I just shook my head and laughed.
    I'm hoping it works out for those two.
    Oh, and the thought of Summer dying and Taylor living on is just really to effing sad to think much on.

    Haven't seen Madi doing much karaoke singing lately....

    Oh, and the saving thing/crashing thing. I don't know about the crashing thing. Has to be some CC.
    As for saving, are you getting the error code 12 or 16?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think Jake and Rose are both cute children, I'm very angry at Kaity and her weird chin. She best grow into it by teen years, because I know she looks fine as an adult.

      I think Kaity's dreams freak Kaity out, so I'd assume Shaena is freaked out! The whole 'trying to stop it makes it happen anyway' scenario (like the film series 'Final Destination') is probably not something I could work my head around. It probably won't happen because my brain isn't very big and might short-circuit... So basically, if they stop a dream, they probably won't have to worry about it again.

      Lol, I think most people have realised they've had too much to drink when it was too late, so I used that to make it easily relatable. Most of my storylines are so unbelievable that there had to be something normal in there, and I figured because she was human she could be normal.
      I hope it does too!
      It is, isn't it? Thing is, cus Cortez is a vampire, he'll live on too. But don't worry, we still have to meet Bonnie. Need to keep my background legacy going, so it goes without saying that Bonnie and Kaity will be best friends :)

      Lol, maybe because it's been about 3 days? Haha, she only has to do 5 hours a week, and I probably won't feature it I just had to write it into the story. Which reminds me, I need pics of Taylor doing gym-time. I originally had a whole scene in a different chapter of what happened at the gym, but that whole 'what was I thinking?' thing happened and I scrapped it.
      Look: here's some proof!
      http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f119/kezpez/Mattell%20legacy/Screenshot-446_zpsf954c2e7.jpg
      That's her coming home from the gym all thoughtful!

      The crashing thing is because I'm playing on a laptop that barely reaches the requirements for the settings I run the game on. I'm mainly getting error code 12's, but I've had a few 16's too. I've looked it up and tried all the steps, but in reality the issues come back to my laptop...

      Delete
    2. I forever name all my save something different (i.e. MV Skye17 was right after Skye was born in Monte Vista and I forgot the number I was on so I put 17, and I don't know why I had to tell you all that because now it looks silly like I'm rambling but I do that. O.o ) That's a major way to avoid that SUPER annoying error. I once had to delete all my saves. Thank God all I was doing at the time was Queen of Denial and I just saved families to the simbin. Rambling again.

      Is plastic surgery allowed? I've been wondering that and been too lazy to really find out since it looks like Link will be my heir unless the one that needs to be born is magical and female and pretty. /sigh. Anyway, that was brought up because you saying that about Kaity's chin. Just a tweak?

      Oh yeah, it HAS only been three days LMAO. You'd think I'd understand that of all people.
      Yep yep yep I know all about the scrap it thing.

      Cortez IS a vampire. Funny how that didn't occur to me while thinking about Summer dying. So centered around the main family am I, but I guess that's not bad.
      Your storylines are believable because its sims and we forgive 'unreal' things. :)

      That whole 'it happens b/c they don't want it to happen therefore they cause it' thing really is somewhat difficult to do. It's stuff related to that that's the reason AMiT is in suspension. (got 3 chapters written tho. Marge rocks.) Short circuit LOL.

      Delete
    3. Rambling is fine. :)
      I would do the save as thing, but then the main menu crashes because it has to load too much :| I've taken most of my saves out of the 'saves' folder, and saved them to desktop, just leaving in the ones I actually need (I have problems letting go. I still have the family I started when I first got basegame, I moved them across when I got this laptop, and they're on about generation 12 I think. I haven't played them in over a year at least, but I might do one day, so they're hanging around) because it speed up the time it take to load to main menu so much! (it used to be 10 minutes, now it's more like 2! From main menu to family is still 20 odd minutes though.)

      I can't see why it wouldn't be? As long as you save up for it, I can't see a problem. Kaity's chin is fine as an adult, and I can't actually see it while I'm playing, so it's not the end of the world really.

      ;) yeah, you should understand time going slowly hehe.

      I'm not worried that you're focused around the main family, the townies featured are more for me, because everyone they know outside the home has their own elaborate story. I sometimes wonder if I should write a separate blog about my townies, but then I'd have to go and take pictures of them. Nah, too hard with 7 sims running around.

      Ooft, I don't envy you! I think my brain would explode (it might do while I read it, I'll let you know...). Good luck! I'm just going to take the easy route out ;)

      Delete
  6. Aw, I voted for Rose! I'm not too heartbroken though, lol. Kaity's neat too. Interesting thing, with her dreams. Oh and Shaena turned out very pretty too! That was a sweet story about Cortez.

    Is the old witch still alive? I was wondering if she had anything to do with Kaity's dreams, or if that's just her witchy qualities coming out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aw, well she's got some torment and torture coming her way too, don't worry :)
      Shaena did turn out pretty! She's a female version of Geoffrey but with Madison hair colour (and nose, I think. Geoffrey had quite a bit nose)
      Cortez is a big loveable teddy bear in my mind :) People are scared because he's a vampire, but he's harmless and sweet. None of that will feature in the story, I don't think.

      I hope Trisha is still alive, because Taylor has to finally end this lifelong thing! I will say that she has nothing to do with the dreams though, that's something that Kaity got from being a witch mixed with a fairy. I don't have twallans hybrid, but *SPOILER ALERT* I am planning on getting it and I think I might get Kaity to grow wings when she's either teen or YA. Rose is full witch, Jake is full fairy, and Kaity is both, they just don't know it.
      And.. uh... neither do you... ;)
      I might not do that, though. I'm not 100% yet. Depends how sick I get of sparkly wings, I have 4 pairs in the house constantly right now, and then when I have parties an extra 3 pairs come in and it's just rainbow chaos.

      Delete
  7. I think that Shaena was right to have Kaity tell her nightmares to her from now on. I'm glad that she seemed to believe her.

    Kaity seems like she will make a very interesting heir and I hope that she and Shaena will remain close.

    Maybe soon Taylor will find out that Kaity's nightmares are really visions and stop worrying about her so much.

    ReplyDelete