The Cottoneye Witches of Monte Vista -- FAILED, Please move to Graveyard

[Rhoxi]

Aw, so nice to see pictures of the new University stuff! I can't wait to send my sims there. I like that the sim takes a suitcase and everyone waves goodbye. They don't do that for vacations or boarding school, right? Anyway, it's cute.

[RainBeau]

Hurray for University!

[maisie]

I really like Aurelia's university style, especially the glasses and your explanation of them. 
I'm so happy that university gives some new plot options!

[MarianT]

Chapter Four – Happy Birthday to…

Dear Diana,

   I have to agree that Woden and Valor are absolutely adorable. The sad but happy truth is that they won’t stay that way for long. Or maybe I should say they’ll always be adorable, just not toddlers.

   Anyway, I aced both my exams, which made me happy. I spent the next day fishing and now require fewer than 100 fish for my supermax.



   When the van came I was sorry to leave, but glad to return home.
 


   I handed over the strange seed to Mom. She did some research and examined the seed herself. Finally she decided to plant it in a pot in Qusul’s room. She’s given me strict instructions to leave it alone. She was a little disappointed that it went dormant, like the other seeds outdoors, but she said it’s probably just as well. I asked her what she expected to happen, and she said we would all find out in good time.



   Qusul, by the way, has been acting mysteriously – more mysteriously than usual. The other night he was looking through the telescope when suddenly he dashed off to a house where no one lives. He says that he spotted a meteor fall and went to collect it. That sounds plausible, but I’m still suspicious.



   I’ve upgraded Venice Beach a bit more, with some lounge chairs and a fake sea serpent. I haven’t bought a building yet; I’m saving my pennies for Dr. Simano’s Sanitorium.



   As I was saying, toddlers don’t stay that way for long. It seems like just yesterday that Virgil was playing with his rabbit, but now he’s a teenager. Dad showed up for his birthday, which was sweet.



   Except for his blond hair, Virgil inherited his features from his father. I think he’s a remarkably good-looking young man.



Here’s his everyday outfit:



His formal:



His sleepwear:



Athletic wear:



And swimsuit:



   Virgil plans to make the martial arts his supermax skill. I don’t know yet what his career will be.



   We had another birthday yesterday as well. Mine. I look upon it not as the end of my youth but as the beginning of my mid-life crisis.



   Do you know a good cure for wrinkles? Love, Aurelia

[Magz from Oz]

Good luck to Virgil trying to supermax Martial Arts.  He looks nice aged up to teen.  Haha, if you find the cure for wrinkles pass it on!

[RainBeau]

I agree that Virgil is good-looking. What was Qusul up to? Hmmm, we'll have to wait and find out.

I like that sea serpent--it looks vaguely familiar, but I can't place it. Where did it come from?

[Rhoxi]

Oo, yes! A Qusul-plant sim! I love it!

[maisie]

Oo, yes! A Qusul-plant sim! I love it!

I totally agree! 
Virgil is quite a good-looking young man, the planks have to be careful. 
Besides, I really love the first picture wih the sunset.

[MarianT]

Chapter Five – Good-bye, Old Friend

Dear Diana,

   I was very sorry to hear that your father died. I know you’ll miss him, but I’m glad you were able to be with him when he died.

   We’ve had a death in the family, too – Uncle Camillo. Earlier today, Mom suggested that I go in and talk to him while he was painting.



We chatted for a bit, but I didn’t say anything really serious before I went off to fish. Not long after that, he died.



Grim came for him, and everyone began crying. I wish now that I’d thanked him for all his paintings and all the delicious meals he prepared. He devoted his life to us, and I think we all took him for granted. Uncle Cam was 100 when he died, and he left us with 50 servings of ambrosia (all preserved in the food replicators in Mom’s bedroom.



   Afterward, I talked to Mom a bit. I felt sad, but I wasn’t feeling the “immortal guilt” that others seem to feel. Mom said that was because Uncle Cam was older than I was, and so it was natural for him to die first. She said she wasn’t feeling it either, but she expected that it would hit her when Beppe died, and it would probably hit me when Virgil’s yet-unknown wife departed. That was one reason why she insisted we each have only one child.

   Speaking of children, I have to do some bragging about Virgil. Friday evening he started learning how to ice skate.




By Saturday afternoon, he was spinning like a member of the Ice Capades.



   Saturday night he went to his prom. I asked him if he met any nice girls there, and he said there weren’t any girls at all. He may not meet anyone he can marry until he goes to university.



   On a more cheerful note, we finally found out why Qusul went to get that meteor the other night. It turned out to carry a message from his people, specifically from someone he called “Delta Sector Commander.” The message was a request for more music boxes. Apparently they have a soothing effect on the big fuzzy pink monsters on Qusul’s home planet. So Qusul has been reinstated and promoted and given the assignment to procure as many music boxes as possible.



   He and Mom are cute together. They spend hours just sitting on the porch and rocking. He’s 90 now, and I think Mom will miss him a lot when he dies.



   Okay, I am not going to say one more word about anyone dying. Do you want to hear something funny? I walked on water the other day. No, I wasn’t ice-skating, and I wasn’t using my broom. I just ran across the river like it was land. Very strange.



   Good luck with Woden! I am so glad I didn’t have to worry about Virgil making the honor roll. And while we’re on the subject of updates, Venice Beach is now a level 3 venue, and I only have 40 more fish to catch. That should be fairly easy now that spring is here and the ice has melted.

Much love, Aurelia

[RainBeau]

No talk of Qusul dying! I think he comes from a long-lived people and he will stay with Mercy a lot longer

[MarianT]

Chapter Six – Cold Spring

Dear Diana,

   Although spring has arrived, it seems as if the cold weather will never go away. The poppies bloomed despite the frost on the ground.



We even had a springtime gnome appear in the garden, the first gnome since those tombstones a while back.



   Nevertheless, the pond stayed frozen enough for Qusul to skate upon it, and the garden remained dormant.



Sadly, Mom’s attempt to grow a forbidden fruit for Qusul to harvest didn’t work out. She transplanted it to the garden too soon, and when he tried to harvest it, the plant was dead. He did get another seed, though, which Mom planted as soon as the weather warmed up.

   I’m afraid that wasn’t soon enough for Qusul. The first warm evening I was outside, when I had a funny feeling. Sure enough, Qusul was dying.



We were all upset, but Mom felt it the most. The worst was when Qusul pleaded to stay a little longer because he didn’t want to let Mom down. “You have never let me down!” she sobbed. “You have always been the dearest of friends.”



   Her grief was so intense that she didn’t even notice when Beppe fainted.



Of course, Beppe can faint at the drop of a hat, or the appearance of the stray cat’s ghost.



I’ve tried to tell him that the stray cat obviously had a happy life and its ghost wouldn’t hurt a beetle, but still he faints. I’m going to keep him anyway. The other night, he had a romantic surprise for me – he took me to “our” beach for a balloon ride!



   We shared a bottle of sparkling cider.



When our ride was over, we spent a little private time together before returning home.



   Virgil tried to lighten his grandmother’s mood, but I’m not sure his method worked the way he hoped it would.



Mom just sighed and said boys would be boys. Virgil confided later that he wished she’d gotten mad at him. I didn’t know whether to scold him or comfort him. He’s a good boy, basically. And very brave. A little too brave, sometimes, as when he tried a mind meld with the Grim Reaper.



Virgil said he didn’t learn anything from Grim, which is fine with me.

   Mom and I are both concerned about Virgil’s future because there aren’t any girls at his school. We had decided that he would have to marry someone from college. A plantsim member of the household wouldn’t have changed anything because Qusul was the only one who could have harvested it. While the plantsim couldn’t have married Virgil, he might have been able to marry Virgil’s daughter, assuming he had a daughter.

   With Qusul gone, everything changed.  Someone would have to harvest the forbidden fruit, and it couldn’t be any of us. So Mom invited over one of her friends and explained the situation.



I don’t know how coherent an explanation Mom gave, but Janet agreed to move in. She’s a little younger than I am and has a green thumb, which means she’ll be a good “mother” to the baby plant.



   In exchange for leaving her old life behind, she gets a makeover, a comfortable bed, and the opportunity to achieve her life’s ambition of becoming a fashion phenomenon.



Flirting with Beppe, however, is not part of the bargain, something I hope she realizes soon.



   I’ll leave you with a picture of the graveyard we’re beginning to landscape. It’s at the eastern edge of our property, where it gets the first light of the day.



Hope all is well with you and yours. Love, Aurelia

[Anna33]

Rip. Qusul the alien. You have surely made many people laugh, including me.

[Magz from Oz]

Oh so sad that Qusul has passed.  RIP.  I sort of hoped he'd be around for his own story somewhere... maybe in another dimension?

[RainBeau]

Ah. Too sad. Good bye Qusul, you were my favourite 

Virgil should just marry the pretty lady who moved in!

[Audren]

RIP Qusul. May you pass on to a land full of music boxes.