For Eternity ~ A Shallow Immortal Dynasty (2/12/13 Outtakes)

[Turoskel]

I actually failed to mention it, although it's sort of hinted at by her reading, it's bookworm.

Oh, I feel for Pat, it seemed he wanted Zahra to adopt him too.

So did I, it was almost sad the way his doll just followed them about as normally it was by Kelly's bed but he stayed in the nursery the entire time Zahra was sleeping in there.

[Turoskel]

Disclaimer: Imsety's story described in this chapter is just from my over active imagination and did not actually take place in my game.

Chapter 84: Secrets Of Egypt

Sleeping in the nursery is okay but it was never meant to be a permanent arrangement, after all this room will be needed again in the future. The dolls keep her company like little night lights scaring away the dark.



Next morning and her dad has a surprise in store.

"Come with me I have something to show you."



"Oh dad I love it, thank you!".



"Zahra let me ask you a question, do you know how old I am?".



"You're eighty eight."

"What if I told you it was actually nearer two hundred and eighty eight."

"But that would make you as old as Grandpa Stone."



"Slightly older in fact, I'm going to tell you something now I've never told anybody, not even your mother."

"Oooh a story I like stories."

"I know you do sweetheart, but this one is special, this one is a true story."



"As soon as I was big enough to hold a rod my father taught me to fish, often we would go to Water in the Sand together to catch crocodiles and mummy fish,  but this day my father was unable to join me so I went alone, but the fish were not biting that day instead my rod caught on something else in the pond, something heavy, with a struggle I managed to lift it out of the water."



"It was a lamp and it looked like it was made of solid gold but it was hard to tell under all the slime from the pond so I dipped it back in the water to wash it off then dried it with my scarf, as I was drying it though something strange happened, the lamp got warm and smoke started to pour from the spout, next thing I knew a strange blue lady was standing before me, she said her name was Molly and that she could grant me three wishes."

"Wow you found a genie!".

"Indeed I did."

"So what did you wish for?".



"I was just coming to that part, well I was no different to most teenagers I suppose, everybody seems so old when you are that age, so I wished to stay young, Molly granted my wish by telling me how I could stay young forever, you see hidden in the Pyramid of the Sky next to the pond where I fished was a life plant, the very same type of plant your ancestors use to make ambrosia only there are no death fish in Egypt so I could only keep age at bay one day at a time."



"But while I stayed the same the world around me changed, my sister grew up and got married and my parents grew old, at first my family questioned why I had stopped growing but after a while they just decided that was as tall as I was going to be and left it at that, I thought about telling them the truth but I knew my father would be mad at me for keeping such secrets so I kept quiet. In the end I never did find the courage to tell them, instead I watched them all pass one by one till only I remained."

"I got very lonely as the years passed and began to wonder if I should not stop eating the life fruit, I took to traveling for something to do which is how I came to find myself in Riverview, the school was doing a foreign exchange program and I met your grandmother there, we remained friends and I visited Riverview and this house often, I was very envious of Kelly and her loving family It reminded me of what I had been missing all these years so as I still had two wishes left I asked Molly if I would ever find that sort of love, she told me I would find love when I found the purple tree."

"A very cryptic answer but one that proved true,  I still remember that day when she answered the door with her unruly purple hair tied up in plaits and said "Hello Imsety." like she had known me all her life, which in a way she had but it was only at that moment I realised here she was, my purple tree, my Willow.



"That was when I decided the one thing I wished for more than anything else was to have a normal life once more and a family, I didn't need to ask Molly to fulfill that wish, it had already come true and all I had to do now was wait, but I got impatient and tried to tell her when we met one day at the library, she reacted unfavourably to say the least but as you can see I won her over in time."

"Oh dad that was so sweet, and soppy." giggles

"That was when I stopped eating the life fruit only time caught up with me far faster than I expected it to. I have everything I ever wished for now so I no longer need that last wish, that one will be yours Zahra, use it wisely."

"I will daddy, I promise."

[Nettlejuice]

Zahra's room is gorgeous. I loved that the lamp was in the foreground while Imsety told his story.

[Turoskel]

Chapter 85: Long Overdue

"What do you think Buddy, should I rub it?".



"Go on Zahra, wish for a pony."

"But I don't want a pony, no I'm going to save it for something special, I just want to meet Molly, my very own Genie."



"Hello Molly, my names Zahra, daddy says you are mine now."

"Yes so he told me, he also told me some other things to."

"Like what?."

"Like not to give you a pony for starters."



"Well I don't want one anyway, so what wishes can you grant me?".

"Well I can grant you a longer life."

"Longer than Immortality?".



"Well no, that's not possible."

"Okay not that one then, what else?"

"Wealth beyond your wildest dreams."

"I don't think we need any more money, mummy says we already have lots of that."

"Hmmm, Well I can bring people back from the dead."

"Really? I better hide you, if Gran finds you she might use my wish to get Grandad Dallas back, that would be bad. I guess I'll just hang on to my wish for now, thanks anyway Molly."



"So Zahra welcome to your first official ghost hunting assignment, today we shall be scanning Remington's Ruse for spirits."

"Do you think we will find any?".

"I'm almost sure of it, it's well known about town that this house is haunted, so are you ready?".

"Absolutely, I'm not afraid of ghosts."

"Good thing too considering where we live."



"Hmm nothing in here, lets go check out upstairs."



"No ghosts under here Buddy."




"What was that?".



"Eww you're not like our ghosts."



"Ah electrocution, you must be Jasper Remington then, pleased to meet you sir I'm Imsety Amin local Ghost Hunter."

"Ghost Hunter?".

"Yes but it's nothing to worry about, technically it's my night off I'm just amusing my daughter, she wanted to see what I did."

"So you brought her to a haunted house? isn't that a bit strange?."

"Hmm yes I guess it would look that way to an outsider, trust me though she's seen plenty of ghosts, nothing much fazes my Zahra."



"I understand you were a bit of an eccentric inventor in your day, my great grandfather in law is one too, he made me this banshee banisher it works a treat."

"Oh that's nice, yes I can see what he did there, very impressive work."

"Yes he adapted it from the harvester design my wife uses to harvest her plants, instead of fruit it sucks up spirits and deposits them into a handy jar."



Well most of the time anyway.



Tonight it was definitely on the blink.



"Ouch, I'm getting too old for all this."



Apparently somebody else thought so too, the following afternoon Imsety greeted his wife home from work with a kiss then passed away aged 90, give or take a few hundred years.



But he wasn't sad, he'd lived an extremely long life and got everything he'd wished for, almost.



"Why now? you waited this long for him a few more days wouldn't have hurt, he'd almost fulfilled his lifelong dream couldn't you have given him that."

"Imsety was long overdue and you know it, in fact all of you are, you're lucky I only took him."



Well he wont be getting any more from this family, not if I can help it.

[Turoskel]

Chapter 86: Best Buddy

"Molly, you said you can bring people back from the dead, can you bring my daddy back."

"Yes it is true I can do that but I promised your father I wouldn't."



"But I just wished it! you have to do what I wish for!".

"No Zahra you just asked if I could, that is very different to wishing for it, look I know you are upset but your father was right, one day you will understand that."



Broken hearted Willow retreated to her comfort zone, her garden, but even there the dead plants mocked her reminding her of her loss.



In vain she tried to revive them but death's hold was too firm this day.



But life goes on and things need to be finished, I wish I didn't have to paint this sad little girl, that I could wait a little longer but time is running out.



By the time I do her sculpture tears have turned to anger, I know it all as I have been there myself far too many times now, I just hope this will be the last time we lose a loved one.



The end comes ever closer and finally I will be able to keep that promise I made so long ago.



Zahra had her birthday, she's always had a certain charismatic charm about her that has only got stronger as she's grown.



And Buddy had his.



While she still feels sad at times she is coming to terms with it slowly.



She has taken to singing the songs her father used to sing, unfortunately she didn't inherit his lovely voice, instead she sounds as bad as I do in the shower.



She even taught them to Buddy, apparently he has a nice voice and I think it comforts her to hear him sing them.



"Mum will you teach me to drive?".

"Of course I will Zahra."



"It's so stressful I didn't think it would be this bad, I don't think I can do this mum."

"Nonsense, look drink this vial of bliss and we can have another try."

"Yuck that tastes disgusting, what did you make this with."

"Hmm, can't remember now, might have been garlic."

"Is that truffles? why didn't you use those, so unfair."



Eventually Zahra did finish her driving lesson but she certainly took her time about it, and of course she wanted to have the pink car.



She gets on very well with Buddy, unlike Pat he seems to have more sense of privacy and never barges into the bathroom, in fact he'll often just go and sit and wait for Zahra to finish whatever she is doing.






I think it's good she has somebody she can confide in, there are so few people her age in Riverview, but prom is on the horizon and who knows what might happen there.

[Nettlejuice]

I haven't seen a patient IF, what are his traits? RIP, Imsety, of course Zahra would have wanted to use her wish to revive her dad, hopefully she can do that once the dynasty finished =]

[Turoskel]

Buddy is shy, easily impressed, photographers eye and clumsy, I think his shyness makes him very easy to have around, he's no trouble at all really and if I get fed up with hearing him sing I just select somebody other than Zahra, not sure what possessed me to teach him to sing, I think I was just so happy that she got the egyptian culture hidden trait but she sounded dreadful that I thought he might sound better, he did but he never stopped singing 

[Eldridge]

Yes, at least there is a little hope for someone triumphant return

82 - 86

New stuffs always come with a new animation which is good for storytelling purpose other than that they just make game easier. Actually Tracey did love dead guy, there is one and only for her. That's lovely to see the whole family there for Willow birthday party. See? Wrinkle is the enemy of the women in the entire world. Purple and a little red hair colour run through three generation!

Zahra is the funny one! I loved her, is she Neurotic? I just was wondering after looking at the last screenshot after using LLAMA. Or that was just a coincidence after using LLAMA.

Did you use alternate saves for one of Imsety picture or you actually make him fishing after he joins the family without doing makeover first? Oh, forget what I just said, you actually mentioned about him at disclaimer. That was a nice way though for his background story and explains weird thing about him.

Bye, Imsety and Buddy are loveable as IF

[Nettlejuice]

Buddy is shy, easily impressed, photographers eye and clumsy, I think his shyness makes him very easy to have around, he's no trouble at all really and if I get fed up with hearing him sing I just select somebody other than Zahra, not sure what possessed me to teach him to sing, I think I was just so happy that she got the egyptian culture hidden trait but she sounded dreadful that I thought he might sound better, he did but he never stopped singing 

Those traits are pretty good, I love singing sims.

[Turoskel]

I don't know why she did that when she got out the Llama, it must have scared her but no she is definitely not neurotic, her personality actually made me pick the trait I did for young adult as it just seemed so her, but you will have to wait for that.

Same with when I gave Grace overemotional, it just seemed to be a part of her personality before she even had it and went well with neurotic.

Yes I took those pictures of Imsety in Egypt after I finished the dynasty, I had it all written out and just had a vague 'fishing pic' and 'pyramid pic' written in as placeholders until I got a chance to do them, I ended up saving his family from a fresh Egypt, stuck them in another town, aged him up to teen and dressed him up like he was in my dynasty then sent him on holiday just so I could take those. The lengths we go to sometimes for a screenshot are ridiculous 

[Turoskel]

Chapter 87: Crush

"Just wait, one day Buddy that will be me on the television."



"Oh I could never do that Zahra, I'm far too shy, I wouldn't like to think of all those people looking at me."



"Oh it's not so bad, you'll be behind the camera, it's not as if they are all in the room with you."



"Ah yes but I'll still know they were there even if I couldn't see them."

"A bit like you and my family I guess, poor girl she really should have put a warmer coat on, I hope they thaw her out."



"Try to be a bit more social at work Willow, you really need to start making some friends you know, can't spend your life hiding in that specimen closet."

"I do not............well not all the time, okay I'll try."



If I'm concerned it's with good reason, it's Willows birthday and she is nowhere near finishing her requirements, there was a time I thought she'd be done early but promotions have been slow and her self imposed isolation has meant she rarely interacts with her colleagues. It's also leisure day so yet another day off and another hold up on her next promotion.



After the birthday celebrations Zahra rushes off to her prom, unlike her mother she couldn't wait to go.



Prom over and she is bursting with good news.

"Mum I got voted prom queen."

"Oh Zahra that's lovely, I'm glad you had fun."



"Guess who got asked to dance by the cutest guy in school."

"Oooh did he kiss you?".

"No we just danced but even so, Delbert Blalock asked me out of everybody."

"Delbert, seriously Zahra, he's called Delbert."

"Shhhh Buddy don't spoil it."



In a bid to get things moving Willow went in search of her boss hoping she could persuade him into giving her a promotion, well she's barely said two words to the man in all the time she's worked there so a little help was in order courtesy of a home brewed jar of potent friendship.



It did the trick as he gave her that promotion, one step closer and a new best friend into the bargain.



The weekend arrives and us bookworms went for a visit to the library.



There was an Egyptian tourist there, he seemed to think he was pretty irresistible.



He was quite impressed with Zahra's rendition of 'Oh Where Is My Mummy', or maybe he was just being polite.



"Hi Delbert? It's Zahra, I'm in town and I was wondering if you'd like to meet up somewhere...........Four Bridges Park, okay see you shortly then, bye."



It was the first time they had met since prom, apparently Delbert is a babysitter, according to Zahra he's flirty but despite spending most of the day together not once did he try anything.



They do get on very well though.



A quick game of foosball at the juice bar.



And a bite to eat at the diner and it's time for Delbert to go home, Zahra cut it a bit fine though.

"It's okay officer I'm on my way home right now, no need to arrest me."

"Well in that case young lady I'm fining you 500 simoleons for wasting police time."

"What?!!".



Next morning and Zahra was still fuming about that.



Dancing with Buddy soon lifted her spirits though.



"Eww they're at it again!".

"Don't stare at them Buddy it's rude."

"What does it matter they can't see me, do you think it feels cold kissing a ghost?".

"I don't even know what it feels like kissing a live person, I don't think Delbert's really interested in me, I'm starting to think he only wanted to be seen dancing with the prom queen."

"Oh I'm sorry Zahra."

"It's okay Buddy, I'm not sure I really like him that way anyway."



Perhaps things will change with Delbert, perhaps it will fizzle out on its own and be no more than a teenage crush, time will tell.

[Turoskel]

Chapter 88: Grim Approaches

Erm..............



Luckily Willow hadn't adopted a new pet, it was just a random passer by.

Her ice statue and photograph are done, just her portrait left to finish now.



Poor Zahra, the girl was exhausted but couldn't go to sleep because her bed was occupied, really Dallas there's enough places to nap without using a teenager's bed.



Unperturbed Zahra just went off for a nap in his rocking chair instead, two can play that game mister.



"Do I have to?".

"Look it was nice of them to invite you Willow, it would be a good way to meet people, you can always come home if it gets too uncomfortable."

"But I hate parties."



And probably with good reason, the first time she has ever been to a party and look what happens.



And not once but twice! He's doing this on purpose I swear.



Somehow I think this might be Willows first and last party.

"But I don't understand why you are bothering if you're not going back to school again."

"Gran is department head Buddy, do you really think she'd let me get away with not doing my homework, not to mention everybody else in the house always telling me to do it, anyway it's done now, time for cake."



So I guess this means before long we will be seeing dare devil Zahra Amin reporting live from all the hottest news locations around town, well that's what Zahra hopes for anyway, after all why be happy with sitting watching the television when you can actually be on the television.



A few minutes after Zahra, Buddy aged up as well.



"You said there would be cake, why do I never get any of it? it's my birthday too, you never give me anything, you got that potion and have kept it to yourself, guess you just don't love me enough to make me real."



"Buddy what's got into you, this isn't like you at all, if I didn't know any better I'd say you'd turned into Pat."



"Oh Zahra, I didn't mean it don't send me away, please."

"It's okay Buddy, it's not your fault, come with me I have an idea."



"So we should be able to remove those grumpy feelings and replace them with something else, I think maybe a bit of charisma it might help with your shyness."

"It tickles, are you sure this will help?"

"Oh yes mum said my Grandad used it to stop his wandering eye when he got married."



"Phew it's still there."



"Feeling better?"

"Oh yes I feel much less grumpy now, thank you Zahra."



"And you really think this could help me with Pat? I don't know why it never occurred to me before, I'm supposed to be a genius and yet I never thought of it, so stupid!"



It would be nice if Kelly could finally have the kind of friendship with Pat the others have enjoyed, I'm sure she envied her parents and the special bond they shared.

Yet another graduation, Zahra has truly grown into a real beauty, even that nose of hers just adds to her character.



And yet another Valedictorian, she was also voted most popular.



As much as Willow wanted to see her daughter graduate the crowd at City Hall is starting to make her panic, Kelly clearly senses her daughters mounting anxiety, looks like now would be a good time to go home.



Back home and Zahra calls Delbert and invites him to come round, he has yet to graduate from High School but Zahra doesn't seem too bothered.



"Hmmm so this is Delbert, I expected someone taller."



As it's the weekend and I have some free time I decided to get Zahra's portrait out the way early, she has plenty of time to fulfill all her requirements but for her mother time is fast running out.



In fact things are getting so bad I decide to take matters into my own hands, thanks to a little modern technology Willow now has some new best friends, interfering, who me? never!



While I'm playing about with my phone Willow is having a moan at her boss.

"But I don't need Monday off, Zahra graduated on Saturday on my day off so why give me another one?"

"I'm sorry Willow but it's company policy."

"Well your company policy is going to kill me!"



Maybe slightly over dramatic but she isn't far wrong, that extra day off means she only has two days work this week to get that final promotion, Tuesday and Friday, next Sunday will be her 90th birthday and as we have learnt in the past Grim has no qualms about taking people on their birthday and he has been itching to get his hands on one of us for a while now. I pray she can make it, for all our sakes.

[Nettlejuice]

Hope Willow gets that promotion and Grim stays away. Two deaths at a party, ouch.

[Turoskel]

Chapter 89: And Then There Were......

There's little we can do now but wait, Imsety gives his wife some much needed support, this man is so devoted he has still been sending her love letters, and some questionable photographs but the least said about those the better I feel.



Zahra has got herself a job at Doo Peas Corporation as a paper girl starting on Monday, she's also been asked to write a drama novel for somebody in town, so decides to get on with that while she waits for her new job to begin.



After much thought Kelly decides it's time to try once more with Pat.



At first he was skeptical about her plan but eventually he agreed to give it a go.



"You wont do anything evil to me will you Kelly?".

"No of course not."



"Yes it worked!".



Well sort of anyway, while he may no longer be such a diva he's still a little on the grumpy side, it's better than nothing I suppose.



Monday comes and goes, Zahra has her first day in her new job and does quite well her bosses are very impressed, she could be in for a promotion tomorrow, but when Tuesday arrives Willow who needs it far more than Zahra has one of her mental lapses on her way to the car pool and decides to get on her soap box instead, honestly this girl is practically inviting Grim in.



When she does finally arrive at work she works her socks off to make up for the lost time but it's nowhere near enough, it's not even looking that likely for Friday either. So armed with a pile of paperwork she decides to knuckle down and work from home, despite the extra effort her boss wont even talk about a promotion, it's just going to have to wait till Friday but at least she has an excellent chance of getting promoted now.



To everybody's relief she gets it, at age 88 Willow is finally an Immortal and once more we can relax for a while.



Things have started to take a turn for the better, Kelly and Pat are finally getting along once more, well for the most part it's still a bit of an on off friendship but at least they no longer hate each other.



And Zahra has got promoted, no more paper rounds, now she can finally start writing articles and she has the perfect one in mind but first she needs to do some research.



Growing up in a house full of ghosts and having a ghost hunter father has made Zahra question the way we treat our dead, so she planned to write an article entitled 'Mausoleum: burial or prison for the dead' I can see how she came up with this idea after witnessing our own ghosts having the freedom of the entire house.

In general the town has always buried it's dead at the local cemetery and there are just two exceptions to this, our house and Remington's Ruse, the haunted house on the hill that Zahra had visited with her father years ago. In order to get a true perspective for her article she needed to interview some ghosts and preferably not family ones. Luckily for her she found just what she needed.

"So Cody you probably wont know this but I came here several years ago with my father Imsety...."

"Ah yes the ghost hunter, my father mentioned that."

"Yes well I'm a reporter now and I'm writing an article on ghosts and I was wondering if I could perhaps interview you or another member of your family?".

"I suppose I could answer some questions, if you'd like."



"Thank you, do you mind me asking how you died? you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No that's okay I don't mind, I died in the fire that started after my dad got electrocuted by the television, I don't know maybe if I had been awake at the time perhaps I could have got out but I'm a heavy sleeper so I slept right through it, last thing I remember was going to bed."

"Oh Cody that's awful!" being a heavy sleeper herself I think that hit a nerve with Zahra.

"I guess, but at least we were all together again, mum and sis had already died you see, my cousin Hannah came to live here after that with her husband, she was a reporter just like you, it was nice still having family in the house but it's been empty a long time now, you're the first live person I've seen in years."



Cody wasn't the only Remington she met that night, Kirsten was also wandering the house.



But unlike Cody she was a bit more reluctant to talk to a reporter.



A couple of nights later she returned, this time she met Jasper and had a good long chat with him.



Zahra finally had enough info to finish her article and her bosses loved it, looks like she's off to a good start.




Willow's museum.






All I can say is thank god I hadn't given her the extra traits yet so I spent some of her lifetime happiness points to get her some extra Nerd influence and chose workaholic, to have got this far then fail just because she didn't leave for work on time would have been dreadful if she happened to die before her next work day.

But I learnt from that not to get complacent, she finished everything else before her adult birthday near enough but as she never learnt fishing and only a bit of handiness her work performance suffered, plus all the time off for honeymoon, maternity leave and holidays didn't help, I really thought I was in danger of failing with Willow as after having two sims die on their 90th birthday you really can't rely on them living past it as it might not happen 

[Nettlejuice]

Congratulations on immortality, Willow, that was very close! I love Zahra's article idea.