That was a beautiful chapter, I can't wait to see Lilith's genes get into the family. I hope you're feeling somewhat better!
I'm feeling better right now and I hope it lasts for long enough to get a solid start in school this semester. Thank you!
Sigh...so sad to see Julian go. At least he is with Lita now, right? Rest in peace, my good man...
He probably is, and probably happy with her, which is more than I can say for other mortals...
Awww, poor Julian. He was so handsome, wasn't he?
Also, are your sims on the swap shop? I want Anette and Jo!
Ah, he was such a good-looking guy. Like a less-angry version of his father.
Though what's even better than Julian is a female-Julian. I guess you'll see later.
As for the Swap Shop, soon! I have most of the main crew exported, but I need to get some preview pics. I'm still on the fence on whether I want to upload the Roaring Heights crew or not, but I don't see why I couldn't. They're a genetically-interesting bunch.
Chapter 78: The New Blue and White
In the space of two days, the mood of Tegan’s life became a stark contrast.
Two days before her young adult birthday, her uncle Julian passed away, and while she had little of the connection that the others in the household did to the old man, it meant one less chainsaw filling the house with ambient noise. One less man making the world beautiful with his art. He even helped her study for her final exams just a week prior, and she came home with news of the five consecutive A’s she got on her finals, only to be greeted by the urn on the floor. One tear rolled down her spring-green cheek.
“Peapod, don’t let this get you down too much,” Annette said, not even bothering to change out of the stiff fabric of her formalwear and gloves before comforting her great-granddaughter. “It’s your birthday in just a couple of days! And I know that Julian will proud of you no matter where he’s watching from.”
“I’ll try my best,” Tegan said, “That’s awful sweet of you, gram.”
“I know it will be hard for me, not watching him bend over to cheer, in a speedo because we booked it at the pool.” Annette sighed, daydreaming of the perfect redhead who gave her the first kiss she had since Bill’s death, and the last she had for a while. “The world is so cruel.”
Tegan spent the next two days recovering as best she could, which turned out to be a fine recovery, even though it meant spending hours on dating sites seeing who could take grandma Annette off their hands. No biters. Perhaps she really did need an off-guard Julian in her life.
The rest of the time? She poured over job descriptions and applications. Tegan was stuck. Weighing 170 would do her no favors if she auditioned for the women’s football team, and that seemed more like something Lily would do anyways. Her inventions barely sold on the open market, and relying on her creations for income would just mean sponging off of the rest of the family’s hard-earned cash.
Tegan branched out to logical fields. Medicine meant helping others and doing good…with the latest technology and new models of MultiTabs before they went out to the market. Pass. She could follow in the footsteps of Bill and Pansy and carve out a career in law enforcement, enforcing all that is good in the world and using perception and puzzle pieces to stop the bad guys. Yes, Tegan entertained that thought for an hour, until she kicked back with the day’s newspaper.
Willow Creek Police Taze Five Party-Goers Without Warrant-Pass on that career too, then.
She crossed off career after career, until two job listings remained.
Lab Technician needed for Botany. Will train.Brave enough? Ghost hunters, paranormal problem solvers wanted. Spots always available!Perhaps she would see once she grew up and handed in a résumé filled with nothing. See who wanted the résumé of nothing.
Regardless of who would want her, she had positive influences tugging her towards both careers, whether she saw it or not.
As Annette said, she or someone else planned a pool party for Tegan, to which the birthday girl agreed with because she wasn't one to fight or waste a good, barely-used swimsuit. Annette invited any boys from high school that wanted to go, as well as a few girls, though her confidence in her intuition about relationships made it a meaningless motion. Well, except to pad a guest list. The afternoon came and guests took to the pool.
Annette had fun with one of her grandsons, who beat her in a swimming contest. She made sure to remind poor Felix that he was still a single, bitter virgin who was uglier than his mother.
Poor old lady. She couldn't hold her breath for more than a minute, and what was meant to be a graceful swan-dive turned into a belly-flop.
Franco had a little more luck with diving.
And Lily, well, she wasn't alone. She assumed that Tegan ran off with some friends, leaving her and Bronson with some cuddle time. Jets from the tub caressed their backs and steam enveloped the entire area, and best of all, they really were alone. No one else touched the hot tub. Alone, until someone dropped in right beside them, right as Bronson whispered a little something about woohoo into Lily’s ear. Tegan reclined in the hot tub, putting her head back over the edge.
“Peapod, why don’t you just hang with your friends?” Lily asked.
“I was with Mickey and Anderson for a while.” Bronson recoiled at the idea of her hanging out with those boys, no matter how well the ladies got along with the Whelohff family.
“I think you’re just fine right here,” Bronson said.
“Thanks dad. You and the family made this party happen anyways, so I should spend time with you.”
“You just like the hot tub, don’t you?” Lily asked.
“That too.”
For a while, the little family spoke on nonchalant terms, about the perfect summer sun that afternoon, or Lily and Bronson recalling untold tales about bonfires in college, when the smell of burning wood and herbs wafted over from the bonfire at the property. As the sun set more, and the sky of Twinbrook turned a hazy pink, the time for Tegan to blow out the candles and for everyone to have a slice of one of Annette’s prized cakes drew closer. Bronson had to get the candles because Annette kept nagging him about it, but not without leaving the conversation on a high note. Or trying to.
“So, what about the future?” Bronson asked his daughter, “About jobs, that is.”
“Two routes. I can get into Botany like grandpa Lincoln did. I even read one of his papers! I could be like that.” Tegan beamed at the idea of tending to good, morally-sound (or truly neutral, your pick) plants and studying their intricacies for the betterment of simkind.
“That’s great, peapod. And the other?”
“It might sound a little odd, but the Paranormal Profiteers are looking for a new lackey. Perhaps I could help the dead find some peace, if they’re there,” said Tegan.
“It’s odd that you’d find that.”
“It is, but I feel really fascinated by it. And I just want to see what Hephaestus sees.”
Bronson left the hot tub in a haste, right after giving Lily a mutual, sickened glare. “I better get those candles,” he mumbled.
Lily took a seat behind Tegan, and kicked back while the cake was being prepped and finger foods were cleaned up. Her stomach still churned at the thought of Hephaestus snatching away her porcelain princess, but perhaps it was just a friendly, charitable move on Tegan’s part.
“So, sweetie, once you blow out those candles and get the bow out of your hair, you have a big, wide dating world out there! Regardless of what daddy says,” said Lily. “Deep down, he wants you to be happy too. It’s that military-man protectiveness.”
“He shouldn’t have retired,” Tegan said. “He’s just killing himself with nothing to engineer or defend.”
“That pinched nerve got in the way. I have to hear about him complain about it for an hour before sleeping. But you’re really avoiding what I’m saying. It’s okay if you don’t want to date right now either.”
“Well, I have Bryant,” Tegan said.
“But he’s just a high school fling, isn’t he?” asked Lily.
“Maybe. But I keep making him happy and glow bright white inside. I could do that to someone else too, but I’ll keep at it.”
“No tarnishing your heart?”
“It’s not easy to.”
“Get your fat butt over here before the cake goes stale!” Annette yelled.
“Gram! Do not call her fat,” Lily said, cross.
“I was talking to Franco. Geez. But your fat one can get her butt over there too. It’s her cake.”
Unphased by her great-grandmother’s insulting nature, Tegan dried herself off with a towel and stood in front of the cake the same great-grandmother lovingly baked. Hey, it was worth it to get fat off those. The usual sounds started, cheering and laughter, and the still-teenaged Bryant was among them. How sad it would be to leave him behind for a few months! He was probably aching inside.
So what else could Tegan wish for other than happiness? She didn’t tell anyone until years later, when Bryant’s obituary was a piece of history, but all she wanted was happiness who whoever fell for her and her smiling plump lips, and her long, shapely legs. Happiness for all she touched.
Especially all of those boys and men who attended her party. Lily might ask her about all of them, but that wish even gave her the best answer for that! She wanted everyone her mum wondered about to be happy, from Jonas to Buck, from Mickey to Kisha (she was a lovely girl, after all), and from Bryant to Hephaestus.
It could also work as a way to appeal to Bronson when he wanted to throw a canister of military-grade tear gas at all of them.
Yep, that wish would work just fine.
Lily sobbed as everyone cheered and laughed Tegan on, to encourage birthday magic or just for the chance of getting an extra candy or two in their goody-bags. Her nooboo was growing up so fast.
But she cheered in the end, maybe because she wanted an extra piece of chocolate too.
And, of course, because after Tegan cleaned herself up of any black magic at the dresser, she came out as the loveliest princess in Twinbrook, festooned with bows and blue and white. Her beauty would make any mother proud.
After a rebellion-free childhood, Tegan freed herself of whatever suppressed badness might linger, by building a campfire to purify herself.
Or just to throw a concoction in it. True to Tegan’s morals, it wasn’t poison but rather copper chloride, which made the fire glow blue for a brief moment.
Hephaestus, meanwhile, marched himself upstairs with a plate of cake and a seat next to the mixologist, who realized that tending to a party of teenagers wouldn’t make for a night of bountiful tips. She eyed the lean man with some desire in her eye, as many women did.
“Well handsome, I’m new in town,” she said, “Why don’t we head to the hot tub?”
He looked over at her face, that pretty and unremarkable face. While he appreciated the skimpy dress on her, nothing sparked in his heart.
“I’m sorry, not tonight,” he said, looking nauseated at his half-eaten cake. He noticed Bryant throwing his used plate in the garbage one level below, and eyeing the grown-up Tegan in her bikini too. From those thick thighs to her more-developed bosom. While Tegan just saw a teenage boy still infatuated with her, Hephaestus saw the devil himself, with those horns leaking from his disguise as an unfashionable, chubby teenager.
He grabbed the rag doll from his belt loop. He was no Saint Michael, and this devil still wasn’t slain.
Bryant was washing his hands when Hephaestus approached him, pins in hand and ready to stab the doll in the crotch if needed.
“You thought I was done with you?” Hephaestus shoved the doll in Bryant’s face. But the unfit young man still had the reflexes to snatch the doll from Hephaestus’ grip.
“So you do like her, huh?” he retorted, keeping the doll out of reach. “Now that she’s all legal and curvy?”
“So what if I do? You’re a kid, I’m an adult, and there’s someone in this triangle who isn’t very legal, huh? You’re a devil in disguise, trying to tempt her away from the good parts of life.”
“Yep, tempting her away from someone with half a foot in the grave. How awful of me. I’’m a dang saint compared to you.”
“You are the evil one! I knew it. I’ll be exorcising your house tonight. Maybe you won’t be a problem anymore.” And then, Hephaestus grabbed the doll from Bryant’s hands, ripping a limb by mistake. Bryant collapsed on the spot, quickly taken away by some responsible adult or friend before Tegan knew what happened.
Hephaestus was ready to grab some salt to throw at the Moreno household, or to find a spell to do the same, but he barely spoke to Tegan that day.
And there she still was, ready for a little more fun in the party.
“Heph!” she squealed, “I thought you ran off somewhere.”
“Maybe I was about you. You need something?” he asked.
“Well, maybe we can just have some fun? No one’s using the water slide, finally!”
Yeah, and some woman wanted him to spend the night lazing in a hot tub. Hephaestus held his knees and slid down the wet plastic with a closed-mouth smile.
Tegan slipped and slid down with a nose full of water instead.
“Crap,” she muttered, “I thought I was better at that.”
“Hey, you tried. You know, you cleaned up so well tonight. I never thought I’d see you in a bikini,” he said.
“Eh, there’s only one time in my life where I get to look foxy. I thought I’d live it up.”
“And, hey, I’ve been doing this ‘adult’ thing for a lot longer than you have. If you need me, I’m always here for you. Always.”
She drew Hephaestus in for a soft hug. “Aww, thanks Heph. I’ll be sure to knock on your door at least once a day for it. Mind still working well?”
“Yeah. Sure.”
He spent the night doing exorcism rituals at the Moreno house instead, as he saw the property swirling with dark matter, more black than Tegan’s wavy, thick hair, outlined in pomegranate-red. Black noise and laughter rang throughout the yard. Hephaestus burnt incense to quiet it all down. Threw salt at any demonic hands that tried to grab him. Threw some more salt at the house next door, which had the high-pitched laughter of an old woman, the sound of which rubbed him the wrong way that night.
All throughout the night, he recited every incantation he could, and at sunrise, the bad energy waned enough for him to ignore. Hephaestus then fell asleep on the ground, caressed by soft, lakeside grass that was damp enough to make a big wet spot on his clothes. And then he was kicked awake.
Ready to throw a hit at a raging Moreno, Hephaestus instead woke up to one of Bronson’s shoes. Which was being worn by Bronson, who was there and a little smelly without a shower, and with big circles under his eyes that made him look half-dead.
“We need to talk...again,” Bronson said.
Word Count for this chapter:
2,465Word Count so far:
139,650
