Wow, poor Piper, talk about a problem (I mean the way the family is treating her and not her phobia). It's sad we're heading into Problem Relationship territory but it had to happen sooner or later to make Jo so dang bitter about everything (including her own daughter, geez, can't wait for that story). Poor Tegan is going to be in for quite a shock when that baby comes and poor Piper when Annette inevitably starts pushing her.
Regarding sim orientation- late to the conversation, I know, my dynasty's popped out two asexuals (seriously, no sparks for either of them and the most I've ever gotten out of them was a wish to kiss someone once-they immediately wanted to be mean afterwards), two completely straight sims, and a gay man when I usually get bi sims instead. I guess the game decides things in mysterious ways.
Jo's bitterness is very multi-faceted. This is just one bit of it.
Funny enough, Jo was basically asexual for a long time too, with only a few innocent romantic wishes for various women. But she was consistent with desiring women.
Almost all my sims are bisexual with a preference for one sex. My males generally prefer females though, not sure why that is.
Most of my bisexual sims are men, and most of my homosexual sims are women. I don't know how the game calculates it, but it's nice to hear from the other side!
Oh, yes, Franco and his small army of spawn....
I usually have female sims popping out wishes from more children, perhaps that's where the sadness comes in for me. That and how everyone decides they want 5 grand kids. Seriously, what's up with that?
I almost always have sims that are the object of desire for all NPCs, but rarely, if ever reciprocate feelings for another, the exception being the O'Neils, but your familiar with them 
Poor Piper, but dang has that girl got some balls to just look Annette in the eye that way and stand up for herself, her feelings, and the person she cares for. -applause-
Piper's a brave person. At least more than her watcher, anyways. I did get a decent amount of satisfaction out of writing Piper as proudly who she is.
AAAAaand I would like to punch Annette.
You and me both. :|
Chapter 111: Closet Doors
Annette gathered her faithful immortals into the basement, though I doubt that Franco and Lily cared much for her message. They heard the news about Piper, admitted that they should have seen it coming, and that they’d address any issues that it caused when it came time to address them (if ever). With a dynasty to plan, Annette was having none of their passiveness.
“You all know that Piper is a beautiful young woman. It’s just…she’s useless now. Unless they miraculously birth another lesbian,” said Annette.
“It’s just a phase,” Franco said. “The tokophobia stuff, anyways. Can’t you just let me wait for my great-grandchild in peace?”
“Come on Lily, back me up here,” Annette said.
“Gram, I’m gonna be a grandma like you are. Let’s just say that I can’t care much about Piper right now,” said Lily. “Maybe you should be too.”
“What if it was one of our own immortals, though? That’s what I’m worried about,” said Annette. “I don’t know how to deal with this. I even did my research, and it’s like no other family like ours has ever had to deal with something like this, at this time.”
“Well, let’s a blaze a trail,” said Lily. “And I’m not just suggesting that because it’s the easiest option here.”
“Go into uncharted territory?”
“Probably easier than getting Piper to change, right?”
Annette sighed. “We’ll how your new granddaughter’s life goes, Lily. Now we have a new challenge. Can we tell Tegan nicely that Guinevere might not be the best name?”
I think they changed Tegan’s mind about that. Not like it mattered, in the end.
Meanwhile, Piper tried not to think much about what happened at the festival. She might have handled it with confidence then, but coming out stinks no matter how many snappy lines are a part of it. So she lounged around indoors and watched television.
Tegan was upstairs anyways for a few days, satisfying the impossible request: upgrade the graphics on the laptop. She first told Annette that wrangling with technology and the fact that she was under the impression that laptops had upgradable graphics chips were both as equally cringe-worthy. However, she gave in, perhaps out of boredom. She demanded solitude.
That left Hephaestus bored with sculpting and anxious to get his wife back from Upgrade Hell. It also gave him the first chance in a while to be concerned for Piper, his other creation. She understood why he was so preoccupied, but smiled as he seated himself on the couch next to her and lowered the volume of the movie she was watching.
“I’m really happy for you and Kylie,” he said. “Anything you want to say about her? I’d like to know how you met and such.”
“Fine, Heph, just for you,” answered Piper.
Twinbrook, at the time, suffered from an influx of x chromosomes at the time of Piper’s inception. She always went to school with tons of girls, and most notably, a whole collection of Coddles. Piper had her pick of them. Three girls, all with black and blue hair, and rounded-off Greenwood features from their dad, turned out to be a little more immune to the feminine charms of the gorgeous Piper. It was early on that she realized that there was something different about how she felt about women. They weren’t just friends, and weren’t just pretty, but she could lie in bed for hours daydreaming about marrying some hypothetical Greenwood. What confused her the most was how she didn’t feel for the three of them.
One day, when she was still a child, Piper first noticed the irresistible nature of the fourth sister. She had a lean face and silver-blond hair by nature (or just from her great-grandma Holly). She sat a few tables to the right of Piper during lunch, and had a docile disposition and the most beautiful purple eyes that Piper had ever seen.
After she grew up into a teenager, Piper hoped that she and Kylie would share more than class schedules.
They met up one late afternoon, a little before Tegan got married. At first Piper thought it would be as simple as showing up to the pool with Kylie, in a bikini. Everyone loved Piper in a bikini! However, aside from a few winks and careful, discrete checking the other out in their swimwear, Piper and Kylie made it a platonic and fun night. After the water slide, they decided to make some conversation too.
“Is Tegan your aunt?” asked Kylie.
“Kind of, in some way. She raised me,” Piper said. “She’s pretty cool for a doormat.”
“She does sound cool, and she’s so hot,” said Kylie. “Well, for someone in her 40’s.”
Piper thought about it. Everyone told her that she would grow up into a babe (their words, not hers), and she was Kylie’s age on top of that. She thought about it while Kylie took a graceful leap off the diving board, showcasing her sleek form. She thought about it while splashing her friend with pool water, and while hey relaxed in the hot tub, side by side. Kylie was nearly asleep in the hot water.
She almost leaned in for a surprise kiss, but shied away. “So what you said about Tegan, did you mean to say that to me?” Piper asked her.
“You mean saying that someone who raised you is hot, or that I think that a woman is hot?”
“The latter. I mean, I’ll keep your secret, okay? I’m cool with that.”
“You seem pretty trustworthy,” Kylie said. “Maybe you just don’t say much at school, and I’m believing it because of that, but someone has to know eventually. So why not you?”
“That takes some guts,” Piper said. “But really, I support you being you. Let’s make this something lovely.”
“And hope that the bubbles come on in this tub?”
“That too.”
Piper did not leave the pool with a new girlfriend that night, when she left in order to get home before her curfew, but she confirmed the best possible thing about her crush. She was still young, and there was always the next day. So that next day, Piper skipped her bus home and waited outside in the schoolyard for Kylie to come out after she discussed something with her math teacher or how she and her sisters were getting home.
She leaned on the big willow tree in the schoolyard, waiting for her blonde beauty to exit (or come out, but pardon the pun, Kylie already did that). Soon enough, she did, and waved to Piper from across the lot. Piper sprinted up to her. “Ky! There’s something I forgot to tell you last night,” she said.
“Sure. What’s that?” asked Kylie.
“The whole thing about you being gay, it’s something I haven’t told anyone either. So, you’re gonna be the first I tell.”
“Aww, really? That’s just so sweet of you.”
“And if we’re both on the same page here, well…” Piper’s voice trailed off as she reached for Kylie’s hands. They were even softer than she imagined, with moisturized palms and flawless cuticles. It then hit her; Kylie grabbed her hands too, interlacing her fingers with Piper’s, and with a near-tearful smile as she savored the warm grasp of Piper Jones-Brown, the other lesbian in school.
“I wasn’t expecting this,” said Kylie, “But I’m so, so glad that I was wrong about you.”
“Have you ever kissed a girl?” Piper asked. Kylie shook her head no.
“Funny enough, I haven’t either.” She leaned forward a little bit. “I really wanted to kiss you last night after you told me that.”
Piper planted her first kiss on Kylie right as her new lover’s auntie Chelle arrived to pick the girls up. Chelle looked away at first, and then told the two of them to break it up, and that she’d have a talk with Kylie that night. Piper feared for the worst, but she got a box of chocolates from Kylie the next day during lunch.
“Your family’s okay with it?” Piper asked.
“We’re keeping it a secret from my great-gram for now,” replied Kylie. “But mum and Chelle and my sisters are acting the best I can ask them to about it.”
“You mean…like allies?”
“No, they said that it’s a harmless phase. But I’ll prove them wrong, how about that? With you,” said Kylie. “Because I really hope that you’re the one.”
Piper, for a while, did not tell her own family, which worked in her favor. The night that Tegan didn’t get married, she asked to stay over Kylie’s place and did for the night and a few days afterwards, getting in loads of cuddle time and her first make out session. She asked to sleep over there a lot, using her family’s lack of awareness as a tool to pry her way into more affection and love for her Kylie.
And that would still be the case if it weren’t for that meddling Annette, and some prom-goer bent on causing rumors and drama about innocent teenage lesbians.
“I tell myself that it could be a lot worse,” Piper told Hephaestus. “So, I’m fine with it for now.”
“And just remember, I’ll support you for as long as I live,” said Hephaestus.
“And just how long will that be?”
“Knowing my situation right now, hopefully a long, long time. But I can only hope. Good news for you is that the worst will be over soon. What’s your opinion on nooboos once they’re born?”
“They’re alright,” she said. “We’ll see how your little girl is. What’s the name gonna be?”
“We were thinking Guinevere, but Franco’s trying to talk me out of it. So I think Philomena’s next on the list,” he said.
“If you still have time to think about it, I have more excuses to be out. I’ll be hanging out with Kylie at the diner. They have an all-you-can-eat special on Saturday nights.”
Kylie ran away from a formal party at her family’s home to meet Piper, hence her wearing her best silver dress. She was very careful while scarfing down plates of hash browns for that reason, but the two girls still got their fill of food, laughs, and kisses during dinner.
While Piper obviously knew that Annette worked at the diner, she didn’t expect her to be there that night, or just didn’t think about it with unlimited food on the brain.
They started to flirt before they registered the grinding, horrific noise that Annette was subjecting them to. Piper turned around and stormed up to Annette’s strange machine. “Nettie, what the hell is this?” she asked.
“I’m trying out a new machine for Tegan, relax,” Annette said. “And maybe have a journey to the center of the earth too. You read that book in 8th grade, right?”
“Dang it, the world doesn’t work that way! And leave Kylie and I alone.” Annette struck a void at that moment. The drilled hole glowed with a golden light.
“Welp, we’ll see who’s right,” said Annette. She started her descent.
“Have fun, girls! Tell my family that I love them!” Annette cried out as she voyaged into the unknown.
With that out of the way, Piper presented her surprise for Kylie: white roses, to almost match her dress. “It’s the best I could find, honey,” said Piper.
“Best? Of course they’re the best! They’re beautiful,” Kylie said. She took them and breathed in their delicate scent.
“So, do you think she’ll ever come out of there?” Kylie asked, referring to Annette and her new hole.
“Honestly, she can stay down there forever for all I care,” said Piper.
Unfortunately for Piper, Annette was back at home the next morning with dirty clothes and no new discoveries other than pockets full of white diamonds. “Too bad these don’t sell well anymore,” she said. “It’s all about the pink diamonds and tiberium now. Oh well, I hope today is more interesting than that.”
Annette checked on Tegan upstairs before catching up on sleep. The woman looked ready to pop, but she still wanted to do the graphics upgrade just to not disappoint the technology-users of the family. All was fine, then.
Hephaestus knocked on the door to the room. “Need some help, darling?” he asked.
“Not right now, no,” said Tegan. “You’re about as useful as I am with this, which means that you could probably do it given enough time and patience. But it’s my job.”
“Hey, I’m not here to steal it from you. Feeling well?” he asked.
“Some pain, but it’s to be expected. I’ll yell if it gets bad.” No more than five minutes later, it got to yelling. Hephaestus barged in on cue.
“Oh Christ, honey, it wasn’t supposed to be this fast!” Tegan said, between cries of sheer pain. “I’m so sorry!”
“God, you’re apologizing for this?” Hephaestus panicked and was useless for a few minutes. “Alright, alright,” he said, regaining some sort of composure. “What can I do to help?”
“Go downstairs, okay?” Another contraction seized Tegan. “Honey, I got this!”
Yes, she eventually got it, but the pain was horrifying. The only thing that kept her from begging for a hospital trip were the soothing endorphins and good thoughts from the new daughter she wanted. While she labored, she thought about all of the dolls she could buy and the dresses Franco would pick out for her, of high-pitched giggles and the winning name: Philomena.
Standing up made it a short labor. Tegan soon found herself holding a wriggling, fresh nooboo, but something was off. She was sure of what she expected, considering that the god of time and the sonogram both confirmed that there was a girl growing in there.
What came out instead was a little boy, who was a pastel shade of teal and wrapped in a blue swaddling blanket. She didn’t recall too many rainbow men in the one snippet of the future she got…except for that evil-looking one with the red aura, who was also the same color, and rather thin like Hephaestus, come to think of it.
Wait, how? Both she and Hephaestus were good people, and they wouldn’t slip up and accidentally raise an evil overlord. None of the elders would do that either.
Still, even with biology taking a different turn, she still had a beautiful nooboo, and the future couldn’t be set in stone. All she needed to do was stay on top of her game and raise a child at least as kind and caring as her. That would come naturally, so all the newborn boy needed was a name.
She pressed her son close to her. “You might be a little different, but you’re all I’ve ever wanted anyways,” she said. “I really liked Philomena, though. How about I name you…Philip.”
We mostly called him Phil.
Phil started out life as a docile newborn for the first three minutes and thirteen seconds, before crying and fussing in his mother’s arms for absolutely no reason. She took him downstairs, quickly got back into her usual pajamas, and picked Phil up again to calm him in the rocking chair.
Piper, not wanting to witness a birth, decided to start her homework and get some help from Kylie’s uncle Horace too. She didn’t pay any attention to Tegan and Phil the newcomer until she sketched all of the parabolas she was required to.
“I see that something took an unexpected turn,” said Piper, noticing the blue blanket.
“Yeah, but he’s still my kid,” said Tegan. “His name is Philip. Philip Athol Waverly.”
“You know, he’s pretty cute,” Piper said. “Can I hold him?”
“Sure! I think he’s calmed down enough now.” Tegan gently handed the nooboo over to Piper, who cradled and supported him well.
“You ain’t so bad after all,” she whispered to Phil, as she lifted him up for a snuggle. “In fact, I’d say that you’re freakin’ adorable. Just like your mum.”
The elders watched that, at first to see when they could get a chance to hold their newest immortal. Annette listened to Piper coo over the new
boy, which lit her up from the inside out.
She whispered to the other two. “Psst, guys, we have a plan B!”
Word Count for this chapter:
2,719Word Count so far:
233,886So...welcome Phil! Again! He was born as an evil genius who liked country music. So no, it was too late for Tegan to raise him right.
Notes:
- Phil really was originally going to be a girl, until I came up with the plan to clone Lilith. Philomena was never on the table as a name, though.
- I dunno why Tegan changed her dress in the middle of labor. She just did. Priorities!
- Don't ask me the name of the other Coddle girl that Piper was talking with because I forget, and she died as a teen.
