Angels Unawares: The Seraphim Immortal Dynasty (Graveyard Please!)

[alex51299]

Awww, they are so cute together! 

[MarianT]

I like Orchid. And it's great that she thinks Aster's explanation that they're in a story about the Sims is just another of her insane fancies! Just don't name her child Grasshopper -- it takes too long to type.

[OnnaStik]

...This is what adults get up to while the kids are away, hmm? Flagrant skinny-dipping?
I APPROVE!
"This water jet feels odd...Are you sure this is a good idea, Aster?"
"Look at my foot. It is like a little Africa at the end of my leg. Hello, Africa."

...okay, so I thought I would be disappointed when we inevitably moved from Aster's fascinatingly crazy POV to Orchid's, but I find I like this just as much. I wish I could narrate my dynasty this well. Please, never stop being awesome.

[Deme]

@ alex51299: They totally are! One thing I maybe didn't convey so well is that the two of them will talk. And talk. and flirt. And flirt. For hours. They'll only stop when Orchid decides she wants to play catch.

@ MarianT: Well, what else would it be?
 Nah, I'm keeping the plant theme for the kids. I know the first boy will be Heath, but if Orchid's kid is a girl, I'm not sure what to name her.

@Onnastik: I WILL DO MY BEST! Thank you very much for the flattery, though. I'm not sure we're completely out of the Aster-zone yet. I know the next 2 are Orchid Chapters, but then there's a chapter I want [Spoiler Redacted] to narrate, and after that, Orchid still won't be out of being a teen, so we'll see...
I'm working on the next chapter now: I'd like to get these done a little faster, maybe catch up with my game file...

[xFezIsAFreakx]

Right, I've finally finished reading all of this!

Deme, this is my favourite story on the forum! You are amazing! Everything about this is just so perfect, you give such life to your sims and such emotion to your story, I love it so much. Thank you for a brilliant story, I'll be here right to to the end!

[Deme]

Wow, that's high praise indeed! *blush* I do my best, so I'm glad you like it so much.

I'll get stat stuff up in the morrow... I tried to compress this chapter so I could fuse it with the next one, but it didn't work. Oh, well.
Chapter 39: Journey's End
And after some more training, it's time... FOR ADVENTURE!

Combining adventure with a first date is a great idea!
"Don't most first dates involve... Less fire? And fewer dive wells?"
"Yes, but this is far from most first dates! This is exciting! Daring! And Linden looks so dashing diving into wells..."
"AAAAAH! BUGS!
"He's a little startleable, but when someone tries to keep up with me... It's really nice."
"AHHH! FIRE! AHHH! THE BUGS ARE ON FIRE!"
"I best rush t0o his defense!"
"I guess as long as you're blundering about together..."


For many of our fine adventures, we have needed to listen to the locals!
"Well, and then you foreign people came and stood and forced us to talk to you for hours!"
"That's really interesting, yeah. Will you sign our petition to remove the giant rock in the hotsprings?"
"Yeah, sure, whatever."

"VICTORIOUS!"

With this, I have achieved one of my objectives: a level 3 Vista of my own!

But there remains one last travel Linden and I must face! We must prevail through a maze of water jets and twisty staircases, all alike. For at the end...
Is a weapon fit to rend the world asunder! The Axe... Of Pangu!


"I LIVE, AND AM WIELDED ONCE MORE!"
"It talks? OUTRAGEOUS! COME, OH MIGHTY AXE! WE SHALL CRUSH ALL BEFORE US!"
"Woah, woah, woah. Stop it with the capslock. I know this guy," Uriel says, interrupting the moment. "*%&#&^<3, is that you?...Wait, what the? I can't say *%&#&^<3?"
"Greetings, Sir Uriel... I'm afraid that as penance for my most sinful involvement in that incident most foul --"
"It wasn't that bad."
"-- My name has been stricken from creation itself. Oh, and I am also an axe."
"Wait, this axe was a person? A lost soul, in need of salvation? And everything?!"
"Yes, child. For you see, AT THE DAWN OF TIME -- Wait. Where's Ariel? I thought you two did everything together."
"Grandmother? She's not here. She's still in Riverview. Tell me the story!"
"Grand...Uriel. Are you scheming something again?"

"Stoooory!"

"It's only a small scheme. I have it on good word it'll work for her!"
"...This girl is pure of heart, as Pangu was. She shall be fit to wield me...And all the better: someone must bare a vigilant eye upon you, Uriel!"
"Oh, like you're any less fallen. Get in line, Axey."

...Man, what good is it being narrator if all the action happens over your head?
"I demand to know what you're all talking about!"
"It'd be more dramatic if Ariel told you, honey."
"...You do have a point. But still, for the good of this story, I want to know --"
"Hey, don't you have a shiny new axe-that's-a-fallen-soul to wield in the name of justice?"
...
...
"You're right. I do. Come, Sir Axe! We shall free the waters of the hotsprings for the good people of Shang Simla!"
"Verily, Young Orchid!"

"Mr. Uriel, was it really smart giving her total control of a dangerous weapon?"
"...Well...Ummm...No, problably not."


"Definately not. That was sort of a really bad idea, especially in terms of colateral damage. But they really do get along."
"And that, young Orchid, is the story of how I defeated the Anti-Existance at the Dawn of Time. I call it "The Story of How I Defeated the Anti-Existence at the Dawn of Time!"
"Phh. That needs a much better name, Sir Axe! How about 'The Big Battle at the Big Bang'?"
"BRILLAINT!"
"We need a distraction. Post-haste."
"I think I have this, Mr. Uriel. C'mere, you brave adventurer..."
He pulls me into another kiss. There's some improvement already!
"Let's head back to the house. You can train there, since we've done all the adventuring."
"And train I shall!"


After Linden and I get some time to ourselves, of course... I'll just leave out what he was whispering. It's a secret to everyone <3


See? Training! My guide to martial arts reccomends a really large number of hours to it! I think I'll be meditating for the rest of my life to meet that challenge!
Luckily, with meditation, I'm pretty serene about it.


But I also want to get some strength training done! I need to build up those muscles for breaking boards and wielding Sir Axe, after all!

And for that, I turn to a sim with a lot of practice in Athletic pacing for help: My dad.
...I didn't even know my father knew the the kinds of words he was yelling. I'm pretty sure they're not allowed in a family-friendly record.
But I APPROVE! The men in my life need to show some backbone!

Mother, meanwhile, has gone on a quest of her own: A quest for things to photograph!

"Ooh, look at you, all big and garden-y. I bet you're all 'ooh, Aster, don't take our souls with your camera and sell them for 50 simoleons, even when they're in sepia!' And I'm all 'mwahaha, but I will!' Except maybe not with that laugh. Except I did just do the laugh. Or didn't I? Well, Mwahahaha! Extra laugh!"
Or something.

It is in this way that we wiled the time away before returning home.
Where we met with a brutal teleporter accident!

By which I mean we arrive safe and sound, but only when mother gets a funny picture of us.

...My, all this adventure has me in a good mood. That must mean it's almost time for...Dramatic revelations!

Aster's Requirements

Lifetime Wish: Living in the Lap of Luxury
Career: Architect
Supermax Skill: Painting
Building, Property: Hogan's Deep-Fried Diner, Romper Recreational Park
LTR: Innapropriate in a Good Way, Artisan Crafter, Extra Creative
Best Friends: Ariel Seraphim, Reed (Joy) Seraphim, Evanthe Seraphim, Lindsay Coulter, Helmut Roderickson, Jacob Roderickson, Ross Dorman, Orchid Seraphim, Gabriel Seraphim, Cyriaque Cantu, Ami Oakley
Black Ops: When Dream Come True, Scavenger Hunt: Rare Elements, A fishy science project, Outside Reading, Larger than Necessary Doorstop, Local Artists' Gallery
Portraits: Toddler, Child, Teenager, YA, Adult
Sculptures/Photos: Child (sculp), Teen (sculp), YA (sculpt and Photo), Adult (Sculp/ Photo)

Orchid's Requirements:

Lifetime Wish: Physical Perfection
Career:
Supermax Skill: Martial Arts (unless travelling glitch, then athletics)
Building/Property: Everfresh Supermarket, Riverfront Swim Club
LTR: Opportunistic, Learned Relic Hunter
Best Friends: Aster Seraphim, Reed Seraphim, Linden Seraphim
Black Ops:
Portraits: Toddler, Child, Teen
Sculptures/Photographs: Toddler (sculp&photo), Child (sculp&photo), Teen (Sculp&Photo)

[alex51299]

Great/hilarious update! I'm glad the pictures are under control again. 

[xFezIsAFreakx]

Brilliant update! I adore Orchid, she's awesome. I wonder what these revelations are?

[MarianT]

Orchid is becoming my second-favorite narrator and giving stiff competition to Aster. Not that she's competitive, or anything.

[Deme]

@ Alex51299: Thank you! I'm relieved as well.
@ xFezIsAFreakx: Now you'll find out.
@MarianT: I'm glad she's going over well -- she's less intuitive for me than Aster, so to hear I'm getting her right is nice.

Chapter 40: Defying Gravity
"I've decided to re-organize the garden while you're away! I'm on a rotation system." Grandmother says when we come home.
"...Is this about the future?"

"Oh, Uriel...You silly worrier. No, no. The sprinklers are just having a hard time hitting everything, and it takes most of the day to care for them. So I thought I'd give myself an easier time and more love to the plants, is all."
She takes us for a tour of the whole garden, excitedly pointing out the full stock. In addition to the money trees, she has Gralladina Grapes, Carrots, Plasma Fruits, Cherries, Steaks, Burgers, Flame and Life Fruits. She'll change them as need or want be. I cannot imagine how they're so exciting to her!
And then she meets The Axe. She stares at him for a moment, and I think he stares at her.
"It's a rather small multiverse, isn't it?"
"What do you hope to gain from this, Ariel? You're not just following him again, are you?"
"I hope to gain everything, Old Friend. So far, it's been ... I think successful."
"Don't worry, I'll explain the premise off-record, so we don't get a recap on there," Uriel commented.

This man needs all the help my father can give him. All the help. Now.

This is grave outfit peril indeed!

I have set up a balcony for my studies as I get to the great task of breaking boards.

Since I have a small table set up, often a gnome comes to keep me company. They are fine companions! Quiet, but with work, I'm learning their moods!
Remy, sleeping there, is tired.
"That's just what he *wants* you to think..."


"Soo...I have to impress you before you'll talk to me?"
"Mmph."
"Is that a yes? Or a no? Did you just eat a lot of peanutbutter?
Oh, you need to try one of my peanutbutter and atomic watermelon pickle sandwhich! It's like a normal sandwhich, but the atomic-powered pickles allow your mouth to develop superpowers! That's why I can roll my tongue into a little loop!
Aren't you impressed by my tongue?"
"...You're strange, lady. So strange you must be famous! Only the rich and famous are so eccentric."
"No, I'm pretty sure I'm insane, not eccentric. I've never even thought about inventing, and I am bound by my own outfit choices and not the outfit catagories of the man!"
"Oh, then I guess you can't talk to me."
"But..."
I think my mother's having a long night. Keep trying your best, mother!

Of course, my own efforts to try my best are somewhat delayed.

I have been unlawfully brought in by the police during my morning jog! Oh, the injustice of it all! It was late enough in the morning that I was not breaking curfew! I've done nothing wrong!
I am an innocent girl, punished by a corrupt system! I should use this opportunity to become a vigilante!

When Mother's not yelling at me.
"Getting arrested for playing pranks! In my days, we put effort into what we got arrested for. And my mother gave me a proper yelling-at, not this half-harded thing I'm attempting! What is wrong with you?!" Mother turns her attention to herself, and before she can start strangling herself, I try and grab her attention.

"I was arrested for pranks? The last time I played a prank was when I was a child!"
She pulls out of whatever internal conversation seized her.
"Yeah, I know. But that's how this goes, right? I needed a pretext to get you arrested so we could have a serious, adult talk!"
"What?"
"Oh, but Mom's in the garden. Go up and wait... AND ALL SHALL BE REVEALED! Except for why kids love Cinnamon Graham Crunch. I think that's because of media programming."

"...Wait. So the story of the Axe and why Grandmother's still alive and all that?"
"Yes. She'll tell you as she told me. Later."

In the meanwhile, I cannot let my training fall slack!

I go upstairs and complete the Board Breaker challenge set forth by the great Martial Artists of old. There are still challenges left for me to face! Downstairs, I see my grandmother straighten and wipe the dirt off her hands and come up to the house.
In a few moments, I'm called to the downstairs balcony.

"How to begin..." Grandmother taps her chin thoughtfully.
"Oh, try the middle. That's the best part."
Grandmother shakes her head.

And she tells me. She tells me about a city of angels, and a rebellion. How she and Uriel couldn't choose a side, and how they were banished to limbo. How this was their only path to redemption.
"Pangu's Axe, too, was an angel, and like us, trapped between sides. His punishment was to become his own weapon -- he was a warrior class of angel, and perhaps his refusal to fight hurt them worse than mine and Uriel's. To become his weapon, and to lose his name."
"And this will redeem him, too, right?"
"...He has the option to do what I've done. But he'll have to do it for himself."
"..But he's your friend! You need to save him!"
"...I hope he'll be redeemed, dearheart, I really do. But... It's complicated. I can't help him right now."

Complicated... I think she's just making an excuse! But I press onward. I can undermine this system, and save Mr. Axe, right? He's a fellow adventurer! A fellow warrior!
"And for all of this to work, I have to do all these tasks, right? Will my work with Martial Arts cover the skill?"

"Yes, that's perfectly fine. I'm glad we've raised such a focused little flower as you, Orchid."
"EXCELLENT!...But... What happens to everyone else? Father and Aunt Evanthe and Linden..."
The moment pauses like a record scratching.
"..."
"...I won't be real, then." My mother mutters to no one in particular.
"...Experience dictates that they'll be waiting for us..."

...
Be waiting for us...

"So you let them die?!"
"'Let' is a strong word..."
Such flimsiness!
"You had the secret to immortality right in your hands! And despite that, Grandpa Billy died! Grandma Elaine died! Father will die! Everyone's going to die!"
The last of them breaks out, and makes me look at this whole battle. It's worthless, worthless, it's all worthless!
"Linden will die. And you'll sit back and let it all happen!"

Grandmother winces. Mother is looking vaguely skyward, mumbling things. I can't hear them, but I see her lips going. She looks like she's apologizing to something only she can hear. My father?...Herself?
"There are rules. I'm not happy with them."
"So you let them stop you! Let them hold you back!"

It's true, I'm naive. I want life to be like a story. That's the facts. And now I have it... But what good is having a story where the heroine accepts such weak-hearted terms? What good is the heroine who gets to the end, having lost everything she wanted?
That's a tragedy. What good is knowing stories if you don't be better than them?


"You'll treat my life, all their lives, as a piece of meat -- that's not redemption! Being with the ones you love as long as you can, living the life you want...
If that's what it is to fall, then send me down right now!"

Even if it means fighting heaven, I refuse. I refuse to let the lives that love mine be lost just like that! I refuse to live my life hampered by rules, everywhere my heart turns!
That weakness in my grandmother's blue eyes, eyes so like mine...
I refuse it!

I have the force of will to make a happy ending. Even if it means smashing all expectation!
I rise to my feet! I'll leave this house! I'll make my own way!
I'll save Linden, and Mr. Axe, and everyone!


"Orchid!"
"...We can't. Without your permission, it's simply impossible. Hee. Hee. I wonder if I'll still become unreal... I wonder if it's OK..." Mother brings a hand to her mouth and looks very sad, even as a few strangled giggles escape.

"Get out! Get away from me, you immortal harpies!"

"...Yes, dear. Be careful." Grandmother says it with a sweet, sad smile. Like...Like she won't even fight for her own stupid thing!
As the door closes, I hear Uriel go,
"Well. That could have gone better."

That's it. I don't know what I said was right -- but I can't be made to give up as easily as that! My destiny is mine!
Alright, then...

Time to stop waiting around. To plan A!



"Linden, want to go to prom together?"
"Yes! I was trying to ask all week!"
"Good. Now we both get what we want."
I won't accept anything less!

Aster's Requirements

Lifetime Wish: Living in the Lap of Luxury
Career: Architect
Supermax Skill: Painting
Building, Property: Hogan's Deep-Fried Diner, Romper Recreational Park
LTR: Innapropriate in a Good Way, Artisan Crafter, Extra Creative
Best Friends: Ariel Seraphim, Reed (Joy) Seraphim, Evanthe Seraphim, Lindsay Coulter, Helmut Roderickson, Jacob Roderickson, Ross Dorman, Orchid Seraphim, Gabriel Seraphim, Cyriaque Cantu, Ami Oakley
Black Ops: When Dream Come True, Scavenger Hunt: Rare Elements, A fishy science project, Outside Reading, Larger than Necessary Doorstop, Local Artists' Gallery
Portraits: Toddler, Child, Teenager, YA, Adult
Sculptures/Photos: Child (sculp), Teen (sculp), YA (sculpt and Photo), Adult (Sculp/ Photo)

Orchid's Requirements:

Lifetime Wish: Physical Perfection
Career:
Supermax Skill: Martial Arts (1/3 Challenges)
Building/Property: Everfresh Supermarket, Riverfront Swim Club
LTR: Opportunistic, Learned Relic Hunter, Jetsetter
Best Friends: Aster Seraphim, Reed Seraphim, Linden Seraphim, Waylon Shwarz
Black Ops:
Portraits: Toddler, Child, Teen
Sculptures/Photographs: Toddler (sculp&photo), Child (sculp&photo), Teen (Sculp&Photo)

[xFezIsAFreakx]

Oh no! I hope Orchid changes her mind.

[alex51299]

Funny chapter, but still sad. You are a great writer. 

[loveSims]

Orchid don't look happy at all. Great update.

[DeLouche]

I just found this dynasty yesterday, and I am already deeply in love with almost all of the characters. The writing is excellent, the plot is gripping, and the premise is original. In short, I love it!

[Deme]

I had hoped to be able to just reply to these as part of my next chapter post, but since I have less time between being sick and midterms than anticipated... No dice.

@ xFezisaFreakx: So do I. It'd stink of my dynasty ended just because one of my characters disagreed with my plans.... On the other hand, I could be doing this to make a true failure a part of the story, let it end on its own terms, mwahahahaha! But you'll find out next time.

@ alex51299 and lovesims: Thank you very much.

@ Delouche: Why, thank you! I consider plotting my achille's heel, so to hear "gripping" is really enjoyable praise! (Well, all praise is enjoyable, but this especially)

As a side note, I'm thinking of doing little pin-ups in my art style of our leading ladies (they may not all be ladies, but you get the idea) with a relevant quote. I have a few ideas that I won't mention for fear of this whole post being me patting myself on the back, but can you guys think of anything they've said or thought that's particularly nice and emblematic I could use?