Escaping from Tragedy -- an Immortal Dynasty

[MarianT]

Chapter Eleven

   How do you explain immortality to a toddler? I tried telling Desdemona about the struggle and ended up comparing it to a boxing match.



   Ophelia tried to find out what she wanted to do when she grew up, and elicited the answer “rocket ship!”



   We bought her a Rocket Rider on the strength of that; she just might become an astronaut. After all, her dad is in the military. And Desdemona always has had an interest in faraway places and long-ago battles.



   Then, all at once, she grew up into a little girl.



   I think she’s going to look a lot like her grandmother (not me, Cheyenne Fox, Dakota’s mother).



   Meanwhile, I’ve been making friends. Sometimes, I just talk to people.



Sometimes, I tell ghost stories.



   But when you want to make that last push from “good friend” to “best friend,” there’s nothing like pillow-fighting.





   Now all I have to do is wait for the plant to produce a life fruit. Dakota was the one who finally found a seed. I’m not going to complain about the three money trees, however.



   Still, I’m cutting it close. I turned 94 today, and I almost had a heart attack when I saw this ghost horse running across the front yard.



Cressida’s statistics:

Portraits: YA, Adult, Elder
Career: Culinary
Skill: Painting
Black Ops: The Dish Showdown, Popular Painter, The Study of Art, A Medium Painting, Handiness How-to, Borrowing Ingredients
Lifetime Rewards: Inheritance, Extra Creative, Food Replicator
Lifetime Wish: Culinary Librarian
Best Friends: Edmund Shaxper, Juliet Shaxper, Desdemona Shaxper, Nawwaf Bowers, Tate Toth, Lauren Martino
Building: Darris Teeter Grocery Store and Cafe
Property: Cinnamon Crest Falls, lvl 3

[MarianT]

Chapter Twelve

   Finally! At 5:10 this morning, I was out in the garden, harvesting the life plant.



Next I went down to the basement to collect the deathfish. Believe me, it smells like dead fish, too.



   Whipping up the ambrosia was the next step, and I chanted the appropriate words as I stirred:

   Double, double toil and trouble;
   Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
   Fillet of a fenny snake
   In the cauldron boil and bake;
   Eye of newt and toe of frog,
   Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
   Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,
   Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing,
   For a charm of powerful trouble,
   Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

   To my surprise, it tasted pretty good.

[lvrugger]

MarianT -
Congrats on the immortality! That was sure cutting it close. I love the story you've woven.

[ratchie]

Phew that was close,congratulations on your first immortal.

Rachel

[Deme]

Congrats on Gen 1's immortality! I can't wait to see what's in store!

[loveSims]

Congrats on your first immortal!

[Katluvr]

Congratulations on immortal #1!  I almost had a heart attack for you when I read that she was 94!

[Lasnien]

Congratulations on your first immortal!

[MarianT]

Thanks everyone! A couple of days ago, I thought she would never make it, but then I used the camera to find that there was finally a life plant growing. The moral is, don't start an Immortal Dynasty in a town where you don't know where the seed spawners are.

[MarianT]

PART THE SECOND -- OPHELIA

Chapter One

   Up until a few days ago, Ophelia was a relatively happy, well-adjusted, wife, mother, scientist and angler.



   But then she had The Birthday. Now, both Dakota and I had mid-life crises, but they were nothing like what Ophelia is going through. When she’s not looking down at her perfectly flat tummy and moaning, “Oh, that this too too solid flesh would melt,” she’s peering into a mirror and reciting T.S. Eliot:

   I grow old…I grow old…
   I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
   Shall I part my hair behind?
   Do I dare to eat a peach?



   It’s enough to make me regret letting her study poetry. Juliet says she’s been talking to her imaginary friend again.



   She even celebrated her imaginary friend’s birthday. Juliet thinks she should go see a therapist at the hospital.



   I mentioned this to Ophelia (not saying it was Juliet’s idea; I’d rather not have internecine warfare in the house), and she said it wasn’t necessary.

   “I know what my problem is,” she said, “and if you know the problem then there’s no reason to consult someone. Besides, if I told someone my problem, he would think I was crazy.”

   “Run that by me again?” I said.

   “All my existence, I’ve been the archetype of a troubled, suicidal young girl,” said Ophelia. “And now I’m a contented matron, rapidly approaching cronehood. Of course, I’m having an identity crisis. If I’m not wandering around, scattering flowers, and singing mournful ditties, then am I really Ophelia?”

   Well, when you put it that way, we’ve all lost our identities. I mean, I’m a little elderly to be a cold-blooded heart-breaker, and Juliet is too busy to miss Romeo (although I’ve noticed that she gives his name to every new star she discovers). Anyway, I suggested she take a trip.

   “You and Dakota never did have a honeymoon,” I said. “Why don’t you go to Egypt?” And don’t talk to the rest of us about identity crises, I thought, but didn’t add.

[MarianT]

Chapter Two

   My suggestion of a trip to Egypt was a brilliant success. After Ophelia learned how to play Senet, her ostensible reason for going, she went fishing.



   She found a wonderful secluded spot where she caught some crocodile.



She also saw a falcon there.



Then she went to another spot where she caught some mummyfish. Unfortunately, Customs wouldn’t let her bring back any of the fish.
 


   Of course she didn’t spend all her time fishing. She did some excavating.



And she felt very small when she went to a pyramid.



   Meanwhile, Dakota bought a very nice camera and did some exploring.



   Plus I could tell by the way they looked at each other that besides fishing and exploring, they also found time to work on their relationship.

[MarianT]

Chapter Three
   I’m very pleased by the way “my” three girls are opening up in this new world. If one were to put the words “Ophelia” and “graveyard” together, one would expect her to be contemplating suicide or at the very least gathering deadly nightshade, but instead she’s fishing for deathfish to use for ambrosia.



   And no one would expect Juliet to become a physician, merciless in the pursuit of health.



   As for Desdemona…Admittedly, her first building project was an attempt to reproduce the island of Cyprus.



   But then she decided she wanted to become an astronaut.



Day and night she would be outside on her little Rocket Rider.



   Finally, the day came when she outgrew the rocket. We threw a birthday party for her, and all the guests agreed that it was awesome.



   The first thing Desdemona did (after eating some cake) was to go over to the school and sign up for the shop club. If she becomes an astronaut, she says, she’s going to need to know how to use a screwdriver and duct tape. After all, look at those guys on Apollo 13. I have no idea what she’s talking about, but I’m glad she’s not planning to become totally dependent on a husband. Although I do hope she’ll get married – surely there will be some cute boys in her shop club.



   Meanwhile, I’m a little worried about Edmund. He and Juliet had the birthday at the same time as Desdemona. Juliet went into mid-life crisis mode, but Edmund seems to have been spared that. Instead, he went to France.



   He absolutely loved France. He loved going to the nectary.



He loved eating in a café.



He loved finding people who would talk about art and books and music.



In short, he fell in love. The man’s name was Yves, and he shared Edmund’s interest in sculpture. They had a date in the museum.



Unfortunately, the relationship didn’t progress much beyond flirtation, but Edmund says that’s all right. A slightly melancholic love affair that you remember fondly with a glass of wine seems to him the essence of France. He brought back a nectar-maker and some grapes for Juliet to plant.

[Alexandria_]

I just read through all of this story, and I have to say that your writing is amazing. I love you take on the Immortal Dynasty - the Shakespeare theme is really great.

[MarianT]

Chapter Four

   I fear that Ophelia is becoming the stereotypical absent-minded scientist. The other day she went to a party – formal dress of course. After the party, she went fishing – still in her dress.



   She didn’t have to go to work the next day, so she stayed out all night, and was rewarded with the sight of a deer in the early morning.



   When she came home, the washing machine was on the fritz, so she decided to pick up some handiness skill and repaired it – still in the dress she wore to the party.  By the time she was finished, the dress was definitely ready for the laundry.



   Meanwhile, Dakota was having a rough day. He’s been reciting affirmations to get over being unlucky and a loser: “I am truly fortunate in the life I have; I succeed in everything I undertake.” He believed that he had overcome his problem with low self-esteem (not that I’ve ever noticed he suffered from it – in fact he seems to have become a daredevil), and then had a day that was worse than anything he experienced when he was unlucky.

   First, as he told me, the Appaloosa Plains Chronicle reported that he’d gotten into a fight with someone. He did succeed in setting the record straight, but it was a hassle.



   Then, he made the mistake of sitting down on the couch. Ordinarily this would be a safe activity, but Desdemona had been in the throes of a mood swing – well, I would have warned him if I’d realized he hadn’t observed the signals (flouncing out of rooms, shrugging, tears at breakfast, complaints that “no one understands me,” rolling eyes, etc.). And everyone knows the best cure for a mood swing is a whoopee cushion.



   The culmination was the near-fatal electric shock he got when he tried to repair the stereo – which, incidentally, he set on fire.



   Luckily he extinguished the blaze, but not until both Ophelia and Desdemona both rushed to the scene. I wish they would understand that they have to run away from fire rather than towards it, at least until they are able to carry a death flower.



   Desdemona says it was the most exciting moment of her current existence, but it was soon superseded by the prom.



   She was named Prom Queen, but did not get romantically involved with anyone. On the whole, that’s a relief. Ophelia still has a bad reputation in town simply because she didn’t marry the boy she danced with at the prom – who wasn’t even her date.

   As for me, I’m still working. It beats twiddling my thumbs, and we can use the money. I also find time to flirt with my old honey. His hand might be insubstantial, but I know it’s there.

[Katluvr]

Awesome updates!  Poor Dakota getting zapped by the whoopee cushion AND the stereo on the same day.