It had worked. Edmund had cured Marisela’s vampirism. Edmund was on top of the world.
High on his own success, he found the courage to call Joy Reacher and ask her out on a date. He felt most comfortable in darkness, he suggested a walk under the stars. She seemed to like the idea.
They walked to Persephone Hot Springs and stopped to gaze at the sky.
And each other.
Edmund had never felt so at ease. Even with Joy, who always left him feeling tongue-tied and cloudy-headed, he had fresh confidence.
Joy stood up suddenly. “It’s clouding over. I thing it’s going to rain. This is probably a signal we should call it a night.”
Edmund moved close to her. “I’ll see you again soon, I hope?”
She reached up to touch his face, tentatively, as they drew together. “Sure,” she said. “I had a nice time. I don’t find that many people who appreciate a long walk and some silence.”
Rain began to fall on their shoulders.
“Do you want me to go?” he asked. “I don’t mind the rain.”
She laughed softly. “You’ll get soaked,” she said, “And it’s starting to get colder.”
“I’ll call you,” he said.
Winston’s mentor, Tyrone Biggs, decided Winston was ready to begin performing his own shows. The only good thing about his debut was that almost nobody had showed up to see it.
He managed to keep a smile on his face until the end, through all the stumbles and failed stunts, but it felt like plastic molded onto his face.
When he dragged home, he found Vickie outside, having returned late from sailing.
“Wow, you look like your dog died,” Vickie said. That might have been a big close to home. Connery was getting old. “Are you all right?”
“It was awful,” Winston admitted. “I think maybe I made a big mistake. What if I’m not cut out to be a performer.”
“Hey,” Vickie said. She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into a hug. “I’m sorry it sucked so much,” she said, “but I don’t believe for a minute you’re in the wrong career. You’re amazing.”
“Thanks,” Winston said. “I needed that.”
“Get some sleep,” Vickie said. “You’ve got to be exhausted.”
In the morning, Winston blew off steam by dueling with Edmund.
That probably wasn’t the best choice. He was out of practice, and let’s face it — Edmund was scary. But at least it made him eager to get back to acrobatics training.
Vickie still loved the feel of working with her hands. When she wasn’t out on the water, she was repairing or tinkering with something.
Either the traditional way, or the more creative Sample way.
She even took on the repair of her cousin Gamora’s weird sleep contraption. Considering there were no plans and she could identify half of the components, she thought the whole thing went off pretty well.
It was a good thing for Gamora. She was reminded several times that she could go back home to her dad, but she didn’t like being so far from her lab.
A shipwreck was discovered off the coast of Avalon. It was the Mango Marauder, a legendary pirate vessel that disappeared two hundred years ago with its hold full of treasure. Victoria couldn’t resist the chance to explore it before the site became a tourist site and all discoveries had been looted.
The wreck was in incredible shape. She could almost see what it was like as it sunk. And it was filled with beautiful sea life.
Dylan felt that his lifelong passions — photography, painting, and nectar making — were missing something after all the time. He decided to take up the guitar. “It’s never too late to pick up a new hobby,” he declared.
Andria and Connery appreciated his efforts, though the tunes were simple. “I love a man who isn’t afraid to learn a new skill.”
“Let’s take that new creativity upstairs,” she suggested.
The family received a surprising phone call from Dylan’s sister Abby and her husband Chaim.
“We’ve adopted a little boy!” they crowed in unison on the other end of the phone line.
“Wow,” Victoria said, stunned. “What led you to decide to do that… now?”
“We talked about it for a long time,” Abby admitted. “We couldn’t have children of our own, and then there just never seemed to be the right time with my acting career and Chaim’s work in law enforcement. We decided to finally do something before it was too late.”
Woo. Victoria hung up the phone and shared a look of astonishment with her mom. Chaim was quite a bit younger than Abby, but he also retired from the police force quite a while ago.
“I hope he’s a good kid,” Andria said, “and that they know what they’re getting into at their age. I’m glad your dad just decided to take up the guitar!”
The next phone call that arrived was not nearly so much of a surprise. Judith wanted Vickie to be her Maid of Honor.
It was a small, intimate ceremony with just a few friends and family. After everyone recovered from the wedding and reception, the Jameses invited Vickie and Roderick out for their first night on the town as a married couple.
“Not bad for some bling I plan to wear for the rest of my life!” Mason declared as he showed off his wedding ring.
“I always knew you two were perfect together,” Vickie said. “You make such a great couple!”
“I’ll have your most romantic drink,” Mason said. Judith just grinned.
The bartender busted out his best moves.
“Late as usual,” Judith teased as she finally saw Roderick wander in the door.
“Thanks for saving a drink for me at least,” Rod said. “I have a good reason, since you didn’t ask.” He winked.
Rod drew himself up and puffed out his chest. “You’re looking at the new personal assistant to renowned director Derik Simborg on his new project Lizards Take Sim City!”
“Wow!” Victoria gasped. “That’s amazing! I’m so happy for you!” She had no idea who Derik Simborg was, and that sounded like a terrible movie, but Roderick was clearly proud enough to bust his buttons.
Across town, Winston got his parents out to the festival grounds for some summer fun. “Come on!” he shouted, “What kind of aim was that? You all need glasses!”
“Just you wait,” Dylan announced. “I already have glasses.”
“I think it’s starting to rain,” Cristina Pierce announced.
“I’m too wet to notice,” Andria said.
The evening at The Sphinx ended as it should have — with dancing.
Judith and Mason never stopped looking in each other’s eyes, and they kept up their romantic, swaying dance no matter what music was playing.
Victoria wondered how they must feel. Was love what she felt for Roderick? He was a fun dancer and good company, but the look in Judith’s eyes left her with a longing sadness. If she mentioned her feelings to Rod, he’d be crushed.
Then Mason stepped on Judith’s foot, and the mood was broken.
Just as well. This was more fun.
Meanwhile, the Time Machine crackled, and Emit Relevart stepped unexpectedly into Gamora’s basement lab.
“Hey there!” Gamora said. “You’ll never guess what I invented! Did you know that meteors can be attracted by –”
Emit’s face was livid. “What did you do?” he demanded.
Gamora’s stopped mid-sentence. “What are you talking about?”
“I warned you not to play with the time stream,” Emit said. “We created Oasis Landing as a safe future destination for travelers like yourself to visit so that you wouldn’t be tempted to experiment with things you don’t understand. Whatever you did, my timeline is now in catastrophe.”
“But… but I didn’t do anything with the time stream!” Gamora said. “I just invented a meteor magnet right here in the present! I was looking for a way to punish my mom…”
“I’m really not interested in your personal grudges,” Emit said. “Can you swear to me that your interplanetary invention contained no technology you learned from the future?”
Gamora froze. “I didn’t realize.”
“It looks like you better spend some time thinking about it,” Emit said. “When you’re done, meet me in what’s left of Oasis Landing, and I’ll see if I can clean up the literal mess you created.”
He turned around, jumped back into the Time Machine, and was gone.
If some of my previous posts seemed too short to me, this one probably should have been two posts, but I’m not going to take the time to break it out now :). At least everyone got a bit of screen time.
Story Progression went on a kind of crazy adoption spree, including some pretty old couples. It was nice to see Abby and Chaim have a kid. I was kind of surprised that they didn’t make one the traditional way, since neither of them had any counter-indicating traits, and kids are half of what this game is about. I don’t see how they can possibly live long enough to see this kid to adulthood, though.
Also, I tried to get Victoria et. al to dance ON THE DANCEFLOOR at the nightclub, but even though I clicked the dancefloor, they all decided to dance behind the bar. I took pics dodging the bartender. Sims.