“We had a new student come into the school today. The girls were quite taken with him.” Anwyn smirked.
“Is that so? I’m sure Mara already has her claws set into him.” Liam said, but he noticed the way Gloria was blushing, “Or maybe she won’t catch this one?”
“Who’s to say?” Gloria asked. “He seems to like books and learning, and if Alfred was any guess then she doesn’t like brainy guys, no matter how attractive they are.”
“Then perhaps Mable has a chance this time?” Liam pushed, wanting to watch her reaction. Her blush deepened.
“Mable has too had a time being her own person outside of Mara’s reach, I don’t know if she’s ready for a relationship.” she said.
“Then perhaps we are sitting with the most eligible bachelorette!” Anwyn teased.
Gloria took a gulp of air. “I’ve not been looking for a relationship, and you both know that. My studies are too important to distract myself with a boy.” She twisted the last word, making it a mockery.
Anwyn laughed and looked back at her food. Liam rolled his eyes and did the same. Robin looked like he wanted to throw his food, but he was getting better at not doing that… for now.
~*~
A the days had gone past, and Blake was settling in quickly. He brought out a competitive side that Gloria didn’t think that she had. He was smart, and while she knew that he had close to three years of a lead on her in learning, she felt like she cold out-smart him. She found herself wanting to catch his attention, to prove to him that she was his mental equal. Anything he could do, she could do the same.
It seemed to work.
“Hey, Gloria. Can I ask a favor of you?” Blake asked her coming back from lunch one day.
Gloria looked around at the group walking back to class, not wanting them to think that he wanted alone time with her for romantic reasons. Mable still looked at him with wonderment, and she didn’t want this to wedge between them.
“You may ask.” she smiled, finding a clever way to answer his request for a favor.
“I’ve been here for only a week, and I was hoping that I would have learned my way around faster, but I can’t seem to tell up from down. Would you be willing to give me a proper tour?”
“Oh, sure. I’ll just let my mom know and it shouldn’t be a problem. It’ll be fun!” she said, her heart fluttering like a humming bird in her chest.
“Is your mom nearby? Don’t you live on another island?” Blake asked.
“You haven’t noticed? The teacher is my mom.” she couldn’t believe that he hadn’t noticed, but maybe she just didn’t refer to her as mom in public so much? Particularly at the school, otherwise it felt unfair to have the teacher be your mom. She didn’t want people thinking she got special treatment. If anything she was set to harder standards.
“Oh really?! That’s interesting. I thought that she was your aunt, just like Mara and Mable.” Blake’s eyes grew wide.
“No, they’re my cousins on my mom’s side. They’re my mom’s sister’s children.”
“Oh, and Benjamin is your… brother?” he asked.
“No, he’s my uncle.” Gloria said plainly.
“Your uncle?!”
~*~
“That’s most of the island, and you can see most of it from that hill top over there by the school.” Gloria claimed as they filled the hours after school had let out. The sun was getting a bit low in the sky, and she guessed it was about 5 pm. The sun would be blazing soon as it set.
“It’s so much more colorful than I thought it would be. And the lack of clothing, it’s scandalous. Not that I’m complaining.” Blake stammered.
Gloria realized exactly how much clothing she was wearing and blushed a little. On the Islands it wasn’t abnormal to wear looser and less clothing, but she had a vague idea of how the people on the mainland dressed. Mara and Mable had raided their parents’ chests and found clothing from when they came here, and the dress that Aunt Lara had weighed as much as a medium sized dog and the under garments looked to be constructive.
Still, they covered much more of the body than her clothing did now, and the difference must be quite extreme for Blake. How he kept his eyes in his eye sockets and didn’t oggle everyone he saw was beyond him.
“You’ll get used to it. There are a lot of things that are different here. Clothing, customs, relationships.”
“From what I’ve seen, this place is like a utopia. People are more free to live, to do as they please. They can dress how they like, they can pursue a legal relationship with anyone. I saw a man wearing only a cloth around his waist and walk into the ocean just yesterday! That would have never passed on the mainland.”
“Well, from what I hear the water is freezing most of the year on the mainland. Here the water is warm all year ‘round. You can swim whenever you like.” Gloria assured with a smile.
“I-” he looked hesitant to say it,, “I never learned to swim.”
“You never learned to swim!? If you can’t swim then you’re surrounded by death on all sides here! We have to fix that, come on.” She tugged him towards the water.
“Wha- now?” he asked, nervous.
“I’m ready, are you?”
“No!” he said with wide eyes. “‘I’m not ready. If we go in now, I’ll just- it’s a bad idea!”
“I’m a great teacher,” she said confidently. “I teach the little kids all the time. You won’t drown. I can support you in the water. It’s easy.”
“It’s- men and women aren’t supposed to swim together, much less disrobe around one another!”
Blake looked mortified at the idea of swimming with a woman, and that only made Gloria smile. “That is the old way of thinking talking. If you’re worried about seeing a body, you’re going to have to get over that fear pretty quickly.”
“Let me hold it for now.” he retoreded, standing firmly on the ground and not looking like he would be jumping into the water anytime soon.
“How about this, two days from now I’ll teach you to swim. It’ll be a good time, and I’ll wear the most clothing I can and still swim.” she bargained.
He looked at her sceptically. “And you promise that I won’t have to wear less clothing?”
“I mean, wearing less clothing makes swimming easier, but no, you won’t have to wear less clothing.” she agreed.
“Alright then…” he looked uneasy.
“Once you learn how to swim, you’ll enjoy it. But come on, let's head home. It’s getting dark.” She led him away from the water and she walked him to his front door. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school. Have a good evening.” She turned away from him with a wave.
“See you tomorrow!” he called after her with a bit more enthusiasm as was normal, and she smiled, her heart speeding as she tried to act normal.
~*~
“-And I’m going to be teaching him to swim tomorrow!” Gloria spilled to Mara and Mable before school.
“What! That’s so bold of you!” Mable commented.
“I don’t know why he asked you to show him around, I am far more adventurous than you.” Mara rolled her eyes.
“And when did you learn to do magic? I’d say I’m just as special as you if not more so.” Gloria snidely shot back.
“He doesn't even know about your ability! That doesn’t count!” Mara argued.
“Well maybe my inner character just showed through a bit more. It doesn’t matter, he asked me and I got him to spend even more time with me and that’s all that matters. You don't get to win every time, Mara. I’m sorry if that hurts your feelings but it gets tiring being in your shadow all the time.”
Of course Blake shows up at that moment. “What’re you guys talking about?” he asked.
“A dog.” Mara said coldly as she stared at Gloria with small eyes. “Just a dog. Gloria gets excited about her muts.”
Gloria stared at her, shaking with the thrill of arguing but also feeling ashamed of herself for being mean to one of her best friends.
Mara turned and walked up into the classroom, Mable followed her and looked sheepish. Gloria figured that she sided with Gloria on the topic, but she had so show support for her sister.
Class was tough. Gloria kept thinking about how she was sorry about throwing her anger in Mara’s face like that. It was only natural that she should defend herself like that, wasn’t it? She had insulted Blake though, even if he didn’t know it. It was rude… How was Gloria supposed to feel?
Lunch time came around and Gloria pulled Mara aside. “Look, we need to talk. I’m not going to let us unravel because of a lack of communication.”
She pulled her to the edge of the area, and turned to her. “I want to apologize for what I said earlier, it was too harsh. I don’t really feel like you’ve been taking all of the guys for yourself, but I also feel like you- you don’t often take other people’s feelings into consideration. This is the one time that I feel something towards someone, and I don’t want you to feel like I’m trying to beat you to the finish line with him. I want to give this a chance.” Gloria said.
Mara looked like she was furious, but then she uncrossed her arms. “Fine,” she huffed. “I was too hard too. I do chase a lot of guys, and you never do, not even picking up the scraps like poor Mable. I hope she doesn’t die a spinster… I’ll back off and won’t try and get between you and Blake. He seems to like you, anyway. He looks at you when you’re not looking.” she winked and smiled and Gloria was happy for her change of spirit. “I’m sorry I took it so personally.”
“I’m sorry it got so personal.” Gloria replied, and they walked back to rejoin the group. That was way easier than she thought it was going to be, and she was relieved that it wouldn’t be a lasting problem.
“So Gloria, you’re going to teach Blake here how to swim? I’m sure you guys will enjoy the alone time.” Benjamin teased as the two girls returned.
Gloria blushed, but Blake seemed unfazed. “I hope we’re alone only for the fact that I don’t want people watching me failing at something children can do. Gloria seeing me do poorly is plenty of an audience.”
“Oh sure. I’m sure it’s not because you want to play around in the water for a while-” he was cut off with a kick under the table from Mable. ‘Play around in the water” was a euphemism on the islands.
“I mean, I hope I have a good time?” Blake looked confused.
“It’ll be a dandy time.” Gloria assured, giving Benjamin a stern look.
“Just a ‘dandy time’ where both parties are wearing swimwear…” Mara said quietly so that only she and Gloria could hear.
Blake looked around the table of giggling people. “Maybe I should ask Benjamin to teach me to swim…” he said hesitantly.
“No, you don’t want that. He’ll just dunk you over and over again and you’ll get water in your nose. I’ll teach you. It’s not a problem.”
Sorry for the break, I hit a bit of a dry spell and my attention has been all over the place!
The Cupshire/Reed clan grows bigger!
(spoiler, the outfit that Gloria is wearing is going to be a bit more special in the future. But don't mind it now.
Anwyn and Liam have two new twin girls! Skye and Lana.
And I had a birthday party for Robin, he's a child now!
I like the magic medieval hospital that's within distance of the islands.
And it looks like Gloria's trying to get Blake to come out of his shell. It must be so scandalous exposing your ankles in the sand like that, or swimming with a woman with your forearms exposed.
Don't manhandle the urchin. He's not for sale. FIND YOUR OWN! - Xenon the Antiquarian, Dragon Age II
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
I like the magic medieval hospital that's within distance of the islands.
And it looks like Gloria's trying to get Blake to come out of his shell. It must be so scandalous exposing your ankles in the sand like that, or swimming with a woman with your forearms exposed.
Gloria is trying to acclimate Blake to the Islands. She doesn't know about the conservative lifestyle of the mainland. She just knows her carefree life and wants Blake to share in that ease.
As for Anwyn and the magical hospital, I like to peak my head out of the medieval period and play the game the way it was intended to play. Like having Sims go to the Romance festival, or having the occasional baby at the hospital.
I like the magic medieval hospital that's within distance of the islands.
And it looks like Gloria's trying to get Blake to come out of his shell. It must be so scandalous exposing your ankles in the sand like that, or swimming with a woman with your forearms exposed.
Gloria is trying to acclimate Blake to the Islands. She doesn't know about the conservative lifestyle of the mainland. She just knows her carefree life and wants Blake to share in that ease.
As for Anwyn and the magical hospital, I like to peak my head out of the medieval period and play the game the way it was intended to play. Like having Sims go to the Romance festival, or having the occasional baby at the hospital.
Yes, it must be a culture shock for Blake, because the way of life on the islands is quite different. I always like to make jokes about medieval people finding exposed ankles or forearms scandalous. The Sims Medieval even has an interaction for licentious sims: compliment ankles, which I think is hilarious.
And yeah, I remember you sharing behind the scenes pictures of everyone doing modern stuff. I just think the juxtaposition is funny, since it comes after everyone being "in-character" so to speak.
Don't manhandle the urchin. He's not for sale. FIND YOUR OWN! - Xenon the Antiquarian, Dragon Age II
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
I'm looking forward to see what happens between Gloria and Blake. I'm a little suspicious of him, hopefully he wont end up hurting Gloria in any way. Also I'm looking forward to seeing the nooboos. The photos from Robin's party were very sweet.
Gloria wore as much clothing as she could without being weighed down. It wasn’t easy, most of her clothes were made intended to be easy to move in. Flowing, breathable. It got very hot on the Islands, and you didn’t want to keep heavy layers on your body when you were outside working.
The dresses she had seen her family had brought over had large skirts made out of wool and cotton that would pull her under instantly if they got wet, they wouldn’t work. But if she wore her skirt that wrapped around her, maybe she would be able to still swim…
She packed extra clothes to change into after they were done when she zapped herself with some pent up energy. Her magic made little crackles of energy between her finger tips and she remembered that it was a full moon tomorrow night, and her power was brimming. It would be for the next few days, and while she knew that to expel some of it would do wonders for her attention and her nerves, she didn’t have time to. Only the spellcasters of the Islands and her family knew. The other students didn’t know, and Blake surely didn’t. She didn’t know what the mainland thought about spellcasters. What if they despised them? For all Gloria knew it could be one of their largest crimes.
Her parents didn’t talk about their time on the mainland much. She suspected that they didn’t want to think about it, that they were running from something. Whenever she asked about it, they deflected. Most people did. They were refugees. If they wanted to dwell on it they would have stayed.
“I’m going to the big island, I’m teaching Blake to swim. I should be home for dinner.” she told her parents who were working in the garden.
“Did you pack food? I can scramble something together if you wait for a minute!” her mom called.
“Nah, we’ll get something somewhere. See yah!” Gloria turned and boarded the little boat and sailed towards the hills on the horizon. It didn’t take very long to reach the big island, and she found a dock to park it in.
She was supposed to meet him in about half an hour, and that gave her a bit of time to spend enjoying the sun. She always enjoyed the sun and wind with the smell of flowers. The seaweed on the shore was particularly fragrant today, so she didn’t take any deep breaths.
She met Blake down by the pool where they could easily touch the bottom if they needed to. He was waiting, somehow not looking bored by also not doing anything. He was just sitting and looking up at the clouds, a basket with towels beside him. Ugh! Towels! Gloria had forgotten towles. Were her nerves really that bad? To forget the second ingredient of swimming?
He saw her and waved, welcoming her over. She waved back, and walked a little faster.
“Hey, you’re early!” she commented.
“So are you.” he paused and looked down at his outfit. “I was told by my housemates that this is appropriate attire for swimming?”
“It is, you’ll do fine. Now, the water is warm so we should be all good to go, we don’t have to worry about waiting to get used to it.”
“You can get used to the water?” he asked. “Even if it’s freezing?”
“Yeah. You really haven’t been swimming before, have you?”
“No, no I haven’t. But I’m hoping to. That’s why I’m here.” he smiled.
“And here I thought I was just good company.” she smiled back, dropping her bag and walking into the water to about knee depth.
“Now, I want you to tell me when you feel nervous. Come out and walk with me.” Gloria instructed.
He walked out, following Gloria up to his waist, then his elbows, then to his shoulders. “Gloria, this feels about as brave as I’m feeling… I don’t think I can do much better.” He looked more than a bit nervous.
“That’s a good depth! You’re doing marvelously! Just relax.” she watched him try and take a few breaths to steady himself.
“Ok, now bounce on your toes. You feel that? How you kinda bob around? That’s close to floating. You need to float. For obvious reasons.” Gloria assured. “See how I’m moving my arms? I’m pushing myself upwards in the water, it keeps me floating. Otherwise I would start to sink. Try and mimic what I’m doing.”
He watched her for a moment and started replicating her movements nearly perfectly.
“That’s great! You’re doing really well!” she encouraged.
“I can almost pick my feet up off of the sand, My arms are getting tired, this is more work than I thought it would be. Sword fighting is hard, but these are different muscles.” He was excited; Gloria could see it. She smiled.
“Ok, let’s try something else. Watch this.” She leaned back and floated on her back, toes sticking up out of the water. Blake blushed at the sight of Gloria’s legs. “This is pretty easy, and if you ever get stuck out in the water somewhere it’s a good resting position.”
She resumed her position of floating with just her head sticking out of the water. “Here, this one can be a bit tricky, let me help you do it.”
She took up a position beside him. “I need to touch you, ok? The sooner you learn, the sooner it’ll be over.” She waited for his approval, and he nodded.
She placed one arm across his shoulders, and the other went under the base of his back. “Ok, now I’m not going to let you drown, your face won’t even get wet. Kick your feet up and try to bring your hips up towards the surface.”
“Wha-? That doesn’t sound so easy… How am I supposed to bring my hips up to the surface?” he asked, bewildered.
“It’s kinda like pulling your feet into bed, just bring them up. I’ll grab your legs and cradle you and we’ll go from there.” Gloria said plainly.
“That’s rather unfeminine of you.” he murmured. He tried to lift his feet but sank into the water and Gloria had to catch him.
He came up and sputtered. “You said my face wouldn't’ get wet!” he wiped his face.
“And I said to kick up, not just lift your feet. You need more momentum. And swing them forward, not just under you. You goof, what did you expect?” Gloria laughed.
“I expected to do what you did! Can you show me again?” he asked. “I’ll pay better attention this time.”
“It’s like this,” Gloria kicked back and floated on her back, turning a bit. “It’s simple and second nature as soon as you figure it out.”
She lowered her legs again. “Ok, now you try it.” she put her arm across his shoulders and the other ready to catch his legs. He looked at her with skeptical eyes, then yanked his feet up towards the surface as if he were kicking a giant ball.
Gloria caught his legs and held him while he floundered around and flailed with the arm furthest from her. “Now what do I do?!” he yelped.
“You relax! Take deep breaths, your lungs will help you float.”
She watched as his lungs moved like bellows. “You’re not going to fall, I’m supporting your weight. You’re lighter in the water. Relax.” she formed a better stance to better balance with him. He was lighter, but all that muscle had weight to it.
“Keep moving your arm for now, act like you’re treading water. Now I want you to try to lift your hips towards the surface. Yep, almost there, ok, keep that just like that.” Gloria looked proudly at his form. He was doing really well for a first timer.
She still had him by the waist, holding him up. “I’m going to let go of you, but i’m only about an inch away. You’ve got this, you’re doing great.” She lowered her hand and let him bob.
“Gloria, Gloria I don’t want to drift out to sea!” he panicked.
“You’re not going to drift out to sea, there’s barely any tide here and you can just lower your feet and touch the sand. Go ahead and try it. You’re in full control.”
~*~
They laid out on a few spare towels to dry off and let their muscles rest.
“I had no idea that swimming could be so much effort.” he said. “My arms feel like they’re noodles. And I have good arms!” he chuckled.
“You have a lot of muscle mass, that makes floating harder. Softer bodies float easier.” Gloria commented.
“Well, thanks for the compliment.” he turned back to look at the sky. He waited a few moments. “I’m starving.” he claimed bluntly, “Having to spend so much energy has made me famished.”
“There’s some good food stalls around here. Let’s go and find one.” Gloria mentioned, standing up easily. Blake stood a bit longer to get up as his muscles were more tired
(Very medieval apron, mister...)
They ordered some food and sat at a table. “It feels weird that a child can do something better than me,” he said. “I mean, a child can’t hold a sword like I can, I should be able to swim better than a kid.”
“You didn’t spend much time with children back on the mainland, did you? Kids have way more energy than adults do. They have the will to jump off of edges, to swim deeper than anyone else, and they will outrun you too. It’s amazing.” Gloria rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, I’m a single child. My father died sometime after I was born, and my mother and stepfather never had any children. Not that my parents had much to do with my upbringing.” Blake stirred the food on his plate.
“Speaking of the mainland, what’s it like there? No one ever talks about it here.” she covered her mouth. “Not that you have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I don’t want you to feel pressured.”
“It’s, it’s so different from here. It’s politically in turmoil, the Church is fighting the king, and there’s no heir to the throne. The only heir was captured before it was born when some treasonous terrorists captured the queen. An inside job, they say, planned right under the king’s nose. He was distraught for a long time.” Blake said it all as if it were a shopping list, distanced.
“But from the little that I’ve heard he was a bad king. My parents and family are only ever happy that they were able to get away.” Gloria looked at him in wonderment.
Blake chose his words carefully, not that Gloria noticed. “I think the king tried his best, just like any king would hope to. But when the queen was taken and reported killed, he went wild. A few of the terrorists had been captured and interrogated for information, but they wouldn't budge. It was hopeless, and the king was left without a queen or heir.
“He tried to remarry, telling the Church that an heir had to be procured, but the Church refused to allow it. So those loyal to the king and those loyal to the Church were suddenly on two different sides, and raids and fights would break out in the cities. Thankfully my parents were far enough away from any large city to encounter any battles, but it wasn’t safe. They were sympathizers to the king’s cause, and they didn’t want the kingdom to be left without an heir. Soon the distant village heard that we were in favor of the king and the knights of the church came to arrest us. I got away with a few other refugees, but my parents stayed behind to face the Church.” He said it distantly, as if he were reciting it. Gloria’s eyes were wide.
“Wow, I had no idea. That’s… that’s insane. I’m so sorry that you had to go through that.” she said.
He blinked and was in the present again. “Well, I’m sure that any first generation refugee has a similar story. It’s hardly original.”
“But every story is original to every survivor. Your story is no less damaging to you as someone else’s story is to them. Don’t compare yourself to another person.” Gloria assured. “You don’t have to face that ever again.”
Does anyone have any guesses as to the nature of Blake? I'm curious what you guys think about him.
I feel like Blake's history hints at some of the secondary characters in the past, but none really come to mind when he mentions having a father who passed away shortly after he was born.
Don't manhandle the urchin. He's not for sale. FIND YOUR OWN! - Xenon the Antiquarian, Dragon Age II
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
I feel like Blake's history hints at some of the secondary characters in the past, but none really come to mind when he mentions having a father who passed away shortly after he was born.
I was thinking the same thing! I might have to go back and reread some chapters lol.
Also, instantly I thought of the duchess, but I'm not so sure. Unless he is lying about multiple things (age and parts of backstory), I don't think he is her son. It might be possible though? I'm just still a bit suspicious of him and look forward to finding out more about him.
I feel like Blake's history hints at some of the secondary characters in the past, but none really come to mind when he mentions having a father who passed away shortly after he was born.
I was thinking the same thing! I might have to go back and reread some chapters lol.
Also, instantly I thought of the duchess, but I'm not so sure. Unless he is lying about multiple things (age and parts of backstory), I don't think he is her son. It might be possible though? I'm just still a bit suspicious of him and look forward to finding out more about him.
I think the duchess's son was a brunette. Unless he bleached his hair, which I think already existed in antiquity.
But yeah, I'm still drawing a blank
Don't manhandle the urchin. He's not for sale. FIND YOUR OWN! - Xenon the Antiquarian, Dragon Age II
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
I just finished writing the new chapter, did a bit of editing and rereading (which I oddly don't normally do), but the pacing in the beginning is still off. I'm not really willing to fix it, so I'm just going to keep it and hope to move on.
Gloria spotted a stall selling fireworks and tugged on Blake’s arm. “We have to get some of those!” she gushed.
“Why? What do they do?” he asked, puzzled.
“You’ve never seen fireworks? This is going to be such a surprise. You’re going to love it!” she bought a bunch of them and put them in her bag, as they walked along and looked out at the setting sun.
“You know, when I was reading the Journey of the Ring, I thought of these shores as the western shores that Frido sails to in the end of the story. To paradise.” Gloria looked out at the water, lulled by its constant motion.
“It does seem pretty perfect here. I’ve been here about a month, and I can’t find a fault with it yet. If more people knew that peace like this was real and not a myth…” he trailed off, imagining what it would be like.
“What do you think Frido did when he got to the western shores?” Gloria wondered.
Well, I think-” Blake turned Gloria to face him while picking up her hand gently. “He settled down in a new town and found a nice girl who-” he raised his other hand to brush her cheek, “-taught him to release his fears and laughed at his old fashioned ways of thinking.”
Gloria shook down to her toes with anticipation. “Do you think that they were happy together or do you think that he was too afraid to be happy?”
“I think that he was finally able to build a new life and rest happily.” he whispered.
A flare fizzed behind Gloria as she pulled out a sparkler from behind her back. It had been tricky lighting it with one hand (a bit of magic had helped with that though), but the surprise on his face was worth the effort.
“What- what is that? How did you do that? It's so bright!” he stared at the bright tip.
“It’s a sparkler! My parents had them at their wedding and ever since they’ve been special to my family. The people here on the Islands make them.” Gloria informed.
“I have never seen anything like it before! It’s almost like you’re a witch and this is a spell.” he marveled at it.
Gloria lit another one from the spark of the one already lit and handed it to Blake. “It’s even cooler if you twirl it around. It looks like it leaves streaks in the air!” she started spinning hers around, and Blake’s eyes twinkled in the light, his jaw slightly agape, watching the dance.
He looked at his own sparkler and twirled it, entranced by its beauty. The smell of fizzling sparklers held them in a dizzying pocket for a few minutes, just enjoying the light.
Gloria smiled mischievously, and a sudden loud crack was heard and Blake threw himself to the ground, startling Gloria.
“Where is it? Where’s the cannon? It sounded so close, it must be near. Where is it?” His eyes were wide, frightened.
Gloria looked at him concerned and confused. “Blake, there’s no cannon. It was a firecracker. It pops and makes a loud noise when lit. Are you ok?” she asked.
“A firecracker? Who would make something that sounded so similar to war?! To attack?” his face fell, and he shook his head, all merriment gone. He stood from the ground. “I feel like I’m a broken human, Gloria. I jump at loud noises, I see shadows where there are none.” he looked up at her. “I’m as damaged as Frido. I don’t know how to be happy.” The last word was sharp, almost like an accusation; that the people who lived here were too happy with their lives to be realistic.
“You can be. I promise. It just takes some time to get used to. You’ll adjust.” She had seen refugees go through this before, but always from afar, never up close. It felt heavy, like a rock tied around her lungs pulling her down, as if she were sharing in his pain. Was this part of her power or just her human feelings?
“Then why do I feel like I’m being held back by the past?” he demanded, looking at her with agony in his eyes.
“Because you haven’t built something to fill the hole where it used to be! The longer you’re away from it, the further away it will seem, and the smaller on the horizon it will be.” she comforted, a spike of pain ripping through her, feeling his pain. It felt like guilt, homesickness, and fear. There was a scent of something hidden underneath, a thrill of something she couldn’t place, but it felt incongruous to the other feelings.
He shook his head, and Gloria tried to recover from her step into his feelings. “I don’t know how,” he continued. “I don’t want to be the person that I was, I want to be better. To be the right person. But I don’t know how I can climb out of the pit and change.”
Gloria looked at him with sympathy. “If you like, there’s a ceremony where you renounce your old self, and you turn to a new life. It’s the rebirth ceremony, you get a new name and everything. You can become an entirely new person.”
“That doesn’t sound half bad. I’ll consider it.” He took a breath and looked around, trying to move on from the heavy topic. “In the meantime, where did the sun go? It left us behind! Come on, I’ll walk you to your boat.”
~*~
Gloria had a hard time falling asleep. She had been so close to kissing him, if he had just been a few inches closer, a few breaths away, but she got too nervous and lit the sparkler and killed the mood. Imagine where those minutes could have gone if she hadn’t interrupted the flow they were going down! She could have finished the evening with a boyfriend.
Robin slept quietly in the bed that was near hers. The house was getting so cramped with the twins being born, they had erected a new room that still felt a bit bare and were housing the twins in there. However, that meant that it would be a while until Gloria got her own room. Instead, she was in the same room as her little brother who was 9 years younger than her.
Still, it was hard to be annoyed with him. It didn’t feel like that long ago that she was that age, and she was happy to have him close enough to get to know him. He breathed audibly as he slept, and it formed a slow and relaxing rhythm like the sound of waves that was easy to fall asleep to.
She rolled over and tried to do just that. She wouldn’t get any the next night, as it would be a full moon. Her energy 🐸🐸🐸🐸 in her veins, making her restless. But as restless as she felt, she also felt an odd pull to unconsciousness. Almost unnaturally she closed her eyes and felt like her body had become a dead weight. Sleep usually felt like drifting away, this felt like a shutting door and an anchor around her ankle.
She breathed and smelled the scent of a foreign flower, mixed with the smell of freshwater hitting rocks which was almost like copper. She opened her eyes, wondering if she had to get up to close the window before a storm came through and soked her while she slept (it had happened before), but the room had changed to a bright and swirling view of a greenhouse. She remembered the building from a dream she’d had as a child, and she smiled in glee. She remembered the inside of the greenhouse and how she hadn’t been able to explore it to the extent that she had wanted to, and now perhaps she had the chance. And the grounds of this area seemed interesting and twisting; she could spend hours finding all of the small details.
She stood from her bed and noticed that she was wearing a white dress. It was different than the one she had worn when she was a child, but it fit her well. As if she were clothed with the stars.
She pulled open the door and found that it hadn’t changed at all over the years. She considered doing the math on how long it had been since she had been here, but it was just a dream. It didn’t really matter and she would have to leave soon anyway, so she decided against it. She didn’t want to waste her time.
Glowing orbs pulsed on counters and fragrant herbs and roots were scattered between them. She recognised some of them from the real greenhouse: mandrake, deathflower, sage. Others she couldn’t recognise.
A sudden jolt of power ran down her arm like a shock and went flying out towards the wall, and at that moment she noticed a young man standing across the room from her where there had been none before. He looked at her with stunned dark eyes, as if he’d seen a ghost.
“Ow!” Gloria exclaimed. “Oh, hi! Sorry, is this your house? Mind if I look around?” she massaged her hand and kept looking around. The interesting flower smell wasn’t in the greenhouse, and she had the whim to follow it and find where it originated.
“You, you’re not real. This isn’t happening.” he stuttered.
A bit odd, but Gloria rolled with it. “Of course not. This is a dream. None of this is real.”
She left the greenhouse and walked towards the bed she had woken up in. The light smell wafted here and there, and she turned her head to try and find the direction.
The boy followed her. “You’ve changed so much, and yet not as much as I thought you would have over the years. I never got your name last time.”
Gloria wasn’t listening, the smell of the flowers were distracting her too much. The boy walked and stood in front of her and looked her in the eyes. “I don’t know how long I’ll be here, do you remember me? Why am dreaming of you?”
Gloria only half heard him. “Hm?” she focused on his face, trying to place his face. There had been a boy who had been well dressed in white, and he had mentioned his name, but Gloria was already bad with names that were monosyllabic that she didn’t have to practice once a week.
There was something about his face, it felt familiar. His eyes, they were like burnt gold, as if there was dark amber on top of gold coins. But his childish round face had sculpted into one of sharpened cheekbones and a pronounced nose. He had a nearly scrawny frame, and he seemed like he was hiding the fact that he was jumpy.
“I’m sorry, if you’re the boy I saw last time I was here, I don’t remember your name.” she said.
“But I remember you so perfectly. Your hair was shorter, you were just as curious. My name’s Seneca. Seneca.” he repeated to make sure she got it in her head before and then looked at her expectantly to say it back to him.
“Seneca. Ok. Well, Seneca, do you know about this place? Any cool secrets?” she asked, turning away from him to look around.
“No, I don’t come here unless you’re here.” He suddenly held his chest and gasped in pain. “I don’t understand why the girl from my dream has returned, and why am I in pain?”
He looked up to find Gloria a comically far ways off. “Hey, wait for me! Don’t get lost!” He straightened up and ran after her.
“Oh, you’re still here?” she asked when he caught up to her. “I guess I thought you would have disappeared by now.”
“I’m not feeling well…” he took deep breaths, trying to catch his breath and settle his stomach.
“You don’t look well. Here, let me help you with that.” Gloria waved her hand and tried to think of the spell that helped sickness. Or was that the one that caused sickness? Nope, it was the helping cure sickness spell. She remembered correctly.
“How did you do that?” he asked. “Are you a witch?” he asked.
“What’s a witch? Like a sandwich? Or a switch to urge a horse?” Gloria asked.
“No, it’s when you make a deal with the devil in exchange for powers.” he eyed her even more skeptically.
Gloria had no idea what this boy was talking about and she was getting weirded out by him.“I’m pretty sure I was born with these powers. I was about six when I started to develop them. I hope the devil doesn’t make deals with children.” Gloria said bluntly.
“You seem to be about 15 or sixteen, and it was ten years ago that we last met.” Seneca said as if it were easy to remember. “Is there a coincidence?”
“I don’t even know who you are! Why do you care so much about who I am?” Gloria was getting irrationally annoyed at the boy who wouldn’t leave her alone to explore the beautiful and surprising world.
“I want to know who-” and with that he faded and disappeared.
“Good. I can finally get some peace.” And Gloria went back to finding the smell of the flowers. She realised that she hadn’t told him her name, shrugged, and moved on.
Finally stuff I can sink my nails into! It's no secret that I don't like build up chapters, but now the snowball is starting to get rolling and it's getting thicker the further we go! That metaphor works, right? maybe?
So, we have Blake, Seneca, and the girl of their dreams. But which dreams are those, and for whom? Are they good dreams or bad ones? Who the heck are these people?! Stay tuned, and it will make sense eventually.
I normally would have a few days between the "I wrote a thing" post to the actual post, but I had time today and since the chapter is only really 2 scenes it wasn't that hard to shoot. Not only that, I had already written it, I just looked over it today and ironed it out a bit.
I've been having this weird thing though, when I add sims to my family with the shift menu, my game won't let me travel? Like I tell them to say, go to glimmer brook, and the world selection screen comes up and when I click where I want to go it loads and then pulls up the world selection screen again. IT's really frustrating and may limit the amount of sims I can have in a scene later on. Which is frustrating.
@icmnfrsh no, for once I don't 😅. But when I was playing in the palace I did, at the manor, pretty much all the time and it was fine. I use a mod to increase the household size and I could tell my game was grumpy about it but otherwise it didn't act up. Now I have the normal amount of sims and it's misbehaving.
The moon settles, in a dusky sky.
The gentle eyes of the north star rest upon your sleeping face.
And the heavens gaze upon you.
In this moment I know
You are not from the ground on which you tread.
But of the stars, of the stars
You are my radiant, my celestial child,
You are my radiant, my celestial child.
As night is drowned by morning
You remain at my side
Accompanying the sunlight
Until night swells,
Until night swells,
Again across the sky.
When dreaming
You return to the stars
Dreaming you return to the stars
(
You are my radiant, my celestial child,
You are my radiant, my celestial child.
I heard this song a few months back around the time I thought of Gloria's character, and I thought that it fit Anwyn and Gloria's relationship in a way that few other songs would be able to. Anwyn knows that her and her daughter's lives are miracles. Anwyn can only hope to guide Gloria while she can, knowing that whatever Gloria's destiny is, it's going to be out of her control sooner or later.
(I also love the song because I personally adore singing in a choir and before the virus hit I was actually in a choir. Oh, and watch the video, I find the visuals of this performance to be delightful.)
So I've been doing a bit of playing around and I think the cause of my game messing up after I add sims to the household has to do with babies in the house hold. Before Gloria was born, the only other infant sim I had was Benjamin, and I think there were problems then too, I just thought that it was my game having a fit about the large ensembles I was playing with. If I don't have babies in the family, it should be fine.
Comments
Chapter 33
“We had a new student come into the school today. The girls were quite taken with him.” Anwyn smirked.
“Is that so? I’m sure Mara already has her claws set into him.” Liam said, but he noticed the way Gloria was blushing, “Or maybe she won’t catch this one?”
“Who’s to say?” Gloria asked. “He seems to like books and learning, and if Alfred was any guess then she doesn’t like brainy guys, no matter how attractive they are.”
“Then perhaps Mable has a chance this time?” Liam pushed, wanting to watch her reaction. Her blush deepened.
“Mable has too had a time being her own person outside of Mara’s reach, I don’t know if she’s ready for a relationship.” she said.
“Then perhaps we are sitting with the most eligible bachelorette!” Anwyn teased.
Gloria took a gulp of air. “I’ve not been looking for a relationship, and you both know that. My studies are too important to distract myself with a boy.” She twisted the last word, making it a mockery.
Anwyn laughed and looked back at her food. Liam rolled his eyes and did the same. Robin looked like he wanted to throw his food, but he was getting better at not doing that… for now.
~*~
A the days had gone past, and Blake was settling in quickly. He brought out a competitive side that Gloria didn’t think that she had. He was smart, and while she knew that he had close to three years of a lead on her in learning, she felt like she cold out-smart him. She found herself wanting to catch his attention, to prove to him that she was his mental equal. Anything he could do, she could do the same.
It seemed to work.
“Hey, Gloria. Can I ask a favor of you?” Blake asked her coming back from lunch one day.
Gloria looked around at the group walking back to class, not wanting them to think that he wanted alone time with her for romantic reasons. Mable still looked at him with wonderment, and she didn’t want this to wedge between them.
“You may ask.” she smiled, finding a clever way to answer his request for a favor.
“I’ve been here for only a week, and I was hoping that I would have learned my way around faster, but I can’t seem to tell up from down. Would you be willing to give me a proper tour?”
“Oh, sure. I’ll just let my mom know and it shouldn’t be a problem. It’ll be fun!” she said, her heart fluttering like a humming bird in her chest.
“Is your mom nearby? Don’t you live on another island?” Blake asked.
“You haven’t noticed? The teacher is my mom.” she couldn’t believe that he hadn’t noticed, but maybe she just didn’t refer to her as mom in public so much? Particularly at the school, otherwise it felt unfair to have the teacher be your mom. She didn’t want people thinking she got special treatment. If anything she was set to harder standards.
“Oh really?! That’s interesting. I thought that she was your aunt, just like Mara and Mable.” Blake’s eyes grew wide.
“No, they’re my cousins on my mom’s side. They’re my mom’s sister’s children.”
“Oh, and Benjamin is your… brother?” he asked.
“No, he’s my uncle.” Gloria said plainly.
“Your uncle?!”
~*~
“That’s most of the island, and you can see most of it from that hill top over there by the school.” Gloria claimed as they filled the hours after school had let out. The sun was getting a bit low in the sky, and she guessed it was about 5 pm. The sun would be blazing soon as it set.
“It’s so much more colorful than I thought it would be. And the lack of clothing, it’s scandalous. Not that I’m complaining.” Blake stammered.
Gloria realized exactly how much clothing she was wearing and blushed a little. On the Islands it wasn’t abnormal to wear looser and less clothing, but she had a vague idea of how the people on the mainland dressed. Mara and Mable had raided their parents’ chests and found clothing from when they came here, and the dress that Aunt Lara had weighed as much as a medium sized dog and the under garments looked to be constructive.
Still, they covered much more of the body than her clothing did now, and the difference must be quite extreme for Blake. How he kept his eyes in his eye sockets and didn’t oggle everyone he saw was beyond him.
“You’ll get used to it. There are a lot of things that are different here. Clothing, customs, relationships.”
“From what I’ve seen, this place is like a utopia. People are more free to live, to do as they please. They can dress how they like, they can pursue a legal relationship with anyone. I saw a man wearing only a cloth around his waist and walk into the ocean just yesterday! That would have never passed on the mainland.”
“Well, from what I hear the water is freezing most of the year on the mainland. Here the water is warm all year ‘round. You can swim whenever you like.” Gloria assured with a smile.
“I-” he looked hesitant to say it,, “I never learned to swim.”
“You never learned to swim!? If you can’t swim then you’re surrounded by death on all sides here! We have to fix that, come on.” She tugged him towards the water.
“Wha- now?” he asked, nervous.
“I’m ready, are you?”
“No!” he said with wide eyes. “‘I’m not ready. If we go in now, I’ll just- it’s a bad idea!”
“I’m a great teacher,” she said confidently. “I teach the little kids all the time. You won’t drown. I can support you in the water. It’s easy.”
“It’s- men and women aren’t supposed to swim together, much less disrobe around one another!”
Blake looked mortified at the idea of swimming with a woman, and that only made Gloria smile. “That is the old way of thinking talking. If you’re worried about seeing a body, you’re going to have to get over that fear pretty quickly.”
“Let me hold it for now.” he retoreded, standing firmly on the ground and not looking like he would be jumping into the water anytime soon.
“How about this, two days from now I’ll teach you to swim. It’ll be a good time, and I’ll wear the most clothing I can and still swim.” she bargained.
He looked at her sceptically. “And you promise that I won’t have to wear less clothing?”
“I mean, wearing less clothing makes swimming easier, but no, you won’t have to wear less clothing.” she agreed.
“Alright then…” he looked uneasy.
“Once you learn how to swim, you’ll enjoy it. But come on, let's head home. It’s getting dark.” She led him away from the water and she walked him to his front door. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school. Have a good evening.” She turned away from him with a wave.
“See you tomorrow!” he called after her with a bit more enthusiasm as was normal, and she smiled, her heart speeding as she tried to act normal.
~*~
“-And I’m going to be teaching him to swim tomorrow!” Gloria spilled to Mara and Mable before school.
“What! That’s so bold of you!” Mable commented.
“I don’t know why he asked you to show him around, I am far more adventurous than you.” Mara rolled her eyes.
“And when did you learn to do magic? I’d say I’m just as special as you if not more so.” Gloria snidely shot back.
“He doesn't even know about your ability! That doesn’t count!” Mara argued.
“Well maybe my inner character just showed through a bit more. It doesn’t matter, he asked me and I got him to spend even more time with me and that’s all that matters. You don't get to win every time, Mara. I’m sorry if that hurts your feelings but it gets tiring being in your shadow all the time.”
Of course Blake shows up at that moment. “What’re you guys talking about?” he asked.
“A dog.” Mara said coldly as she stared at Gloria with small eyes. “Just a dog. Gloria gets excited about her muts.”
Gloria stared at her, shaking with the thrill of arguing but also feeling ashamed of herself for being mean to one of her best friends.
Mara turned and walked up into the classroom, Mable followed her and looked sheepish. Gloria figured that she sided with Gloria on the topic, but she had so show support for her sister.
Class was tough. Gloria kept thinking about how she was sorry about throwing her anger in Mara’s face like that. It was only natural that she should defend herself like that, wasn’t it? She had insulted Blake though, even if he didn’t know it. It was rude… How was Gloria supposed to feel?
Lunch time came around and Gloria pulled Mara aside. “Look, we need to talk. I’m not going to let us unravel because of a lack of communication.”
She pulled her to the edge of the area, and turned to her. “I want to apologize for what I said earlier, it was too harsh. I don’t really feel like you’ve been taking all of the guys for yourself, but I also feel like you- you don’t often take other people’s feelings into consideration. This is the one time that I feel something towards someone, and I don’t want you to feel like I’m trying to beat you to the finish line with him. I want to give this a chance.” Gloria said.
Mara looked like she was furious, but then she uncrossed her arms. “Fine,” she huffed. “I was too hard too. I do chase a lot of guys, and you never do, not even picking up the scraps like poor Mable. I hope she doesn’t die a spinster… I’ll back off and won’t try and get between you and Blake. He seems to like you, anyway. He looks at you when you’re not looking.” she winked and smiled and Gloria was happy for her change of spirit. “I’m sorry I took it so personally.”
“I’m sorry it got so personal.” Gloria replied, and they walked back to rejoin the group. That was way easier than she thought it was going to be, and she was relieved that it wouldn’t be a lasting problem.
“So Gloria, you’re going to teach Blake here how to swim? I’m sure you guys will enjoy the alone time.” Benjamin teased as the two girls returned.
Gloria blushed, but Blake seemed unfazed. “I hope we’re alone only for the fact that I don’t want people watching me failing at something children can do. Gloria seeing me do poorly is plenty of an audience.”
“Oh sure. I’m sure it’s not because you want to play around in the water for a while-” he was cut off with a kick under the table from Mable. ‘Play around in the water” was a euphemism on the islands.
“I mean, I hope I have a good time?” Blake looked confused.
“It’ll be a dandy time.” Gloria assured, giving Benjamin a stern look.
“Just a ‘dandy time’ where both parties are wearing swimwear…” Mara said quietly so that only she and Gloria could hear.
Blake looked around the table of giggling people. “Maybe I should ask Benjamin to teach me to swim…” he said hesitantly.
“No, you don’t want that. He’ll just dunk you over and over again and you’ll get water in your nose. I’ll teach you. It’s not a problem.”
Sorry for the break, I hit a bit of a dry spell and my attention has been all over the place!
The Cupshire/Reed clan grows bigger!
(spoiler, the outfit that Gloria is wearing is going to be a bit more special in the future. But don't mind it now.
Anwyn and Liam have two new twin girls! Skye and Lana.
And I had a birthday party for Robin, he's a child now!
And it looks like Gloria's trying to get Blake to come out of his shell.
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
As for Anwyn and the magical hospital, I like to peak my head out of the medieval period and play the game the way it was intended to play. Like having Sims go to the Romance festival, or having the occasional baby at the hospital.
And yeah, I remember you sharing behind the scenes pictures of everyone doing modern stuff. I just think the juxtaposition is funny, since it comes after everyone being "in-character" so to speak.
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
Chapter 34
Gloria wore as much clothing as she could without being weighed down. It wasn’t easy, most of her clothes were made intended to be easy to move in. Flowing, breathable. It got very hot on the Islands, and you didn’t want to keep heavy layers on your body when you were outside working.
The dresses she had seen her family had brought over had large skirts made out of wool and cotton that would pull her under instantly if they got wet, they wouldn’t work. But if she wore her skirt that wrapped around her, maybe she would be able to still swim…
She packed extra clothes to change into after they were done when she zapped herself with some pent up energy. Her magic made little crackles of energy between her finger tips and she remembered that it was a full moon tomorrow night, and her power was brimming. It would be for the next few days, and while she knew that to expel some of it would do wonders for her attention and her nerves, she didn’t have time to. Only the spellcasters of the Islands and her family knew. The other students didn’t know, and Blake surely didn’t. She didn’t know what the mainland thought about spellcasters. What if they despised them? For all Gloria knew it could be one of their largest crimes.
Her parents didn’t talk about their time on the mainland much. She suspected that they didn’t want to think about it, that they were running from something. Whenever she asked about it, they deflected. Most people did. They were refugees. If they wanted to dwell on it they would have stayed.
“I’m going to the big island, I’m teaching Blake to swim. I should be home for dinner.” she told her parents who were working in the garden.
“Did you pack food? I can scramble something together if you wait for a minute!” her mom called.
“Nah, we’ll get something somewhere. See yah!” Gloria turned and boarded the little boat and sailed towards the hills on the horizon. It didn’t take very long to reach the big island, and she found a dock to park it in.
She was supposed to meet him in about half an hour, and that gave her a bit of time to spend enjoying the sun. She always enjoyed the sun and wind with the smell of flowers. The seaweed on the shore was particularly fragrant today, so she didn’t take any deep breaths.
She met Blake down by the pool where they could easily touch the bottom if they needed to. He was waiting, somehow not looking bored by also not doing anything. He was just sitting and looking up at the clouds, a basket with towels beside him. Ugh! Towels! Gloria had forgotten towles. Were her nerves really that bad? To forget the second ingredient of swimming?
He saw her and waved, welcoming her over. She waved back, and walked a little faster.
“Hey, you’re early!” she commented.
“So are you.” he paused and looked down at his outfit. “I was told by my housemates that this is appropriate attire for swimming?”
“It is, you’ll do fine. Now, the water is warm so we should be all good to go, we don’t have to worry about waiting to get used to it.”
“You can get used to the water?” he asked. “Even if it’s freezing?”
“Yeah. You really haven’t been swimming before, have you?”
“No, no I haven’t. But I’m hoping to. That’s why I’m here.” he smiled.
“And here I thought I was just good company.” she smiled back, dropping her bag and walking into the water to about knee depth.
“Now, I want you to tell me when you feel nervous. Come out and walk with me.” Gloria instructed.
He walked out, following Gloria up to his waist, then his elbows, then to his shoulders. “Gloria, this feels about as brave as I’m feeling… I don’t think I can do much better.” He looked more than a bit nervous.
“That’s a good depth! You’re doing marvelously! Just relax.” she watched him try and take a few breaths to steady himself.
“Ok, now bounce on your toes. You feel that? How you kinda bob around? That’s close to floating. You need to float. For obvious reasons.” Gloria assured. “See how I’m moving my arms? I’m pushing myself upwards in the water, it keeps me floating. Otherwise I would start to sink. Try and mimic what I’m doing.”
He watched her for a moment and started replicating her movements nearly perfectly.
“That’s great! You’re doing really well!” she encouraged.
“I can almost pick my feet up off of the sand, My arms are getting tired, this is more work than I thought it would be. Sword fighting is hard, but these are different muscles.” He was excited; Gloria could see it. She smiled.
“Ok, let’s try something else. Watch this.” She leaned back and floated on her back, toes sticking up out of the water. Blake blushed at the sight of Gloria’s legs. “This is pretty easy, and if you ever get stuck out in the water somewhere it’s a good resting position.”
She resumed her position of floating with just her head sticking out of the water. “Here, this one can be a bit tricky, let me help you do it.”
She took up a position beside him. “I need to touch you, ok? The sooner you learn, the sooner it’ll be over.” She waited for his approval, and he nodded.
She placed one arm across his shoulders, and the other went under the base of his back. “Ok, now I’m not going to let you drown, your face won’t even get wet. Kick your feet up and try to bring your hips up towards the surface.”
“Wha-? That doesn’t sound so easy… How am I supposed to bring my hips up to the surface?” he asked, bewildered.
“It’s kinda like pulling your feet into bed, just bring them up. I’ll grab your legs and cradle you and we’ll go from there.” Gloria said plainly.
“That’s rather unfeminine of you.” he murmured. He tried to lift his feet but sank into the water and Gloria had to catch him.
He came up and sputtered. “You said my face wouldn't’ get wet!” he wiped his face.
“And I said to kick up, not just lift your feet. You need more momentum. And swing them forward, not just under you. You goof, what did you expect?” Gloria laughed.
“I expected to do what you did! Can you show me again?” he asked. “I’ll pay better attention this time.”
“It’s like this,” Gloria kicked back and floated on her back, turning a bit. “It’s simple and second nature as soon as you figure it out.”
She lowered her legs again. “Ok, now you try it.” she put her arm across his shoulders and the other ready to catch his legs. He looked at her with skeptical eyes, then yanked his feet up towards the surface as if he were kicking a giant ball.
Gloria caught his legs and held him while he floundered around and flailed with the arm furthest from her. “Now what do I do?!” he yelped.
“You relax! Take deep breaths, your lungs will help you float.”
She watched as his lungs moved like bellows. “You’re not going to fall, I’m supporting your weight. You’re lighter in the water. Relax.” she formed a better stance to better balance with him. He was lighter, but all that muscle had weight to it.
“Keep moving your arm for now, act like you’re treading water. Now I want you to try to lift your hips towards the surface. Yep, almost there, ok, keep that just like that.” Gloria looked proudly at his form. He was doing really well for a first timer.
She still had him by the waist, holding him up. “I’m going to let go of you, but i’m only about an inch away. You’ve got this, you’re doing great.” She lowered her hand and let him bob.
“Gloria, Gloria I don’t want to drift out to sea!” he panicked.
“You’re not going to drift out to sea, there’s barely any tide here and you can just lower your feet and touch the sand. Go ahead and try it. You’re in full control.”
~*~
They laid out on a few spare towels to dry off and let their muscles rest.
“I had no idea that swimming could be so much effort.” he said. “My arms feel like they’re noodles. And I have good arms!” he chuckled.
“You have a lot of muscle mass, that makes floating harder. Softer bodies float easier.” Gloria commented.
“Well, thanks for the compliment.” he turned back to look at the sky. He waited a few moments. “I’m starving.” he claimed bluntly, “Having to spend so much energy has made me famished.”
“There’s some good food stalls around here. Let’s go and find one.” Gloria mentioned, standing up easily. Blake stood a bit longer to get up as his muscles were more tired
(Very medieval apron, mister...)
They ordered some food and sat at a table. “It feels weird that a child can do something better than me,” he said. “I mean, a child can’t hold a sword like I can, I should be able to swim better than a kid.”
“You didn’t spend much time with children back on the mainland, did you? Kids have way more energy than adults do. They have the will to jump off of edges, to swim deeper than anyone else, and they will outrun you too. It’s amazing.” Gloria rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, I’m a single child. My father died sometime after I was born, and my mother and stepfather never had any children. Not that my parents had much to do with my upbringing.” Blake stirred the food on his plate.
“Speaking of the mainland, what’s it like there? No one ever talks about it here.” she covered her mouth. “Not that you have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I don’t want you to feel pressured.”
“It’s, it’s so different from here. It’s politically in turmoil, the Church is fighting the king, and there’s no heir to the throne. The only heir was captured before it was born when some treasonous terrorists captured the queen. An inside job, they say, planned right under the king’s nose. He was distraught for a long time.” Blake said it all as if it were a shopping list, distanced.
“But from the little that I’ve heard he was a bad king. My parents and family are only ever happy that they were able to get away.” Gloria looked at him in wonderment.
Blake chose his words carefully, not that Gloria noticed. “I think the king tried his best, just like any king would hope to. But when the queen was taken and reported killed, he went wild. A few of the terrorists had been captured and interrogated for information, but they wouldn't budge. It was hopeless, and the king was left without a queen or heir.
“He tried to remarry, telling the Church that an heir had to be procured, but the Church refused to allow it. So those loyal to the king and those loyal to the Church were suddenly on two different sides, and raids and fights would break out in the cities. Thankfully my parents were far enough away from any large city to encounter any battles, but it wasn’t safe. They were sympathizers to the king’s cause, and they didn’t want the kingdom to be left without an heir. Soon the distant village heard that we were in favor of the king and the knights of the church came to arrest us. I got away with a few other refugees, but my parents stayed behind to face the Church.” He said it distantly, as if he were reciting it. Gloria’s eyes were wide.
“Wow, I had no idea. That’s… that’s insane. I’m so sorry that you had to go through that.” she said.
He blinked and was in the present again. “Well, I’m sure that any first generation refugee has a similar story. It’s hardly original.”
“But every story is original to every survivor. Your story is no less damaging to you as someone else’s story is to them. Don’t compare yourself to another person.” Gloria assured. “You don’t have to face that ever again.”
Does anyone have any guesses as to the nature of Blake? I'm curious what you guys think about him.
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
excellent...
Also, instantly I thought of the duchess, but I'm not so sure. Unless he is lying about multiple things (age and parts of backstory), I don't think he is her son. It might be possible though? I'm just still a bit suspicious of him and look forward to finding out more about him.
But yeah, I'm still drawing a blank
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
Chapter 35
Gloria spotted a stall selling fireworks and tugged on Blake’s arm. “We have to get some of those!” she gushed.
“Why? What do they do?” he asked, puzzled.
“You’ve never seen fireworks? This is going to be such a surprise. You’re going to love it!” she bought a bunch of them and put them in her bag, as they walked along and looked out at the setting sun.
“You know, when I was reading the Journey of the Ring, I thought of these shores as the western shores that Frido sails to in the end of the story. To paradise.” Gloria looked out at the water, lulled by its constant motion.
“It does seem pretty perfect here. I’ve been here about a month, and I can’t find a fault with it yet. If more people knew that peace like this was real and not a myth…” he trailed off, imagining what it would be like.
“What do you think Frido did when he got to the western shores?” Gloria wondered.
Well, I think-” Blake turned Gloria to face him while picking up her hand gently. “He settled down in a new town and found a nice girl who-” he raised his other hand to brush her cheek, “-taught him to release his fears and laughed at his old fashioned ways of thinking.”
Gloria shook down to her toes with anticipation. “Do you think that they were happy together or do you think that he was too afraid to be happy?”
“I think that he was finally able to build a new life and rest happily.” he whispered.
A flare fizzed behind Gloria as she pulled out a sparkler from behind her back. It had been tricky lighting it with one hand (a bit of magic had helped with that though), but the surprise on his face was worth the effort.
“What- what is that? How did you do that? It's so bright!” he stared at the bright tip.
“It’s a sparkler! My parents had them at their wedding and ever since they’ve been special to my family. The people here on the Islands make them.” Gloria informed.
“I have never seen anything like it before! It’s almost like you’re a witch and this is a spell.” he marveled at it.
Gloria lit another one from the spark of the one already lit and handed it to Blake. “It’s even cooler if you twirl it around. It looks like it leaves streaks in the air!” she started spinning hers around, and Blake’s eyes twinkled in the light, his jaw slightly agape, watching the dance.
He looked at his own sparkler and twirled it, entranced by its beauty. The smell of fizzling sparklers held them in a dizzying pocket for a few minutes, just enjoying the light.
Gloria smiled mischievously, and a sudden loud crack was heard and Blake threw himself to the ground, startling Gloria.
“Where is it? Where’s the cannon? It sounded so close, it must be near. Where is it?” His eyes were wide, frightened.
Gloria looked at him concerned and confused. “Blake, there’s no cannon. It was a firecracker. It pops and makes a loud noise when lit. Are you ok?” she asked.
“A firecracker? Who would make something that sounded so similar to war?! To attack?” his face fell, and he shook his head, all merriment gone. He stood from the ground. “I feel like I’m a broken human, Gloria. I jump at loud noises, I see shadows where there are none.” he looked up at her. “I’m as damaged as Frido. I don’t know how to be happy.” The last word was sharp, almost like an accusation; that the people who lived here were too happy with their lives to be realistic.
“You can be. I promise. It just takes some time to get used to. You’ll adjust.” She had seen refugees go through this before, but always from afar, never up close. It felt heavy, like a rock tied around her lungs pulling her down, as if she were sharing in his pain. Was this part of her power or just her human feelings?
“Then why do I feel like I’m being held back by the past?” he demanded, looking at her with agony in his eyes.
“Because you haven’t built something to fill the hole where it used to be! The longer you’re away from it, the further away it will seem, and the smaller on the horizon it will be.” she comforted, a spike of pain ripping through her, feeling his pain. It felt like guilt, homesickness, and fear. There was a scent of something hidden underneath, a thrill of something she couldn’t place, but it felt incongruous to the other feelings.
He shook his head, and Gloria tried to recover from her step into his feelings. “I don’t know how,” he continued. “I don’t want to be the person that I was, I want to be better. To be the right person. But I don’t know how I can climb out of the pit and change.”
Gloria looked at him with sympathy. “If you like, there’s a ceremony where you renounce your old self, and you turn to a new life. It’s the rebirth ceremony, you get a new name and everything. You can become an entirely new person.”
“That doesn’t sound half bad. I’ll consider it.” He took a breath and looked around, trying to move on from the heavy topic. “In the meantime, where did the sun go? It left us behind! Come on, I’ll walk you to your boat.”
~*~
Gloria had a hard time falling asleep. She had been so close to kissing him, if he had just been a few inches closer, a few breaths away, but she got too nervous and lit the sparkler and killed the mood. Imagine where those minutes could have gone if she hadn’t interrupted the flow they were going down! She could have finished the evening with a boyfriend.
Robin slept quietly in the bed that was near hers. The house was getting so cramped with the twins being born, they had erected a new room that still felt a bit bare and were housing the twins in there. However, that meant that it would be a while until Gloria got her own room. Instead, she was in the same room as her little brother who was 9 years younger than her.
Still, it was hard to be annoyed with him. It didn’t feel like that long ago that she was that age, and she was happy to have him close enough to get to know him. He breathed audibly as he slept, and it formed a slow and relaxing rhythm like the sound of waves that was easy to fall asleep to.
She rolled over and tried to do just that. She wouldn’t get any the next night, as it would be a full moon. Her energy 🐸🐸🐸🐸 in her veins, making her restless. But as restless as she felt, she also felt an odd pull to unconsciousness. Almost unnaturally she closed her eyes and felt like her body had become a dead weight. Sleep usually felt like drifting away, this felt like a shutting door and an anchor around her ankle.
She breathed and smelled the scent of a foreign flower, mixed with the smell of freshwater hitting rocks which was almost like copper. She opened her eyes, wondering if she had to get up to close the window before a storm came through and soked her while she slept (it had happened before), but the room had changed to a bright and swirling view of a greenhouse. She remembered the building from a dream she’d had as a child, and she smiled in glee. She remembered the inside of the greenhouse and how she hadn’t been able to explore it to the extent that she had wanted to, and now perhaps she had the chance. And the grounds of this area seemed interesting and twisting; she could spend hours finding all of the small details.
She stood from her bed and noticed that she was wearing a white dress. It was different than the one she had worn when she was a child, but it fit her well. As if she were clothed with the stars.
She pulled open the door and found that it hadn’t changed at all over the years. She considered doing the math on how long it had been since she had been here, but it was just a dream. It didn’t really matter and she would have to leave soon anyway, so she decided against it. She didn’t want to waste her time.
Glowing orbs pulsed on counters and fragrant herbs and roots were scattered between them. She recognised some of them from the real greenhouse: mandrake, deathflower, sage. Others she couldn’t recognise.
A sudden jolt of power ran down her arm like a shock and went flying out towards the wall, and at that moment she noticed a young man standing across the room from her where there had been none before. He looked at her with stunned dark eyes, as if he’d seen a ghost.
“Ow!” Gloria exclaimed. “Oh, hi! Sorry, is this your house? Mind if I look around?” she massaged her hand and kept looking around. The interesting flower smell wasn’t in the greenhouse, and she had the whim to follow it and find where it originated.
“You, you’re not real. This isn’t happening.” he stuttered.
A bit odd, but Gloria rolled with it. “Of course not. This is a dream. None of this is real.”
She left the greenhouse and walked towards the bed she had woken up in. The light smell wafted here and there, and she turned her head to try and find the direction.
The boy followed her. “You’ve changed so much, and yet not as much as I thought you would have over the years. I never got your name last time.”
Gloria wasn’t listening, the smell of the flowers were distracting her too much. The boy walked and stood in front of her and looked her in the eyes. “I don’t know how long I’ll be here, do you remember me? Why am dreaming of you?”
Gloria only half heard him. “Hm?” she focused on his face, trying to place his face. There had been a boy who had been well dressed in white, and he had mentioned his name, but Gloria was already bad with names that were monosyllabic that she didn’t have to practice once a week.
There was something about his face, it felt familiar. His eyes, they were like burnt gold, as if there was dark amber on top of gold coins. But his childish round face had sculpted into one of sharpened cheekbones and a pronounced nose. He had a nearly scrawny frame, and he seemed like he was hiding the fact that he was jumpy.
“I’m sorry, if you’re the boy I saw last time I was here, I don’t remember your name.” she said.
“But I remember you so perfectly. Your hair was shorter, you were just as curious. My name’s Seneca. Seneca.” he repeated to make sure she got it in her head before and then looked at her expectantly to say it back to him.
“Seneca. Ok. Well, Seneca, do you know about this place? Any cool secrets?” she asked, turning away from him to look around.
“No, I don’t come here unless you’re here.” He suddenly held his chest and gasped in pain. “I don’t understand why the girl from my dream has returned, and why am I in pain?”
He looked up to find Gloria a comically far ways off. “Hey, wait for me! Don’t get lost!” He straightened up and ran after her.
“Oh, you’re still here?” she asked when he caught up to her. “I guess I thought you would have disappeared by now.”
“I’m not feeling well…” he took deep breaths, trying to catch his breath and settle his stomach.
“You don’t look well. Here, let me help you with that.” Gloria waved her hand and tried to think of the spell that helped sickness. Or was that the one that caused sickness? Nope, it was the helping cure sickness spell. She remembered correctly.
“How did you do that?” he asked. “Are you a witch?” he asked.
“What’s a witch? Like a sandwich? Or a switch to urge a horse?” Gloria asked.
“No, it’s when you make a deal with the devil in exchange for powers.” he eyed her even more skeptically.
Gloria had no idea what this boy was talking about and she was getting weirded out by him.“I’m pretty sure I was born with these powers. I was about six when I started to develop them. I hope the devil doesn’t make deals with children.” Gloria said bluntly.
“You seem to be about 15 or sixteen, and it was ten years ago that we last met.” Seneca said as if it were easy to remember. “Is there a coincidence?”
“I don’t even know who you are! Why do you care so much about who I am?” Gloria was getting irrationally annoyed at the boy who wouldn’t leave her alone to explore the beautiful and surprising world.
“I want to know who-” and with that he faded and disappeared.
“Good. I can finally get some peace.” And Gloria went back to finding the smell of the flowers. She realised that she hadn’t told him her name, shrugged, and moved on.
Finally stuff I can sink my nails into! It's no secret that I don't like build up chapters, but now the snowball is starting to get rolling and it's getting thicker the further we go! That metaphor works, right? maybe?
So, we have Blake, Seneca, and the girl of their dreams. But which dreams are those, and for whom? Are they good dreams or bad ones? Who the heck are these people?! Stay tuned, and it will make sense eventually.
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
It seems like Blake has PTSD. Well, he's safe on the island now. Unless they get invaded.
Seneca looks familiar. It kind of feels like he resembles a character we've seen before. I just don't recall who.
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
I've been having this weird thing though, when I add sims to my family with the shift menu, my game won't let me travel? Like I tell them to say, go to glimmer brook, and the world selection screen comes up and when I click where I want to go it loads and then pulls up the world selection screen again. IT's really frustrating and may limit the amount of sims I can have in a scene later on. Which is frustrating.
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
Play this song
The moon settles, in a dusky sky.
The gentle eyes of the north star rest upon your sleeping face.
And the heavens gaze upon you.
In this moment I know
You are not from the ground on which you tread.
But of the stars, of the stars
You are my radiant, my celestial child,
You are my radiant, my celestial child.
As night is drowned by morning
You remain at my side
Accompanying the sunlight
Until night swells,
Until night swells,
Again across the sky.
When dreaming
You return to the stars
Dreaming you return to the stars
(
You are my radiant, my celestial child,
You are my radiant, my celestial child.
I heard this song a few months back around the time I thought of Gloria's character, and I thought that it fit Anwyn and Gloria's relationship in a way that few other songs would be able to. Anwyn knows that her and her daughter's lives are miracles. Anwyn can only hope to guide Gloria while she can, knowing that whatever Gloria's destiny is, it's going to be out of her control sooner or later.
(I also love the song because I personally adore singing in a choir and before the virus hit I was actually in a choir. Oh, and watch the video, I find the visuals of this performance to be delightful.)
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
But I have babies in the family...
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?