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Chapter 35, Part 2: So Long, and Thanks for All the Cupcakes
The Bluffs, Windenburg Island
Alice
They didn’t go far. Neither Vlad nor Alice said anything about it, but they silently agreed to stop just a mile or so away at the Bluffs.
“You needn’t wait. I’ll hunt here tonight,” Vlad said, gaze flickering around the cliffside as if searching for some unseen enemy.
Alice felt a churning in her stomach. Even though it would make everything harder, she wanted to go back. “I’m worried too.”
Vlad’s shoulders tensed.
“It’s the complete opposite of what I said before, but fuck waiting until the end of the contest. I don’t want to leave her in that house tonight.”
“Are you sure?” he hesitated. “I agree, I’m thrilled, but it has come to my attention that I am…” he looked around as if searching for the right word.
“Like a giant ass planet pulling everyone along in your orbit?” Alice finished helpfully.
“That is certainly one way of describing it.”
He gave her a dark look before continuing, “But yes. I am aware that this is a large step, and even though we talked about it, I am, as the books say, checking in.”
“That’s very sweet,” Alice replied.
“I’m nothing if not romantic,” he smirked, leaning in to kiss her.
“Nope, hold your horses,” she put a hand in his face. “First, I want to talk about Caleb.”
“You want to talk about Caleb. Now?” His voice was muffled by her hand, but she could tell he was annoyed.
“We are not bringing a kid into your crazy dysfunctional bullshit,” Alice insisted, “She can’t grow up in a situation where the men around her refuse to discuss their feelings and solve everything by stabbing each other. It will give her a fucking complex!”
Vlad’s eyes flashed, and for a minute, he looked like he wanted to argue. “Fine,” he said after a long-suffering sigh.
Alice turned to give him some space. She wasn’t a fan of talking about her shit either. The least she could do was not stare him down while he did it.
“I turned Caleb and Lilith in 1755,” he began. “It was a brutal thing, purposefully done because,”—his voice hitched—”that’s what was done to me. The old adage is true, we repeat the sins of our fathers. I deserved that dagger to the chest.”
Alice bit her lip to keep from interrupting. Vlad was simultaneously the most open creature she knew and full of the most secrets.
“By the 1890s, Caleb had come into his own as a vampire. He’d conquered just enough dark skills to be dangerous. I was not good for him at that time,” Vlad confessed, “Forgotten Hollow was conquered and I found the modern era stifling. Too much business, not enough bloodshed.”
She knew what those words cost him. Pulling his arms around her, she coaxed him to continue, “I’m going to ignore the fact that you called the 1800s the modern era,” she said, keeping her voice light, “What happened between you?”
“It was…it started before…” Vlad struggled, his throat working as he blew out a series of unnecessary breaths.
“Phobos was made because my father wished for power. The Good…”—he stopped himself—”a heretical order of monks convinced him that I would make an ideal guinea pig, and so he raised me to be both obedient and broken.”
The shape of Vladislaus’s life began to materialize in Alice’s mind and she fought to suppress her horror. Holding her breath, she squeezed his arm.
“He had a punishment and reward system, but both were punishments,” Vlad said, his voice hollow. “Suffice it to say, I went willingly to the ritual. I wanted to be consumed. I wished not to exist.”
“When Phobos was made it was like…my fury had been set ablaze. I killed everyone in the room—the Monks, my sister, Neva…my mother.”
He stopped again and Alice pressed a kiss to each one of his fingers. “You can’t say anything that will make me feel differently about you.”
Vlad responded by kissing the top of her head. “I saw in Caleb the same pit of rage that was in me. I sent Lilith away lest he do as I did, and displace his anger. I wish I could say it was completely altruistic, but the fact that it was cruel appealed to me. It seems I have a penchant for that—a gift of inheritance.”
Alice kept her voice calm, trying to tread carefully. She heard all sorts of things about Josef Straud but Vlad had never mentioned his mother. It was clear what she read in that history book wasn’t completely true and she had a sinking feeling. “Did your mother know—”
“Enough,” Vlad said sharply, then softened his voice, “Enough. I…in 600 years I have not…this has to be enough, Alice.”
“Okay,” she whispered, patting his arm. Swallowing down her own emotion, she brightened her voice. “Clearly, it’s complicated. Like ‘you should get a therapist stat’ level complicated.”
His tone was wry, but she felt his body finally relax. “Would you be surprised to know you are not the first one to tell me that?”
“Nope,” Alice turned and leaned her head on his chest, “Alright, I’m satisfied that we’ll only give her a small number of emotional hangups, sex demons least among them.”
“Oh she knows what sex is. She was torturing you,” Vlad laughed.
“What?”
“One of the old tomes I procured for her had a very dubious section on medicinal herbs for getting rid of pregnancies. She had questions, so I explained it to her.”
Alice glanced up at him, “Really? You explained it?”
He made an insulted sound. “Many things have changed over the course of centuries, but sex is not one of them. It’s ludicrous how ill-informed children are about their bodies and how they work.”
Alice raised her eyebrows in surprise, “I didn’t think the man who believes Simstagram is an instrument of darkness would have such a progressive attitude.”
“It’s not like I explained role play,” Vlad huffed, “It’s sex. She can hardly go around believing that babies are conjured forth by the click of a button.”
“And all this time, I thought I was the strange one,” Alice chuckled, grabbing his hand to lead him back towards Gwendolyn’s house.
The In Between Inn
Penny
The Inn was quiet without Miko. Penny tried to tell herself it didn’t bother her, but it did. She had grown weak in her time with the pixie. Usually, she was closed off, a brick wall with barbed wire to keep people out of her heart. Miko, though, had worked her way in. The little pink-haired troublemaker was her friend. And maybe Mikel was too, but Penny was not prepared to even think about that.
She sighed as she sorted through the papers they stole from Bjorn’s office. It was all copies, except for one thing: a summons to Magic HQ that was currently burning a hole in her pocket. The invitation was fancy—gold lettering, an enchantment charm that made the paper shimmer. Penny had only ever seen such a thing one other time in her life.
When her family was invited for the Solstice, it had been a point of pride. She was too young to go, but she had this crystal clear memory of her mother sitting at the vanity in her gown, pinning up her hair.
Penny closed her eyes, conjuring up the memory. Even though the invitation was dangerous to keep, she was unable—unwilling—to let it go. Sometimes, she felt like two Pennys. One who would throw caution to the wind, hop on her broom and fly to Magic HQ, and one who would take the safer route, setting aside her selfish desire to figure out this mystery and exact revenge.
Shaking her head to dispel the negative thoughts, she pulled out another folder to examine. It contained an application to an academy run by The Good Order Monks. It was for Gwendolyn, and it would have been unremarkable but for a strange sentence. Gwendolyn was to be secured for transport to school at 9pm this evening.
It made no sense! What school picked up a kid that late at night? And wasn’t Gwendolyn on vacation with the Bjerstens?
“Mikel, get in here,” Penny called. She could use a computer, but an alien was faster. “Look at this school, what can you tell me about them?”
He began to protest, “Penny, I’m not a computer. The processing section of my brain can link into the wireless but—”
“Mikel! I don’t give a shit about the details. Can you look it up or not?”
His eyes went blank for a minute, a small whirring sound filling the room. When they focused again, his face was creased with worry.
“I don’t know how to explain this. That school doesn’t exist, and the search results for the Monks are multiplying exponentially.”
“You mean like, across websites?”
“Not just websites…something’s wrong with time, Penny. There should only be one internet, but instead, there’s a thousand.”
Credits
Slow Show by Simmerberlin
Shocked/Scared Animation by Steven Studios
Mega Talk Animation Pack by FlowersSimsFactory
Acting Expressions Animation Pack by FlowersSimsFactory
High & Low Poses by Atashi77
Sephiroth Outfit + Accs by Natalia-Auditore
Elf Ears by Sikoi
Arguing [in-game poses] by Radioactive
Talking by Simmberlin
Emotions 6 by Simmerberlin
Emotions 5 by Simmerberlin
Emotions 2 by Simmberlin
Make-up Posepack by Natalia-Auditore
Lookbook V. 14 Poses Set by Flower Chamber
Make-Up Poses by Katverse
Make-up Set by A-luckyday
Unicorn Brushes by Pietro
Get Ready with Me Posepack by Kikovanitysimmer
The Sims 4 Animation Mega Pack: Talking Emotions by Steven Studios
Random Vampire Power Posepack by Natalia-Auditore
Female Stand Posepack by Natalia-Auditore
Male Stand 04 by Natalia-Auditore
From the Sims 4 Gallery
1800s homestead by 241maxi0
Studio Apartment by MeekaDenimore
Up & Up Inn by Kulthero777
A thousand internets is too much Akira Kibo Alice Martin Bedtime is a challenge Cupcake Week is gonna be lit fluff Gwendolyn steals every scene Miss Hell run things Operation Steal the Kid The Fates are kind of jerks Titania and Oberon Vladislaus Straud
Comments
10 responses to “Chapter 35, Part 2: So Long, and Thanks for All the Cupcakes”
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This was indeed a hell of a week and thank F it’s over. Petition for Motownphilly to be the new national anthem? I’ve been listening to it/yelling DOIN’ A LITTLE EAST COAST SWIIIING all week. I kiss the ground at Atlanta’s & Philly’s feet. So! Much! Sanity! And we all know who deserves the credit… and who needs to do the most work.
Getting the wild guessing out of the way first. Let me take a shot at some possible pop-culture Easter eggs the Halloween extras primed me to spot:
“Pack your bags, dummies. We’re going on a trip” = “Get in, loser. We’re going shopping”?
Gwendolyn’s precocious taunting = this?Because if either of these were intentional, GENIUS.
Wait, Summer Holiday is a producer? Summer?! Dammit.
I still can’t find the outfit, but based on hair color and who we know has it in for Miko and knows about the time loop, I have… suspicions.
Vlad’s exchanges with Gwendolyn are the best. The absolute best. ‘Hellion’ as a default pet name? Her adorably standing on that box? Everyone underreacting to Vlad’s golemn going kaput? Yelling at the movie every fifteen seconds? Crushing her enemies and rending them limb by limb? (Did I float my Gwendolyn-is-the-Owl theory? Did I do that yet? Sure we also have a parent whose child’s identity is unknown and a child whose parents’ identities are unknown, but, meh, could be the wind.)
Shout-out to Alice for breaking through her Awkward and Clumsy label and owning the competition through skill alone. I almost glossed over this because I expected her to master baking anyway, but that monologue drove in how significant this moment really is for her. Sorry, Alice 🙁 I’m proud of you but you can’t see me 🙁 She better get Star Baker.
The make-up scene was cute—and I recognized the poses; recent, huh—but Miss Hell’s manipulative inner monologue worries me. Where’s Caleb? Caleb? Someone should to be told they need therapy.
“It’s the complete opposite of what I said before, but fuck waiting until the end of the contest. I don’t want to leave her in that house tonight.”
HEY. VLAD. LISTEN. VLAAAD. LISTEN. When the narrative switched to Penny right after, I was like… dammit. Nooooo.
Nooooooooo.
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YES THANK F ITS OVER OMFG FINALLY.
Boyz II Men for the defense cabinet!
I’ve been listening to Georgia on My Mind on repeat, myself. I am so insanely, deliriously happy. I don’t have words. I mean, there is a reason Joe Biden gave that shout in his speech. And it’s not just black women (though…stares into the camera until it becomes uncomfortable) but lots of communities of color. Navajo Nation brought it in AZ.
Okay, onto your comments because I’m sober and can write again (ha):
– If the Sims had cars, I would have been able to land that Mean Girls joke!
– But also, shopping, aka clothes, aka timeline clues. Rory is wearing the same outfit as from the final auditions (100% That Weirdo). Liberty is inexplicably wearing that orange wrap dress on the opening day of baking (A Kiss is Just a Kiss). She still has it on when she appears to Titania as the Oracle. And Oberon’s lover in Sulani was also wearing it…hmm…no wonder Liberty looked so tired in that chapter…
– Has my love for the Addams Family been fully realized yet? LOL. For someone who has never seen the Internet, Vlad is certainly A+ at trolling Alice. I think Gwendolyn is a bad influence on him.
– Summer is a producer. I did something very insane early on this story and you clocked it and I CANNOT wait until the next chapter because I think you might scream.
– Can I confess to you that writing Vlad/Gwendolyn/Alice as the Addams Family of my dreams is one of my absolute favorite things? I’m reminded of something you said about writing Catastrophe Theory and how it took a while for you to get the groove and figure out what you wanted to do. I feel similarly about BBD. It’s like the origin story, and now Underworld Summer Vacation can be a tighter/better story.
– Yes! I think the reader has seen Alice come into her own, but this was her moment to own it. She would be delighted to know that you noticed since Golem Vlad was too busy malfunctioning, and Jimena was caught up being manipulated by Miss Hell (Natalia-Auditore, carrying the poses for BBD on their back along with Simmerberlin LOL). God, in a universe where I did not have a million storylines to wrap up and a war to deal with, I would have spent an entire chapter dealing with the fallout from Golem Vlad. Next time, Gadget, next time (see the note above).
– LOL, Caleb’s codependency radar pinged when Alice made that comment about therapy.
– It’s all fun and games until a heretical order monks make plans to steal a child from Fear Itself and the God of Death. Guess it’s a good time for Alice to come into her own. I hope it’s not a minute too late…
Oh…
ohhhh.
(cackles evilly)
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YES!!! Arizona’s also killing it! So many people came through!
I called something? And—ooooh—a lead on some fancy clothing hints? Gosh, I need a refresher on all this. Tracking down one bonkers thing in the entire story shouldn’t be too hard; it’s not as if there’s eight different plots and bonkers supernatural stuff going down in every chapter.
For what it’s worth, though I can tell you’re having fun and getting in the zone writing it, I’m guessing you already started from a strong, cohesive spot if you’re only just now revealing crucial details you’ve been hiding in plain sight this whole time. It shows a sinister amount of planning right from the beginning and IT’S SO FREAKING COOL. If I weren’t already behind in everything, I’d go back and reread with my Pepe Silvia corkboard.
(While looking back, I did realize that my reaction to “100% That Weirdo” was not commensurate with my actual reaction. What actually happened was I read it once, yelled, read it again, and recounted the plot to everyone who would tolerate me yelling about how great it was. BECAUSE.)
Yes, I’m also charmed by the Addams family dynamic but there’s not going to be an Addams family if Penny gets there first. RUN.
(hahaha, I spelled golem with an extra ‘n’—to rhyme with solemn? what? hahahaha ahhhh)
As for the Gwen=Owl comment, uh-oh. ‘Interesting’? If I call a problem ‘cute,’ I know it’s going to take my students the whole period to solve it, and if I call a problem ‘interesting’—well, let’s hope your ‘interesting’ doesn’t carry the same implication of mindfuck.
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Oh and Gwendolyn as Owl theory…noted. Very interesting…
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Oh, I missed a chapter! How did that happen? Maybe I’m in a time loop myself.
Poor Akira. Titania is right, he does deserve better. Not that he’ll listen. What a plot twist would it be if Miko has entirely broken timelines and somehow even caused this whole mess of imending god wars through her neverending quest to punish her ex. Titania is rad, mind. I feel like I have a newfound appreciation for her.
Golem Vlad was hilarious, as were actual Vlad’s scenes with Gwendolyn. Bless.
Alice has come a long way since we first found her. Let’s see if that will be any use. Haha. Darn, she is one understanding girlfriend though. Barely fazed when her partner confesses to the brutal murder of his mother and daughter. Somehow I though Neva was Vlad’s wife, must have gotten that wrong. Anywho, I guess Alice did know that his past is messed up, so having something concrete is a step in the right direction.
What else. Oh, Jimena. I wonder what happens to her now, as she has no use to anyone anymore. I did find it weird a couple episodes back when she was saying she’d screw up a couple of entries to lure Alice into a fall sense of security. Like, ain’t this a reality show? They eliminitate people, Jim… I feel like she’s so screwed now. The only question is if it will be Miss Hell that offs her, or her own mother.
I feel like this comment is all over the place, sorry! I’m way too distracted these days. Probably missing a bunch of stuff. But I guess that’s a good argument for that re-read 😊
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Haha aren’t we all in a time loop?
Akira, that big handsome dummy. Talk about denial. He’s like: oh have I been betrayed in a fundamental way that should make me question this relationship I have, or at least stop punishing myself? Nah, let’s go on a rescue mission.
What if Miko caused this mess for incredibly selfish and personal reasons that she is in complete denial about? We shall see…
I am so glad you like Titania, I have a blast writing her. As much as Miko and Akira have an epic love story, I really wanted to have two characters that epitomized sibling love. Like they might argue and give each other a hard time but they are really ride or die for each other.
LOL GOLEM VLAD. Man, so glad that the StrangerVille pack gave me the ability to do those poses. Obviously, I am obsessed with Gwendolyn and Vlad and I just want them to go on adventures together haha!
Alice is really coming into her own, right? Yeah, I mean, on the one hand, he was manipulated into being a vampire, losing everyone he loved, and having his body become a vessel for magical incarnation of Fear so…you know…makes sense he freaked out. But on the other hand, he murdered his mother and sister in a haze of rage and confusion so…there’s that. I think early on Alice had to decide on radical acceptance of his past coupled with a demand that he do better for his future. If he wasn’t making any progress, I imagine that conversation would have gone differently.
WHO WILL OFF JIMENA?!?!?!?!?!?!?! So exciting. [Like, ain’t this a reality show? They eliminitate people, Jim…] – YEP. I mean, I think she got in a way over her head tangoing with Miss Hell, and her mom is def gonna be mad.
Lol I often feel like that commenting on your stories. There is so much to squee about I can’t even fit it all in. I’m always sure I’m missing something vital while I’m yelling about Morgyn.
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Haha, yes, I suppose we are! Miko better get her ish together because I’m not so impressed with how this timeline is going this year 😆
Anyhow, I knew my brain was only half-engaged last time, because I completely forgot to comment on the fact that Akira, Titania and Oberon are also foing to the library of magic!!! Squeal! But now… while I would love to have a climactic moment of having this lot and William and Morgyn reach the Book of Longing at the same time… I don’t think that’s going to happen. These guys are in different time loops, or at the very least, at different points in time… I think 😆 But which is it? If they’re in the same timeline, but at a different point in time, that means that one of the groups will get to the library and the book will be gone, because the others took it. If they’re in different time loops, they moght both reach the book, but both timelines can’t succeed, if they both exist, so… oof. I feel like this library trip will be very telling about what’s to come. But yes, I’m loving the sibling relationship! Haha.
Yes, both Alice and Vlad have really grown! Let’s hope a certain fate will not undo all that progress *glares at Miko* Though I guess Miko currently has plenty going on, lol.
Haha. I’m sure Morgyn would highly approve of you getting too distracted by the. to focus on anything else. Centre of attention, as it should be, for better or for worse 😆
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LOL he would. I’m about to do my catch up reading and I fear I won’t be able to contain myself.
Time is a construct!!! LOLOLOLOL yes they are!!! What will happen when they’re there! Who will get the book first? Good question…::evil laughter::
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Oh, bloody hell. I thought that there was something between Titania and Miko in the previous chapters but wasn’t sure what it was – so that’s what is brewing between them. Oh that is horrible. I wonder if Miko started in the timeline where Akira cheated on her, or wound back and ended up in that one. Oh that’s just heartbreaking.
Do we know what kind of consequences there are for changing timelines and going back in time and re-doing paths? I can’t imagine that it does not come with a cost. What are the chances that Miko’s meddling is what keeps making everything worse and is the thing that truly led to this impending god-war?
Bwahaha, Vlad the golem 😂😂 that picture of him squawking with his face to the side totally got me again. My sides are going to be destroyed by the time I’m caught up all the way. Oh, lordy.
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Ouch. Yeah. Umm the thing between Akira and Miko is messed up. Like oof, painfully messed up. I want to tell you it gets better the more you learn but uh ::nervous laughter::
There are definitely consequences to all this meddling. What are the chances that its the thing that truly leads to the impending god-war? Whew. I’m looking at the weather report you just drew up and uh, looks pretty accurate to me, boss.
I needed to balance out the heartbreaking revelations about Akira and Miko with some Vladislaus Straud phyiscal comedy lolololol
Once again, you prove to be a VERY dangerous reader 🙂 <3
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