2.26: Wishful thinking

                                                         warning: language/gore

     I know you're aware of this already, but I've never been a particularly nice sim..

     In addition I smoke, I drink to much, I cheat, I carelessly lie and I'll steal anything that isn't nailed down. I've casually stepped over corpses of sims I've know for years. Some I've killed myself, the rest are dead because of me. The killing bothered me once, but it's surprising how quick one stop caring. They were necessary deaths, to help a bigger cause. Well, actually just my cause, but the first sounded better don't you think?

      See, I've already lied again; I'd steal stuff even if it was nailed down. Not that I get why, it's not like I've ever lacked anything. I just get bored really easily, so I started drinking at a very young age. And I was a pretty decentlooking young man, so I got to have a lot of sex. Nothing wrong about any of that ofcourse, but it's just that after I grew up I realized I might have done those things for the wrong reasons. Sex and drinking is perfectly fine, but maybe not so much when you feel you're lacking something.
 Anyway, the stealing is kind of how I ended up getting involved in this.

     I stole a lot of stuff and usually sold it or pawned it illegally. The local criminals knew of me ofcourse, but ofcourse I got caught in the end.Someone probably noticed me in all my astonishing friendly charm... yeah...
     Anya eventually got a hold of me, and that's really how it started. As you know I can be quite charming when I want to... I just rarely want to.... But I worked Anya the best I could and she probably felt sorry for me or something. She took the liberty of mentioning it to her husband Milo... yeah, he's involved in this to.
     But as it turned out, the mayor in town had an interesting idea that he'd shared with Milo earlier, and it turned out I'd be just perfect for it.

     Let me first admit that I have no idea how all the politics worked. But they had a problem with MorcuCorp. They were infiltrating and influencing the politicians, and we don't want them in our lovely city. Even I don't. They would've turned this place into a corrupt hole, filled it with dirty simoleons, smuggling and who- knows- what. In general they would have gained control over  the entire city and held all real political and economical power. 
     As many flaws our system has, we don't want a secret dictatorship do we? A free market is the perfect sign of democracy after all... Or someone says that atleast, what the fuck do I know?

     As it turned out, MorcuCorp was already involved with the criminals in town, getting their assistance at gaining power. And that's where I came in. 
     The mayor hired me into his office, which I excelled at with my ehrm... charming manners and such... But since the criminals in town already knew me, I started selling them information. They used it as a source for the whole Morcorp thing. Ofcourse what information got sold was decided by the mayor and Milo. I'm not sure what they were hoping for, other than that way they atleast had a shot at predicting the Morcus next move. And probably other things to, but I really wasn't that interested.

     It turned out later that the criminals got something from the Morcus in return. They used their labs and simoleons trying to bring some long dead guy back from the dead, to get access to eternal life or some shit like that. Never really got that part, and it wasn't my problem either way. But they were all so greedy that even something that stupid seemed like a good idea to them. And if Rowena insisted it was real; well, no one in their right mind questioned her. Just trust me on that part.. Rowena... Rowena's brutal.

      Despite that, Rowenas hold on power still diminished. This idiotic idea about dead vampires and eternal life made the others doubt her abilities. They wanted simoleons, not bad fairytales and she wouldn't have lasted a lot longer there. Ofcourse getting crazier by the minute didn't help either.     
     Your brother was a thorn in their side. He's a cop, and had started terrorizing the syndicates underlings. However he was also a valuable source for them, as he got them information about the police. So Rowena decided it was a good idea to send thugs to get him to Riverwiev where we where at that time. What a shithole that place it.
     Marco is a dangerous guy with connections within the lawdepartment. So either she could get him to join the criminals and prove to the others that he was legit; which she was convinced he was. That way she could have turned it into some oldfashioned mobster syndicate. Ofcourse she still wanted to play it safe with the others, hence the imprisonment. 
      But the others weren't to thrilled to have a cop, that also had a history of beating them senseless, and stuffing them in jail, running around there. And when the Morcus threatened to stop their scientist reviving the dead guy, she found an even better use for him:
     What better way to show the Morcus and her own just how tough she actually was, than to have a highranking cop executed. And a member of her own family at that? It is actually quite brilliant, and she'd also show the underlings that she took their concerns into consideration.
     Lucky for us that she didn't stop to think about how inexperienced the thugs actually was, or she just underestimated me. I can do things to, you know. I know, I know... I shouldn't be proud of that.

     The funny thing is that whilst I was feeding the criminals information from the mayor office, that they gave the Morcus; we also had an informant within MorcuCorp. Never wondered why Christine was at my office that often? You didn't find it a bit strange that I hung around my ex that much? What other reason would I have for doing that?
     The Morcus and criminals just never understood, because they knew I was a cheating bastard anyway. And Christine willingly gave us information in exchange for some really good opportunities to set up businesses. 
     Not that I cheated on you mind you, I've never done that to you. But you were really cute, and kind of funny when you though I was. Where the hell did you get that idea anyway?
     Really, it was all deals and information between Christine and me. Or politics, if you preffer.

     You can't really be surprised that Milo was so highly involved in this? Think about it: His wife is a cop, and he was next in line to be mayor. Why wouldn't they talk about this stuff? 
     But it took so damned long, and I honestly believe it got to complicated for the mayors office in the end. It's one of those incidents where everyone knew a little, but no one really knew the entire picture. In addition there were internal powerfights within all the fractions. Unfortunately that one between MorcuCorp and Vera wasn't one I knew anything of. If I' known I'd have them "relocated" a long time ago. Makes you wonder what happened to her, right? Other than you torching her that is.   
     It probably would have been different if Milo had started it instead of that ancient mayor, but by the time he was in full control it had gotten out of hands for us. We didn't see any other choice than to keep going. Even if we'd never get rid of the Morcus we'd do our best to stall them. Not that this survived for long after the mayor died though. That man got old beyond belief.

     I don't know... Milo would probably have been a better choice for this than me. But he had to be protected, and so did Anya. She was a favourite for becoming chief of police. If someone had suspected the two of them beeing involved in something like this, Jericho would have lost investors, companies, jobs and things would have fell into a dump again. 
     We were really just trying to save the city from financial ruin, and since MorcuCorp technically is a legal company we couldn't get rid of them in a legal manner. I don't think Anyas boss knew to much either, she just wanted to get rid of the gangs in Jericho that got to powerful to quickly. And she just couldn't figure out why. Probably because I kept feeding them false information.

     It was going well enough on those premises, but then that gorilla brother of yours started looking into it. I swear that guy can smell these things. And he just doesn't let things go either! Why couldn't he just let it go? He's like a bloodhound, if he smells something he doesn't stop until he finds it. Do you have any idea how much he slowed down the process? 
    You see, the policestation had decided that it was a great idea to pretend your brother was a dirty cop. Mainly because he had quite a reputation already. But ofcourse, his boss is obliged to inform the mayors office, so we knew it was a game. But the mayor couldn't stop it either, because.... well, you know.. corruption is kind of illegal. So I sat there with Rowena and saw her start trusting him, and knew it was bullshit, but I couldn't say anything. Normally I would've just killed the guy. But he's a policeofficer, your brother and Rowenas cousin so... you know... I got a bit of a problem there. And since he's your brother, Milo would probably have run me out of town himself if I did anything.

     We spent so much time trying to get him off out backs, that we were getting desperate. The easiest would probably have been just using Milo. But as I've mentioned already, he had to be protected. Can you imagine what would have happened if your brother had figured that out? Because he suspected I wasn't the power behind it all the way to the end.
     Milos got a good head on him, and he'd be a good mayor to the town if they'd gotten over the werewolf part. And I'll admit I sometimes, or maybe most of the times... okay fine; all the time; kept him in the dark about how I actually worked, and how many I had to get out of the way. Good contracts usually are like that. The previous mayor was an extremely ruthless man, I'll give him that. And, well, Milo isn't, so I never told him.

     I accidentally ran into your brother that day at the winterfair. Just couldn't keep my big mouth shut, had to open it and say a lot of things I wasn't supposed to. I just wanted to figure out how much he actually knew. Milo and the mayor wasn't happy with me as usual, but since I first had to open my big mouth, the mayor figured we could do the best we could: Try to get Marco looking into me instead of the syndicate and politicians. Maybe we could prove he was incompetent and get him demoted to a pure deskjob, or something.
     For the record, I told the mayor it wouldn't work, as I knew your brother pretty well in my youth. He's really a smart guy even if I like calling him an idiot. And it didn't work either, did it? But I had a lot of fun making him angry. I like making your brother angry, it's entertaining. And that just made him more insistent and his boss ended up giving him the assingment of pretending to be a dirty cop, which just got him even more involved.

     Then you showed up at snowflake day, trying to pretend everything was fine. You have a terrible pokerface, I've always liked that about you. I kind of started reading your blog, to keep you safe. You were really to generous with information about yourself.      After that I might have talked Milo into letting me try to get information about what your brother knew, through you. And maybe I managed to twist it such a way that Milo thought it was his idea? And that he'd be doing me a massive favour? And that you'd be a very good influence on me?
     That was a tough battle, he didn't want me anywhere near you. But eventually he caved, even himself suggested to you that we meet up. Though I'll admit I have no idea what he told you so you'd agree to meet up with me. I kind of assumed he'd promised you simoleons and half the city or something, since I'm kind of, you know... gross..

     I wasn't planning on anything happening. I just wanted to see yo. I kept forgetting to ask about your brother to, you're quite distracting to be around. I just wanted to see you smile and hear you talk. You were so sweet and innocent, and completely naive. It was so nice beeing around you, when everything else was lies. You're so sweet, and think everyone else is just as sweet and honest as you are. And I'm really am not sweet, honest or particularly nice in any way. It actually took me a while to realize that you had an interest in me all along.

     Then those idiots at the syndicate made that damned bomb, which I knew all about ofcourse but "forgot" to tell Milo. I just made sure that he wasn't there for a few days to be on the safe side. But they also "forgot" to inform me that they would make it go off during my workhourse. I think they were out to get me, and it was probably for the best, or it would have gotten off at a lot busier hour. Or they just didn't care that I was there, or both. What? I told you I'm not a good guy, didn't I? 
     At that point I had stopped caring. I was already aware that I was outstaying my welcome.

     Nothing was supposed to happen between us. I just wanted to meet you again and again, thinking it would get easier if I just met you one more time.     
     But then you met up at my house wearing practically nothing, and seriously... no bra? I'm just a man for crying out loud. You seemed so upset, and I really just wanted to comfort you. But your skin was really soft, and your legs very long. And come on... no bra? Not that I was complaining.

      
     I knew you were interested at that point, ofcourse. And I also knew it was a bad idea kissing you, and I shouldn't have done it to begin with. Everything I worked for, what I worked with... just a horrible idea really. 
     You seemed a bit hesitant at first so I hesitated to, but when you relaxed I just ignored the sensible voices that went on in my head. I do that most of the time anyway.

      I'm really sorry I couldn't give you a proper wedding, but I lied to Milo about the dating and the pregnancy. Poor sod even believed me for some reason, you would think he'd learned by then right? But you told him and Anya, ofcourse you did. They're your best friends. Turned out that little softhearted blondie has a temper after all; he was furious. I was sure he was going to kill me, for real. 
    I get why he reacted that way now ofcourse, or I did back then to but I just chose to ignore it. That's why they stayed away from you, you know. To keep you safe. Everyone just wanted you to be safe. You are kind of a walking disaster after all.

     The criminals made a terrible mistake that night. A memeber of MorcuCorp and parts of the criminals tried taking over the business. They had planned it for a while, but with the old Morculady dead, and the storage burning, they jumped ahead and decided to take advantage of the chaos. Or atleast that was the idea.
     There was a reason why your family was supposed to be left alone, and it's not because you were related to the crime- boss. It was because of Meave. She wasn't what you thought she was. Atleast the little I knew of. You see, the army can be a good place to work, but sometimes the members quit and goes into so- called overseas security businesses. Most of them are legit, hard working sims. And some or them are not legit, and doesn't work in very legal manners. 
     Let's just say that Meave belonged to that group that wasn't very legit. I'm a bit surprised that none of you noticed a difference in how she worked.... you know she tended to walk around armed right? That's not legal, atleast not when not in uniform. And most armysims don't do that anyway.

      Meaves co- workers wasn't happy about her execution. Because when the law looked into her death, there's a chance they found out what she worked with. 
     Worst scenario that would have happened with the criminals was some years in prison, and having to start from scratch. The Morcus would have taken a harder toll, but they'd survive. Illegal businesses in legal ones and so one, you know. 
     But that didn't matter when Meaves co- workers decided to avenge her death. It had gotten out of hands for all parts involved, and they put a pretty brutal ending to it. A very brutal ending to it actually. They found Rowenas molested body near a dumpster, and not even the Morcus got away. Well, atleast they will stay away from Jericho now right?     
     Am I a bad sim for saying that I'm happy Meaves friends didn't figure out I was a part of it? But it is such a pointless turn of events right? All those years of work, so many lives destroyed and all it took was for Meave to die? I'm not going to think about what I would've done if I'd known that.

     I've lied to you for as long as we've been together, and for our daughter to. She looks like me, but luckily she takes after you. She is so much like you... And even if I lied so much I need you to understand something. I've made so many grown men cry that I've lost count a long time ago, and so many lives and families have been ruined. Just the share sight of me is enough to destroy most sims day, and if I say the right things to them: most wish they hadn't been born at all.

     But I've always been bad at saying the things I should say: I wanted to keep both of you safe and happy, but I failed. I wish I hadn't lied but it did it to keep you safe, and because I was so selfish I didn't want you to leave me. And even if I've never told you before; I love you. Both of you. 
     I am so sorry, and I know you'll never know how sorry I am for everything.

     He just wish he'd told her while she was still alive                             
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poses:fanaskher, imho, ag, k2m1too, clover and someone else that I forgot.

I decided from letting Bashir keep the burn on his face, I liked him better without (that, and I'm trying to clean out my packagefiles of unneccessary things). And yes, Oriana is dead, all dead and fully "not coming back" dead and Bashir is the newest member of the household keeping up the rolls. Atleast now I don't have to stop her and Joe from flirting all the time. Because they did, all the damn time.

Explanations, explanations:
Anticlimax, I know. It was supposed to be to, but honestly not this much.

So there were certain things that got screwed up. When my computer broke down I lost everything exept one save from when the kids were toddlers. So all saved sims were gone to. Florian was supposed to be a part of the story, though not directly. But I needed his face as a startup for generation three, and would've needed him there to. Unfortunately I just wasn't able to recreate him. So I had to improvise quite a bit. I'm sure everyone has already gotten that the whole "dreamstuff" isn't actually dreams, but I wasn't able to finish it since I needed Florians face for that. (Not that he was coming back from the dead or anyhting like that for the record.) I'll try to improvise something for generation three on that part, but it might be to funky to use. So no promises there.
Ofcourse Marco was supposed to take out Rowena, but if I decide to go with the funky idea this was a better fit. Atleast all that were supposed to die, died. Except Rye, turned out he was the only one from both families, so I didn't want to end that family line :D

And I know first person talking is a really cheap way of doing it, but I figured it was easiest to make it understandable. If there's something I left out or that has changed, I appologize already, but as mentioned earlier it got a bit difficult beeing in the middle of a story when things and important sims disappeared. Hopefully it didn't get to bad.

Thanks for reading

p.s: If you see some of the thugs or others running around in the game, don't be alarmed. It's not them, but they have enormous families and for some reason they've started looking the same. Or maybe it's just me that think they do. 

2.24 Kitty, kitty bang bang

                                                   warning violence/ gore/ language

    
     Even in the dark, Joe saw the small body on the swing, going back and forth, higher and higher to the point were the boy guaranteed believed that he could swing all the way around. Or maybe he'd gotten so big that he'd stopped believing things like that. No longer listening to that little warning in the stomach when he thought he was about to go all the way around.
     Waving at Rikard in his car, he watched as his big brother drove away, the rest of the kids were still allowed to stay at his house ofcourse.

     Sitting on the swing, Joe felt a bit of memories pressing up on him. Nothing much really, just little things like the scent of the catpoop from the nearby sandbox, mixed with the sour smell from the river. It had cleaned up well since he was a child. To think he once had been so short, that his feet hadn't reached the ground when sitting on these very swings. Now he was worried that the entire thing would crumble under his weight.
     Effie eventually stopped the swinging, the creaking noise from the nuts and bolt coming to an end. They didn't say anything, just kept staring into the darkness.
     I'm sorry. The tiny voice jumped into falsetto as he talked. If he was anything like his dad, the boy felt bad so he appologized even if he didn't know what for.
     So Joe gave a real manlyman answer: Don't worry about it. Even if he had no idea what Effie should be worried about. It's difficult beeing men at times.

     Do you want to talk about it?      His son still looked into the distance: No. Dad probably wouldn't believe him anyway. Grown ups were stupid. And even if he didn't like to think about it, uncle Rikard hadn't actually been mean or even raised his voice. He'd just asked him what had happened.
     Hey.... Joe didn't know what to say or to at the moment: do you want to go and get a late night meal? Live a bit on the wild side? We can have hot dogs... or pizza, your decision. Then we'll go home, okay? What else could he do? Maybe doing something else made the boy feel better. That, and he didn't really want to go back just yet. Joe didn't like it when everyone was arguing. Wasn't he a bit old for that?

     Jumping off the swing, Effie shared his idea of a good time: I want hot dogs and pizza, and soda and icecream for dessert. The stupid grown- ups were long since forgiven. Mawing down all that food was no problem either, he was having a growth spurt!
     Great. Joe was hungry to, he'd just tell his wife when they got back since Oriana had confiscated his phone. Could she even do that?

     Fire is loud, incredibly loud. Roaring with a force that is unknown to sims unless they've been in the midst of it. A contrast to anything warm was cold, but even Bashirs freezing voice had problems beeing heard over it: What the fuck?!! There were few sims in simnation that had the honour of seeing him this upset: Marco!
     Marco was to busy watching the life disappear from that old bitch, to bother with little things like heat. Even if it felt like his skin was about to boil, and he kept coughing from all the smoke, every breath felt like his insides were burning. He still loved fire. But it was difficult killing someone with a knife, took a lot longer than he'd anticipated.

     A pair of skeletal fingers grabbes his arm, pulled him throught the fire away from her. For some strange reason, he didn't feel injured, but that could be the adrenaline. It was really hot here and there, but other than that he felt fine: What the hell are you doing! We need to get out! He'd never heard Bashir like that before, never.
     But.... He pointed to the old woman as the inferno kept raging.

     NO "BUT"!!! He kept pulling him away.
    What about....
    Are you out of your mind?! He heard Bashir was still yelling and coughing at him: Everyone's ran out! Someone torched the place! We need to get the fuck out!!! How the hell did this place even burn this fast? Over the inferno he finally heard the shriekes of an old woman. It felt good, really good, especially because it meant she burned to death, not chocking on the fire.
     Finally he woke up. Shit, he'd torched the place: Damn! Your face! Turned out Bashir didn't handle the heat as well as he did.

     How the fuck was this considered "just outside Riverwiev"? It was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nothing but fields and hillbillies! Marco needed to find a phone, and a car to get his insane brother- in law to the hospital. In the lack of any cars (or tractors) driving by, they went as fast as they could to the nearest farm, well aware of the fact that they might end up in more shit. But the dangers from inhaling fumes were to great not to anything about.

     Luckily it was some poor sod that opened the door. He punched the guy when he refused giving him the phone and carkeys. Who the hell claimed the rural areas was full of nice sims?

     BonjourHello I mean.... Dominic hadn't seen the number before, but it sure wasn't local, and on his privatephone at that.
     Linn took a short look at him, before giving the fridge all of her attention. Weren't there any donuts left: Who keeps snagging all the donuts. By the satisfied grin on Loris face it was obvious who was the donut thief: How can you devour crates of donuts each day, and not gain a pound?! Linn kept complaining: There's just like.... vegetables and drinks left here. Who ate vegetables anyway? Might as well go outside and start munching on the nearest lawn.
     Not that she usually cared who her co- workers were talking to, but atleast the one on Dominics phone was male. And the voice sounded irritated and loud after the french answer. Probably his son or something, she thought as she kept raiding the fridge. Oh! Icecream!

     Icecream was a lot better than donuts: I'm going to pretend I don't see a name on this... Linn looked around herself as she claimed the treasure.No point in it ofcourse, the rest were out patrolling. It was kind of the point of beeing a cop really.

    Oui, Dominic nodded at the phone repeating himself. Why was he nodding, it wasn't like anyone on the other side of the phone could see it: Oui bien sûr. He kept nodding for some reason, talking to them before he'd even hung up.

     It's Marco. Dominic was still on the phone whilst simultaneously talking to them, and listening to whoever was on the other end.

     That's not funny frenchie! Lori barked from behind the computer.
     Time to realise the facts: He's dead lobsterboy, best you realise it. It wasn't like Linn was happy about it. It was always hard loosing one of their own.
     Ignoring them, he continued: He can't get a hold of his sister so he wants us to take a look.
     Lori rolled her eyes at him: That's just tasteless.

     Putting the phone on speakers, he held it out for them to hear. That was Marcos voice alright, and a lot of inventive profanities that few other sims knew. Linn dropped the bucket of icecream, it fell to the floor with a dissapointing thud, keeping the frozen contents intact.

     ....Holy shit... There wasn't really a lot of other things to be said.

     Even if the others seemed to be able to controle their joy, Oriana was happy seeing Vera again. If Anya and Milo had shown up it would have been just like the good old times. Except that her brother was missing, and Joe wasn't back yet. Atleast Vera would be on her side, which was probably why the rest seemed so cranky. The adult had discussed the matter with Jonny ofcourse, but for some reason they meant she'd "misunderstood" something. Why didn't they want to listen to her, and why didn't they believe her? Why were they beeing so stubborn? She wasn't stubborn at all ofcourse.

     How are the kids? Oriana asked, vividly remember how tired she'd been the last time they met.
     Smiling at her, she answered: Growing up fast. And Arnie finally started working a bit less to. She seemed so calm and unworried: Which means I can go outside the house a bit again. So, where are your kids? 
     At Rikards. Vera knew who he was ofcourse. They had gone to school together, but he was a bit older than them.

     He still married to Sunniva? Vera asked, which Oriana ofcouse confirmed. Even if she'd grown up, none of them understood what he saw in her. He could get someone way better, even if he was ugly as sin. That could easily be forgotten when he was such a large chunck of beef; kind of ugly- hot. Not that Oriana noticed.....
     Her and Vera hadn't had a lot of contact as adults, but that's the strange thing about good friends; when you meet again, it feels like you've never been apart to begin with: Why don't you sit down Vera, Oriana said walking into the kitchen, whilst talking over her shoulder: I'll fetch you something to eat. With a cop- boyfriend and twins, I bet you never get to eat without anyone talking to you. Are you two ever getting married? Great, now I'm starting to sound like someones nosy aunt....
     She heard Vera laughing in the background.

     Only Orianas mother could have decided on such a silly kitchenplanning. Vera followed, waiting at the entrance to the room: How are things going? She asked again.
     Weighing a bit for and against it, as the others still chattered in the livingroom: Not good at all. I have no idea where Marco is, or if he's even alive. The others, she didn't lower her voice wanting them to hear what she had to say: Thinks I should forget about it. And you know what? I ran into someone I know, that claimed my brother... my brother was a dirty cop and in league with the criminals because we needed simoleons. Which we don't.
     Oh? Vera sounded surprised, but kept typing on her phone without looking up: Who was it? Someone I know? 
     Yeah, Jonny- turd of all sims.
 

     Typing a bit more, Vera gave her a short awkward smile and explained: Sorry, it's Arnie nagging.... would think a grown man knew what to do with his own children right? 
     Oriana nodded, men were stupid. And so was family.
     Vera continued: So Jonny- turd is a criminal, is that what you're saying? 
     Oriana had always knows he was a douche, but still.... she nodded anyway.
     And he claims Marco is a dirty cop, but it's not true?
     She nodded again.
     Damn! That grin on Veras face was impossible to recognize to Oriana.
     I know right? Even if Oriana had been good at keeping her source a secret, she decided to share it. Maybe that would get the others of her back! Why hadn't she though about that before?

     Still with her nose down in the phone, Oriana made sure to talk loud enough for the rest to hear: And I have gotten help from someone else to.... Finally Vera looked at her: Is that so? Anyone else I know?
     Biting her mouth together, trying to keep an acid smile away when Meave pretended not listening: I don't think so. His name's Adam. He's been helping me pretty much from the start. Kind of wonder where he finds all that information though....
     Really? Adam you say....
     Yeah. He has one of those stuffed bodytypes you know. Kind of like a sausage right before the skin cracks. Olive eyes, tanned skin, poopbrown hair and massive cheekbones.... kind of looks like he's smiling all the time.... a bit creepy really....
      Vera just shook her head calmy: Doesn't ring a bell.... Then she went on the phone again.

     Finally following her into the livingroom with the rest of them, Oriana sat down, and said: Why don't you sit down Vera?
     She pulled her phone out again, and looked at it: I can't right now?
    It's not the best place for pie, I know but.... We can just sit in the kitchen! Oriana kind of liked eating in the livingroom at times. Made her feel naught for some reason: Or we can just pull the table closer to your seat!
    You can take my seat? Rye was already standing up. To think a punk- rocker was such a gentleman when the paparazzo didn't see him?
    No need to, but thanks for the offer. I won't stay long.

     Wait! So that means you won't have the pie? Time to focus on what was important! Who didn't want pie? Well, I'm not letting good pie go to waste! Standing up again, Oriana grabbed the plate as Vera made a small grimase and appologized. Not that Oriana actually minded, it meant there would be more for her: I'll just put this back in the fridge then. She might as well do it anyway, as she'd forgotten brewing coffe anyway. Having guests was tough work.

     Why did she always forget something? Ah well, atleast the others were talking about something else than how stupid and crazy she was for still wanting to find her brother.
     Her ears rang, she couldn't really hear any thing other than the ringing for a small ammount of time. Looking at the others, Oriana didn't seem to be the only one with ear problems. The sounds slowly came back though, probably because she was farther away.

Then it's that strange sensation when you see something that you'd never expect. What was Vera having in her hand? It was shiny, and it looked unfamiliar, but still familiar in some way. The others were acting strange to.

     Walking closer, Oriana slow mind still didn't work properly. Why wasn't Meave moving? Why was Rye and Christine running off?

    Then there was this odd noise, it didn't sound like the other. But she saw Vera pressing on something in that thing in her hand, then Rye fell over like a well used rag.

     Oh shit, that was a gun! Why did she have a weapon, and why had she been using it on the others? She hadn't even noticed the unknown sims pouring into her home before now. That woman just walked up an shot Rye again, then a man walked up to Chrisine and shot her. Even if she surrendered.

     She didn't notice Rye still moving his fingers, trying to cling on to life. But she saw Vera coming closer, pointing that thing at her.
     It's nothing personal Ori. I'm really sorry.

     It didn't hurt, but an area of her chest got wet and cold. The only thing she noticed was several pair of feet around her. But Veras cute voice was easy to recognize, even if Oriana could have sworn it didn't sound like it once had. It might as well have belonged to a stranger.
     No, the strangers voice that sounded so much like Veras: I don't need any help. You go upstairs, you downstairs and Gregory take the outside. We're alone, but let's be on the safe side. I'll finish up here. We'll leave as soon as the check is done.

     Hearing the others feet walking away, Oriana was still sitting on her knees. Her chest kept getting wetter. It had to blood, or maybe she was just sweating.
     Did I miss or something? Veras stranger voice said. Then that clicking sound was there again.
     For some reason Oriana felt something strange inside her brain. She often did, but not this way: it felt like something tried getting out. Maybe it's how it felt like to die. It didn't seem so bad really, dying that was. It didn't hurt, nor was it scary. It was just a bit cold and wet at the moment: Vera wait. Why did she say that?

    Vera sighed before answering: Please don't make this harder than it is. This is just business.
     Come a bit closer.... Oriana had to say it a few more times before her once friend heard her: I need... I have.... She had what? Dying felt kind of strange, like something dragged her entire soul out of her very beeing. Wonder if it had felt like this for the others. Though she was pretty sure she saw Death in the background waiting for her. Or maybe it was her imagination.

     Sliding over, finally resting on the floor Vera kneeled down. Was this really how it felt to die?

     Grabbing Veras leg she could hear her screams, but for now Oriana didn't care. She did feel a bit lighter though.

     This place was so boring.... Like most kids, Odin liked babies but they weren't that interesting. And Sunniva was pretty and all, but she talked to them like they were babies to. Which he wasn't! In addition old fairylady didn't like Skuld either, but no one liked her anyway. Not that it was okay beeing mean to her because of that, she was his sister after all.
     Wisely they had retreated to some massive orange bedroom, and as a result was still bored. But it was still better than having old fairylady staring at Skuld. Odin was so bored he'd even started biting his own nails! They didn't taste very good.

     Lucky was bored to, but they were still trying to be on their best behaviour. Oriana was going to have their hides when she heard about Effie attacking old fairylady! Or Meave would have old fairyladies hide, if she heard what happened to Skuld. Probably both! They were so grounded!
     It's not fair! Why did Effie get away! Lucky wanted to go home to. Maybe mum finally had gotten a hold of dad, and he was on his way home. And she was sitting in this boring house, with nothing to play with other than babytoys: I'm bored!

Jarl promptly jumped down from his seat, and poked Lucky until she jumped up from the sofa he grabbed his chance. Lucky had soft hair, so he put his hands into her ponytail and started ruffling it: Is this better?
     Stop it!!! Lucky was annoyed, boys were so stupid! Ofcourse Jarl stopped doing it, he was a nice boy: But you weren't bored any more were you? She hadn't actually wanted him to stop, because it was better beeing annoyed than beeing bored.
      Maybe we can tell some ghoststories? Odin said 
     Ghost stories are lame... Jarl said; atleast when their supernaturals in the livingroom...

     Nodding, Odin could see that: Yeah, it's probably a bit pointless going; he made his voice pretend- scary: and then the werewolf stalked them home... and sat in the chair and had some coffe whilst talking about what he watched on the news today.... Because that was what they were doing in the livingroom. Three supernaturals, and "what's his name" talking about the weather, tvshows and their jobs.

     The other kids laughed at his pretend-scary story. How could any sim have a problem with supernaturals anyway? Probably afraid they would bore them to pieces!
     Do you think we'll be that lame when we grow up? Lucky asked.
     Nah, Odin quickly parried: We're never growing up! He really didn't want to grow up, it would be great to stay a kid forever and ever! And why was Skuld still so quiet anyway? It wasn't like her to be so quiet just because some old sim yelled at her.

      I think they bored Skuld to death already, he lauged. But she didn't have any unfriendly comments back at him, she just kept looking dreamily into the air like she was thinking about something. Until she finally said: I would love to live forever....
     Yeah! Lucky smiled; That would be so awesome! Imagine what toys they will have in the future! They started discussing what toys the future would hold for them. 
     But Skuld didn't want to live forever as a kid, she wanted to grow up and then never age or die. She had to figure out how to do that! She knew that she fairylady could have lied just to get a closer look at her, but why would she? The thought that someone might not actually think about what was best for Skuld, was a thought impossible. Why would someone not give her everything she wanted?

     They never got the opportunity to stay interested, as Sunniva came through the door with the baby. She looked pale and had a strange facialexpression none of the kids recognized. She did her best to pretend everything was normal though, even as her voice was highstrung and the smile plastered on. Did she think they were idiots?
     Hi kids? Are you having fun? No they weren't, this place was lame. Yet they politely answered "yes ma'am".

     Rikard say that we're going to play a little game now. It's called the "quiet game" and the rules are that we all have to be as quiet as possible, for as long as possible.      Yeah, dad usually plays that with us to, when he thinks we make to much noise. Odin quickly answered without thinking. But it was true, dad had played it with them a lot of times, and thought they didn't get why. They humoured him the best they could. There were many responsibilities when having parents.

     After a strange look, she said: It's not the same thing. It's very, very, very important that you are quiet in this quiet game. And that you stay down on the floor whilst doing so. 
     Okay, that was strange but they had done odder stuff than that: And, she continued; if you hear anything strange or any loud noises, it's very important that you still don't make a sound. She was starting to look a bit panicked.  And turn off your cellphones, so that no one accidentially phone you.... Really lady? What cellphones? The only one that had one was Effie, and only Oriana and Meave knew he had one. Like dad would let any of them touch such scary things!
     What was going on? They still did as they were told since she looked so panicked. Odin had never missed his dad more in his life. He'd make anything better a long time ago, and he was big and strong to!

     It was just something about springweather that never wanted to make up it's mind. It was warm, but still cold. Other than that it was a quiet night, they were after all lucky enough to live pretty far away from the downtown area.  
 So, you see Effie, when Rikard asks you a question, you can just answer it. He doesn't automatically believe the grown- ups. He's a pretty nice guy even if he looks a bit....
     Hairy? Effie thought his dad was hairy to, but not as hairy as uncle Rikard. He was worried he'd be that hairy when he grew old to.
     Well, yeah he's hairy to! But I meant that he might look and sound a bit strick, but he isn't. Actually he meant that his brother looked angry, but it wasn't the best choice of words to a kid.

     What happened anyway? He'd also tried getting it out of the boy, but ofcourse he didn't answer. Must really blow beeing the oldest kid in the house. He'd gotten that it was something about Skuld, and that fairy, and Effie had tried to protect the girl. Which was odd, because she was one tough nut to crack. But atleast his little boy had protective instincts... hopefully he wouldn't turn into some miniature Marco.

     Effie was a lot smarter than his dad to, as he changed the subject quickly: Why didn't we take a cab anyway? 
     I couldn't get one!! It wasn't always easy hailing a free cab in this city. Though when he thought about it; who would want to pick up a crazy man walking around with a kid way after bedtime.... It was strange no one had called the police on them.
     Effie didn't look to awesome either, actually he looked far from awesome.

     Do you want to go in through the backdoor? I'm sure jarl and Odin won't mind you sleeping in their beds for once. Joe was a pretty smart guy sometimes, and this was one of them. He didn't want to go in through the frontdoor either. To much arguing.
     Looking up at him, a worried look almost disappeared: Could I? I don't want to be yelled at by mum...
     She won't yell at you Effie.... Yes she would, she'd yell at both of them.

     It's so quiet..... he said as they rounded the corner of the house. It was strange not hearing anything from the inside. But the house was pretty well insulated.

What was that? Was that a gun? Why was there a gun in his face? Joe didn't notice that he dragged Effie behind him, and for once he wasn't protesting against beeing pushed by an adult. What was he supposed to do? Why was there a weapon here? Was that guy a cop? He didn't look like a cop, maybe it was an undercover one? They could look pretty bad most of the time, but why would one of    Marcos co- workers pull a weapon at him and a kid?
     I.... I'm unarmed..... Joe stuttered. Wondered if sims understood how it felt having a gun in their face?

     The pistol-pointer took the time to pull an amused face, and even answered: Good to know. 
Was there an escaperoute for Effie here? Joe took a quick peek around, to the gunmans obvious amusement. Then he moved slowly backwards with Effie behind his body. Maybe he should jump the guy? On the other hand running away seemed more tempting, even if it most likely meant he'd get shot in the back. What would be better for Effie? Was there more of them around? Why was he so damned crazy he couldn't even think straight?!

     It always seemed like these things took forever, and that Joe had pondered in things for ages, but it couldn't have been more than a few seconds.
     They were going to die. His little Effie was going to die and there was fine little he could do about it, other than pleading. But the guy didn't seem like a very friendly type.
     Let the boy go.... Joe knew it was pointless, but he had to give it a try, unknowingly to himself backing away from the gunman. Not that it helped, since he just followed.
     I won't harm the kid. The man lied, but atleast he had the decency not to scare the boy more than he already had.

     Joe just closed his eyes, hoping that madness came before death. But that one time he could have needed it, crazy- Joe was hiding to. Damned crazy- Joe..... 
     His son was going to die and it was fine little he could do about it.  Even Efraim tugging at his shirt, trying to get his attention didn't make a difference.
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'Claps hands' Marco is safe! Never thought anything else did you? He's the heir after all. I thought about having more from that place him and Bashir gets to, but figured not to. It's getting to long already.
And that's googletranslate french, so it's probably not accurate.

Thanks for reading