Daddy? There was a longer silence, before it got interrupted again: Daddy? A thin, pointy finger stabbed against his arm: Daddy? She just never gave up did she? Maybe it was a good thing, because he himself gave up a long time ago. But the few times he could remember, he regretted it more and more. He'd never been known for beeing a quitter had he? Had he always been one?
Daddy? A bit more insistent this time, but still unsure. He tried opening his eyes, but they stayed closed. The finger stopped poking him, as it always did in the end. The sound of tiny feet moved away, and the sound of a chair dragging over the floor shrieked in his ears. Usually there wasn't a lot of noise around.
Fresh air filled the room, the sudden chill surrounded his body making his nostrils vibrate. Even if the air in the city was polluted, it was a lot better than the closed air in his cozy little prison. Light stung in his eyes, even behind the closed lids. He tried opening them again, but they fought him actively. He knew how to open them, they just had stopped working like they should.
Are you cold daddy? The poke on his arm came back: Are you awake daddy? His arm kept getting sore where the poking was.
Can you help me wake him, Ratatosk? He heard the voice changing, getting more highpitched: Ofcourse! I'll get dad right up! What was that again? A toy of sort wasn't it? The poking disappeared, just to get replaced by a wooden hand with sharp edges, scraping more than anything else. Ian let out a small grunt, making the painful stabbing stop. He could feel the girl holding her breath: Do you think he's mad? The voice changed again: No! Dad's nice! I'll take a look at him for you!! The light that stung was finally darkened, as something was stuck in his face. Finally he was able to open his eyes, if just in a small slit.
He wished he'd kept them closed. That doll was creepy, and that mangled face didn't make it a lot better. Ian had expected to see his adorable daughters face, not... that. Fighting the urge to close them again, he heard her voice: Do you see anything? Aino was closeby, her short arms weren't capable of holding the doll up for long. Moving the toy away, she whispered in his ear: Daddy? Clearly not noticing the small gap in his eyelids, she sighed: He's not awake...
Ian wanted to talk to her, but his throat was so dry and the eyelids so heavy. He just wasn't able to keep them up anymore. Hearing the small feet walking away had never hurt more: maybe he'll be awake tomorrow! That hightpitched voice answered: Maybe! The door closed, making sure he was alone again. His mind might be foggy at the moment, but he was sure of one thing; as soon as he was out of this bed he was leaving that banshee and taking his daughter with him.
Howling winds, raging oceans and wilfire should've filled the place, but the only thing felt was a lovely heat that finally was getting more bearable. The memory of what Skuld once had been was long forgotten; she only cared about what she was now, and what she could become.
Eternal life, an eternity of youth, power and wealth. Others might have wanted to make simoleons of it, but she wasn't bothered with petty things like that. Why would she want other sims to live forever? Why would she stop others from dying? If sims didn't want to die, then they should stop irritating her!
Skuld didn't hate Ian, nor her daughter; she just didn't feel anything for them. Sims were merely there for her entertainment. Skuld kept them as long as they gave her something, and then she just got rid of them. Killing strangers was different ofcourse, that was mere curiosity. And that she loved the power it gave her ofcourse. Fine, and it was a bit funny. She liked watching them die infront of her, and the knowledge that she decided when they died. It made her feel powerful.
She'd always thought of herself as a patient woman, but this whole ordeal was taking to long. Feeling the age she wanted to avoid creeping up on her made it even harder. She wanted to be young and healthy! It was easy killing sims when she was. And it was even easier getting idiot men doing what she wanted.
Skuld had no problems killing her own daughter in the process of gaining immortality. But what if Shing and Albert were right? What would it gain them lying to her? And what would it gain the dead woman? No matter how she thought about it, it just didn't add up. Was she willing of taking the chance the supernaturals were lying? What if her only option was beeing consumed by the dead? What would happen if she gambled on them lying, and she gave the dead what it wanted? They had said her gaining eternal life wasn't possible.
Cemetaries were usually safe places to stay; no living were present and nothing of value to draw anyone. If the supernaturals were right, she was in a race against time before she got as mad as her daughter. But was it even true? She hadn't changed a bit, so that was a sign they were lying. But hadn't she been a lot more careless lately? Maybe insanity showed itself differently in different sims. And she was clueless as to what to do. It wasn't like her at all. She'd gotten more and more violent towards her daughter to, making it easier for others to spot bruises. Not that the kid didn't deserve it, but sims were so stuck up when it came to these things.
Usually Skuld couldn't be bothered visiting familygraves, but sometimes it was worth it. The thought that she might stand here long after the last of her blood died out, made her happy. She wanted to live forever, but she wanted to be the only one; to see sims die, and cities crumble into dust never to rise again; to be the only one that witnessed the end of all days, standing alone in the face of eternal damnation. Could she get rid of the hungry dead if it got back, filled with the essences of all those sims? Did it really need to get back to the world of the living? Besides, it already could. She'd seen and touched it herself. So why didn't it just do it? It had to be something that scared it.
Enjoying the view? She heard Lucrecias voice through time itself. No, it wasn't Luckys, it was another voice she recognized, but it was so hard placing it.
Seeing a woman that clearly wasn't her cousine, Skuld noticed it kept switching between ethereal and manifesting itself. The constant flickering made it difficult to see the facialfeatures, but eventually it dressed itself in flesh. Looking like a female version of her own dad, it was impossible to be wrong about who it was. Even with all the years that had passed. It had to be aunt Oriana, she even remembered the dress she was buried in: I always like seeing dead sims, Skuld smiled at her. What could a dead woman do anyway?
I always enjoy seeing the living, she said without a hint of joy on her face: I'm your aunt, Oriana. Beeing dead clearly hadn't erased what an uneventful woman she'd been from the deads mind.
I remember. Skuld answered. Then another one of those long breaks came, as she was waiting for something else to be said. Or maybe she struggled to remember something: There's no secret to eternal life. The Hungry one is tricking you, just as it once tried with me. Then she stared even longer at her with those milky eyes: It tricked you, like it did with Rowena, Meaves sister. Skuld could smell the scent of gravedirt on the manifested beeing: It never goes for the strong Skuld. They only goes for the weak ones, because they always fails giving it what it desires. That way it can consume them, like it did with Rowena. It's her face it has now.
You are the only one that has been so close to giving it what it desires. The two of us.. we can't live forever. It's impossible, you know that. Think it through Skuld, if you were in it's stead, would you have given eternity to someone? When our time is up, it's up. Oriana had to be lying, she didn't want her to be everliving, because she'd died so young herself. But, Skuld had thought about it herself to.
Without any more respect for the dead, than she did the living, she simply asked: And what does it desire, when it originally just wanted me?
The Hungry one always hungers; for life. But life doesn't exist within the dead, so everything living will be consumed. But since there's no life without death, it will end up consuming the dead to. That made absolutely no sense; sounded like some new- age crap. Though, technically she was right. Decompsition was an important part of bringing new life.
Before a hungry dead turns into one, they start out as a supernatural that hides from Death, and tries to come back to the living world.
I know that part!! Skuld barked, effectlively shutting the dead woman up. But just for a second: That's why they can jump worlds... But it decompose in the living world without an essence, because it's a corpse...
Oh, she didn't know that. No wonder it didn't stay for to long then. Decomposing went really fast. Rubbing her temples, Skuld started realizing she was in deep shit: How do I stop it?
The reason why you still haven't been locked in the Hungry ones mind, is because you were never supposed to come this far. It's never been so close to beeing released on the living world before.
Oriana took another long break: You have to give it atleast one of the essences you collected. Then you have to find a way drawing it out of it. That was the same thing Albert had said.
Fine, I'll kill it. Or destroying it's body, or whatever it meant. No problem for her anyway, she was the best at everything after all.
The form it has now, isn't the original one. That was destroyed. When it found someone else to do it's bidding, it took her form instead. No point mentioning that it could steal your body even if you died first. As long as it was pretty whole, it could be used.
To powerful for her! That was the dumbest thing she'd ever heard. Oriana continued: That means if you destroy it's body now, it'll jump into yours. And it consumes your essence, which means you don't die, so Death isn't coming for it. You'll just be locked in it's mind, and it haves your body. Oh, that was not good: You have to trick it.
When Death claims you, it doesn't just take your spirit to the world of the dead. It makes sure that neither your body, essence, powers, spirit or any part of you can be taken back by anyone or anything other than death. So this is why it was so essential that Death came for it, it would bind every single part of the Hungry one to the dead realm, which meant that the reaper could destroy it and all it could do.
So your only option is to trick it. Give it the essences, it's so greedy it will take the chance of staying. And when it consumes them, find a way to draw it back out of it's body. That will make sure that Death can claim it, and it will be weakened just long enough not to be able to run away. Everyone and everything is at it's weakest when the essence leaves. Oriana was pretty sure it was best not to trust Death to much, but she could really just repeat what he'd said.
Raising her shoulders, Skuld wondered if the smelly corpse actually thought she'd believe this. This was just to odd.
Whatever you do, don't let it have your daughters essence.
Smiling, Skuld wondered if the dead lady had a soft spot for her daughter. That would make it so much sweeter to know when she killed the kid: And why not?
Because your daughter is both dead and alive. That's the essence the Hungry one is really craving. If it gets that, it'll be both alive and dead. It can walk freely in the world of the living, because it has the essence of the living. And Death can't claim the living. It can also move freely in the world of the dead, because Death can't claim the ones that are dead.
And if you try to kill it... the essence is already dead so it won't leave the body. Which means it will be indestructible in every sense of the word.
What?! Oriana was making Skuld feel like an idiot. If she weren't dead already, she'd kill her herself. Maybe it was possible to kill the dead a second time. That would've been really satisfying.
Your daughter is both and neither; dead and alive. She stands with one foot in each world. For now she's a child, so she can still die. But if she gets older, it won't happen. It's like with certain supernaturals. Their true powers doesn't show itself before they are teenagers, or even older. There wasn't any need of telling the evil mother that Death and her wanted the girl to go with them.
But Skuld figured out something on her own: Are you telling me that if I kill my daughter, she won't die?
If you wait until she's older she'll just jump bodies. Ofcourse she didn't have to do it, but that wasn't information her terrible niese needed. And technically, if she did it now, her already dead essence would just linger until it matured enough to host a new body. But since it was natural, she wouldn't end up as a Hungry dead. She'd be Death. Atleast that's what Death said. Great, now she was just confusing herself.
Then why shouldn't I just kill her? Hurting someone who was already dead, seemed immensly satisfying.
Because the Hungry dead will still get a hold of her in a matter of seconds. If you kill your daughter, Death won't show up for her. And that means that her essence will linger for as long as it needs to, making it an easy target for the Hungry dead. Don't take that chance. The only one that can destroy the Hungry one is Death. Because he's untouchable to everyone.
Skuld felt really sorry for herself at the moment. She wasn't an idiot. She couldn't take the chance of letting the Hungry dead wait until the kid got older either, because then it might let her go insane. She was fucked either way.
Whatever inconsistensies Oriana had told, Skuld hadn't seemed to pick up on them. Which was good, or else she was pretty sure she'd kill her daughter for the sport of it. She was just happy that the fact that Aino could live forever, beeing young, had slipped over her head. It was as Death had said; she was so full of herself that she didn't noticed things that was straight infront of her nose.
How do I stop the Hungry dead from taking my daughter?
Leave that to me. Aino could only leave if she chose to herself. And she belonged with the dead, not the living. She would never be happy in this world. Though again; she wasn't entirely sure if Death was to be completely trusted.
Skuld had never been happier to be a genious. If she modified the one she'd killed Ian with all those years ago, into becoming one that dragged the essence out, it would be okay right? Because stopping heartbeats wouldn't really work, since it didn't have anyone. And then she could throw in the one that blocked powers, and the one that turned sims into gold. That would work, it had to work. Ah, why was she even worried. She was a genious and couldn't fail after all.
What now? She was used to the smell from her apparatuses! Though, when she thought about it, it smelled stronger than usual, and sickening sweetly. Just aweful, like her sense of smell was up tenfold. Was she pregnant? No, she couldn't be. There was no way, she'd been careful. And no way in hell did she want to live through that shit again!! Ah well, if she was pregnant she'd just take an abortion. No way she was doing that to her body again.
It was a complete coincidence that she'd waited until morning. It wasn't like she felt the need to know that there were sunlight outside of the cellar. That the world went on, with cars driving in the streets and sims walking up and down. She'd even sent her crazy daughter to school, just to keep her out of the way of the hungry one.
Not that she was the least bit worried, she had it all planned out to the smallest detail. And she wouldn't fail. The thought of having an eternity was still a part of her, but she'd just have to find another way. It should be possible to blackmail the hungry dead; and then take it out after she'd gotten what she wanted. What was the point of living forever, if she couldn't see eternity coming to an end? Skuld was a damned goddess; that's what she was, and what she wanted to be. There's be legends about the blond beauty that never aged, and the stories would be ridden with terror as she reigned the world in her evil image.
Or not. She'd admit she hadn't really figured out exactely what to do with living forever, other than seeing everyone and everything else die. She just knew she wanted it, and when Skuld wanted something; she should have it. And she'd have a ton of time figuring out what to do with it to! But now it might never happen. Which in itself was enough to make her bummed out. Even if she should be at her sharpest. She wasn't really to worried. Maybe a bit though, but in the end she didn't have any other choice as she saw it. The stakes of it beeing real was to high.
Skuld had barely given the Hungry deads arrival a serious thought before it stood there. Appearing in a non- dramatic way. It was just suddenly there, looking gross. The slow scent of decaying flesh stung in her delicate nose, and she was sure she could hear moist footsteps following. Atleast it was guaranteed that it wasn't all going on in her head.
It looked on edge and stressed, no doubt worrying that Death would somehow find it before it got the essences: Where are they? Not one for pleasantries either, after all she'd done to help it.
All in the shelf next to me, Skuld smiled pretending she hadn't noticed how they all seemed to be trying to escape the bottles as soon as the Hungry dead showed up. They didn't want to go near it either apparently: Why don't you start with this one? She handed the one that once had belonged to the genie. What essence to lure the dead with, hadn't been an easy task figuring out. But in the end she'd decided that giving the one from the sims seemed to suspicious. And the others were just to plain dangerous to part with. As much as she feared the genies ability to banish someone, the dead wouldn't do it. Because it still needed her.
Ripping it greedily out of her hands, it was absorbed in an instance. All in all a surprisingly boring event, since the dead just crushed the bottle in it's hands and nothing came out of it. From what Skuld understood, it was now safe from beeing taken by Death. And from rotting more.
So this was also the part where Skuld herself was in potential danger. Which is why she hadn't just let it feast on them. Not that she got why it didn't just take all the bottles, but it seemed like the dead didn't have the same ammount of common sense as a usual sim did. Like they didn't work right, or that it needed permission or something.
Where's the last one? Skuld just hadn't expected it to think so quickly: What do you mean?
That was from the genie. I smell the other supernaturals, and the sims. Where's the one belonging to the living dead?
She meant her daughters: You can't have it.
What do you mean "I can't have it"? It seemed even less happy now, even if the voice didn't show any irritation. Skuld wasn't sure where the Hungry dead was in the prossess; if it was something simlike in there, or if it was all empty and wishing to consume. It seemed to struggle with it to.
I've sent that one away, she partially lied: Because I don't trust you to keep your promise. I'll let you have her when you share the secret to eternal life with me. Skuld might have thought about not tricking the reaper, but she couldn't just let something like this go. It was always the tiny chance of it beeing true. Who knew? Maybe beeing met with this, would "inspire" the hungry dead to do what she wanted it to.
I know what essence you really desire, and I know why. Give me what I want, and I'll give you what you want. Oriana might have had a good idea telling her everything, but Skuld wasn't nice enough to care. If she could live forever, she'd find a way to stop the hungry dead in the end. Because she was perfect, and she never failed.
Nothing said power like a little staring competition. That one little genie- essence hadn't done any wonders for the hungry dead; it was still smelly, gross and didn't do anything special. Sometimes she wondered if it wasn't really going to consume anything, that it was just after a powertrip to make sure it was a threat to Death. For now it just stared at her with hate in it's eyes. Skuld liked it when they did that. It made her feel special.
You're in no position to negotiate, it threatened.
I believe I am. She quickly parried, hoping it would work.
Slipping up a slow smile, showing off black, rotting gums it said: There's no such thing. And with that, it sealed it's own faith.
Fine, suit yourself. To the very end, Skuld had hoped it was true, but now it was lost. For the hungry one that was. Throwing a potion at it's feel, the dead squeeled when the smoke started surrounding it. Not bad, not bad even for someone as perfect as her.
Usually clear and almost impossible to see, the essence was now tainted. Pulsating like a dying star, it soon evaporated into thin air. Bringing the hungry dead to the ground, she understood what Oriana had meant. In theory, it died again; it died by having the essence ripped out ot it's body, and it looked so painful that Skuld felt that all familiar tingle of joy and arousal.
From what she understood, it was still around but impossible to do anything with. She wasn't worried about the rest of the essences in the shelf either, because she had a good stack of the poison with her. But she'd also taken something a lot better out. Whilst the dead was down, she threw a potion that would block whatever powers it would've had.
Waiting for it to struggle itself on to it's two weak feel, Skuld devoured a potion of her own. Putting her perfectly manicured finger to it's moist forehead, it would make it even easier for the reaper to do his thing.
As ugly a statue the dead was, Skuld should've been impressed with herself. But she was to busy wondering how this had been so difficult for the reaper to do. What was the big deal? This had been easy. Sheesh, everone was so useless.
Summers were the best! Sometimes they got extra time off school for no apparent reason. It was probably a reason, because teacher wasn't nice just to be nice. But it didn't matter to her, because that meant she got time off. Aino was thrilled, because that meant that her and Ratatosk could stare at dad a bit more. She could've sworn she heard him move a bit around yesterday. Not that it looked like it now, it wasn't even a slight movement.
For a second she thought she heard dad, but the sound didn't come from the room. It was a vague sound from the basement: Did you hear that? Aino smiled at her doll: Mum is home. Wonder what she's doing that's making so much noise. She couldn't even recognize the sound. It was faint and distant, but for some reason it rang in her head, almost like she'd imagine irrbloss would sound: maybe it's will- o'- the- whisp that's trying to lure us. That would've been awesome, and a bit scary. She'd seen someone when they'd been at the bog, and they had swarmed the place where mum had hidden the corpse. Aino looked deep into the dolls eyes: But you will take that memory away from me, won't you? She meant the dead man.
She felt the sound howling to her, whispering for release. But she tried focusing on the doll: Ofcourse I will, it said with thin voice, not screaming like it usually did. There was something beautiful in the air today, a sensation of something grand that was happening. She felt like she knew a king was coming to visit, the type they'd had in historical times.
Should I go? Aino asked Ratatosk, she'd never felt anything like this before. Whatever that sound was, she wanted to go. It felt like her very body was coming to life; as her reason for living was to find that sound: No! The doll said: You should stay here! It wasn't like it to be so scared. It was usually a lot braver than her.
Don't worry, she calmed the doll: I will shoot whoever it is with my cool gun! Flashing her fingergun before the doll, she took another extra look at dad. He was still not moving, but he looked healthier. And she felt so greedy wanting to find the source of that tempting sound. She needed it. Calming the doll, Aino said: Don't worry, I'll protect you.
A whisp met her as she entered the basement. Trying to land on her, she ignored the lingering sound. Her and Ratatosk was busy watching what was happening in the cellar. A golden statue, the size of a sim, was coming to life. A layer of gold cracked open, and fell off; leaving dust and dirt around as it broke through. It made her feel sick to her stomach. This was not right, it was an abomination of nature. And it was way to scary for her in every way. She wanted to yell at mum to turn around, to look out; but what if mum got mad at her?
Running as fast and quiet as she could, Aino forgot all about her doll. She didn't remember it until she was hiding under dads bed. She was so stupid! What was going to happen to her doll now?
But maybe if it didn't fall down the stairs or anything, mum wouldn't destroy it. She could just hope that the doll stayed in it's place..
A sound of something falling down the stairs woke Skuld up. It was probably that damned doll again. Though it wasn't the only thing she heard. It sounded like something was falling down elsewhere to. There was no point in her worrying though, because she was perfect. So there was nothing the hungry dead could do now. But why was Death taking so long? She assumed he would talk to her, and thank her for capturing the thing he was hunting.
Ignoring everything, Aino cursed herself for beeing so stupid and cowardly. She knew better than to think for herself. Why had she walked down into the basement to begin with? What about her doll? What was that thing?
You can come out now, it's okay. She hadn't heard that voice since it disappeared, but still recognized it. Wonder why her imaginary friend came back now? It was probably for punishing her for leaving Ratatosk with the living statue! Wonder what they did to bad sims like her? She still crawled out from under the bed. It was something about refusing that was so difficult, to say no when she didn't want to do something.
Aino had to tell someone, and started talking before she'd even crawled out from under the bed: There's something in... she never finished before getting interrupted: I know, I know.
But what about.. she wasn't sure if she meant her mother, the doll of the statue. Taking several deep breaths, she did her best to calm down. Grown ups didn't like it when children were upset.
They'll be fine, Oriana lied: We don't have a lot of time. I'm here to ask if you want to go with me. The dead woman was doing her best staying calm when she could feel her feet burning. She wanted to get away from the hungry dead as soon as possible.
Go where? She didn't want to leave mum, dad and her doll. She couldn't, especially now. Who would take care of dad? Who was going to love him back to health, if not her?
Trying to do her best to make it appealing, without taking to much time, she just hoped it would work: I can take you there right now, if you want to. It's not far away! Come on, kid. Just say yes already.
Can mum, dad and my doll come to? She wasn't sure if it was possible for an imaginary friend, to take them anywhere. Wonder if it was imaginaryfriend world. Bet they had cottoncandy trees, and lemonade lakes.
No they can't. They'll be there in a little while though. Because in the world of the dead, it didn't feel like you missed someone for all the years it took them to die. So calling it "a little while" was close enough.
Aino didn't really want to go anywhere else. Well, she wanted now with the statue in her cellar. But not if it meant leaving dad and her doll: How is it there? She loved her doll, and her parents.
It was bleak and colourless, filled with lots of dead sims: It's... it's nice! There's lots of other children there to. And I'll be there! For some reason she didn't feel any sadness knowing all the kids that was dead, because it just wasn't relevant anymore.
Is it where all you imaginary friends live? Aino thought that sounded a bit nice, because then maybe Ratatosk would come alive, and she would have a friend. She really wanted a friend.
Imaginary.... imaginary friends? The girl didn't get that she was dead? Hadn't she told her? Oriana couldn't even remember if she had. Damn this dead brain of hers: Uhm, sure. Yes, that's where we live! She pushed out an awkward dead laughter.
Will Ratatosk be a real imaginary friend like you then, or will it just be a doll? Please say yes, she wanted it to be a yes. Aino really wanted to doll to come to life.
I don't know. I'm sorry.
Listen, they didn't have that much time. She had to get her out of here before the hungry dead devoured them all. But, since she was Deaths child, she couldn't just take her either: I will be there. And your mum and dad will be there in a while. Your grandfather in a short while to. It might seem scary, I thought so to at first, but I like it there. I belong there, and so do you. You'll be happy there, and you'll get lots of friends. Everyone will love you there. It was all true. The dead that was there, didn't hold a grudge against Death, it didn't work that way. Not that she knew why, but the important part was that it was true.
I don't know... It sounded like a nice place, but Aino wasn't sure if she dared leave her parents and go into the unknown.
Skuld never finished turning around before beeing grabbed. It clawed at her bare skin, looking for something to hold her by, leaving long, red marks on her chest: I'll give you a little thing to think about. And here she'd thought it's mood was just as dead as the rest of it: When something is already dead, there's no use with a potion that's meant to kill. Because there is no life to take!
Swallowing deeply, Skuld realized she was in big trouble. She didn't have any backup plan, because this was supposed to have worked. Atleast she's made sure to block any potential powers, and that was good. Because it meant it couldn't actually harm her in any way. It wouldn't matter what type of supernatural it had been before, because any potential skills were blocked.
The hungry dead didn't need any spesific powers it seemed, as it grabbed her by the hair; slamming her head into the nearby chair. The impact left Skuld dizzy and sick, nearly throwing up at herself. It was a lot stronger than she'd aknowledge anything dead beeing. It was a lot stronger than any normal sim could be. She didn't have any way of getting out of it's grasp, as it scratched into her skull. The only thing she could do, was to try minimizing the damage by protecting her head with her own arms.
It kept on slamming the womans head against the chair until the sim became limp. She wasn't dead, yet, but the hungry dead didn't care. It wanted to living dead child, and it wanted it now. It didn't have time for this. Still not feeling the presence of Death, it could take the chance of getting the child. Because it was close by, the hungry dead could smell it. As it let go of the woman, the head dunked against the floor. Then it sniffed around the room, until it caught scent of where the essence it wanted was.
Its path was interrupted by a strange thing; a doll. The hungry dead immideately disliked it, but it was something alluring about it to. Something fascinating about it's creepy face and strange lightbulb on the head. A part of it tugged at the memories of the sims it had consumed, but their voices was rarely strong enough. For a short second, an odd warm feeling swam through it. Then the memory was gone.
But it was enough for the hungry one to bend down and pick the doll up. It felt flawed to the touch, and unwelcomed and all to familiar energy within it.
It looked at him with surprise in it's eyes. There was barely anything simlike left in it, so he should probably be glad he'd finally gotten a hold of it. It was kind of cute though, in a "rotting and dead" way. But when you hung around dead sims all the time, there were certain parts of the beauty image that lost it's hold on your mind.
And it was perfectly normal for a grown man to own a doll. It was okay, he was Death, he could do what he wanted. He had to admit that this was a lot less satisfying that he'd thought it would be. The hungry dead just stood there, looking at him as it was completely emptyheaded; which it was, but it was still a downer. Not a fight, not a little screaming, nothing. It just stood there staring at him. It couldn't do anything with it's faith anymore.
I know, he comforted the hungry dead; I'm bummed out to. I'd thought you'd be a real pain to take out. But here we are. Now he just needed to figure out what to do with it. It was probably best to destroy the hungry dead. Not that it hadn't been fun having something to chase, but it was over now. The others reapers would probably be disappointed that it didn't devour him, but that banshee had done a formidable job. She'd be a great enemy to go up against... No! He had to stop thinking like that, he was Death. He was supposed to do dead- stuff.
Atleast now he'd finally earned his wings... well, actually his scythe, but it sounded so horrific. He preffered not having one though, they were so overly dramatic.
Aino. She was pretty sure she heard someone whispering her name, but it was probably just the whisp- Maybe it would be exciting? Aino wasn't sure if she trusted a grown up, even if it was an imaginary grown up. But what if it was right? The place didn't sound bad, and she really wanted friends. Mum and dad would come later. amd even grandpa. Then all of them could live together happily. That would've been nice: Aino... The whisp said her name again, but she didn't want to answer it. The sound of a heavy blanket sliding to the floor, could've interrupter her thoughts, but she didn't have time! She had something important to think about. But the creaking from metaljoints was getting louder.
...aino... she turned around just to see dad barely sitting up; a small crack in his eyelids was all he had to see through. He didn't even ask about her imaginary friend, but maybe it was because dads eyes weren't really open: Daddy!! She wanted to jump up and down, but was scared that the statue could hear her. But she didn't hear anything else, so maybe she'd just imagined it: ...phone...
I want to stay with you daddy!! She did. She didn't want to go anywhere now that dad was awake. She had butterflies in her stomach now instead! Everything was going to be fine now!
... I need a phone... he tried again, his voice still weak from the long slumber.
Is she.... Oriana barely managed to finish the sentence. It was pretty bloody.
Nope, she's still alive and breathing. For now atleast. Now that he mentioned it, she could see the chest barely moving, a little twist in the eyesocket now and then. A part of her thought it was a shame, another didn't really care.
So it's over? Oriana had expected a long fight; two titans going up against eachother. A real rumble that could've shaken the skies.
Yeah. The hungry dead is taken care of, and all is well. He thought he'd done a great job atleast.
You made it sound a lot worse than it was. Someone had to tell him. He'd made it sound like it was pretty much impossible. Unless he'd tricked her ofcourse.
No, I didn't! This one was just a lot better than I thought she'd be. This woman would've been a great foe. But now it wasn't going to happen. Unless someone hurried along, she'd die though. Maybe he should take the rest of her life? No, that was probably morally wrong or something-
So did the girl... It wasn't like Death was lonely or anything; it wasn't!
Sorry, the dad woke up. She wanted to stay with him. Oriana wasn't sure if it was bad or not.
Oh... he wasn't bummed out about that either. he had a whole place stuffed with dead sims, what more could one want: Well, guess I'll just take away everything she would've been able to do then. She'd just be a sim like everyone else now, she wouldn't be able to see the dead, talk to them or anything else of the fun death stuff. What Death gave, he could take back after all. But now there wouldn't be a blooded Death.
Ofcourse he'd have to destroy the bottles with the essences to. They went all bonkers with him around, like they were happy to see him or something: You know, you could probably just adopt some already dead child right? Oriana tried cheering up Death, he looked like he needed it.
I'm not lonely! He wasn't! He had a lot of things to do, he didn't have time to take care of a kid. There were souls to reap all the time.
Sure you're not. She knew better than that. It didn't matter if he was the reaper or not, men were so predictable.
Death picked up the trusted puppet. It couldn't stay here anylonger, there was no need for it anymore. It was time to take it back to the dead where it belonged.
Nice doll....
I know... Death thought they were awesome atleast.
Smiling, Oriana looked at him and said: She has this really strange obsession with that doll. She wants it to come to life. Then she smiled again, it was so cute, and typical that kids wanted their toys to be alive.
That was an interesting idea, Death had never thought about that before.
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poses: Nyx, Sunny, Spladoum, Clarisse, echo- sim, zhi
I had every little inconsistency filled out, but it became so long and complicated that I removed it. It would also seem a bit pointless to drag it out, since Skuld is supposed to be good at what she's doing. So no, it wouldn't have been this easy if it weren't for her.
And yes, I just used a simple glowing orb as an essence, because it was max at what I was capable of doing with Gimp. (The funny thing is that back in the stoneage, I had photoshop for a year at school).
Skuld is also still alive, and breathing. No need to be worried about the lovely lady.
Thanks for reading
