But, your mum wanted to surprise us, which means that you'll pretend that you don't want to go and jump off the nearest cliff with your heads first.
But dad!!!
No but! He interrupted the kids whining before it even started, they were a bit selfcentered: Your mum was down, this will make her feel better. If any of you complain, I'm leaving you out of the will.
But it's so boring here!
Ofcourse it's boring, we're old and old sims only do boring things. But she wanted to see some of the artshit they have in this hellhole, so that's what we're doing! It's for a few nights, you'll live!
He wasn't going to complain though, if Aino wanted to be here then they were going to be here. The important thing was that she was happy.
But....
No but! And I don't want to hear one complaint. Have I made myself clear? Fucks sake, just try not to argue for three days. Now, get out of here already!
They started scuttling almost as soon as he'd finished the sentence: Yes dad.
Where's the kids at? Aino had finally gotten up. They had arrived pretty late the night before, so she'd slept in a bit.
I sent them away. They don't think it's fun beeing with us oldies anyway. He stroked her cheek, enjoying the feel of her soft skin.
Oh... I just thought that we could spend some time together as a family....
We can do that later today. They could do adult stuff whilst waiting, like sleeping. Or other stuff ofcourse. Hopefully other stuff.
Okay. She didn't seem to happy about it. But she didn't seem angry either so it was probably all good.
Aino thought it might be for the better anyway, because she didn't just have a little thing to tell him either. But not yet. She wanted to wait til tomorrow. For some reason she assumed it would be better. she just hoped she wouldn't divorce her when he found out.
This... this is the reason why bullies exist. Niko had problems not staring at that... thing that stood infront of them.
Yeah, Irena agreed: I'm surprised a bully hasn't just physically manifested infront of him, drawn by all that "beatmeupness". That was no doubt a word.
He's like a nerd- cowboy; a cownerd, a nerdboy, a nerdcow.... No matter how you try to put it together, it just says: Please beat me up. Dragan was usually an easygoing sim, but this nerd was to much for his good nature.
Stop it! Neda whispered loudly; He's looking at us. He knows we're talking about him! Poor guy, it wasn't his fault he couldn't do "nerd" properly. Well, it kind of was his own fault, but she didn't want to think it was funny.
Ofcourse he knows we're talking about him, Irena said: look at him! I bet he's the village idiot.
Someone just throw a shoe at him already. Niko said, which made them all laugh; even if it wasn't remotely funny.
Any of you remember how long we were going to stay? Dragans sharp mind had turned into a teens and thus had ended up a classic airhead. So he tended to forget thing almost as soon as he heard them.
Just four days. Four days in this waste of space; fucking Appaloosa plains. What a hillbilly hellhole.
So, two more nights?
Yeah, as far as I got atleast
Didn't you want to look at the horses Neda? But that he remembered.
Neda nodded; There's no one here though. She'd kind of hoped there were some tame ones that she could pet. But for now it was empty. She hadn't checked the stable yet though. They had horses at home to, but they were usually racing horses. And they were worth a lot, so asking to pet one rarely resultet in a "yes".
Oh no, look. Now he's reading. What an idiot. Someone needs to put him out of his misery. Irena jumped straight back to bullying the poor nerd- cowboy.
Wonder what he's reading? To Niko it was more clear than ever that the guy was more nerd than cowboy; the book was thick and heavy.
Irena was more than happy to answer anyway: I bet it's called "yeehaw- the guide to be a looser". What an aweful nerd. She bet even nerds would beat him up.
As entertaining it was listening to her siblings, Neda finally saw a horse and tried talking to it. But it made a derpyface at her. Even the horse thought she was a looser. She had sat in gum the first day of school and had been called "bubblebutt" ever since. So once again, she failed at the simplest task.
Disappointed, Neda went back to the rest. Now that the nerdcowboy was gone, they didn't have anything to do again: The horse derped on me, I hate horses, hate this place and I want to go home. Even if it was nice and warm here, it just made the smell of horsedung more intense.
There's still two more nights Neda. Irena was beeing very nice for a change. Either that or she enjoyed her little sister beeing annoyed.
The adults were enjoying some time away from the kids at a place the dungsmell wasn't present: Aren't you worried about the kids? It won't be long before Irena and Niko leaves us, and then we'll just have Dragan and Neda left. Aino thought time had flown away to fast. What if they left and never wanted to see them again?
Nah, they'll be living close by. With their luck they'd probably all end up living in their basement or something.
I'm not so sure about that. I think Niko is planning to travel around the world. That sounded awefully dangerous to her.
He kept stroking his wifes hand: Then he'll come back when he's done.
But what if something happens to him? What if he disappeares to? What if he goes on a journey and the plane crashes, or he gets eaten by sharks or...
He'll be fine gorgeous. Everything is fine. Nothing big has happened for ages. The most exciting things that happens is Irena not beeing able to keep a boyfriend for longer than a week.
It was a bit strange sitting at the beach in Apaloosa plains; the water didn't make a single sound, no waves, no wind, nothing. It was just a shiny, blank surface.
I bet Irena is going to keep mooching off us and her siblings and Niko meets some girl after a few weeks, knocks her up and comes back home. He's a mommys boy, you know that. And Dragan and Neda still needs us.
What had gotten in to her these last days? There was probably something she wanted to tell him.
I hope you're right.
Is... is that a shark? He watched in shock when the blacktipped triangle broke the ponds surface.
Dragan wasn't a big fan of going to the cemetery for recreational purposes. Like most cemeteries it was open and well taken care of, but he still hadn't expected it to be this inviting.
Obviously. Why would anyone have sharks in a small lake at a cemetery? Niko didn't mind, so he decided to try to fish it up instead. It probably wasn't a shark, but this place was clearly full of weirdos, so it wouldn't surprise him to much.
Doing his best to catch the shark, Niko noticed his siblings laughing; probably at him. He should be allowed to dream about living a simple life without beeing mocked by them. Feeling a bit offended, he was so busy focusing on the others that he didn't catch any fish at all.
Neda couldn't stand listening to Irena and Dragans chatting about how the fish in that lake definitely swam around in corpsewater, so she decided to take a look inside the mausoleum. Ofcourse she should avoid it, but she'd never been inside one before.
Easily bored, the kids saw the gallowstree at a distance, and decided to go and take a look. Disappointed that they didn't see any mandrake roots under the branches, the kids still hoped for some gruesome details from the plaque instead. But it just said how old the tree was and a lot about the type. No notorious criminals beeing hung and nothing. Boring.
I want to take a look at that old abandoned dino- park. Niko had decided he was to bored to keep this up already.
What?
I think I saw an abandoned dinopark or something on the way here. I want to look at it. Go with me. He wasn't scared of going alone, but a bit of company was never to be turned down.
Nah Dragan. I saw a karaokebar! We can laugh at the sims singing there. And I bet they have aracadegames there. She was so done walking around and looking at stuff. She was bored and just wanted the time to pass already.
Games sounded a lot better than some dusty old park. If he wanted dusty, gross and old; he'd just use the subway at home.
Neda had been scared off by some really aggressive moths in the catacombs and gave up exploring almost as soon as she'd gotten inside. Just to find that her siblings had abandoned her. That was so typical, she might as well have been invisible to them. Maybe they'd be back in a little while? She could just wait at the cemetery for them, right? In the meantime she could just read on the tombstones or something.
Niko had seen right. An old abandoned building with a large dinosaur outside was welcoming him. Why would someone close this place down anyway? He'd thought everyone liked dinosaurs. Maybe Appaloosa plains was just to far away for anyone to know about?
He wasn't able to get inside with the way the building was barred. But at the backside there was a large casting of a triceratops. He was pretty sure it was a triceratops atleast. Maybe there had been an exhibit outside here? Or maybe it was supposed to be thrown away and whoever was supposed to pick it up, just never did.
A small pathway behind the building led to something that looked like an excavation site. Was this a real dinosaur skeleton? No, it couldn't be. There were actual dinosaurs in Appaloosa plains? For real? No, it had to be a mistake of sort.
Niko wasn't the only one that was enjoying himself. Irena and Dragan had found a karaokebar, and they had gotten just what they wished for.
I can't believe this. This is to good to be true. Irenas heart was filled with cruel joy.
They had refound the nerdcowboy; it had to be some sort of destiny, so Irena walked up to the singing men and started pretending to cheer: Hey, sounding good there guys! They sounded aweful. Why didn't anyone ever tell them, that they had no talent or skills?
Dragan was far from as polite as his sister: Moooooo! Mooooo! He thought it was more suiting in this place that going "boo". Not that the nerdcowboy seemed to care.
After bullying two grown men off stage, the dynamic duo decided to play some games together. Just like they could do any other day.
Niko decided to keep following a larger dirtroad up into the hills. From afar it looked like an old fortress of sort. But he doubted it was the case. The watertower for instance. Though, what did he know about fortresses. Maybe he should read something about it just to be a bit more prepared. He'd never really thought any further than just wanting to travel a bit around after school was over.
Turned out it was an old spot for fishing that seemed to be abandoned. Yet it was fully operational. How odd, but there was a lot of things about this place that seemed strange to him to be honest. Maybe he could come back here after he aged up and learn a bit more? His heart nearly stopped when he realized what he'd just thought. No. Never back here.
They went home as the sun started setting, just to be met with the most obvious question: Where's Neda?
Mum seemed to remember her kids a bit more, than the kids remembered their siblings: She's not home yet? Dragan asked.
Last time I saw her, she was exploring the mausoleoum. Irena was happy to help.
You left your sister in a mausoleum?! Dad sounded angry at her again. Why was it always her job to look after the younger kids? Why not Niko? Just because she was the oldest one it was expected that she acted like it? Completely unfair.
But, she could've just called one of us. Irena defended herself. It wasn't her fault that Neda was stupid and failed and couldn't do anything right. Or think for herself.
You kids are so irresponsible, Daniel grunted as he got up. he'd promised his wife not to argue with anyone, but they were really getting on his nerves right now. Go and do something, he growled at them. Which translated to "get out of my sight".
What if something's happened to her? Aino was up before he'd even managed to blink three times: What if she's gone to...
She's fine. Daniel wondered what had gotten into her lately. As the kids got closer to leaving home, she got more and more upset: She's either waiting for them at the cemetery, or she's on her way her. And this place is really a safe place to live. Unlike the bigger cities: Just stay here with the kids. We'll be back soon. Okay?
It looked like the statue was pointing straight at her. It was an omen of sorts. It said: You're going to die today. You're barely a teenager, but you'll die right this night. This is your last hours on simplanet.
Neda didn't want to die now, especially here in a place she didn't even know! Weren't it enough that their cats and dogs died left and right? And mum and dad didn't want any more because they got so sad when they died.
Why had they just left her here? Neda wasn't surprised that Irena and Niko did, but Dragan? Her own twinbrother? They had shared a womb for crying out loud, and he just left her? Weren't they supposed to have some special twin- bond or something? Because she'd seen that on tv- that twins felt eachothers pain and sort. But she never felt anything. Maybe if she focused really hard on sending mental messages to Dragan he'd noticed that she was scared and come and get her?
She could have phoned them ofcourse, but then they'll just call her a crybaby again. And she wasn't one! They should know that she was alone, and they should care about it. She'd care about them if they had been left somewhere. But she'd never leave them to begin with! Why were everyone so mean to her all the time. Neda felt very sorry for herself at the moment. This was highly unfair. But worst was the feeling of beeing betrayed by her twinbrother; that was something she'd expected of her older siblings.
Your mum has a very odd fascination with the reaper to. Daniel had seen her as soon as he entered the place. She must have heard him, because she didn't even jump at him or anything.
Neda wasn't sure what to say about that information, to her mum just seemed as boring as any other adult: I was just looking. She didn't want to say that she'd worried that the statue was pointing at her: Can we go home soon? I miss home.
Well leave soon. Mum wanted some time away.
Yeah, Neda had got that if mum wanted something, dad got it for her.
She grabbed dads hand when they walked away, she thought she was still young enough for that: Look dad, it's a deer. She'd never seen one so closeby before; especially one standing still.
Yeah, those little shits eat up all the flowers and bushes as cemeteries. Costing everyone a fucking fortune.
Dad, don't talk like that! How could he say that? Deer were so cute and innocent.
I'm sorry, but they are little shits.
Do you believe in ghosts dad? Neda wasn't sure what to think of it, sometimes she wished they existed, because they could have great stories to tell.
Nah, but if the did, they'd probably eat the shrubbery here to; the little shits.
Dad...
Don't tell your mum I called deers little shits, okay?
Okay dad. She kind of wanted magic to be real.
I'm sorry I forgot you at the cemetery yesterday Neda. Dragan had forgotten that he was supposed to feel sorry, so it was good that he remembered it today.
It's okay, Neda answered- it was a bit to much to assumed that Dragan would remember stuff. And she was the older one of the two, so technically it was her that should look after him.
Please, Niko interrupted: Neda's already over it, she knows it was an accident. Don't you Neda?
Well, when it was Niko that said it, she'd usually disagree, but for now she just nodded in agreement. They had taken the day in the park to have something for breakfast, whilst mum and dad was at the museum. Neda kind of wanted to go with them, but mum had said she had to go here.
Let her be a crybaby if she wants to Niko, Irena was way to happy to join in whilst swatting after some insects- they thrived with all that horsedung around.
I'm not a crybaby Irena! Just because she got a bit scared when they'd left her in the middle of a bloody cemetery, didn't make her a wiener!! It was a gravesite! With dead sims buried in the ground!
Fine, whatever.
Irena was so annoying, she couldn't wait until she left. Bet she'd go live on a boat or something, and when she did; Neda hoped the boat sank and she'd get eaten by the kraken. Or taken by a mersim. Though not a hot merman, she wanted a hot merman.
So what do you crazy kids want to do today? Dragan asked. Not that it wasn't a dream come true, sitting at a park that smelled like boiling horseshit.
Well, I was thinking we could sit here and hope to get hit by a meteor. Niko said.
He was already bored with this place. Not that he missed Jericho either. He'd atleast hoped for some tombs to explore, but it was nothing. Yesterdays interest in dinosaurbones was also gone, since Dragan had told him that there were no dinosaurs in Appaloosa Plains. Ofcourse he just dug it out from interenett in a few seconds. The nerd.
Irena started laughing a bit to loudly, and throwing her hair around. That meant there was a boy at the premises. She tended to flirt around a bit when she got bored. Good for her but didn't she have a boyfriend?
Irena, you have a boyfriend already! Neda just couldn't understand why she kept running around with boys. They were so boring.
So, I just want to flirt a bit! I'm bored.
But.... You're already with Bård. She tried to avoid mentioning that it was pronounced pretty much the same way as "bored".
I think she's with Kyrre... Niko said, just at the same time Dragan said: Matias, his names Matias
No, I'm with Bård. He was so hot, and kind and so easy to manipulate. She was really lucky to have bagged him: But what he does't know, doesn't kill him.
EEEEW!!! Dragan and Niko couldn't keep it in when they saw that thing their sister was chatting up. Then they laughed a bit, they'd make sure she'd never hear the end of that.
I bet my arse he's from Bridgeport, Niko said, they always look like fucking idiots.
He looks like a douche extraordinaire. Dragan had to agree, and as much as Neda didn't want to, he had a point.
All Bridgeportians are douches, it's in their blood. Niko had never met one, but everyone knew they were. Beeing judgemental was a vital part of city- pride.
In a few years, he's going to start drinking and beating his wife. Niko was good at this: Her name is going to be... like, Zelda Mae or something.
Poor Zelda Mae, Dragan chimed in: Everything she earns at the diner, is going to go to his drinking habit. Like a good old country song.
Neda wanted to do the right thing, but it was hard when the boys were beeing so funny: Domestic violence isn't funny guys. she laughed.
Yeah I know. But you got to admit that's going to be his future.
Dragan didn't think domestic violence was funny either ofcourse, but sometimes their older brother was right: Think about Zelda Mae here Neda.
The museum was a lot bigger than they had anticipated, so they'd already spent a bit of time there. And Daniel hadn't hated it as much as he'd thought he would. It was just a bit to much country and western themed for his liking.
Aino had been unusually quiet until now, so he wasn't all to prepared: So, this is it. Do you like it?
It was probably okay, looked like all the other painting to his eyes: It's beautiful, gorgeous. What's it called? It was probably some favourite of hers or something.
Monologue at yourself
Oh my, that was deep: It's pretty. Is it famous or something?
It's one of the most famous in simnation. This is the original. It's on loan from one of the bigger museums....
Aino started chewing her nails, she had to tell him now. She had to tell him now, or she'd never find the courage. Everything they had would be gone, but she had to do this. She should have told him sooner, she should have said no, but they really needed the simoleons.
It's mine. She whispered, well aware of the high security measurments around it: It's mine, I painted it and aged it. It's mine. I'm a forgerer; I forge art. I'm a criminal... It's mine. I get payed for making fake pieces, then someone takes them and switches them out with the originals. Then the originals gets sold to wealthy sims.
Daniel took another look at the painting; shit looked old to him. He'd expected her to have something completely diffent on her mind, so this came as a surprise. For a second he'd love to pretend that he'd seen that coming, but he hadn't. This was way out of the blue for him. Though it did make sense. She worked for a few days a week. Probably so that whatever prosesses she used had time to work.
I really wanted to be a good sim... He heard her say.
I really wanted to do the right thing. But we needed the simoleons, and... I can go to jail for this. She was still whispering. And here he'd thought it was all about her missing daughter, but it was this. His wife was a master forger. It was incredible and ridiculous. His lovely and innocent wife was a massive criminal. She was even worse than him: Maybe beeing criminal runs to deep in my blood to make any other different outcome possible.
You're not terrible Aino. It's just a piece of old shit that hangs here so sims can gawk at.
So what if it's not the original? The painter's dead and don't they make like a gazillion different versions of them anyway?
Aino nodded. She had hoped for a reaction like this of sort. She should have known that morale wasn't his strongest side.
What have they ever done for the two of us anyway? And if you go to jail, I'll wait for you, he whispered with a teasing grin: Besides the ones that takes the brunt of the punishments are the fences and buyers anyway.
You're a master forgerer, I'm a charlatane. I always knew the two of us were meant to be together. This really was a match made in heaven: No wonder their kids were horrible. They were like the criminal masters that no one would ever know about, because he worked with an accepted version, and she was one of the invisible ones.
Irena would never stop wondering how flirting with boys were so easy. This guy already couldn't get enough of her. For a second she was a bit disappointed that they were leaving just the next day.
Oh no! It's Zelda Mae! Niko could tell that this was going to end bad for his sister. Unfortunately that meant he would have to step in. Didn't it? Or could he pretend he didn't notice.
Don't do it Zelda Mae. He's bad news that one! Dragan didn't seem to be to interested to butt in either, but unfortunately Neda was there to: Guys. Do something!
Bitch! What you think you're doing with my man?!
Irena did not appreciate beeing interrupted by this cow'ho, but got disturbed by Nikos sarcasm first: Zelda Mae don't! He's not worth it! Don't stand by ya' man! He'll take all 'ya earn and buy whiskey!
What the hell are you talking about citydork?! Damn, Zelda Mae had a temper on her.
Let me do the talking, Dragan interrupted: I speak a bit of farmer
Dragan went closer to the blonde: Zelda Mae, I aint sayin' y'all shant' crash, but' y'all gotta know this man aint' good fo' y'all.
What the hell are you talking about?!! And who the fuck is Zelda Mae? My name is Benni!
Like a dog? Dragan blurted out.
Ofcourse she had a dogname, Irena hissed: It has to suit her dogface! She'd called her a bitch, her! Why wasn't Zelda Mae here angry at her boyfriend?
As Benni started yelling at Dragan to, Neda decided that the right thing to do was to get their parents: I'll go get mum and dad. She said quietly to Niko, who nodded at her. She didn't want to take the chance of having a bunch of countryside teenager ganging up on them. Or maybe they just did that back home.
Ofcourse it was more than one thing that bothered his wife. She tried to pretend she wasn't crying, but she wasn't very good at it.
It's okay gorgeous, everything is going to be fine
But what's going to happen when I'm not there to protect them anymore. She couldn't bare the thought of having her little babies going out in the big scary world without her watching over them.
Nothing. Nothings going to happen. Daniel wasn't all to sure how to proceed, but sometimes truth might be the best thing: She's dead, she has to be. There's no way she can still be alive today.
What if she found a way to live forever?
She hasn't. No one lives on forever. That only happens in bad fairytales. She's dead and gone. And he was never going to live out his dream of dancing on her grave.
And even with the small chance she's not dead yet, it doesn't matter. Irena will be a young woman, and Niko will be a young man. There's nothing that ancient hag could to. They'd be healthy young sims, and she'd be a fragile old lady. He saw that it was sinking in. She was just scared of the change that was about to come. Which he got, because he wasn't looking forward to it either.
No, that was dads and mums voices alright. What were they talking about? What fragile old lady? The only old lady she'd known was auntie Angie, but she was dead. and to be frank, she'd been a viper up until the very day she died.
She heard dads voice again: There's nothing she can do anymore. Absolutely nothing.
You think so? Mum sounded almost like a little kid beeing comforted by a grown up.
Neda had no idea what they were talking about, but she sure wanted to find out more. A part of her felt a bit guilty for eavsdropping, but this was interesting
I know so. It was dad again
But what if they disappear, like...
No ones going to disappear. No one.
Who had disappeared? The old lady? Or someone else? This was intriguing.
I just wish I knew what happened to her.... To who? Happened to who mum?
I know. Someday maybe we will. Try not to think about it, okay?
Okay. Damnit dad, she wanted to know what was going on. Since when did her parents have a life outside beeing parents?
Neda was far from as dumb as the kids in school though; she got this was something they didn't want her to know about. So she snok back to the entrance and waited a bit: Mum? Dad?
They stopped talking, almost immideately mums heels were clacking against the wooden floor.
If she didn't know better, she'd think they just hadn't shared something secret: Uhm, hi. Sorry, but Irena flirted with a boy, and then his girlfriend was there, and then Dragan and Niko started acting like idiots.
They actually sighed, like they were tired of them. But what had they thought was going to happen when they brought all the kids to this boring place with them.
Take Neda back to the rental Aino. I'll be right there. Fucking kids never beeing able to be nice to anyone.
Neda did her best not to look at her mum in the cab. To think that her boring parents had secrets. Mum and dad never did anything, they just ran around and smooched on eachother all the time. That was all that they ever did. And now a secret. Wonder if they suspected that she'd overheard them? Mum didn't say anything atleast.
You're always such a nice girl Neda. There's never any trouble with you. Mum finally said. That meant she wasn't in trouble, but that the others were.
Daniel came to find some bloke with a cowboyhat already broken the entire thing off. He barely understood the countrywestern- jibberish he was saying, but assumed it translated into: We don't tolerate that behaviour here in Appaloosa Plains. He didn't care if anyone yelled at his kids when they were beeing arsehats. There were no other kids here, so maybe they'd already been picked up by their parents.
Look at those little bastards sitting there pretending to be little angels.
Howdy partner. Cowboy- mans accent was thick, but he seemed friendly enough.
Daniel bit back a laugh when he realized the guy was serious: Hey
These are yours? I took the liberty to breaking them up before things got out of hands. Them kids here been mighty bullying towards poor young Benni and Cruz?
That didn't seem like his kids at all. They were mean to sims usually: My kids were mean to dogs?
Cowboyman drawled out another sentence: Boy, I do understand that you cityfolks have a diffent sense of justice than us here, but calling kids dogs' not okay.
What? He barely understood what the guy was saying.
Now I understand that a man aint always keeping his kids under control, but I've seen the way you let your wife dress there newcommer...
... and I got to say, we don't approve of such things here in Appaloosa Plains. Here, the women are wholesome farmersgirls and housewives, not dem citydwellings ladies of the night.
That old feeling of going all cold came back through Daniel. Had he just said what he thought he'd said? Oh yeah, he had. He really had: Are you the ....sheriff?
No sir, just a concerned citizen
Good
That was for talking about his kids and wife like that. Atleast he was pretty sure it was an insult. The translation he'd made in his head might have been the wrong one.
Nice right hook dad. Dragan was a bit impressed, he'd thought dads old bones were to brittle.
See, Irena smugly said: I told you dad was going to end up punching you. That's what happened when you called mum a whore.
Can we go home now, like really home? Niko just wanted to get out of here.
Yes, yes we're leaving this dungsmelling hellhole. Best get lost before the hillbillies ganged up on them. They probably did that, with pitchforkes and shit. Okay, maybe he was a bit judgemental.
---------------------------------------------
I live pretty much in pure farmingplace myself, and it's all true: We do gang up on outsiders, chasing them away with pitchforks.
First thing I thought when I saw Benni, was Zelda Mae for the record. It was all the hairs fault. And Aino is a forgerer in the artcritique careere. It suits her.
Thanks for reading
