tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74037980565043839352024-02-19T23:06:04.645-08:00Revolver: A Random Legacy Challengeyangthecathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15083940950118677312noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7403798056504383935.post-62214716307197461422015-02-17T05:46:00.001-08:002015-02-17T05:46:49.064-08:00Chapter 13: Wonderful Is Not the Word<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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"Aw, she's so adorable," Kai coos, snuggling little Michell close, "You must be so excited to be a Dad, Junior."<br />
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"Well, the larval stage isn't so much exciting as it is constant exhaustion and a never ending trail of diapers. But, yes, I am excitedly looking forward to her next level up."<br />
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"I know you don't mean that," Kai admonishes his boss, "You've been grinning like a fool since she was born."<br />
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"I did mention the constant exhaustion, right?" Junior replies, but as he gently takes Michell from Kai and sings to her as he cradles her, Kai can see how much he dotes on his little girl.<br />
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The Arsenaults had always been unconventional in how they manage their business, and now that they have a baby to care for, they've been having Kai come to their house for brainstorming sessions and other 'work' outside the office.</div>
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But some work still has to be done in the actual workplace, so Kai gets ready to take his leave mid-afternoon. Junior looks wistfully at him as Kai goes over his project schedule for the rest of the day, clearly wishing he could go into the office for a few hours himself.</div>
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Caryn bounds out of the house and into Junior's arms for a loving goodbye kiss before she leaves with Kai. "Don't forget her next feeding about a half an hour," Caryn reminds him, "Love you!"</div>
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Kai lets her into his SUV, and watches as she waves back at Junior until they've driven out of sight. He smiles at their happiness, and can't help but feel a touch of envy, knowing that while what he has with Alex is beautiful in its own way, it will never be like the cozy family life Caryn and Junior have built for themselves. Would Alex be willing to adopt a child with him? Would they both be considered parents if one was living in another household?</div>
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He and Jillyan had always been so careful about shielding their children from the supernatural world of fairies, dragons and the like. Not that they believed magic was evil, but there was an inherent danger that came with associating with the supernatural world. When they left their past behind, they had hoped to live normal, mundane lives, free of that sphere.</div>
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If he had known, when Kai was asking him about wishes and genies, that the his son's questions were not hypothetical fancies or the plot of a story he was working on, Julian would have been sterner with his warnings about dealing with the occult. While he's relieved and grateful that Kai did not request any wishes be granted, the fact that he chose to release a genie, unbound, onto the world, is a cause for considerable worry. Especially since Kai invited his newly freed friend to live with the family.</div>
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"I'd like to take a sample of your DNA," Julian asks Bahir. Studying the genie's cellular make up would at least be a step toward understanding him, and assessing what level of threat he might present. That would assuage at least some of Julian's unease at having a supernatural being loving in his home.</div>
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Bahir agrees readily to the request, without fully understanding what DNA is, or what his host might be able to do with it once it is obtained. He owes this family a great debt, and without the power to grant their wishes now that he is free, he knows no way to repay them for their hospitality.</div>
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"If you wouldn't mind indulging my curiosity," Julian says, "When you were in the lamp, did you take on another form? Some kind of gas, perhaps? I'm just trying to grasp the physics of what happens there." MorcuCorp had invested a great deal of time and money investigating the science of magic, believing firmly that even magic must be bound by laws of physics, even if those laws are different from those that govern the mundane. Though Julian's motives are no longer MorcuCorp's, he hasn't lost his drive to understand the world, both mundane and magical.</div>
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"There is no 'inside the lamp', there is only Jinnestan." Bahir answers, "We are made of smokeless fire, but we have form, even in Jinnestan."</div>
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"Interesting," Julian murmurs, "So the lamp is like a portal to another dimension? But you are somehow bound to it? And you are aware of the world directly outside the lamp?"</div>
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"That is correct. I was bound to the lamp, and to the person that summoned me with it. But the lamp is destroyed now, and I am bound to this form, this world, until I die."</div>
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"So you're mortal?" Julian asks, surprised by this revelation.</div>
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"This body is mortal. But the smokeless flame never dies. When this form perishes, I return to Jinnestan."</div>
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Before Julian can carry on with his queries, Bahir asks a question of his own, "You are a traveler between worlds yourself, are you not? You've come here from a different realm."</div>
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Julian's expression hardens. "I am no traveler," he answers, his voice clipped and hard, "My wife and I were drawn here by chance."</div>
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Bahir smiles his most charming smile, and shows his opens hands to his host, "That is indeed a rare occurrence, but I have heard tales of such unexpected journeys," he says, and makes no mention of the great age he senses Julian to possess, or of the magic that lingers around him still, though the effect has greatly faded. It is clear his host hides much behind his frown, and keeps secrets close to his heart. Curiosity was never one of Bahir's faults, however, especially when uncovering what is hidden will bring no advantage, and right now, the genie sees nothing to gain by revealing what more he does know.</div>
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"Hey, Gibson," Kai waves to the hamster, busy running on his wheel, "You're looking a little chubby there, buddy. You need to work that wheel a little harder, maybe."</div>
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"He's actually pregnant," Julian says, joining his son by the cage.</div>
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Kai turns to face his father, "You're kidding, right?"</div>
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"Not at all. My work here has been largely about creating a viable pregnancy in male animals. Hopefully it will lead to new breakthroughs in Sim fertility."</div>
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"Could this work on people, then?" Kai asks, excited by the prospect.</div>
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"That's the goal," Julian responds, "But we haven't done any testing on human subjects yet."</div>
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"What about me, Dad? I'd volunteer!" Kai says, excited at the prospect of having his own child, his and Alex's, together. It still wouldn't be the close family Junior and Caryn have, but having a child with Alex would at least make them some kind of family.</div>
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"Your enthusiasm is commendable, son. But we aren't looking for volunteers at this stage. And there are considerable risks involved."</div>
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"I'm not just volunteering for the sake of science and your research, Dad," Kai explains, "I want this. I want to be a father." </div>
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"There are other ways having children," Julian suggests.</div>
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"Not for me and Alex!"</div>
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"Actually, there are. This isn't research I've shared publicly, but I can use your DNA, and Alex's, to create a zygote, and grow it into a viable baby right here in the lab."</div>
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"That's, uh, not how you made me, or Dylan, is it?" Kai asks.</div>
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Julian shakes his head, "No, you and your sister were born completely normally," he answers, hoping Kai doesn't have a lot of follow up questions about the procedure, which he, well, Geoffrey, technically, had used to create Pearl, his assassin. "The same procedure was used to create the fetus we've implanted in our male subject. Like Gibson here," Julian continues, accepting the name his son had bestowed on the test hamster.</div>
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Kai rubs his chin thoughtfully, thinking more about the future than wondering about his father's past, "That still sounds kind of cold and clinical, even if it is better than nothing. But I'd really like to carry my own child. And I'm willing to take the risks."</div>
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Gibson the hamster is the fifth test of the new procedure. Three of the previous four trials have been successful, and discussions were already underway for human trials. The Stark Center scientists were eager to make this breakthrough. Their lawyers, however, were worried about the potential flurry of lawsuits should the human trials go wrong in any way. Julian would like to see this done in his own lifetime, and he isn't immortal any longer...</div>
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"I'd want to make sure it would be safe for you," Julian says, as much to himself as to his son, "We are nearly ready for human trials. Let me confer with the other scientists working on this."</div>
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"How would you feel about having a baby with me?" Kai blurts out his question with no preamble, taking Alex completely by surprise.</div>
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"You want to adopt a baby?" Alex asks, "Would you even need me for that?"</div>
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That was exactly the problem Kai had with the idea of adoption in the first place. They'd have a better chance at getting approved for adoption with Kai as a single, but very wealthy and stable parent, rather than trying to adopt as a couple not living in the same household. "I want our child to be <i>our</i> child, Alex. Not just mine," Kai explains, "And my Dad has a way to make that happen. He'd just need a DNA sample from you."</div>
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Alex is so not ready for this. Being a parent was never something he particularly wanted, and he'd always assumed that it was never going to be an issue for him and Kai. Adoption would have been hard enough, with Kai's expectations of Alex's involvement. But this, this is too much, too fast, and Alex would rather a hole opened up under the hot tub and swallowed him than have to deal with this right now.</div>
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Oblivious to Alex's distress, giddy with his growing excitement at the idea of having a family, Kai presses on, pulling Alex close to him. "My father's been doing experiments on male hamsters, making them pregnant. If he lets me volunteer for the human trial, I could be the first man to actually give birth to a baby. Our baby! Isn't that wonderful?"</div>
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Wonderful is not the word Alex would choose. Terrifying, and perhaps just a little nauseating. Why would any man want to go through a pregnancy? Alex cannot begin to fathom it, but it's very obvious that Kai is very fired up at the prospect. "I...guess..." Ales murmurs, non-committal, not wanting to disappoint his lover any more than he already has. </div>
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Buoyed by his own happiness, Kai takes Alex's wavering as a yes.</div>
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"I love you so much, you know that?" Kai says, and kisses him passionately.</div>
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Alex steels himself against a near overwhelming urge to cry, to steady his shaking hands and get control of himself before he completely melts down under the pressure Kai is bring to bear on him.</div>
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"We are going to be great parents," Kai says, confident, envisioning a bright future as he leans back against the hot tub.</div>
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"Sure, Kai," Alex says, his voice quiet and unsteady despite all his efforts at reigning his anxiety in. He wants Kai to be happy, more than anything, but his own needs for privacy and solitude have been a huge compromise for his lover. The idea of being a parent scares him to the very core of his being, but he can't refuse Kai this, cannot disappoint him again, ask him for yet more compromises on his behalf. Not if he wants to keep him. </div>
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yangthecathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15083940950118677312noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7403798056504383935.post-63602289545486763972015-02-12T18:44:00.000-08:002015-02-12T18:44:53.448-08:00Chapter 12: What Would You Wish For?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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"What is your wish, master?"</div>
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That old lamp had been sitting on a shelf with the other treasures his mother had gathered from the sea for as long as Kai could remember, and apparently no one in the family had ever bothered to dust it off in all that time.</div>
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"You're a genie, right?" Kai asks, "Were you aware of what was going on in the house all that time while your lamp was on the shelf? That must have been incredibly...frustrating."</div>
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"It was more entertaining than the thousands of years where my lamp was sitting on the sea floor. I did rather wonder if any of you were ever going to summon me, however. And here, at last, you have. Now, master, what is your wish?"</div>
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"You can just call me Kai," Kai says, "The whole 'master' thing is a bit much for me. So, you really grant wishes?"</div>
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"Your wish is my command," the genie replies with a slight bow.</div>
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"Wow. A real genie," Kai murmurs to himself. He's read a few stories about them, of course, being a fan of fantasy and fairy tales. And so he knows how tricky the business of wishing is. You need to know exactly what you want, and how to word it in a way that won't backfire on you horribly. Magically granted wishes are always completely literal, giving no more and no less than exactly what you've wished for. "Can I take some time to think about this?" Kai asks.</div>
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"Of course master -- Kai," the genie responds, "I am bound to you for all eternity, until you make your wish."</div>
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"I'll try to make it quick, then," Kai says, not wanting to keep the genie bound to him for longer than necessary. "What's your name?"</div>
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"I am Bahir Nejem," the genie says, "I will await you in the lamp. Just rub it when you are ready to make your wish."</div>
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Kai slept on the decision, but awoke with no clear idea of what to wish for. Wealth, health, happiness...he already had those, and his other goals in life, like professional success, would lose meaning if he didn't earn them through his own efforts. </div>
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"Please don't play with the hamster, Kai," Julian says, glancing up from the report he's writing for the Stark Center, "He's an experimental subject, not a pet."</div>
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"But he's cute," Kai protests, even while putting the hamster, who he's secretly named Gibson, back in his cage. "Can I ask you a question, Dad?"</div>
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Julian stops working to give his son his full attention. </div>
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"If you could make a wish, and it was guaranteed to come true, what would you wish for?" Kai asks.</div>
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"There are no such guarantees, son," Julian says, "You have to work for what you want in life. Wishing won't make it happen."</div>
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"I know that, Dad. But, hypothetically, if, say, a genie or fairy were to offer you one wish, what would it be."</div>
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"As tempting as that might be, I'd steer clear of anything offered by genies, fairies or any supernatural types. Magic is a force best left alone."</div>
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"Okay, Dad, thanks," Kai hugs his father warmly, not too disappointed with the non-answer he got. His father is a scientist after all, and Kai didn't expect this to go much differently.</div>
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Joining his mother for lunch after her workout, Kai asks her the same question.</div>
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Jillyan sighs wistfully. "There are so many things I'd like to say to my parents. And I know they'd love to meet you and Dylan. My Dad would be so happy, so proud. I guess that's the only thing I regret," she says, "I didn't get to say goodbye."</div>
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His mother had become quite nostalgic since they'd moved to Cape Garner, reminiscing about her childhood and the family she'd left behind. Whenever Kai would ask direct questions about her memories, though, she'd get suddenly vague and dodgy about it. With enough prodding he deduced that her parents were criminals of some kind, and assumed that that was why she and his dad had moved to remote Isla Paradiso to start their own family. But that was all he'd been able to put together; whoever her parents were, they left no trace, no records he could find in any searches.</div>
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"Would you wish to see them again?" he asks her, "To go back home?"</div>
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Jillyan shakes her head, "No, you can't change the past. This is home now. You guys were born here, and it's been a great life. I wouldn't want to do anything that would mess with that."</div>
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Kai leaves his mother with no better ideas than what he got from his father.</div>
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The weather is foul and rainy, and Grizzly's is empty save for the bored bartender when Kai meets up with Alex there.</div>
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After a game of pool and a couple of drinks, the couple head back to Kai's place.</div>
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"If you could have one wish, what would you wish for?" Kai asks him. The only unfulfilled wish Kai had was to have Alex by his side all the time. But there were too many ways for a wish like that backfire, like having Alex with him all the time, but one or both of them miserable, or sick and in need of constant care. He could spend days trying to word the wish, but if he failed to see one possibility, failed to ward off one bad outcome...no, the risk was too high, and Kai would not put his relationship on the line like that.</div>
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"Is this a serious question?" Alex asks him, "Or are we playing a game?"</div>
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"Serious," Kai says, "What would you wish for? It can be anything, anything at all. And it's guaranteed to come true."</div>
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Alex sits quietly, looking at him, pondering. "I'd wish that you were happy. With me, as I am," he finally responds.</div>
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Kai mouth gapes open in shock, "But, I am happy, Alex! I love you. More than anything," he protests.</div>
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"What would you wish for then? To change me, so that I wouldn't be such a loner?" Alex asks, his tone more hurt than accusatory, "I know I disappoint you. And I wish I didn't."</div>
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"Baby, you don't disappoint me," Kai says, getting on his knees to kiss Alex, "I'm sorry I've made you think that. I wouldn't change what we have for anything. And I would never, ever change anything about you."</div>
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The next day, Kai summons Bahir, ready to release the genie from his obligation.</div>
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"I don't want to wish for anything," Kai declares confidently. "You're free. I release you."</div>
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"That's it?" Bahir asks, "You don't want wealth, or power?"</div>
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"I have wealth. And with power comes great responsibility, which I definitely don't want. I've got everything I want, so, you're free."</div>
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"It doesn't work like that. You have to use your wish."</div>
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"Okay, then, I wish for you to be released from service and to be free to do as you please."</div>
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Bahir rises from the ground, a glowing vapor forming around his ankles, and shining from his eyes and mouth as he intones a chant in his language.</div>
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"Oh, wow, cool," Kai breathes as the magical sparkles twine around his wrists. "So, it's done? You're free?"</div>
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"Unfortunately, no," Bahir answers, "There is still the matter of the lamp. You must destroy it."</div>
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The first two steps for destroying the lamp include chilling it in the refrigerator and then heating it in the oven.</div>
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And then the third and final step is bringing it into the town's mausoleum.</div>
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It's a harrowing experience, fraught with danger, and Kai makes a mental note to suggest a mausoleum dungeon to Junior for the game they're working on.</div>
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Once he's back in the safety of his game room at home, Kai summons Bahir for what he hopes will be the final time.</div>
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The mystical chains that bound the genie break apart as he materializes.</div>
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After long centuries imprisoned in the lamp, forced into the service of anyone who summoned him, Bahir is finally free.</div>
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yangthecathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15083940950118677312noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7403798056504383935.post-26947803317559598662015-02-10T08:42:00.000-08:002015-02-10T08:42:01.128-08:00Chapter 11: Work is Play<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Work is Play</i>. That's both their company motto, and Junior's personal philosophy. And as Junior's direct underling in the creative department of his company, Kai quickly learns that a large portion of his workday is spent in the local arcade with his boss.</div>
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Sometimes the 'work' aspect does seem to get lost in all the 'play', but they do take time to discuss their ideas with each other, hammering out the story arcs and character development of the RPG they want to create as their signature game, one that hopefully become a popular series.</div>
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After a workday spent in the arcade, Kai invites Alex to take a break from writing his novel to join him for a few sets of bowling. But even away from his computer, Alex's head is still in his story.</div>
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"Maybe you should focus more on your game," Kai suggests helpfully.</div>
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"Or maybe I just need a better distraction than bowling?" Alex counters. "Why don't we go back to your place and see what we can come up with?"</div>
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"Oh, hey, before I forget to mention it, my sister and her boyfriend are going to be visiting tomorrow. I was thinking that after work we could all hang out together somewhere?" Kai suggests, interrupting a long, intense kiss.</div>
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"Dylan? And Luther?" Alex sighs, "I think I'm going to have to sit this one out."</div>
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"She's just my sister," Kai says, "I was hoping we could have a double date."</div>
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"I know she's your sister, and that you're close. But, she just makes me nervous. I'm sorry, Kai. I'm really not comfortable with this."</div>
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"It's okay," Kai says, seeing Alex's hands tremble. If Dylan weren't his sister, her exuberance and very direct manner of speaking would very likely intimidate him, too. And while he's made himself get accustomed to Luther for Dylan's sake, if Kai is honest with himself, his sister's boyfriend makes him a little nervous, too. If only for being still unfamiliar. "I shouldn't have asked."</div>
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"I'm glad you care enough to ask me," Alex says, his confidence returning once the danger of the invitation has passed, "And I'm even happier that you understand why I just can't do it."</div>
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Dylan and Luther show up the next day while Kai is at work, and spend the morning by the pool followed by lunch on the patio.</div>
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"It's been so long since I've seen trees like this," Jillyan enthuses, "It's like the town I grew up in. I can't wait to see snow again, too. It's been, like, forever."</div>
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"You never talk about where you came from," Dylan observes.</div>
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"Oh, well, yeah," Jillyan backpedals away from that subject. She and Julian had never told their children about how they came from a completely different universe. Because it would just be weird, and it isn't really something they need to know. "It was boring, and nothing to talk about."</div>
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Dylan accepts the excuse easily and moves on to a new topic. If Kai had been here, his curious nature might have lead to more questions than their parents would have liked, but Dylan is not in the least bit bothered by her mother's reticence to discuss the past.</div>
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"We're actually not going back to Isla Paradiso," Dylan announces, "I brought a box of your personal stuff from the house, but I wasn't sure what to do with the rest of it."</div>
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"Where are you planning on going?" Julian asks.</div>
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Dylan shrugs. "Anywhere. We're going to drift a bit, and then maybe settle down somewhere. A nice beach, somewhere tropical."</div>
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"Isla Paradiso is a nice tropical beach," Julian points out, "What made you decide to leave?"</div>
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Dylan lets out an aggravated sigh, "The tourist board keeps pressuring me to beat up a shark. Since you left, they can only entice tourists with the 'daughter of the woman that beat up a shark', and that's not good enough. So they want me to step up and be you."</div>
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"You could take a shark, easy," Jill says.</div>
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"Jilly, don't encourage our daughter to beat up the wildlife," Julian urges.</div>
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"I probably could," Dylan agrees, "But, I don't really want to. And, anyway, we've seen everything and know everyone on our islands. So, we thought it was time to go check out other islands."</div>
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Luther stays quiet through he conversation, letting Dylan speak for them both, keeping the real reasons for their hasty departure from her parents, as they had agreed before they set out.</div>
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"You could always settle here, near us," Julian suggests, hoping to get both his children nearby.</div>
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"I'm not ready to give up the eternal summers," Dylan laughs, "Enjoy your snow while I surf through winter."</div>
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When Kai returns from work, Dylan heartily congratulates him on finding a career that suits him so well.</div>
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"And how are you and Alex?" she asks, "Is he coming out with us tonight?"</div>
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"He's great," Kai answers, "But he's got a lot of work to do on his novel, so he won't be joining us. I invited Junior to meet up with us, though. You'll like him, he's fun."</div>
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"Oh, yeah? Is he cute?" Dylan gives him a knowing nudge.</div>
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"He's very handsome actually. But he's married. He and his wife just had a baby. And, anyway, I'm happy with Alex," Kai says.</div>
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Kai brought his sister and Luther out to Hullabaloo, the only dance club in Cape Garner, where they met up with Junior, taking the evening off from caring for his new daughter.</div>
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Dylan, Luther and Junior get on well right from the start, chatting and laughing together like they'd all been friends since childhood. Kai is just glad he has the bubble machine's mouthpiece to use as an excuse for his long silences and sparse comments throughout the evening. The noise and strobing lights of the club, luckily empty for the most part, since it's midweek and Cape Garner is not a big partying kind of town, are almost too much for him to take, and as much as he'd love to have Alex with him, Kai is glad he turned down the invitation. </div>
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The foursome spent the evening giggling around the bubble machine until closing time.<br />
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"I'll understand if you're a little late to the office tomorrow," Junior says to Kai as they prepare to leave, "That is, if I'm not already dead before dawn, myself. I promised Caryn I'd be home before midnight."<br />
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Kai did get one souvenir of his sister's visit to the new family home from the photobooth in the nightclub.<br />
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After Dylan's visit is over, Kai gets to work unpacking the box of mementos she brought with her from their old house in Isla Paradiso. Mostly his mother's collection of shells and treasures she'd found while scuba diving, along with the sea themed tchotchkes she'd picked up in the souvenir shop she used to sell her finds to.</div>
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Kai meticulously cleans the dust off each piece before he places it on the shelf. Dylan had apparently just tossed everything into the box without even looking.</div>
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If it's not obvious by now, Alex suffers from a rather more severe form of social anxiety that Kai. And, for what it's worth, SP has helped fuel this interpretation of Alex's Loner trait by putting him in the Writer self-employed career and having him constantly turn down invitations to go out because SP is pushing him to write his novels. </div>
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Hilariously enough, after Alex turned down the invite to join Kai and his guests in the nightclub, Kai called to invite Junior and Caryn. Who also said 'something had come up' and they weren't able to make it. Noy long after, though, Junior showed up, with the group thing rotating around his head. And I got a pop up that Junior was now the father of a new daughter. So, apparently, being at the hospital for his daughter's birth was less pressing than hanging out with Kai.</div>
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Foreign guests are supposed to stay for 3 days, but Dylan and Luther always take off on the first night. I had to do 3 separate visits from them because stuff kept screwing up their visit and I got no pictures of any worth until the third visit. Ugh. But at least I finally got mostly what I wanted.</div>
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Dylan and Luther will be moving from IP, probably to Sunlit Tides. I moved the Brannons to Cape Garner using Traveler to change homeworlds, leaving Dylan and Luther behind. I had thought I'd be able to return to IP and make a separate save there with Dylan and Luther carrying on with their lives, but when I tried going back, I was only able to access EDit own mode. It would not let me choose a household to play, or to move in a new household. So, I'm locked out there. I do have a previous save in IP right before the move to Cape Garner. So, I'll be able to take Dylan, Luther and Biscuit from there and move them somewhere new. I want to ply the Lifeguard career, which Dylan is perfect for. I'll be posting stuff about her life on my Tumblr for the most part.</div>
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I do use a mod that makes genie lamps one of the treasures that can be found in the chests in the dive spots. Jill has picked up a few of them. And since there are stories in <i>The Arabian Nights</i> of genie lamps being found by fisherman in the ocean, I thought it would be fitting to have genie lamps turn up in dive spots.</div>
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In other news, I've also started writing Summerdream again, and recently published a new chapter:</div>
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<b><a href="http://summerdreamsims3.blogspot.com/2015/02/chapter-51-world-made-of-dreams.html" target="_blank">Chapter 51: World Made of Dreams</a></b></div>
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yangthecathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15083940950118677312noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7403798056504383935.post-45010133130181279472015-02-05T17:38:00.001-08:002015-02-05T17:38:46.763-08:00Chapter 10: Wish for More<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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"I can't believe this our last night together," Kai whispers, nuzzling his cheek against Alex's chest.</div>
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"It's not our last night together," Alex answers, squeezing his shoulder, trying to sound more reassuring than exasperated, "I'm not even going to be that far away; the house I'm moving into is just down the street. You can even see it from your window."</div>
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"I want to be able to do more than just see you from my window," Kai says, attempting a slight laugh but only managing a bitter cough.</div>
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"I know," Alex sighs, "I'm sorry." He's made the same apology, over and over, since he made it clear to Kai that he wanted to live separately. The fact that he was willing to uproot himself from the only home he'd ever known, where generations of the Torres family had lived, leaving his father behind, being unable to visit his mother's grave...that should have been enough of a demonstration of the fervor of his love, but Kai still wished for more, And Alex wished he'd had it in him to give. But try as he might, he could not.</div>
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Since graduation, they'd come to live in the house the Brannons had bought in Cape Garner. For Alex, it would be a temporary stay until he set himself in his own place, but for Kai, his parents' house was home, and he'd never choose to leave them. Alex understood his attachment, though his own familial bond to his father was not knitted of the same material. He was content to love his father, and his mother's memory, from a distance, just as he would be content to love Kai while not sharing a home with him. "Our love is strong enough for this, Kai," Alex says gently, trying again to give words to the feelings that flow from his heart, "We are one, no matter how far apart we are."</div>
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Kai wraps his arm around Alex's neck, holding back the tears he doesn't want to shed, "I don't want us to be far apart," he chokes back a sob.</div>
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"Sssh, mi amor, it's all right, it's going to be all right. I promise," Alex whispers, cradling Kai close to his chest, "There's no goodbye, here, and I'll never be far from you. I will see you everyday, if that's what you want. And I'll spend the night with you so often that you'll think I never moved out."</div>
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"It's not the same thing," Kai protests, "Not being able to wake up with you in my arms every day..."</div>
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"I know. I'm sorry," Alex whispers, words he's repeated so many times now he feels he will never be done saying them.</div>
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The Stark Research Center in Cape Garner offered Julian his own office and access to their well funded laboratories, but he still prefers to work independently and set up his own workspace in their new home. He, or, rather, Geoffrey, had a singular goal that he bent all his research in genetics towards, and had scrapped any threads of research that didn't fit in with his master plan, no matter how groundbreaking and important they might have been. As Julian, he was now free to pursue all those discarded threads, to make promising discoveries that would benefit all Simkind, and not just the glory of one corporation. While the Stark Center was no MorcuCorp. Julian remains wary of all corporate backed science, allowing them access to his research and consultation as he believes it will benefit him and his work.</div>
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Kai met up with Manisha at Grizzly's, a local watering hole with a decidedly Country Western flavor. The only tavern in town actually, open from lunch hour through dawn. And apparently <i>the</i> place to hold job interviews. </div>
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"Is this really a good idea?" Kai asks, worried that meeting his prospective employers for the first time in a bar might paint an inaccurate portrait of who he is, "I don't want to give them the wrong impression. I don't even really drink."</div>
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"It was Caryn's idea," Manisha tells him, "And if you want to work with her and Junior, you'd better get used to it. This is their favorite place."</div>
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Manisha introduces Kai to Caryn Arsenault and then promptly leaves them alone to conduct their business without her. </div>
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"My husband is right behind me, he's just out parking the car," Caryn says, and launches breathlessly into a discussion about the latest issue of Toadsim Ninjas. "I'd love to get our hands on the license to make a Toadsim Ninjas game, but Junior says it's not very likely."</div>
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Kai smiles and nods, trying not to fidget too much, too nervous around this outgoing, talkative stranger to speak, even if she paused long enough to let him.</div>
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Caryn's entrance is shortly followed by her husband, and more importantly, her partner in the game design company they'd started together.</div>
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"I'm Junior," he introduces himself, "And, yes, that is my actual real name that my parents, in their infinite wisdom, bestowed on me at birth. You can call me J.R. if you want, but no one ever does. So, Junior it is. And you must be Kai Brannon. Manisha has told me a lot about you."</div>
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Kai worries that his smile must look bizarre and forced, because it's certainly how it feels on his face, and his hand is probably too sweaty to offer to shake. But he should offer it, right? His cheeks flush at the indecision, and he wishes he could just drop into a hole in the floor. He's not going to get this job, obviously.</div>
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"Do you play pool?" Junior asks, leading Kai toward the nearby table without waiting for a response.</div>
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"I figure we can do the interview thing while we play," Junior says, "That way it's less of an interrogation."</div>
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"Is Caryn--Mrs. Arsenault--not going to be part of the interview?" Kai asks, noticing his other prospective boss seated at the bar with Manisha, and fearing he might have to survive two separate interviews,</div>
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"Ha, don't go calling her 'Mrs. Arsenault', that's rule number one. She hates that," Junior laughs, "Caryn is the lead programmer of our team. I'm the 'people person', so I get to do all the face to face work." As he speaks, Junior bends over the table to line up his shot, slowly pulls his stick back and then shoots, dropping his ball into the pocket. "Booyeah!" he cheers for himself, and then continues, "Manisha says you majored in Technology, but you are also a talented artist," he prompts.</div>
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"Uh, yeah...choosing between art and tech as my major was a really difficult decision. I love them both equally. I also write a lot. Stories."</div>
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"Great. We're a small company, and we need multi-talented people. Right now, we're primarily after people with a creative background, but having technical knowledge will be a huge asset for you."</div>
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By the time the game is done (Junior won) Kai is feeling comfortable enough to relax with the couple as they share a platter of greasy onion wings, which Caryn promises are the best thing about Cape Garner. Outside of a few questions about his abilities, the 'interview' seemed more like a social event than anything formal, and by the end of it, Kai felt he'd made two new friends.</div>
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"Come by the office tomorrow," Junior says as they are making their goodbyes, "We'll take care of all the formalities then. You know, forms, paperwork, hours..."</div>
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"You mean, I got the job?" Kai sputters. He'd been expecting a 'we'll get back to you in a few days' response at best.</div>
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Junior laughs, "Honestly, you had it before we got here, based on your through the roof test scores and the glowing recommendations of your professors. We just wanted to meet you in person before sealing the deal. And you're pretty cool, so, you're in."</div>
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"Me? I'm not cool," the words slip out before Kai realizes what he's saying.</div>
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"Neither is Junior," Caryn laughs, "Welcome to the nerd based gaming industry. I'm sure you'll fit in just fine."</div>
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Alex's house is on his way home from the bar, and when Kai notices his car parked out front, he decides to drop in and share the good news with him.</div>
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"Hey, it's great to see you," Alex greets him with a warm embrace, "How was the job interview?"</div>
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"Aced it," Kai beams, "I don't know how, but I managed to impress them. I'm going in tomorrow to set up a schedule and stuff."</div>
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"Of course you impressed them," Alex smiles, "I told you you were a shoe in. Congratulations, I'm so happy for you."</div>
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Alex has his own good news to share, he's found an agent who's excited about his writing and is confident he can get him an advance on the novel he's been working. "It's a huge relief that I will be able to work at home," Alex finishes, "I was dreading having to get a job in an office or something."</div>
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Kai returns the congratulations, happy that they had both gotten what they wanted. "But," he adds, "You know you'd never have to work anywhere you didn't want to. My family is rich enough to..."</div>
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"Believe me, I know how rich you are," Alex laughs, "If my mother were here, she'd be reminding me about it everyday. And you know that is why I'd never be happy to take your money. I love my parents, but I'm not like them."</div>
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Alex dips Kai down for a sudden deep and passionate kiss. The celebration of their successes today has put Alex in a rare high spirit, breaking his normal quiet reticence. Days like this are a rare gift, and Kai knows well that this openness is something Alex shares only with him.</div>
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"Let's go out," Alex whispers, breathless against Kai's ear, "Let's celebrate."</div>
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Cape Garner boasts some the loveliest coastlines in all the world, and the couple walk across the street to an old jetty with nothing but its natural beauty to attract visitors, here they can watch the sunset alone, together, celebrating in the only way they'd enjoy, away from noise and crowds.</div>
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"Do you miss me?" Kai asks. "I miss you."</div>
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"I saw you yesterday," Alex answers, and worries that they are never going to get past this. Even on a day as happy as this, Kai is still sad about their living arrangement., "And we're together now."</div>
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"Now, yes, but what about tomorrow?"</div>
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"Tomorrow you start your new job. And I have to work on my novel if I'm going to get that advance my agent promised. When we're done with work, we'll be together again."</div>
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"What about tonight?" Kai asks.</div>
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"Will you stay with me tonight?" Alex asks in return.</div>
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"I'd like that."</div>
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So here's Generation 2. The family has moved to Cape Garner Islands (Jill, Julian and Kai only. Dylan is staying behind in IP with Luther and Biscuit. )\Alex obviously was also part of the move, but he as moved out to his own house very shortly after arrival. Kai has already rolled a wish to move in with him. Poor Kai, your roll is not kind to you, there.</div>
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Kai has started his career in the Video Game industry. Junior Arsenault is his boss, and his wife Caryn is a co worker. They were both generated by the game. I edited them in CAS to not be puddings.</div>
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Julian is mostly pretending to work. Nothing he does right now actually earns money. He could, but the family doesn't really need income right now. There are a couple of dive spots here that Jill will of course check out, but I doubt I'll have her doing much in the way of actual work, either.</div>
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Out take:</div>
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No matter how informal your job interview is, I'm pretty sure talking about your naked boyfriend is a no no. Just saying.</div>
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yangthecathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15083940950118677312noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7403798056504383935.post-44987494113909242302015-01-31T08:46:00.000-08:002015-02-04T18:08:26.369-08:00Chapter 9: Like Every Other Couple<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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"Have you given any thought to what you're going to do after graduation?" Manisha asks.</div>
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"Of course I've thought about it. I want to go into game design. Even when I was a kid, I was always making up worlds in my head, adventure stories, heroes and monsters. The problem is, I worry that my passion for games will get lost in the bureaucracy of a money grubbing big game company. I've thought about starting my own company: my family certainly has the money to get me started, but I'm really not a leadership type. I'm just not sure which is the best path for me."</div>
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Manisha taps her finger on her chin, deliberating her next move. "I actually know a couple of people who are starting their own game company. They're out in Cape Garner Islands, not far from here. They're looking for people to join their team. I could introduce you, if you're interested."</div>
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"Cape Garner?" Kai asks, surprised to hear that name again in such a short span of days, "My Dad just took a consulting position there. He and my Mom are scouting out for a new house."</div>
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"Well, I guess you won't want to relocate out that way then?"</div>
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Kai's brows knit in confusion, "What? Why not?"</div>
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As much as he'd loved his university experience, immersed in learning, preparing for his future, the separation from his family had been hard on Kai. Even having Alejandro with him, while it had helped him feel not so utterly alone, had not been the same as being in his childhood home, with his parents always there when he needed encouragement. Without them, the world seemed a little less safe, and he'd found himself worrying about whether he'd left the stove on or the faucets running, and he was driven to check them over and over, like a compulsion. </div>
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"Well, the way you and Alex pretend to keep separate bedrooms like you are just housemates, I just assumed you'd want to live away from your parents after graduation so you wouldn't have to hide your relationship anymore," Manisha says as she takes Kai's queen. "The game is mine."</div>
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"Alex and I went to prom together," Kai answers with a laugh, getting up from the chess table to walk with Manisha toward the Student Union, "My parents have always known about us; his parents, too. Hell, the whole school, and the whole town knows we're a couple. That's never been an issue. The separate bedrooms isn't about pretending we're not lovers. It's just...Alex..." Kai sighs, wishing he hadn't started as Manisha looks up from the board, meeting his gaze, expectant, waiting to hear his story.</div>
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"Alex has trouble sleeping," Kai says, fumbling over an explanation he doesn't always quite understand himself. "And he's just...he needs space. He prefers to sleep alone, most nights."</div>
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<span style="text-align: left;"> When he falls asleep, holding Alex after they've made love, Kai reassures himself that it's all okay, that even if Alex slips out of his before morning to sleep by himself, that it doesn't mean he doesn't love him enough, that their relationship lacks some essential component that all other couples possess. </span></div>
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But when he awakens, alone yet again, he cannot deny the emptiness he feels, the longing for the inseparable bond his parents share, a partner to share his bed, his life.</div>
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"I see," Manisha says. But, clearly she doesn't, not really. No more than Kai does. "What, ah, what kind of consulting work does your father do?" she asks, changing the subject to something less uncomfortable than her friend's love life.</div>
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"He's an expert in genetics."</div>
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Manisha's eyes grow wide as she makes a connection she'd failed to see in all the time she'd known Kai. "Your father is <i>Julian</i> Brannon?" she gasps, "<i>The</i> Julian Brannon?"</div>
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"I guess," Kai answers, "You've heard of him?"</div>
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"I've read all his articles, followed his research...I can't believe you never told me!"</div>
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Kai laughs, "I really had no idea anyone even knew his name. Back home, it's my Mom who's the household name and local legend."</div>
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"Really? What field is your mother in?" Manisha asks, clearly expecting a renowned scholar like his father.</div>
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"Scuba diving. She beat up a shark. Everyone in Isla Paradiso still talks about it."</div>
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"She...beat up...a shark?"</div>
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"Yeah, I guess my Dad's research is ultimately more important than my Mom's contributions to society. But beating up a shark makes for a better story to tell the tourists. And I think my Dad actually prefers not being famous. At least, outside the kind of people that are interested in genetics."</div>
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Kai comes home to find Alex in his bedroom, reading his comic books. Alex scoots back a little to make room for Kai to sit beside him on the bed.</div>
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"I was talking to Manisha after class today," Kai says, "She says she knows some people who are starting up a game company. Out in Cape Garner Islands. She wants me to meet them. Maybe join their team."</div>
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"That's great," Alex enthuses, "You'd be able to be near your parents, then. I know that's important to you."</div>
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"I do want to be with my family," Kai answers, "But that's not the only, or even most important thing, Alex. You are. We are. If I go to Cape Garner, will you come with me?"</div>
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"Of course I will," Alex says, and Kai lets out the tense breath he'd been holding in, "You know I want to be near you, always."</div>
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"<i>Near</i> me?" Kai asks, "As in, not 'with' me?"</div>
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"That's not what I meant," Alex answers, "I am with you, you know that. And I will always be with you. I just need my space."</div>
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Kai turns away. "So what you mean is you want to be my boyfriend, but it's never going to be more than that," he says, the bitterness of his doubts finally coming forward.</div>
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"We already are more than that," Alex insists, sitting up to caress his shoulder. "I know it's not a normal kind of life, and I know you want what your parents have. But we aren't them. I've been trying, mi amor, to live like every other couple does, together all the time..."</div>
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"But we aren't living like every other couple," Kai protests, "We don't even share a bed half the time."</div>
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"I know, that's my point," Alex says softly, "Even having my own bedroom, it's not enough. I need a place of my own that isn't just one room in a shared house. I need a place where I can be really and truly alone, the way you need to be close to your family all the time. We've both been a little crazy here, haven't we? You need your family, I need solitude. We both have to work around that, and I'm willing to live anywhere in the world you need to go for your career, to be near your parents. But wherever we do go, I am yours and yours alone, even if I do need to live on my own."</div>
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It comes down to a simple choice, as Kai understands it, take Alex on his terms, learn to live with the compromise, or give him up and hope to find someone else someday, someone who wants the same things he wants from a relationship. But that's something Kai cannot imagine, finding anyone else in this world that he could open himself to as he has with Alejandro.</div>
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"I wish I could be that guy, for you," Alex whispers as Kai turns into his embrace, "If I could change myself for you..."</div>
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"I don't want you to change," Kai sighs, "I love <i>you</i>, Alex, not some imaginary guy who will fulfill all my fantasies."</div>
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"I hope I fulfill at least some of them."</div>
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Sorry for the very long hiatus I took there! But I'm back, and I hope the sudden jump forward in time isn't too jarring.</div>
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As I expected, I'm not a big fan of the university experience, but I felt that doing it would be a necessary transition to set up Gen. 2. I sent Kai for 2 terms and he had 18 units from taking the aptitude test, but it wasn't enough to get him a degree in just the one trip. I'm really not interested in going back, so if he has enough points, I'll buy him a degree with points later. Meh.</div>
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If it's not obvious yet, Kai is the heir, and the legacy will be moving to Cape Garner Islands, where Kai will start on his rolled career of Video Game designer (artistic branch, I forget the official name). And Julian and Jillyan will be coming along. Dylan will be left behind. I intend to play her and Luther separately in a non-legacy game so I can try out the Lifeguard career with her. I will likely document that on my tumblr, though I might make occasional mention of her life here. Since I used Traveler to move the family, Dylan still exists as an out of world relationship, so I may even be able to invite her as a houseguest.</div>
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Once the move is official and I get a nice picture, I'll update the header image and the sidebar to reflect the generation change.</div>
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Kai's YA trait (rolled randomly) is neurotic. I made mention in the chapter about the compulsive stove and faucet checking that comes with his new trait. He maxed his Nerd status while at Uni and picked up the Handy trait from that.</div>
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The Misc Fun for his generation is the Opposites Attract/Perfect Match. Alex actually fulfills both of those, with a matching Loner trait, and an opposing Absent-Minded trait to Kai's Genius. I'm making a bigger deal about the Loner trait in the story.</div>
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Interestingly, while Kai is a loner, too, he rolls social wishes all the time to interact with his family members, and Alex. So that's where I'm getting his clinginess from, character wise.</div>
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yangthecathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15083940950118677312noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7403798056504383935.post-62845062755537246562015-01-24T07:29:00.000-08:002015-01-24T07:29:10.458-08:00Status Update!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Status Update: I have started playing Sims again. And that means a Brannon update should be coming up soonish.</div>
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Kai has had his birthday and will be heading off to Uni, which is where we'll pick up the story.</div>
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I have made a few gameplay posts on my tumblr:</div>
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<a href="http://caterpillarsims.tumblr.com/tagged/Brannon-RLC" target="_blank"><b>Brannon RLC tag on tumblr</b></a></div>
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I may change his hair by the time he gets to Uni, though. I like him in an undercut, but I have a few other undercut styles that also look good on him.</div>
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yangthecathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15083940950118677312noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7403798056504383935.post-32351707383017313962014-10-24T07:41:00.001-07:002014-11-02T07:30:06.826-08:00Chapter 8: Some Crappy Teen Movie<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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One the day after the prom, Alejandro's mother Lopita passed away of old age. Matteo, Alejandro's father, tried to stem the tides of his grief with the distractions of the boardwalk, but his broken heart won out, and nothing could stop him from sobbing mournfully alone on the pier.</div>
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Even in the happiest times, Alejandro is not one for going out in public, and his mother's death sent him seeking an even deeper solitude, avoiding the company of everyone, even those closest him.</div>
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"I just want to help him, or be with him, or...something,." Kai sighs exasperatedly to his father, "But he says he's can't evrn talk to me right now."</div>
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"People grieve differently, son," Julian explains, "I'm sure he knows that you'll be there for him when he's ready. Just be patient."</div>
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Kai nods, "I guess you're right. Alex gets stressed out when people expect too much of him. I don't want to make this any worse for him."</div>
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But doing nothing at all still seems wrong somehow, so Kai does the only thing he can think of, taking the sadness and loneliness he's sure Alex is feeling right now and pouring it out in a painting.</div>
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On Monday, after her soccer game, Dylan meets Luther on one the beach of one of the small islands her family owns. Because the school pulls its athletes out of class early on game days, she hadn't had a chance to talk, or even pass notes in class, with him since the morning.</div>
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"So, I heard there was some kind of fight today? You and Clark and Everado?" Dylan launches right into the question that had been on her mind since the gossip of the morning;s activity came to her in the locker room, "What happened, exactly?"</div>
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"Wow, word really gets around," Luther laughs, "It wasn't a big deal, and definitely not a fight..."</div>
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"Please, I want to know what happened," Dylan urges.</div>
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"Before classes this morning, Everado was asking me about our History class assignment. Ingrid was with him."</div>
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Dylan nods; Everado had stopped pestering her after he asked Ingrid to the prom, and the couple had become inseparable since that night.</div>
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"And then Clark, he just came up out of nowhere and started making these comments about my mom," Luther continues, "Teasing me about not knowing who my father is and stuff."</div>
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Dylan groans, "I'm so sorry, Luther."</div>
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Luther shakes his head, "It's nothing I haven't heard before. But it was really unexpected, you know? My mom hasn't recorded anything in years. She still has her devoted fan base and we still get the occasional paparrazzi camped out in the yard, but no one in our generation gives a crap about who she's sleeping with, but for some reason, Clark was all over it today."</div>
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"I don't blame you for getting mad at him," Dylan says.</div>
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"I was mad, but I was more confused, really," Luther continues, "Clark just kept going, you know? And he started in on how my mother's current boytoy was a gold digger who she had to pay to be with her. And he asked me how it felt to have a step-father that just graduated high school."</div>
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"Ouch," Dylan sighs.</div>
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"Yeah, well, it's kind of true. Micheal is a gold digging dick, and pure evil, if you ask me," Luther says, "And it is creepy as all fuck having him for a step-father. But the thing is, Michael is Ingrid's brother, right? Clark was obviously doing all this to hurt me, he wasn't even paying attention to Everado and Ingrid. But I saw her, and she was not happy at all about where Clark was going with his tirade. So, I tired to nudge Clark back into reality, and told him he shouldn't say anything he was going to regret later."</div>
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"That just set Clark even further off the deep end. He actually smiled at me, like this was what he'd waiting for, and he said to me, 'Make me stop,' like he was actually trying to goad me into punching him."</div>
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"And did you punch him?" Dylan asks.</div>
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Luther chuckles faintly, "I've never hit anyone in my life, never been in a fight. And maybe that's why Clark was trying to pick a fight with me, because I'd be the one guy he'd have a chance at beating, if it came to that. We could run a contest for who gets picked last in gym class most often, me or Clark. So, I don't know, maybe he thought he could prove something by winning a fight with the guy tied with him for 'least tough' in the school," Luther shrugs, still puzzled by the morning's altercation.</div>
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"So, what happened," Dylan urges him.</div>
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"Everado had been quietly steaming through this, letting Clark vent himself all over me. But when it started to upset Ingrid, Everado stepped in. When Clark dared me to 'make him stop', Everado was the one who jumped for it. He laid into Clark then, verbally, but his fist was ready to go."</div>
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"I stepped in before Everado could throw that punch. I told him Clark wasn't worth his time. Everado was really pissed, though, and wouldn't let Clark go until he apologized to Ingrid. Clark wanted a fight, but he apparently wasn't stupid enough to want a fight with Everado, so he backed right down and begged Ingrid to forgive him. And then he ran off. Probably dying of embarrassment. I know I would be. Not that I'd ever, ever do anything that stupid. That story has probably already gone around the whole school; he's never going to live it down."</div>
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"It's my fault," Dylan says quietly.</div>
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"What? How? You weren't even there, Dyl."</div>
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"Clark picked a fight with you because he's jealous," Dylan explains, "He thought because we were friends in grade school that we'd be a couple in high school. He thinks I betrayed him by going out with you. It was still stupid of him to try to fight you, though. Like, I'm not a prize that goes to the winner of the fight."</div>
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"No, it actually makes sense," Luther says, understanding now, "If I hit him, I'd look like a bully, and you'd feel bad for him and dump me for him."</div>
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"Seriously? That's like the plot of some crappy teen movie," Dylan laughs, "Honestly, I wouldn't blame you for hitting him after what he did. But I'm proud of you for not hitting him. And for stopping Everado. That was brave."</div>
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"Nah, not really. Everado has a hot temper, but he cools down really fast, too. If Clark hadn't apologized to Ingrid, though, I don't think I could have done anything to stop him."</div>
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"I still think it was brave," Dylan says, turning to kiss him, "Anyone else would have taken Clark's bait, but you kept your cool and you stood up for him against Everado. No one else would have done that."</div>
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In mourning for his mother, Alejandro didn't go to school that Monday. Kai was barely able to concentrate in classes, all he could think about was Alex, and wishing he could do something.</div>
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Kai got some measure of relief when Alejandro called and asked him to meet him at the cemetery after school, but it wasn't until Alex was in his arms again that Kai could let go of the tension that had been balling up inside him.</div>
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"I've missed you so much, Alex," he moans into the boy's collar, "I wanted so badly to hold you."</div>
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"I'm sorry," Alex whispers, "I just...I just needed to be alone for awhile."</div>
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"I understand," Kai says, gently leading Alex to a nearby bench, "I shouldn't put that on you. You needed some time alone, and I get that."</div>
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"I missed you, too," Alejandro answers, "That's why I called you. I know a cemetery isn't exactly romantic..."</div>
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"That's okay," Kai reassures him, "You don't need to be romantic for me right now. I'm here for you. I will always be here for you."</div>
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yangthecathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15083940950118677312noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7403798056504383935.post-34263018471370512012014-10-18T15:40:00.000-07:002014-10-18T15:40:18.370-07:00Chapter 7: Already Falling<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The last rays of light of the sun sinking below the sea paints the clouds a brilliant pink, and their color is reflected on the water below, fuschia on teal. Dylan's board breaks the pattern as she skims over the waves, leaving a trail of white in her wake.</div>
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Nighttime is the best time for windsurfing, after the sailors, tourists and fishers have gone back to land, leaving the ocean for those who prefer to take their fun under the moonlight.</div>
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Dylan glides effortlessly over the water, her body shifting in response to the waves as her mind busies itself with other thoughts. Tomorrow night is the prom, and it will be her first real date with Luther. A little thrill rises up her spine when she thinks about him, her face grows warm when she remembers his smile. She actually looks forward to being in class now, anticipating the glances they will exchange, the way he looks when their eyes meet, the feel of his hand in hers as they walk to their classes together.</div>
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Before she goes to bed, Dylan pens a little to note to him, in response to the one he passed to her that afternoon in biology class. She thinks about calling him, but it is far past midnight now, and he's probably asleep, like everyone in her house is, even Biscuit. </div>
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Her mother has told her that even as a toddler, Dylan was a night owl, and they were never able to get her to sleep before dawn. That hasn't changed, and Dylan still finds it difficult to lay still in bed when the night air calls to her. So instead of calling Luther, she writes down all the inconsequential chatter she would have spoken into her note, knowing that it doesn't matter what they say, it's the thrill of their fingers touching when they pass their folder paper between them, the excitement of seeing the other's words and knowing they share the same desire.</div>
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Kai and Dylan head off to the prom together the next evening, both to meet their dates at the school, both too nervous about the event to speak to each other. For Dylan, it is the anticipation that silences her, wondering what their first dance together will be like, and if they will kiss. For Kai, it's his usual discomfort of being in a crowd, amplified by his concern over Alejandro whose anxieties are more pronounced than his own. Maybe he shouldn't have pushed Alex to do this, he worries.</div>
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The prom for Kai was better than he anticipated and not as bad as he imagined. Alejandro was put off by the crowds, and they spent most of their evenings seated alone together outside of the decorated gym, away from the music and the dancing, just sitting together, holding hands, talking, kissing. It was not much different than if they had not gone to prom and had instead just spent the evening alone together, but Kai counts it as a success just because they did enjoy themselves together in their own way. And, they got a cute prom photo as a souvenir as a bonus.</div>
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Only Dylan was surprised by the fact that she had crowned Prom Queen. The youngest, prettiest girl in high school had been launched into a popularity that she didn't expect or truly want, and she accepted her crown with reluctant grace, wanting only to be alone with Luther. Everyone pressed her for her time and attention, and far too many boys wanted to cut in on her dances with Luther, making the evening not quite as magnificent as her imaginings, but the moments where she did have Luther to herself were perfect, and before it was over, they had made p;ans for a date the next night where they could truly spend their time together.</div>
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They chose the boardwalk for their first date after the prom, as it was the perfect place to be on a Friday evening when you are young and falling in love.</div>
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No couple has ever been able to resist the love tester's challenge, hoping to have their feelings confirmed by an unbiased machine.</div>
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"Oh, we broke it," Dylan laughs as the Love Tester declares its passion sensors are overloaded.</div>
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"I guess we are too much for it to handle."</div>
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The couple grabs a bite at the cantina, and Dylan learns that hamburgers are Luther's favorite food.</div>
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She's not surprised to learn that Luther shares her dislike of being cooped up inside the classroom all day, and that like her, he loves being outdoors. He's not as inclined to be as physically active as she is; he doesn't surf or get into sports, but she is pleased to learn he loves fishing as much as she does, and that he's even more skilled at it than she is.</div>
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Despite not being much of a sportsman, Luther accepts Dylan's challenge to play a round of hoops with her.</div>
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And he doesn't mind at all when she beats him handily, her score more than double his own.</div>
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"You didn't hold back, did you?" she accuses.</div>
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"No, I'm really that bad at sports," he laughs, "But I'm good at video games. And I could write you a song. I've been working on one, actually, but it's not finished yet. And I don't have my guitar here to play it for you..."</div>
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"That's sweet, Luther," Dylan smiles, "You don't have to impress me, anyway. I'm already falling for you."</div>
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"I've already fallen," Luther answers, sweeping her into his arms and dipping her.</div>
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They've kissed a few times already, small, quick kisses stolen between classes. This kiss is different, deep and lasting. Dylan wraps her arms around his neck, holding on, pulling him close, never wanting this to end.</div>
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The next morning, Saturday morning, Dylan gets a call from her friend Clark, now a teen, inviting her to meet him at the Island Jewel Park on the main island. Though she would have preferred spending the day with Luther, they hadn't made plans to meet this early, and Dylan would have felt bad about neglecting her friend, so she accepted his invitation.</div>
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"I had the best time last night with Luther," she gushes happily to her friend when she meets him in the park, "He's the most amazing guy..."</div>
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Clark's expression as he listens to Dylan is less than enthusiastic. "I heard you went to prom with him, but I didn't believe it was true," he sighs.</div>
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"What? Why not?" Dylan asks</div>
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"Because you were supposed to be my girlfriend!" Clark answers, "But instead of waiting for mer like you were supposed to, you just ran off with the first guy to ask you out!"</div>
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"Hang on a sec," Dylan stops his tirade, "I did not just go out with the first guy who asked. Everett Dregg and Everado Ichtaca both tried asking me out before I even talked to Luther. And, anyway, even if I did, what makes you think I was 'supposed' to be your girlfriend?"</div>
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"Because we were best friends, Dyl. You promised that day on the boardwalk that you wouldn't forget me when you started high school. But you completely ditched me for Luther!"</div>
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"I didn't forget you," Dylan protests, "And I didn't ditch you either. I'm here, aren't I?"</div>
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"Yeah, you're here, and all you want to do is talk about Luther. I can't believe you picked him over me! But of course you'd go for the 'bad boy' instead of the guy who knows you better than anyone else," Clark retorts.</div>
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"Clark, it's not like that at all. First, Luther isn't some 'bad boy' stereotype..."</div>
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"I've heard he rings people's doorbells and runs off," Clark accuses.</div>
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Dylan rolls her eyes, "So he pulls pranks sometimes. He's not a criminal or a bully. And anyway, that's not the point. I'm with Luther because I'm attracted to him and he is to me. We have a good time together."</div>
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"We could have good times together!"</div>
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"We had fun together when we were kids. And I'd like to keep being friends with you, Clark, But you have to accept that it's not romantic. I have feelings for Luther that I just don't have for you or any other boy. He's my boyfriend."</div>
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"You never gave me a chance. It's just not fair."</div>
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Dylan sighs, "I wasn't holding a contest, Clark. I went out with Luther because I like him. It would have been the same if you aged up at the same time as me. I'm sorry that you want it to be more than that, Clark. I really am. But, even if Luther weren't in the picture, I just don't have those feelings for you."</div>
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yangthecathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15083940950118677312noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7403798056504383935.post-36016084827462687322014-10-17T13:38:00.000-07:002014-10-17T13:38:32.027-07:00Chapter 6: I Just Liked Your Smile<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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While not a loner like her brother, Dylan only made one close friend in school, Clark Hernandez, and that was due almost entirely to the boy's persistence in Following Dylan everywhere and doing anything she wanted to do. And since he could things her dog, Biscuit, could not, the relationship worked for her.</div>
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But childhood was coming to an end, for Dylan, at least. She spent the afternoon of her birthday playing with Clark on the boardwalk. Come tomorrow, she would be a teen, ready to start high school.</div>
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"You won't be my friend anymore," Clark sighs sadly as she prepares to say goodbye, "You'll be all grown up."</div>
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"Don't be silly, Clark," Dylan laughs, "You'll be a teen in a few days too. And I'll always be your friend. Pinky promise."</div>
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Kai and Alejandro also spent their day on the boardwalk, braving the pre-season spattering of tourists that would blossom into full blown crowds once summer rolled around. </div>
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Like nearly every couple, native or tourist, who visited the boardwalk, the boys decide to try the love tester machine.</div>
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Unlike nearly every other couple who tries it, they received a very low score from the love tester's passion sensors.</div>
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"What does that stupid machine know about love, anyway?" Kai laughs it off, "We're going to be the cutest couple at prom. That will show that love tester."</div>
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Alejandro frowns, "Do you really want to go to the prom?" he asks, "I mean, it will be like school, only worse. All the students gathered in the gym..." he shudders a little as he imagines the crowds of kids.</div>
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"I know," Kai says, "I'm a little nervous about that too. I hate crowds as much as you. But I think we should at least try. You'll come with me, won't you?"</div>
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Alejandro nods, biting back his fear. "Of course I'll go with you," he promises.</div>
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Dylan becomes a teen that night, and Monday morning finds her less than enthusiastic about her first day of high school.</div>
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"How do you stand it?" she asks her brother.</div>
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"Well, I just try tune everything out, except for the lesson. If I focus on that, I can kind of pretend it's just me and the teacher, and not a whole crowd of kids."</div>
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Dylan sighs to herself; her brother doesn't get it. He has his issues with school, but they are nothing like hers. She has no problem with the other kids, no fear of crowds. She just can't sit still and pay attention for hours, sitting indoors while there's a whole world to explore outside. "I wish we could have class outdoors, at least," she mutters.</div>
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"Oh, wow, no, that would be way worse," Kai answers, wide-eyed with alarm, "At least the classroom has a structure and everyone is their place. If we were outside, it would be chaos."</div>
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Boys far outnumber the the girls in the current generation of high schoolers, and Dylan found herself the center of attention on her first day of classes. Everett Dregg and Everado Ichtaca were both quick to offer her compliments and suggest she think about choosing her date for the upcoming prom. Being fawned on by guys she barely knew was not the highlight of Dylan's day; though she doesn't have her brother's nervousness, she doesn't seek to be the center of attention either, and the flattery the boys were offering her was coming off as false and maybe just a tad desperate as the competition for prom dates was so stiff. </div>
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Luther Alvarez did not pester her right away, he just smiled at her when her glance met his, and that was enough to get Dylan's attention, and much to the chagrin of her many suitors, she chose to invite him home after school to do homework together. Only a few days older than her, Dylan knew Luther a bit from their grade school days, though they had never been as close as she and Clark. Even during his short time in high school, he'd already developed a bit of a reputation as a rebel, and happily confirms the rumors that he dud, indeed, lock a policemen in a jail cell during a field trip to the police station.</div>
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Maybe inviting someone as cool as Luther over for something as boring as homework was a bad idea, Dylan worries. But Luther pulls out his notebook and sits beside her to sort out their algebra problems together, not at all acting like he's bored with her company. Still, Dylan finds it difficult to focus on the work as she wonders if he even likes her and if she should make the fiest move or wait for him to come around to it.</div>
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Pizza, at least, is something that leaves no room for doubt. Everyone loves pizza. </div>
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Including her brother, who comes out his lair when he smells the hot pizza downstairs.</div>
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"Don't you have some video games to play?" Dylan not-so-subtly hints to Kai, "You could take your pizza up to your room and play while you eat..."</div>
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"I paused it," Kai answers, oblivious to his sister's distress at his interruption, "I don't want to get my keyboard all greasy."</div>
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"Have you played the new Skate game?" Luther asks Kai, and Dylan groans.</div>
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"Don't get him started..." she warns, but it's too late, as Kai launches into his review of the new game.</div>
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"Alejandro and I play online a lot. You should join us sometime," Kai finishes, and much to his sister's relief, excuses himself to get back to his gaming.</div>
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Finally, she has Luther to herself again, and there's no homework left to be done. Not sure what to do, Dylan asks if he wants to watch TV or play video games.</div>
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Luther blushes a little and says he's fine to do whatever she wants, "But what I'd really like to do is just go outside and watch the stars with you," he suggests.</div>
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"We do have really beautiful skies here," Dylan enthuses, leading Luther out to the deck where they can sit with a view of both the stars and the gently lapping waves. Unlike the other boys in school, he's made no overt moves on her, but he did take his seat very close to hers, close enough to touch. Dylan decides to take that chance and close the gap between them, extending her arm out behind his back.</div>
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"You know every guy in school is after you," Luther says, reaching around with his arm to finish their embrace.</div>
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"I know," Dylan says, "They were kind of obvious about it."</div>
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"So what did I do to get so lucky?"</div>
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"I don't know," Dylan giggles, "I guess I just liked your smile."</div>
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"I know this is kind of sudden, but..."</div>
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"Do you want to take me to the prom?"</div>
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"Yeah. I would wait to ask until we've dated first..."</div>
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"But it's in two days, so we have to do prom first, and then date."</div>
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"It's a little backwards, but I think it will work."</div>
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yangthecathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15083940950118677312noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7403798056504383935.post-13106125744139689452014-10-10T08:13:00.001-07:002014-10-10T08:13:52.702-07:00Chapter 5: Private Island<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Kai plays kicky bag on the dock while he waits for Alejandro.</div>
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The port that Torres family's houseboat is currently docked at is just across the bay from the emoty shack of this lonely island, so it's a quick sail for Alejandro to get here.</div>
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Alejandro joins in the game, and the boys talk about starting high school on Monday.</div>
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Kai gives Alejandro the birthday gift he bought for him, a sweet new guitar, and Alejandro promptly plays some tunes for him.</div>
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"You're really good," Kai compliments him.</div>
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"I used to shred on my xylophone when I was a toddler," Alejandro laughs.</div>
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"I had one of those xylophones, too," Kai answered, "But it doesn't mean I can play guitar. You're a natural."</div>
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"That's what they say," Alejandro shrugs, "I just know I like to play."</div>
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"Maybe we shouldn't hang out here so long," Alejandro says as the boys sit down next to each other on the dock, "I don't know who owns this old shack. We might get in trouble."</div>
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"You didn't know? This whole island belongs to my family," Kai answers, "I wouldn't have asked you here if we didn't have a right to be here."</div>
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"What do you do with this place? I mean, it never seems to be used for anything, at least not that I've seen. And we're docked across the bay most of the time."</div>
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Kai shrugs, "My parents just like collecting little islands, I guess. We own like 5 of them, but besides our house and the island my Dad's lab is on, we don't really do anything with them. This shack has always been empty. But I've been thinking I could set up an art studio for myself here. Away from the family, you know. Not that they bother me, exactly, when I'm painting in my room. But it would be great to not have any distractions at all."</div>
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"Wow, it must be nice to be the richest family in Isla Paradiso," Alejandro teases, "You and your sister are the most spoiled kids I've ever met."</div>
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"We are not!" Kai protests, and then backs down, "Okay, well, Dyl and I do get pretty much anything we want. But we aren't the richest family in Isla Paradiso. What about Alphonse Alto? He lives in that huge mansion..."</div>
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"Alto used to be the richest guy on the island," Alejandro says, "But according to my Mom, you guys have him beat out now. And she should know, she used to be married to him"</div>
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"Really? I had no idea..."</div>
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"Well, it was before I was born, obviously. My Mom has always been ambitious, and she married him because he was the richest guy on the island. And she put up with his cheating, even when he ended up getting one of his girlfriends pregnant. She figured, she had the house, the cars and the money, so she didn't care who had Alphonse. And then she met my Dad. He's just like her, all about the money, and finding the easiest way to get it. He's a thief, you know...you probably shouldn't tell anyone..."</div>
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"I won't say a thing, I promise."</div>
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"So, yeah, Dad's a burglar. He broke into the Alto house one night while my Mom and Alphonse were at a party. They fought, my Mom came home early and caught my Dad. And she says he stole her heart," Alejandro laughs, "My parents are kind of fucked up, both of them. She gave up her wealthy life to be with him. He's half her age, but he's still crazy in love with her. But, still, they both talk about money all the time, and keep score of everyone on the island. Ever since we became friends in grade school, she never lets a day go by where she doesn't remind me about how rich you are or what a great catch you'd be," Alejandro ends his story with a wry laugh.</div>
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"Are you planning on marrying me for my money?" Kai asks, laughing himself.</div>
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"You know me better than that," Alejandro answers, though he knows it doesn't have to said. Their bond has been unbreakable since the first day they met in school, and nothing could ever come between them.</div>
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Kai opens his arms and Alejandro falls back against his chest, leaning his head back so their lips can meet.</div>
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"The sun is starting to set," Kai observes, brushing his jeans off as he stands and stretches his legs, "Part of me wants to be all romantic and sit here watching it with you. But I haven't eaten since breakfast, and it's pizza night at my house...I'm starving and I'm not sure I can resist the call of pizza. Want to come over and have dinner with us?"</div>
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"Your parents will be okay with that?"</div>
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"Of course they will," Kai laughs, "I'm a spoiled kid that gets everything he wants, right?"</div>
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Alejandro laughs, "Yeah, you joke about it, but you are incredibly spoiled. But, seriously, though, they'll be okay with me just showing up for dinner?"</div>
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"Of course," Kai reassures him, "There's always more than enough pizza for guests."</div>
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Julian has made several important scientific breakthroughs, but his greatest achievement might be his perfect pizzas.</div>
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The Brannons welcomed Alejandro warmly; he had nothing to worry about on that account. But even though they aren't a particularly large family, the teen is overwhelmed by their numbers. Like Kai, he's shy of crowds and tends to anxiousness when overstimulated. For Kai, this house is a familiar safe zone, but for Alejandro, it's a panic inducing nightmare and he struggles to eat his pizza, saying nothing while the family chatters away at the table.</div>
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Alejandro is more comfortable after dinner when it's just himself, Kai and his father playing video games. Though he still shy around Julian, he does manage to remark on the extensive collection of games the family owns.</div>
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It's a blissful relief to finally be totally alone with Kai again out in the family's hot tub. Dylan is only a few yards away, playing in her jungle gym, as much in her own world as Kai and Alejandro are lost in theirs.</div>
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I haven't even mentioned it in the story, but Jillyan's Misc. Fun is My Precious and she has a sea themed collection going for that. I feel like I'm copying from Becky, lol, but like her founder, the sea themed knick knacks seemed the most appropriate. So here's the collection so far. I was aiming for things that could plausibly be found while scuba diving. The model boat and mini treasure chest don't really fit that, but, eh. The souvenir pic of Jill and Julian aren't an official part of the collection, but I hung with the rest of the display just because. The Hanging Pescado is part of the collection.</div>
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Jill also keeps an unofficial collection of things she actually has found while scuba diving: one of each kind of sea shell, a couple of messages in a bottle, one of the large gems from a treasure chest. And her pink diamond that the burglar (not Alejandro's dad, though Matteo Torres is in the Criminal career) keeps trying to steal. (My tumblr followers have seen the repeated burglary attempts that Jill has foiled). She's also got a tank full of fish that are exclusive to scuba diving, including 2 Seahorses, the only 2 she's caught, as they are super rare.</div>
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The family also has a nice collection of islands. The one where Kai & Alejandro are on in the beginning of the chapter is the one Jill got by doing the quest chain that included beating up a shark. The one they live on was gotten by befriending an NPC mermaid. Julian's lab island came from just sailing close to it. And then there's one from finding 4 map pieces from treasure chests/bottles, and one from finding a secret exit from an underwater cave. According to Carl's Guide, Jill can get one more by finding a super special message in a bottle. I haven't found that yet. There's also one you can get from the lifeguard career and one from owning a 5 star resort. I'm not even trying for those.</div>
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And here's a sunset pic. I post a lot of scenery pics on my tumblr, and this one is one of my favorites.</div>
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yangthecathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15083940950118677312noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7403798056504383935.post-62294343934522213042014-10-04T20:27:00.000-07:002014-10-04T20:27:03.693-07:00Chapter 4: The Adventurer's Tragic Backstory<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Sunday morning, the family hops on board Jilly's speedboat for a sail out to the Paradiso Boardwalk for a day of fun.</div>
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Winter is off-season for the tropical isle, and there are not many tourists around, so the Brannons have the boardwalk arcade pretty much to themselves.</div>
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The water is also quite a bit colder this time of year, but Julian braves the waters for a brisk, but brief, swim.</div>
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Back on shore, Jilly convinces him to try the Love Tester machine.</div>
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"I just got out of the water and my hands are cold; that might skew the test results," Julian warns.</div>
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"Silly, it tests love, not body temperature."</div>
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"Jill, I'm not convinced that it tests anything, really. It's just a gimmick..."</div>
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"Just put your hand on the thing and lets do this."</div>
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Love Tester declares that its passion sensors have overloaded.</div>
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"See! I told you!" Jilly gloats.</div>
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"I still think it's just a gimmick. There's no such thing as a 'passion sensor'"</div>
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"Well, my passion sensor is tingling," Jilly answers, and silences any further protest from her husband.</div>
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The arcade has lots of games that require quick thinking and good had-eye coordination, and those are entertaining enough for awhile, but Kai prefers games that require careful planning and strategy to win. When he's taken in all the arcade has to offer, he invites his father to join him in a game of chess.</div>
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"Dad, I love my laptop, it's great for surfing the web and stuff, but it doesn't have the processing power I need to run the games I want. I've done some research and it looks like I need a desktop to get what I'm really after."</div>
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"Well, Snowflake Day is coming up," Julian says with just a hint of a smile. He's already been building a powerful rig for his son in preparation for the gift giving holiday.</div>
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While the boys play chess, Jillyan and Dylan shoot some hoops together.</div>
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Dylan has a hard time keeping up with her mother's score. It doesn't help that the force of Jillyan's throw literally sets the ball on fire.</div>
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"I'll never be as good as you," Dylan sighs dejectedly after her loss.</div>
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"Oh, honey, that is just not true," Jillyan reassures her, "I'm not going to lie, I got this good by working for it. You've seen me workout every morning. If you want to kick ass like I do, you will have to work hard and train for it like I do. But it's totally in your reach, if it's what you want. Nothing can stop you. And I'll always be here to help you."</div>
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When they get back home, Dylan engages in some impromptu kick ass training by challenging her brother to a pillow fight. It's not quite martial arts, but it's a start.</div>
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When Monday rolls around, Dylan is not at all excited forher first day of school.</div>
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"I don't want to be cooped up in some classroom all day," she complains with a mouth full of pancakes. "Why can't I go scuba diving with you?"</div>
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"I didn't like being in school, either, when I was your age," Jilly admits, "But you know, you need more than physical training to do some of the awesome stuff you might want to do some day. Like, if you wanted to be an astronaut, you need all kinds of scientific education for that. So, school is boring, yeah, but it is important, Dyl. Don't worry; you're smart as well as strong, and you'll kick ass, I promise."</div>
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Dylan made it through her first day of school, and when she got home she was rewarded with the pet dog she'd been wanting that her parents said they would 'think about'.</div>
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"I'm going to call you Biscuit."</div>
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When he's not playing games online with his best friend Alejandro, Kai is usually up in his room painting scenes from his vast imaginary world.</div>
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"What's that you're working on?" Jilly asks as she comes in to tuck him into bed, "I looks like a really mean cat."</div>
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"It's part of the adventurer's tragic backstory," Kai explains, "See, the demon vampire cat has destroyed his village and killed his family. The adventurer is just a kid when it happens, so he can't do anything, and he has to run away and hide to save himself. But he vows revenge, and one day, after many adventures, he'll find the monster that killed his family and destroy it."</div>
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"That's a cool story, Kai," Jill says, "Are you going to write it down?"</div>
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"Kai nods seriously, "I've been working on it in my spare time. And doing the illustrations. I don't know when it will be finished though."</div>
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"No hurry, take your time. Your Dad and I would love to read it when it's ready."</div>
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Snowflake Day arrives, and Kai is thrilled to wake up to find the empty spot on his desk occupied by a new PC.</div>
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Dylan's present was a new playground set so she could play outdoors as much as she liked.</div>
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And, just because they could afford it, Jill and Julian also bought an arcade table for the whole family to enjoy.</div>
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Even Biscuit got a new toy to celebrate the holiday.</div>
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"Did you get Kai's computer upgraded in time?" Jill asks as Julian eases himself into the hot tub beside her.</div>
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"Everything on schedule," he nods, "The kids are having a blast with their presents."</div>
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"Mmm," Jill agrees, "We've done really well here, haven't we?"</div>
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yangthecathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15083940950118677312noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7403798056504383935.post-57409816038723826022014-10-03T07:50:00.000-07:002014-10-03T07:50:21.944-07:00Chapter 3: The Balrog and the Wimpy Hobbit<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Julian has a few words of advice before sending his son off to his first day of school. "Remember, Kai, if you feel the study material is too far beneath your level, let us know right away and we'll have you bumped up a couple of grades."</div>
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"I'm going to tell everyone how Mom beat up a shark."</div>
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Jillyan sends Kai off to school with a big hug. "You'll do great," she promises, not as worried as her husband is about releasing their son into the care of others, but still slightly concerned about his comfort level round so many children. Even in their small household, Kai needs lots of alone time away from his parents and sister, and Jill hopes that being in a class full of kids all day won't be too much for him.</div>
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The first day of school was stressful for Kai for the very reasons his mother feared. Being around so many other kids was a terrible distraction, and it made it difficult for him to focus. But the bright side of it was he met another boy, Alejandro Torres, with a similar disposition and they paired off and became fast friends very quickly. Once he got back home to the solitude of bedroom, Kai found himself wanting to include his new friend into his space, even if it was just by phone. Like this, he could be solitary, but not entirely alone, and this suited Kai quite nicely.</div>
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Before school starts the next morning, Kai asks his father for a laptop of his own. "I want one like yours, Dad. But for my room."</div>
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"That shouldn't be a problem," Julian agrees. In fact, he should have thought of that himself. Kai will need his own computer to do his research.</div>
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When Kai comes home from school, he finds the laptop he wanted on his desk, already overclocked by his father. Having this will make homework easier, but more importantly, he can now also chat online and play games with Alejandro.</div>
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Dylan's birthday comes on a Friday night.</div>
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Despite the winter chill (it never gets truly cold in tropical Isla Paradiso), outdoor loving Dylan wants to spend the first Saturday of her childhood swimming and fishing in the ocean that surrounds their island home.</div>
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Since they won't be seeing each other in school over the weekend, Kai invites Alejandro over to visit.</div>
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Dylan comes inside to join the boys for some gaming.</div>
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"This game is cool, but the PC version is better," Kai declares, already a PC elitist gamer.</div>
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Eventually, Dylan is left playing by herself while Kai and Alejandro engage in a fierce pillow battle.</div>
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"You're the orc, and I'm the elven warrior," Kai declares.</div>
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"I'm not an orc, silly! I'm a balrog! And you're just a wimpy hobbit," Alejandro counters, while pummeling his friend with his pillow.</div>
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"You're both nerds," Dylan comments.</div>
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After his guest has left for the evening, Kai unwinds by painting a picture of a magical tree in an enchanted forest.</div>
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Dylan continues her game with her mother.</div>
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"Have you ever noticed how a lot of games that aren't about fishing have fishing in them?"</div>
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"There are games about fishing?" Thus is news yo Dylan.</div>
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"Yep, there sure are."</div>
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"Eeee! Can I get one?"</div>
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"No problem, kiddo. I'll get your Dad on that right away."</div>
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Kai's traits are Artistic, Computer Whiz, and Loner. Dylan's are Loves the Outdoors, Night Owl and Dog Lover. They were all rolled randomly.</div>
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I feel bad for Kai because going to school does give him a bad moodlet for being in a crowd. But, he did make a friend who also has the Loner trait, so that's the bright side.</div>
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yangthecathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15083940950118677312noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7403798056504383935.post-13900622984028432572014-09-27T09:41:00.003-07:002014-09-27T09:41:45.288-07:00Entries from Julian's Diary<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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From Julian's diary:</div>
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I didn't tell Jilly about my fear that I might not be able to give her the child we wanted, given the high rate of sterility exhibited by the MorcuCorp clones. I began a line of research into fertility and gene splicing, in case we'd need some non-traditional methods for procreation, but it turns out it wasn't needed. Jillyan became pregnant very soon after we began trying for it. </div>
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Our son Kai. I admit, I did want a daughter, but I'm not disappointed with Kai. How could I be? I'm a father now.</div>
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When Kai's hair started to grow out, we were both surprised by his hair color. Jilly's side of the Brannon family hadn't seen a brunette since her great-grandfather, Heath Brannon. And the Landgraab line has been dominated by blondes for centuries.<br />
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Jilly, pregnant with our second child, bathing Kai.<br />
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Dylan Brannon, our daughter.<br />
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Dylan takes after her mother, for the most part, but she has my eyes.</div>
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The kids at play. Jilly told me that she wanted to have our children close in age to each other. Her own brother was a teen when she was born, and grown up and out of the house before she could remember him. She grew up with cousins that were more like siblings to her than her own brother, and she wanted our son to have the kind of family she was raised in. </div>
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Kai's birthday. They are growing up so fast!<br />
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Kai is something of an artistic prodigy, like his mother at that age.<br />
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He's also an avid gamer, much to me delight.<br />
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Jill gets up at dawn every morning to surf before she goes diving. If I could find a way to harness her raw energy, I could power the world.<br />
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Jill and Dylan. We often find Dyl outside on the balcony off her bedroom. She loves being outdoors, and I expect her to grow up to be much like her mother, always on the go.</div>
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For the record, Kai's traits are Loner, Artistic and he picked up Computer Whiz as a child.</div>
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Dylan has Loves the Outdoors, and I forget the other trait right now.</div>
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Both names are ocean related. Kai means 'ocean' in Hawaiian and Dylan means 'son of the waves' in Welsh. According to baby name websites, anyway.</div>
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I'll actually pick up on a proper narrative in the next chapter. I just wanted to get sort of caught up to where I am in game now.</div>
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There are many more out takes and snapshots on my simblr under the <b><a href="http://caterpillarsims.tumblr.com/tagged/Brannon-RLC" target="_blank">Brannon RLC tag</a></b></div>
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To see the images in the tag in chronological order, use the <b><a href="http://caterpillarsims.tumblr.com/tagged/Brannon-RLC/chrono" target="_blank">Brannon RLC Chrono</a></b> tag</div>
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yangthecathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15083940950118677312noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7403798056504383935.post-59080414300620112002014-09-13T12:48:00.003-07:002015-02-23T17:38:46.476-08:00Chapter 2: Danger Cake<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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No longer feeling the pressure to find a way back home, Julian was finally able to relax and enjoy life with Jilly on Isla Paradiso.</div>
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But of course for Julian, part of enjoying life was to continue his research. Though he no longer felt the pressure to discover the atomic differences between this world and the one they originated from, the question itself still fascinated him, and Julian continued to devote several hours a day into research and experiments on the local flora and mineral samples.</div>
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In his experimentation, Julian discovered a way to create plant/crystal hybrids that were able to absorb particular moods he would project into them through interaction. The practical applications of this new process were limited, but his work caught the attention of the professional science world, and Julian found himself sought after by the local research facility. Unwilling to give up his freedom, he turned down all their offers of a permanent position, but he did agree to come in from time to time to correlate his data with them.</div>
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Always a thrill seeker, Jillyan continued her work in undersea exploration, catching exotic fishes and collecting shells for profit. The constant threat of shark attacks in the course of her work were just the icing on her danger cake. Not from the lemon shark, of course, being a generally peaceful species only interested in tasty fishes and not so much into battles for undersea dominance.</div>
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The great white shark, however, is a much more aggressive and fierce predator.</div>
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Seeing Jilly as a competitor for the tasty fish he feeds on, the great white attacks!</div>
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Only to be shown who's boss. Jillyan comes out of the fight unbloodied, taking one of the shark's teeth as a trophy.</div>
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"I got into a fight with a great white shark today," Jilly mentions casually over their dinner at the local cafe.</div>
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"You...what?" Julian chokes.</div>
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"I whupped his ass, too," Jilly continues, "I got one of his teeth. Devin, the guy at the consignment shop, said I could get over $2000 for it, but I decided to keep it for my collection."</div>
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"Oh, I almost forgot...the city council heard about my shark fight, and the gave me a reward. A whole island. Not a big one or anything. But still, kinda cool, huh?"</div>
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"Jill, you are the most amazing woman I've ever met."</div>
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"The shark was a wimp. It was not that big of deal."</div>
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"We've been here for awhile and we're pretty settled in, Julian. I think we're ready to start our family."</div>
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"Our house doesn't even have a bedroom," Julian objects, "We should move into something bigger before we start having children."</div>
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"Well, what about that island the town gave me? We can build ourselves a house big enough for us and our kids."</div>
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"That sounds like an excellent plan."</div>
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At Julian's insistence, they held off on having a baby until they had a house big enough for a family. The island the town gave to Jillyan turned out to be an ideal spot for building, and they had a three bedroom house ready to move in in no time.</div>
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The first guest to visit their new home was Meri Fairweather, the merman who helped them escape from the strange island they had landed on after their plane had crashed. He brought a friend along with him, one of the seaborn, named Mia Azul.</div>
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When he'd brought Julian and Jill to this world, he told them he visited it frequently because of the clean waters and abundant sea life it boasted, but after only a few moments of observing the way he and Mia interacted, it was clear that there was a greater lure for him here than the ocean's bounty. Jill and Julian were not surprised when Meri announced that he would taking up permanent residence here.</div>
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"Mmm, getting this hot tub was an awesome idea," Jill purrs as she leans back into the bubbling water, "I can't believed we managed in that tiny house for as long as we did."</div>
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"It's not like we spent a lot of time there," Julian answers, lowering himself into the tub beside her.</div>
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"Well, now we have all the space we need..." Jilly says, nudging her shoulder beneath his arm.</div>
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"It's the perfect time for us to have a baby," Julian agrees to her unfinished sentence.</div>
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The first generation is kind of breezing by. Since Jill & Julian got so much story in the end of the Brannon legacy, their legacy here is mostly them finally getting to settle down to a regular life together. And it's not all that exciting as a story, so I'm just presenting an overview of it until their kids start on their stories. I'm pretty excited for Gen 2, I love the roll (not revealed yet) and I have some ideas of what I'm going to do with them (though those ideas are evolving while I'm playing, so who knows, lol). </div>
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My tumblr followers know that my game is ahead of this chapter already. I was going to do the pregnancies and babies in this chapter, too, but I want to keep my chapters under 20 pics, so I'm splitting it up and will probably have another chapter soon. I am in the habit of posting gameplay pics on my tumblr everyday. A lot of it is out takes and scenery shots. Some of it has been spoilery, I guess, like seeing the babies already. But I won't be spoiling any serious plot stuff on the tumblr when the story does turn more towards actually having a plot. I don't consider the birth of babies to be all that spoilery, at least, not when it's fairly obvious the heir was planning on starting a family the way Jill and Julian have.</div>
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Just a reminder, you can check the <b><a href="http://caterpillarsims.tumblr.com/tagged/Brannon-RLC" target="_blank">Brannon RLC</a></b> tag on my tumblr to keep up with the legacy out takes and such. The link is also on my side bar. And, check out the Rolls section of this blog for my generation rolls, obviously, along with my personal goals for the generation and notes on how that is progressing.</div>
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Oh, and the island Jill & Julian built their house on is actually the secret mermaid island you get if you befriend an NPC mermaid and they decide to show it to you. Jilly did have to fight a shark as one of the requirements to acquire a different island that they haven't built on yet. So I mixed up the different events in the story. Mia was an NPC mermaid. After she did her job of giving Jill the island, I moved her into her own house on an unoccupied island lot, and then moved Meri in with her from CAS. (I edited Mia in CAS to give her the custom skin and hair)</div>
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yangthecathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15083940950118677312noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7403798056504383935.post-28287562677616150732014-08-31T07:50:00.001-07:002014-08-31T07:50:34.607-07:00Chapter 1: Tomorrow Never Knows<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It was a lot like the world they came from, this Isla Paradiso in an alternate universe. Back in their own world, they hadn't been on the island long enough to really get to know the inhabitants, but Jillyan recognized some of the family names in the local directory. Most important, though, was the absence of their own names in any of the addresses here, laying to rest Julian's fears of encountering their own doppelgangers in this universe that was so like their own.</div>
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It was not home, but getting back to their real home might not be possible, not with so many universes linked through the undersea portals the merman Meri had shown them, allowing them to escape the mysterious island between worlds that they had become trapped on. It was not the home they'd come from, but at least it was familiar, a place they could fit in, so Julian and Jillyan rented a small beach bungalow to get them started in their new life.</div>
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They easy wealth they had both been born to was gone, of course, and learning to live without being able to simply buy whatever they wanted was an adjustment. Back in their homeworld, Jillyan had spent countless hours under the water, exploring, simply for her own amusement. Now, it is not just sport, but her lifeblood, catching fish and finding shells to sell in the local markets.</div>
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The transition was a little more difficult for Julian. This world did not require much in the way of personal documentation to allow the young couple to rent a house, and Jillyan found ready buyers for her fish and shells in an economy that depended on the bounty of the sea to feed their thriving tourism and provide souvenirs for those tourists to purchase. But all of Julian's education back in their home world meant nothing here, and he could not walk into the local scientific research facility and expect to be taken seriously. At best, he would be offered an internship, and that was not enough.</div>
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With the money Jillyan was bringing in, they were able to purchase a small island that was of no use to anyone, and Julian was able to set up his own laboratory to engage in his independent research.</div>
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Not wanting to let Jilly be the sole breadwinner in their family and the supporter of his rather expensive hobby, Julian contributed to their income by fabricating 'mood enhancing' potions that Jilly could sell along with her fish and shells.</div>
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But the work in chemistry was a just a sideline to his real research. Julian spent hours collecting samples from around the island, the meteorites, the fish, the plant life, and analyzing them , comparing their molecular structures to those he had known in his own world, looking for the differences that might help him discover a path back to their own world.</div>
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Meri had told them that the seaborn always knew how to find their homeworlds when traversing the portals and visiting other worlds, but he could not explain how they knew. Julian's theory was that their bodies were tuned to their homeworlds on the molecular level, that there were subtle differences in the atomic structures of each world, and if he could just create some kind of tuning device that would filter these differences out, he could take them home again.</div>
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It was not for himself that Julian wanted to find their home so badly. He'd done some research into the history of this world, looking for traces of the life and the people they'd known. Here, the Landgraabs were still a wealthy and important family, leaders in industry, scientific research and invention, and even in politics, just as his own family had been. But in all his searching, Julian found no mention of MorcuCorp, no conspiracy theories linking the Landgraab name to any secretive shadow governments, and no traces of the invisible empire the Landgraabs had built. For that, Julian believes this might be the better world. But this world lacked the one thing Jillyan missed, her own family. Her parents, who she'd wanted to be at their wedding, her cousin Fergus, who she loved despite what he had become, and whole extended Brannon family. For her, Julian would go back, even if it meant being tied in servitude to MorcuCorp under Fergus' reign.</div>
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"How was your day, baby?" Jilly greets him as she comes up behind him.</div>
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As usual, the time had slipped by, and it was near sunset already. "The usual," he answers, getting up from his desk to wrap his arms around her. Whatever world he finds himself in, he's automatically the luckiest man in it, as long as he's with her. "Dis you catch anything good?"</div>
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She nods, caressing his chest. "I got some octopus, they always sell really well. And abalone shells, the shops love those. I guess the tourist can't get enough of them. Malaya was asking about the potions."</div>
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"Malaya?" Julian asks, unable to put a face on the name.</div>
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"The bartender at the cantina on the boardwalk," Jilly reminds him, "She needs more potions for his drinks."</div>
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"Right," Julian remembers. His mood enhancing potions have become a popular drink ingredient at the local watering holes, "I made another batch today. Do you want to deliver it now?"</div>
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Jilly shakes her head slightly. "I want to clean up. And then we can go to the boradwalk together. It's a beautiful night tonight."</div>
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"The sun hasn't set yet," Julian observes.</div>
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"Well, it's going to soon. And I want us to be on the boardwalk together to watch it," Jilly answers, "That will make it beautiful."</div>
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The setting sun had already painted the sky a deep purple by the time they got the potions delivered to the cantina, and as Jill had promised, the evening was beautiful. With their tight budget, the couple did not get to indulge in eating out very often, but tonight they make an exception and have dinner on the boardwalk.</div>
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After they eat, Jill challenges him to an arcade hoops contest, which she easily wins.</div>
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"You weren't even trying," she accuses with a pout.</div>
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"I was," Julian laughs, "I'm just not as good as you are at this."</div>
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"Julian, seriously, what is up with you?" Jillyan asks as they stand together by the shore.</div>
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"Nothing," Julian answers, taken aback by her sudden concern.</div>
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"It's not nothing, Julian. You're, like...it's like you aren't really here, you know? I talk to you, and you barely seem to hear. You're mind is somewhere else, and you won't even talk to me. I'm worried about you...worried that, you know, you might not be yourself."</div>
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"I'm still me," he assures her, knowing what she fears, though he's long past worrying about losing his identity, reverting back to his original personality. Julian knew who he was now, and there was no chance of him ever losing that.</div>
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"Then, tell me what's up with you," Jilly insists, "If you're still Julian, why are you so...distant? And cold."</div>
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"I'm sorry, Jill. I don't mean to be distant. I just have a lot on my mind."</div>
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"Like what?" she demands, her exasperation evident.</div>
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"I didn't want to tell you, until I'd actually found something. I didn't want to get your hopes, in case I failed. But, I'm trying to find a way home, Jill. I'm trying to take you back to your family. But, you're right, I've let it consume me," he says, reflecting on their time. His dedication to his purpose he left him somewhat empty, "And because I didn't tell you what I was working on, I left you to worry. I'm sorry, Jill."</div>
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Jilly lets out a sigh of relief. "You want to go back?"</div>
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"I know you miss your family," Julian explains.</div>
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"Julian, I miss YOU. Yes, I miss my family, but what we have here is pretty good. I'm happy here. Or I would be if you were back to yourself, you know? I don't want to be on a holding pattern, waiting to find a home we might never get to. I want to put down roots and make a home, with you. And to have a family. Our own family."</div>
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"Really?" Julian asks. He'd been working so hard to find a way home, for her sake, "You don't want to go back?"</div>
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Jilly shakes her head, "No. And you would have known that if you'd talked to me about what you were doing. Stop looking backwards, Julian. I need you to look ahead, to the future. With me. Here."</div>
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yangthecathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15083940950118677312noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7403798056504383935.post-3079009196513918872014-08-31T07:50:00.000-07:002014-08-31T07:50:17.163-07:00Revolver: An Introduction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Welcome, new readers and old, to yet another Random Legacy Challenge blog. Before I launch into the first chapter, I wanted to provide a little background to anyone who is new to my legacies. </div>
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The founder of this legacy, Jillyan Brannon, was the 4th generation heir of my discontinued <b><a href="http://brannonlegacy.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Brannon Random Legacy</a>. </b>In writing that generation, I got a little too bogged down in a plot involving her cousin Fergus, and I decided I needed a fresh start. This legacy is completely cut off from that world, and reading it won't require any knowledge of the past legacy. Except a little in the first chapter, which transitions from the old story.</div>
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So, for those who haven't read my previous legacy, here's all you need to know. The head of MorcuCorp, Geoffrey Landgraab, had his own personality hypnotically suppressed and he implanted a fake personality, 'Julian', into his mind, in an attempt to gain the trust of Fergus Brannon, who was the result of several generations of genetic engineering experiment done in secret by MorcuCorp. Julian, not know who he was really, fell in love with Fergus' cousin Jilly. MorcuCorp kidnapped him and tried to bring Geoffrey's personality back, but Julian had become dominant. Jilly helped him to escape MorcuCorp, and in the process Fergus took his place as MorcuCorp's head, and forced his cousin and her lover to work for him.</div>
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After a trip to Shang Simla in search of the Axe of Pangu, Jill and Julian's plane crashed and they found themselves lost on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean. There, they met a merman who explained that the island they were lost on did not really exist in their world, but was a kind of intersection between realms. He was able to show them a portal to get off the island, but since they could not identify which world they had come from, they ended up in a random world.</div>
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And that's all you need to know. After the first chapter, I'm not going to reference the past legacy. </div>
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Jillyan and Julian are CAS clones of the originals, and started here with no skills and CAS starter money only.</div>
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Besides the story told on this blog, I'm also posting a lot of pictures and out takes from this save on my Simblr, under the <b><a href="http://caterpillarsims.tumblr.com/tagged/Brannon-RLC" target="_blank">Brannon RLC</a></b> tag. </div>
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You can check out the rolls for each generation on the <b><a href="http://revolverrlc.blogspot.com/p/rolls.html" target="_blank">Rolls</a></b> page. </div>
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yangthecathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15083940950118677312noreply@blogger.com2