Strangetown, Here We Come: Chapter Thirty-Four - part one

[strangetomato]

Warnings: overly casual approach to plastic surgery, much shorter update than usual.



Chapter Thirty-Four

Part One









Bella woke up to the sun shining into her eyes from the condo window. She rose from the bed without waking Don and left the room to walk out to the beach.










She found herself thinking about Pascal. Sweet, serious Pascal. He had always been so helpful to her, and now she had left town and left him hanging. It seemed wrong to have gone away without even saying goodbye.

Had she been too hasty in accepting Don's offer?






It was also troubling to her that she could no longer work on recalling her memories. Without the use of Pascal's noodlesoother, she didn't seem to be getting anywhere with them, and that was disappointing. She had been making some real progress. Now she'd probably be stalled the way she was, without any idea about her true identity.

She sighed, listening to the sounds of the waves, and resigned herself to the situation. The sun was warm on her face and the salt air smelled fresh. Why worry about it?




Then suddenly, she was reminded of the dream she had the previous night. It had been a terrible, frightening dream. A nightmare, really.




She had been in a dark room, lying on a bed or some sort of cot, with not even enough strength to lift her head.

There had been two figures in the room, and they had been arguing over something.

"No, that one isn't different enough!" bellowed the harsh male voice. "You need something that won't be recognized."




"What we need is something bland and nondescript." The woman corrected. Her tone was calm and controlled. "Something easily forgotten."

The woman picked up a book, and read the title aloud, "Making Faces: 28 templates for plastic surgery." The woman's hands flipped to the first page after the table of contents, and she read aloud, "Face one... small and round, with petite features. Pleasing and bland. Everyone likes this facial structure. You can't go wrong with face one."




"Sounds boring," the man huffed, "You should give her some distinction. A proud brow or nose, like mine!"

"No, this is perfect," she said. "She will blend in, beautiful yet unremarkable. It's exactly what the doctor, and the doctor's patron, ordered. Face one it is!"




The woman walked towards her.

"Rise and shine, dear," she said, with a syrupy sweet voice. "It's time for your makeover."

Bella felt a terror rising up within her and struggled to escape, but she was frozen. The woman towered over her, like the old hag of nightmares, ready to push the breath and very life from her.

"You know, I haven't done this before," she admitted, "but I'll assure you I'm a quick learner. If anything gets horribly botched in the process, I'm sure I can fix you up in no time."




Again, Bella struggled. She felt increasing amounts of fear rising up inside of her. She burned all over.

"Just a snip here... a slice here..."

The terror grew, consuming her. She struggled and struggled but could not move. The woman's laughter echoed through the room.

"It won't hurt a bit..."




Then she woke up.




It was just a nightmare. The old hag had come to smother her and take her. Maybe the dream had come from her frustration with not knowing who she was, of having a face that she didn't recognize as her own.




It was just a dream; nothing to worry about.

Just a dream.

Just a dream.

Just a dream.




Just a dream?

Samantha Cordial watched her niece and her thoughts in the depths of her cauldron.




She had been following her with interest ever since they had located her, and this new development was puzzling to her.

Had it really been just a dream or had it been a true memory?










Behind her, Kimberly materialized. "How is she, dear sister?" she asked.




"She seems to be doing fine," Samantha said, "and she does have amnesia, as I suspected, but it's not an enchantment. I can't determine what caused her memories to vanish. Now I'm getting readings of some sort of memories from her, but they're all very cloudy and indistinct. I don't understand them."

"Well, I am certain it will all be made clear to you, eventually."

"I hope so, sister, but progress is very slow." After a pause, she asked, "How is your work going?"




"Oh, it's going very well, I would say."

"Have you spotted him recently?"

"Yes, I have. He's been increasingly active."

"That's troubling."




"Not to worry! My cauldron has located him in the capital city. I'll be tracking him all day. I'll get to the bottom of this. Of that I have no doubt."

"Good luck in your travels."

She nodded in return. "And good luck to you as well." Without another word, Kimberly vanished.








With her sister gone, Samantha returned to her work.

---

Notes: I've had this small little memory scene written for ages, and recently came across it again. I think it's about time I let it out. I'm sure you've probably suspected as much. ;)

I'm sorry it's so short. Things are so busy lately that I thought a tiny update might be better than no update at all. I'm making progress on it, here and there, but it'll be a while before I get the rest of this chapter together.

Thanks for reading! ^_^






  (Continue to Chapter 34 - part 2)

Comments

[simsinthecity.livejournal.com]

Well, at least Loki opposed the Face-1-Love of the common world. That's the one thing he had going for him.

At least you had the time to put together something :) Like you said, better this than nothing. Besides, this chapter has a lot more packed into less space compared to other chapters, I think. But I hope you can get things done well and soon!

Hm, that package is a hint, I suppose?

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Loki is a poster child for those who want to branch out beyond face one. Just look at his face! You don't get that from the templates.

Thank you. I know what I need for the chapter, and I have an outline, but there's still writing to do and images to make. I'm sure I'll get it together eventually, just not too soon.

Yes, that package should be familiar. ;)

[simsinthecity.livejournal.com]

LOL, wouldn't it be awesome if someone decided to make a set of "uglified" templates? Or at least for face one.

I wish that I had had at least enough time to make a short chapter to update my story with. I realized earlier that, with the way the first chapter went, that I had accidentally put some elements I had intended for chapter 2 into chapter 1, so posting a short chapter 2 with only the rest of what I had intended actually wouldn't put me ahead of schedule as I had feared initially.

Oh, what diabolical crafting is Humble up to now?

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

That would be too funny. I must say, though, that if I were ever to consider making a template replacement set (a nice idea, but unlikely), I'd do some altering to face one. It's nice, but it needs a little oomph, in my opinion.

My advice is to just go with the flow for updates. When you over plan, it feels like a chore, and it never works out the way you plan it anyway. I've been trying to be less rigid about that stuff lately.

Oh, he's out there being his Humbley self. :P

[dinoshad2brains.livejournal.com]

Yikes! I wonder if Don still would have wanted her if she got a "proud brow or nose"...

I'm really wanting to see how this unfolds, so a short little bit is way better than nothing. Excellent writing, as usual.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

The truly sad thing is that Don barely noticed the difference. Or maybe that says something in his favour, tht he still knew who she was, when others didn't pick up on it. (There has to be a reason nobody recognized her from the milk carton, right?)

I've been holding back on this part of the plot for a while now, so it's nice to move it forward. There will be a point when many of these pieces will intersect and the connections will be fully revealed. I just recently wrote a scene that brings three of the major players in this mystery together, and I can't wait to share it. The nice thing about slowly developing it is that I can adjust some of the minor details as I go, leading to an end product that (hopefully) makes more sense.

Thank you. ^_^ Glad you liked it!

[petchy-14.livejournal.com]

Oh your take on the Bella story is getting better every time I read!! The way your doing the ties between Modding knowledge and Maxis Storylines are Brilliant :D
"EVERYONE Loves Face One" LOL!! Apart from that quote being major Awesome, I adore how it Rhymes xD MUST.USE.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I have a lot of connections between the various possible players in that whole mystery (which is as much a Strangetown mystery as a Pleasantview one, in my opinion), which I've been sitting on forever. Since the beginning, really. I feel an almost physical relief when I finally get to leak out another detail.

I do really enjoy mentioning all the game details like the templates. It just makes it fun for me. And don't you think the true Bella mystery is how she suddenly ended up wth face one? :P Solved!

If the story was a musical, that would definitely be a number in it. It would be awesome.

[petchy-14.livejournal.com]

O_O
Strange...?, I don't think you know what level of awesomeness you just unleached just then.


*is blown aback*

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I can't take credit for that. I'm pretty sure I saw someone mention it on simstorytellers once before. They were going to write a Strangetown musical.

It didn't have my awesome original song in it, though. :P

[will-o-whisper.livejournal.com]

I wonder what Don planned on doing if Bella hadn't come with him? Her second guessing is showing and it seems like it could be real problem if she decides she wants to go back for a visit, or tries to contact Pascal go Bella/Pascal, goooo. Regardless, I'm glad to see a little more of Bella from Bella; we've really only seen her through other people's eyes before, so it's nice to see a bit of what Bella thinks and Bella wants. :)

It sounds like the Beakers were contracted, but by who? My money is on the Caliente sisters, but then why? Obviously someone is going through a lot of trouble to get Bella out of the way, and it's curious they're using such a convoluted way to do it. We know the Beakers, Don, and whoever did the abduction are involved, at least; there's an awful lot of places this plan (whatever it is) could go wrong.

Poor Mr. Humble could be in some trouble if he's not careful, it seems like. There's something about Kimberly I just love, I don't know. The Cordial sisters are fantastic, I can't wait to see more of them. <3

(lol, face one. And Loki and his "proud brow." Poor thing just wanted to be little less alone in his ~uniqueness~. :P)

[silentsteel.livejournal.com]

Now I'm starting to wonder if she was ever Bella at all . . . c.c

[smjosh1218.livejournal.com]

I love that you explained away the fact that her face was different. I also giggled at the "28 Templates for Plastic Surgery".

I love the way the memory looked too.

I wonder if Bella will ever get her memory back?

And EEE at the Cordial sisters! They're both so amazing. I wonder what the package is...

[remisims.livejournal.com]

I really love the shot of Kimberly disappearing..
Very nice.

Poor "unique" Bella. I have a picture of a Loki/Bella hybrid in my head now.. Bwehe.

Now I can trudge off to my afternoon class, happy at least.
Great update ^-^

[selenecorvino.livejournal.com]

Boy are you good at creating the unexpected, well at least for me anyway. The way you are tying characters from one neighborhood to those in another, Terrific.

I was initially introduced to Strangetown and got attached, but because of yours and others' stories I've gotten more curious about the other 'hoods and characters. And while SimsWiki can provide added info, it's stories like yours that are really piquing my interest. So thank you for creating these stories for us to enjoy.

[muslemura.livejournal.com]

"something bland and nondescript" - this, together with the 28 templates, really made me giggle :D

Such an intriguing 1st part - and your pictures are GORGEOUS!

(And what might Rod be up to this time? o_O)

[sinderellah.livejournal.com]

You sure did a great job of making that plastic surgery machine look incredibly menacing!

[cameoflage.livejournal.com]

...Yes, everyone loves face one. *shifty eyes are shifty* >_>

[petalbrook.livejournal.com]

I love the effects in the Cordial Sisters shots!

Thanks so much!

[roundaboutcorners.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

I love this story and I wanted to stop in and say thanks!!! I've recently just come to the world of the Sims after a long hiatus and your blog is one of the ones that inspired me to start my own!

I'm a storyteller but no where as skilled with the game yet to get this level of storytelling. All in due time...

http://www.roundaboutcorners.wordpress.com

Thanks again and keep up the awesome work!!!
~Rustybuc

[pixelcurious.livejournal.com]

I had to go back to Chapter 32 to grasp this (I missed the earlier update with the Cordial sisters). I love that Bella is related to them, and that she's now under their protection.

I'm now wondering if there will be a showdown between the Cordials and the Calientes... it seems perfect in a way... two pairs of strong sisters in combat over the fate of Bella Goth! Both pairs otherworldly and powerful in their own ways. My money's on the Cordials though.

[petchy-14.livejournal.com]

OMG!! I JUST REMEMBERED SOMETHING!! *Plotlinearchpowercomeshere*

CLONES!
xD

[a-gates.livejournal.com]

wonderful story, late to the game here, unless I already commented :)) haha of which I cannot remember but I adore all these stories.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :) Always nice to hear from you. Thank you for reading, and I'm glad you enjoy them.

Love the camera shots and dream sequences and everything, just everything

[7thavenger.livejournal.com]

Hey, it's me KK, same person who wrote the super long comment about Nervous, I love your story and the memory/dream sequence looks amazing along with all of it and the cordial sisters, they're pretty interesting too! I was kind of just stalking this site, but your story's so good, I had to make an account to follow it, I hope you don't mind I added you as a friend to keep up with entries. "Him" is Humble right? Ha, face 1, the face of like 120 sims in my 130 sim town, so plain and bland, petite little features, the pretty much only normal one there, I really should make some more unique looking sims... I really wish I could play in Strangetown and have super cool stories or any of the other towns, but my sister kind of messed them all up already, Nervous and Ophelia are werewolves, Ophelia grew up, Olive died after she married Ajay Loner and had a daughter, the Beakers have twins and I can't salvage the neighbourhood, same with Pleasantview, I don't even know what happened there. Off topic, point is,great everything about your story. And the Beakers, oh so evil!

Re: Love the camera shots and dream sequences and everything, just everything

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :) And thank you for following the story.

If you want to start over with your towns, you can always reset them using this method: http://help.ea.com/ca/article/how-to-reset-towns-in-the-sims-2/

Hope that's helpful to you. :)