strangetomato: (Default)
Strange Tomato ([personal profile] strangetomato) wrote2009-09-27 12:07 am

Drabble+: Victim

Prompt: Victim
Characters: Pascal Curious and Nervous Subject
Wordcount: 247
Imagecount: 14
Warnings: violence and death

Here's something nice and light to read before you go to bed. Or maybe not.










"Pascal?"




He had been heading towards the door, going home for the night. He paused, and turned back to face Nervous Subject. "Yes? What is it?"




"Do you think..." He hesitated, then continued. "Would it be okay if I didn't wear the helmet, sometimes?"

"Well, it keeps you from having nightmares."




"Yes, but..." Nervous sighed in exasperation. "It's just that... well, I don't dream at all when I wear it. I'm sick of it. Everyone dreams. I don't even feel like a sim at all. Just... empty."




Pascal nodded. He shouldn't have questioned him. It was Nervous's life and his own choice. He'd been too long a victim, having someone make his decisions for him, and he should be allowed to choose these things for himself. "I suppose it would be okay," he said.




"It's up to you, Nervous. I can only make suggestions. You do what feels right for yourself, okay?"

Nervous nodded his head in agreement, but said nothing more. He seemed to have exhausted all of his words for the day in that one outburst. Pascal said goodbye and made his exit once more.




Nervous headed to bed, without the helmet this time.




He closed his eyes.




Slowly, images formed.




Terrible images.




He witnessed awful scenes of carnage and death.




Something about a wedding.




There were bodies everywhere.




He dreamt of nothing but death.

Those were his choices: horror or emptiness.




Nervous Subject twitched incessantly, grinding his teeth, but he slept through the night.








 
ext_122042: (francesbeau)

[identity profile] strange-tomato.livejournal.com 2009-09-27 07:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, I've been known to do a darker take on my favourites too, and not all of them survive. Nothing is certain for them in S,HWC either.

It's easier to do when I'm not writing them very closely. I tend to soften and spare people when I get attached to the characters, so it's easier to be harsh with Veronaville (though I am playing it). That said, I do have some major character deaths coming up in S,HWC, also. And not just PT.

Or... he might be like many people. Sort of happy, sort of not. I like that about the game premise. The whole point of it was to make your sims happy and successful, or to make them fail, right? It's something I've been thinking about lately, where the story is concerned. In some ways, I feel like the whole story is just the quest for happiness for a bunch of people.

Yeah, me too. I hardly have any time to chat in the comments anymore. I'm lucky to produce any content at all. I really am trying to get somethig out soon, though.

[identity profile] smjosh1218.livejournal.com 2009-09-27 09:24 pm (UTC)(link)
I know, I know. i was just demonstrating my love for Veronaville. They are my people. And the fact that they're dead/dying soon in your story kills me.

You keep saying that, and it scares me. I don't want anyone to die!

I've been thinking about that a lot in terms of real life as well. People need to find their happiness somewhere. Whether it be in their work, or their SO or their children. people need to find their happiness somewhere. And maybe Nervous does have this terrible, terrible ability, but he has a chance to find happiness elsewhere. He is a Family Sim after all. I just want him to get better.

:D I know. Our lives got so busy this past year. What happened? :P

I hope you do. I've been "working" on EPL 4 for about 4 months now. I'm trying to finish taking the pictures first though. it's so tedious, and I'm so critical of my stuff lately.