Strangetown, HWC: Mirror, Mirror

[strangetomato]

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all? Who's the most glamourous? The most dangerous?

Who has the power?






Dina smiled back at her reflection.



It had been disappointing that Don hadn't been there to see her, she thought as she fussed with her hair. He'd probably already left town. Nina hadn't been there either. The damn fool probably went after him.

She could have him, as far as Dina was concerned. Nina deserved him. Dina had no time for the Dons of the world. They were too messy. Too easy. Too obvious.

She liked her men mysterious. Wise. She like them with more subtlety.

The funeral had been much what she'd expected. They'd all looked, gasped. How dare she wear that dress? So glamourous. So familiar. They'd stared and whispered. Alexander, remote as always, had barely said a word to her.

They'd all watched, gawking, to see if she'd shed a tear. She didn't. She never did. Not at that funeral, nor Michael's, nor her father's. She never cried. It wasn't that she wasn't devastated, but she'd never give anyone the satisfaction of knowing it.

She remembered her father, lying in the casket, just like that. Eyelids shut, never again to betray his secret, for all the good it did him after death.




She remembered those eyes. Those dark secrets he hid behind his sunglasses, only rarely glimpsed. People thought he wore them for character. For the mystery. In that respect, the glasses had served him well. They gave him an unknowable, dangerous edge. Combined with his unnatural strength and his fearlessness, he'd risen quickly in the ranks of the family business.

The mystery had also been his downfall.

But Dina's memory was long, and her grudges long-held. Those who crossed her lived to never know what hit them. She'd had the last laugh. For her father, and for herself. She always did.

She thumbed the necklace at her neck. A family heirloom. Didn't want me in your family, did you? Well look at me now.

She always got what she wanted.

Comments

[smjosh1218.livejournal.com]

Dina is so fierce, I loved this entire thing. I especially love all the covert references to "the family business".

[vallicious.livejournal.com]

I'm a lurker, kinda, (I love SHWC) and I just wanted to say that this was awesome. I love how much you flesh out the sparse Maxis backstory.

[katee412.livejournal.com]

This is just extraordinary, it amazes me how multifaceted you've made this despite the short length.

Now I feel silly for not letting my Dina be this awesomely resolute ;)

[petchy-14.livejournal.com]

Oh you did it again! Normally, I hate Dina's guts, Really - I almost hate her - but here where you showed her childhood and such.. Kinda made me feel sorry for her. Dang. (LOL!)
So Pleasentview used to be Mob-city? Black suits, Black Cars, and Black Sunglasses? Thats new!! And infact I do like it, mainly because it shows a difference of Pleasentview and TS3's Sunset Valley. Someone really needs to make a S3 Pleasentview or Strangetown (How awesome would it be with La Fiesta Tech or Bluewater Village attatched to the end?! Bluewater was *MADE* for TS3 xD)

Anyway, Great Mini-Update ^_^

[a-gates.livejournal.com]

Awesome!!! I loved it, especially how you can create such a story line with so few images and words. That's just rad.

In my game Dina married Mortimer as well. And then he died and she was left in charged of a very angry Alexander (they had negative relationship score) and yet when Alexander transitioned into an adult they had two bolts & I would catch both of them constantly checking the other one out on freewill... Anyhow
Great job! :D

[poppyperson.livejournal.com]

Wow, this is really good. I'm guessing the funeral gown she ore was Bella's at Mortimer's funeral?

[sullivansims.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

This was wonderful. I always love your takes on the Maxis characters and I'm intrigued to see how Dina will fit into SHWC.

[80sfiend.livejournal.com]

Yay Dina!!! :D I love her. :) She is always so fabulous to play for me. I love what you're doing with her, you are an amazing storyteller as usual :)

[oojijay.livejournal.com]

Sorry this is so much later, and I don't know if you'll even see this now, but I loved this wee back story into Dina's life, and wanted to ask where you got her outfit from? I love that it's sort of an altered version of Bella's dress.

[sphynxed.livejournal.com]

Only just saw the alien eyes behind the sunglasses-OMG!

[stinalotta.livejournal.com]

aaaah I just read through basically all of Strangetown, Here We Come and was trying to decide on where to leave a comment to tell you how much I LOVE it....when I saw this short and I think it's really interesting to see what you made of one of my favorite characters and I might as well comment here. Seriously, my Dina also married Mortimer but only long after gaining permanent platinum status and now I just let her (also permanently pregnant, it seems) run around on freewill and she's one of the most entertaining Maxis sims I have.

Anyway, let me praise you, because I tend to have problems getting into sims stories, but yours not only has well-developed characters and is very well-written, it also made me want to fix my simsgame in order to be able to play again. It also showed me how much I have under-estimated the Strangetown sims. Of all the maxis neighborhoods, it's the one I usually play the least with, but I might have to change that.

Another thing I really like is how you incorporate some of the elements of the actual game, how you don't try and make it seem as if they grow like humans do, no, they have transitions and aspirations and everything.

I couldn't even tell you which one is my favorite character. You have the ability to make the reader care for almost all of them (besides the obviously evil ones), you let them all explain what is going on to make them act the way they act and it never seems implausible.

Anyways, I'll stop gushing now, I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your story :)

[kathe smith (from livejournal.com)]

I've been reading your stories since 2009. I loved them so much from the beginning, and it introduced me (and my downloads folder c:) to so many wonderful things. Over the last few months I've re-read S,HWC and it is still awesomely awesome after all this time. This short is especially good, and I just wanted to say thank you for the talent you bring to the Sims community.

*resumes lurking*

Dina's dress

[myshrahayden.livejournal.com]

Hello strange !
Thanks for supporting me in my story, I'm happy to have a friend like you ! ;)
I wanted to know, will Dina's dress be available for download (in a soon future ... ?)

Thanks, and good luck for SHWC,
Myshra Hayden