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

[strangetomato]

Warnings: Not much, really. (Well gee, that's a first.)



Chapter Thirty-Five

Part One





It always rained in West Veronaville.










Jules O'Mackey had accepted the fact that there was only one season there: Spring. Or maybe there were two. It was either warm and wet, or cold and wet. Either way, she missed sunshine. Maybe she should have moved to Pleasantview instead, or maybe even to Strangetown.

Yeah, right, she thought. Who, in their right mind, ever moved to Strangetown?




She figured Veronaville was a step up from Riverblossom Hills, and its long, hard Winter. Those winter months always took it out of her, sapped her energy, her goodwill, her hope. The sun lamp didn't keep it from happening, and neither did all the other preventative measures. They helped, sure, but there wasn't one easy solution. She followed through with each of them in the hopes that they'd add something, even just a small improvement, but in the end, it would always be a battle, and one fought from within.

As Ms. Cloud had said, she'd always be waging this war with her own mind.




She'd recently fought her most difficult battle yet, but her efforts were successful. She was still recovering from the ordeal, one day at a time, but mosty she had been victorious.

The weather in Veronaville was a drag, but it was worth it for the change in scenery.




She'd been anxious to leave Riverblossom Hills, where nothing ever seemed to happen. It was as quiet there as an early morning with a thick layer of snow on the ground.

Nothing ever happened.




The exception, of course, being Rose and Daisy, her Aunt and cousin by marriage. They were mostly definitely interesting, but she'd already written that book, quite literally, and Daisy had already long left town.




Rose was a plantsim, and Daisy was her plantbaby, a real chip off the old block, since they reproduced asexually. Jason had get Rose during his travels through the mountains North of Riverblossom Hills. They'd fallen in love and Rose had returned with him, to live the life of a regular sim.

Well, sort of. She certainly didn't blend in well. Not with her vivid green skin.






But then years passed and slowly, almost inperceptively, the green faded. Rose and Daisy were still very plant-like in some ways, but they seemed to become more and more sim with each passing year. Their years of living the lives of normal sims, down there in the town of Riverblossom Hills, had slowly worn away their plant nature.

Rose had welcomed the transition, adopting sim behaviours like eating food and sleeping, and even went on to reproduce the traditional sim way. She had two sons with her husband, Jason, who they named Oak and Birch.




Eventually, Daisy decided to leave. She set out on her own. She loved her family, especially her half brothers, but began to feel the call of her plant nature. She wanted to seek out her own kind.

That's what had initially brought Jules to Veronaville. She'd followed Daisy there, to the forest, where she eventually chose to live. Daisy travelled to the faerie territories, where people who wanted to disappear often got their wish.




First, though, she had travelled to the hills, to the mountainous region to the North of town, where Jason had been exploring when he first met Rose.



The other plantsims lived there, in a sheltered spot in a small valley, far up in the mountains. Some strange source of heat, most likely geothermal activity, kept this place suitable for them to live, even in the dead of Winter. There was an ancient tree which provided shelter, and a deep pool with spring water, which kept them warm and nourished.

At least, there had been.




Daisy travelled there, hoping to find them. After months of searching, she was successful, but their numbers had dwindled, and those that remained were wilted and ill.

The spring had dried up, thanks to irrigation systems that redirected the water from below. The air contained increasing amounts of chemical pesticides, which had weakened many of them.






The plantsims were feeling the adverse effects of the chemical sprays in the atmosphere from the farms below. Daisy could see that they were not healthy. It was becoming more and more difficult for them to live. They told her that this was why they used their powers over the natural world to transformed those who excessively sprayed the pesticides into one of them. It was so they felt their pain, in the hopes that they would change their ways.






Their efforts were not completely in vain. Some sims were changing, switching their farms to an entirely organic practise, but the damage would not be repaired overnight. It would take time.




And there were still other, larger farms that did not change their ways, so the chemical onslaught continued.

The plantsims were leaving.




Many things were said to find refuge in the faery forests. Magical things, improbable things, and even frightening things, If one believed the rumours and the myths. The plantsims would go there, where the forest was lush.They gave her directions and told her to join them there, if she wished to live among her own kind.

So that's what she did. Daisy traveled to Veronaville, rented a place near the forest, and spent most of her time there.




It wasn't long after she began to explore the forest that the familiar green hue returned to her skin.




She explored the forest daily, searching for the passage described to her by the other plantsims.




A passage described in many books and many legends. It appeared in countless works of art. Often whispered about, but rarely seen.




She was looking for the passage into Faerie.




Had she been successful?








All Jules knew was that she had disappeared one day, and hadn't been seen since.

Jules often wondered what had become of Daisy after that. Had she found her people? Had she become more and more plant-like, blending into the green there, becoming one with the forest?










Jules could only speculate.




And she had. She'd put her theories in writing, after consulting experts in the field. It had been the final chapter of her first biography, Tangled Branches: The Story of the Greenman Family. The book had been an instant success, launching her writing career.

It was what she did best.






It had secured her the scholarship to Academie Le Tour, which had been decidely out of her price range for tuition fees, but had the best journalism program. She'd toured it during her visit to Veronaville, and fallen in love, both with the program and the campus itself. She'd swore to herself she'd find a way to attend, and she had. Like everything in her life, she'd earned it with her own hard work.




That was where she'd noticed him. Her second love.

She was surprised she'd even given him a chance, given how jaded she'd become about romance.




She'd sworn it off completely after she'd been spurned by her highschool sweetheart, not to mention having seen her parent's marriage disolve.

Then, even worse, she had to watch her father move on so soon, and with that woman.




She was nothing at all like her mother, but Jules supposed that made sense. Her father tried that once. It hadn't exactly worked out for him, had it?




Her mother had been too wild, too difficult to tame.




No, Jules had resolved to cut her losses and stay away from the playing field. She had devoted herself to her studies and to her writing.




She'd been successful, and quite content, until he started showing up at the most inopportune times, impossible to ignore. He was always in trouble, always getting into fights. He was messy, dangerous, and full of attitude. He was bad news. He was everything she'd resolved to avoid, and he was irresistable.

Perhaps she wasn't so different from her mother, after all.




She often wondered if she'd have it in herself to do what Alex had done, and continued to do. Whether she'd have the courage or the strength for it.




Her mother was the right sort of person for that life. Never giving up, never back down, and never apologizing for who she was.






And who she was was known and feared out there on the high seas, on all four corners of Sim Earth.



]
Jules knew all this because her mother had stayed in touch with her through letters, and she sent them without fail, though they never included a return address. Jules understood this, even though it frustrated her. It made sense. By the time she replied, her mother would likely have moved on.




Most of the places Alex went didn't have much of a postal service, anyway.




One of these places was the fabled Wanmami Island.

Jules had written a paper on this mysterious place, thanks to the help of her mother.
 



Orson Curry, the famed anthropologist, had written about the island, up until the time he'd vanished. Thanks to her mother's letters, Jules had discovered that he had continued to live on the island.




He was initally brought to Wanmami Island to study the natives by his pilot friend, Linea Wilson. She dropped him off there, but when she returned to check back on him and bring supplies, her plane had gone down.




Linea became stranded on the island, too. Like the adventurer that she was, she took it in stride. She lived there with Orson, and they made the best they could with what they had.




The two friends eventually became much more.

They lived there, on Wanmami Island, for the rest of their days. Just Orson, Linea, and Temple Curry.




Temple, his daughter, whom he had given birth to.




The aliens were another story that intrigued Jules. After her success with the Greenmans and plantsims, she figured it might make a good follow-up.

Perhaps she should do some research on the matter, she thought. She'd heard stories about Strangetown.




There were many mysteries out there. Some she'd read about, others were only conveyed in passing whispers.

Her mother had mentioned something about it in her letters. She'd told her stories relayed by other pirates, and stories from the natives of Wanmami Island. Even in such a remote place, there were legends of the aliens, passed down for generations.




And then there was Orson Curry.












Jules had used him as the subject of her final project during her studies at Academie Le Tour. Orson Curry and his disappearance had been the subject of decades of speculation, so her voice was in good company, but thanks to her mother, her take on the matter was very unique.




Her mother had met them, on Wanmami Island. They were nice folk, she said, and very eager to hear news from the outside world.




It wasn't long before Alex's attention was drawn to the little green girl running around the facility. Orson's hybrid alien daughter was not the first that Alex had ever seen, but she was quite surprised to see one there, on a remote island.










Temple had been born on the island, after Orson had been abducted. She was the apple of his eye and she flourished in their island home.












She was quite a character, from Alex's description.




Temple had taken quite an interest in Alex and would often ask her to tell her tales of her latest adventures.

She told Temple that maybe she could be a pirate too someday.




Temple liked that idea. She asked her if they had pirates in outer space, where she came from. Alex figured they must, and she promised to find out.

When last she'd seen Temple, she had been a young girl, and one her last trip to Wanmami Island, Alex even took some photographs of her and sent them to Jules. It had been the icing on the cake for her report, insuring she'd graduate at the top of her class. Jules owed a great debt to her mother for all the stories she'd been sending her way over the years. In some ways, it made up for the fact that she'd been impossible to tame and keep as a mother.










Yes, it was a wild life for Alexandra O'Mackey. Wild and free. Some sims were simply untamable. That's all there was to it.




Jule's mother spent many years on the vast open sea, and often visited with her fellow pirate companions who had taken up residence on those islands in the South. She'd written to Jules about the Barretts, once privateers, who had shipwrecked their ship, the Redsnoot, on Wanmami Island, and had since built a life there.

Alex often went there to rouse them into joining her on some new adventure, and she stayed with them, enjoying the family life.




Jules often thought of her there, and wondered if Alex thought of her daughter as much as she did her.




How could she? She had never come back.

And Alex never did apologize for it, aside from that one time, the night she was leaving.




Even then, she had said that she hoped that Jules would one day understand. She was sorry to leave her, but not sorry to make the choice. She made it for herself. She had to. It was essential to her very survival as a person, she said.




"Find what makes you feel alive and follow it," she had said. "Be happy."






In the end, Jules did come to understand her, to accept her leaving, and even to thank her mother, in some ways. For providing her with alternatives. For teaching her to accept that some things were out of your control.




Jules understood loss.






She knew that some things were just  not meant to be, and that you should follow your heart, even when it lead you to scary places.




Even when it lead you off course.






She knew when it was time to let go.




And it was. It was time for her to process what had happened to her there in Veronaville and to move on.










She typed the title of her next work at the top of her page:

Star Crossed: The Feud Between the Monty and Capp Families of Veronaville.

She'd write that book, then move on to the next chapter of her own life.











(Continue to Chapter 35 - part 2)


Comments

[smjoshsims.livejournal.com]

Unf, this chapter was delicious. I love how all the little subplots you've dropped hints about are becoming bigger and bigger, and Temple is amazing, I loved the pictures of her dancing. I also love Jules (you know I do!) and her kids are so cute, and her book, omg I need the Veronaville chapter in my life. I know you said you had to out if off, but YES. Anyway,k this was great, ST. I love your pictures and your CC! :D

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Josh! I started this chapter way back when I was playing Castaway Stories, and wanted to share some of what I was doing there. Jules has been existing in Veronaville for a while now, too, so I was glad I thought to use her to tie a few of these things together and lead in to the Veronaville chapter. As a biographer, she'll come in handy again for me later in the story, and the plantsims needed to be introduced. This chapter is a little off the beaten path for the story, but it serves a number of purposes (plus I just wanted to write this story over the last couple of months).

Yeah, I decided to go ahead with this chapter. It needs to be in there, and this is when it's supposed to happen in the timeline, so away we go! ^_^ I've already written a lot of it, so it shouldn't be too difficult to put it all together.

Thanks for reading! ^_^

[simgarooop.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed this update! Although not directly related to the main plot at Strangetown, I loved how you explained so many things from other Pre-made neighborhoods. I specially liked the reason why Sims become Plantsims if they abuse the pesticide. It makes sense to me!

I can see you mixed this with your playing at the Castaways game. Were all of these scenes done in that game? If that's the case, kudos for your patience! (the camera sucks) I had no idea that you could also get abducted in Castaways and I loved the little details, like the alien painting. Temple is also such a cutie.

I loved Jule's story, but it seems it didn't end up well. I am now wondering who's the guy with whom she seemed to have those kids. I have my "money" on Tibalt or Hal and it's so sad that the feud eventually made her face loss one more time.

It is touching to see how Jules has faced the loses in her life (Daisy, her mom and finally her SO) through her writing.

Great update and I'm glad you've gotten your inspiration back :)

[sphynxed.livejournal.com]

I need more!


This chapter was everything I love about the sims, and in some of my favorite forms. The fact that you've gone into Riverblossom Hills alone is reason for me to love this chapter. You've really peaked my interest. I can't wait to see where you go with Jules and Veronaville.

Also, I'm really enjoying everything on Castaway Stories. You're really making me want it.

You can do no wrong, I'm sure of it.

[backwardsflame.livejournal.com]

Ooooh nice update! Jules O'Mackey was really well developed, even though you just had this chapter to present her. Thatt's like..AWESOMETASTICAL! Your writing abilities make me green with envy..again. :P Hmm. Are those two mysterious toddlers Jules' children? The suspense :O

[will-o-whisper.livejournal.com]

Seasonal Affective Disorder. :(

The Greenman's are, by far, my favorite family in Riverblossom Hills. I'm so curious to see how the plantsims and Faerie tie into the rest of the story. I love the lore you've set up around them!

The painting on the animal skin. <3

Alex often went there to rouse them into joining her on some new adventure, and she stayed with them, enjoying the family life.

This breaks my heart. That can't be easy for Jules to hear, even having moved on.

Those toddlers look like Tybalt babies to me, but we'll see. Nervous's dream must have come true by now...I do wonder when this takes place in relation to everything else.

Unonstructive comment in not constructive. :( Basically, this is wonderful and you are wonderful. I'm happy you've found your inspiration again. :)

[tashkyn87.livejournal.com]

This is lovely. I love your story and am glad there's another chapter. Temple is so cute! and so are the redheads! I like the parts of castaway in there. This is such an awesome story!

[katee412.livejournal.com]

I love how this chapter covers so much while remaining succinct and poignant. A wonderful update and it's wonderful to see an update!

[muslemura.livejournal.com]

Your pictures are so beautiful <3
Loved your take on plantsims and on Jules' story too :)

[ownsimscorner.livejournal.com]

I absolutely adored this amazing chapter, can`t even count the ways. As a fellow sufferer of SAD, it really resonated with me as well.

Jules and Tybalt? YES! Even if it did end badly as it seems...

[jozziesims.livejournal.com]

I LOVE this story. You do an excellent job on the characters and this chapter was no different. I like the way you've show Jules and of course i cant wait until the next part.

[poppyperson.livejournal.com]

Why do you end like that? I want to know more!!!!

Great piece of work, loving the pirate ship

[needlecream.livejournal.com]

AGWARFKFSL!!
Beautiful update, so juicy! Thank you, so much. :]

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

I had a non-good day and don't have very much to say, but this helped brighten it a little. <3

Also, I see a Tybalt-mouth on the little girl.

[pants-on-fyre.livejournal.com]

seconded! My money's on Tybalt.

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

Update! I was so excited to see this in my Google Reader this morning!

I was just about to talk about how I was so curious about who Jules' mystery bad boy (and presumed father of the twins) is but now that I've read everyone else's comments, my money is on Tybalt! The mouth is a clue and Tybalt does fit that description!

[tov01.livejournal.com]

I'm a long time lurker (really, really long time) who decided to delurk to say that I love this story! Keep it up!

I was especially drawn to this image: http://pics.livejournal.com/strange_tomato/pic/007ekqq4 (Even if it does have starlight passing through the moon's disk ;) ). How did you get so much detail. (Excuse my ignorance if this was taken in Castaways, and that's normal there. I don't have that game)

*Re initiates Lurking Mode*

[petchy-14.livejournal.com]

I am so glad I waited a few days to read this, This was beautiful.
Truly, Great.
You have got your Style back! ^_^

not a lurker

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

I feel like a lurker but I'm not really because I've only just caught up.

I found this story last year but after a while my computer wouldn't let me see the pictures any more and after several weeks I gave up. I got a new computer in September but I only just thought to try again on Sunday. And now I've finally caught up! Yay! And for once I found a story that wasn't already finished so I can comment! Double yay!

Just wanted to say I love your stories!

PS(I had a weird dream last night. It featured some of your characters and a weird scene that felt like a combination of a few different things that are happening here. It was very weird.) Wow I've just realised I've used 1 weird for each sentence!

[silentsteel.livejournal.com]

Awesome! I'm very curious about the rest of Jules' backstory, and who the father is of those lil' cuties are. The girl looks like she's a little grump-pot!

directory

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

This chapter hasn't been put on the directory. So people who only read the story and none of your other posts won't be able to find it.

Re: directory

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you for pointing that out! I didn't really think about it that way. I'm being pretty livejournal-centric, aren't I? Heheh.

I'll add it right away! Thanks for the reminder.

[tarotgoddess108.livejournal.com]

Just read the whole SHWC story over 3 days. I think I wandered over from simsecret. It's very impressive. I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to more... especially more Ripp.

:-)

[smart-spell.livejournal.com]

I just read through this entire story last night and WOW. I absolutely love it! I look forward to your next update and I hope you don't mind if I friend you. :)

[myshrahayden.livejournal.com]

The best chapter you've ever write ! *o*
Ok, maybe it's not correct, sometimes, I can ... exaggerate. But, wow ! Aliens + Orson Curry + O'Mackey family = a book better than one of Stephen King !
Awesome ! And, I must stop with "!", because it's too much ...