Strangetown: Chapter Nine

[strangetomato]

Warnings: language, sexual situations


Chapter Nine





General Buzz and Ripp may have been oblivious to the fact that they were both sleeping with the same woman, but Buck wasn't. Buck knew all about it.




For one thing, he had noticed his father flirting with Genesis all over the place, even though Buzz thought that he was being super discrete about it.






He really wasn't.




Buck really wished that he didn't also know about Ripp's exploits with Genesis, but Ripp had told him all about it. Really, he had told him everything about it. Buck was still blushing from half of what Ripp had said, including a couple of things he wasn't even aware we're physically possible. You could always count on your older brother to fill you in on the finer details in life.




Buck found that living alone with his father wasn't so bad. It was certainly a lot more peaceful without Tank and Ripp around, though he also had nobody around to commiserate with when things got irritating with his father. Ripp was always good for a phone call, but talking to Tank on the phone was a lot like talking to a wall. Neither Buck nor Tank could carry the whole conversation on their own, and every call seemed to degenerate into a series of one-word replies. Ripp monopolized every conversation he was ever involved in, but he did ask Buck a lot of questions too, which helped him along when he couldn't find the words.

Buck was pleased to have finally transitioned to a teenager. Now he finally had a little more influence in the family, though he knew that he'd always be the baby to the rest of them. He didn't mind. Being the baby had it's advantages, of course.




His transition. It had been interesting, to say the least. His father and Ripp were there, in a rare moment of solidarity, but Tank had missed it because of work. That was okay. Buck didn't mind. Tank had wished Buck well beforehand, and he had dropped by his bedroom later that night to see what aspiration Buck had chosen for himself.

His father had been very apprehensive about the transition. After the whole fiasco with Ripp, he was afraid to expect too much from Buck. He had attempted to make light of the situation, but Buck knew that he was just terrified to know what Buck would select as an aspiration in life.




"So what'll it be, Buck? Grilled Cheese?" The joke wasn't really all that funny, considering Buck's weight issues.

"No, Dad. It's going to be Family, of course." Buck gave a shy smile. "It's completely obvious, isn't it? All I've ever wanted was a stable, happy family. If you paid more attention to me, you'd know that." Buzz frowned. He knew that Buck was right, and he suddenly felt pretty ashamed about having put so little of his focus on his youngest son.




Afterwards, Ripp expressed his pleasure with Buck's small stand against Buzz. "Way to serve the General a nice cool glass of gofuckyourself, there, Buck."

"I wasn't trying to be mean, Ripp, but it really had to be said." Ripp nodded in agreement.

"Yes. Yes, it did. And who the hell did he buy that fucking ridiculous transition outfit for, anyway?! His fourth son?" They both laughed.

"Oh, come on, Ripp..." Buck said through tears of laughter. "You know it was hot."




Buck quickly found himself in a new role as medium between Ripp and their father. Buzz asked Buck more questions about Ripp than he had ever asked Ripp directly, and Buck was all to happy to fill him in. Buck was glossing over some of the details, of course, and he wouldn't dream of telling his father about the whole Genesis situation, just as he wouldn't be mentioning it to Ripp anytime soon. When the topic of Ripp's major finally came up, Buck was ready for it. Still, he was a little nervous about what the General's reaction would be.

"So what exactly is Ripp studying, anyway?"

"Ummm, well..." Buck shrugged. "He's majoring in theatre, Dad."

"Theatre?! My god..." It was up there with his worst nightmares, for sure. Buzz imagined all the terribly deviant things that Ripp would probably be doing, both on and off the stage. Weren't actors usually homosexuals? It just got worse and worse, didn't it? Lyla had enjoyed going to see shows, and she once dragged Buzz along to see a play where all the men wore tights and all the female characters were played by men. Ripp was liable to do it just to piss him off. Surely he wouldn't, would he? Buzz tried to push those thoughts from his mind.

Buck watched his father's face twisting its way through this chain of thought, until he settled on resigned disappointment.




"Why am I not surprised? Well, I did make the mistake of letting him do whatever he wanted, and I'll probably live to regret that. At least Tank is being sensible and studying political science." Buck felt himself stiffen at yet another mention of how excellent Tank was. He tightened his lips into what he hoped passed for a smile.

"What kind of job prospects does Ripp expect to have after earning a theatre degree? That boy is truly going to give me a heart attack yet." Buck sighed. His own dreams for a future career were definitely going to meet the same reaction, so he may as well get used to it now.




Buck, of course, loved art and design. He always had. Lately, he'd been thinking about hairdressing too. Yes, Buzz was not going to like those ideas one little bit.

It's not that he hadn't ever considered other hobbies and interests, because obviously it would be a whole lot easier for him if he just went with the flow and did the army thing too. He'd given it a fair shot, hadn't he? Well, maybe not. Buck found all that stuff terribly boring. Like when other guys in his class at school started talking about cars and sports, and he'd have to pretend to be interested and that he had half a clue what they were talking about. Buck hardly even knew the difference between a car and a truck, since they were both merely boring hunks of metal to him. As for sports, he'd rather eat broken glass than watch them. Even Jill Smith had more interest in sports than he did, and that was saying something. That's why he ended up hanging out with Jill all the time. They were just alike.

Buck didn't know how long he could continue hiding all this from Buzz, now that it was just the two of them. Buzz had been paying a lot more attention to him since his transition. Buck should have been more careful about what he wished for. Maybe it was time to be honest with Buzz. His father was just going to have to deal with it, that's if he ever got up the nerve to bring it up. It hadn't been so hard to tell him about Ripp's major, but talking about Ripp was hardly the same thing as talking about himself.




Surprisingly, pissing off Buzz hadn't been Ripp's primary motivation this time around.

Ripp hadn't exactly been planning to go into theatre. He hadn't been planning anything, really. When he had sat down to select a major, he had drawn a blank. There was no music program at LFT, so there goes that. That was really, truly, his only talent, unless he could somehow major in Sex Ed., but that really wasn't likely. In the end, he chose to do what he often did when he didn't know or care what to do: He did the same thing that Johnny was doing.




Things had hardly changed at all since the day he first met Johnny. Ripp was still content to spend his every waking hour shooting the shit with Johnny, even though he no longer needed it as an excuse to get out of the house. There was something comforting about listening to Johnny blather on endlessly, since at home, everyone was usually so silent. He never tired of coming up with outrageous things to say around Johnny, since it was so fun to scandalize him, and so easy. Ripp's crass sense of humour never failed to amuse Johnny, even if he didn't always like to admit it. Johnny would never do or say anything like that, just as Ripp could never be the things that Johnny was, so they lived vicariously through each other. Ripp had always thought it would be great to be more like Johnny. He seemed so much more well balanced.




Ripp was quite impressed by college life. Once you got past the actual classes, most of which he skipped anyway, it was all about hanging out with his friends all day. He couldn't argue with that.

They spent a lot of time playing darts, just like they always had at Johnny's house.

"So we need to prepare a five minute monologue for Thursday's class. I'm not sure which one I'm going to use, but I've narrowed it down to a couple of options. Do you know what you're using, Ripp? I want to make sure it's not the same one. I've got a couple that I like and well, I'm not sure if I should use something comical or dramatic or what... What do you think?"

"I think I wouldn't worry too much about just talking for five minutes straight if I were you. Especially not if I were you, because you never shut up."

"Whatever, Ripp."




Yes, things were just as Ripp liked them. The dorm was also completely stocked full of hotties. Something which was never far from Ripp's attention or his aspirations. If Johnny had been annoyed by Ripp's wandering eyes before, he was was becoming increasing irritated by them now.

"So, I saw this poster about a campus band that's looking for a guitarist..." Ripp was saying, then someone walked by, and Ripp's attention vanished into thin air.




"Well, hello there, sweetness!" Ripp said with a perverse grin. "Aren't you just a work of art..." Johnny rolled his eyes so hard he thought he might have pulled a muscle.

"Ripp! Could you just pay attention to the conversation for once. You're ridiculous!"

"God, I'm sorry, Johnny. I can't help it. Just look around. They're fucking everywhere."

"Yeah, I can see them too, Ripp, but I have a little something called self control! You might consider looking into it one of these days."




"How am I supposed to control myself when everywhere I look there's another beautifully wrapped present, just waiting to be opened?" Ripp grinned. "That one that just went by is something else too. She has this cute little red jacket that she wears sometimes, and it's really fucking hot in this naughty little girl kind of way. I'll bet she doesn't even wear anything underneath it. Man, I'd love to go find out."

"Ripp! That's just nasty" Johnny sighed.

"It's only natural, Johnny! It's nature. You know, normal bodily functions, like eating and sleeping. Why wouldn't I want a piece of that? She's like sweet little red riding hood, and I'm hungry like the wolf." Ripp actually sang the last part, and then launched into the entire song, which made Johnny laugh despite himself.




Johnny just didn't get it. He didn't understand how Ripp could be so focused on sex, all of the time. He figured he must have some sort of serious medical problem, or maybe it was Johnny himself who lacked a proper sex drive. Could it just be his upbringing? Sex was hardly discussed at all in the Smith household, but then again, Johnny was sure that General Buzz and Ripp did not sit down on a regular basis to chat about it either.

He didn't understand it at all. And Ripp had gone on to do what he said he would do too. He had attacked little red riding hood, just like a wolf in heat.

I howl and I whine, I'm after you...




Johnny didn't know how he managed it. Ripp seemed to be able to just march up to them, puff up his chest, say something completely ridiculous, and then the next thing you knew he'd be pawing them all over on the couch. Or worse. Maybe tearing at their flesh with his teeth.

Johnny wondered what exactly it was about Ripp that made every single sim within a twenty foot radius turn to putty in his hands. It couldn't possibly be his technique, because he didn't really seem to have to do anything. Johnny tried to imagine himself in Ripp's place. If he did that, would it work for him too? It seemed rather hard to believe, and he couldn't imagine that he'd ever test it out.




Living together was certainly a learning experience for all of them. Ripp previously had no idea that Johnny was quite that uptight about sex. Well, Ripp had no intention of letting Mr. Morality ruin all of his fun.

The shower situation pushed all that openness to the limit, since they had to share the one shower area, which was an open room, just like in the military. Tank, of course, being the military dicksmack that he was, just marched in there are got his kit off like it was nothing, but Ripp was surprisingly reluctant about it. It's pretty bad when you can't get ten minutes alone with yourself in the shower. At least he didn't have to share a bedroom with anyone.




It's not so much that Ripp felt he had anything to hide, because like everything else, he thought he had done pretty well for himself, but he just preferred to keep his cards hidden. Showering with his brother was a new experience for Ripp, and he was terrified, simply terrified, that he was going to see more of Tank than he needed to. He had always assumed that his would be bigger, of course, since anyone who was as big of an asshole as Tank was, was sure to have a micropenis, or something, but he still worried about it. If he discovered otherwise, he'd be scarred for life.




Showering with Johnny was even weirder. Ripp had a seriously morbid curiosity about whether his best friend had beat him out in yet another area, but he wasn't about to embarrass them both by letting Johnny catch him looking. Johnny clearly thought he was a complete perv already, and Ripp didn't need yet another hissy fit from Johnny the prude. Still, he tried to look out of the corner of his eye, without turning his head. He just wanted to know how different aliens were from other sims, right? And dear god, was Johnny really green everywhere?




Ophelia, luckily, didn't have to shower with her friends. God knows that Ripp would have had a very hard time keeping his eyes on the wall if Ophelia had been showering in the same room, as beautiful and shapely as she was. It was bad enough as it was now.

Ophelia had become more withdrawn since the episode with Olive. It had really put her life into question, and she had stepped back from a lot of things to reconsider her priorities. Lately, she spent all of her spare time arranging flowers, and thinking about her own mortality. She'd used the money that she received from her Orphaned Sims Assistance Fund scholarship to purchase the supplies and the workbench. It felt good to make something beautiful from the flowers, which bloomed so briefly, and then, once cut, would surely wilt and fade away with time.




Ophelia also found that by living in the same building as Tank, she began to see him with more sympathetic eyes. She found herself talking to Tank more and more. He really wasn't such a bad guy, she thought, and he deserved to be given more of a chance. Ophelia was willing to leave the past behind if Tank was, and he seemed to understand and accept this offer implicitly.




"So, what did you decide to pick as your major, Ophelia?"

"Oh, I'm doing Psychology. Nothing special."

"That's interesting. So do you understand why we do all the stupid things we do yet?"

"Not yet, I'm afraid, but I have a bunch of chapters that need to be read by tomorrow, so maybe after that..."

"I'll bet that you really do know what sort of problem I have, but you just won't tell me."

"Well, if I figure it out, I'll let you know, Tank." She had just started reading a chapter on Freud, and had actually been analyzing the Grunt brothers as she read it , but she wasn't about to tell him what she thought. She wasn't sure she really bought into the whole Freudian thing anyway.




"And you've been making flower arrangements too? You're pretty busy. I saw some of your bouquets. They're very nice."

"Oh, you have? Really?" She tried to shy away from a discussion about the flowers. It felt too personal.

"Yeah, there's a bouquet in Ripp's room, right? I was sure that he said you made it."

"Yes, that's right." The one that she had given Ripp was the best one she'd made so far.

"Well, it's nice. Really nice. You're very talented."




"Why, thank you, Tank. How nice of you to say so." She smiled.

Tank was really happy to be able to talk to Ophelia. She was a very patient and understanding girl. He'd never understood why she chose to hang around with Johnny and Ripp, who were obviously the world's two biggest assholes. She was completely different from them, at least to Tank's eyes. What could she possibly see in them?




He was caught in a conversation with her one afternoon, when Ripp walked by and saw them. The look on Ripp's face was very intent, but Tank couldn't read it. It seemed slightly possessive, but also... motherly, maybe? Or was it just his hair that made Tank think that? Ripp seemed determined to grow his hair out until he looked exactly like a girl. Well, maybe a really ugly girl, but a girl nonetheless. All to make some petty point to their father. He pissed Tank off to no end, and Tank often had to make a conscious effort to not simply grab Ripp by his stupid hair and shake him.




The look Ripp had given him had been really weird. It wasn't the usual vacant look he associated with his brother, but it wasn't really an angry scowl either. It didn't make any sense at all to Tank, but he was careful to make sure that Ripp wouldn't get the wrong impression of his friendship with Ophelia. It wouldn't be very good if Ripp thought that something was going on between them, and then passed that message on to Johnny. Tank didn't need Johnny going off on him in a flurry of righteous anger.




Would Johnny's rage be justified? Maybe so. Tank actually did like Ophelia, and he might have even worked up the courage to eventually ask her on a date, if it wasn't for Johnny.




Back home, Tank's father had been doing quite a bit of dating lately, though the boys were mostly unaware of it. He was lonely. Raising three sons as a single parent had taken up a lot of his time, so he had been able to keep his mind occupied, but now, as they moved out on their own, he faced the long hours of each day alone.




He had certainly caught the attention of most every women in Strangetown who was interested in such things. He was an attractive man, in peak physical condition. He was also a successful General, and pretty well off because of it. He was one of Strangetown's most eligibile bachelors, if you didn't mind the baggage of his missing wife. It's not like Buzz talked about it all that much, so most sims probably didn't even realize that he'd been married already, and had never technically been divorced.




It wasn't unusual to find Buzz out and about in Strangetown and Sim City on the weekends. Saturday was always a day off in the Grunt household, and it was the only day on which Buzz let his metaphorical hair down.




He had his choice of women, really, but Buzz was extremely selective.




It wasn't that he couldn't find many attractive prospects, because he certainly could. There were many lovely ladies, but none of them quite measured up in all the ways that Buzz needed them to. Sure, he did have a little fun here and there, like with Genesis, but he was looking for something more long-term. Lyla's disappearance had left a significant void in his life, and while he'd never really replace her, he hoped to find someone that could be his wife.




He knew that he'd found what he was looking for when he met Elise Pearson.




Elise was a bartender, and Buzz had seen her around town. He'd noticed how beautiful she was, with long silky blond hair, just like Lyla's, and she just seemed right somehow. Of course, she was usually busy with customers, so Buzz didn't have much of an opportunity to speak with her. Finally, he decided to wait around until her shift was over one evening, so he could talk to her.

It turned out that they had even more in common than Buzz had expected.




Buzz, never one to be shy about going after something he wanted, had asked her to dance.




That was all that it took.




Buzz could really see things getting serious between them, but he wasn't going to rush into anything this time. He'd learned enough to know better. He didn't want to make the same mistakes the second time around.

He also had the boys to consider. If he would be getting re-married, they'd have to deal with it too. It's not like Buzz needed their permission, but things would be a lot easier for everyone involved if he could at least get their approval. It was not something to approach lightly, and he knew it.

Things had been going rather well with him and Buck lately, so he thought he'd tell Buck first. He'd understand better than the other two would, Buzz figured. Then, if Buck thought it was a good idea too, they could all have dinner together to discuss the news. Buzz was waiting for the right moment, and it hadn't really arrived yet.




Buck was also waiting for the right moment to approach Buzz.

He really wanted to redecorate his bedroom. He'd been dreaming about it for years, and had been pouring over those home design catalogues, sketching out ideas, and picking up paint samples. He had a pretty good idea of what he would do. The one problem with his plan, of course, was his father. He'd have to ask permission, which was scary enough, but would Buzz even let him do it? Or would he be angry at the very notion of it?




Buck found himself unable to put it off any longer, because it kept him up at night, and so one day he just asked.

"Dad, how do you feel about letting me paint my bedroom?"

"I don't know, Buck... didn't we paint the house just last year?"

"I mean, paint it a different colour." Buck gave Buzz a sheepish grin. "And maybe make a few other changes too?"




"I don't know, Buck..." Buzz seemed pretty reluctant at first. "It seems like you could find better things to do with your time."

"But this... This is what I want to do with my time, Dad." He admitted. "This is the only thing that really interests me at all."

Buzz sighed. He already knew that this was true. He wasn't blind, afterall. Or stupid. He knew that Buck spent a lot of time upstairs painting pictures of ornate interiors.

"Okay... well, let me see... how about this?" Buck was all ears.




"I suppose I'll let you do it, but only in your bedroom. We can always repaint it when we redo the house again."

Buck held his breath, waiting.

"I'll give you some money to get the supplies, and I guess you can do whatever you want with it, as long as it can be undone, or removed, at a later time."




Buck couldn't help himself. He gave his father a giant hug. It was certainly a rarity in the Grunt household.

"Thanks, Dad!"




Buck had never been more excited in his entire life. As he left for school, he could barely contain himself. In fact, he did jump around and dance, once he got outside the house. After school, he'd drop by the home renovation centre and pick up his supplies. Then, he'd begin his masterpiece.




It took him over a week, but he was very pleased with the results, and he'd done it for well under his budget too. It was hardly elaborate, and he'd have done so much more if he'd been given more money, but he thought that this was a rather nice first effort.




When Buzz got home from work that day, he went to see how everything was going with the room. He hadn't checked in on Buck since he'd barricaded himself in there a week before.

Buzz looked around the room in complete disbelief. His son, his very own son, had done this. It was almost inconceivable, but it really was beautiful. Like something that Lyla would have done if she were still around. He really did miss her feminine influence on their home.




It seemed as if Buck, despite the General's best intentions at shaping him otherwise, would now be providing that missing feminine quality.

Buzz sighed. Was he really going to allow that? Well, what choice did he have, really?




He didn't want to mess up with Buck the way he'd messed things up with Ripp, that was one thing he did know for sure. He'd made some terrible mistakes with his volatile second son, and their relationship had quickly spiraled out of control. How many times had he wished that he knew what to do to with Ripp? Everything that had worked so well with Tank just failed miserably. Then, he let his anger get the better of him every time, which only seemed to build up Ripp's defenses against him.




Perhaps he should choose to lose this one battle for the sake of the larger war. Yes, sometimes the best way to win was to look at the bigger picture. He decided then and there that he would just let Buck be. It wasn't his first instinct, but it did seem like the better idea. He took a deep breath.




"This looks great, Buck." He congratulated him. "You did a really nice job."

"Really?! You really actually like it?" Buck couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Yes, I really do. You should do something with the rest of the house too." Then quickly added. "Maybe not the purple, but we could probably use a curtain or two..."

Buck pulled his father into a warm embrace. "Thank you, Dad. I really appreciate it." Buzz just smiled.




After his father left the room, Buck settled down to do his homework, like he always did at that time. As he sat down, he could feel the leftover money from his project moving around in his pocket. He had supposed that he would just invest it, since that was the sensible thing to do, but then he thought of something else. He suddenly had a great idea.




He knew exactly what he was going to do with that money. It was just perfect.




The days leading up to Johnny's date with Jayne went by very quickly for him. Was it really a date? Johnny wasn't sure what to expect. They had set a date and time, so that was technically a date, right? The whole idea made Johnny really nervous, but he was secretly very excited too. The whole thing was a secret, since he'd decided not to mention it to Ripp, and, of course, he hadn't said anything about it to Ophelia. That went without saying.

When he entered the lounge, he knew who she was immediately, of course, just as she wouldn't even need to think twice about it either. She was sitting with her back to him, so she didn't notice him approaching her. He waited a couple of moments, to give himself a chance to observe her.




There was something undeniably exciting about meeting another sim who was a half alien like him. He wasn't the only green person in the room for a change. Jayne was pretty too, in a way that was very unfamiliar to him.

"Hi. You must be Jayne." He finally said.

"Oh, hi, Johnny!" She smiled. "You're late! Here... have a seat." She shifted over. "I warmed it up for you."

They ordered a couple of drinks, just as Jayne had suggested.




"Well, bottoms up, Johnny!" Jayne smiled. Johnny quickly obeyed. After that first drink, he felt much better.

"So, let's get all the preliminaries out of the way, shall we?" She rolled her eyes, but then smiled. "I hear that you have a large family."

"Yes, grotesquely large."

"How is that?"

"Oh, it's great. My Mom has five siblings. One of my uncles just had a baby girl, and another one of them is well on his way... and, just this evening, Mom confirmed that she's pregnant again too."

"Wow. That's a lot of babies!" Jayne exclaimed. "I'm an only child, but please... please don't hold that against me, okay? I'm perfectly normal."

"Your father was abducted?"

"That's right." She went on to tell him the whole story. Johnny thought that her Dad sounded really interesting. He had always wondered what other types people were getting abducted, and how they would react to the whole thing. His uncles seemed hardly typical that way.




"So, what are you all about, Johnny?" Jayne smiled. "What do you want to achieve in this lifetime?"

"I'm going to be famous someday... a famous athlete. That's the plan anyway."

"Oh really? What a coincidence. I'm going to famous too. I'm an artist, you know..."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you should come by and see some of my stuff someday. Maybe I can do a portrait of you. You have a really interesting face." Johnny blushed a little at the last part. Was Jayne trying to say that she found him attractive, or did "interesting" mean something entirely different when it came to painting?

"Yeah, maybe I will. Where do you live? Off-campus?"




"I'm living in a smaller dorm, and there's even this other alien girl living there too." Jayne said excitedly. "Her name is Stella and she's a total riot."

"Where's she from? Did she go to private school in Strangetown too, or is she from Sim City, or what?"




"Johnny, she's actually from bloody outer space!" Jayne buzzed. "She's a total, 100%, actual, real live alien."

"Really?! Like my Dad?"

"Yeah, totally." Jayne smiled. "She's here to get an education. Of course, the aliens have their own system for that stuff too, but the real thing she's studying is other sims. She's going to be a Pollination Technician, just like your father was." It still seemed very strange to Johnny that this girl knew his father.




"Really?" Johnny gasped. He'd always assumed that only male aliens did that, but he supposed they probably used special equipment to do the pollinating, so it didn't matter. He'd never discussed it in much detail with P.T., since topics of a sexual nature were usually limited to those of the "wait for marriage" variety.

"That's very cool. I'd like to meet her... Stella, was it, you said?"

"Yeah, isn't it awesome?" Jayne grinned. "I'm totally going to ask her like a million questions."




After a couple more drinks, and a lot more talking, Johnny finally realized he'd have to get back before his excuse for leaving was no longer plausible. Nobody ever stayed at the library that late, and even fewer people came back drunk.












(Continue to Chapter 10...)

Comments

[aledstrange.livejournal.com]

Better and better! the part of Ripp on the showers made me laugh, but Buzz thinking about homosexuals actors and men in tights killed me. rolf!
Personally Buck's turning out to be one of my fav. Grunt and I'm just loving what your are doing with him here.
Johnny and Jayne look awesome together, hope that works :) .. And big Rah! for Stella getting in scene. I really like that girl :D