strangetomato | Strangetown: chapter 26.5 (Truth)

Warnings: None.

Chapter 26.5

Truth

Detective Jack Luxel lifted a book from the shelf.

After his meeting with their client that morning, he had poured through the files again, leading him to what appeared to be another dead end. It was frustrating, but he was not content to give up.

There was one detail that had caught his attention: a reference to alien abduction in the genealogy of one of the suspects. It was something that he was already quite familiar with, but one could never be too well read on the subject.

The records on alien abductions told an interesting story. The increased frequency of these occurances pointed to a growing urgency on the part of the aliens.

It was as if they were racing against time.

The records mentioned his own grandfather's abduction, in Riverblossom Hills. He had moved to Sim City shortly after it had happened, and Jack had been born there too. Jack's own family tree revealed just how linked he was to this story. He was a part of that whole thing, as much as it weighed on him at times. He was marked by it.

There had been very few abductions in Pleasantview in recent memory, but there had been a number of them, and that was significant. There had been some sightings, here and there, but not nearly as many as in that little town on the Road to Nowhere. West of there, through the desert.

Strangetown... was that where his answer lay hidden?

As he worked, he was joined by his partner, Zelda. Knowing that Jack did not like to be disturbed while he was in the middle of something, she quietly selected a volume of her own, and joined him in his research.

Hours passed.

"C'mon, Jack. That's enough for now, don't you think?" Zelda rose to her feet.

"But I'm so close to a breakthrough. I can feel it."

"Suit yourself, then. I'm going to make us a lunch."

"Okay."

When he didn't move, she sighed, but smiled. That was how he was. When Jack put his mind to something, there was no way to pull him from it until he achieved his goal.

He would not rest until he discovered the truth about Bella Goth.

A/N: Thank you to

pixelcurious and

jessicus for the wonderful sims.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah, I was thinking The X-Files there too, after I had written it. I almost titled it "Truth (yes, it really is out there somewhere)." I'm a Duchovny fan too... I think I've mentioned it before. *swoons* He falls squarely into my type.

I have plans to bring hints at the "conspiracy" (you're right, it's not quite a conspiracy at all, but I won't give more detail than that) into the next chapter or two.

The peripheral characters will be featured in very small doses, but I will digress from the main story a little. I'm thinking about side stories that will crop up here and there, but nothing too elaborate (unless I get really inspired - then I might do a little short story on the side). They'll remain pretty peripheral, since the playing field is pretty crowded as it is. Some of those who I would consider the secondary characters (the older generation) will get more play in the upcoming chapters too.

Stop trying to sidetrack me! *snicker* I really want to move the MAIN characters forward. At this rate, it will take me 20 years to write this story.

Pixel has some great sims, but I have a soft spot for Jack above all of them. He's very special to Pixel, and I can see why. Those alien eyes were made just for him - what's not to love?

Yeah, peripheral wasn't the word I wanted. I meant supporting characters. Peripheral is more the ones you only see in passing and never really get full stories from (as opposed to support staff who you know a bit more about).

*snicker* Yeah, you are the slow and steady type. The subs can get a lot of love once the mains finally escape college and return to the hood (or where ever they're going).

Pixel's Jack IS special. I was surprised when she offered him to any and all and I'm taking special care to be very kind to him in Peculiar (he's so cute and sweet, it's not hard to give him a "nice" story).

I was surprised, too. But I'm really okay with it. I was telling Strange yesterday, it's probably because he has a life for me outside of Sims. He's a character in the novel I'm (not) writing, and he originated in a dream. The sim version of Jack is literally a simcarnation of my dream man (haha!).

I won't mind if it takes Strange 20 years to tell her story. That gives me 20 years of quality entertainment. :)

Well, now that just made my day. ^_^ What a nice thing to say.

You asked for it... from here on it's going to be a day by day record of the minutiae of all the character's lives. The story will progress in real time. :P (I joke, but I think I could easily do that with some of the main characters.)

About Jack... that still surprises me a little. For me, I'd probably be more protective of a character that I had such a history with. Then again, he goes beyond the game, so that makes him more secure for you too.

I have my own characters like that too. They go way back, and some of them came from dreams. Others were toys I played with as a child - boy, did I ever make some elaborate and epic storylines for those toys. I've been doing this story thing for a long time. ;)

But really... what better way to pass the time than tell stories?

Edited 2008-08-20 16:41 (UTC)

So your burn out doesn't extend to sim story reading?

No, my failure to comment lately is mostly due to being obsessed with another game. ;) Not having a computer in front of me for hours at work contributes, too. I got a lot of reading in at work, at least on days when I wasn't in the middle of the library with my screen visible to the entire world.

I need to finish answering the comments on my post from yesterday, don't I?

Oh, I don't need comments (really, I don't, I swear) but I like knowing there is at least one set of eyeballs out there enjoying the read.

Oh, I always read and appreciate. That won't change.

Oh weird. I'm (still) rereading this and I generally skim through the comments too. I had forgotten that Jack came from a dream and was a character in a novel I was trying to write. No idea now what the novel was, unless it was the cyberpunk TamLin one, or what the dream was about. I do associate it with my parents' house though, like I had the dream during one of the many times I had to help take care of my dad. Memory is so weird.

Yeah. Sitting on their sun porch with my little iBook. I remember trying to explain Sims to my dad. He was pretty much blind by that time.

It's getting close to 20 years isn't it? and still quality entertainment. <3

You were thinking more about people like Erin Beaker and the clones, right? I've decided to touch on that side of the story a little in the next chapter. It's been too long.

Speed has never been my forte in anything I do. Can you tell? *snicker* I tend to think of the parts of this story more like episodes of a TV series or comic book than chapters in a novel - that's closer to the pace I want. There's more time to develop things slowly.

I didn't realize you had Jack in Peculiar. Is he one of the new aliens that you're going to introduce?

Yeah, "jack" (aka Achates) is a alien who'll be living (with his Mother/wife MNO) in Bluewater Village, just down the street from the Moonbleam's and Geike's (aka Hippy Community). Achates is blonde, though (needed to lighten up my hair gene pool).

That's an interesting name. Where does it come from?

There seems to be a lot of activity around that hippie community lately. I take it we'll be seeing a lot more of them in future updates? (When are those coming, by the way?)

fidus Achates (latin): trusty friend

I first used the name on a dog in Feo (who I planned to put in my Ish family, but his sibling Didicoy was chosen instead--ahh, Didicoy, the dog who lifted his leg on the heiress)

The hippy community isn't REALLY a hippy community. It's just the Moonbeams and the Larsons (who defected from the original/true hippy community). They were joined by Chester (who defected from Nocheat). The new alien hive is attracted to their lifestyle (and the big ole house at the end of the street).

They will make their debute in upcoming updates. I haven't quite figured out if Pierre meets the Moonbeam family BEFORE he takes Blossom to Vid and Piq's wedding party or after (I need to spend some time with the pictures to see how it works best).

As for updates, I'm on vacation next week so I'm hoping to get my Round Robin story out (and maybe finish posting my pixel trade asylum) during that time. THEN, my full attention can be turned to Peculiar. I have a crapload of pics, so I should be able to produce a nice round of updates after that.

Strangetown: chapter 26.5 (Truth)

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