Chapter 51: Fun-Filled Days, Sleepless Nights

Polaris continues to sleep poorly. Sleeping in his outerwear jacket doesn't help. He can hear everything; his neighbors worrying about money, the stray dog looking for food in the dumpster, the owl scouring the woods behind his house for prey. The ghosts become more and more coherent, although still echoing, still overlapping, still flipping annoying. His head hurts. He's tired all the time. And there are only four urns in the basement, so why can he hear so many ghost voices? There have to be more than four, and every night there's more.

His grades drop because he can't stop falling asleep in class, or freaking out in the middle of lectures, or skipping altogether because he can't stand to hear his classmates thinking cruel things about him. Life pretty much sucks for Polaris right now.

Cassie picked up her mother's love of teddies.

Tea party in the bathroom, huh? Not sure how hygienic that is...

Lily gains the aggressive trait in her old age. She often targets poor unassuming Sage, growling and barking at him over nothing.

After all this time, Blaze and Zinnia are still very much in love. Though she loves being a mom, motherhood has put a lot of stress on Zinnia, and now that all the kids are capable of taking care of themselves and each other, she finally gets the chance to take a breath.

"Polaris is going to be okay," Blaze tells her, picking upon her tension. "They're all going to be okay. You're a fantastic mother, and I love you."

Zinnia sniffs away tears of relief. She's needed reassurance for a while now, and just hearing those words from the man she loves makes everything feel okay.

"What're you reading?" Polaris asks his sister, even though he doesn't need to. He's learned that it bothers people when he knows things without asking so, even though it can get a little redundant sometimes, he always asks.

"It's a fascinating history of the paranormal in Storybrook County," Ambrosia says without looking up. "I was reading the newspaper, and old Holden Glover-Wozny kept writing in to complain about weird sounds and phantom smells in his house. Everyone wrote him off as crazy and senile, maybe in the process of having a stroke, but then his son was crushed to death by falling furniture."

"Falling furniture?" Polaris imagines anvils and pianos dropping from the sky, like in the cartoons he used to be terrified of as a child.

"Yeah, like, the dresser had somehow ended up on the ceiling, and then it fell on poor Sammuel. Or that's what Holden said, at least. Personally, I think he's gone mad and killed his son." It's disturbing how she can say this without batting an eye, Polaris thinks. "Anyway, it was front-page news. So I looked into it, and there's been an increase in reports of ghosts and things in town recently. But I have no idea what could be causing it. Groupthink, maybe, or something in the water is causing hallucinations..."

Polaris frowns. "Or maybe people are really being haunted; after all, our house has ghosts. But yeah, our ghosts are friendly," he adds, subconsciously responding to Ambrosia's train of thought. "Maybe something's making them mad? Maybe it's aliens?"

Ambrosia rolls her eyes. "Please stop. You're breaking my concentration, conspiracy boy," she mocks, as if a minute ago she wasn't contemplating the possibility of hallucinogenic tap water.

So Polaris wanders out to the back of the library. He feels, rather than sees, a flicker at the corner of his eye, and turns.

Ummmm, this? This wasn't here before.

"Hey, sis? Have you ever noticed a big, like, old-looking building in the back of the library?"

"No....."

"Well, there's one there now," Polaris whines. "Do you think it's a government cover-up? There must be alien technology in there."

Ambrosia sighs. "Or it could just be some old books," she says. But it's getting late, and she needs a shower, so they start heading home. "I'll look into it next time," she promises.

At home, Zinnia has prepared everyone's favorite meals in a fit of mother-henning.

Peanut butter and jelly for Sage, autumn salad for Nova.

Stu Surprise for Cassie, spaghetti with veggie sauce for Ambrosia.

When Poppy tries to eat her tail, Nova distracts her with a game of tug-of-war.

Maybe because it's the night of the full moon, or maybe it's just coincidence, but no one gets a good night's sleep tonight. All the ghosts are out, making noise and playing strange games with one another.

Alex hasn't retained much of his former self in the afterlife, but he still loves video games.

Cassie thinks she saw monsters under her bed, and opts to sleep downstairs with the ghosts for company instead. 

Sage gets woken up by the sound of some ghost haunting the dollhouse, and can't get back to sleep. He plays "capture the bandits" on the rocking horse until the sun comes up.

Polaris's head throbs with the racket. He doesn't get any sleep at all.

He's so tired. 

The next day is Love Day, and Blaze and Zinnia have a date, so Ambrosia and Polaris babysit the kids and the dogs. Nova demands to go to the festival.

Lily may have grey in her fur, but she still could never say no to a walk to the park.

Sage thinks Love Day is the most lovely of all holidays. He insists all five of them get together for a greeting card picture.

He gets something horrible painted on his face for the occasion. 

Cassiopeia has a little more luck at the face painting booth. 

Ambrosia rolls a wish to flirt with Wade Manning, but he can't be torn away from his horseshoes game. Also, she reflects, he has a girlfriend.

Pie-eating contest; a good way to earn tickets, and a free meal. 

Cassiopeia has never seen anyone eat with such ferocity. She hopes none of them choke...

*cough* *hack*

Ambrosia is determined to win, as always...

...but it's Sage who goes home with the tickets. He doesn't look so happy about winning, though, poor kid.

Wade Manning finally hops off the horseshoe court to talk to Ambrosia. They discover they're both artistic, and Wade invites her over to his house to look at some paintings.

Once there, however, she gets a little distracted by her childhood friend Ryan Manning, who has grown up into a nice-looking young man.

"I thought you were seeing Haley Barney," Ambrosia says suspiciously when Ryan starts flirting with her. 

"Nah, me and Haley're just friends," Ryan says with a wink. "Good friends."

Ambrosia is soon taken in by his easy charm and infectious good humor.

He licks his lips when they're done snogging. "You taste like pie," he tells her.

Dancing back at the Hand house.

Last moments of play before the parents come home to enforce bedtime.

A strange "gnome" makes an appearance.

All together, not a bad day at all.

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Notes -

I originally had some drama and stuff planned for the festival, but for whatever reason the lighting was all messed up, so I skipped it. :(

Also, gourmet goal completed! For a family of seven sims and three dogs, it was quite a feat. But I'm bored of it now, if I roll it a third time I think I'll use my joker to get rid of it. >.>

Next time: An investigation into the paranormal, and what's in that old building outside the library, anyway?

Chapter 50: That's It For The Other One

The snow stops, and the weather improves. Finally, spring is here. Everyone is happy about this.

Except this fairy, who is pissed.

I wouldn't worry too much, though. She's pissed most of the time.

"Stupid humans," Ahrendume complains. "Stupid, useless humans."

"You should be careful whose humans you play with," a voice says.

Rhianu has been weakened by the blizzard, but is still deadly when angered. Fortunately, right now she's just a bit inconvenienced.

"I don't know why you care so much about your stupid pets," Ahrendume says petulantly, turning around. "They're just humans! I just wanted to have a little fun with them. I wanted to see how the vampire one would kill his nephew. What a disappointment he was, don't you think? A true vampire wouldn't hesitate."

Rhianu sighs. "As inconsequential as they are, human lives are still lives. They should be protected, and nourished."

"And that is where dark fairies differ from you light fairies... Clearly humans were made for our amusement; what else good are they?"

"Perhaps it amuses me to see them flourish."

Ahrendume groans. making a face. "We've had this conversation a hundred times already! You're so boring, Rhianu. Just yell at me and get it over with."

"I haven't come to yell at you, although I could if you like. I just came to try and figure out your next plot."

Ahrendume giggles. "I won't tell! But you'll like this one, I promise. It'll be a lot of work for you to clean up afterwards, you love that."

Rhianu breathes out through her nose. "I don't love it, and you know it. I don't know why you have to create such hardships for me."

"Of course you love it, why else would you do it?" Ahrendume looks genuinely confused. Rhianu gives up. 

"Whatever you are doing, do it quickly, then," she says. "Our mother wants to see us."

Ahrendume scowls and puts the finishing touches on her spellwork. A little sloppy, but workable. Satisfied, she leaves with her sister, sparing only a glance back at the town of humans under her sister's care. This... should be interesting.

Polaris feels something, when the spell takes hold of the town. It's like a whisper, at the back of his mind, and it makes him nervous. Sometimes he wishes he could just... Grrrr!

Yeah, no. That does nothing.

Zinnia picks up on her eldest son's distress - Polaris is often distressed, but today he seems more distressed - and decides to surprise him with his favorite dish.

Homemade fish and chips. Made with fresh jellyfish from the sea. Polaris knew what she was up to a while ago, but he does a pretty good job of acting exaggeratedly surprised and pleased for her sake. The pleased part isn't an act, anyway.

(Jellyfish is quite tasty, when prepared correctly. I've never tried it fried, though.)

Polaris: "Wow, Mom! Fish and chips! Awesome!"
Me: "This house needs..... clutter."

Four-player. (I was unable to find clutter that didn't crash my game.)

Sage and Cassiopeia are not as close as Ambrosia and Polaris are, but they are pretty close all the same. They both have the Good trait and have compatibly serious personalities, but Sage is easily impressed and easily cowed, while Cassie is stern and brave. She wants to be a space explorer like her Dad, or an astronaut. She's a little fuzzy on the difference between the two.

Ambrosia likes chess, and recruits Polaris to help her cheat. He reads his father's mind and tells her what his next move will be via a series of complicated hand gestures they came up with while pretending to play dominoes. (Actually playing dominoes against Polaris is impossible, because he always knows what you're going to do next.)

Blaze has mastered the logic skill, and was a genius since toddlerhood, so his constant losses confound him. There's no way his daughter won't be a genius when she ages up, he thinks, not without some pride.

Polaris eventually tires of this game and wanders off to play the piano. He finds that playing piano helps block out the intrusive thoughts of others, and even though he's been trying to learn to use his power better lately rather than suppressing it, sometimes blocking them out is very necessary. Like when both his parents are mysteriously missing from every room and the door to their bedroom is firmly shut.

But lately, he really has been honing his skill a lot. He can predict his father's chess moves with scary accuracy, and always knows what his mother plans to make for dinner. He wonders if, if he concentrates, he could predict the more-distant future with his telepathy. He scribbles a note to Ambrosia asking her to research precognition for him - he knows if he doesn't write it down, he'll forget right away. He's absent-minded like that.

While plonking his fingers inexpertly on the keys, Polaris fantasizes about growing his hair out.

...........What was he doing, again?

Synchronized bedtimes. Heh. Tomorrow is the first day of school in over a week.

In the morning, Polaris worries over school. Being a telepath gives him added anxiety about what people will think of him - because he has to literally listen to what they think of him.

It doesn't help that the bus doesn't come up the dirt road to their house, so Polaris has to ride his old bike to school with his kid siblings.

Physical exertion? No, thank you!

The day is uneventful for everyone but Polaris, who gets in trouble for trying to hide in the janitor's closet to avoid the overwhelming rush of thoughts in his head. So much time spent at home with only his siblings for company has made him forget how loud people can be. He also makes friends with Reynaldo McClellan, whose father is mean-spirited, grumpy, AND evil.

Bonding.

Ambrosia doesn't bother trying to make friends, since her birthday is tomorrow. And who needs friends when you have dogs, right?

... Actually, Ambrosia does not like dogs at all. So this sucks.

Reynaldo McClellan doesn't want to go home, due to his father being the actual worst, but he won't admit it so Polaris takes it upon himself to invite Reynaldo to stay the night. Rey scowls at first, but at Polaris's earnest, slightly-goofy expression, he accepts, and kips on the sofa that night.

Ghosts. The rest of the family doesn't question them, but Polaris hates them.

Lately the voices have been easier to discern - he can almost understand them, now - but that makes them harder to block out, as well. And is it just him, or have they been getting louder recently? And... more numerous?

When he can't sleep, he gets up to make sure the ghosts haven't messed with the sinks. Or the stoves. Or the sinks again.

It's exhausting.

Quick interlude! Sage goes to a friend's house! His friend has a pool! Sage is jealous of the pool!

Wait.. doesn't this pool have a rather odd shape?

.........................

Interlude over.

Nova and Ambrosia celebrate their birthdays together with family! Child Nova is... a bit eccentric.

She helps cheer on her older sister as she steps up to the cake...

Finally, Ambrosia joins her older brother in teenagerhood.

An artistic genius. How... annoying.

Random shot of the back of the house. It's spring now, but the frost that's still on the ground is a convenient excuse for why their holiday lights are still up.

Now that Ambrosia is a teen and on the same schedule as Polaris, she promises to help him start looking for answers about the supernatural events that seem to plague Pol. But she also thinks he should be doing some work of his own.

"You could at least get Mom and Dad to move the goddamn urns out from the basement, so you don't have to listen to the ghosts all the time," she says. "If you'd just stick up for yourself..."

Her suggestion is met with a surprising amount of resistance.

"I can't!" he shouts. "I can't, they'll find out and Dad's alien friends will take me away for experiments! And they'll develop technology to wipe us all out, don't you see?!?"

Instead of reacting like she used to, with teasing or rolled eyes or punches, Ambrosia gets mad. "Why do you have to be so damn crazy all the time, Pol?? It's not funny or cute!"

It's not something he's ever heard from her before, even in her thoughts, and it sets Pol off. He's used to hearing disparaging thoughts in the heads of his other siblings, his classmates, even his parents unintentionally hurt him when they worry. But never Ambrosia. He begins to freak out, tearing at his hair and clawing at the air. Blaze and Zinnia come running, and as soon as the situation is explained, through Ambrosia's tears and with no help at all from a literally barking Polaris, Ambrosia is made to apologize and Polaris is told sternly to snap out of it.

Apology accepted; Polaris doesn't need to read her mind to know how sincere she is.

Nova decides she doesn't want to share a room with Sage anymore, and she wants to bunk with Cassie instead, though she insists on a different bed than the pink one with unicorns that Ambrosia used to use.

Owls on her headboard is.... the best idea.

Nova is a dog person; her favorite of the three is Poppy, who sleeps curled up next to her new bed.

This new sleeping arrangement is not a problem with Ambrosia; she doesn't get along with Cassie anyway. She moves into a small room in the attic.

(Her favorite paintings were moved up after pics were taken)

The bathroom, because I feel like showing off.

The rest of the attic is mostly storage, but Ambrosia thinks it's still a pretty neat place to have to yourself.

She practices cool greetings and snide comments in the mirror, preparing for the wild jungle that is high school.

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Notes -

Fairies are weird. There are at least two types of them, and they are arrogant. If there are discrepancies/goofs in lighting or outfits or whatever, I apologize. My game crashes a lot when I use too many cheats. It's like it wants me to play normally, and knows when I'm doing something unconventional. >.>

I didn't roll for Nova to be heir, but I like her so much now that I'm kind of regretting it. She's awesome.