Chapter 10: The Hands Take France

One morning, Alexander surprises his wife with a flower in a box. "I know you were worried about having kids so late, and I don't want you to stress out about death, it's not healthy. So I got you this flower." He explains the legends surrounding the flower, legends that say the flower can give you the upper hand when Death comes for you. "I don't know if it works that way, exactly," Alex says, "but if it doesn't, you can still look at it as kind of a good-luck charm for long life, right?" Alex is a bit nervous about how his wife will react to such superstition, but Shanti is elated. After all, it's not superstition if it works, right?

"I kept one for myself," Alex says. "Just in case."

Rosalind often spends the night at the Hands' place. It's a lot cozier than her own drab house.

Neither of the girls wants to invite the newspaper kid in, Rain because she's creeped out by him, and Rosalind because she'd rather not have to deal with more than one person at a time, thanks.

Breakfast.

"Have you girls finished your schoolwork?"

Of course they have. "Come play chess with me, then." Shanti demands.

Rain doesn't mind.

Alex watches.

Logic is a valuable life skill.

So is pillow fighting. Rain throws a slumber party to try out her technique on new targets.

She puts a stop to the games as soon as she learns that Marlin and Earl haven't finished their homework, yet.

"It's important to introduce discipline to your routine early in life. No, do number 3 again."

Her friends kind of hate her, but their grades are up because of her, so it balances out.

Alex interrupts the party to say happy birthday to Ida!

Rain loves her sister too much to be peeved at the disruption.

Child Ida is not sure about this haircut.

She gains the excitable trait to go with her brave and eccentric ones.

The party continues:

Alex finally breaks out the guitar he received several chapters ago on Snowflake Day, and Ida introduces herself to all of her sister's friends.

(Earl had to go home early).

Marlin and Ida are fast friends, while Rosalind has trouble with the computer.

Finally, after a bit of nighttime Frisbee in the yard, Rain, Marlin and Rosalind decide it's time to tuck in.

In the middle of Alexander's vegetables, apparently.

In the morning, Rain wishes her sister a happy birthday, since she didn't get a chance to last night during her own sleepover party.

Since both girls are old enough to travel now, the Hands plan a trip to France. "It'll be like an anniversary trip," Alex tells Shanti. Today is the first of Summer, so it really has been exactly one year since their honeymoon.

Their parents want some time to themselves, so the girls are free to explore France as they wish. Rain insists on visiting La Galerie d'Art, but they spend about two minutes looking at art before they're playing tag in the museum.

Shouldn't there be someone here to tell them to stop...?

After spending a few hours reliving their honeymoon, the parental units part ways. Alex pays a visit to old Jean Luc Pivert, and Shanti sits down in the middle of the road to take in the atmosphere and meditate.

When Alex arrives at the Pivert mansion, he notices two things. First, Jean Luc isn't wearing any pants. Second, he seems to have just got done having an animated discussion with his trash can.

Alexander is a nice Sim, so he tries to hold a conversation for as long as possible, but when Jean Luc starts waving his arms and screaming, Alex realizes he's getting nowhere with this guy and leaves.

Meanwhile! Shanti is meditating peacefully when she feels something shift inside her.

She notes, with absolute calm acceptance, that she is now floating several feet in the air above the street. She realizes she should probably feel alarmed or confused by this, but the only thing she feels is a peaceful rightness. She imagines herself in a peaceful place, an island perhaps, hot rock beneath her feet, a blue expanse of sky ahead...

With a soft feeling of fading, of shifting, of coming back, and then of floating downwards, Shanti realizes she's somewhere else entirely.

It's an island, not quite the one she was imagining, but close. Shanti gets up to explore.

She finds some interesting-looking grapes, and picks some up for Alexander. He uses a lot of grapes in his nectar; he would probably be interested in something like this.

She also finds a bit of rubble, which she clears out first with a brush, and then with her bare hands.

She finds a valuable relic, a common relic, and what looks like a sarcophagus fragment. She decides that they would look great displayed in her home.

For a little while Shanti is worried about how she'll get back to the hostel, but she realizes that the same thing that got her here would probably get her back just as easily. She sits down to meditate again, striving for that focus that allows her to be transported to any place she imagines.

Ida wants to meet some French children, so naturally they visit the cemetery. 

There's no one there, but the girls decide to take a tour of the mausoleum while they're there.

Well, Rain goes on the tour while Ida, the braver one of the two, explores the catacombs. Rain finishes first and finds this kid wandering around outside.

His name is Alain Lefebvre and he likes to play tag.

Ida joins them after a little while.

Finally, it's time to go back to base camp. Rain sits by the fire pit with a book while Alexander lights a fire.

Alex and Ida are just getting into a conversation about local butterfly species when Shanti materializes behind them. The first thing she does is pig out on ice cream. She hasn't eaten all day, being stuck on that island.

"...Do I even want to know why you look like this right now?"

The second thing Shanti does is tell her daughter to take a bath.

The rest of the family dines on food roasted over the fire pit before it's time for bed.

The girls, exhausted, collapse into bed, asleep before their heads hit the pillows.

Alex and Shanti also head to bed, but they don't sleep. At least, not right away.

;)

------------------------------

Notes-

I like this chapter.. I've always enjoyed the child stage. Also, I noticed my blog is a little picture-heavy, so I'm trying to introduce more dialogue and stuff into my chapters. I'm not very good at it yet, but I'm trying!

Oh and! I forgot to mention traits. Ida is Brave, Excitable, and Eccentric.