Two things
1. I lied, there's a bit of Aqil in this
2. Because Raph is lo solo for much of this, I had to stick his inner-monologue in here to stop some bits from just being a ton of photos


47 - Homecoming

Aqil

“Hey stranger. Where's the other half?”

“Gone home for the weekend. At the risk of sounding like a stereotype, I do like your hair, Eshe.”



“Yeah? I got so fed up of styling it. I was like, I’m going to cut it all off, just cut it all off. Then I freaked out and nearly booked an appointment to get a weave.”

“No, don’t do that, I like it.”



“Awww, thanks. Yours is…shorter.”

“Ugh, don’t talk about it. I hate it. It was Raph’s stupid idea – you’ll note he hasn’t had HIS cut shorter.”

“Of course he hasn’t, if he gets his hair cut how will he look like he’s in an espresso ad all the time? So, are you going to go get me a drink?”



“I don’t know. Are you going to get ME a drink?”

“When I’m earning what you’re earning, I’ll buy you a drink.”



Aqil ends up paying.



“When we’re in France, you’re buying the drinks.”

“We’ll see about that. Advance warning, me and Mel have decided we’re going to pick up French boyfriends at your wedding.”



“You don’t speak French. You pronounce voilà, ‘walla.’”

“Doesn’t matter. France is a paradise of soulful young men with beautiful dark eyes waiting for girls who can’t be bothered learning their language to sweep them off their feet. And I will not have you telling me otherwise.”



“That’s not really…”

“And I will NOT hear otherwise.”



“Never mind, my wedding is going to be such a stress filled nightmare I won’t have time for your delusions anyway.”

“How come?”

“Because no two members of our families are going to be happy with the same ceremony?”



“You’ll be fiiine. Raph’s terrifyingly organised, he’ll sort it out.”



“I don’t think this is one of those problems that can be solved by alphabetising.”



“Just think of it as an extension of his job. He can direct your guests. -‘Hey you, what in the hell do you think you’re doing sitting there?’ ‘Oh you did NOT just stand up at the wrong point’”



“Hahaha.”

“‘Everyone! Do not talk whilst I have my hand in the air, you hear? NO TALKING.’ See? Sorted.”



"Mmmmmm, maybe you're right. Talking of Raph, I really should call him. Just give me two seconds, I'll be riiiight back."



Raph

Just go up to the door and ring the doorbell. Simple. Right? Right.



Worst-case scenario, they don’t want anything to do with me and my life just goes on like it is right now.



“He—...oh.”

Is he going to say anything?



“Can…can I come in?”

“I guess.”



“Ann. Guess who I found?”



“Is that Joan? I was just thinking ‘you know who I should go-’”



"Oh."

She looks different. Older. Go figure, Zach, of course she looks older. Huh, are those different counters? God, what is wrong with me? Who gives a crap if they’re different counters.

"We should...go...the..sit down."



“Sooooo…”

Say something. Say something, now.

“…you guys’ve done up the kitchen, huh?”



“Where in the hell have you been?”



“I’ve…wait, didn’t Caleb say we were living in the same town?”



“Yes. But we want to hear it from you.”



“Did he mention Aqil?”

“A what?”

“Ah-keel. It’s a name. My…roommate’s name. Caleb met him.”

You’re a darn coward.



“I see. That doesn't answer the question.”



“Well…ummm…I was in France. For around a year, maybe? Caleb found that out somehow, right?”

No response. Okay. Just keep talking.



“That was right after I…after I left. Then I moved to Bridgeport and I’ve, uh, got an apartment there. And w…I spend lots of time in LA. Which is-”

Oh my god, is mom crying?!



“I’m sorry, I…I can’t do this.”





“Maybe I should come back later.”

Maybe I should curl up into a ball and die.



“Maybe you should.”



Could that have gone worse? Aqil was right, I should have talked to Caleb beforehand. Stupid, stupid, stupid.



Ugh, I need to talk to Aqil. Can I call him right now? What time is it in Bridgeport anyway? Oh god, I’m going to have to admit I didn’t tell my parents about him.



‘Oh, you wanted me to TELL my parents? I thought you said you wanted me to pretend you’re my roommate, make my mom cry then drink away my sorrows. Talk about lost in translation.’



Maybe I can tell them in a letter. A letter I'll deliver in forty years time. Or maybe I could put one word from it in every movie I work on. Yeah, insert the word 'Dear' in the current one and continue on from there. Put some effort into my cowardice.



The next morning…





“I thought I might find you in here.”



“I do have a hotel room. I’m not sleeping rough in the art gallery.”

“No doubt.”

He doesn’t believe me. Maybe I should show him the receipts. Wait, what? No, don't be stupid. He doesn't care.



“You always were obsessed with this place as a kid. These paintings right here just looked like a loada scribbles to me, but you seemed to see something in them. ‘Course, you seemed to think taking off was okay, so what the hell do you know?”



“I didn’t think it was okay.”



“Still did it, didn’t you?”



“I didn’t…I…am I like your brother?”



“Why would you want to know a thing like that?”



“I just want to know.”

“This is exactly why…Look, when my brother did…what he did, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Couldn’t stop worrying that whenever I lost my temper, it meant I was just like him. Like maybe we were the same somehow. I didn’t want you growing up with all that. You shouldn’t be worrying about that stuff.”

“But I do.”



“Zach, I don’t know what goes on in your head. I can’t give you some kind of break down of where your personality came from, no-one can do that. But I knew my brother at your age, and I know you, and you two are like night and day.”



“Trust me, my brother wouldn’t sit looking at these scribbles with you.”



"You know that's why I left. Right?"

"D'you want to talk about that in the art gallery?"

"No. Not really."

“Come on then, let's go see your mother."



“You can go right ahead and take a bath, we've still got some of your old clothes lying about."

"I don't really need-"

"I said you can go take a bath."



He's making me do this so he can talk to mom. I wonder what they're saying. Oh, I bet he's frigging telling her I didn't have anywhere to stay last night.



I guess mom took all our posters down.



Man, what do I even have in here? I knew I should have gone back to the hotel.



God, I haven’t worn cargo shorts for years. I’d forgotten I ever even owned cargo shorts. Aqil would find this hilarious.



Oh no. Please don’t cry again, please don’t cry again.





“I’ll leave you two alone.”

Please don’t.



“Hi mom.”

For chrissake say something else.

“…so...”



“Hi Zach.”

Awkward.



“So your dad said you were at the art gallery.”



Oh god, please don't start crying again...

Awwww.

Awwwh I loved it, I hope Raph can work things out with his parents!

I've started a wishacy, it's not much good but thought i'd post in in case anyone wanted to check it out

http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/15/533275.page

dollymixture3 wrote:Awwwh I loved it, I hope Raph can work things out with his parents!

I've started a wishacy, it's not much good but thought i'd post in in case anyone wanted to check it out

http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/15/533275.page

I hope he can work things out with his parents, too. It's funny, I get so invested in these stories, LOL

I started a wishacy too, but haven't decided if I'm going to post it as a story. It's HARD. LOL. The control freak in me is having a very, very hard time not micro managing every second of my sim's life. I may stick to just posting my 50 foal challenge and in the prettacy thread I'm part of.

Eshe was one of the minor characters introduced in the Bridgeport chapters, right? Aquil is right, she does look lovely in that hair. I'm also very impressed by her boyfriend plan

Raph's monologue was a good idea. It adds interesting (and entertaining) insight into the whole situation... His dad seems surprisingly reasonable. I like how you made the chapter nicely dramatic and not horribly over-emotional with people yelling and throwing dishes at each other Can't wait to see how the situation between Raph and his mom plays out.

@ EIisabetta I'm the same, I get so wrapped up in them, actually feel like they're real people!ha. I'm gonna check out your story when I get the chance thanks so much for checking out mine. A wishacy is so hard, I usually dictate everything for my sims as well! xx

dollymixture3 wrote:Awwwh I loved it, I hope Raph can work things out with his parents!

I've started a wishacy, it's not much good but thought i'd post in in case anyone wanted to check it out

http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/15/533275.page

Oooh, I'll check it out. I always manage to give my Sims traits that ensure all their wishes are like "read a book"...."check the sink 5 times"...I think I'd have to rethink their personalities for a wishacy, haha.

EIisabetta wrote:

dollymixture3 wrote:Awwwh I loved it, I hope Raph can work things out with his parents!

I've started a wishacy, it's not much good but thought i'd post in in case anyone wanted to check it out

http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/15/533275.page

I hope he can work things out with his parents, too. It's funny, I get so invested in these stories, LOL

I started a wishacy too, but haven't decided if I'm going to post it as a story. It's HARD. LOL. The control freak in me is having a very, very hard time not micro managing every second of my sim's life. I may stick to just posting my 50 foal challenge and in the prettacy thread I'm part of.

I'm such a control freak, it's ridiculous. I always like the idea of genetics challenges, but my towns after three generations are generally full of...not-so-fortunate looking creatures. I guess that's where the challenge comes in, right? Ismail's generation is currently just him and one other girl (who is admittedly going to turn out adorable) but I'm pretty sure the babies-yet-to-be-born are going to turn out horrible.

Tojax wrote:Eshe was one of the minor characters introduced in the Bridgeport chapters, right? Aquil is right, she does look lovely in that hair. I'm also very impressed by her boyfriend plan

Raph's monologue was a good idea. It adds interesting (and entertaining) insight into the whole situation... His dad seems surprisingly reasonable. I like how you made the chapter nicely dramatic and not horribly over-emotional with people yelling and throwing dishes at each other Can't wait to see how the situation between Raph and his mom plays out.

Yup, Eshe was in one Bridgeport update before. She had red hair and a bunhawk back then.

I'm not very good at writing confrontation (especially without swearing, heh), so everyone always has to have a fairly reasonable reaction to everything, haha. I also think if they start shouting and getting angry, Raph wouldn't have the same conflict about whether or not to tell them because when things get heated, it's all too easy to yell things you wouldn't otherwise. At least, that's what I always find...

I've realised the other young adults of Champs les Sims haven’t appeared for a while, at least partially because Mido has dated half of them, so the next update sees the return of Guillaume’s youngest brother, Lucien aka the guy dressed as a cowboy in this one photo from the Halloween party when he was a teenager. Yeaaah this is pretty much his only appearance up til now.



He is less traditionally good-looking than his other three brothers and has a bit of a case of Crazy Eyes, which is why I’ve decided I like him and want him in my story.



So that's who that is.

Hey, he's kinda cute. I think I like the crazy eyes.

I seriously love sim genetics. One of my current projects right now is a 'prettacy', an attempt to breed the ugly out of a sim's line. So far, it's a lot of fun and I'm not done with the first generation yet! Some of the kids were really cute, leading me to think 'oh this is too easy'. Then two of them became teens. Not so easy. LOL

EIisabetta wrote:Hey, he's kinda cute. I think I like the crazy eyes.

I seriously love sim genetics. One of my current projects right now is a 'prettacy', an attempt to breed the ugly out of a sim's line. So far, it's a lot of fun and I'm not done with the first generation yet! Some of the kids were really cute, leading me to think 'oh this is too easy'. Then two of them became teens. Not so easy. LOL

Same - I love seeing all the descendents of the original town running around. Unfortunately, my town's demographics are completely whack and if I want to see future generations running around, I'm going to have to stick in some new young adults soon for them to, you know, procreate with.

Teens seem to be one of the most awkward ages on the Sims - I think maybe the way they smoosh the adult features makes them look weird easily? Especially the mouth. A perfectly normal mouth on an adult can be a disaster-zone on a teenager.

kirkuk wrote:

EIisabetta wrote:Hey, he's kinda cute. I think I like the crazy eyes.

I seriously love sim genetics. One of my current projects right now is a 'prettacy', an attempt to breed the ugly out of a sim's line. So far, it's a lot of fun and I'm not done with the first generation yet! Some of the kids were really cute, leading me to think 'oh this is too easy'. Then two of them became teens. Not so easy. LOL

Same - I love seeing all the descendents of the original town running around. Unfortunately, my town's demographics are completely whack and if I want to see future generations running around, I'm going to have to stick in some new young adults soon for them to, you know, procreate with.

Teens seem to be one of the most awkward ages on the Sims - I think maybe the way they smoosh the adult features makes them look weird easily? Especially the mouth. A perfectly normal mouth on an adult can be a disaster-zone on a teenager.

Twallan's Story Progression seems to have more or less fixed the demographics issue for me. I even had to lower the "average number of kids per couple" (or whatever it's called) because the ladies in my town spontaneously began to breed like rabbits

@ EIisabetta: Oh, you're doing a prettacy? Good luck. The concept seems very entertaining

And I would have to disagree with both of you about the teen stage oddities I've always ended up with weird-looking kids, who turned "normal" only once they hit the teen stage... strange

Love the new chapter Kirkuk. I am happy to see Raph return home. So sad for his Mum. Will his brother return too? I look forward to the next update

Thanks Kirkuk i'd really appreciate it! The writing's nowhere near as good as yours, neither is the story for that matter!lol.

I've never had much of an issue with sim kids turning out bad, but I bet now that i'm doing a challenge they will!ha.

@elisabetta the prettacy sounds interesting, how does that work? xx

For those interested in the Prettacy, check out this thread. I'm not the only one posting in it but all my updates are here: http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/530162.page And you'll see what I mean about cute kids/wierd teens. LOL

The basic idea is you start out with an ugly sim (not merely unattractive) and then see how many generations it takes to breed out the ugly. Once my last two kids have aged to teens, at least, I'll be holding an heir vote so I can actually get the second generation going.

Aw I typed a whole big response then pressed a button and closed the window I was typing in. Grrr.

Kirkuk, loved the update, super awkward, Raph should have deffo brought his brother with him. His poor parents must be in such shock. Loved the inner thoughts bit too, good touch.

Dolly I've bookmarked your wishacy to read properly when I have time, looks good. wishacy's would be interesting, my main sim is insane and ususally wishes to blow things up or be rude to her daughter or other crazy things like that so it's probably be interesting if I obeyed her wishes haha. I might try it sometime.

I'm kind of doing a slow prettacy at the moment. It's more of a breed out the greenacy, it's the main reason I made Kayla in the first place. I'm still on generation two though cos I got carried away and am just enjoying playing them. She has four kids, one by Beau Andrews ( unfortunately, why didn't I choose ANY other black guy) one by a blue guy ( I was hoping for an aqua coloured kid) and two by a white guy. The half white ones are already quite different to their older siblings. Beau junior is gona marry his extremely pale white IF soon so it probably won't be long in that family before they're all white.
Loadsa fun seeing the difference in the generations.