Madrugada – What's on your mind? (Song lyrics inside spoiler)
You were at my door I heard you knocking but I didn't care at all I had been in all night just staring at the wall I didn't really want to see you anymore
Coming from the road You took your coat off and you threw it on the floor You said "I can't believe you wanna hurt me so" I said "I'm not supposed to be like this, you know" Well, I just had to let you go
What's on your mind? When you're lost in time What's on your mind? Tell me why Why does it have to be this way?
You were in that dream that I was dreaming I was dreaming in a dream Your nylon dress and I was floating back downstream I wanted love to come and swallow everything
Everything gets real Sooner or later, doesn't matter how you feel You slammed that door shut on the night of glass and steel I cannot blame you for believing what you believe
Well, I just had to let you go What's on your mind? When you're lost in time What's on your mind? Tell me why Why does it have to be this way?
https://i.imgur.com/WEplAnp.jpg
This story begins with a burglar outside the small Goth-Asli family's house. The family at this point consisted only of the mother, Natalie Goth-Asli and her son, Isaac Goth-Pammy. She had recently split with her partner and father of Isaac, Ragnar Pammy-Vasquez after both of them ended up in a heated debate on the sidewalk outside the convenience store, with the result that neither party were left amused...
And that was only what could be seen with the eyes of the outside world. Who knows what happened behind the walls of their home. So one night, she had decided enough was enough, took the kid and left.
Anyway, back to the burglar situation.
https://i.imgur.com/U7070zR.jpg
Emergency Operator: 311 operator. What is your emergency?
Natalie: There is someone else in the house. There is a burglar. I'm alone with my baby. Please come, quickly!
Emergency Operator: What's your address?
Natalie: Purgamentum road 9. Please hurry!
Emergency Operator: Ok, we'll send an officer over. Just stay with me. Where are you at right now?
Natalie: I'm in the bed room..
A clanking noise is heard through the door.
https://i.imgur.com/7ieJqug.jpg
Natalie: Oh God! Emergency Operator: Just stay with me. Officer should be there shortly.
Natalie: He's getting away!
Emergency Operator: Ma'am, just stay wi...
*click*
https://i.imgur.com/l8qSPPt.jpg
Emergency Operator: Hello?
https://i.imgur.com/mpNwLJ1.jpg
Natalie ran out into the hallway, but was to late. A few minutes later the sound of a police siren can be heard from outside.
https://i.imgur.com/EIL5gZZ.jpg
Natalie: I was just ready to fight him! But he got away!
https://i.imgur.com/1gbhMBo.jpg Police officer: You got unlucky, it looks like the burglar stole your bath tub. Unfortunately he managed to escape, but we will catch him next time!
https://i.imgur.com/0FS5mOo.jpg
Natalie: "We will catch him next time!" Bah, useless good-for-nothing police officer!
https://i.imgur.com/jLgu6vZ.jpg
The next morning it was off to work as usual. Natalie works at the Dreamland Parliament Assembly building at the bottom rank of the political career.
https://i.imgur.com/GbDdKWC.jpg
Natalies home is located on the east side off the Corbo Gleb river that divides the town into two parts (view facing north), next to one of the poorer areas of town where only humans live. (Purgamentum road 9.)
https://i.imgur.com/pD8y7OH.jpg
She had wanted to take a course to improve her skills in charisma, but figured that now after the burglary she would instead need to spend her money on buying a new shower to replace the stolen bath tub.
(Only in the sim world will a burglar steal a bath tub...)
https://i.imgur.com/8ainwbX.jpg
The following morning she woke up feeling nauseous from the burglary that happened just last night, or maybe some other unknown reason.
https://i.imgur.com/u4mjQRv.jpg
When she came home from work that day, she wanted to invite Friederich, her grandfather, over for a visit.
Then she had to throw up again..
https://i.imgur.com/AxO3Y8y.jpg
They understand each other perfectly, since they both share the childish trait. Yes, that's grandpa over there playing with the doll house...
https://i.imgur.com/DceZ2ym.jpg
While he was still there, she found the cause of her nausea as she became aware that she was pregnant. Though it was not something she had planned for, she was still happy about the pregnancy. Since she already had a son, she was wishing it would be a girl this time.
https://i.imgur.com/qfYkVo6.jpg
But sometimes her grandfathers childish behaviour could be an annoyance, so she had learned to counter and deflect his shivering teeth trick...
https://i.imgur.com/CCgjeeo.jpg
Natalie: Ha! You didn't get me this time!
https://i.imgur.com/nerV9r7.jpg
Friederich wasn't to happy about that, though..
https://i.imgur.com/q049xsp.jpg
..and he's actually stupid enough to try the same trick again!
https://i.imgur.com/lg2YCDn.jpg
And a third time, and then it actually worked.. and they were both amused.
https://i.imgur.com/yX9G5Tf.jpg And then they went for a pillow fight.
https://i.imgur.com/mAdDgUM.jpg
And while she was busy playing around with her grandfather, she had completely ignored Isaac upstairs crying because he was hungry. ---
https://i.imgur.com/8NMyIkY.jpg
"Here you go nooboo! Here is your food!"
https://i.imgur.com/jLYPzAB.jpg
And after she has fed him, she does what every good mother would do, of course.. neglects her kid by leaving him in the chair to go to bed.. Looks like grandpa is there still as well.... maybe he will wake up and take care of the kid..
https://i.imgur.com/cXMyPBX.jpg
Nah, grandpa doesn't care, he just leaves... time to go, see you later!
https://i.imgur.com/iyvUIoa.jpg
Isaac was literally left in his chair alone all night while mother was sleeping..
https://i.imgur.com/bDp324O.jpg
Next morning she spent a little time playing with him, before she wanted to head to the spa to get a massage.
https://i.imgur.com/aL8cqcM.jpg Picture: Outside the spa.
https://i.imgur.com/0QTBMtw.jpg
And then she spent the rest of the day at home, playing with Isaac's toys and ignoring him until he fell asleep on the floor.
https://i.imgur.com/ZJvtLDe.jpg
She found that to be very enjoyable, of course.
https://i.imgur.com/FVH2vef.jpg
The following day she went to the bookstore, to buy a book about pregnancy, which she read inside the spa's reception and waiting room.
https://i.imgur.com/xeuXStc.jpg Picture: Inside the spa reception. Eva Goth-Asli, her grandmother, sitting in the sofa to the left. I don't know where the receptionist went off to...
And so the days went, and approximately 9 months later during the fullmoons phase...
https://i.imgur.com/ucrUGde.jpg
Late one night, she went into labor. The baby was finally coming, and it was time to head to the hospital.
https://i.imgur.com/TROoFXX.jpg Picture: Natalie entering the hospital. I wish this could have been a daytime shot, but I can't decide the hour at which babies are born...
https://i.imgur.com/6S0NmQT.jpg
The freshly baked mother holding her newborn son at the hospital the morning after. She got a baby boy and not the girl she had hoped for. Nonetheless, she decided to name him Aaron, as she felt it was a name with great strength to it.
https://i.imgur.com/lsNDBP0.jpg
As they both proved to be of good health, she was released from the hospital with Aaron later the same evening.
@Sprottenham Good start for the story. I like the name, The Red Winged Angels. She is certainly not a very good mother. I do feel for those poor kids. The social worker might come if that little one keeps the lonely icon too long. :cry:
@Sprottenham hehehe what a great story! Is this what you were telling me awhile back about the different winged beings have certain color of wing based on their good or evilness? I can't wait to learn more!
The town looks so cool, is it a desert town with sandy or dirt roads?
I must say, it was totally freaky to see the burglar next to the red spattered column! And he gets away with stealing the bathtub! LOL
Haha I love how they can blow back the prank on to the initiator!
Friederich is funny to keep trying the prank!
aw poor hungry baby!
Good mama to feed some mush! :) uhoh then goes to bed! :D
oh poor little baby! trapped in the prison chair!
''she spent the rest of the day at home, playing with Isaac's toys and ignoring him until he fell asleep on the floor.'' omg and she is going to have another one! I hope the social workers won't want to take away Isaac for neglect, I never had that happen but heard it can.
Did the father of the baby meet her at the hospital?
Aaron is a great name! I wonder how Isaac was fairing well the time Natalie was away from home!
Thank you so much for reading and the comments! It means alot, especially any and all feedback I can get, because this story can get a little dark and I don't want to push it to far with that.
I started this save in mid-february (or somewhere around there..) so I already have written out a good chunk of the story. I had an idea for where I wanted it to go, but at one point it started to live its own life, sort of.. so it hasn't excactly followed my plot... It ended up going into some.. more disturbing or uneasy territory..
And that's why feedback and reactions will be important, if I can get a sense of "ok, this is perhaps to far..", but the story is already written, so I don't think there is to much I can do to make it "less dark", maybe. But I will evaluate this chapter by chapter before posting (based on feedback)... Hopefully it will be ok by most readers.
--
As for the wing colors.. the system is perhaps a little complicated. It's a colormap, with the scale going from white to black cut out. Angels with white wings are called "pure angels". They are just angels. On the other end of that, you have the angels with black wings.. and they are pure... something else...
Angels with red wings are half-breeds between angels and humans. And they can have more colours than just red, black or white, but anyone that has a colour that is not on the scale from white to black is a half-breed of some sort. There is a rank system too.
1) Angels with white wings. 2) Angel/magician = yellow 3) Angel/human = red 4) Angel/vampire = purple 5) Angel/werewolf = blue. 6) Angels with grey wings, or any combination of black/other color. 7) "Angels" with black wings.
Apart from the use of the word angel etc. this is not necessarily related to something religious or bibilical... I have completely made my own world and universe, just stealing these words and using them here.
---
As for the town itself, I wanted to give it a kind of.. warm, mediterranean-ish look. It is an old historical town and civilization that has been there for ages and ages and somehow never got wiped out..
It is a little bit inspired by ancient Middle-Eastern civilizations, The Roman Empire and Ancient Greece.. all thrown into a blender and mixed with pieces from my own head (not directly! :P) and sprinkled with a little bit of magic and Dark Medieval Times on top and brought forward a few thousand years to a more modern day area.... Since they have things like cars, tv's and cellphones...
--- And uh, no, the father did not show up at the hospital with the mother. Their relationship went south just before I started playing with them, and this point in the story line, I did not know why or what happened.
I did not directly create Natalie or Isaac. I put some sims in town, and let them breed as they wanted for three generations, and then I chose to play with one of them. Of course, Natalie wasn't selected randomly. Why I chose them has something to do with her last name and the last name of what is now her ex-partner.
In the beginning Natalie is pretty much 100 % autonomous left to do as she wants, and as you see, she turned out to be a really poor mother....
I am happy you think it is a good start for the story, though!
@Sprottenham Yes that is what I remember you saying about the wing colors! Thank you for the spoiler, but you left out Green! ;) I enjoyed hearing you tell more of the background information, and the town. That is very brave of you! I hope I can, and I will try, to give you what you are looking for in comments, but usually I just enjoy, or accept things that the story tells. You have such an interesting, creative flow!
Oh boy I hope Natalie treats Isaac a bit better now that there's another sibling! I really like the idea of the wing colours having different meanings, it's very creative
@Sprottenham : Great start for a new story! And it is about fairies!!!! I know that you´ve said that it won´t be as fairiish as mine in my story but they played tricks on each other, which is very fairiish! ;) :p >:) I wonder where this playing with fairies will get you... B) :D I wonder where this story will lead to...
@Sprottenham I really like how you developed the world and the meaning of the wing colors. I'm looking forward to reading more. I do read a few dark fantasy genre's that get quite gory and gross at times. I find myself skipping pages sometimes. :grin: But, I usually end up going back to figure out what I missed. :lol:
Chapter two – Infancy (Death whispered a lullaby – part II)
https://i.imgur.com/ahtjo5m.png
Opeth – Death Whispered a Lullaby
Out on the road there are fireflies circling Deep in the woods, where the lost souls hide Over the hill there are men returning Trying to find some peace of mind
https://i.imgur.com/qSO9jLJ.jpg
Sleep my child
Under the fog there are shadows moving Don't be afraid, hold my hand Into the dark there are eyelids closing Buried alive in the shifting sands
Sleep my child
Speak to me now and the world will crumble Open a door and the moon will fall All of your life all your memories Go to your dreams, forget it all
Sleep my child
https://i.imgur.com/jgZwX8C.jpg After Aarons birth, Natalie had turned the clock around completely, staying awake at night sleeping in daytime and leaving her kids Isaac and Aaron upstairs lonely, hungry and smelly from unchanged diapers... sleeping heavily, not even the phone ringing did wake her up..
https://i.imgur.com/YgMnMuU.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/wcP57hI.jpg
..and when she finally woke up, she was not at all happy, cursing at the young Aaron's bed for crying his little lungs out, when the poor baby had seen near total neglect by not being fed, loved, played with or having his diaper changed...
https://i.imgur.com/6yV00h1.jpg
..before favoring Isaac, the older child.
https://i.imgur.com/1Kv3OYO.jpg
It wasn't before the young Aaron was on the brink of starvation and near dying from loneliness she decided it was his turn to get some attention, just barely avoiding a visit from the social worker..
https://i.imgur.com/sqYJ1Za.jpg
Children should not be allowed to have children of their own.
https://i.imgur.com/S8019sJ.jpg
Of course, I'm being harsh with Natalie here.. she does take care of her children, but only after letting them suffer a bit first. Maybe it's the evil in her that does it....
https://i.imgur.com/miAEHJH.jpg
And shortly after sunrise, its back to sleep again...
https://i.imgur.com/7CNnlrD.jpg
Later when she woke up, Natalie wanted to head out on the town, and decided to go to The Old Weavery, a former rabbit hole rug factory, now a dance club, but the place wasn't excactly crowded and the bartenders were clumsy.... so she ventured on to The 9th Cactus, the disco right across the road, and that seemed to be a much more popular place.
https://i.imgur.com/1exmv1J.jpg
Perfect for a good night out. Never mind the kids, they will be safe at home with the babysitter! I want to party! Woohoo!
https://i.imgur.com/glmZjBL.jpg
There are only two seasons in the old city of Lagash. The dry season and the wet season. And this rainy morning when Natalie was still in bed with a dry cotton mouth after last nights partying out on the town appropriately marked the beginning of the wet season.
https://i.imgur.com/8tRQd8M.jpg
Isaacs diaper is smelly and nothing has been cleaned around the house in a good while, but for some reason or other Natalie never grew out of playing with the doll house... is this a home fit to raise children?
https://i.imgur.com/CG8leuX.jpg
Natalie was a little late in realizing there was a package in the mail... from some distant relative it told her... She wouldn't unpack it just yet, instead she decided to keep it to herself and hide it as best as she could... she contemplated getting rid of it, but didn't dare to go there...
https://i.imgur.com/M7fjjzW.jpg And finally near the end of the rainy season, she decided it was time to clean up the kitchen, probably because she realized she had filled up nearly all the available bench space with dirty dishes...
https://i.imgur.com/CcpRPAo.jpg
"If I shove this bottle down your throat, maybe that will make you shut up!"
https://i.imgur.com/WliZyB5.jpg
The babysitter (a local human teenager called Trym Hætta) would sometimes neglect the children as well in favor of watching sports on tv, but he wasn't really that bad. He did something the mother never did, which was to carry the young Aaron around. Natalie never once did that. Aaron spent most of his time as a baby lying in his crib, often feeling lonely and only being fed and having his diaper changed when absolutely necessary.
https://i.imgur.com/zbYrs1B.jpg
In favor of Natalie, it should be mentioned that after all she did make sure that Isaac both learned to talk, walk and did her best to get his potty training done in time, even though a lot of the time she had the appearance of contemplating something evil down the road.
https://i.imgur.com/prs8ugh.jpg
The weekend when Aaron had his first birthday, she was invited over to a party at Bård Gulkishar-Amdals house. Party was alright and she stayed until it was over where she ended up making out with Bård in front of his partner, Josefine Hammurabi-Josdal, in their bedroom no less. Totally not appropriate. Coincidentally Bård is also her boss at work...
https://i.imgur.com/MU66O6g.jpg
And look who is getting a scolding.
https://i.imgur.com/OpXoA4B.jpg
And then Natalie has the nerve to take a nap on their bed! She really is a good one, isn't she?
https://i.imgur.com/9elGqiv.jpg
And helping herself to a late lunch the next afternoon, even. Don't choke on that...
https://i.imgur.com/FcCmv8W.jpg
"Urgh.. this dry cotton mouth..."
https://i.imgur.com/v70TtFA.jpg
Making out with Bård again in the kitchen later that afternoon. Still no plans to go home and look after her children! And Aaron's birthday is tomorrow, at this point it wouldn't surprise me if she would miss that as well...
https://i.imgur.com/UTxBTj3.jpg
Well, so far the kids are in good hands. Borghild Rydland, another human babysitter is taking care of them, but as good as she is, she is not their mother...
https://i.imgur.com/gqFGavD.jpg
"Oh, that was a good massage, Bård!"
...their mother is busy, perhaps, stealing someone elses partner and finding the kids a new step-father?
https://i.imgur.com/OIo4Z48.jpg
Saturday just turned into sunday, the day of Aaron's birthday, and she is still not home. And Josefine is nowhere to be found, I wonder where she went.
https://i.imgur.com/Xikagaw.jpg
Well, speaking of the... there she is. Natalie was upstairs in the kitchen helping herself to a meal, when a dispute was heard in the hallway downstairs.
Josefine:Why is that @#$! still here? What are you doing!?
Bård: I'm sorry sweetie, I just wanted to know her star sign..
https://i.imgur.com/BTAsD9f.jpg
Josefine: Her star sign!? You have no idea how angry I am right now... you can burn in #$%&, you £#@%& $¤#£@!
Bård: You have always been my sweet flower, you know that...
https://i.imgur.com/Nc7VLuq.jpg
Josefine: Get out of here, Natalie! Bård is mine, go home to your kids!
https://i.imgur.com/Y6nwYJ9.jpg
Sunday morning, Aarons birthday, and Natalie is still over at Bårds house being intimate. She hasn't learned a thing!
https://i.imgur.com/DAIVMq4.jpg But things took a turn when she after a while shows her inappropriate side, dishing out offenses.
https://i.imgur.com/oLiIGjx.jpg
After which the flirtatious advances from Bård are not well received. Then she tries to kiss him, but he rejects. Did you just destroy it for yourself now, Natalie?
Maybe so, because after this their interactions are no longer romantic. She proceeds to discuss politics with Bård, before taking a nap on his bed once more. She hasn't slept all that much over the weekend and her energy is getting low.
https://i.imgur.com/CQ6cEwB.jpg
It's pretty bad she hasn't been home since Friday afternoon, leaving Borghild all alone to take care of her kids throughout the weekend.. and with Aaron soon about to age up.
https://i.imgur.com/zh5Tx9K.jpg
Well, it appears Natalies rude behavior and the political discussion wasn't quite enough to kill off the romantic feelings, because here they are again, kissing each other in the bedroom.
https://i.imgur.com/VOdYvKO.jpg
Yeah, as would be expected by now, Natalie is completely missing out on Aaron's first birthday as she is still over at Bårds house napping in his bed by Sunday evening...
https://i.imgur.com/LrqUAEE.jpg
...only the babysitter is there with him. Well, until she leaves the room to take care of Isaac downstairs... This is the moment were Aaron was left on the floor to age up to a toddler, all alone in his room.
https://i.imgur.com/sOsKxcO.jpg
..and Natalie, having just finished her nap is still over at Bårds house, helping herself to a drink, no intention of going home to her kids! What a great mom..
