An Alternate Slice of Reality
In an alternate slice of reality, your sims live on the edge. Once you upload them to the gallery, they are no longer safely in your hands. They are in the hands of others. Others who may not share ...
Forum Discussion
The Lake
Truths and Lies
What do you say to your dead mother who had tried to kill you on the day you were born?
Spoiler
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53149091561_09455a3c91_c.jpg
I waved and said hello. Because I was just that kind of girl. You know, the kind who didn’t really think it was strange at all to try and provoke a dead enemy. After all, that’s what she was. An enemy. And father said she would stay dead, so I decided there was nothing to fear. In all honesty, I felt fear. But I decided that feeling fear didn’t mean I was afraid. It meant she was trying to scare me. And that made me angry. And I was a bit of a monster when I was angry.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53158270555_251c32b396_c.jpg
You are an aberration. You are a disappointment. Come, throw yourself in the lake and rid your father of his baggage.
“I am living which makes me more than you.” My voice wavered.
Father was silent.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53158270580_9d76763dd1_c.jpg
She stood up and hissed at me. I am the keeper of the lake. I will eat your mind and rattle your bones and I will take you to an early grave. I will destroy your paths and make you fodder for the sharks.
I yelled back at her. “You are a dead and buried woman who doesn’t even have the power to rise up and haunt anyone unless someone else brings you up! I claim the right of justice!”
My father chuckled.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53158048609_88fe9dc422_c.jpg
She recoiled far more than I expected. I hadn’t known what to say, but I had remembered some stories that father had told me. It seemed a proper time to recite some of my favorite parts. My mother was suddenly livid and shrieked at my father. It was a ringing sound that came from inside her mind. Her mouth opened but the sound was more than her mouth could make.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53158337278_1cde68d8d1_c.jpg
What is this abomination?! What have you done?! She yelled at my father. My father remained silent. You are a useless fool who could not keep your word! You failure! You liar! What have you created?!
I was furious and could keep silent no longer. I stood up and stood between the two of them. “Leave my father alone!”
Or what, little baggage?
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53158687971_081c0e1742_c.jpg
I stood my ground and was defiant before her. “I am my father’s child and I claim the right of justice. I claim the right to your position and your power. The Queen has yet to bare the new triples. I take my right to your place in the hierarchy. You tried to kill a member of the Queen’s tribe and I have a right to justice! I claim the right to your magick. It is the way of justice. “
My father laughed , a dark and sadistic laugh.
Take your demands to the King then for I will not willingly give anything to you! she was livid and stormed back to the lake. It boiled as she entered the water.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53158270560_618a0d6350_c.jpg
I was very cross and hot with anger. Father chuckled and remarked how he thought it went rather well. He would take my position before the King. “ Mind you,” he said, “ I shall only ask for the authority your mother carried. The Queen carries it at this time. But it may be that the King strips it from her. Or he may not. But it will cause a panic nonetheless.” He chuckled.
“Will the Queen be angry with you?” I asked.
“I suspect so. But it is not like I can control your tongue." He chuckled again. “Remember, if anyone asks, anyone at all, you do not carry any magick whatsoever. See that you keep it hidden.”
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53158104362_958987c777_c.jpg
"I promise I will.”
He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Practice lying. As much as you can, practice lying.”
“I will.”
“Now I must ask you something seriously,” he said. “How many journeys have you made, using the magick?”
“Only two,” I lied.
“The mirror marks that you have made 3.” He narrowed his eyes and looked at me.
“Oh, I didn’t count one, because I failed.”
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53158688086_85800f2508_c.jpg
“Tell me how you failed.”
“I thought to go to the mountains. But I ended up near a river in the middle of the woods.”
“Going the wrong place is not a failure,” he said, with still narrow eyes. It is just a different adventure than you intended. What did you do at this river?”
“Nothing. ” I lied.
“Nothing? You traveled all that way and did nothing? That doesn’t sound like the daughter I know,” said my father. “ Would you like to answer that one again?”
I knew my father well enough to know that I would have to answer him truthfully this time. “I put my feet in the water, and my hands. It was very cold, and very clear.”
“And what else?”
“I could see possibilities in the water.”
My father inhaled sharply. “Hmmmm... And what else?” Father’s voice took a harder tone.
“There was a groaning from someone nearby. So I went looking. I didn’t see anyone at first. But then I saw a man, lying on the ground.”
“Continue,” said father, his voice was unreadable to me.
“He was hurting. So I took a handful of water and gave it to him.”
“Did you now? Did you just give him water or did you give him possibilities?”
“I just thought to give him water. To make him feel better.“ I bit my lip and looked at father with a caring look. “I didn’t think to give him possibilities.” I lied.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53158104332_36a5df8b11_c.jpg
“What happened then?” Father did not seem to notice the lie.
Then a fancy woman in a hat came down the path. I hid. She helped the man up and talked with him a while. I couldn’t hear what they said.” I lied. “ Then they walked away together, up the path.” I swallowed hard.
Father wanted to know if anything else happened. I lied and said that there was nothing else that happened.
“And your other adventures, what were they like?” My father asked.
“I went to the sea and I saw a man arguing with a woman on the docks. They did not seem to like one another."
“And I went to a city where I saw a man arguing with a woman on the street. They did not seem to like one another either.” I lied.
“Anything else?”
“No.” I lied.
“What was the reality of your adventures? Was it in the present time or in the past?”
“They were all the present time, as near as I am able to tell.” I lied.
Hnmmm... Father was thoughtful for a moment. “Have you ever traveled without the mirror?”
“You can travel without the mirror? “ I avoided the question. “ I didn’t know that. How does that work?” I asked, pretending not to know.
“It doesn’t work,“ said father, “you can splinter if you travel without a mirror.”
I felt a small jolt of alarm, but played calm as I asked what he meant.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53158892754_fca0fd7c9f_c.jpg
“When you use the mirror to travel, you cast a reflection and it is the reflection that bears the brunt of the trauma. Without a mirror, your mind bears too great a burden. Parts of your mind can splinter and create new versions of yourself. Splinter too much and you will go mad because you will have lost your mind. “
“Oh.” I said slowly, and a little sickening feeling began to creep into my belly. “And how long does it take to go mad?” I looked at him intently.
“Hopefully, we shall never find out,” said my father, and he stared at me long and cold and hard.
I waved and said hello. Because I was just that kind of girl. You know, the kind who didn’t really think it was strange at all to try and provoke a dead enemy. After all, that’s what she was. An enemy. And father said she would stay dead, so I decided there was nothing to fear. In all honesty, I felt fear. But I decided that feeling fear didn’t mean I was afraid. It meant she was trying to scare me. And that made me angry. And I was a bit of a monster when I was angry.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53158270555_251c32b396_c.jpg
You are an aberration. You are a disappointment. Come, throw yourself in the lake and rid your father of his baggage.
“I am living which makes me more than you.” My voice wavered.
Father was silent.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53158270580_9d76763dd1_c.jpg
She stood up and hissed at me. I am the keeper of the lake. I will eat your mind and rattle your bones and I will take you to an early grave. I will destroy your paths and make you fodder for the sharks.
I yelled back at her. “You are a dead and buried woman who doesn’t even have the power to rise up and haunt anyone unless someone else brings you up! I claim the right of justice!”
My father chuckled.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53158048609_88fe9dc422_c.jpg
She recoiled far more than I expected. I hadn’t known what to say, but I had remembered some stories that father had told me. It seemed a proper time to recite some of my favorite parts. My mother was suddenly livid and shrieked at my father. It was a ringing sound that came from inside her mind. Her mouth opened but the sound was more than her mouth could make.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53158337278_1cde68d8d1_c.jpg
What is this abomination?! What have you done?! She yelled at my father. My father remained silent. You are a useless fool who could not keep your word! You failure! You liar! What have you created?!
I was furious and could keep silent no longer. I stood up and stood between the two of them. “Leave my father alone!”
Or what, little baggage?
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53158687971_081c0e1742_c.jpg
I stood my ground and was defiant before her. “I am my father’s child and I claim the right of justice. I claim the right to your position and your power. The Queen has yet to bare the new triples. I take my right to your place in the hierarchy. You tried to kill a member of the Queen’s tribe and I have a right to justice! I claim the right to your magick. It is the way of justice. “
My father laughed , a dark and sadistic laugh.
Take your demands to the King then for I will not willingly give anything to you! she was livid and stormed back to the lake. It boiled as she entered the water.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53158270560_618a0d6350_c.jpg
I was very cross and hot with anger. Father chuckled and remarked how he thought it went rather well. He would take my position before the King. “ Mind you,” he said, “ I shall only ask for the authority your mother carried. The Queen carries it at this time. But it may be that the King strips it from her. Or he may not. But it will cause a panic nonetheless.” He chuckled.
“Will the Queen be angry with you?” I asked.
“I suspect so. But it is not like I can control your tongue." He chuckled again. “Remember, if anyone asks, anyone at all, you do not carry any magick whatsoever. See that you keep it hidden.”
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53158104362_958987c777_c.jpg
"I promise I will.”
He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Practice lying. As much as you can, practice lying.”
“I will.”
“Now I must ask you something seriously,” he said. “How many journeys have you made, using the magick?”
“Only two,” I lied.
“The mirror marks that you have made 3.” He narrowed his eyes and looked at me.
“Oh, I didn’t count one, because I failed.”
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53158688086_85800f2508_c.jpg
“Tell me how you failed.”
“I thought to go to the mountains. But I ended up near a river in the middle of the woods.”
“Going the wrong place is not a failure,” he said, with still narrow eyes. It is just a different adventure than you intended. What did you do at this river?”
“Nothing. ” I lied.
“Nothing? You traveled all that way and did nothing? That doesn’t sound like the daughter I know,” said my father. “ Would you like to answer that one again?”
I knew my father well enough to know that I would have to answer him truthfully this time. “I put my feet in the water, and my hands. It was very cold, and very clear.”
“And what else?”
“I could see possibilities in the water.”
My father inhaled sharply. “Hmmmm... And what else?” Father’s voice took a harder tone.
“There was a groaning from someone nearby. So I went looking. I didn’t see anyone at first. But then I saw a man, lying on the ground.”
“Continue,” said father, his voice was unreadable to me.
“He was hurting. So I took a handful of water and gave it to him.”
“Did you now? Did you just give him water or did you give him possibilities?”
“I just thought to give him water. To make him feel better.“ I bit my lip and looked at father with a caring look. “I didn’t think to give him possibilities.” I lied.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53158104332_36a5df8b11_c.jpg
“What happened then?” Father did not seem to notice the lie.
Then a fancy woman in a hat came down the path. I hid. She helped the man up and talked with him a while. I couldn’t hear what they said.” I lied. “ Then they walked away together, up the path.” I swallowed hard.
Father wanted to know if anything else happened. I lied and said that there was nothing else that happened.
“And your other adventures, what were they like?” My father asked.
“I went to the sea and I saw a man arguing with a woman on the docks. They did not seem to like one another."
“And I went to a city where I saw a man arguing with a woman on the street. They did not seem to like one another either.” I lied.
“Anything else?”
“No.” I lied.
“What was the reality of your adventures? Was it in the present time or in the past?”
“They were all the present time, as near as I am able to tell.” I lied.
Hnmmm... Father was thoughtful for a moment. “Have you ever traveled without the mirror?”
“You can travel without the mirror? “ I avoided the question. “ I didn’t know that. How does that work?” I asked, pretending not to know.
“It doesn’t work,“ said father, “you can splinter if you travel without a mirror.”
I felt a small jolt of alarm, but played calm as I asked what he meant.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53158892754_fca0fd7c9f_c.jpg
“When you use the mirror to travel, you cast a reflection and it is the reflection that bears the brunt of the trauma. Without a mirror, your mind bears too great a burden. Parts of your mind can splinter and create new versions of yourself. Splinter too much and you will go mad because you will have lost your mind. “
“Oh.” I said slowly, and a little sickening feeling began to creep into my belly. “And how long does it take to go mad?” I looked at him intently.
“Hopefully, we shall never find out,” said my father, and he stared at me long and cold and hard.
