The Parker Saga

Chapter One: Family Heritage

The actress Belinda Parker has died age 76, her agent has confirmed.

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Although she never made the leap to films, she was a popular star in shows such as Growing Up Crumplebottom and The Urbz. In her spare time she enjoyed meditating and yoga, often making posts on Simstagram about her latest routines, which also earned her fame.

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She leaves behind former actor-turned-politician husband Adam and a son, although the son's current age and whereabouts are unknown.

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***

"How was school?" Lydia asked; the twins were in separate classes.
"It was alright," Hazel replied. "Loads of people were talking about this actress who died. Someone even said I look like her."
"Who are you talking about?"
"Belinda Parker. I've never heard of her. But we do have the same surname. And we don't know anything about Dad's parents."
"Well," Lydia said, leaning forward to make a move on the chessboard, "you do a bit. But brown hair and brown eyes are very common. And Parker's not exactly an uncommon surname."

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As Hazel went upstairs to start on her homework, she couldn't help thinking about the comments. She'd never heard of any of the TV shows Belinda had been in. More importantly, having quickly checked her phone on the bus home from school, she'd discovered that Belinda had had a son, who'd been unnamed in the Simpedia article. Her dad had never mentioned his parents.

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Later, she found her father tinkering at his robotics table.
"Hey dad," she said. "Some girl at school was talking about seeing her grandparents for Winterfest. How come we never see ours?"
"Well," Joshua replied, "my parents have always been... very busy people. We simply never got the opportunity to meet up."
"That's a shame," Hazel said. "I bet they would've been nice."

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That evening, Joshua sighed as he sat down at his computer. It'd been easy to avoid mentioning his parents when the girls were small, but now they were at school and could ask proper questions. He'd seen the news articles about Belinda's death on his phone, and guessed that some of the children at the girls' school would have talked about it. Hazel had never mentioned her grandparents before, and he wondered if people had mentioned her resemblance to his mother, framing her enquiry as a more general one about grandparents. He wouldn't have had a problem confirming that she was indeed related to Belinda, but the real issue was why he'd never mentioned them.
"This does it," he muttered. "I need to find a counsellor."
Thousands of results popped up; counsellors specialising in all sorts of issues. Anxiety, depression, PTSD, personality disorders... all those and more were covered. Who to choose? NHS waiting lists were notoriously long, and he had the money to pay for private sessions.

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Meanwhile, now that Clara and Katie had grown up, Emily had decided to take them to the Magic Realm.
"Wow! What is this place?" Lydia wondered in awe. Everything around them seemed to be glowing, and the sky looked not unlike Hazel's t-shirt.

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"This is the Magic Realm," Emily explained. "This is the spiritual home of spellcasting."
"Wow! Does that mean we're Spellcasters?" Lydia asked excitedly.
"It does," Emily smiled. "My parents are Spellcasters, and I was born one too."
"COOL! I can't wait to cast some spells!"
"Not so fast," Emily replied. "I'm afraid you can't do magic yet. Spellcasting is a difficult and sometimes dangerous art, and magical law says you can't practice until you're a teenager."
"Boo," Lydia pouted.
"I know how you feel," Emily laughed. "But it won't be too long until you're old enough. Maybe when we get home I'll show you a spell."

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"How cool that we're Spellcasters," Lydia said.
"Yeah, it is," Hazel replied. "At least we know a bit about Mum's family."
"Yeah. Try not to worry too much about Dad. I'm sure he'll give us answers at some point."
"Fair enough," Hazel smiled. "Hey, look at Katie doing schoolwork!"
"She's smart like Dad," Lydia grinned. "Getting ahead on learning makes sense. What do you fancy doing when you grow up?"
"I haven't thought about it yet," Hazel said.

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Spellcasters, multiple births and all girls seem to be a theme with my stories! There’s a reason for each one, though.
He has a better relationship with his father than his mother, it’s not perfect but they are at least friends.
It’s always a good idea to deal with past issues!
I’m trying to think of storylines for the girls. I have an idea of what will happen to one of them, but not so much the others.

Chapter Two: Winterfest

The following day was Winterfest. Emily invited over her father, James. He was enthusiastically welcomed by Clara, who was happy to meet anyone new, and Hazel, who was of course particularly interested in family members.
"Hello!" James said. "Now then, which one are you?"
"My name's Clara," Clara grinned.
"Ah, right," James nodded. "You look very like your mother."

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Joshua was in the study, playing chess with Katie, who had inherited her father's cleverness.
"It would help if you were looking at the board, you know," Joshua joked.
"Yeah yeah," Katie replied. "I was just thinking about what presents I might get."

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It seemed like Clara's outgoing nature extended to non-humans...
"Ohhh! A bunny rabbit!" she exclaimed. "Let me pet you!"
The rabbit happily flopped onto its back for a few moments, enjoying the petting session.
"Hmm... I think I'll give you a treat," Clara said, mindful of the gift-giving season. "I know, I bet you like carrots."

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Emily cooked the traditional Winterfest turkey.
"This is great, Mum!" Clara enthused.
"Thank you, darling," Emily responded.
"Uh... Mum? Are you OK? You seem to have developed a rash!" Hazel exclaimed.
"Oh, it's probably not serious," Emily said reassuringly. "People do tend to get ill during the winter. I'll get some medicine and then I'll be much better."
"Oh, OK," said Hazel, feeling relieved.

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As a lover of the outdoors, Lydia enjoyed spending time outside, whatever the weather. Emily had planted a large garden, although it naturally wasn't growing much. Although fully aware that she might come across as weird, Lydia decided to chat with the plants. She didn't even mind that she got no response; sometimes it was best to share your innermost thoughts and feelings with something that would just listen.

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Like every child, Katie was eager to open her presents. However...
"A carrot???" she moaned. "Who mistook me for a rabbit?"
It wasn't even that she disliked carrots. It was just a rather lame gift when you'd been expecting a fun new toy you could play with. An edible gift would be much nicer if it was chocolate or sweets, too.

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The next day was school as usual. Clara, of course, was eager to make new friends.

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Later that day, Joshua took the girls to the park. The weather in Oasis Springs was a real contrast to Henford-on-Bagley; although he liked warm weather, Joshua always associated winter with snow rather than sun. After all, Winterfest cards always depicted snowy scenes.
His mind drifted towards his therapy appointment. He was a little nervous; he'd never fully explained to anyone about his childhood. Emily knew bits of it, but he hadn't wanted to worry her with the whole story.

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Chapter Three: Happy New Year?

Just a couple of days after Winterfest, it happened to be New Year's Eve. When Joshua and Emily came back from a trip out...
"Hey, Joshua, who's that on the front porch?" Emily asked.
Joshua's eyes widened. He recognised that blue shirt...

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"Oh no! Dad!" Joshua exclaimed. "Oh my Plumbob, I can't believe it..."
"Oh, Josh," Emily said sadly.

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Then the girls all came home from their Scouts meeting.
"It's Grandpa!" Hazel wailed, immediately cottoning on.
The Grim Reaper was impassive. He was very used to seeing families weeping and wailing over the loss of their loved ones; one became desensitised to it over time.

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That evening, Joshua invited over his old nanny, Jessica.
"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry about your dad," she said.
"Yeah, he died right on our front porch," Joshua sighed. "At least he's with my mother now."

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Later, the family all gathered in front of the television to watch the New Year countdown. They were a little subdued; it felt odd to be celebrating so soon after a death in the family. Hopefully the coming days and weeks would bring healing.

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The following day, Hazel held a meeting of her Kidz Club, which Clara and Katie had recently been accepted into. The younger twins engaged in a Voidcritter battle.
"Ha ha ha! My Wisp is so going to beat your Nymphaea!" Clara cried.
"Oh yeah? Take THAT!" Katie replied, thumping the controls.

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To cheer the girls up, Emily and Joshua decided to take them for an overnight stay in Selvadorada. Joshua celebrated his birthday there. The passage of time was starting to hit home after the past week. Hopefully he would stick around long enough to meet his grandchildren... provided the girls wanted to become parents, of course.

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"It's fun here in Selvadorada," Lydia said. "It's a shame we're not here longer."
"Yeah, hopefully we can come here again in the future," Clara replied. "It feels weird being off school, too."
"I heard there was loads of cool exploring to do here," Hazel remarked. "Some boy at school was talking about a temple."
"Oooh," Katie said. "I'll look that up when we get home."

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Sadly, Death was not yet done with the family. In the days after the family came home, the Grim Reaper came for Cloudy and Clover. Animal-lover Emily was devastated, and immediately purchased a new llama, Curly, and a new cow, Buttercup.

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Chapter Four A: Where It All Began

Windenburg was a quaint little town not far from Henford-on-Bagley. The little timber-framed bungalow in the Windslar neighbourhood looked cosy, which Joshua found reassuring.
In answer to his knock, a woman with dark brown curly hair came to the door.
"Hi, I'm Ayesha," she said. "You must be... Joshua Parker, is that right?"
"Yeah, that's me."
"Come on in."

https://imgur.com/yLgK7Tb.jpg

Although Joshua had never been to counselling before, he guessed that the room was decorated pretty typically. Blue was the predominant colour, no doubt chosen for its calming nature. There was even a little box of tissues on the coffee table. Joshua didn't know if he'd need them or not.
"So... you've come from Henford-on-Bagley, yes?" Ayesha asked.
"I have. But I grew up in Del Sol Valley."
"Ok," Ayesha said, scribbling in her notebook. "This is just a question for diversity monitoring purposes, but can I ask if you're an occult?"
"Yes," Joshua replied. "I'm a Spellcaster. But I wasn't born one, I underwent the Rite of Ascension as a teenager."
"Right," Ayesha nodded. "Are you married?"
"Yes," Joshua said, and Ayesha noticed the smile creeping onto his face. "We've got four daughters, two sets of twins. The oldest set just became teenagers."
"Do you have a job?"
"Yes, I'm a mechanical engineer."

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"So, what brings you here today?"
"Umm..." Joshua replied. It was such an obvious and simple question, yet he suddenly felt tongue-tied. There wasn't a simple answer.
"Don't worry," Ayesha smiled. "It's surprisingly common for people to go silent when they hear that question."
"Well..." Joshua said, "I didn't... I didn't have a great childhood."
But I kind of did, he thought. It wasn't like I grew up poor, I had everything I wanted... in a material sense.

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"Were you an only child?"
"Yes," Joshua said. "Mum wanted a girl... I don't know why she didn't try for another child. Unless she did and just didn't ever conceive..."
"Your mother wanted a girl? But only had you?"
"Yeah..." Joshua sighed. "She told me as much, once. So that was disheartening."
"I can imagine," Ayesha sympathised.
"I'd just told her I wanted to do mechanical engineering at university... so it all came out," Joshua sighed. "She wasn't doing as well in her career as she wanted... I'd never wanted to do acting, I preferred the idea of Scouts..."
He lapsed into silence, and Ayesha waited patiently.

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"That's tough," Ayesha said.
"Yeah. I guess I just wasn't ever good enough for her."
"Wow, as bad as that?" Ayesha asked, and Joshua nodded. "Is your mother still alive?"
"No. She died a while ago now. My dad died more recently."

They spoke a little more about what Joshua could expect from the sessions, then the time was up.
"Thank you for today," Ayesha said in the hallway. "I'm just going to give you a little homework. Would you mind filling in this form, just about your feelings, and I can determine if you're suffering from a specific mental illness or not."
"Is it a problem if not?"
"No. You may have a number of symptoms of, say, anxiety or depression without meeting the official diagnostic criteria, but you can still benefit from therapy. You sound like you have some unresolved issues relating to your childhood and adolescence, and hopefully I can help you achieve some sense of closure."
"Right. Thank you very much, Ayesha. Is it OK to use your first name?"
"Of course. Whatever you feel comfortable with."

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Chapter Five: Thinking About the Future

All the Parker girls were now teenagers. Being the most outgoing, Clara had decided to set up a club to meet other spellcasters their age.
"Hello, I'm Hazel," Hazel said to a young man with curly auburn hair. "What's your name?"
"I'm Will. Will Gardner," he replied.
"Where are you from?"
"Actually, I'm from Henford-on-Bagley," he said. "3 Olde Mill Lane, just over there."
"Oh cool!" Hazel replied. "I had no idea."
"Yeah, my mum tends to keep to herself," Will explained.

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Seeing that Will wanted to go inside, Hazel quickly exchanged phone numbers with him. There was definitely something about him that made Hazel want to get to know Will better...

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"You know... I really dig your hair," Hazel said, shyly. "I love the colour."
"I like yours too," Will replied. "It's so shiny and wavy. It really suits you."

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A couple of days later, at school, all the girls had had a career talk advising them to think about the future. As a wannabe author, Hazel hadn't really thought she needed to go to university, but now she realised that it could actually give her some good material; not many books seemed to be set at university. Plus, having a degree was good backup in case her writing career didn't take off as she hoped.
The Language and Literature degree, of course, seemed ideal. Not only would it expose her to different forms of writing, it would also encourage her to develop her charisma skills - no doubt useful if she went on book tours.

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In the kitchen...
"So, have you thought about what you want to do?" Katie asked.
"Um, I'm not actually sure," Clara replied. "A Communications degree appeals to me, but I'm not sure what to do with it. How about you?"
"I was thinking of becoming a professor," Katie answered.
"Yeah, that would fit you," Clara grinned. "Being really knowledgable about something and passing that knowledge on to others."

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As a gardener, Emily was required to improve her logic skill, so she settled down to a game of chess with Joshua.
"I'm beginning to regret this," she said ruefully. "I have no idea what I'm doing. How do people get so good at this game?"
"Practice," Joshua replied simply. "Just be patient, love."
"Patience was never my strong point," Emily muttered, surveying the board.

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The following evening, Hazel went over to visit Will. After a little bit of flirting...
"Ooh! I didn't expect that so soon," Will said.
"Oh? I hope you feel the same way," Hazel replied.
"Of course," Will smiled. "It was a great kiss."

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Meanwhile, Lydia had been getting to know the other member of the club, Rosa. As the pair chatted in Rosa's apartment in San Myshuno, Lydia realised she wanted something more than friendship.

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When Lydia got home, she knew just who to tell about her feelings.
"Hazel, I've got something to say," she said. "I'm... I'm a lesbian."
"Oh, that's great!" Hazel replied. "So do you have a girlfriend?"
"No, not yet. I don't know if she feels the same way."
"Lemme guess - is it Rosa Sánchez?"
"Yeah. She's so pretty..."
"She is," Hazel agreed.
"I noticed you've got your eyes on Will..."
"Oh yeah," Hazel grinned. "We're official now."
"Awesome!" Lydia replied. "You two will be adorable together."

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The next day was hot, which didn't often happen in Henford-on-Bagley. The girls all ate breakfast together before school.
"So, I hear you've got a boyfriend now," Clara said.
"Yeah. It's Will from the spellcasting club. He's so cute..."
"How about you, Lyd?" Katie asked.
"Oh... I haven't got anyone just now. But there is a girl I've got my eye on..."
Katie nodded, fully understanding.
"Hopefully she feels the same way. Everyone deserves happiness," Katie said.

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Lydia had decided that she fancied a career in marine conservation, with Biology the obvious degree choice. She decided to work on her fitness after school.

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On a date with Will that evening, Hazel was intrigued to see a familiar ghostly figure at the bar.
Grandpa? she thought. She well remembered coming home from Scouts that time and seeing his corpse on the porch. She hadn't realised back then that ghosts were real. She didn't know where he was buried. She was still keen to find out more about her family history, but knew now that her father would reveal his past in his own time.

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Not too far away in Willow Creek, Lydia was ecstatic to find out that Rosa did, in fact, feel the same way.
"Oh, I'm so happy we both fancy each other," Lydia said. "It'd be so unfortunate if our feelings were unreciprocated."
"I think any couple feels like that," Rosa said, "straight, lesbian or otherwise."

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After a quick kiss, Lydia was delighted when Rosa agreed to become her girlfriend.

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Once home, Lydia knew she had to tell her parents. Joshua was tired and had to go to bed, but Emily was able to listen.
"Look, Mum, I have to tell you something," Lydia began.
"Yes?"
"I've got a girlfriend."
"Oh, honey, that's wonderful," Emily replied. "What's her name?"
"Rosa. She's a Spellcaster like us."
"I'm glad you're happy," Emily said. "I know it can be difficult to come out, so thank you for sharing. I know your dad would be fine with it too, but he's really tired."
"I understand," Lydia nodded. "He works so hard at his engineering job."
(I know Emily looks a little disapproving here, but she's not! Since I don't have Pose Player I have to just go with what I can get from the in-game screenshot function.)

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Chapter Seven A: Will's Past

Not long after the session, Joshua decided to visit the graveyard and pay respect to his father's grave, as well as that of his nanny Jessica's. He wasn't sure if he was ready to come face-to-face with his mother's resting and the subsequent feelings yet.
He then happened to spot an unusual-looking gravestone nearby, and went to investigate.
Rest In Peace Alan Gardner, a much-loved husband.
There was a glowing blue stone at the top of the slab, which was intriguing. He'd never seen a stone like it before.

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A couple of days later was Spooky Day, as well as Hazel and Lydia's birthday. Emily baked them an appropriately-themed zombie cake, and the family gathered round to celebrate.

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Will came over for a visit, and he and Hazel sat on her bed for a chat. In a moment of silence, Hazel admired her boyfriend, although she also noticed that he seemed rather pensive. She hoped he was OK.

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More under spoiler:

@Lucy_Henley Welcome back from your break! Looks like I have a lot of catching up to do. Luckily I'm free the coming week, so let's see how far we can get! Glad to hear the pose player and teleport any sim explanation worked! It's such a staple in my own stories that I can no longer imagine taking pictures without it ?

Well, here it is...

Chapter Eleven: The Wedding Weekend

https://imgur.com/PVWEJuq.jpg

Oh hey, you started a new one! Joshua seems to be holding on to some issues from his past with his parents, and I commend him for choosing to deal with it now that his kids are old enough to ask questions. Oooh, and they're all spellcasters, too! I bet they'll cause all kinds of trouble while growing up. Currently Little Miss Independent is my favourite ?