Wanted Man

Time flies with only a single sim, another round complete already!

Spring was in the air, unfortunately that was the only place it was in at the moment. The ground was still covered in snow, especially up here in the north, in Chestnut Ridge, the town Daniel O'Malley and Plum had ended up in. 

They were camping at the edge of town, in an abandoned saloon. For a "ruin", the place looked rather safe and clean, but despite this Plum found her human taking a bath outside, shielded from view only by his tent.

What was the problem? Why didn't Daniel enter the house? And, come to think of it, what was this spooky feeling, that caused Plum to hesitate to enter herself?

Right. The fishlike creatures floating through the air. The gnarled vines grasping for trespassers' ankles. The mysterious symbols that were probably not saying "Smith family, pull bellstring twice". And the... rabbits?

Daniel kept his distance from all of this, but on the upside he now had a "permanent address" that allowed him to work a trade in town. A pity that the only service needed was clothes repair. It paid little, especially for one who wasn't trained in sewing and knitting. Daniel made mistakes, he worked slowl, but he didn't ruin any of the clothes brought to him even more, so that was something.
And, really, the man hated woodworking and everything related to handyness with a passion, having to do the "manly" work reliably tanked his mood. Knitting wasn't anything he particularly enjoyed, but at least he didn't die from having to do it.

The longer Daniel stayed on the lot, the more a strange purple grime accumulated on his skin, that was near impossible to wash off. The drifter had expected this "rash" to make him an outcast, but he hadn't expected the townsfolk to actively antagonize him. How long had it been since his social relations had consisted of something other than arguing and brawling? Way too long!

Neighborhood Brawl day happened during this round, adding to the experience.

Play with us, human! - Uh, thanks, I'll pass. Not that desperate yet.

Okay, the green and blue "air fishes" weren't so bad. Sometimes they proved even helpful, especially after Daniel had bribed them with something handmade, be that leftovers or plain water poured into a glass at the abandoned bar.

But at times things got so bad that Daniel couldn't bring himself to clear away the spooky vines even while being engulfed in the light of one of the holy candles he had created.

One day a red haired woman entered the saloon. Daniel had always felt attracted to red hair, so he casually took a seat next to her. Well, to tell the truth it was not "day", but close to midnight, and the red hair was really only red because the woman was a ghost and her anger had colored her whole form red.

The ghost matching his turn on made Daniel careless. He tried to impress her, first by being nice, than by claiming he was a criminal mastermind. At first the ghost listened, watching Daniel like one watched a colorful beetle. But then...

Then someone grabbed Daniel and pulled him away!

Daniel: "Hey, what was that about? - Wait, is that you, Dr. Straud?"

Vlad: "This is Temperace and she's bad news."

Daniel: "But you are the vampire of Magnolia Blossom City!"

Vlad: "And I just rescued you from this woman. That should give you an idea how dangerous she is."

Daniel: "Why...?"

Vlad: "You caught me by surprise once and "defeated" me. We're even now."

He had spent so much time around the supernatural now, yet Daniel hadn't learned a thing about its lore. It wasn't that there weren't experts, who'd shared their knowledge, or seance tables for home training in the occult arts. But schooling and equipment cost money, something Daniel didn't have. Even if he could have sold the saloon legally, nobody would have wanted to buy it.

Daniel: "I think we should move, Plum. But I have no idea where. I know what to run from, now I need a destination to walk towards to. Being a cowboy would probably be nice, but I don't have the outfit for that."

Indeed his city dweller trousers and shoes made Daniel ill suited to the cowboy profession. He didn't know that his clothing problem would solve itself in an unexpected way soon...