Last Best Hope: An Immortal Dynasty - Chapter Thirty-Two (7-21-15)

[Rhoxi]

I'm loving the dynasty cabin. It looks perfectly at home in Aurora Skies.

[intl_incident]

It is. You can set them to any settings you want. I was just curious because a dynasty without summer is difficult.

Oh good.  And yeah, I am already up to Gen 4 in gameplay, and have managed to successfully garden and fish despite the limited seasons. But there were some tense moments there when I needed a Deathfish and the ponds were frozen.   Luckily they thawed in time!

Ah, I like Iris' new name for Jaffran. I'm always intrigued by your little notes on how you set up your scenes.

Thanks!  I wanted a different name, to differentiate even more between the worlds.  I blatantly stole the idea for the last name from a pitcher that used to play for my favorite baseball team.  His last name was Dempster, and when he played particularly badly, we would call him Dumpster.

I'm loving the dynasty cabin. It looks perfectly at home in Aurora Skies.

Aurora Skies and Sunlit Tides are by far my favorite worlds.  Sunlit Tides is because of the amazing lighting and the scenery, but Aurora Skies is because of the architecture and design.  I really wanted to do something simple that would fit in with the Scandinavian theme because I love the bright colors and the contemporary touches along with the clean but rustic look.  It's pretty empty/sparse right now, because of the budget, but it starts to look better as the Dynasty goes on. I really like the room I eventually built for Geoff and his wife, but you'll have to wait a few more posts to see that.

[intl_incident]

The next morning I found some more respectable clothes, and climbed up the ladder to find Astanal greedily chomping on an apple from Jonas.  He danced his front hooves against the ground as he saw me, cheerily shaking his mane, but didn't stop chewing for an instant.  I laughed, and clapped Jonas on the back. "He likes you now, for sure.  Give him a treat, he'll be your friend forever."



Jonas jumped at the sound, and immediately started to apologize. "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't know when you would wake up, and my mother said to let you sleep, and not to bother your horse, but I was coming outside, and I thought he looked hungry, and I had an apple in my pocket—"

"You just happened to have an apple in your pocket?"  I winked at him as I scratched Astanal's cheek.

"I didn't— I mean— I didn't want to—" Jonas was stammering now, so I was quick to reassure him.

"It's all right," I said gently.  "He loves apples, and you were kind to think of him.  Astanal's been taking care of me since we got here, so it's nice to see someone take care of him."

Jonas darted his eyes back to the horse with a grin. "Astanal," he repeated quietly, as he stroked the golden muzzle.  "You're a good horse."



Astanal agreed with a short whuff of breath, and then sniffed at Jonas' jeans. "You'd better keep those pockets full of apples now," I teased. "But I need to go find your mother and father, and thank them properly. And you, I think, need to go to school."



Jakob wasn't particularly thrilled with the idea that I'd be staying, but on the other hand, Jakob was rarely around to care. He had an important job at the local hospital, with long hours, frequent emergencies, and something called "golf time" that he complained bitterly about, but apparently thought was a necessary evil. 



In fact, Jakob complained about a lot of things, ranging from local politics to Iris' cooking.  Most often though, his disappointment seemed to center on Jonas, at least when he noticed the boy.  Their interests were completely different.  When he was home, Jakob spent most of his time reading or painting.  Jonas was more interested in plants and fishing and playing outside. And he was very fond of Astanal.

The more attached Jonas became to me, the more I found myself concerned about how to maintain a delicate balance between respecting Jakob's paternal role, and providing Jonas with the attention and mentoring he needed.  It turns out I needn't have worried.  Jakob didn't seem to notice or care what Jonas did, so long as it didn't disturb his more cerebral pursuits.



I made sure that Jonas kept up with his schoolwork, of course, but I also taught him how to ride a horse, how to find the best place to fish, and how to catch a ball in stride.  We gathered up scrap wood from the local junkyard -- the same place I had found my shirt when I first arrived -- and built a serviceable treehouse.   







I was making myself useful clearing brush off the Ingberg's land, and Jonas and I even started a small garden, with some seeds we found on one of our expeditions to the saltwater lake next to town.  He also showed me how to operate something called the television, and when it was too cold to go out fishing, we'd watch other people doing it somewhere else.



Iris, it turned out, was a scientist, but she was taking time off work to prepare for the arrival of a child.  I admit I was unprepared for the way that sort of thing happened here. It was nothing like home.  But soon enough, Iris and Jakob had a daughter, and Jonas had a sister.  They named her Ilsa, and she was a squalling little thing, wrapped in a pink blanket, who was completely helpless and spent most of her time lying around doing nothing.  Very perplexing.



As I became more familiar with the local economy and local customs, it became quite clear that the Ingbergs were doing much more for me that I was doing for them.  Iris assured me that they were happy to have me stay at the cabin and continue working for them, and claimed that Jonas would be heartbroken if I left.  But Jakob was insistent that if I were going to stay any longer, I would have to pay rent.  I'd become quite attached to all of them -- well, all but Jakob -- and in truth I didn't particularly want to leave the relative comfort of their basement.  I'd found a violin among the boxes and bins in the cellar, but I wasn't quite so desperate as to go out begging for tips. I'd also found an old saddle, though, and after some repairs and a good cleaning, it was good enough to enter Astanal in a local race. 



He was a success from the start, and within a matter of weeks he was not only placing well on the advanced circuit, but was a highly sought-after stud, commanding a fee of several thousand of the local currency.  He seemed to enjoy it, and I was able to pay enough rent to satisfy Jakob, to contribute to the household bills, and to set aside some additional money for supplies.  Now that I was no longer a burden to my hosts, it was time for me to turn my attention to the task I had come here to complete.

[Brooke.]

Jaffran is supermaxing riding, right? I've never attempted it with a founder so best of luck. Ilsa is a very pretty name.

[intl_incident]

Jaffran is supermaxing riding, right? I've never attempted it with a founder so best of luck. Ilsa is a very pretty name.

I tried it, but I couldn't get it finished. There was no way I was gong to be able to win enough International competitions in time.  So he ended up SuperMaxing Alchemy instead.

[intl_incident]

I started with academic research.  I kept telling myself that it was because I would need a solid background in understanding the local geography, or environment, or culture.  I tried to convince myself that I needed to make preparations; or that it was the wrong weather, or timing; or I just needed to win a few more races and set aside a bit more money... or whatever excuse I could come up with.  The truth was, though, that I had no desire to find a wife, and it was easier to make other kinds of progress.



Unknown to me, however, Iris was busily making me a match.

"...you just have to meet him, Fjord. You two are perfect for each other, and..."  Iris sighed at the response she got from the other end of the phone.  "No, I'm not trying to set you up again. Not really..." She paused for a response, and then furrowed her brow in frustration. "All right then, I am trying to set you up. But you just have to meet him. If I weren't already married..."  She made a laughing warning after listening to the reply: "Don't even start.  You're the last person in the world to give marriage advice.  Just come to the party. Please.  I want you to come, even if you don't talk to him at all. It'll be fun, and you could use a bit of that."



The party she was talking about was a combined birthday party for Ilsa and Jonas.  Iris had been planning it for days, preparing food, setting up decorations, and sending out invitations to family and friends.  Jonas asked specifically if I could come as well, and Iris insisted on it.  Her sister Ericka -- the mayor -- was one of the first to arrive.

S

"So you're the young man who's living in the cellar," Ericka said with a practiced smile. "Iris has told me quite a bit about you.  She didn't say whether you planned on settling down here for good, though."

"No, I don't suppose she did."  I was getting to be very good at deflecting these sorts of questions, but in this I needn't have worried.

"Well, well," the mayor distractedly replied. "If you stay, be sure to come down to City Hall and register to vote." She wandered away before I had a chance to reply, probably looking for someone else to shake hands with.  When I turned around Iris was already beside me, introducing me to a dark-haired woman in a colorful sweater.  "Geoff, I'd like you to meet my friend Fjord."



Fjord and I simply looked at each other for what must have been too long a moment of silence. "Fjord is a singer," Iris interjected, patting her friend on the back and smiling encouragingly.

"Ah," I said.  It was a less than brilliant reply, to be sure.  Fjord's cheeks turned pink, and she started to turn away, but Iris was tenacious.  She took hold of her friend's hand, aimed a surreptitious kick at my right foot, and said, "Geoff used to teach music. Didn't you, Geoff?"  It was less a polite question, and more of a demand that I start talking before she would have to kick me again.

"I did," I replied. "Among other things." That would have been that, but I did owe Iris a pretty big debt for all that she'd done for me so far, so I rallied up my best charming smile and added: "I hear you're a singer?"

"I am," Fjord said solemnly, but her eyes were twinkling in an endearing way. "Among other things." 



Iris exhaled with a frustrated sigh, clearly put out by the two of us and our inane conversation.  Fjord laughed, and it was melodious. "Go on, Iris.  I'll be fine." And then we were alone, and looking at each other one more time.

"So," I said, when the pause had stretched on long enough to be awkward. "What... uh... what kind of singing?"

Fjord gave me a perplexed look, clearly confused by the question, though I couldn't imagine why. "Rock," she said slowly, and then waited a moment, as if expecting me to realize something. "I'm Fjord Warbler," she added.

"And it's very nice to meet you, Ms. Warbler."

She blinked a couple of times, and then I was certain she was speaking gibberish: "Pa Fights the Bear?  Rails for Miles? Oogie Boogie?" 

"Uhhh..."



Fjord looked down at her feet. "Sorry. Sorry. I'm just so used to--  Sorry."

This was not going well at all. "Uhhh..."



"Fjord is a rock star."  That was Jonas, who had come up beside us. "Those are her songs. Everyone knows who she is. She's famous!"

"Not everyone!"  Fjord looked up again, and her cheeks were bright pink. "But... almost everyone. Especially around here. I forget there are people who haven't heard of me sometimes."  She held out her hand, as if to make a formal introduction. "Fjord Warbler. International Rock Star."  She was smiling, and her eyes were twinkling again, as they seemed to do whenever she recognized that something was absurd.



"Come on," said Jonas, before he darted off toward the kitchen counter. "We're going to have the cake."

I followed, but not before I took Fjord's hand and kissed the back of it, as I'd been taught to do since I was Jonas' size. "A pleasure," I said. If I had looked behind me as I walked after Jonas, I would have seen her smile again, but differently, and touch the back of her hand where I'd kissed it.

[Brooke.]

Yay, you picked Fjord (I hope), she has great genes but I'm still sad she's not Savna.

[RainBeau]

Oh no, I've already run out of story! I just stumbled upon this in the Immortal Dynasty board and as a result found the source story which I simply adore. I'm surprised I never came across it before! No matter, I'm enjoying it now and I'm spared a wee bit of the suspense I'd have had to endure otherwise. I very much am looking forward to more of this.

[intl_incident]

Oh no, I've already run out of story! I just stumbled upon this in the Immortal Dynasty board and as a result found the source story which I simply adore. I'm surprised I never came across it before! No matter, I'm enjoying it now and I'm spared a wee bit of the suspense I'd have had to endure otherwise. I very much am looking forward to more of this.

Hi there! I haven't seen you around in ages! (Probably my fault for not looking around at other posts. )I see you're a mod now. Congrats!  I'm so glad you found these stories.  As you know, you're the one who inspired me to try my hand at storytelling with the Sims, and I am loving it.  So thanks for that.

And I wouldn't want you to have to wait too long, so here comes some more story for you...

[intl_incident]

The birthday was a great success.  Ilsa aged up into a sweet little girl, chirping happily at the people around her, and very fond of the color pink.  Jonas aged up into a handsome teenager, shedding his bookish, awkward childhood looks.  He was much more confident and self-assured than when I had first met him, and much more at ease with who he was.



Fjord found me again after the cake was cut, and apologized once more for the earlier misunderstanding.  I reassured her that it was my fault: that I was still new in town, and didn't know much about rock music. 



"You've been to a concert though, surely."

"Of course." I might have been out of place in Aurora Skies, but it's not as if I were completely without culture.

"A rock concert?" She seemed skeptical.

"Oh... No."

Fjord just grinned, and took hold of my hand. "You do dance, though." It was a statement, not a question, and she pulled me away from the counter to join her as someone turned up the stereo.



Eventually, the party ended, and the visitors started to gather up their coats and hats and purses.  I was disentangling myself from the mayor as Fjord came to the door. She waited, and once I was free, stepped over, kissed me suddenly on the cheek, waved goodbye with a mischievous grin, and then disappeared.



"Yeeeaaah!" Jonas appeared out of nowhere, with a congratulatory and somewhat salacious smile, as I was trying to come to terms with what had just happened and hoping that a kiss on the cheek meant something different here than it did at home. "Snagged yourself a rock star!" he cheered.

He really had aged up into a teenager.

"Leave it," I said tersely, and it must have sounded harsher than I intended, because his face immediately fell. It wasn't his fault.  He didn't know how raw the memory of Savna's death was for me, or how jarring Fjord's kiss had been as a result.  I clapped him on the shoulder by way of apology, and gestured back into the house with a nod of my head. "Come on," I invited him. "I want to give your sister her birthday present."



I'd made Ilsa a dollhouse with miniature furniture.  All of the time I'd spent studying with the Pembina could at least be put to that good use.  They weren't the most sophisticated toys, but Ilsa seemed pleased.



To Jonas, I had to apologize.  I told him hadn't had time to make him anything for him, and though Astanal had been winning races left and right, I couldn't really spare any funds for a gift. I could tell he was disappointed.  Jakob had given him a pair of socks and a book about chess, and he was probably hoping for something more in line with his actual interests from me.  For that, he would have to wait until Snowflake Day.

In the meantime, I was working on building a barn on the Ingbergs' land and doing my best to stay away from any romantic entanglements.



I used some of the scrap wood that was left over to build an alchemy station in the basement, very similar to the ones I remembered from home.  I was making notes in a book there as I experimented with local herbs and plants, trying to reproduce some of the charms and potions I would need to get back to Ajri.  My mother had given me clear instructions -- I could only hope I had remembered them correctly, and that I would be able to find the proper ingredients in this strange land.



I was also making myself useful to the town. A herd of wild horses had come into town from the surrounding hills, as development took over their usual grazing pastures.  They were causing no end of trouble: eating the plants in the park and people's yards, crowding the sidewalks and milling around in the middle of the streets.  They had already caused a couple of minor accidents, and it was only a matter of time before they or one of the residents was seriously hurt.



Iris' sister, the mayor, had been grappling with what to do.  Some residents were in favor of having them rounded up and relocated in the wilderness, but that would cost money.  Others wanted to make money instead, by selling a company the right to come in and take the horses away -- but there was no guarantee of how they would be treated or what would happen to them.



I couldn't stand the thought of them being sold off to the highest bidder.  I volunteered my services to catch them for free, and delivered them to local farmers who agreed to take them in and provide them good homes.



"I know you're lost.  I know you just want to go home.  But home's gone now, isn't it," I remember asking one of them as I coaxed her toward my hands. "We're the same, you and I.  But it's not all bad.  You'll find a new place, and you'll make new friends, with a warm place to sleep, and good food every day.  And you'll feel at home again eventually." 

Or so I kept hoping.

[Brooke.]

I usually loathe horses and it frustrates me so much when they get stuck or won't leave a lot but having Jaffaran deal with them is so much sweeter and makes me love him more - and the horses.

[Curveball]

I love how you worked in the dynasty helpers into the story, and the cabin you built looks like it was meant to be in Aurora Skies all along. I'm guessing Jacob will be the dynasty painter, but I'm wondering how you will work it into the plot, since the guy doesn't seem like the helpful kind. Can't wait to see that 

Also, the last slide in the last update made me sad 

[Lisa46]

You are such a good author! I loved your other story and I love this one too.

[RainBeau]

Hi there! I haven't seen you around in ages! (Probably my fault for not looking around at other posts. )I see you're a mod now. Congrats!  I'm so glad you found these stories.  As you know, you're the one who inspired me to try my hand at storytelling with the Sims, and I am loving it.  So thanks for that.

And I wouldn't want you to have to wait too long, so here comes some more story for you...

Nah, I really haven't been around. My last year of uni was very draining. It took much more of my attention than I had been accustomed to and left little time for more enjoyable pursuits. Thank you! I was honoured to be asked, I wanted it very much. I'm striving to live up to it. I'm glad you're enjoying storytelling, and very pleased and proud to have been the one to inspire you. I'm sure the Forum is very grateful! I saw you were featured on the Facebook page, well done!

I like that screenshot of him working on the barn. Looks like it took a lot of work to put together. And I like the in-story reason for him befriending the wild horses. Such a tender and bittersweet moment.

[Rhoxi]

"And you'll feel at home eventually . . . Or so I kept hoping."

How poignant!