Color My World Short Story #12

 

I raised my head as I heard the familiar clack of polished shoes on wood. Like so many times before, my mind immediately went to the days of my childhood where I snatched Dad's shoes and danced my heart out trying to perform some tap. Those attempts ended when humiliation replaced cheerfulness. One of those shoes that had been far too big finally rocketed off my tiny toes and smashed Mom's nose. She laughed it off and complained more to Dad about why he felt the need to have footwear with such hard soles, but my tap dancing days were done.

    "Hey, Crys. Feeling any better?" Dad asked as he rounded the corner. He was already hovering over me with a sympathetic smile before I could answer.

   "Yeah. This new medicine is working a lot better than the other ones have. I'm still feeling a bit weak and unsteady though. Kinda cold too. Part of me wants to turn the fireplace on, but it's summer. That seems like it's a bit much," I smiled.

    "I can help you if you don't mind some cuddles."

    "How could I ever turn down cuddles? Just as long as you don't mind getting your clothes wrinkled."

    "Bah, what's a few creases?"

I scooted over for Dad to settle down next to me. The couch was a lot less manageable than it used to be when my crashes happened when I was little, but Dad refused to admit this old loveseat might not contain us for much longer. He snuggled me tight, and I closed my eyes relaxing into his secure hold. Too many times I'd ended up in the hospital because of my anemia. Him and Mom making sure to always be there with a warm hug was a gift I would never forget.

Color My World Generation Three In-Depth Summary

     In the passing years, Coal has come to marry Holly. Their first pregnancy together results in fraternal twin daughters, Gilly and Dianthus. Dianthus, not long after turning three, is taken by Eden to visit an ailing Ethereal in the hospital. Ethereal's body has been deteriorating due to the vast amount of genetic manipulation that created her, but Eden does not suspect her time would be up that day. He and Dianthus find her on her last breath. Eden gets to say a final farewell to his sister before she passes, and Dianthus sees from her uncle's despair what it means to have your heart broken. A grieving Amaranth has her promise after the funeral to do all she can to prevent herself from being lost before her time.

CMW Characters' D&D Classes- Part 1

As I'm still dealing with various situations over on my end, there's still not a CMW update this week. I do have something for you guys though. I've done a post in the past showing off my D&D characters made using this doll maker. I thought it would be fun to take some CMW characters, specifically some from the First Generation, give them classes, and dress them up to match. The classes aren't what the characters themselves would choose to play, but what classes I feel the characters fit given their own personalities, hobbies, and backgrounds. Some came out wonderfully, and some I had to compromise on due to the limitations of what the doll maker provided. Hope you find them fun! As always, click on the pictures to view them in their full glory :)

Color My World Short Story #9

Eden was the only one who'd moved by the time I returned. After spending so much of the night hard at work madly finishing up our plan with our person on the inside to bring down The Company, it'd been my turn to take another break. The first had been to return home to check on the two lovebirds, and checking up on them had made the rest of my task harder. Getting extra clothes and other things out of my room proved incredibly difficult with Amaranth and Ethereal all cuddled up in my bed.  Amaranth had stirred for one brief moment, but with the glassy gaze of sleep in his eyes I doubted he'd even remember seeing me when he woke up for real. I'd made sure to leave him and Ethereal a note though. The second break now consisted of me taking a nap, washing up as much as I could, and getting a bite to eat. I'd had rougher nights, but this one was certainly going to be ingraining itself firmly in my noggin for the rest of my years to come. Not just because of the stress, but because of the aftermath our humble group would cause upon our success.

     "B, it's more than past your turn if you want to get some sleep or something."

While we knew each other's real names, we used each other's codenames here.

     "Good luck, U. He's not having a break," our orange friend, G, told me with a grin, "It took all my effort just to get him off his computer and onto the couch."

Color My World Short Story #4

As we found our way upstairs and into Eden's room, I found myself drawn to the corner. There was that curiosity to explore what hadn't been seen before. It wasn't that I hadn't been in here previously, but there simply hadn't been many reasons to come in. Eden had only invited me in one other time, and that had been years and years ago when the pictures in the corner hadn't been there.

     "Meadow was so adorable when she was younger." I cooed.

     "Wasn't she?" Eden smiled.

He placed down his bags of stuff. With Allium, Meadow, and their friends off enjoying their weekend, Eden and I had done some shopping after our book club finished its meeting.

     "Who took the pictures?" I asked

     "I did."

     "You know, you've shown me pictures of her at this age before. I really haven't seen photos of her at any other age though past the ones you have from when you moved here."

     "That's because there are none," Eden sighed, "The only pictures that exist of her besides the ones taken here were all taken by me. It wasn't long after these pictures here that my adult life really got moving. I visited my parents and Meadow occasionally, but I stopped having the urge to take photos of her. It really didn't cross my mind. If I had know then that my parents couldn't be bothered to capture anything of her life, I would have acted differently. However, I didn't know."

Gen Three- Prologue

I learned what true heartbreak was at a very young age.

Three to be specific. Three years and a month to the day to be exact. The day was May 23rd- a Saturday. It had been a fun one for me. Every so often Uncle Eden and I got to spend some time together by ourselves without my sisters or his children or grandchildren around. We'd gone to the festival at the park where we rode on rides, watched a magician on stage, and ate a bunch of tasty food. That was when I asked if we could go to the beach to play on the boardwalk like I often did with my dad, but Uncle Eden said we had to visit the hospital first.

Color My World Short Story #3- Part Three (END)

For the first time in months, I overslept and arrived at work late. Well, late according to my standards. My mandatory shifts didn't require me being at the building for several more hours, but this was a rare occasion when I missed one of the deadlines I set for myself. No one paid me any attention in the break room, so I hurriedly shoved my stuff in my locker before rushing down as nonchalantly as possible towards Snow's room. My heart raced as I opened the door, and it sank a million miles when I stepped inside. He wasn't there. None of his stuff was there. There wasn't a single thing in the room that signified a baby was nearby, and, worse, several things had been packed inside that hinted the space would return to a place to stuff storage.

Maybe...maybe they had simply moved him back into the nursery?

Color My World Short Story #3- Part Two

It wasn't as difficult to roll out of bed as I expected. I guess I had long accustomed myself to little sleep and early mornings. However, given how much work Ethereal would require if she was living with me normally my crazy work schedule really wasn't that different from that of a first time parent with a young child. Ridiculous hours, never ending responsibility, and constantly exhausted...which was why if I could barely handle it, I knew Blaze struggled a dozen times more. The drive to Berrybrook proved calming and gave me the clear mind I knew I would need to deal with the biggest baby out of Ethereal, Amaranth, and Blaze. He was difficult to begin with, and that phone call the previous afternoon wasn't going to do me any favors.

I arrived several minutes later than intended, although it certainly didn't make a difference to Blaze. I had began driving to the house in which Coal and Desire had hoped to build their family. The money for the place had been the wedding present from Coal's parents, but, unfortunately, the two story building with three fireplaces, an in-ground pool, and excellent view of the sea now had a For Sale sign in the front yard again. Getting my car down the appropriate street, I found a spot to park on the road and made my way towards the place Blaze and Amaranth now called home, which was little more than a glorified trailer.

Color My World Short Story #3- Part One

I don't know how she always knew. Ethereal could say about four words. It was difficult to gather at this stage exactly how many she understood, and she naturally had no idea how to read a clock. That latter bit didn't matter so much as there was no clock in the room to begin with. Thus, it was difficult enough for me to keep track of time and when I was meant to leave. How she somehow understood when I was about to take off each and every single day boggled me. Was there a certain expression that came over my face? Did the inflection in my voice change? Perhaps Ethereal had the ability to read minds? With me being as exhausted as I was in that moment, they all felt like plausible answers to my confusion.

And what a problem I had on my hands. My dear little sister wore that immense pout on her face, and it let me know what was coming the second I spoke or tried to put her down.

Color My World Behind the Scenes #4

When going around aging everyone up after the first arc, I noticed that the Yonders had adopted a cat. I normally get rid of autonomously purchased pets because I've had trouble with them getting in the way before, but the kitten had come with the name Coal, so I felt obligated to let it stay. The thing was pretty adorable too.

Gen Two- Chapter Forty One

The walk had been long and silent. However, even that was a fact unnoticed by me as my mind was far away from the current moment. My brain didn't recognize the exhaustion Doodle caused my arm by constantly pulling on the leash too hard, nor did I realize the wonderfully crisp spring air I typically loved more than anything else finally engulfed the city. No, on I walked while my mind screamed at me the same thoughts it'd been screaming for about a month now. The same panicked worry constantly dominated my emotions. It drained me and beat me down, but even with it dragging me deeper more and more I craved to let it do so at the same time. I couldn't be happy or content. I didn't want to be happy or content. I wanted to fight, and the perpetual struggle reassured me the battle indeed continued.

Even being with Holly hardly pulled me out of myself. The talk she requested never happened that weekend when Mimosa set off the war. I spent every second I had preparing my weapons, and the ending of the weekend forced Holly back to school. The same pattern had continued, although Holly was now out for the summer. It was why she'd finally been able to convince me to take some semblance of a break.

Gen Two- Chapter Forty

Given how many times I had run my hands through my hair in the past several hours, I wouldn't have been surprised if I ended up taking out chunks of my hair. I didn't even care to stop the behavior, because I didn't know what to do otherwise. The weeks had passed- slowly and agonizingly, but they passed regardless. I dreaded each new day with a fitful anticipation that had me sick to my stomach. I was certain with my bad luck that the worst would come to pass. However, a brief glimmer of hope resided in my chest when the days kept coming and going and the news didn't arrive. I wondered if I was actually safe. Of course, I could never be so lucky. The revelation came to dad by way of a text from Uncle Al earlier in the morning. When he in turn revealed it to me, I became a useless body of mixed emotions. I had always imagined hearing such information to be a happy one, and I was certainly trying to find some happiness inside me somewhere. Unfortunately, I could only sulk about the house at the moment.

     "Don't be sad, Coal," Glade stood in front of me trying to cheer me up, "You're going to be a great daddy."

Gen Two- Chapter Sixteen

If you asked me how many times I had sighed in the past ten minutes, I wouldn't be able to give you an accurate answer. All I knew was that the answer was high as well as that I was even beginning to feel a little light-headed from all the expunging of air I was doing. I was absolutely sick of the scenario I was in, for it happened far too often. There I stood at the west entrance of the elementary school. It was a new wing they built about three years ago to deal with the school's seemingly always increasing student total. It would have been nice if they built it an extra three years earlier so my friends and I could have experienced the reduced strain of moving throughout the halls ourselves.

In any case, the halls were certainly empty at the moment. School was out for the day, and all the normal, sane people had departed. The kids who rode buses got on their buses. The kids who got picked up came right outside the find their parent's car in the line-up of the special idling lane built to make the departure process smooth and easy...save for my kids. I was beginning to make friends with the parents waiting in cars who also had children who took their time. I never spoke a word to those parents, but we communicated well enough through eye rolls and shakes of our heads. I was also on the receiving end of sympathetic smiles, because I was almost always the last one waiting. I don't know why I bothered to get in that special lane sometimes. It made more sense to actually park the car like I had done several minutes ago. I would have loved to have gone into the school to find the little brats and drag them out, but this door only opened from the inside except for in the morning when students arrived. I knew as soon as I started to make the trek to the main door that my two would appear.

Gen Two- Chapter Fifteen

Dead silence rang throughout the house. Time stood suffocatingly still, and the lingering echoes of Uncle Blaze's words rang in my ears. They lost? We lost? Some judge had seriously thought taking Rosemary away by forcing her to live with people she didn't want to live with was the best thing for her? The fact that Rosemary was happier than ever and had soared in school rankings to be the number one student in her class wasn't proof enough of how much Uncle Eden and Aunt Deny had helped her? Shipping her off to the other side of the country during the last third of the school year didn't seem absolutely absurd to the court?

I had no idea what to say. I had no idea of what to do. Uncle Blaze and I just stood there in the silence. He still wore that strange expression I couldn't read, and there was something off about the whole aura he emanated. I could have sworn it was almost as if he was holding back a smile. I stared up at him with eyes unblinking- until those eyes swarmed with tears once more. The tears of heartbreak, not the wet eyes caused by a cold that I had been dealing with all day. My tolerance levels completely shot thanks to the exhaustion of my illness, I was about to utterly lose it. I wouldn't be surprised if my legs collapsed on me again as I turned into that blubbering mess. Seconds away from that happening was when Uncle Blaze's attitude rapidly changed.

     "Coal, wait, please don't cry. I'm so sorry. I'm just an asshole. Phrasing it like that on purpose like that to see your reaction was such a dick move. I don't know what I was thinking." he apologized for whatever reason.

Confusion putting a possible block on my tears, I frowned as I awaited clarification.

     "Eden and Deny technically lost the case, but Mary will be staying with us."

Gen Two- Chapter Thirteen

I had a moment or so to kill, so I snuck across to the other side of the first floor to see how things were progressing with Uncle Blaze and my brothers. I was sure to not let them notice me though, for they otherwise would have made me help them. The only reason I wasn't helping them then was because they thought I was still preoccupied with my previous task.

     "You want us to move it to the front side of the room? But we've always moved it to the back before. There's less heavy lifting and the tree is nice and visible from the street." Prism said in response to Uncle Blaze's unusual decision.

     "Who cares if other people can see our Christmas tree? We always have problems with the sunlight coming in through those front windows on Christmas morning. It ruins the pictures and forces us all to squint the whole time. If we move the piano and drums to the front and put the tree in the back, we won't have to worry about any of that."

     "This thing is so heavy though." Prism complained lightly, pouting at mom's piano.

     "Aren't you the one who's always working out?" Uncle Blaze laughed in disbelief, "What the point in building muscles if you don't put them to good use?"

I was sorely tempted to shout out that Prism only worked out so much just so he could brag, but the taunt wasn't worth getting myself involved in moving the piano that was indeed incredibly heavy.

     "If we're going to move it to the other side, let's pack up mom's planters first. There's no point in having them out now. They'll just get in our way." Wisp suggested.

     "Sounds good." Uncle Blaze agreed.

Gen Two- Chapter Ten

I couldn't wipe the grin off my face, but Rosemary was have just as much trouble in that regard. Not that she had any desire to stop smiling though. It was my birthday party, but you would think it was hers given the sheer amount of joy radiating from her. Hesitant around the horses at first, she sat taller as the minutes passed on. I had asked to have my party at the stables to do something different from the normal celebration at the house or at the beach. There had been no deeper reasoning to it, but, as far as Rosemary was concerned, I might as well have already given her her birthday present. She waved to me grandly as she rode by.

Gen Two- Chapter Nine

My search for my sister brought me to Prism's room. I rarely went in there despite our rooms being right next to each other. It was true my brother had been a lot less annoying since dad's disappearance than he had been, but as the weeks progressed he was steadily working back up to his old levels of bothersome once more. A sadness did continue to linger about the house, but the constant somberness and seriousness as if someone had died was gone. I usually on went into Prism's room if I was desperate to use a computer or if I was trying to dig up some sort of blackmail to use on him to get him to stop pestering me. Then there was also the fact that I avoided his room because it often smelled how it smelled when I walked in at that particular moment. Prism was big on working out, and the scent of his sweat was not exactly something I preferred.

     "Forty." Desire counted the chin-ups Prism was doing.

     "I've already passed that!" he said back shakily as he fought slightly to pull himself up another time.

     "Well, there have been some that you struggled with, so I didn't count them."

     "As long as I get my chin up, they count! It doesn't matter if it takes longer than normal!"

     "Whatever," Desire smiled nonchalantly, "You're close enough. Just do a few more, and you'll definitely hit your goal of fifty."

     "Some counter you are." Prism mumbled under his breath.

Color My World Short Story #1

     "We thought he was going to come out and kick our asses."

I followed behind Hunter as we walked out of the stadium. There had been a baseball game earlier, and the two of us were some of the last to leave. It was purposeful as we wanted to let the traffic die down before we tried to make our exit. We had spent the time swapping stories, and Hunter was right in the middle of telling me how he and some of his childhood friends accidentally broke a bat in half while practicing pitches. The flying half of the bat soared right across the street and through the window of the brand new house that had been built by some rich businessman who had just moved into town.

     "He was angry, of course, but he was also impressed that we were able to pitch and hit at such a level that breaking the bat was possible," Hunter continued, "The guy was a total baseball nut. He played a short inning with us before saying that he did expect us to pay him back slowly over the summer for his window whenever we had some money come our way. It was the most infuriating thing having to give up my allowance when I had been one of the ones on the sides only watching, but we ended up building a good relationship with our new neighbor. After the window was paid back for, he took us to almost all of the home games for that season. We got into the VIP booths and everything. Even now, I remember that being one of the funnest parts of my life."

     "From what you've told me about this and those other two stories of stuff getting majorly broken when you were around, I'm beginning to think you either have very bad luck or that you're cursed." I joked.

     "Eh, well, I can't deny either," Hunter chuckled, "I wish I could, but now that you mention it practically all of the stories I like to tell to involved something breaking in some way. I either do just have that bad of luck, or seeing things get smashed to pieces are the main things this brain of mine thinks important enough to remember."

Edenx2 Babies

I figure most people aren't aware of this (especially those who only follow the blog), but Eden "Deny" Yonder is a lovely Sim I have borrowed from Mystic Illusions, starguru's 100 Baby Challenge. When she also produced a Sim named Eden, I couldn't help but to color her up and stick her together with my Eden just for the fun of them sharing the same name. Seeing how the couple has only adopted in the story and not produced any biological children, I decided to play with just the two one night in a blank save to see what biological children of the couple would look like.

This is that result.

Gen Two- Chapter Four

It had been hard to break out of my melancholy mood, but the challenge I was facing was finally beginning to surge some energy through me. My glazed over expression instead narrowed in determination as I had to now pay attention if I didn't want to get absolutely pummeled. I hadn't even noticed how far ahead in points Rosemary had gotten, or that she was now duking it out with Malachite for first place.

     "You're finally starting to learn." Malachite teased as he only just avoided letting Rosemary total his car with hers.

     "And soon you're not even going to have time to trash talk." she warned competitively.

Malachite simply shrugged and continued speeding along, but there was loud shouting and cursing on his part and raucous cheering on Rosemary's part when her car once again came out of nowhere to successfully annihilate Malachite's car off the track this time around.

     "Are you sure you don't want to pick a different place to read?" I asked the question to one of the others sitting on the other couch.