Community Garden, Evergreen Harbor
Caleb
Akira shot a single arrow.
Which split into many.
And then the fae warrior was everywhere, arrows whirling in multiple directions, glancing off him like magic.
Because, of course, it was magic.
The stories, which Titania did not correct, said that the Fae descended from gods, that once upon a time the Fae were gods.
Even if gods didn’t exist—which they didn’t—it was clear to everyone that they were only standing because Akira chose to let them live.
Caleb winced as she pulled a dagger out of his gut. “I didn’t know werewolves were fond of weapons.” He tossed it on the ground where the wolf in the green dress picked it up.
She tapped the weapon with her fingers and then shrugged. “It’s not a rule.”
If he were talking to his mother, he’d introduce the two. This werewolf was definitely her type. Vicious, quick, and not afraid to break with tradition.
“How’s your ankle?” he smirked.
“I’ve had worse.”
Caleb shook his head, willing himself not to smile.Try as he might purge his family from his system, he still had moments like this. If he and this werewolf met under different circumstances, they’d probably be friends.
“Hey, we’re still standing,” Akira interrupted, “So how about those answers? Tell us about drifter shifters.”
“What’s there to tell,” the blonde werewolf retorted. “We aren’t trouble. We just don’t follow the old ways. Alpha wolves are a myth, everyone knows that. Why would we sign on to follow some pretend system grounded in patriarchy?”
She had a point. But werewolves and their politics weren’t Caleb’s business. “And Shiloh?”
“Shiloh’s pack was awful,” she growled, “They were abusive and controlling, completely toxic. He couldn’t stay with them.”
“A lot of us come from toxic packs. And we won’t go back,” the werewolf in the brown blazer added.
“You can’t tell me that running on your own keeps you from giving in to your hunger,” Akira said.
“You think packs don’t give in to their hunger?” the werewolf in the green dress laughed, arms spread wide, “Packs are just better at covering it up. But that doesn’t break any carefully worded supernatural law, so you assholes don’t care.”
Shame prickled across Caleb’s neck. He knew the Sages and the MIU weren’t perfect, but the alternative was chaos. “Somebody did this crime,” he pleaded. “Against wolves who weren’t doing anything wrong. They were slaughtered, their teeth were snatched out, and the only other presence detected was another wolf. If Shiloh didn’t do it, then he needs to give us an alibi so we can move on and find out who did.”
He didn’t think his plea did any good, but then the werewolf in the brown blazer spoke. “You should look into Matilda. That’s who they mean when they say toxic. I used to be…I used to be part of that pack. They were all the things Giselle said and worse.” He swallowed nervously, “Matilda hated those other packs, and her punishments if you stepped out of line…”
Caleb approached him like a skittish cat, deliberately slowing his movements. He drew the creature away from the others, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “What about the teeth?” he asked gently, “What do they mean?”
The werewolf gulped, his voice barely audible. “Don’t share secrets.”
absolutely love the description of Vlad’s sexuality : p I love the scene with the vegetables and how Vlad’s response is in such Vlad style: ‘I will care about you, damn it, and you will let me care about you!’ – Although it’s pretty sad to know it’s because Vlad doesn’t want to lose someone else close. That’s the trouble with eternity I guess, you would never really get used to losing the people you care about over and over. And even if he’s thinking about Alice intensely, maybe it’s the same thing: is it worth getting to know her even more if he’ll only lose her anyway? Wonder if he feels that way about her too…
“You’re looking for a werewolf?” At Bella’s frown, he hid his smile. “Sorry, bad joke.” Joking aside, very likely not far away from the truth! For once a tabloid story may actually turn out to be true, though that’s not a good thing this time around 😂 Unless you’re like me and would stand there in awe at a werewolf, even whilst it mauls you 😂
I love the contrast of Akira itching to beat the shit out of somebody and Caleb doing his best not to let it come to violence. Damn it Akira, shouldn’t have said anything! I hope the two of them can take on 3-4 werewolves at once in a fight : p
Ooh interesting. So the tooth might be a sort of good fortune charm and not a trophy like I thought? Ohh man Akira’s bow is awesome. IDK what makes archers so cool, probably because it makes me think of DnD. What’s cooler than fighting multiple werewolves off with a bow?
Hmm so the drifter wolves have cut themselves off from toxic family. I wonder if Penny will come to meet them properly down the line, and if she’ll take some inspiration to leave her pushy family from them… That little animation with the werewolf and Bella/Penny was awesome! The vamp ‘rawr’ animation is really good on the werewolf.
LOLOL SAME! Some days I am like: is Vlad my stand-in character for myself? Anyways, yes, Vlad is a pan king and a feminist, in addition to being a murdering monster with truly outrageous opinions about appliances. You hit the nail right on the head; even his “caring” is, like, somewhat threatening. Oof, you are honing on something I’m not even sure Vlad has been able to articulate for himself yet. If he wants to be part of the world, he must deal with mortal lifespans. It makes his life fuller and lonely because he will outlive them.
Man, the only dude who gets it is the crime lab tech! And maybe a tabloid! Hunt down that werewolf! I would be no help either, the CC for this werewolf costume got me shook. There is someone making a werewolves mod and I’m so tempted to download it because dang it, we need werewolves in this game.
Ahhh I love archers too. I’m about to DM a new campaign for friends using Eberron and I was definitely like: steampunk archers are cannon (oh god the nerd levels are so high right now).
Maybe Penny will get lucky and something will inspire her to set firm boundaries with her family…
or maybe not…
heheh! Glad you like the machinima!
It’s always fun to work things out through writing it into a character! For me it sure is easier than opening up to people about things : P Although sometimes it’s without intention and then you just come to a realisation like o.o On a side note, I always appreciate the diversity of your cast. < 3
Oh so it's a costume! I somehow didn't figure that out even after watching the machinima. I thought it was just a bunch of models in different poses *facepalm* To be fair if we ever get werewolves, I reallllly would want them to look like this, like Skyrim-esque anatomy-wise werewolves. Wishful thinking on my part though : (
On behalf of the (surprisingly large) group of flower-crown-fairy-prince-boys-or-mean-goth-girls-who-can-rip-a-man-in-half-with-their-bare-hands bis, I humbly ask Ms. Pizzazz to not make that sneering face anymore, especially while wearing dark lipstick. I HAVE THINGS TO DO.
Gonna try to keep this short and maybe let someone else mention the hilarity of naming a werewolf Shiloh.
Reading between the lines, if Vlad is interested in Alice, she is dangerous. Enough to pose a threat to an elder vampire. And I haven’t said this before, but Latimer is a welcome addition. Vlad’s at his best when he has someone to take care of. Doubly so when it’s some random person he found and decided they were his person. JIMMY. (Now I have to go back and remind myself what happened to William & Morgyn in this universe—pretty sure that in the main universe they’re busy getting themselves some trash books, as in dug out of the garbage rather than guilty pleasures, but dunno if we’ve seen them yet here.)
That having been said, I’m judging Latimer on whether the sentiment behind “it’s all vegetables!” was “…and low-salt vegan cooking needs acidic components! Where’s the citrus, you scrub? Also, if the only thing you bought was fresh produce, I hope every shelf in this pantry is already filled with legumes and bulk spices in mason jars,” or “…waah! I don’t want to eat anything unless rape, torture, or murder of sentient beings was involved!” Could see Vlad going along with either, although he already has a step up. Eating humans is already vegan. We’re terrible for the environment.
A+ transition into Bella’s part. Stunning. And you’re also reminding me to do that “mmm! Pancakes!” fanart.
Deacon is exactly the character I would want to play if I found a D&D group, which is low INT/high WIS. “He’s not a nice dude”? “Marriage is hella hard”? You’re killing me, man.
Canine in nature, partially laced with sim DNA—well then, uh, like, insertions? Is werewolfery retroviral? If so, how is the host DNA mostly canine if the subject started as a sim? I can’t imagine the genetic makeup changing w/ the moon; it has to be some sort of time- or light-dependent phenotypic plasticity. What percentage of genomes do canines and sims already share, that would cause the lead scientist to identify some sequences as sim-specific and not regular mammalian genes? How many questions are you prepared to answer about the werewolf genome?
Even the author of that study knows alpha wolves are a myth! Hah! Wow, Caleb is really moving in on my territory, huh? First with the risk aversion, now he’s the one pointing out when someone has cute shoes? But I do appreciate that BBD has found its own version of two rival groups walking slowly towards each other and snapping while 1950s music plays in the background, which, of course, is shoe based.
Those shoes were pretty cute.
So now we know who was collecting teeth, but, with all my heart, I wanted the werewolf-teeth theft to be someone’s attempt at tricking the tooth fairy. Could be more than one tooth thief. Teeth thief?
Machinima is beautiful as always! Before now, I hadn’t considered the logistics. DAMN. It didn’t occur to me that you’re limited by which animations are available, along with all of the cinematography and the framing, making it fit into the existing storyline… are you sure this is your low-key? BECAUSE VIDEOS SEEM HIGH-KEY.
Listen, I don’t even control Penny anymore. She controls HERSELF. She is an unstoppable force, and I’m sorry for you and your tasks.
I honestly have no excuse for my naming conventions, and I won’t apologize lol.
You are so right about Vlad. He always needs someone he is irrationally attached to because comedy, but also because I think it keeps him from becoming a completely feral monster. He’s not a good person (vampire), so he needs external motivation to try and move through the world without destroying it. (JUSTICE FOR JIMMY) Seriously though, I really just love writing Vlad/human sidekick scenes.
I see that you’ve from “what makes Alice dangerous?” to “Alice is obviously dangerous at a def con most extreme level.” We shall see if you are right…
‘Eating humans is vegan’ LOL I am dead. (and you know their pantry is just debug versions of foods stacked neatly next to each other on an open pantry that has magical game mechanics to keep things from spoiling)
Vlad is probably using v little salt and/or acid. I mean, he could, but the doctor had both those things on the ‘no’ list, so…
I am prepared to answer no questions about the werewolf genome partly because my understanding of how DNA works is TERRIBLE. Umm…thing zippers and unzippers, some parts of the zipper from a sim, some parts of the zipper from werewolf and then..er…poof magic? Yes. That’s how it works. Poof magic.
I missed the opportunity to make an NFT joke but not an alpha male joke. I hope I have redeemed myself. Also, please stan Caleb more! He deserves it!
Please hold onto your butt for shoe-related shenanigans coming in a few chapters.
Could be more than one tooth thief? Interesting theory.
Haha, thank you! I am so indebted to all the people who make animations. I could not do anything without them! Also, weirdly this is low-key? It was a pretty straightforward set to build and shoot. I didn’t have to keyframe anything. But this is like the gateway drug. I’m working on a machinima for a future chapter that is just a mammoth because I got sucked in these little clips!
I finally have time to follow up on your story.
I love the dark background of your website that emphasizes the mood of your narrative.
Unfortunately, the link in the chapter overview, in the drop-down menu ‘Season 1’ does not work.
NB I have a technical question for your dropdown (spoiler) menus. I will write this in the WordPress thread in the Sims Forum.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA this is so embarrassing because I made a chapters page and then completely forgot to update it with the actual chapter links. #fail
I don’t know why WordPress marked your comment as spam. I’m sorry it didn’t show up at first. Welcome! I’m glad you like the vibes of the site 🙂 I was hoping it would get people in the mood for the story.
I’m jumping over to the forums to answer your technical question!
Oh my gods these two 🤣 Peak sexual attraction right there. “Do you think she’d stab me?” Dead. I’m dead. 😂🤣
Ouch. Vlad isn’t taking his friend’s mortality well at all. His intentions are good, but… don’t control a man’s final days when he doesn’t want you to. This is a heavy topic but I do think that letting Latimer live how he wants to is better than forcing him to spend his remaining time in a way he’s not happy with. Sometimes the benefit of prolonged life is not worth the cost of what you give up in return. This is still just over food, but I can see this getting very heavy very fast. Gah.
Eliza Pancakes had the werewolf tooth necklace? 😮 Ten points for the tech guy for correctly identifying the werewolf! Aaaaand he doesn’t know they’re real. Hm. I wonder if Bella knows they exist. Their family seemed to be aware of vampires back in the prologue. I can’t imagine that none of that knowledge of supernaturals tricked down the family tree… or maybe it will in the future.
[Apparently, Penny’s job wasn’t an embarrassment when her family could benefit from it.] Oof, isn’t that true for a lot of things. I sympathise with Penny so hard. Her glary scowl is a real mood (and really doing it for me today for some reason, oh my gods 🙈) Alice is right; Penny is kind of harsh. But Anastasia also yelled at her for trying to help and said she could have killed her. I’d say the score there is pretty even. Sexy panther 😂🤣 Oooooh Penny and Bella are joining forces? I am very down for that 😁
This chapter’s insistence at the gods not existing makes me all the more convinced that here too, they do exist. 😆
Motioning for her to run and Penny just picks up a baseball bat. I love this character. BWAHAHA omg that music in the background 😂 Aaaah that made me laugh much more than I should have. YES PENNY SWING THAT BASEBALL BAT! Well, if they didn’t know they existed before, they definitely do now. This is going to be delicious.
Vlad just wants a partner who will love him, support him, and occasionally, when warranted, run a knife through him. Is that too much to ask? LOL
You and Snow picked up on the same thing. Vlad is, so loving, but also threatening. I think control is something he is going to grapple with for this story. So many things are within his reach with vampiric powers and immortal lifespan. But not keeping his best friends alive forever if they don’t want that.
Me: who would be a good victim in this story?
Myself: how about some random townie you generate in CAS
Me: Eliza Pancakes it is
Actively trying not to respond to your comment about Bella’s supernatural family tree knowledge. Trying SO HARD.
Penny and Bella is the buddy cop adventure we all deserve!
Goads…what gods? Didn’t you read? It says the gods don’t exist…
::maniacal laughter::
Poor Eliza 😂 oh, the universal hatred for the Pancakes family. Ooooh did I hit a thing with the supernatural family tree knowledge? I did, didn’t I? Woo! Attention brain is working! 😗
YOU.HAD.ME.AT.UNCHAINED.MELODY.
%@$@%^a#&(@)!@(* OMG
1) WP (for once) showed the entirety of this chapter!! Hal-a-luuuuuu
I can’t stop thinking about the video. Maybe it’s the coffee. I get a little fixated.
1) What made you choose “Unchained Melody”? I can’t help but think of Ghost when I hear the song (the greatest love story EVER), which also has supernatural elements. But it’s a love story, and i don’t think Wolfy there was thinking about jumping Bella’s bones, not in the sexeh way anyhow. SO THEN I’m thinking, well it was nominated for Best Picture (The Oscars) but lost to Dances with Wolves, and LOL’d if that was why this song was chosen, and I am so sorry that I am being next-level annoying >.< I was super obsessed with the movie as a child and was salty that it didn't win.
2) I was yelling at Penny. YELL-ING. Running and hiding. WHAT? But, I get it. Survival. Then it seemed like even Penny was checking herself and came out swinging at that mangy mutt.
3) I'm glad they both survived that encounter. Physically anyways. Mentally… oooh…we'll see.
4) “You know what?” Penny declared, “I’d feel a lot better if we were having a shared delusion.” – HILARIOUS
Whoa! look at WP getting fancy!
Since you flagged the song, you get to hear my musical theme nerdery!!!! Hooray! First of all, Ghost is like one of my all-time fave movies. From Whoopie Goldberg going “Molly, you in danger girl” to that song playing during the sexiest pottery date ever, it’s just my happy place. Unchained Melody came out in 1965 (1966? Obvi I could Google this but I’m lazy) when women were expected to be the”doting wife and loving mother who takes care of the home.” We’ve come a far way, but not nearly as far as we think. It’s a theme I’m sort of exploring with Bella who appears to have both the “white picket fence” type of family life and a demanding career. On the surface, it seems progressive but there’s a lot of tension both from Mortimer and the demands she places on herself. So basically, I just imagine all her scenes with this undercurrent of classic tunes that don’t quite match the reality of her situation.
Okay, god, that was so much. I’ll shut up now. It delights me that it lost to Dances with Wolves (WHICH I ALSO LOVED) and I want to take credit for being that clever but I can’t!! Also technically this scene is the start of someone’s werewolf love story. More on that later hehe.
Uh yeah, physically fine and mentally a hot mess is a vibe in this story LOL.
Lol, let us not bless WP yet. Chapter 5 only showed the first part on WP. Le sigh. WP is a hit and a miss.
I. Am. ALL. About what you did with Ghost. This has elements of “The Feminine Mystique,” 😀 😀 😀
OOOOOH! Okay. Looking forward to finding out who the werewolf is and who is the object of the werewolf’s love (or vice versa).
I think a lot of us, everyday, walk with the façade of being physically fine and mentally a hot mess. Just makes your characters that much more relatable <3
Story:
Dude. Akira. He is DTF (Down to Fight), and idk why that has me…mmm. Whip them arrows, bb. Speaking of…violence, Daaaaaaamn, Vlad. Thinking about Alice penetrating you. I mean, sure, with knives, but penetration is penetration, right? I mean that’s one of the reasons why vamps are sexually appealing, their penetrating fangs 😉
Latimer is such an old farty dude. Grumble, grumble, I’m not going to live a miserable prolonged life it means eating healthy! Hahaha, I can’t blame him, but I get both sides of that coin. Vlad really is like his son. You would think as long as Vlad has been living he’d get used to death and the inevitably of loneliness, but still… idk, maybe it isn’t so easy to harden your heart against such a thing.
It’s really cute how Vlad schoolboy crushes on Alice, and YAY I can’t wait to see this date take place 😀 Question is, will Vlad bring the knives? :O
Dude. I really dislike Penny’s family. They’re ok putting her career down, but have no qualms using her when it suits their needs. They’re f’ing trash. Penny needs to take a chapter outta Alice’s book and tell her family to go get bit by a werewolf.
Bella and Penny are like a supernatural crimefighting duo I need more of in my life.
Great story 😀
I just have to quickly shout out these two incredible moments that gave me life while I continue binge-reading kthxbai
Penny being told to run and instead grabbing a baseball bat. And then striking that badass pose 💯
Yay!! Binge-read away!!! Hahaha listen Vlad is an equal opportunity lover of all dangerous things 😈
Penny doesn’t take no shit! Also, this is the first time I’ve ever been grateful for that gaming mat 😂 that animation is 10/10