Britechester University
William
William watched as Vlad brought Alice a cup of coffee that he’d made himself. Well, “made” was a strong word. He stood around the kitchen glaring at the coffee-maker until Caleb took pity on him. Still, it was progress. Kind of like the ease with which he adapted to losing all his clothes in a fire and being forced to wear the cast-offs of college students. William had geared up for a real fight but Vlad just gestured at Alice’s skirt and explained that not everything about these wardrobe restrictions was bad.
William knew he should be delighted, this was everything he’d worked for and yet, the feeling in the pit of his stomach was not delight. It felt like—
“They aren’t going to let you on set if you don’t fill out paperwork,” Alice warned.
“They will if they want to keep their hands,” Vlad replied darkly.
William bit back a smile. Alice was a firecracker, but she’d never seen Vlad be truly unreasonable. He had worked for this moment, yes, but William knew it wouldn’t come so easily. Maybe he’d need to stick around a little longer after Alice got The Owl.
“Alright Vladislaus, there’s no need to—”
“You know I could just smite you off the face of this planet, right?” Alice mused, taking another sip of coffee.
Instead of lashing out, Vlad pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. “I know, I like it.”
“I am trying to threaten you,” Alice whispered, but there was a smile in her voice.
“Threats and smiting? Why, Alice Martin, are you trying to seduce me?”
And then, because William needed to feel even more like a third wheel, Vlad proceeded to kiss her.
He could do nothing but watch in awe as Fear itself whispered promises about cooperation and led Alice out the door.
“She’s gotten Vladislaus to agree to paperwork,” William said absently as Caleb and Deacon descended the stairs.
“Quit gloating,” Caleb chastised. “You were right, Vladislaus needed proper motivation. I remain unconvinced it will last but for now I’ll strike it as one less thing for me to worry about.”
William furrowed his brow. He didn’t feel triumphant or satisfied. He felt—
“Dude, those Pleasant sisters are smoking hot,” Deacon whistled. “Do you think they’d be into me? You know, even as a zombie? I plan to maintain my fitness routine,” he explained, flexing his muscles.
“Deacon, we have been over this,” Caleb snapped. “If you’re going to search their house you will need to stay focused. They are basilisks. Our enemy. We’re not going to date them, we’re going to kill them.”
Deacon bowed his head, but William was taken aback. No one had talked to him about this!
“You can’t have him sniffing around all the Pleasant girls’ things! I’m—“
“A vampire,” Caleb cut in, rolling his eyes. “They’ll track your scent in a second and the element of surprise will be lost.” He waved a hand dismissively, “Basilisks keep their prey rotting in storage under the house. Deacon won’t smell any different so he can easily slip in and out.”
William struggled to maintain his mask of calm and good nature. “I see, and what part do you have me playing in this plan?”
“None,” Caleb replied, looking down at his phone. “You’ve got your own information to track down. Or better yet, enjoy not babysitting Vladislaus and go out and get laid.”
Deacon gasped. “You haven’t been—”
”No. What? I’ve been plenty…I’m quite often…” William tried to think of the last time he’d taken a lover. Cars hadn’t been invented, which was a troubling sign.
“I don’t have a problem with any of that, thank you very much,” he finished primly.
Caleb snorted and motioned at Deacon who followed him out the door.
William hesitated. This whole morning had made him feel—
He wasn’t afraid of—
Of course he was ready to get back out there! He had his own life! Didn’t they see him flirting with Dylan the whole ride back to Windenburg?5
William was charming, he could get laid if he wanted! And he didn’t feel…at least he was trying not to feel unmoored. That’s why he was going to go and make his move right now.
Oh wow—when I wasn’t absorbed in this chapter, I was in a state of “how the heck did you get all that coordinated.” Akira alone had multiple prop changes… during the scene? Ooooof. But I’m digging everyone’s motivations that they’re not entirely revealing and little everyday things that they’re doing in between time-loop-defining events. This is the deconstruction I want: for someone who can’t watch superhero movies because they find the socioeconomic and environmental impact of collateral damage during a fight more interesting than the fight itself, Miko interrupting her own time-loop pontificating with “mmm, croissants—oh my god is that my asshole ex again” was just perfection. Waiting (or maybe you already did it? there are a lot of moving parts) for the scene where the person with fascinating time powers wrecks everything because they didn’t want to get out of bed and were groggily lying on their pillow looking at /r/birdswitharms instead.
Oh, so it’s not just Alice. Everyone’s normal-people powers are just as relevant as their magic powers. At least that’s what I got out of people who are pure magic or can fly trying to seduce major players at a coffeeshop.
Keeping my eyes open for hints about how the time loop affects people who aren’t aware of it. I can certainly see this becoming relevant in Vlad and Alice’s future, and maybe that’s why they’ve fallen for each other so quickly, because they’ve done so 999 times before. At least there’s the romance-is-epic-because-the-time-loop-is-centered-around-it feeling but there’s probably deeper levels to catch.
Deacon is giving me Josh Chan vibes and I will always treasure that class of vibe (for the uninitiated: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3_NELleDYc). I’m naming Caleb’s college look “Daddy’s Porsche.” And WHO PUT VLAD IN THAT JACKET. How hard were you laughing when you put him in that jacket? Was falling out of the chair involved? Because it almost was for me, dammit.
And I see that “like” inserted in the middle of a sentence with no commas.
Ugh I wrote such a good reply to this and wordpress betrayed me. Let me see what I can replicate:
-Oh you saw that “like”? ::laughs maniacally::
-Have never seen My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend but OMG if Deacon was a person this would be it. Daddy’s Porsche LOLOOLOLOL yes.
-Burning down Vlad’s house and forcing him to dress like a college student is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made as an author. I have many more outfits planned. I would like to stretch this torture out for as long as I can!
-How does a time loop affect people who aren’t aware of it, Miko?” ::stares directly into the camera:: Yeah, Alice/Vlad definitely have some fated-epic-love stuff because of the time loop, even if they don’t remember what happened, the emotional tracks are still there. Miko’s problem is that while the time loops sear in positive emotions (Alice and Vlad fall in love faster and faster with no problem) so do the negative emotions. Bloodvein, who might’ve been mildly threatening and capable of some small betrayal in time loop #1 becomes a psychopath bent on destroying his enemies at any cost by time loop #999. She’s isn’t solving problems by looping, she’s creating new ones.
– Yes! love that you caught the “supernatural powers are not the only tool” thing. Part of this is the limitation of the Sims (how may times can you really use the “cast spell” animation?) but the other part of it is that I think it’s way more interesting if supernatural power is not the first thing they reach for. Also, I’m trying REAL HARD not to write myself into a corner by making such overpowered characters that it’s unbelievable that they could ever lose.
-Coordinating the scene was a beast. An attach on myself, perpetrated by myself. I actually had to write to sketch it out to figure out where everyone needed to be standing. It was insane.
– Ummm I had something so smart about your superhero movies comment! But yes! Like I love a fight scene, but that’s not always the most interesting thing. Plus, all the characters in this story are long-lived and hard to kill, actually trying to deal with everyday life is way more challenging for them.
Oh P.S. – only pure magic itself is good enough for my William.
Ok, from the top:
Morgyn – So I haven’t mentioned, but the untamed magic sage is basically my ultimate sim crush so I find it difficult to comment on anything that happens in an unbiased way. I shall reserve judgement 😆(Sidenote – so many people do things in this universe do things “for love” – if only they weren’t so desperately at odds woth each other. All those misunderstandings alone can blow up the world with beings this powerful!)
Ok, this is where my organised commentary reached the not so organise WTF is going on 😂 I sure did not expect Miko’s commotion and Morgyn apoearing at the same time. I have to say, while we only get a tiny sliver of Miko and Akira I feel like their love story is even beyond Vlad and Alice (gasp). I’m not sure why I feel that way. Like I said I don’t normally even like them as townies, but you’ve turned them into something else. Maybe I like the doomed ones.
And lol for the ending! Miko tries so hard to be in control. It gives me the vibes of trying so hard to actually manage to do a job that you totally lied on your resume to get 😆
“White wine told me this was “totally doable” and would work out fine. White wine was wrong”
Bwahaha isn’t it always 😂 Sleep deprivation and rum told me that using 40+ sims in the same screenshots was totally okay and not at all problematic, too. The things we do for our stories 🤣
Ooooh, I like the little bit of insight we get into Morgyn and how they were one of the ones that created the owl. So Morgyn and Miko can both mess with time at will. That must be a real headache to deal with in the long term – so many variables and things that can change because of very small actions. Oops, and Miko lost track of Alice. I want to feel bad for her, but so far everyone has been trying to use Alice for their own gain like some go-to marionette. At least Vlad feels conflicted about it.
Bwahaha, yes William, go make some moves on someone 😂 clearly preparing for one hell of a fight, infiltrating a basilisk lair, making Vlad sign paperwork and finding someone to get laid with are all equally crucially important 🤣
THANK YOU FOR FEELING MY PAIN! HAHAAHHA. Okay I gotta see this 40+ sims in the same screenshots. Tales of Camelot is on my list.
:: edit :: I already started reading it an omfg it’s good.
Ummm, you’ve got good insight! People treat Alice like she is a tool they can use for their own means. Vlad feels conflicted about it because they think of him in much the same way.
Ooohh boy, these characters all delude themselves about their motives. William is no exception…
Naww, thank you <3 I made it to season 3 of chaotic bakie, woo! (I mean Baking By Death, lol) We're playing D&D this weekend but with a bit of luck next week is slow at work, and I can get caught up fully! 😁
WOW THE REVEAL IS LIKE A STRIP SHOW IN THIS CHAPTER. Everything is getting removed. Meoooowza.
Morgyn isn’t just a sage. They are magic. They are (what’s bigger than a god?)… a titan? Like Morgyn and L. Faba are a duo. LMAO at Simeon only being a member of the magic club, in name only.
And then Morgyn, in one of the many time loops, had a romance with William. OKAY HOLY SHIT.
LOL at Vlad having to suffer in College clothes but also enjoying Alice wearing them. Vlad is all over the place. lolol
William the doubtful, or maybe he just doesn’t like that he isn’t needed by Vlad, now that Alice has been given the reigns. For real, William and Caleb need to work out their codependence issues with Vlad because they don’t know everything even though they act like they do.
Wow. Valet Caleb is less codependent and ragging on William. Okay, maybe he is applying the therapy to his life. Maaaybe. We’ll see…
William, please get laid. Before the invention of cars?!?! SERIOUSLY?!?!?!
I will have to comment the rest later.
LOL I don’t know why I hate Simeon so much, but he deserves to be part of the no magic club. I’m so glad you enjoyed this chapter! It was such a bitch to shoot, and this was before I knew all the tricks I know now!
I think what you’re seeing is William trying to work through his codependency issues in real time. And I think it’s fair to say that when Vlad needs him, he is there. But when vlad starts healing and moving on, he discards him and meanwhile, William has built his life around taking care of Vlad.
But he does need to get laid. Maybe by a certain magic hottie…
Simeon has a face that looks like it needs to be punched ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It *almost* seems like a dick move on Vlads part to just toss William to the side, but he might not realize what he’s doing or how William feels. Miscommunication makes it really hard to assign “blame” to a side 😅
100% you are correct! I mean, all these characters are in their feelings and they aren’t wrong, per see. Clearly, I just love making everything complicated!
Hahahaha. But you know, life is full of complications. Sometimes nobody is right, sometimes everyone is write. It’s complicated. You write about real life so there will be complications <3
There is a theme about plants and getting freaky-deeky in your stories, Ferosh. First you have Ana in the garden sucking ghost pecker (not to be confused with ghost peppers), and now you have Akira entertaining the thought of sticking a rose up his pooper, if Akira so wishes lol.
LMAO at Akira pulling out his sword and Miko liking it. Yeah girl, I bet you do.
Okay, okay, okay, okay…. Morgyn making sure the dweeb in the glasses got into the fight, was THAT intentional b/c they know William has a …. “type” ?!?!?! And HOW CONVENIENT that Morgyn JUST ORDERED William a coffee. And, was it magic that Morgyn knew what to order for William (William’s thoughts) or was it ACTUALLY b/c in some version of this world, they dated, so most likely Morgyn KNEW how William liked his coffee? 😀
Do you think Vladislaus wants to be an imitation of his darker self? Do you think he would applaud your interference or see it as a betrayal? Did you consider that it would drive a wedge between you?”
OH FUCK, MIC DROP. Two points for Sage House!
Hahaha Morgyn asking William on a date. Morgyn is thirsting to rekindle what they had in a lifetime ago, but will they be disappointed when the version of who they had is not necessarily the same version as William is here? They DO seem content with the William they have in The Strauds. Hmmm.
On the next episode of The God of Death and The God of Fear Bake Off, the contestants will stuff Jimena into an oven, close the door, and burn that witch to a crisp. Teehee.
Be honest, who doesn’t love Akira holding that sword. YASSSSS!!!!!
Oh gosh, now I am trying not to give too much away. It’s hard to comment on a story that’s already done because I sometimes forget what reveals will happen later. All I’ll say is that William and Morgyn have the most epic love story, though it is not without complication. Morgyn has loved William in every universe, and that’s all I’ll say about that for now.
LOLOLOL SHOVING JIMENA INTO THE OVEN.
(ummm get ready for Morgyn dropping mics left and right, btw)
Yo Akira holding a sword is my swooooon.
OH. FUCK. that’s hot.