Rose 2-15: Sketchy

Warning! drawn, artistic nudity
and then some really 'good' angles and cropping
(Also, remember this is technically before Skye leaves on his magical journey to Dragon Valley.)

Donovan

     I happily convince Shauna to model for me. When she starts acting nervous, I look at her like she's crazy and remind her I've already seen her anyway. Still, I know what it's like to model and have someone stare at you that critically. After all, she did the same thing to me even if all I had off was my shirt.

    She makes a face. "You really want me to just stand here?"

    I smile to myself. "I'm not picky. Do you have something different in mind?"

    I nearly fall into a dead faint when she gets on my bed and poses for me.

    Quickly covering myself with my sketchpad, I sit down in the computer chair next to the bed and start drawing. I've never enjoyed sketching a subject more than I have tonight.

    I hope she likes it. She blushes and accuses me of taking poetic license to make her look better than she actually does. I threaten to get out my camera to prove her wrong. Honestly, the woman needs to stop thinking so negatively about herself.
      "I'm serious. Where did I put my camera?" I say and ask while looking around in my things to find where I put it when I moved into this room.
      Shauna backs up with her hands held out in front of her. "No, no. That's okay. Honestly." She bends down a little to pick up her discarded clothes, and I walk up to her.
       Taking the clothes from her hand, I ask, "What are you planning on doing with these?"
       "Put them back on. I can't go around naked all night."
       "Says who?" I ask now and throw her clothes on the floor before I draw her into my arms and kiss her trembling lips. "I've got you like I like you, and I want you to stay that way." I say, guiding her to my bed and undoing the buttons on my shirt. "You didn't even need to get up off of the bed."
       "Donovan... I don't know if..."
       "I do." I finish for her and claim her lips, stopping her unsure ramble. While I work on removing the rest of my clothing, I help relieve her of some of her tension the best way I know how.

     Not surprisingly, she's a virgin. I'm as gentle as I can be.

     I love watching her face as I make love to her. Everything is new to her, and I want to make it good for her.
      Shauna. Finally.
      She stays with me for the rest of the night before she decides to go home in the morning.
      I'm hanging around in the living room in my underwear when Ashley leaves Skye's room in hers, headed for the kitchen.
      ???

    A few minutes later, the smoke alarm starts going off, and Ashley starts screaming and running around like a mad woman in the kitchen.
     I hop up off of the couch, but Skye beats me to the kitchen, also in his underwear, grabbing the extinguisher on the way.

     Skye doesn't even stop to think, he runs straight for the flames coming out of the oven and hits them with the spray from the extinguisher. I start yelling at him to be careful and try to get Ashley, who's standing too close to the flames, out of harm's way.
      I'm amazed at my younger brother's brave expression in the face of danger.
      Clark and Karri come running up the stairs, also in their underwear, and go into the beginnings of a panic until they see that Skye has the blaze under control. Clark calls the fire department, and they come and take care of everything else. However, there really isn't much for them to do since Skye handled it so well.
      Ashley starts crying, blaming herself, and Skye pulls her to him to comfort her.
      I give him a 'what about Carmen?' look to which he wordlessly tells me to shut up.
      Who am I to judge anyway? Still, I purposefully don't go steady with my lovely ladies for this very reason.

      I hear from Skye later that he saw Tiffany at a class of his in the library. She was happily flirting with some other guy.
       I can't explain the irrational jealousy flowing through me with this news.
       Then, Skye launches into a tale about how he's got a thing for our roommate Ashley (like I couldn't tell otherwise). When I verbally ask him about Carmen, he scratches the back of his head and mumbles about how he needs to break up with her, but he feels bad about not doing it to her face.
      I wish I could give him advice on this subject, but again, this is why I don't go steady.

    I see Hanna at the party, and I walk up to hug her when she backs away. I make a pouting face and say that I was only going to hug her in a friendly way since I thought we were friends. Of course, I want to be more than friends.
    I received a dare from an anonymous person on my phone:

 

     I don't really care about the jock influence, but I'm up for that kind of a dare.

     So, I tone it down a little and talk to her about things she's interested in.
     After a while, I guess that my problem was I came on too strong in the beginning. I think she likes me; she's simply a little shy. I alter my actions the tiniest bit...

     .... and she's putty in my very capable hands.
     Her sorority sisters make hooting, cat-call noises at us. I feel a little surprised that girls do that sort of thing too. She doesn't act too bothered by them and makes sure I'm plenty busy making out with her on their couch the whole party.
     Still, I decide that that dare was a stupid thing to agree to, and I'll not do that to her.

     When it's time for me to go, she stops me from going out the door. I feel really surprised, but no way am I going to push her away.
      The shy Hanna invites me up to her room. Who am I to say no?

     We go upstairs to her room, and when I mention that I might should go (still worried about not doing that dare), she stops me.
      Hanna aggressively attacks me. I don't mind one bit and don't try to stop her.
      I'm really surprised. Never in a million years would I expect this out of her.... especially after I find out she's a virgin. Er, was.

      I stay the night.
      Early in the morning, I wake up to her crying.
      "What's wrong?" I ask, concerned.
      "I'm so embarrassed. I'm so sorry, Donovan."
      "About what? You shouldn't be embarrassed about anything." I brush her hair out of her face lovingly.
       Finally, I get out of her that she lost her virginity on a sorority dare.
       She had a dare too.
       She feels like she took advantage of me, and now she's trying to make it right.
       "I feel terrible for doing that to you." she says sadly.
       "Hanna, you didn't hurt me. In fact, I had the same dare. I'd decided not to go through with it because I couldn't do that to you." Oops!
       "But I could do that to you?! What does that say about me?!" she wails as she really starts crying.
       I groan, not knowing how to dig myself and her out of these holes we created. So, I simply kiss her until she stops crying, refusing to let her start bashing herself again.
        "It's okay. You picked the right guy, Hanna. If you're not mad at me, I'm not mad at you." I finish and tap the tip of her nose with the end of my finger playfully. Then I smile down at her in the growing light.

    By the time I leave in the morning, we have an understanding. She doesn't feel bad about herself at all anymore.
    And... I have a date for night after tomorrow.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alrighty, so here's the real sketch:

Somehow, this doesn't strike me as something an art major would smile about... unless they have a great sense of humor. And for that matter, she's wearing clothes! (and glasses wth?)(and where the hell did the dog come from? She could SO take that the wrong way!)

Gotta love photo editing :)

And, just because I did it and didn't end up using it. I was going to have a bit where Donovan wanted to hang the pic on the wall, but this one has her in her undies... that would've made a headache for me as far as explaining that... if it mattered.

And its original... I realized later I should've yellowed the replacement pic due to the lighting in the end picture, but after doing all that shading and then deciding not to use it in the first place, I didn't. I could have tho.

It's a still life sketch of Shauna in that pose, up close at her face. You can sort of make out her mouth, eyes and nose with white noise behind her. Oh well. 

So, when you see it in the background next to the door (yes, the front door -- now understand why Shauna would've gotten upset?), you'll understand why it's there. :)

Gnomish Behavior 3: Go get me some nuts

      After the horrible debacle of creating Bunbuns, Jr., Bill sits back to contemplate his next move.
      "What if I had an army of annoying bunnies? If it's one thing bunnies can do, it's reproduce!" he says to himself.

     Another witch shows up on the lot. Rose names her Broomhilda.

     And then there are three bunnies. They name the third one "Third".

     And the fourth one "Fourth". Fourth likes his name, although he wishes everyone would call him 'Forth' instead.

    Bunbuns and his offspring are on a roll. They name the fifth one "Fifth."
    "And the sims themselves suspect nothing!" Bill laughs.

     Hyacinth comes back from visiting her sister at another house. When Bill tells her about his success with the rabbit gnomes, she gets bored and falls asleep.

     "Fourth, you do realize you're watching the back of the television, don't you?" Hyacinth asks.

     "Please. I've asked you to call me Forth." he responds.

     "They both sound the same. How do you know I wasn't?"

     "I can tell."

     "And yet, you can't properly watch a television set." Hyacinth points out.

     "The eldest will surely win the heir vote." Hyacinth says with a smile.
     "She's not even in the running." Bill points out in a bored voice.
     "What?!"
     "Yeah. The maker doesn't like her features, and she doesn't want to pass them down to the next generation."

      "Then, surely the second child, also a witch although he prefers to be called otherwise for reasons I don't understand, will win. He's very highly qualified." she says.

      "Probably not."

     "And then the frog started hopping around and around the turtle before it splashed into the pond, making a big mess and not cleaning it up afterwards. The turtle told the frog it needed to be more polite to which the frog replied 'ribbit' in a very rude way. It's really a shame that turtles can't give the bird because of how their feet are made. I don't see how giving someone a bird is rude other than the thing might poop everywhere and leave feathers all over the place for the sim to clean up, but they talk about it alot." Third continues to ramble along to the very-good-at-listening plants.

      "Ah, my favorite show is on." Fourth says.
      "They turned the TV off." Bill says laconically.
      "I know that, but I'm watching it in my head."

       "Yeah! Get him in the nuts!"
       "I like nuts. Go get me some nuts."
        Junior and Fifth like sitting out in the setting sun, watching the boys and their games.
        "Not those nuts."

      Fourth follows Bill upstairs to the bathroom. "Whatcha doing?" he asks.
      "I'm getting in the way of anyone trying to use this shower."
      "Why?"
      "So I can be annoying."
      "Why?"
      "Because I hate sims! This is something easy I can do to further wreck their measly, little lives."
      "Why?"
      "Because that is my purpose in life."
      "What's my purpose?"
      "Apparently, to annoy me even more than I can possibly annoy the sims in this house."

      If only Bill knew about the terrifying world of monsters under the bed, he might be able to make use of them.

     "The heir has been decided, and he has no magic ability in him!" Hyacinth protests to Bill one day.
     "Then will you finally join me in my quest to annoy the sims of the Robles household?" Bill asks.
     Hyacinth ponders it for a moment, and she finally decides that for as long as there is no witch heir in the house, then she will do her best to make the sims miserable.

     Bill calls for reinforcements. "My brother from up north... waaaayy up north." he explains. "He's Mr. White Christmas, also known as Mr. Snow, Mr. Icicle, Mr. Ten-below. We call him Snow Miser for short."

Rose 2-14: Wish

Skye

     I spend a few relatively quiet days with Lorelei. I never knew I could communicate so much without actually speaking. Oh, I speak, and so does she, but we don't understand each other much.
      The second night we have together, we make love. She's a virgin.
      Is it cheating if I'm in another dimension? I don't suppose it matters because before I found myself here, I was ready to break up with Carmen for Ashley. Now, I'm glad I never started anything serious with Ashley.
      I wonder if everyone's going crazy looking for me. They'll never find me. 
      Poor Mom.
      I have never felt more comfortable with a woman in my entire life than with Lorelei. I'm happiest in moments like this when I can simply hold her in my arms. I don't even care that I'm not sleeping. The sun will be up soon anyway.

     Lorelei stirs a little, and I turn my head a bit to look down at her. I get the feeling she's never been in a relationship before. I'll catch her looking like she's fretting over the simple fact of me being here, and I'll try to smile and wordlessly reassure her.
      I worry now about her sending me 'home'. I don't want to leave her.
      I'll refuse to leave.
      "Skye." she says my name as she stirs. I roll us onto our sides.

      "Mara tuilë." she says, and for the millionth time, I wish I understood her. I'm starting to pick up on little phonetic similarities in the stuff she says, but it's still all gibberish to me. At least I understand 'no' and 'yes'.
     She smiles and reaches up again to play a little with my soul patch under my lip. I think she finds it funny-looking, but she also doesn't look like she's complaining. I'm going to have to figure out how to shave around here soon. My facial hair doesn't grow as fast as Dad's or Link's, and I don't mind. Still, I've just about reached my limit.
      "I wish I understood you." I wistfully say aloud.
      "Wish." she says. She's much braver with trying out new words. When I try, I screw it up and feel stupid especially when she notices me trying and starts correcting me.
       "Yes, wish." I say and try yet again to tuck her stubborn bangs behind her ear. I close my eyes tightly and say, "I wish." Why couldn't I have been born with some magic in me?! If I had one chance to do anything magical, I'd make it so I could understand her and her me.
       I open my eyes and look down at her suddenly-wide eyes. She gasps and wiggles out of my arms to stand up. I let her go, and once she's up, she starts throwing my daytime clothes at me, talking really fast, probably about how I need to hurry up and get dressed because some idea has just occurred to her.

    Once I get dressed as fast as I can, sensing her urgency, we leave camp for the higher hills. She acts irritated by my slower pace. I honestly try to move faster, but I don't know how she can move the way she does.
    On the top of one of the hills, there's a bit of a plateau. We walk for a little ways more, and we come upon another ruin. This looks like our destination.

    She marches right for the traditional entrance.
    As we get closer, I notice this ruin is in a little better shape than the one where I appeared here. I wonder if it has anything to do with the trees, but I don't think anymore about it.

     Farther into the ruin, there's a fountain that is in really good shape compared to everything else around it. I look down and see coins of various types.
      Lorelei pulls a coin out of a pouch on her belt and walks over to hand it to me. "Wish." she says seriously.
      A wishing well? Oh, you've got to be kidding me! I start laughing.
      "No, Skye!" she snaps, looking like she wants to slap me.
      She's as serious as a heart attack. "Sorry." I apologize quickly.
       Wish. Why the hell not? I think and decide to give it a try since I have nothing to lose anyway.

     She stands back while I approach the well properly with the coin she handed me. As I do, both the coin and the well start to glow a little. It's just from the approaching sunrise. That has to be it.
     So, I wonder if this is going to be like a genie wish where I have to phrase it just right or it horribly backfires.
       I could wish to go home. I could wish for magic like my mom.
       I don't want to. What I want most is to be able to talk to and understand Lorelei. Very simple in the grand scheme of things, I guess.
       "I wish," I start to say, and the water glows even more golden with the rising sun, "that I could understand everyone here and they understand me."
        I toss in the coin.

      The glow from the coin and the water leave it and travel over to me, circling around me like a bunch of little fairies. I hear Lorelei gasp a little and see her take a single step back out of the corner of my eye.
        The little lights circle around me completely from head to toe and then absorb themselves into my skin.
       Strangely, I don't feel any different.
       "Well, that was weird." I say, and Lorelei gasps again.

     "Skye! I can understand you!" she exclaims in quiet awe.
     "It worked?" I ask.
     "You can understand me?" she asks instead of answering.
     "Yes." I say and smile. "I wished for it. Just like one of those silly wishing wells back home.. only those don't work like this."
       She laughs a little happy laugh, throws her arms around my neck and kisses me exuberantly while the sun breaks through the trees and warms us.

Brooke 5: In the time before rendering

Luna goes outside to pee (great dog), and howls. Then I find out why...

That must've been extremely painful to suddenly grow to ten times your size!

She's a big dog. I hadn't expected that.

Never had a lazy pet before. This is hilarious!

Adam is such a sweet husband. :)

Anyway, apparently I can't adopt Noah since the other child has to be adopted in a non-biological adoption. Oh well. Maybe I can work him in somehow in another way. As in, send him to his 'grandmother's' or 'aunt's' or something. Edit: Turns out I can, so I will!

Just a silly Luna pic.

Luna and Brooke get along much better. Luna still has the occasional 'holy crap! my owner is a witch!' moments, but it's more something about which I'm more entertained instead of annoyed most of the the time.

Boy, dammit! I mean.. Boy!

Luna pees on their bedroom floor, and there's a routing failure preventing them from cleaning it up. 

Does this thought mean Luna wants to get doggie-married? Puppies would be cool since they're only going to have two kids (and I'm planning the adoption for much later).

Adam in his workout wear, getting an opportunity call from his other baby mama. >.> 

The baby doesn't have its own room yet, so I just slapped some furniture in their bedroom. I can't decide if I wanna move them to a new house or not. I like the size of this house, but they really don't need such a big house, and the layout is a little strange. I'm still debating.

"He said Daddy!"

"No, he didn't."

"I swear I heard him say Daddy!"

Looks like the cop-lady has another mess to clean up.

I particularly enjoy Luna's thoughts while the burglar gets beat up and arrested. So much more interesting than the boring, usual ones that Adam and Brooke do.

In the time before rendering, there are only shadows of things to come.

Adam had a wish sitting around to do a stakeout. So, I simply click on him while they visit a community lot and have him do it. Does he go outside? Nope. He spins into his swanky work wear and pulls out the bush pompoms. Go Adam go! I'm sure they'll never see you there especially with the way you have your back turned to everyone on the lot.

 Brooke stops reading to go into labor. Birth pics always crack me up.

Ever the good husband, Adam packs his wife up in the car I didn't have to pick out and buy and drives her to the hospital in his swanky work attire.

I wouldn't want to go into a hospital if the first person I see leaving it is a ghost. Nope nope nope!
There's not much of a choice in Aurora Skies, however, and the pair of them go inside to have their baby.

Brooke somehow magically beams over the stroller from the living room to put little Paul into.
Yay! A boy! Friendly and Genius. Very good traits. I don't have written whether or not I picked 'em or rolled 'em. Either way, her pregnancy was great. I bet I picked 'em.

I save right away. I get up for a second. Game crashes. Haha! Take that, game! I lost nothing !!!!