Saving Time

If I could save time in a bottle...






So just what in the Nine Hells is going on? This doesn't look like La Fiesta Tech.

Last I heard from you, you were spying on me in the shower and claiming to have plans underway for some big update or something. Then you come back and I'm suddenly kicked to the curb. Why do I have a feeling those grand aspirations of yours have fallen through yet again?

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Hmm... come to think of it... why the hell are you here? I thought SK was the closest thing to a sim-self you'd ever have in this neighborhood.

. . .

That's not a valid answer.

---

Yes, well, things have come up, and I thought it might be easier to explain if I were actually here. In the pixels, so to speak.

Things have come up? Oh lovely. I simply cannot wait to hear your explanation this time.

Gee, thanks for being so understanding.

You do realize that by dropping your sim-self into the neighborhood, all chaos will break loose here now.

*sigh* It will not.

It will. Strange things always happen whenever your sim-self is involved. It makes me wonder why I have anything to do with you.

I wonder the same thing about you all the time.

*glower*

Quit it and put on your happy face. Some people are here to see you.

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Heya Orry!

Welcome home son.


Great. It's a bloody welcoming committee. After all this time you'd think she'd have stopped using that damned diminutive. I suppose her creator encourages her.

They're just happy to see you home.

And why am I home? I thought I was supposed to be starting the final semester of my senior year.

Well... that's all changed.

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Changed?

Yes, changed. Obviously you've graduated and moved back home. Summa cum laude too, might I add. Apparently you found time to study between all those cheese sandwiches. Not that you desire to eat 200 of them anymore.

I don't?

Nope. Your secondary aspiration is knowledge, so after you graduated I poked that little "reroll LTW" button on the batbox. You promptly rolled up a desire to be the Overlord of Evil. Or whatever the TS2 equivalent is; I forget. Rather fitting I thought. You're still a cheese sim though. That ability to conjure grilled cheese from thin air is just too damn cool.

If I've moved out, who's living in Hoh House?

Brandi and Kent and Orlando are living in the greek house now...

Orlando?

The cow.

The cow is a member?!?! By all that's Cheesy, Who let him in?

You pledged him.

Gah! *facepalm* I must have been high on Limburger.

He's kind of cute. Omaha really likes him.

Omaha's at college?

Yep. She and a horde of other Strangetownians have overfilled one of the dorms on campus. Treynor has grown up into a rebellious teen with a face full of metal and two loves: his girlfriend and his music. Apparently he loves her more, since his music kind of sucks. Cleveland is talking about retiring to spend more time with Veronica. I wouldn't be surprised if he gives up on the vampire thing too, once he's no longer ruler of the criminal underworld. Kasson and SK moved into a brownstone just down the block from Veronica. Thanks to Kasson's tiki infatuation, the place looks like a hula girl exploded. SK's spending most of her maternity leave trying to redecorate. And last but not least, Salina and Cirrus are parents to a green skinned baby boy named Stratus. I hear that Cirrus originally wanted to name him Cumulonimbus, but Salina said 'no.'

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*suspicous look* So what brought this all on and why are there no updates about it?

. . .

You're supposed to be answering me.

. . .

Tell me Orrin, who's there in your welcoming committee?

Have you gone daft, Woman?!

Humour me, please.

---

*frustrated sigh* By the Great Wheel of Cheddar! It's my father and his wife. You've known them for years. Hells, half the time when you write about them, you end up talking like Texas for the next two days.

And is there anything special about them?

In a short bus sort of way you mean?

*sigh* I'm talking about your parents Orrin, not you.

*grumble* They're both batty old coots who are madly in love with each other. My father is relatively clueless -- except when it comes to his arch nemesis Mr Noodle -- and his wife's cooking show has a fan base that reaches into the realm of the dead. Would you like me to continue?

The old part was what I was aiming for.

---

So? My parents are old. Unless you're a vampire or an overlord with the ability to bend time and space, age does tend to catch up with you. Now what in the Nine Hells does this have to do with anything?

Time continues on for all of us, and eventually it over takes us. Unlike in the real world, in game I can see just how many days someone has left. One of the perks of being the person running the mouse. No surprises when you know the end is coming.

You're getting melancholy on me Woman.

I knew Waylon and Texas were going to pass soon. I was planning on getting you home well before that happened. I had a whole ton of screenshots taken and was going to get the first of several chapters written while I was on vacation, visiting my parents. But...

But...?

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My father passed away suddenly -- unexpectedly? whichever word fits best -- while I was visiting my folks. He stopped breathing while Mom was driving him to dialysis. They took him by life flight to the critical care unit. He seemed to be doing better the next day but... *sigh* My brother and sisters weren't even able to make it to the hospital before he passed.

. . .

So my week's vacation turned into nearly a month of funeral and family leave, and after all the emotional chaos, I didn't really feel up to writing some light and humorous post. I'm rather fond of you guys, y'know, and knowing how little time Texas and Waylon have left... well.. I couldn't handle that so soon. Couldn't handle seeing you lose a dad too, or to see Texas or Waylon suddenly alone. Call me dorky or whatever, since it's just a game. Attached to little pixels. Heh. *sniffle*

You're not...

Everything's wrapped up at a nice little stasis point. Nobody's left hanging in limbo. Maybe at some point I'll feel up to picking up the threads and weaving the story again, just... not right now.

---

Hey now, there's no need to get all teary...

*sniffle*

Keth... you know we're just your fictional creations... how many times have you commented that we're just bits on the hard drive? We can't... er... death isn't.... ah... we don't...

. . .

Keth?

*snuffle*

Damn authors and their attachments to their characters.

That's not it... it's D...

Shhh, don't cry... please?

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*sigh* I'm sorry hon...

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*sniffles* *reaches for another tissue*

Stop the waterworks and come over here. Sheesh Woman.

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