1.25 One Foot and Four Toes

A nice quiet and romantic afternoon at home.

The kids are home from school and it's already homework time. Jyoti's becoming a pro at this. Jet doesn't complain, he just does however much he feel like of it and doesn't stress out.

The big sister twirls her pencil around on her fingertips in an impatient circle. “Are you done doodling all over your science notebook? It's not like your report has anything to do with dragons."

Her brother shrugs. “I'll work it in somewhere. Reptiles are cool.”

“What's so great about reptiles? I mean, Tammy's alright but she doesn't even have any fur and you can't tell how she's feeling...” Jyo says, referencing the painted turtle their mom brought home a while ago.

“But she's going to grow to be the size of our house one day and then she can eat anybody we don't like.” He reasons casually.

“No she's not!”

“Why not? I bet she just hasn't developed a taste for blood yet. If plants can eat people, so can turtles. She like a tiny dinosaur, and it would be awesome if she outlived everyone.”

“What kind of report are you writing again?” She asks, sure already what his answer is going to be.

“A report on the movie 'Little shop of Horrors'."

“So, how is that real science? You know you could just ask mom.”

He shakes his head, almost violently. Asking mom was out of the question, apparently. “I don't need and Entomologist for this. I can do it on my own.”

“Mom knows about more than just bugs. She wouldn't care if you take what she says and write it word for word, either. She loves reporting on her discoveries, just write a report on her, then you can go draw or whatever.”

He mulls this over, getting distracted. “I did get an easel for my birthday... But I kind of like writing reports. Learning what the teachers want to hear, and then telling them something completely different is a lot of fun. I wish we could just do whatever we want to, or learn about things we like, for once.”

Jyoti smiles to herself. Hard to disagree with that. “I just wish I could spend the whole day scouting instead. You should join an after school program, you know?” Then she has it. “There's a journalism club for bigger kids than us, but can't you join the art club? They do painting and writing and basically you don't have to hang out with other kids who annoy you too much...”

Her brother finishes erasing a line on his report and pauses. “That's not what I like about it!”

“Okay okay, whatever....” She gives in. She's finished with her homework anyways.

Meghan spends the rest of the day in her lab. Dead fish can still be used for samples, and then nobody has to remember to feed them. It's kind of a win-win.

Jyo uses the after-homework time wisely. Tammy ain't scared.

As long as there's food at the end of the day.

RAWR.

Now that Jet's older he's allowed into the laboratory, and the first thing he uses his access for is to wash the dishes. He's not a bad kid, not really.

He's not really a loner either, but he never seems to bring anyone home from school, and enjoys most time quietly playing by himself.

Element the Suspicious has his first act at the Fall Festival. He's becoming quite the household name around here.

The family joins him, but mostly to do their own thing.

Some of Element's props need an upgrade. He doesn't want to stab most people.

He could though, and that's what's important.

This guy gets to live.

Jyoti's first catch. She doesn't keep it, she knows what happens to the fish in their house.

New skin trial later that week.. What is this glowiness? Ugh.

Default replacement skin with stupid game chest-hair. No thank you. (The default I usually use has chest hair built in, but the downside is that then every male has it...). I'm going to call this the nice nipples version.

Meghan in default went to purple? I'm confused. Oh well I decide to give it time.

Not that it matters what I do around here very much...

Uhhhh... this one is called Polyester Bride. He looks hilarious. Nice chapped lips, is that supposed to be sexy? XD This is the skin some of the Huanna family has on.

Oh yeah eye defaults happening too here.

Looks great on Meghan though.

Whatever.

Finish your hobby.

Hey nice! He did it! It took him is entire young adulthood, but nice work, Dustin!

To be fair there wasn't a lot of time that wasn't spent in the chasing of the slightly-mighty simolean.

There's nothing to do but take if for a drive in the snow, with the top down (the top on is never actually an option, it just appears during intimate moments which is kind of a disappointment).

Yeah, that is satisfying.

Let's not talk about how Overwatch cleans it up over night after this and I end up having to rebuild the car three times, freezing aging and with speed repair mods. It's an open wound and an on-going issue. The result is I don't let him drive much later on is because he'll lose it. :/

For new defaults replacements I settle on something by Burnt Waffles for the skin and I think the Sahara eyes?

The eyes are too big on Dustin but I don't care any more. My story was delayed for a while with these issues, actually. Let's move on and I can stop being a perfectionist. (I went back to his original default skin for males I think too)

The important thing is that Dustin has out-eccentriced his rock-star neighbors by finishing his decades old, ie “classic” convertible just in time for powdery poofs of fluffy ice crystals to descend upon everything from the heavens.

Magicians fear no upholstery-related challenges!

Winter, which approached far quicker than anyone expected, has hit hard. A lot of the neighbors move somewhere warmer for a while, yet the Sparrows stay put. The house isn't exactly snowed in, but school is canceled for a few days, so everyone focuses on indoor activities.

Nobody in this coastal and normally warm town wants anything to do with the mess outside.

Meanwhile, something else is finally finished. 

Dustin planned the creation of his new prop, but wisely sent it out to be constructed professionally from incredibly sturdy materials. He could have easily cobbled something together, but at this stage in his career he wanted the kind of expert construction that only comes from Acme. He'd sent out his prototype idea and some drawings, and this finished product was sent back, just before the snow started truly falling.

He now can focus on reinventing his act.

The practice audience is so far nonplussed. But that's fine, he'll be practicing a lot. Every part of the act must be flawless.

He must look confused enough to throw off the audience's confidence in his ability, but still maintain complete control of their focus, and his.

He slinks backwards into the shadow of the box, nearly floating into it, one toe at a time.

Dustin is trying out a new trick.

Ehh.... I'm sure you'll be fine.

aaaandd...... THIS MAKES PERFECT SENSE!

He leaves a little statue of what could have been as an afterimage. It's pretty creepy, but will instill the perfect amount of rear terror into his live shows if he can pull it off. Already a household name, Element the Suspicious can now work his way into the history books.

Unfortunately this is a mere mirage and we don't get to keep it as some sort of post-modern kickass statuette.

Audience reaction. Gibbles is impressed.

The iguana totally missed it and was looking the other way.

Tammy is sporting her 'surprised' face.

Do it again!

And again!

The kids are off somewhere, not even noticing. They would have been a great audience for this.

Jet's not sure why Jyoti talks to him about books if she's never going to read any of them, but patiently listens for a while. Until it gets to baking, and he interrupts to discuss more dinosaur extinction theory.

Dad will be fine, anyways.

Practice makes perfect.

Uhhh, awesome...? Your phone would ring right now!

Meghan's been in the lab all week again.

Finally categorizing the fruit & veggie samples for future generations.

Not that she knows if it'll ever be needed, but of course that is every scientist's dream, to be able to save the world with your work, or at the very least, leave a legacy in which that potential exists.

Meanwhile Jet makes the mistake of talking to his sister about the weather, and is promptly invited outside for a game of tag.

In the snow. On a snow day.

By which time mom's moved on to the normal insect sampling that's earned her some scientific acclaim,

and once Jet's had enough of the 'weather',

Jyoti stays out as long as she can before someone yells at her for it. Which probably won't be for a while as adult supervision is nearly non-existent around here.

Dustin heads off to a new kind of show, trying not to feel nervous. 

The owner of Rodeo knows what Dustin has planned, it's been advertised that there will be a new act from a beloved artist, and a limo picks him up to get there. It's all straight forward on paper.

All he has to do is his normal act in the beginning, then add on to it, build on it, pepper the humor with suspense and intrigue. He knows his fans, he knows they will love it. The enthralling fear roiling in his gut is not a feeling that he had expected, but it makes sense. This is the first time his act will have something in it he's created entirely on his own, it's a turning point in his career.

The limo crunches and compacts the snow under it's wheels at they approach the city center, and for a while it's all he can hear. His mind zeros in as he works to prepare it.

He has to be himself, the performance will be flawless, he needs to believe that.

Which is how, moments later, feeling a mixture of terror and excitement himself, he launches the most important show of his career. No pressure.

Effortlessly, he pulls the crowd in, and it begins.

Jyoti bakes some cookies,

Jet picks out a new book for the evening,

And the pivotal trick in the act begins.

He's got this. Heart beating a mile a minute, it feels like he can see straight into the stratosphere with the way he's feeling.

The audience eats it up, watching every second, enraptured.

The after-image appears... Oh, that's a cool one.

Wait... Something's different. The fear is gone with the image. Has he conquered it?

He marches to the center of the stage, feeling a heady sense of light-headedness, yet determined to move forward.

If that isn't the most gorgeous moment he's ever had on stage I will eat my hair clean of split ends. 

Dustin feels lighter than ever, giddy almost. Time slows down and focus is sharpened more than lost. He'd performed the most perfect trick ever and gotten away with it without revealing any secrets.

The audience is going crazy, but the lights no longer blind him, the heat from the flames no longer find him. He has won against his fear.

He stops to enjoy it a moment, the briefest break in his professionalism. A deep breath he cannot feel passes through him.

Before the show must go on.

He performs flawlessly, a well-rehearsed conjuration. A tank from the other side of simkind's understanding. How does he do this?

He's never gonna tell.

The final routine goes off without a hitch; the anticipation is building to the finale of the show. He nails every. Single. Trick.

Doves. Released.

Cards. Dispersed.

Sims. Vanished.

Returned.

To a sold out crowd.

Fire.

Perfectly summoned.

For the first time he performs as a real frontliner, THE Element the Suspicious, and no one in the room doesn't have shivers running down their spine at the chilling nature of the performance.

It was arguably his best show yet.

He soaks up the applause, this is what he was absolutely MADE FOR.

Until someone's scream erupts after the show's finale when the lights come back on to full brightness, and the crowd gathers in a less than congratulatory way.

Some are upset.

Some merely notice the chill that's crept into the room.

Dustin's no fool, not completely, and the best show of his life is clearly exactly as it sounds. He died in that box, and his spirit alone, for love of the moment, carried him on.

The crowd cannot disperse, they're riveted to the scene, not sure yet if what they witnessed was real or fabrication.

He knows he should have felt pain, more than a few moments where breathing was difficult. It was supposed to feel that way, it was magic. And yet the fear that gripped his core once again jolts through him with the authority of a deep, resonating, yet deathly quiet voice.

“S-sparrow.” It hisses. “DUSTIN.”

By his feet something dreadful appears. An urn, meant for him.

Probably he should say something, but he is compelled to act alone as the hooded spirit tells him. He moves to a place where he can more easily be reaped.

A few thoughts waft by and are lost.. is that his body over there? Will Meghan be strong enough to comfort the children, will they have enough money for a while?

Also, there's no avoiding this.

Except, another compulsion, something his fingers do not pass through, something with barely any weight at all, is in his hand.

The figure takes it from him, a rumble escapes from it. Something like a gruff chuckle, the sound of laughter.

“YOU BELIEVE... A FLOWER IS ENOUGH?”

And from somewhere ethereal, Dustin finds his voice. When he uses it, it doesn't carry far. “I believe... that it depends on whether or not you consider yourself to be the boatman.”

The figure laughs, not deeply but silently with the shaking of shoulders, giving the impression that it's really there, breathing in air and breathing it out again. “IT WILL DO FOR NOW.” It says, a hint of mirth in the lilt of it's voice.

“You will remain... for a while.” It remarks.

Dustin's fear dulls, and his hearing begins to return. Slowly the din of voices talking in hushed tones or calling out for help come back, accompanied by a ringing in his ears.

And just like that, he's back. Fingers, toes, everything seems to be working. He can feel the dirt on his skin from the trick that buried him, ended him.

Except it wasn't going to be the end.

“You're not a bad guy at all, are you?” He is compelled to ask the figure.

That figure, hooded, and sober, does not respond.

And that is how Element the Suspicious grew into a national phenomenon. The man who came back from the door of death itself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One foot and four toes into the grave is something my brother used to say about people that were ready to die any minute.

Also, this is of course why the Loki storyline is now essentially derailed completely. A woman like Meghan, who can clone plants and animals and even sims, knowing what the death flower can do, will do everything in her power to obtain another one, to make sure that Dustin never leaves home without one again. So I concluded that no matter what Loki has in store for the Sparrows, Meghan will make sure they all just come back to life again. I'm sure I could write around it, but I just don't want to as Loki's not all that vindictive in my mind in the first place. So this is where things pivot away a bit.

Still, some of my favorite game shots ever are in this update, so I hope you all enjoyed it. I'd forgotten Dustin still had that thing on him honestly, I was debating whether he would carry it based on what Moira had said, and when the pivotal moment of conflict came I was going to roll a die to find out (he has something  like a 50/50 chance to carry it, and he'd have a 40/60 or even 35/65 chance or survival against Loki, the vampire (being that he is brave and fit and all that, but still vamps are probably stronger). I was going to leave his survival in the conflict up to chance, but now I can't do that, so I'm going to try to write Loki as true to his game character as I can at the end. He's still going to be around for a bit.

Even with a mud-pixel chest his strut doesn't change much.

xD Inside the water

The most bitchin show ever. Seriously, he played the whole show as dead.