2.01 After Tonight, the World.

Jyoti watches the last party guest retreat for the evening and feels the excitement of the future singing in her veins. And possibly some nectar, there had definitely been some mixing going on.

She looks over the back yard and thinks of all the times she felt nailed down here, grounded, wingless. For all the hard work her parents had put in that made her want for nothing, for all the exciting vacations and crazy times with friends, from here on out things were going to be on her terms. Her life, her pursuit of meaning. Her definitions.

...maybe the gym needed a new instructor for some sport? She could embrace her mild celebrity and start a healthy lifestyle blog and become a workout model, a yoga instructor... nothing sounded good right now, but as long as she was not stuck at a desk 24/7, she would be happy.

Lost in faraway thoughts, she sees a glint of color out of the corner of her eye and sees someone familiar. Weird, I didn't see him come over.

“Did you just get here?” She asks Loki.

“I didn't want to go in, having arrived so late.” Loki says with a wave.

She reaches out to shake his hand. “It's late, but thanks for coming.”

“I wanted to congratulate you properly.”

She smiles and takes the offered handshake. “Yeah. I got it. I wanted you to meet my parents, but one of them is alreay in bed I think-”

Loki quickly shakes his head. “I can't stay that long, actually.”

She feels comfortable enough to tease him a bit. “Don't tell me you're here checking me out because I'm finally legal.”

He sighs. “Not really, I've always known what you were going to look like. Besides, I don't want to get in your way. You've got a lot of important decisions to make soon and we won't be seeing each other for a while.”

She tilts her head. “Oh? More visions?”

He looks away. “Not exactly. This is more like the opposite of that. It seems that.... no matter how things were going to go earlier between us there was going to be this ...void. As for my timeline, all I know is that you disappear from it around now. I'm not sure why. I have to leave soon for an important research project and when I return, you will be gone. I'm only sure of that. Not the hows, and not the whys.”

“Oh.” Jyoti can't think of what to say. Is she going to miss Loki, a little bit? Probably.

“I wasn't a good presence in your life.” He says quietly. “I was only interested in you because of what might have been, not because you needed me, because I helped you in any way.”

His normally agreeable voice is somber and Jyo starts to pay more attention. “You really wanted me to leave with you, because you don't think you're going to see me again.” The realization dawns.

But Loki stands silently, looking over her face. There is a softness on his features she isn't used to seeing there.

“Was the future you saw for us, really that good?” Jyoti feels a little panicked. She's more than a little bit grateful that Malcolm can't see how close they are standing to one another. She can't avoid the feeling that these kinds of conversations with Loki could really mess things up for the two of them if she digs too deeply. But Loki's conviction when he responds makes the question worth it. It's the first time she's ever felt like he was being truly vulnerable.

“It was the best thing I'd ever experienced.”

“But- if that experience is not real, and only one of many possibilities...” She says it without thinking, and watches him grimace. “Sorry-”

He shakes his head. “No. It's alright. My whole existence, my life and now this living ...state I'm in, I've always been considered fortunate. My luck has blessed my business endeavors, and I don't suffer from any ailment other than- the obvious- but I've never had warmth. I didn't grow up in a happy place like you have. I'm jealous a bit. But if one of us was going to have a good future, I think it's better if it's you. I hope you'll be happy, Jyo.”

“So you're saying goodbye? There's nothing after this?”

“I'm not sure. But just in case. Let's say goodbye here.”

Jyoti watches him for a while and finally nods. “If that's what you want. You- you're a really confusing person though, Loki.”

He laughs. “I know. But if you take nothing from this at all please remember one thing. Your first love, you should never take it for granted. Live your life to the fullest and have no regrets. Enjoy the things you have on your way to where you're going. And your parents, be good to them. They are better people than you probably realize.”

“Ok...ay?” There was something about the way he'd said that...

Malcom had to work late, even though he and Jyoti share the same birthday. He arrives to a brightly lit but empty place after all of the guests have filed out and headed home. This may be what he believes to be a suave entrance, being that the second hand store had nice vests for a change.

Not impressed by this, the watcher gives him a look that is a good deal less try-hard.

He is now suitable to go and scoop up his girlfriend from the jaws of her girlhood stalker-crush.

Before they part, she has to know one final thing. "Loki? What do you... think of me, as a person?”

Jyo isn't inside the house, and Leila's not much help of finding her, being that all the dog seems able to focus on is that new shoe smell.

Malcolm bends to take care of her pooch for her while he waits to see if she's still home. For all he knows, she decided to take a run first thing after her age up. He's excited to to see her, it's been well over a month this time.

Jyo hasn't seen him come around. For some reason she's overly curious about Loki now that she's finally seeing him for who he may have been all along. His intuitive 'visions' may have derailed him, but he cared all along and those dreams weren't meant to confuse her so much as it's becoming clear that he was confused about several things himself.

“We all have a finite amount of time, no matter what we think we'll have.” He says sanguinely. “So, I want to make the most of mine. That's all. Isn't that why you're always out running? You may be an adult now, but you're still too young to have anything to be running away from. So it must be to challenge yourself and set new goals, even if you've already outrun everyone else in your age group.”

She smiled a small smile. “It seems so simple, but nobody really gets that, do they?”

He grins back. “Nobody does.”

“Also I think you're brave and hardworking. It's admirable, I meant to tell you that.”

She blinks at the unexpected compliment. “Thanks.”

“I mean it. Also you need to keep working, don't get comfortable in life when there is always more you can achieve.”

“Okay...”

“Looks like your boyfriend's finally come to see you.”

“He has? How do you know?”

“Should I let him see you? Wasn't he incredibly late to all this?”

She kicks him playfully with her toe. “Stop that. It was his birthday too. And you're one to talk."

Loki laughs. “It made you smile though, that's what counts.”

“Thanks for... everything I guess."

“I'd say call me but, just make every day count."

“Yeah I will. You did right by coming clean about things. It was about time."

They watch in silence as Malcolm, having decided to wait for Jyo to get back, climbs into the hot tub. Jyo wasn't sure before, but Loki must have done something to keep their conversation private. Malcolm should have been able to see them by now.

“He's got such a dopey face.”

“I like his dopey face.”

His blue eyes shine. "Goodbye, Jyoti Sparrow."

"Goodbye Loki."

Loki smiles and shakes his head slowly before walking away without looking back. She stares for awhile after him, but as Loki's form disappears her excitement to see Malcolm returns in full force.

Malcolm has a quick nap in the hot tub, or he must have,

...because when Jyoti appears in the corner of his eye he could swear she was standing there all along. He scrambles back out of the tub. “Jyo! Are you a sight for sore eyes.” He says with a happy grin.

“That's my line,” She breathes, more than a little bit awestruck. The Malcolm she remembers from high school was never this hot. He always had his moments, when his green eyes were piercing, but this was something different altogether. What kind of work has he been doing?

He walks over to her with a confident grace that seems misplaced until the realization comes- they've known each other for years, been dating one and a half, he's much more comfortable around her now. And for all that, she realizes, they've never gotten to have a romantic date, or even a fun date, it was all just casual time they fit in among studies and work schedules. No matter how badly she'd wanted things to move forward. She'd never seen him in just a pair of swim trunks, they never went to the beach.

She feels like she's been stung, or slapped in the face. There's so much she never got to see, and now he's showing her so much. For some reason this thought gives her awkward anxiety. What if he came here to break up with her?

No wait, he said, 'sight for sore eyes', right? So he missed her.

He's in her face before she can think of something to say. She averts her eyes.

I must be crazy, lack of sleep can do this right? I can't even look at him.

“Go ahead.” He says. “I want to hear it.”

She blinks. “Want to hear what?” That I love you, how am I supposed to know that? Isn't that kind of presumptuous?

“Everything. Anything. How you've been doing, how you feel. How... angry you are with me.”

She nods curtly, still avoiding looking at him. “You broke promises.”

“I did.”

“Left me on my own.”

“I have.”

She shuts her mouth tight into a thin line for a moment, biting back her thoughts.

When she finally does open up the words come harsher than intended. “Now you're going to tell me that you've come here to make it all up to me, because we're adults now and apparently that means that everything will be better for no reason at all. We haven't seen each other in nearly two months, spoke on the phone more than a few times, and exchanged some text messages. We may as well play chess with each other on the internet and call it a life for all we mean to each other.”

“So what are you going to do about it?”

She twitches. Her eyes dart to him and she regrets looking. There was something endearing in his voice when he said that, as if he can't wait to find out, as if he's not worried in the least. “I think I'll just give up on talking and start hitting you.”

There's no bite to her threat and he knows it.

“Okay,” he says.

Cue palpable silence. His stare is burning a hole in the side of her face, it's like she can feel the heat of his body from all the way over here. Which is stupid because it would just be the heat from the hot tub water and not- Maker, this was so incredibly stupid. But he seemed committed to the bit, so-

“Okay get ready then,” She stretches out her arms dramatically.

“Got it. I'd say go easy but I'm willing to bet you hit like a girl, no matter how much you work out.”

Effective goading. She's more motivated to actually hit him now. Didn't she tell him she's been into martial arts since childhood? He must feel guilty about all this, trying to make her hit him.

“Okay I'm ready.” He says, somehow steps closer to her than he was before all that.

Green, green eyes...

She squares up to him, willing herself to focus. All she gets from this is that his chest somehow smells nice too. She gives up and rests her fist on his skin for a beat. His chest rises and falls as he breathes and she finds herself opening her palm, mesmerized. She can feel his heartbeat. She can feel his eyes on her.

Resisting the urge to fold herself into his arms and just be held or actually smell him more- oh Maker what was she thinking- she stands up and looks away again. She clears her throat. “So did you come to my party several hours late just to show off your muscles?”

“No, I came here to see you. You're the one that got all excited.”

“I can't help it- I'm-”

He chuckles and the sound reverberates in her chest. “Jealous?”

“Yeah. Let's go with that one. Actually, excuse me.”

And she pivots on her heal to hug him tightly. “Not jealous. Just overwhelmed. You've really grown.”

“In a good way I hope.”

“In many very good ways.”

“I can't see your gorgeous hair under that hat- is it really so cold out here?”

She ditches it. “No- just a leftover from winter, is my hair really gorgeous? Did you just say that?”

(Pardon the random outfit changes here they were driving me crazy)

She drops her coat on the stairs and turns back to see an admiring gaze.

“I thought you knew.”

“You've never told me I was pretty.”

“I really never have? I thought it all the time.”

“But you don't like to share... what you're thinking.” It comes out as a whisper. She's been hurt by this.

“I'm- I wasn't thinking about it. A lot of people consider you beautiful, not just me. I didn't realize I had to say it, that you didn't know."

“But you're my boyfriend.”

“Wow. You're right. I'm sorry, Jyo. My ...gorgeous Jyo.”

“Now it just sounds sarcastic.”

He takes her hand, pretenses forgotten. “Please let me compliment you. I'm not all that good at it, to begin with. I really do consider you beautiful. It's one of the reasons I never knew what to say around you. Should I not have said you were pretty just then, or was it weird that I ...called you mine?” He has to ask.

“Uhm, both, neither, I don't know I just want things to be natural between us.”

“But we have so much to learn about each other.” He says. “I want to learn as much as I can as quickly as I can.”

“Why, going somewhere again soon?”

“Please.”

“Okay okay, I'm sorry.” She apologizes. “You're gorgeous too, if you must know.”

“And you are mine.” He clarifies, sending a tingle up her spine.

“Are you feeling okay Malcolm?” You're not usually so interested in... how I am.”

“Always preoccupied with work, and with chores and plans, yeah, I know. But I came to a realization while I was working all of those jobs this winter.”

“I still wasn't fair to you, not giving you a chance to really see me. When we had so little time together, too. I want to do better, and to trust you- so if I mess up on something, let me know it. I was afraid to say the wrong things and hurt you or scare you away.”

“I'm more scared now.” She says before she can stop it.

He leans in, surprised. “Why?"

She sighs a deep sigh. “Usually I know what I want to say around people, but tonight, well I'm a little bit off. Have you seen yourself?”

“Not really, I... I've been looking at you mostly.”

“Well let's just say I like what I see.”

“Then I'll do my honest part and say this is all pretty unfair. You getting to see so much of me, and you're not nearly as... revealed as I am.”

“You're going to have to work harder than that to get me into a bikini.”

“Damn. I have no idea how to do that.”

“Well you'd better figure it out or we're going to be out here talking all morning.”

“Maybe I could figure more things out if I got to learn in a more... tactile way. Some things can't be learned with just one sense.'

“Touch, for example.” He continues, taking a bolder step forward and sliding his hand up her arm lightly.

Stop it Eugene, you're ruining the moment.

Malcolm continues.

“Hard to tell from just that though...” His other arm snakes around her back to gently bring her in close. “I guess we'll just have to experiment and see what we like."

Before they've realized, it's been the rest of the night that they've been outside talking and catching up. The sun is as warm as their embrace. It's as if no time has passed between them and everything is finally so right. When he's off working again Jyoti knows she's going to miss him, but now that school is out they should be able to see each other more often. Is once a week too much to ask for?

“I'm sorry I made you so lonely.” He interrupts her thoughts.

"How did you know what I was thinking?"

“I want to be someone who is worth your time, your effort, and your trust.”

She can still feel his heart beating from this far away. Or wait, that was her heart.

“Let's both work harder... for each other from now on. Not just for ourselves.”

She sounds unsure still. Malcolm has never seen her be so shy. He enjoys the role reversal for a moment. It makes him want to protect her all the more. “Yes, let's.” He says.

Unaware of the shade of a man who still happens to be nearby, (And let's just ignore him he has no plot value here and simply refused to go home) Dustin watches his daughter from the interior window, wishing he was calm enough to go to bed, to eat, to look away even. That is his daughter, dammit! This guy has no shame. He doesn't know much about the kid, but he knows his daughter is fairly committed seeing as she dated no one else in high school, even when that brat was never around to see her and made her feel lonely.

He had better not be watching the beginnings of a downhill slide into heartbreak.

Her mom is awake after a full night's rest and leaves the house and slams the door loudly on her way to the lab.

As if it breaks a spell that was cast, and Jyoti and Malcolm pay attention to their surroundings for the first time in hours.

“That was longer than I thought- I'd better head to bed. Uh, Malcolm? Thank you for coming to my party, even if you missed the cake.”

He shrugs, more at ease with her now than ever before. “We got to have a mini party of our own. I'm glad I got to see so much of you this time.”

He's gained a confidence in adulthood that keeps her eyes glued to him much longer than could be considered polite. “I'm glad I got to see so much of you.” She counters, not finding herself able to too articulate.

And so, Malcolm heads home to get some rest after spending hours kissing his girlfriend silly in her parent's backyard, then gets in his beater car and heads home for a cold shower.

It's not five hours later that he's back at her place, and they are heading to graduation together.

Malcom drives the family there in Jyo's car. Apparently this means that Jyo, Drea, and Dustin are all riding in her trunk.

Meghan's worried about her little girl. It's too fast for her to be this grown up, she thinks. She's not ready, I'm not ready.

She recalls keenly how many things changed in her life from the moment she reached adulthood, but her daughter wasn't planning to head to university, at least not yet, so maybe she wouldn't have as much to be confused about. Meghan remembers days that were so dizzying in their pace, that even plants could talk back to her.

The mood overall is good. Spring has arrived and the warm wind drying the rain off of their umbrellas feels amazing on their skin.

Dustin is out of it, and walks into Jyo on the stairs. “Sorry.” He says, embarrassed a bit.

“It's just graduation, Dad, I'm not going to run away and leave you and mom or anything. I have no plans yet.”

“Yeah, yeah I know hun.”

“It's not you that I'm worried about.” He mumbles to himself after she's out of earshot. There's something about his daughter's eagerness that has him worried. She could be falling too hard, too fast.

This guy is too flighty. Unable to commit.

“Thanks for waiting.” Jyo says breathlessly after bee-lining over to Malcolm, breathless not at all from the stairs as she is healthier than ever. She's really getting to see him in the daylight, it seems like a dream come true. Things can begin again now in her life, not just with graduation but with someone she's falling faster in love with than she knew was possible.

“You ready?” He asks.

But she just grins like and idiot and nods, following him to the ceremony.

And just like that it's over. Schoolwork, classes, cramming, and all the other cliches.

Dustin and Meghan give their daughter a practical present- certificates for full spa treatments, a styling session and some money to put towards her future.

She's not going to be moving out for now, or planning college but she promises to save it.

Then Meghan stops to ask everyone if her skin looks different. The sun is getting kind of hot and what if her skin melts off from the radiation coming down? She should maybe go to the hospital and get checked out. Couldn't hurt.

Malcolm, after a lot of polite family talk says he has an announcement. He reaches out for Jyoti's hand, possibly for reassurance.

“Jyo... I can't promise that I'll be able to take you to the end of the world to watch as the sun falls into the farthest part of the sea at dusk, or be there every second of every day like I want to, but what I can promise is that-”

“If you ever get to be too hot that you catch on fire, I will be the guy that comes to put you out. I'm going to be a fireman.”

“This guy. Right here.”

Dustin and Meghan share an... expression.

Jyoti lets out a girlish squeal and then covers it up with sarcasm. Firefighters are hot. “So if I want to see you several times a week, all I'll have to do is become a pyromaniac? I mean, I can, but I always thought it would be my brother-”

“I wouldn't want to put out anyone else on a regular basis.”

Okay yeah, Meghan's with Dustin now. This has got to stop.

And then Malcolm can't keep a straight face either. “Okay on a serious note, I start orientation this Friday. I won't be a full fledged fireman for a long time, there's a waiting list for the paid jobs so meanwhile I'll be able to volunteer and get a lot of training done. Soon I'll be able to really make a difference and help people, something I think we need a lot more of around here, you know? It's a bit of a dream come true...”

This is the part where Dustin begins to warm up to him. He'd be off to a rocky start with anyone who'd spent 5 hours in a row with their tongue down his daughter's throat the very night she became legal to consent to it on her own- okay no wait, he still doesn't like the guy.

He muster's up a bargain bin smile to make the moment go away. “That's great. Really great news.”

“Right Meg?”

“I seriously feel like I'm melting into the pavement. Can we go indoors, maybe a cafe for lunch or something?”

“Right in front of me.” Dustin says through tight lips.

“She looks happy though. I don't think I've seen her this carefree in... maybe ever.” Meghan observes.

Dustin lets out a slow, angry breath he had been holding in. “Yeah, yeah I know.”

Jet decides there is nothing wrong with spray painting a mural on the ground on the front steps of city hall, where the ceremony was held.

“The kids will be alright. We have to trust them.” Meghan says.

It's not like Meghan to be the comforter, but in this case Dustin needs it. He relaxes into her embrace.

It's a good thing Meghan got him calmed down, because not a moment later Malcolm is on his knee with a proposal and a ring.

And Jyoti is in his arms.

“I had to work a lot harder because I wanted to give you your ring today, when we graduated. I'm so, so sorry I wasn't there for you this winter... and well, half of high school for that matter.” The regret and appreciation in Malcolm's voice is convincing. “But I didn't want to just give you something old that I could find lying around somewhere. I wanted it to be new, and somehow worthy of you.”

Jyo holds on as tight as possible to this feeling, this man. She's making all the right decisions for the first time in her life. “Let's never spend a day apart from now on.” She breathes.

Then it's time to work up the courage to approach his new fiance's parents. “So, uh- I'm not going to ask you both to let me call you Mom, or Dad but I'm very serious about you- your- about Jyoti. ”

Jyo interrupts. “Oh hi dad, you're here too. Thought you had a show or something.”

“No, I was here the whole time.” Dustin manages without further comment, sure she's being sarcastic to break the ice.

“Mister Sparrow?”

Dustin raises an eyebrow and fixes Malcolm with a hard stare. His daughter wants him to like this person.

“I... I've asked your daughter to be my wife. And she's agreed. But- well it wouldn't be right if I didn't ask for your blessing before marrying her. She's more than I could ever ask for but I will work hard to give her the kind of life she wants, and to take care of her every need-”

Dustin cuts him off with a smirk. “You don't need to grovel so much. I can tell that she's the happiest with you now than she's been for a very long time. I'm not expecting perfection, but you had damn near better come close to it. My daughter can handle herself, but my wife can make you disappear and then clone you again every three months to make you disappear again. Don't let her see anything that would make her want to begin experimenting on humans. LOTS of buyers for clinical drug trials out there, legal or not. Double blind studies don't require volunteer names to be recorded.”

“R-right. I won't let you down.”

“No, you won't let my daughter down.”

Malcolm is clearly rattled by this conversation. “That's what I meant.”

“Just in case, I'm going to need a DNA sample from you.” Meghan interjects.

They're joking, right?

Jyoti finally comes to his rescue. “Mom, I really like- love him a lot, okay. No experimenting on my new husband. Ah, fiancé. Soon to be husband, okay? He's not really a very social person, so it took guts to tell you both so soon.”

“Congratulations, sweetie.”

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

Nice to write something happy here for a change! And finally over most of that 'Loki business' for now. 

After their recent conversations interactions I really started to love Malcolm and Jyo together. Leaving them alone by the house only made them idle their traits and stretch at the same time. Malcolm decided to hang out in the hot tub on his own and came out all muscly, so that wasn't scripted at all. It's fitting for Jyoti as I can't see her being with a lazy person, but she must have just learned that her boyfriend was attractive.

 Dustin looked horrified when Malcolm was hitting on Jyo right in front of him- I had never seen the firefighter flirt before so of course I was laughing my ass off the whole time. (especially as Dustin had just spent time watching them anxiously from the inside window like that)

Why do the residents of Starlight Shores all have giant eyes like Disney characters? I'll stop asking. It may just be that someone went slider happy on the creation of these sims.

I don't know that I'll want to play another sim with the hypochondriac trait again in the future as it kicks out errors, but the facial expressions associated with the worries are so amusing.

Eugene casts his vote for suitor. Sort of.