Malcolm's got exactly one million things going through his mind as he follows Jyoti to the car. Unable to sort quickly through everything that he's relieved of, hoping for, or dreading, he chooses to live in the moment they have now. His biggest concern of course, is whether they have changed or if they can still trust one another completely.
Jyoti fails at asking him a single question in the car. She's too shocked to suddenly be breathing the same air as he is. Her memory returns to the past... the postmortem award ceremony the city held for him, the transfer of ashes, the picnics in front of the graves, the months before that when she was pregnant and suddenly a widow at the same time. It seems like enormous parts of her life were a lie.
She waits in pensive silence at a deserted cafe while he stops at the restroom. She feels the breeze roll across her skin while she shifts in her seat, trying hard to be patient. For a moment there is a jolt of panic that she's crazy, and he was never there and she is imagining things.
But soon he sits down silently, sliding into the chair nearby, as if he doesn't want to spook her. Her emotions must be written all over her face. “Where have you been, Malcolm?” She surprises herself by talking a lot right away. “Were you with Jiraya after all? When he first came to live with us, there were a lot of unbelievable claims, things he said... I still find it hard to believe, even though you're sitting right in front of me and you were in this town all along, I mean, how?”
“It's real. It doesn't feel that way to me, either. If Jiraya told you that he and I had a plan to get him outside of the lab and on the surface, then what he said is true. I meant to follow right behind him somehow, but there was no way at the time. For a long time afterwards, I thought he had gotten hurt because of it, until one of the lab techs, uh... her name is Ceres- let it slip that he had made it safely to law enforcement. All of the … subjects, is what they called us, were moved into a new facility that night so we couldn't be recovered.”
“Were there... a lot of other people with you there?”
Malcolm presses his lips together, trying to figure out what he should say. “Actually, I'm more curious about what you know or what it looked like from outside, but before all of that can you tell me how everyone is? Our families, your life now, how are you living?”
She tells him what she can, and leaves out the part where she's been essentially a functioning juicaholic since Caz was born. He gives her appropriate concern for her parents' health and congratulations for coming so far with the Military.
It's almost like a first date, except instead of bringing two people closer together, the effect is the opposite- the distance between them has become so vast.
Jyoti can't really say she likes the feeling- it seems like Malcolm could have come to find her right away, but didn't. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with his mind when he talks. The whole town knew her family was here, not because her dad had been famous back in starlight, or her mom had made some discovery or another, Roaring Heights was full of many famous people in Simnation, after all.
The Sparrows were well known because of the case against Circe, who was now serving out several life sentences in a prison very, very far away for what she had been doing to innocent people like Jiraya.
Malcolm keeps up a respectful conversation, being careful not to mention anything that might make her uncomfortable, even when he desperately wants to know. He wants to know if Jet and Everet have told the family all of the things the investigation discovered, or if he's going to have to relive a lot of it one day in the near future when it's time to explain it. If she believes that Emir is alive. If she is seeing anyone, or is still involved with Casimir's dad. If there is hope for them to be a couple again, or if the intimacy of their embrace when she found him was a result of her surprise and the loss of Leila.
Malcolm tries not to feel too offended at the look that comes over his wife's face. “Are you... okay, now?”
He realizes that he had been sifting too many of his own thoughts to keep up with what she was saying.
“What do you mean?” He asks.
“You seem like you're spacing out. I mean- I'm surprised to see you too, it's like an amazing dream, so we could both be in shock but I'm having a hard time with all of this.”
“All of what?”
She tries to tell him, or ask him why he never came forward, but just shakes her head at him.
He looks down at the table for a heartbeat, before pulling up his sleeve slowly for her to see.
Tracks. Scarring from needles, from instruments.
She lets out a gasp.
“It's not the sort of place I want to explain to you, no I'm not sure how...” He says after a long and difficult pause. “It's not like I want to share those experiences with you- or anybody. Can't we spend a while just appreciating the moment we have together?”
Jyoti lets out a shaky laugh before she hangs her head. There is nothing to say really, if he wants to look at it that way. It doesn't have to be today, but she wonders if he will ever share it with her. “You make it sound like there won't be any other moments.”
He sighs and looks down at the table. “Circe had said that she took me,” Malcolm begins, “To punish her ex-husband.”
“...Loki.” She breathes the name.
Malcolm watches his wife warily. Was it a mistake to tell her all of this right away? “She said that it was because of his involvement with you, that she wanted revenge.”
Jyoti takes a moment to process that. “...but when you... died, I hadn't seen him in years, that doesn't make sense.”
He releases a fist he had clenched under the table slowly. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he has been afraid. Afraid that she was someone he didn't know that well all along. She was the same as the girl in the rain, after all. Just trying to make sense of a crazy, sick world and find her place within it. Circe must have known about some of the things that Loki was planning, then. That must be it.
It takes him a moment to push his anger aside and speak again. “Did you figure out what it is... that you represent to him?”
Jyo bites her lip. She doesn't want to talk about how worthless it made her feel, that Loki only pursued her for her family, for the child they might have together. No, that he knew they would have. She does her best to be a loving mother to Casimir, but he is also a reminder of many things that she failed to keep that were lost. It didn't help that her son was so different from her, fundamentally. “I did.” She said when she realized that Malcolm was still waiting.
He notices the heaviness in her voice and frowns. “So it wasn't a good thing, then.”
She swallows her feelings and looks away, unable to sit under the intensity of his stare. Finally Jyo shakes her head and makes eye contact. “What important right now, is that somehow, by some miracle, you're alive.”
He holds her gaze for a moment longer before getting lost in his own thoughts. Is he supposed to tell her about Emir, now? It sounds like she doesn't believe that he's alive, either.
If I get too close to Jyo right away, wouldn't that just bring Loki back down on all of our heads and endanger our son again?
All the brave and bold words that Malcolm spoke to Loki back then have just... melted away. Loki has the kind of power that could simply rob him of his goals, make him forget who he really is again, taking more years away. It was possible. There are things even now that he stands to lose.
“Malcolm?” Jyoti speaks when he's silent for long enough. He works his jaw but is unable to speak. Alive for what? He thinks. I can't do anything anymore.
She senses his pain but has no way of knowing how to comfort him. They sit in silence for awhile. It will take him time, he can't just bring Emir into something that he doesn't understand himself yet. He reaches out to take her hand under the table and squeezes it. “I feel like I was asleep for a long time, functioning but just on the surface, before you found me. I haven't been myself for a long while. Someday, if-”
He doesn't finish what he was saying.
“How long has it been, since you were out of that place? Did she let you out?”
He shakes his head again, denying it.
“No, I understand that it might look that way. I don't know how
long, exactly. Years, though, it's been years. I'm the one who
trapped her, called the police and all of that, but I had help from
inside the lab for it.”
Jyo sits confused, watching him try to
piece things together out loud.
He doesn't want to admit how stupid he was, for talking to that man for even a second. If Loki still has a hold on Jyoti of some kind, Malcolm doesn't want to say anything about him, even. Malcolm resists the urge to slam his fist on the table with violent force. To come this far and not be able to tell her everything... he cannot afford to lose hope now, of all times.
When she is looking at him hopefully.
Because the way he looks at her makes her heart hurt in an impossibly new way, she changes the subject abruptly. “We had your ashes moved and buried here, in Roaring Heights. You and... our sons'. You haven't asked about him. Did you know? He was stillborn, a month after you died, in the fire.”
Malcolm nods, not asking for a complete explanation. “I know some things.” He says so quietly she almost can't hear him.
She detects his hesitation and watches him. “Jiraya says... that he knows you. Knew you. It didn't make any sense. He said you helped him, but he also said so many things that didn't seem believable. What really happened to you, Malcolm, after you left? Who was down there with you?”
“Wait, I'm buried here? Maybe I should go see myself.” It's been a very long time, so she can't be sure, but did Malcolm just deflect the conversation about their son?
“Sure... we can go tomorrow, if you like. I'll take the day off and we'll make it like, a date?”
“A date.” He smiles. She hates the doubt she feels. She hates the excitement, that's mingled with fear.
His voice once again cuts into her thoughts. “So the graves are here, not back in Starlight?”
“We moved them, we had to! We couldn't stay because of everything that was happening in Starlight and how even the politicians turned out to be on the take. Those local gangs we were dealing with? Turns out they were much more organized than we all thought. Everet nearly changed his name and now lives somewhere else only visiting on occasion, some of the old families came here when we did, uh- the Bests, the Swifts, the Huannas ironically as everyone suspected the Mayor knew everything. Anyways we had to move you both, even Everet's parents, it wouldn't have been right to never be able to visit you all again.”
Malcolm seems content to let her speak, so she continues. “You know how we had our first real conversation ever- at the gym, and you teased me about astronomy, told me to go find plant Beeboz or some other dumb myth- well that inspired me to join the army afterwards. Not that I think it's actually up there.”
“That's just something I read in a novel, about the planet. I didn't really know what else to talk to you about at the time.” He admits.
They sit in silence after a while of discussing worthless subjects. It all feels kind of superficial. Malcolm isn't saying much else about what happened to him, even after she shared what she knows. She can only hope that he'll open up, that he didn't stay away because he wanted to.
She blinks back tears when she looks away. Is this the way a husband would be acting after so many years of separation?
“Well, it's getting late, so-”
“Right.”
He turns. “Please get some rest and call me when you're ready.”
“I have to go now... there's someone I'm supposed to meet.”
“At this hour?”
He nods. “Someone very important. Get home safely Jyoti, let's talk soon.”
“I want- to walk out with you.” She gasps.
She sees the edge of a smile on his features and he answers her softly. “Alright.”
A while later they make it to the cool shady places away from the bright lights of the boardwalk at night, having walked in silence all the way. She pulls lightly on the edge of his sleeve to get him to turn around. “You have a safe place... that you stay?” She asks.
He nods.
They share an intimate embrace at the entrance of the park.
“Thank you for finding me. I don't- how can I say it, I don't think...”
He hesitates to let her go and he doesn't want to look away from the expression in her eyes in the moonlight. “I'm sorry. I can't explain things well tonight. I haven't been in my right mind, but I'll try-”
“It- it sounds like you're saying you need time.” She frowns, not liking the implications.
He shakes his head and leans in. “I'm sorry today didn't go better. Don't be upset. I can't stand it to think you've just been sad all this time.”
She feels like he still cares, so this placates her for the moment.
“I treasure you, I want you to know that.”
He finds it hard not to tell her everything else, all at once.
“Why are you leaving so soon? We could stay out more, right?”
“It's just, are you... seeing someone else, is that what's going on? The person you have to meet this late at night, is someone special right? And you didn't think you'd have to see me today, so you have plans...”
Malcolm can't hide his feelings now. “Jyo, really?”
“You don't have a girlfriend or something, do you?”
No, he thinks. I have several jobs...
Typical.
She breaks into a song that probably sounded way better in her head. “Don't get a girlfriennnnd, you have a wiiiife...”
It gets him to laugh, so she doesn't mind looking silly.
“Point taken.” He says.
“Tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow,” He agrees after another small kiss.
“That's too long, but okay.” She finally says with a disgruntled sigh.
So far the plan to hold her at arm's length is crumbling within the first few hours. He's going to be looking over his shoulder on the way home, but can't bear to reject his own wife's advances, in public or not.
“I'd better go.” He grumbles.
Jyo looks back at the boardwalk before heading to the car. He didn't even accept her offer to drive him to his place, wherever that is.
It makes her want to run all the way home until she collapses, but she has an opportunity to complete and so she's going to focus on that. Whatever is going on with Malcolm seems delicate, but when the shock of meeting him wears off she's going to want to know why. Before today she was honestly convinced he was gone, but seeing him and knowing it's really him- she could tell that he wasn't completely here, when they were talking. He was holding something back.
Right, anyways, science building... bring ashes...
Malcolm walks off somewhere dark to be alone for a moment. He's not sure how he feels, being compared to a ghost. It's true that some things are fuzzy, and other things horrific, and he knows that he's been on some sort of autopilot for the last few years, and there are things he may never get to be able to put into words, but he's alive, so there is still hope. He takes several deep breaths before coming out of hiding and hailing a cab. His mind, finally becoming more free of vampiric magic, loses more focus without Jyoti's presence and is flooded with a surge of information and memories. It's as if all of the thoughts that he thought had been there, suppressed, unable to be processed or measured for worth, his mind being suspended of some of its function. Now he must filter through all of it. He would be up until daybreak with a massive headache, but he works hard to think of Emir right now. Emir needs to know.
Casimir has been interested in science lately too, as he's spending more time with grandma and the experiments are fun.
Later that night, Jyoti brings Leila's urn from their home to the science building because they claimed they could revive a dead sim from their ashes, and she is told that the experiment is a complete failure. Her dog may not be able to rest, they tell her. She has no idea if it's responsible to stay out with the state her mind is in after the kind of day it's been so she returns home, dizzy with the events of the day.
She is grateful for the familiarity for once of having one of her dad's cheeseburgers, and despite all the weirdness today can't stop smiling. Malcolm... agreed to meet her tomorrow. He seemed real, he seemed alive. He sounded alive, he kissed her, even... said he would forgive her. Crazy day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bro put himself in timeout after a date like that. I don't blame him.
Don't Worry, I'll look out for you two. Can anybody guess which picture I had to touch up with MSPaint because of his hole in his hair?
So Jyoti chose the option 'Confess', which is what Malcolm made the face about, which apparently has no real meaning in the game, as the developers don't seem to have qualified it when it appears without a reason for the confession. Jyoti still has 'confess to cheating' as an option, but she autonomously chose the generic 'confess' option which didn't remove the confess to cheating option.
Reddit Post on the subject: https://www.reddit.com/r/Sims3/comments/nja8v2/sims_can_have_the_interaction_to_confessabout/
I left the screenshots in so we could see what it looks like, and thought it would appropriate if she was a bit suspicious/ worried about Malcolm's behavior when they weren't together (not that I'd lump her in together with other people who know they are cheating, but this seems to be a common red flag that people experience when they're dating someone who cheats, the cheater usually accuses the other person first).
Hopeless Romanticism... not one of his traits. So what's the idle from? I mean, she did sing that INCREDIBLE song for you dude.
...and we get a ghost dog!
She's on the exchange. Also, probably the most powerful character in this story after Loki. In her ability to manipulate my sims for the story direction that I need, that is. Good girl, who's a good girl?! YOU IS!
SAAS. The interior is being finished but it's not furnished yet until more money comes in from local investments. I know we aren't on Dustin's gen anymore, but this is what he wanted to leave for the legacy. “What am I supposed to do with all my money?” would be his exact words.
There are many places for scientific/uni skilling objects and arcade games, and many crazy patterns, as per tradition.
