Chapter 29: All Better...

Listening to girls prattle on about things one doesn't care about is all part of being a boyfriend. But Martin is NOT her boyfriend!...

The piece Arthur was working on in memory of his great-grandfather crumbled into an emerald. A pretty gem, but one of the least valued.

Martin mourns Randy amidst the garden plants, not realizing these Hydrangeas were store-bought.
Death suddenly seems real and serious. With such an old person around before, death was an easy concept to set aside.

Ladybugs in Riverview.

Jazz tries desperately to raise the funds for more gem-cutting. His latest project is a giant ball of turquoise.

The scientists roll their eyes every time they buy a new ladybug or moth off of this "obsessed guy with the hat," but Riverview seems to have acknowledged that the Archers are here to stay. Best to be nice.

Especially since they've been known to detonate or mine public property.

Rather than return home to his grieving family, Jazz hangs out in the consignment shop for a while. Maybe someone will walk in and sell him plutonium.

Jazz and his three sons, fishing behind the house.

The bridge, the river, the fishermen, the cherry trees, the Archer houses, some other houses, the water tower, and beyond that the family graveyard... and beyond that... the road to Anywhere.

STFU Arthur. We're trying to have a good time here.

"Plumbob, couldn't I have stayed a toddler for a few more days? 

All this crying is leaving blemishes on my face. And I run the risk of 

becoming some weepy artistic type. 

I'll start writing poetry and dating girls who dress in black. 

You can't let that happen to me."

Marty has a birthday. His eyebrows are quite dark, but a trip to the stylist will hide them again.

Mom celebrates, but watches closely for signs of reaction to the Vampirism-B-Gone.

She thinks Marty looks kind of pale. (*rimshot*)

But it's true, Martin isn't feeling so hot. Weak and nauseous, he feels sort of like he's carrying around a bunch of Tiberium (something Arthur once dared him to do), but a quick pocket-check proves this isn't the case.

It's hard to get up in the morning. Martin the genius has taken to skipping school.

But he must finish his painting of Melody. Maybe it's a bit creepy, what with Melody not having aged up quite yet, but it beats curling up on the sofa to sulk and die.

Sacha realizes Arthur is taking the death in the family rather hard.

If there's ever been a time to make up for Chapter 26, it's now?

"I love you."

He needed to hear that.
Teenagers can be so damn emotional.

When Leona wakes Martin up one night, he's pretty sure it's the end, and greets her with the military salute, posture and poise she imprinted on Sacha and by extension Sacha's children.

"I'm ready... just make it fast. Et cetra."

Though the whispers of ghosts are difficult to decipher and tend to consist of nonsense ramblings, Leona makes it clear she's not Grim Reaper, and says something or other about exercise and eating right.

Sacha the cowardly vampire.

She knew her mother would have wanted to be buried beside Fiona, but couldn't find the urn after the family had mourned. Either by the intention of keeping his daughter around or by genuine mistake, forgetful old Randy must have placed the urn in with Jazz's treasure junk storage in the basement. Needless to say, there's little hope of it ever being found again.

Martin can barely stand up, but he figures he'd best follow his grandmother's advice.

Sacha redesigns the kitchen.

Randy's tiny bedroom, once the only bedroom in the house, was eradicated to make room for a proper dining area.

And part of Leona's old room was knocked out to make room for more counter-space. Sacha loved the quaint little kitchen and has even kept the bizarre floor tiles, but she's always secretly wanted more space to prepare meals, and a nicer area to serve them. The new dining room may be a jutting rectangle out from the rest of the house, but it beats eating against "that table against the wall in the living room," which only had four chairs to seat six (now five) family members.

Marty doesn't feel like eating Goopy Carbonara today. But there's always time for books.

"Dad... you know the neighbors can see us through that new window."

"We can see them too," Sacha growls, not waiting for Jazz to think of the right thing to say. Best to ignore whatever Sacha says or implies while she's drinking blood.

Marty stands in front of the fridge, knowing he has to eat something, despite his queasiness, when suddenly it hits him.

...He's cured!



He feels so alive! And not so pale.



It's strange. Having been a little undead monster his entire life until now, Martin had no idea being fully alive and untainted felt... so different. So fantastic.




None of the original turned vampires would dare speak of such things; their powers, their bloodlines, and their extraordinary lifespans are too important.


At night, Martin has dreams again, while his brothers sleep like the dead.

After some Goopy Carbonara, Martin heads out to the river for some fresh air and sunshine. He's never felt better.

That place beyond the water tower waits patiently for him, but he's not worried now.

_______________________________________________
Etc.: Cured!

Glad that's over.

Vampire sims really don't dream at night. At least mine don't. Weird, eh?

Teens can't drink Vampirism-B-Gone either. As promised, I used MasterController to switch Martin to a normal sim. For anyone wishing to do this, you need to delete the vampire trait itself, not just switch the sim to "occult: none." At first I switched the occult to none, and the next time I loaded the game Martin was a vampire again.

Also, as mentioned on the forums, I eff'd up the random roll for this generation. For some reason I thought it would apply to Martin's future child. So like any loser I simply re-rolled that section and came up with tattoo addict, one of the new additions. Hope Melody likes needles.

I'll probably also give Martin's son or daughter random traits, just to be fair.