Chapter 49: Darkened

Good morning Zephram. It's your birthday.

Paprika loves making parties into bigger deals than they should be. She invites Cruz over early and feeds him the appetizer, proudly reminding him that the garden cheese is home-grown. The look that crosses his face afterwords is one of discomfort, but still he says nothing. So far, he has tolerated every eccentricity thrown at him.

"It's good, right? You like it? I know I'm no Sacha Archer, but-"

"It's fine, Paprika."

She frowns.

"Delicious," he amends.

A tiny party. Sifton, Cruz, and the immediate family.

Zephram becomes a child and crosses his eyes at the camera. As Arthur predicted, Zephram has some kind of mental disharmony, and has developed the insane trait.

Yeah! Cake! Sifton discusses possible house renovations, such as symmetrical windows. She may have been raised in a different house but she is still an Archer, and this is still the Archer place, so if it looks strange she feels it reflects on her.

"Dad, home come you don't live here with the rest of my family?"

Despite the mild insanity, which his family is keen to feign ignorance about for now, Zephram is polite and observant.

Paprika scowls as Cruz struggles to explain reproduction. How it involves two people. Two families. And thus the concept of Cruz having parents and siblings of his own to live with. Cruz's only living parent does not at all approve of the bastard grandson, but Cruz leaves this part out.

Melody beams, congratulating Zephram on his birthday. Always a pessimist, she wasn't sure she was going to live to see it.

Cruz dances with Paprika.

Paprika's father and cousin dancing just a few feet away kind of ruins any possible romantic tension.

Soon it's back to work. Paprika's job cuts into her socializing and party time more than she'll admit to herself.

She also won't admit how important this work is to her. There's something so... deep about this research. Though the truth of existence currently eludes her, like the plot of Unicorns for Audrey, she is certain she will find it: the link between spirits and sim ghosts.

Meanwhile, ghosts haunt Paprika's home.

They flit through the walls, from room to room, often not intending to disturb...

For Zephram, it's not always a ghost. Sometimes it's just Zephram's imagination that causes the boy to scream until everyone in the house is awake.

Halen innocently glances up at Martin. "It wasn't me this time, kid. Did I ever tell you Goopy Carbonara is my favorite too?"

Since he cannot sleep, even with his lucky shoes on, Zephram stays up to paint. Black and white, and plumbob shaped.

This guy just asked for a new swimsuit.

Distracted by his terrible night's sleep (a ghost, a crying toddler granddaughter, a daughter noisily returning from work at an unspeakable hour, a howling grandson who's convinced time travelers are out to get him)... well, Martin just gives out the standard makeover today.

Zephram spends the day in the Archers' basement, talking to himself.

He's convinced these jars are listening.

Zephram also convinces himself he has telekinetic powers. He just can't control them. Paprika explains the nature of poltergeists to her young son, but he refuses to accept her explanations, and she all too easily gives up.

Paprika has had enough.

"Get out. You're upsetting my son."

"I'm dead!" Halen protests. "You can't boss me about."

Paprika's eyes narrow. "I can make you worse than dead." She's in this business to help souls, not harm them, but her patience is thin and when Halen's ghost merely lingers there stupidly, Paprika flips the ON switch on the Banshee Banisher.

The confrontation with Halen is still on Paprika's mind when she deals with twin drowning victims later that night. Maybe she was directing her anger at the wrong person.

Halen just wanted to play. The living just don't understand. The living let their presumptions about how they should act and think get in the way of actually living, discovering, seeing. Living people don't have the patience to listen. People like Ace Wilde, the screaming idiot in the background who will one day possibly be a ghost himself.

People like Dax and Cruz, both men who wanted to impress Paprika but treated her as they would have any other woman. Dax, who lives in a larger than life fantasy reality where he controls a crime syndicate. Cruz, who won't accept Paprika for who she is, because she has their son.

People like... Paprika... who allowed her childhood innocence and patience and joy to melt away, because she's allowed the living to annoy her. Because she's angry at everyone, afraid for the son she suddenly doesn't know what to do with, worried someone will blame her if he doesn't turn out okay.

After convincing one of the ghosts to move on, the second is easy.

Living or haunting, no one wants to be alone.

Arthur shows up to check on Zephram. He determines the case of insanity isn't too serious, and won't get worse if the boy is looked after properly.

"So did I tell you about the time Papri-"

"Hey, is the time machine on?"

"Nah, it just acts up like that. Stupid old thing! Don't worry about it. I certainly don't use it." Martin smiles his sweet, goofy smile. Paprika thinks the time machine is just another sculpture. Decoration. Though her father has been meaning to tell her it's dangerous, that she shouldn't sell it, and can't dismantle it without risking... well... Randy never said exactly what would happen, if the time machine's power source would be accidentally exposed.

"Right." Arthur picks a piece of lint from his sleeve. Still a perfectionist. "Where did Zephram slip off to, McFly?"

"Probably Dad's study."

"Uh huh."

Off to play video games, then.

Arthur's reflexes are supposed to be over 9000 times better than Martin's, so his failure at their old favorite video game is very embarrassing.

Arthur leans back on the  and studies the complete lack of blue in Martin's hair. "I'm... sorry, you know."

"For what?"

Arthur frowns. "For daring you to drink the Vampirism-B-Gone. You're a genius. With your natural, err, original lifespan, there's... just no way of knowing what you'd accomplish. If it wasn't for me."

"An artistic genius," Martin corrects. "Everyone would be better dressed. That's all. I've enjoyed life in the sun, Art. You just can't understand what it's like to be al-, uh, not a vampire."

Slower? Weaker?

"I don't understand," Arthur agrees sadly, not wanting to argue. He half had it on his mind to convince his brother that he should retire, that this Han Solo thing is a sign of age breaking down the mind. But saying these things is too hard.So Arthur does not say them.

Why do ghosts cause spooky mist and lighting changes? Paprika will find out. She almost comments on how Julian should really make an appointment with her father rather than live up to his namesake, but then she reminds herself to think more positively. Be more accepting. Go with it.

No caption.

Zephram has not outgrown his toddler toys or his toddler playmate. But she's growing fast, and will soon be a child.

Paz's birthday party doesn't really count as one. It's just the immediate family.

"My hair has darkened," Paz frets. But her grandparents seem unconcerned.




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Etc.: Martin and Melody have full age bars, so they could leave us at any time. They've completed their lifetime wishes (master 3 skills and the gardening one, respectively), plus Melody has maxed guitar. She's career level 5 or 6 with the band thing; I've lost interest in it. Unlike other careers, it doesn't seem to have any cool rewards. Just the sheer joy of watching one's sim rock out in the park, enjoying nature while the same two or three people toss large tips into the guitar case... over and over... for several hours. I guess they're paying by the hour for that awesome moodlet they get for listening to a level 10 guitarist.

I've never played an insane CHILD sim before, so I was curious...

Paz's new child trait is workaholic