I mostly write stories, such as The Duchelli Legacy, which started out as a legacy challenge but transformed into something completely different. I also write The Don Diaries, following Don Lothario from a lovesick teenager to... Don Lothario.
I ran into Hollis at the cafe, and we had a chance to catch up. She still lives close by, but we hadn’t had the chance to have a proper conversation in a while. It seemed like we were just shuffling the girls back and forth without taking the time to really talk.
“How is married life treating you?” I asked her.
“Oh, it’s great! Mercedes and I couldn’t be more happy. She’s been getting a lot of business at the pottery studio.”
“I know Rachel is excited about that! She was so thrilled when Mercedes put one of her vases up for sale in the shop.”
“She was! Especially when she found out someone bought it!”
“That’s our little artist!”
“How are the boys doing?” Hollis asks me.
“They’re doing well. Lucas is learning to roll onto his tummy. And he’s been babbling so much lately! He hasn’t been waking up as much at night. And Brody seems to be adjusting well. I think therapy has been going ok, and things at school have improved.”
“That’s good to hear. The girls really love their new brothers.”
“Yeah, Chelsea is still a little jealous of Lucas, but we’re making progress. Rachel just adores them both.”
“I know, she doesn’t stop talking about them!”
Hollis and I talk for a few minutes longer before she has to head off. I’m glad we got to catch up a bit. With everything that’s been going on, it’s hard to make time for friends.
Previous | Beginning of Story | Beginning of Chapter | Next
39 poses for toddlers - elders in @melonsloth's Paradkalesch
Almost in time for trooping the color, this pack includes a whole bunch of duo and trio poses for the front and rear seats of a landau-style carriage for you to mix and match for your royal weddings, carriage processions, and...mostly just those two things, tbh.
Required
Paradkalesch by @melonsloth (included)
Andrew's Pose Player OR wonderfulwhims
Teleport Any Sim OR Pose Alignment Interactions
Recommended
Searchable pose player
TOOL - You may wish to use TOOL to reposition posed sims
DOWNLOAD: SFS | Google Drive (free, no ads)
Further notes and known issues below the cut!
EDIT 15 JUNE 2026: A kind anon let me know that the original CC carriage by melonsloth wasn't showing up correctly in the game. She's been inactive for a few years, so I made a quick fix and added it to the DL folder -- all credit for the original mesh and texture goes to her, and I'll gladly take my version down if she gets in touch :)
So here's another project that rapidly spiraled out of control! Thanks to everyone who took the time to vote or comment on my WIPS over the course of this week.
Known issues
You may experience some clipping, depending on which clothes and sliders you use in CAS
A few wrists and elbows may look busted for the usual reasons wrists and elbows sometimes look busted
No infant or newborn poses, but I won't rule out the possibility of an add-on set for babes in arms
I tried to make these poses as modular as possible, but some combinations may cause clipping or conflicting eyelines
Barbara Stephens sat behind the front desk at the Britechester Public Library. Not to be confused with the giant University Library on campus. No, this one was much smaller and filled with young families and teens rather than the hundreds of stressed-out college students she was usually surrounded by.
It was her job, yes, and a boring, monotonous one at that. But in some ways, it was also an escape.
While some people may prefer a day at the spa, or lying on the beach near the ocean, or hiking in the mountains, there were only two places where Barbara felt truly at peace.
The first was in her tiny garden surrounded by fragrant flowers and the gentle hum of bees.
And the second was here at the library. There was a particular quality to the quietness of a library, broken only by whispers, muffled footsteps, and the pleasant crinkle of plastic that protected the hardcover books. It was soothing. Though, perhaps a little too soothing.
Barbara’s head slumped down for the third time in as many minutes. She jerked it back up with a sigh and tried to refocus on her textbook. History had never been her favorite subject, but this was the first time her solid ‘A’ average had been threatened. She had never got a ‘B’ in her life, and she wasn’t going to start now. It was a slippery slope.
With a shake of her head, she looked up at the clock to check the time.
4:17
She smiled to herself.
Gabriel would be there soon. The realization filled her with renewed energy, and she returned to her textbook, refusing to look toward the entrance.
If she was caught watching the doors when he walked in, he may think she was waiting for him, and that would be far too embarrassing.
Because she wasn’t waiting for him.
Not really.
Not like that.
She just appreciated the consistency of his routine. She’d grown to anticipate the moment he walked through the door. The way he would stop at the same shelf to pull the same books that he returned the evening before and sit at the desk by the far window to continue working on… whatever it was he was working on. She’d never had the courage to ask. Or to speak to him at all, for that matter. He didn’t seem the type that wanted to be bothered.
The only reason Barbara knew Gabriel’s name, and the fact that he went to her school, was because she happened to mention him to Imogen, her friend and former roommate, who somehow found his student profile within minutes of Barbara describing him.
One minute Barbara was going on about his dark hair and eyes, and the way he tended to cover his mouth with his hand—gripping it tight with his brow furrowed, or scraping his thumbnail along his lower lip as he stared off with unfocused eyes—and the next minute, those eyes were staring back at her from Imogen’s screen.
“That him?” she had asked.
“Yes. How did you do that?”
“It’s a gift,” Imogen shrugged like it was nothing, “His name is Gabriel Russo. He’s a grad student, majoring in Microbiology.”
When Barbara caught herself daydreaming yet again, she stretched and chanced another glance at the clock.
4:21
Apparently, this day was never going to end. Giving up, she pushed her textbook aside and decided to start scanning the books from the return bin instead. Might as well work while, you know, at work.
The doors opened a minute later, briefly letting in a draft of cool air and the smell of wet concrete. It was raining again. Not a heavy rain, just a quiet drizzle. Barbara smiled to herself, waiting for Gabriel to walk by before she would allow herself to glance up and watch him navigate his now familiar path through the shelves. But he didn’t walk by. Instead, soft footsteps walked closer and stopped behind her.
She was about to turn around and ask if the person needed help when they knocked on the counter.
Three knocks, to be precise, in quick succession.
Followed by two slow knocks. Left then right.
Michael.
Mikey, to her.
Her twin brother.
And the last person she wanted to deal with right now.
She turned to him, her face going from customer-service-smile to you’re-dead-to-me-glower so fast that she wasn’t sure if she was successful. For good measure, she added a succinct, “Fuck off,” and turned her chair back around.
“B,” he said, sounding more exasperated than he had any right to.
“I’m sorry,” he tried again when she didn’t respond.
Barbara went back to scanning the books, one by one, “I’m working.”
“If you’d answer my calls, I wouldn’t have to bug you at work.”
Now that pissed her off.
She whirled around on him, no doubt she was giving him the full force of her glower this time, “We live together, asshole. You could come home some time.”
He took a deep breath as if he needed to gather strength before saying, “Can we just talk, please?”
“I’m working,” she said again through gritted teeth.
“Can we meet for lunch tomorrow?”
“Depends. Is Katie going to be there?” She infused all the bitterness she felt into the name. It was rare these days for her brother to be without his girlfriend. Barbara wouldn’t be surprised if she was waiting for him outside, and the thought made her tense.
He rubbed a hand over his face and sighed, exasperated all over again, “No, Catherine will not be there. Just you and me.”
Barbara was going to dig in deeper, but was distracted when the doors opened and Gabriel walked in. She stared for a beat longer than she intended and he glanced at her.
Not just glanced.
He smiled.
Okay, more like the smallest quirk of one corner of his mouth, but it felt like the sun bursting through her cloud-covered day and made her heart trip over itself.
She looked back at Mikey, but he was looking curiously at Gabriel as he walked away, and she wanted nothing more in that moment than for Mikey to leave.
“Fine,” she said, pulling his attention back to her. “Lunch. Tomorrow.”
“Who’s that?” he asked.
“He’s no one.”
“Liar.”
“He’s none of your business.”
“That’s how it’s going to be now?”
“Yep.”
He sighed yet again in that way of his. As if talking to her had depleted all his energy stores and then some. “Noon. Our usual spot.”
“Can’t wait,” Barbara said without an ounce of sincerity.
Prev // Next
A/N: We've gone back in time about 40 years, give or take. And while I have an incredible amount of respect and admiration to those who make their stories decade-accurate in regards to aesthetic, fashion, music, technology, etc... I am not that person. And this year has been hard, so I'm not going to put added pressure on myself when it comes to something that is supposed to be fun, y'know.
(I know most of you probably wouldn't get hung up on that, but I got in my head about it lol)
Ben (he hadn’t been B’Ollithiranon in a very long time) tosses the phone down and slides back on the bed. He lied to Parker, not about Sulani—the end for his friend was coming, but they still had time to travel. He lied about Melisandre. She might’ve been the worst creature he’d known in all his long life.
Although “life” was kind of a misnomer. Ben wasn’t alive because he couldn’t die.
No god could.
He lets out a dry laugh at the thought. The gods petitioned the Divine for the chance once. The Creators, though, were adamantly against it. The dead belonged to the God of Death, and no god could belong to another god. The imbalance of power would unmake the world.
They did not mention the imbalance of power that already existed by their own action.
They were so eager to make sims, so enamored of their mortal creation that they did not hesitate to let the oldest of the gods create more beings. Spellcasters, werewolves, vampires, fae, mermaids, and everything in between wreaked havoc at first. In searching for the right tool to force the gods to rein in their progeny, the Divine Creators landed upon death.
Every living thing dies, they decreed. Even supernatural creatures with their long life spans or immortality could be welcomed into Death’s embrace, could belong to it. But gods did not live. If they faded, if they were culled or forgotten, then gods did not get death.
Gods got nothing.
The message was clear: control your spawn, or they will go where you cannot follow. The message the gods absorbed was to paint a target on Ben’s back.
The most egregious part was that necromancy was a near-useless power when Ben was young. Death was for clearing out the harvest, and resurrection was for bringing it back. He had been a gardener, not a god.
Although no one was a god at first. Sims and Supernaturals came up with that. When there were only a few beings with enough power to do the impossible, it made sense to call them gods. But in the old tongue, the dead one that no one speaks anymore, the word for “god” didn’t even exist.
In that language of Ben’s youth, when there weren’t just a couple like him, there were hundreds of thousands; they were called Made. Premade, if they were very old.
Existence wasn’t a curse then. That came because of the war.
Ben was a child when it happened; he’s sure of that. He can remember Somnus, the God of Sleep, snatching him up and fleeing a burning tower. But even Diego, as Somnus now called himself, couldn’t recall what the tower looked like or what the war was even about.
The Divine Creators had broken apart the very essence of time and space and wove a new set of circumstances. As a result, the Made and the Premade like him—the ones that endured—were left with memories that functioned like half-finished autobiographies written by someone who was largely incoherent.
The Divine called it culling, but that was a pretty set of syllables to hide the horror. In the new timeline, the world was similar but also different in ways the Made and Premade could not articulate. If there were less of them, if there were buildings missing, or rituals gone, no one could confirm it. The loss they felt was an unnamed placeholder.
Now, it had been ages since that first timeline—that first world. It was hard to know how many he’d been through. Hundreds? Thousands?
Once the world was full of gods, and now there were just under twelve, with a few demigods and aberrations thrown in for good measure. Some timelines, they avoided each other completely. In other timelines, they were so driven by rage or ennui that they created any number of horrors. Hence, the plagues and the Dark Ages and their most recent monstrous achievement, Operation Eternal Flame.
What a mess this existence was.
Ben lets the dark thoughts wash over him a little while longer before he hauls himself out of bed. He heads for the kitchen to grab a barley bale or six.
Sober was no way to endure an endless existence.
PREV | NAVIGATION | NEXT
Shout out to @surely-sims and her fabulous story, The Plott Legacy (it is so good, you should read it). I am in the midst of my catch-up and LOVED the way they weaved all this meta stuff about the game into their worldbuilding, it was such an inspiration for me for this chapter. Also, we are coming down the home stretch of this arc. Only a few chapters left to save Evan before I go on summer break and start working on the final arc of Monster Date Night 😈😈😈
Before I dive back into Build Buy, I have a little mini set for you! It's not quite dark enough, so I've taken to calling the style: Camp Academia.
This also might be one of my favorite covers I've designed! It's essentially two outfits done up a couple different ways, but I hope you like these pieces and nonetheless!
Everything is made with love, care, proper LODs, and robust, sexy Texture Maps. 🤙
This Mini Set Contains:
MASC FRAME:
📕: Varsity Jumper (V1 Untucked and V2 Tucked)
📝 30 Plain Swatches, 5 Extra Sweatery Ones
📕: Academic Jacket (V1 Untucked and V2 Tucked)
📝 30 Plain Swatches, 5 Extra Sweatery Ones
📕: Schoolboy Pants & Shorts
📝 30 Swatches
FEM FRAME:
📘: Paradox Pinafore (V1 with Tie)
📝 8 Jean Swatches, 24 Plain Swatches
📘: Paradox Pinafore (V2 with Bow)
📝 30 Swatches with Alternating Patterns
‼ There are ACC Overlays included for the Jacket and Bow/Tie, but all pieces have been designed to look nice even without them!
Wolfgang had a migraine, which was usually what happened after he had his nightmares. But now, it was like he was stuck in a nightmare he couldn’t wake up from.
And he’d brought his brother with him.
And lost his best friends.
This whole thing was a disaster.
He didn’t know why he was standing in some long-abandoned office or what the hell he was supposed to do with the wand he had hidden in his jacket or—
“It's an old transportation map,” Gunther says with wonder.
Wolfgang stares at his brother. Leave it to him to set aside the horrors of this whole situation to marvel at some piece of technical history.
“Maybe that’s not important,” Wolfgang says, but as soon as the words are out of his mouth, a splitting pain hits his head. Names of stations and locations flip by so quickly that he can hardly make sense of them until his mind lands on one location: Central Processing.
“Wolfy? Are you okay?” Gunther cries out.
“I was wrong,” he pants. “The map matters.” Just saying the words takes all his energy. He starts to drop to his knees.
“Magic is real. Monsters are real. And…and I’m like an oracle? My bosses are really scary, and they told me to get the box. And I don’t know if I was supposed to open it, but I couldn’t stop myself!” He sucks in a breath as he hits the ground. “I think I’m here to stop the God of Death from unleashing an apocalypse. I know it sounds crazy,” he rasps, “But I swear it's the truth."
"I’m scared. Gunther, this is like the stuff that happens in books, only I don't know what I'm doing. What if I fail? What if…” he can’t bring himself to finish the statement.
The light in his head is so blinding it hurts. But then suddenly, it lessens.
He can feel his brother propping him up, shielding him. "Gunther," he gasps, his throat tight. His brother probably can't even see the thing he's protecting him from, and yet, he does it without hesitation.
“Don’t stress about it, Wolfy. Let me take the weight.”
Their dad used to say that all the time. First, it was a joke about how heavy their backpacks were, and then it just became a thing he said whenever he didn't want them to worry. Even when he was sick, he never wanted the boys to feel like they had to grow up too fast or take on too much.
Exhausted, Wolfgang blinks back tears. “You’re a really good brother, you know that?”
“The best older brother you’ve got,” Gunther jokes.
Even though the situation they’ve found themselves in is horrific, Wolfgang laughs. “Yeah, that’s true. Hey, have you talked to Lucas? Is he—”
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Gunther assures him. “Just rest. I’m going to figure out this map.”
---
Gunther makes sense of everything pretty quickly. Apparently, the Netherworld measures time in spiderwebs, which...what? And if you thought you could catch the train by waiting patiently on the platform like a normal sim—
Think again.
The weirdest part was that they weren’t alone: an old woman, a young man, and a skeleton were also riding along. Or maybe "weird" was the wrong word. It was kind of terrifying.
Gunther, though, didn’t miss a beat. With business-like efficiency, his brother facilitated introductions and gathered baseline information from everyone about what they were even doing here.
The woman wouldn’t stop staring at Wolfgang. Surreptitiously, he pats his jacket. The wand is snug inside a hidden pocket. Glaring, he tries to channel some of the closed-off, sullen-teenager behavior he adopted after his father died. He grunts and sneers his answers while trying to soak up all the details he can about Death herself.
“I don’t understand why the God of Death can’t just bring my husband back on her own,” Evan says, “Why do we have to do some sort of court case?”
“Ritual,” Bryan corrects, “Although yes, it is for all intents and purposes a court. Death is required to do it.”
“How’s that?” Toni demands. “Gods are all-powerful. They can’t be bound.”
“The Divine Creators rule even the gods,” Bryan huffs.
Yeah, that sounded about right.
“The god before Alice had a very loose relationship with the requirements of the job. The Divine got so fed up with B’Ollithiranon and his haphazard approach to bringing the dead back to life that they decided to force a more rigorous process. One he had to participate in.”
Evan looks rightly horrified. “Jayden is already dead?”
The skeleton appears to consider that. “I mean, yes? But also no. He’s in between, not to be confused with The In-Between, which is sort of an unregulated area of the Netherworld. The God of Death hasn’t taken his soul yet, so it could go either way. Hence, the need for the ritual.”
“Tell us more about the court,” Toni demands, “What should Evan prepare for?”
At this question, Bryan looks distinctly uncomfortable. “It’s a judgment. You plead your case, with the help of counsel if you have one. The Erinyes interrogate you, and any denizens present in the Netherworld are welcome to observe and act as a jury. It’s up to The Determined to sway them if they want even a hope of swaying Death herself.”
“Well, that sounds straightforward,” Gunther replies. “I’m sure there are good lawyers here who manage that sort of thing. When was the last judgment? Maybe you can get whoever won that case.”
“It’s been an age,” Bryan replies solemnly. “And no one has ever won a case. The Erinyes always get their meal.”
“So that’s what they meant by 'eat,'” Evan looks devastated. “They’ll eat my Jayden if I lose.”
“Oh no,” Bryan shakes his head, holding up his hands in a placating manner. “Even the Erinyes don’t get to eat what belongs to the God of Death. She’ll devour your husband’s soul if she wants. The Erinyes eat you.”
The train ride is silent after that. Wolfgang tries to steel himself, but he has no idea how to face a god fond of devouring souls. He worries about the meaning of the wand. He worries about how receptive she’ll be to his request not to cause an apocalypse. Or at least, to pull back the apocalypse she already started. The Divine Creators weren’t very specific about what she was going to do, but Wolfgang had to assume that letting loose an army of zombies was probably it.
He tries not to get too close to Evan, since it seemed like he wasn’t long for this world. Wolfgang's heart skitters at the thought of leaving his fellow sim to face Death on his own and deal with a ritual that was almost certainly going to kill him. But no vision shows up to give him a glimpse of a solution.
Nothing, though, could have prepared him for meeting the actual God of Death.
“Alice?” Gunther blinks, “W-what are you doing here?”
“That’s the God of Death you’re talking to,” a skeleton in a knit cap crosses her arms and jerks her chin in Bryan’s direction. “And what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”
Nervously, Bryan twists his bony fingers. “I am working. But then I ran into The Determined, and so I had to bring him here.”
Alice’s mouth drops open. She stares at Evan. “You’re The Determined? Sorry, I just…I thought you’d be way different. Everyone made you sound so bad.”
“He is bad,” says the skeleton in the knit cap. “And no one would blame you if you killed him.”
This is it.
This is Wolfgang’s moment.
He didn’t expect Death to be wearing blue jeans and a werewolf sweater, or to be someone that Gunther was apparently friends with. But it was his job to steer her from her evil path.
"STOP!!!!" he shouts.
“Sorry, I…I didn’t mean to yell. I’m not trying to be rude, but Evan isn’t important right now. I mean, I don’t think you should kill him,” Wolfgang winces. He was already getting off track. “What I mean is that I don’t think the court case is what you should be concerned with. You need to pull back the apocalypse.”
He braces himself for some kind of attack, but when he peeks open one eye, Alice is just staring at him.
“Uh…court case?” she scratches her head and frowns. “Also…what apocalypse?”
Robin: Ugh, how long was I asleep?
Byrd: Like, a year.
Robin: [snorts] I don’t sleep that much.
Byrd: Well, it feels like it took forever to get here.
Oscar: You just don’t know how to sit still.
Wren: I can’t believe you bitched out and hired this bitch mobile-.. camping isn’t camping if you’re inside.
Oscar: Look, I’m old and my back fucking hurts, alright? There’s plenty of room to pitch your tents back here n’ frolic in the grass if you want so quit your bitchin’.
Wren: [tuts] Sell-out.
Oscar: I’ll sell you lot next-.. lowest bidder, out the door.
Ava: Dad, you can’t do that!
Wren: Whatever, who’s coming to explore?
Levi: Not me.
Wren: Obviously-.. you’re gonna be so fun this week.
Ava: Ooh, me, me!
…
Ava: I don’t know why you like camping so much, none of our stuff is here, it’s boring.
Wren: Do you really need any of it?
Ava: What’s wrong with Levi?
Wren: I don’t know-.. his lame girlfriend dumped him, I guess.
Ava: If she’s lame, why’s he sad about it?
Wren: Beats me.
Ava: Where do you think that saying came from? Am I supposed to beat it out of you?
Wren: Try it, squirt.
Ava: That’s a stupid nickname, what about the word squirt means small anyway..?
FREDDY | [ faintly ] Mom? Where are you?
ELISE | I'm down here!
FREDDY | [ faintly ] Mooooooooommm...!
ELISE | [ sighs ] I'm in the basement.
FREDDY | MOOOOMMM!!!!!
ELISE | Oh for-- FREDDY! I AM IN THE LAUNDRY ROOM!
FREDDY | Oh, there you are--
ELISE | Do not tell me you walked all the way through the house in those muddy boots.
FREDDY | So what? We have staff to mop...they do laundry, too, in case you hadn't heard.
ELISE | With your father here, they have enough to do without having yo clean up after you, too.
FREDDY | I suppose you're right...but that's Emily's job, isn't it? [ snickers ]
ELISE | [ sighs ] Saints forgive me, I raised a comedian...you're wearing your glasses. I didn't think you wore them anymore.
FREDDY | Blame Emily. She says I look more polished without them.
ELISE | Polished? Hmph. I guess that's one word for it...
FREDDY | Are you saying I look like a douchebag, or are you calling her a bitch? I can't tell.
ELISE | Oh for--Freddy, relax. I'm not calling anyone a bitch.
FREDDY | You don't like Emily. You've never liked anyone I've ever dated.
ELISE | Don't be ridiculous. I do like her, she's just...
FREDDY | Just what, Mom?
ELISE | Look, Emily and I are very different people, but that doesn't mean I don't like her. She's never put one foot wrong. She's sweet and she's been so good for you. And your father and sister adore her. That's what matters.
FREDDY | Not love?
ELISE | ...[ sighs ] I don't have all the answers, Freddy...maybe in the long run, love matters less than what you think you can live with.
Hello dearies, quick tutorial because the fabulous @ruthplaysthesims asked me how I did this in my last chapter, and I realized it might be helpful to share with everyone. Shout out to @thebramblewood and @aheathen-conceivably, who I am pretty sure showed me how to do this the first time around (sorry if my elder millennial brain is remembering this wrong, lol!).
I’m not an actual comic book artist, so if I’m bastardizing some of these terms, I’m sorry! The effect I’m talking about is when you want the panels (individual images or scenes) to overlap on your page. Like this:
A few things before we start:
I’m working in Canva Pro and using the background remover tool; however, you can also create this effect using the polygon lasso tool and masking. I’ve done both, but I think Canva is probably more accessible for most people.
My “pages” are 1080 X 1920 px, and I find I can fit about 3 images comfortably, depending on how I'm layering things.
Do background remover tools technically use AI? I think yes (don't quote me), in the sense that they are artificial intelligence, but they are not genAI. You're not scraping anyone else's writing or art. Back when I first learned Photoshop ::cough cough 20 years ago cough cough:: I was taught to do this with a green screen, lol. TLDR: This kind of digital photo editing tool has been around for a long time. Also, can I be a nerd for five seconds and say check out the Science and Media Museum's digital exhibition on the History of Digital Photo Manipulation? Ok, I'm done, I promise.
1. PLAN IN ADVANCE
Boring, I know, but hear me out. I think of this effect as a narrative tool. It’s great for action sequences, when I want to show off motion, or make the reader feel like a bunch of things are happening all at once. If I have a general idea of which shots will be overlapping, and the order I want them to be in, it’s easier to make sure I’ve framed the main subject correctly so I can make the effect without crying.
Here are the three shots I used for the page above. The first thing I do while taking screenshots is make sure that there is lots of dead (ha) space around the main subject (I have no idea if this is what it’s really called). I think of dead space as any area of the image boring enough that I don’t mind covering it up with something else.
The “boring” part is subjective and mostly based on the vibes of whatever scene I want to create. In this case, I care more about the zombies than the background, so even though that church is pretty eerie, I don’t care about being able to see it.
LAYOUT YOUR IMAGES
The next thing I do is lay these images out while keeping the dead space in mind so I can figure out where and how I want each panel to overlap. Generally, I find I need at least one panel as a base layer that doesn't overlap anything else, or the layout gets too busy and therefore confusing. Usually, it's the first panel on the page, but not always.
Here, I can already see that the dead space for the top two images is on the same side. It’s not “wrong,” but I want this scene to feel like zombies are bursting out of the ground and coming at Wolfgang, Darling, and Morgan from every which way. To fix this, I’m just going to flip the center panel horizontally.
In thinking about my scene, I realized that the zombie ballerina should be walking towards Wolfgang, Darling, and Morgan, not away from them, so later I flipped her too. This is not an exact science! I always end up playing around.
Alright, so next, I position the first two images so they overlap approximately where I want. I’m going to end up with some white space. Don’t worry about it, we’re actually going to need it in a minute.
Once I’ve got the top layer pretty close to where I want it, I resize the image so it fills the white space, and then I duplicate it.
REMOVING THE BACKGROUND
We’re almost done!
If you’re using Canva, you can press the Background Remover button to remove the background of the image you duplicated. As you can see, I ended up with a cutout of your primary subject (zombie butler) that I can use to overlap with zombie grandma.
Sometimes it looks a little off-center or creepy, especially if you moved your mouse while doing it. Don’t worry, that’s an easy fix. The important thing is not to duplicate your image until you’ve resized it, because then you’ve got to be a lot more precise about making the images line up and do a bunch of annoying resizing after the fact.
Next, I’ll just temporarily move the cutout to another area of the image and crop the original image so it’s no longer overlapping zombie grandma. After that, I simply move the top layer in place, make sure it lines up with the OG image, and voila!
You can also do this with the polygon lasso tool if you’re working in a more traditional photo editing program. In this case, you follow all the same steps, but instead of using the background remover, select the polygon lasso tool and use it to isolate the areas of the background you want to mask out. I’m doing this in Behance, but honestly, it should work in most photo editing programs.
It takes a little longer, and you’ve got to do more of the adjusting yourself, but it’s not terrible. I’ve sped this up a smidge, but really, it took me a few minutes. And I’m not super precise about it. The scene is already dark, and the human eye is not going to catch every tiny imperfection.
The rest of the effect is just my own embellishments. I like to add some motion lines and descriptive text. I usually pop in a white line to make the “gutter.” I move it behind the top layer, which makes it sort of feel like the main subject is bursting out of the panel.
You can use this same method to add all sorts of effects. The vampires with their red magic energy? Literally, this exact same process, only I put a haze of red smoke in between the base layer and top layer.
I am not usually someone who gets involved in Sims community discourse or public callout-style posts, but this genuinely breaks my heart to see.
A massive amount of the custom content, creativity, and inspiration behind my work on Vermillion Sins came from communities like Garden of Shadows and Sims2Artists. They were huge pillars of the Sims 2 creative space for years.
What hurts most is not even just the shutdown itself. It’s the lack of warning.
These sites were not just forums anymore. They had become archives of nearly two decades of community history: old creators, inactive creators, forum attachments, resources, tutorials, contests, shared knowledge, and years of creativity that helped shape this community into what it became.
A simple “hey, this may go offline permanently soon, please archive what you can” would have allowed people time to preserve pieces of Sims 2 history before they vanished. Instead, so much appears to have disappeared overnight.
And to be clear, I do not think anyone is owed endless unpaid labor or permanent site maintenance. If someone no longer has the time, energy, money, or interest to continue running something, that is completely understandable.
But I do think the community should have at least been given the chance to help. People absolutely would have pitched in through backups, mirrors, technical help, donations, archival efforts, or simply having enough warning to preserve pieces of history before they disappeared.
The Sims 2 community has survived because people cared enough to preserve things. Without archivists, backups, mirrors, and Wayback captures, huge parts of this game’s creative history would already be gone forever.
And honestly, I hope this becomes a wake-up call moving forward. Preservation should matter.
TOUs and repost policies should not become barriers that result in entire pieces of community history disappearing forever the moment a creator or site owner leaves, especially in a community where everything is interconnected.
I respect active creators wanting credit and boundaries. But abandoned content should not be treated like untouchable lost media while the community watches it disappear forever. Communities preserving older Sims games and their content are a huge part of why those games remained alive and accessible long after EA itself had largely moved on from supporting them, and likely played a significant role in renewed interest surrounding things like the Sims 2 Legacy release.
I hope more people begin supporting archival efforts, mirrors, and preservation projects before more Sims history is lost for good.
The unpaid labor and community behind preserving Sims mods was literally the subject of my MSc thesis last summer. It's incredible what lengths people will go to just to preserve the creativity and hard work put into mods and CC. Please, if you ever consider closing a site or repository, give the community a chance to help first ❤️
