The Perfect Sim: Elena Velasquez // Friend of The World
The day of the beach party arrived much faster than Elena expected, and after quite a long time of worrying and fretting, the Gods & Goddesses - including Poseidon, a new friend that Elena had made while fishing - showed up on Friday, around lunchtime to Ohan'ali Beach, bringing their best swimwear and hot weather clothing. At first, Elena was nervous and mostly stuck to herself, but about halfway through the party, she started to finally socialize with a few people. Apollo and herself decided they would build a sand-castle, and then Demeter came to speak to Elena about her love of the outdoors and nature. Elena & Demeter became fast friends, speaking about the different types of plants in Sulani, as well as eco-friendly housing.
Apollo and Elena bonded over the heat of the sun, and Elena noticed more than once that Apollo was sneaking glances over at Elena. She didn’t want to let on quite yet that she knew, though. What was wrong with playing hard-to-get?
After a few hours of vibing, and building sandcastles, enjoying the water and taking selfies, the sun began to set. Apollo began yawning loudly, signaling everyone to get their things and leave.
Elena said her goodbyes to everyone, promising to call as soon as she could, and invite everyone over for another party the next week.
She had finally started to make friends - was this what feeling accepted felt like?
(OOC: I promise that for the last two posts I didn’t break the rules of the challenge. I know that your Sim isn’t allowed to have jobs, so I made sure to stick to fishing and collecting items to help her gain money. Living in Sulani definitely has its perks, you can find the Heart of Sulani as well as the Fingers of Sulani which both yield about 1000 simoleons when fishing - def helpful! Perfect Sim Challenge is here)
The Perfect Sim: Elena Velasquez // Painter Extraordinaire
Elena arrived home, walking into her home and sighing. She looked online, scrolling through Simazon, looking for a used painting easel and supplies that would start her out with something, anything.
She finally settled on a fairly beaten up, used easel that someone was selling for § 60. After she bought this easel, she would have §17 left. She sighed and put her phone into her back pocket, and heard a lively knock on the door.
Opening it, she was surprised to see Rhodos standing in the doorway, smiling as if she had a huge secret that she was just waiting to spill.
“R-Rhodos! Hi!” Elena forced herself to smile, before opening the door to let her in. “How are you? Can I help you out with anything?”
“I actually came because I have some very good news for you.” She grinned and put down some baked foods that she had brought over. “Me and Dad recently moved to another property closer to Mua Pel’am. We figured that you would want our old one, so he bought it out, and...” She pulled out a slip of paper from her purse. “Here’s the deed.”
Elena’s mouth dropped open with shock. “I...what? I...oh, oh my gods, no, I can’t accept this, Rhodos...”
“No, you can, and you will. I have already made arrangements to have your...” She looked around at Elena’s small property. “Um...house... moved to the lot tomorrow. It’s really spacious and you’ll have plenty of room to paint.”
Elena looked at her incredulously, unable to fathom what she’d just heard. “Wait...how did you know I’m starting up painting?”
Rhodos laughed, “I heard Demeter talking about it to Poseidon. She said you were looking obsessively at the pieces at the art gallery, overheard Nancy Landgraab talking about how quickly paintings sold, and ran off. She kind of worked it out. You know that if you’re strapped for cash, I can help, right?” She looked at Elena with a look of worry.
“No, no, that’s fine. I want to work for it. I promise, I’m okay.”
Rhodos shrugged and stood up. “Well, it looks like there’s going to be a storm soon, so I’m going to head to help dad with the wildlife. I’ll come check on you when you’re settled in.” Rhodos gave Elena a peck on the cheek, a quick hug, and walked out to the door. “See you soon, Elena!”
Elena stared after her, and once she was gone, she began jumping up and down, eventually flopping on her bed and staring up at the ceiling. The property that Rhodos spoke of was absolutely beautiful, and stood on a lovely cliff. Perfect for reference paintings. She could ACTUALLY do this.
The Perfect Sim: Elena Velasquez // Painter Extraordinaire
Elena woke up the next day, rubbing her eyes. She recalled the night before, and instinctively grabbed for her leg, letting out a relieved sigh when she felt the warmth against her fingertips. She stood up, stretching her arms out and yawning - a loud, annoying yawn, that made her self-conscious.
She walked hastily to the bathroom, jerking down her panties and sitting on the toilet, letting her body relax as another loud yawn escaped her mouth. She rubbed her eyes and as the trickle died down, she blindly grabbed the toilet paper beside her, groaning as her stomach rumbled, almost as if to say, feed me.
She groaned and wiped, flushed the toilet, and went to turn on a light. Nothing. The only light in the bathroom was the candle flickering, which was running quite low.
“Oh, no... no, no, NO!” She ran to the kitchen, attempting to turn on the light over and over again, flicking it back and forth. “This can’t be happening... oh please, no...”
She ran to her phone which she had left on her bedside table, and unlocked it quickly, gasping at the notifications she saw.
The Landgraab Power Company has shut off the power to your house. You have 24 hours to pay your bills before your water is shut off. Once you pay your bills, service will be restored.
Elena sighed and sat down into her wicker chair, massaging her temples repeatedly. How in the Gods’ name was she going to get the money to pay her bills? There had to be some extra funds she could pull from, somewhere.
She pulled her phone out again, looking through her financial apps and yelling in frustration. “ §77?! How did I lose so much?!” She let out a shaky breath.
She didn’t even know how she was going to fix this. A notification popped up on her phone, furthermore causing her anxiety to rise.
With a snort of frustration, she unlocked the phone. An event scheduled for today was staring her in the face.
❗ ART GALLERY OPENING WITH DEMETER ❗
Elena pulled on some clothes, shaking her head. She swore to herself before walking out of the door and joining Demeter in the cab, that no matter what, she would keep this to herself. Even though her friends were rich, she wasn’t the type to beg for money. She wasn’t her mother.
After Demeter and Elena arrived at the art gallery, Demeter locked eyes with someone that Elena presumed she knew. She didn’t want to interfere, she just wanted to be alone with her thoughts at this time, at least. So, she headed over to the exhibits, and started looking at them.
These are beautiful, she mused. I wonder how long it took the artist to create this.
She felt entranced by the paintings, and walked towards the next exhibit, staring incredulously at it. It was beautiful.
Elena overheard a few people talking in hushed tones near another painting.
“I heard that the painter of this piece just started out as an artist. Evidently the gallery bought it for §332... Not worth that if you ask me.”
Elena could tell by her demeanor that she was definitely the snobby type, but she brushed it off after hearing the price that the gallery bought it for. If she made even two paintings of that quality, she wouldn’t have to worry about bills for at least a month.
She had to get an easel and start practicing. She ran over to Demeter, not even worrying that she was interrupting, and breathed, “I have to get home, I’ll talk to you soon.”
And with that, Elena ran off towards the nearest cab, hailing it down and heading back to Sulani.
The Perfect Sim: Elena Velasquez // Friend of The World
That Saturday, after Elena had gone hunting for a few more collectibles, she decided to buy some new furniture - and a renovation for her house. A new kitchen - well, not exactly new - was next on her to-do list. After the builders had come and gone, it was probably around 5pm. The sun was setting and she had finally relaxed and settled in, when Apollo gave her a call.
“The spice festival is in town in San Myushino. Do you feel like going with me and grabbing a t-shirt? I know you’re low on money, but I don’t mind getting one for you.” The bright, cheery voice of Apollo had said on the other end of her phone.
“Sure, I guess that wouldn’t be too bad!” Elena agreed. But, a small feeling in her stomach made her feel really nervous. The last time she had gone to a festival in San Myushino, her mother had left her alone, at 13, while she ran off to get some more drugs.
Reluctantly, she grabbed a cab and headed to San Myushino, where she met up with Apollo. After making a bit of small talk with him, he handed her §30, and told her to go have some fun. She headed off to the first booth, and grabbed a t-shirt, took it into the changing room and changed into it. Apollo grinned at her and gave her a thumbs up when she came out.
After she changed, she headed to one of the booths, where they were selling a variety of spicy foods. There were definitely a lot of options - anything from empanadas to curry. She decided to settle on some taquitos, which thankfully only cost her §14. After eating, she felt the memories of her time with her mother at this festival come flooding back.
San Myushino had been holding spice festivals since her father was alive. And after the last time at a spice festival, she had never gone back to one. She couldn’t help but get sad, thinking about her mother and how happy they had been before she decided she wanted her latest fix.
With a sigh mixed with exasperation and depression, Elena headed over to one of the bars that had been set up. She walked towards the bartender, and breathed out, “Let me get a rum and coke.” The bartender looked at Elena with a confused look, raised an eyebrow and groaned out, “ID?”
Elena rolled her eyes and pulled out her fake ID, which she had gotten from probably one of the best con artists in all of SimCity. She watched as the bartender examined it closely, looking for any sign of illegitimacy on the ID card that Elena handed it to her. With a suspicious look, the bartender handed her back the ID card and began to mix the ingredients together.
With another reluctant look, the bartender handed her the rum & coke, and Elena headed over to a bench to drink it, quietly and alone.
She looked around for Apollo, who was jogging towards her with a plate of curry and a milk moustache. “Elena! What’s up?” His face fell when he got closer. “Are you OK?”
Elena shook her head with a tentative ‘no’, and he sat down beside her.
“Tell me everything - it’s okay.”
Elena felt like she was being compelled or hypnotized to tell him her life story, so she spilled into a long monologue about her background, her mother, her father, everything that made her uncomfortable about being at the festival. When she was done, she let out a huge breath, almost like a sigh of relief - “Sorry. I know that was a lot.” She looked up from the glass filled with ice and small traces of liquid, and was surprised to see a warm smile on Apollo’s face.
“It’s okay. I’m sorry you went through that. I should have caught on sooner. Sorry I was gone for most of the festival, I saw an old friend that I wanted to catch up with. But, I’m going to take you home now so that you can catch up on some rest. Demeter said she wanted to come and visit you tomorrow.”
Elena nodded furtively, and placed her glass in a small collection bin that the festival had set up for dirty dishes and silverware. Then, she headed back home, where Apollo hugged her goodnight and went home.
She cozied up in bed, left with a warm feeling - almost like the sun had touched her shoulder.
OOC: Thanks if you’re reading this - it’s been a long time since I’ve written and actually gotten this deep into a storyline - this is super therapeutic for me and I love telling stories <3 As always, find the challenge that I’m doing here.
The Perfect Sim: Elena Velasquez // Friend of The World
After Elena got done torturing the people of Sulani, she decided that the best thing to do would be to start fresh - mainly with a shower. After clogging so many drains, she was fairly stinky. She decided the best bet was to go to Oasis Springs and visit the gym there, grab a shower, and have a quick workout - considering that she didn’t have anything but a tent and a bush, plumbing was a bit difficult for her to come by. After a quick jog on the treadmill, Elena hopped into the shower, feeling not only hot water, but relief and soap wash over her. Thank the Gods... She finally had a hot shower and warm water. She was getting tired of bathing in the ocean water.
She wanted to kiss whoever invented indoor plumbing.
After she got out of the shower, she walked into the main area of the gym, where she noticed a LOT of people crowded together. A lot. These people were different though - they looked so beautiful, absolutely perfect, as if someone had plucked them out of the sky and drew them into existence. After gathering up some courage, she introduced herself to a few people, and their names shocked her.
Aphrodite. Apollo. Athena. Hestia.
Elena brushed off these names, figuring that someone in town was a big fan of Greek mythology, but, as she started to look at these people more, she began to realize - these were actual Gods and Goddesses... Aphrodite had to be the most beautiful woman she had seen in a long time. And Apollo looked like he had walked straight out of the sun, it was hard to look at him for a long period of time. Athena seemed to be giving advice to someone nearby, and made Elena feel even more wiser with every word she spoke. And Hestia - Hestia made her feel warm, like her family hadn’t died and left her all alone. Elena wanted to stay near all of them - they brought her so much joy while she was near them.
But, she knew she couldn’t. So, heading home, she took a breath and realized she would HAVE to become their friend at some point. It was time to plan a party. A beach party.
