#water3

[kartuve]

[schokokokatze]

The breakup went about as well as expected. This was the first and last time Mask got beaten up by someone this week, and the only time he didn’t initiate the fight himself.

[schokokokatze]

Mask went and let Fang comfort him. They went on to start the most innocent affair possible. They didn’t even kiss, just sort of cuddle and hold hands, mainly because that’s how I saw any attraction between them play out, and because Mask only rolled wishes to flirt/amorous hug. Still everyone and their mother showed up to silently judge the heck out of them.

[schokokokatze]

The aforementioned visits took place, Sun had another child and while Fisher went to play with Surprise, the snow thawed. They’ll have warm-ish weather for a fairly short time before it goes back to being winter.

Knowing looking at his youngest son is not pretty, no wonder Surprise prefers playing with evil little kids roughly 10 years younger than himself.

[schokokokatze]

Close to the evening, the mother-daughter pair made a fire to warm up and to gather strength for the hunt that was to follow by nightfall.

[Spider is pregnant, but she’s almost 50, so the chances of her actually delivering a living baby are next to 0. Snow is fine. I hope it’s visible that by now, some names have become abbreviations or alternate versions of one another. Ren is derived from “Wren”, for example. I usually jot down 2-3 alternate versions of a sims’ name if that sim dies, to be added to the pool of randomly picked names.]

[schokokokatze]

Delight: “You want to ... move in with us?”

Mask: “It’s a safe space. I can help you around the house, make everything easier. Give Spike and you more time for each other.”

Delight: “That’s not ... I mean, that’s not what I meant. Not really.”

Mask: “I can’t stay, Dely. She’ll kill me. I wish I was joking, but I’ve known her for years. Her tribe’s warriors would at the very least castrate an unfaithful partner. I’m not saying that she shouldn’t be angry, I’m saying that I should not be anywhere near her after I tell her that I’m leaving.”

Delight: “You know best. I ... uh ... I don’t know if Spike will be alright with it. But he thinks you’re okay. I think. He didn’t uhm ... he didn’t dislike me for being yours and Proud’s daughter. Many people did back then. I suppose it could be arranged.”

Mask: “Thank you. You’re saving my life.”

Delight: “You’re welcome, dad. But uh ... could you keep that weird thing with Fang to a private place? Preferably his. People are talking. I don’t want them talking about my husband.”

Mask: “... sure. I’ll ... if everything goes well, I’ll see you tomorrow. If not ... please get your husband to come look for me, I might float face-down in my own pond and be in need of a rescue. Or a dignified burial.”

[I’m a bit worried about the way Mask’s storyline could be read, so: Spider is not and has never been abusive in any way. He’d be a lot less flippant about it otherwise. He’s been slightly scared of her the entire time, due to her personality, but was too apathetic about his own life to not go along with it when she approached him. If anybody reading this has the feeling that I’m making light of abusive relationships, especially where the female partner is the aggressor, I’m not. They’re dead serious and if anyone finds themselves threatened by their partner, they should seek and receive the help and support they need, regardless of gender or situation. Mask isn’t trying to leave an abusive relationship, Mask is trying to leave someone he doesn’t even like all that much, let alone love, and he knows she won’t take it well. It’s a legitimate cause for concern, and making sure he’s got somewhere to go is sane and smart, but he’d behave very differently if she’d ever been abusive.]

[schokokokatze]

Mask looked into her eyes. Dark, full of strength, self-assured toughness. This woman was not going to go quietly. She wasn’t going to cry. And still, looking at her, he knew he had to go through with it, even if it meant that she’d fight him. He just needed somewhere to go afterwards. He didn’t know if she really loved him. In her way, perhaps. Like a chieftess loves her pet cat.

He still went to work on the house again the next day. He wasn’t going to leave Fisher and Like Fire with more work than he had to. He wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.

[Quick peek at the finished exterior. The pond is too shallow to provide a stable source of water during summer, hence the well.]

[schokokokatze]

Naife and Like Fire have become pretty close friends. The two girls always seemed to have something to talk about, and where that failed, they played games.