Chapter 4.6: Two little explorers

 <-- Previous Chapter

From Luke's diary

The following few months were very sad for us all. Unexpectedly and inexorably, at first my parents, and then uncle Orion, uncle Silas and then also uncle Aster, passed away. 

Misty and I were busy looking after Venus and Cassy at this time, but we can't help but regret all the time we weren't able to spend with them...


Now Lyra is living alone in the large house where we used to live together with our parents. If possible the situation is even worse for her, the sudden loneliness makes it harder than ever to cope with the situation.



I know I need to be strong, at least for the sake of our daughters, but it's not easy at all...



§HermioneSims§ corner: All the members of the previous generation really passed away in a few days, all off-screen, It was so depressing... I remain of the idea that in TS4 sims get old and die too quickly, it's impossible to have a good generational gameplay without cheating. 

Anyway, understandably Luke & co will be very sad for a while, but I don't want to get sad with them because it's very depressing also for me. So the diary will restart about six months later from this point, when they are starting to recover and return to focus on their future.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

About six months later

The girls are growing more and more, learning something new every other day.

When people hear that they are twins, they are always expecting them to look and behave the same. Instead, they couldn't be more different.

Venus is by far the more sociable of the two, if it were up to her she would spend whole days stammering whatever is passing through her mind and asking us to read her stories. She also really likes cuddles and to play with the unicorn puppet in their bedroom.



Cassy, ​​on the other hand, is much quieter. She likes to explore every square inch of the house and play with shapes and constructions.


Meanwhile, Misty already returned back to work full time, and now she is the one training the new recruits.


She is understandably always very tired when she returns back from work, yet she never says no to our girls when they want to play or spend time with her.


Misty: Ready to take off?
Cassy: Yeeeeh!
Misty: And now it's your turn, Venus, get ready!



Recently I haven't written a single line of the new book instead. The situation at home is often quite chaotic, I just have other priorities right now.


And then, whenever I somehow manage to sit in front of my computer, the little girls always ask me to write some other adventure about their two favourite space explorers.

Luke: Another story? Where do you want them to go this time?
Cassy: The sun!
Luke: Um, let me think...


Luke: ... and so, little Cassy and Venus took their unicorn spaceship heading to the Sun...
Cassy: Yeah!

They both love these stories about space, even when we have guests at home they hardly talk about anything else.


Lyra: (confused) What? A trip to Mars!
Venus: Yes! Story!
Luke: They are talking about the stories I read to them before sleeping.
Lyra: (puzzled) Okay...

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Lyra's crusade to improve the fashion sense of us sixamians advances inexorably. Now even the TV news is starting to talk about her, I have to admit being surprised by it.


Misty: ... if you pay attention, you can already see quite a few people in town who are following her suggestions.
Luke: What, seriously?
Misty: (amused) Your sister is right about this, you just don't notice these things!

Lyra is keeping to visit us quite often. She hasn't played with our daughters even once, I think she is just nostalgic about the old good days when she could gossip with Misty whenever she wanted to. 


Lyra: Ehi Misty, are you at home?


Misty: Good evening, ma'am! 
Lyra: (laughing) C'mon, I'm not a sergeant! 
Misty: I'm just back from work, you know.

Lyra: Rather, I have a crazy thing to tell you! You would never guess what happened!
Misty: (curious) Wow, really? 
Lyra: Yes! It started a few weeks ago, I was at the restaurant, and...

A very long story about Lyra's last few weeks followed, she seemed too excited to keep it to herself any longer.  Of course Misty told me everything the same night and, in my understanding, something like this should have happened:


Host: Why should we keep paying a waiter like you, all you do is break dishes! As far as I'm concerned, you're fired!
???: Hey, wait, I...

Lyra said to have followed the situation with curiosity, and then she decided to approach that guy to understand what had just happened.


Lyra: Are you okay? What happened?
???: Didn't you hear what he's just said? He just fired me, that's what.

Lyra was working hard these days, and she was starting to realize that she needed help if she wanted her fashion advice to leave a mark. She needed someone with a good sense of style, someone who could be a model for her new clothes. And that unemployed boy just seemed to fit what she had in mind.

Lyra: What's your name? I'm Lyra, I'm a fashion designer.
???: Ah, that's where I had already seen you, you're everywhere on the internet! I'm Nick, nice to meet you.
Lyra: (vague) ... What about having dinner together? I have a couple of questions for you.



Nick: What? Become a model? I never thought about it, you know?
Lyra: I like your style, I think we could come up with some good ideas by working together.

There have been studies on this, apparently telepathy makes the evolution of relationships much faster for us Sixamians. After all, when emotions are strong enough to make us glow, it becomes really difficult to hide what we really feel. The same probably happened to Lyra and that new friend of hers, as they apparently entered into a clearly non-professional relationship less than a week after that first encounter.



Misty decided to invite them both to dinner a few days later, after such a story she was very curious to meet this Nick in person. We all know that Lyra is not at all a reserved person, so no one was surprised when she gladly accepted the invitation.


Nick: ... and that's it.
Luke: You really talk a lot, you know?
Lyra: Don't be rude, c'mon!


Lyra: You see, Nick, as I told you my brother Luke is really grumpy and boring sometimes.
Luke: Now you're being the rude one, don't you think?

Cassy: Hi!


Lyra: Ehm... hi to you too.
Cassy: Cake!
Lyra: ... uh ...
Nick: You can take some of my cake, don't worry!
Cassy: Yeeeeh!
Misty: you really want to spoil her, huh?

Unlike Lyra, Nick seems to go along very well with our kids, he played and talked with them all evening.


To Lyra's delight, both Venus and Cassy have already unanimously elected him as their favourite uncle.

Chapter 4.5: Settling down

 <-- Previous Chapter 


Many years have passed since the founding of New Sixam. Mom did a great job leading the Country through the difficult settlement phase, managing to give the population a sense of security and unity that we lacked before. Her mandate has recently ended and, given her age, she decided to not run for another turn to leave room for new candidates instead. Her successor seems to continue to follow the path opened by her, without significant changes.

By now New Sixam has everything that any other Earth Country would has, and is also rapidly implementing Sixam's technology in transportation, medicine and industry. The sixamians seem to be so happy here in New Sixam that even those who lived in Countries other than Sim City have decided to slowly move here, where they finally feel welcomed.

We have always left our doors open to humans, but they seem to prefer to look at us with suspicion, always keeping an eye on us. So, like it or not, we found ourselves living in a small isolated land detached from any peaceful diplomatic relations with others.

A happy little island, with which nobody wants to build bridges... From a practical point of view, we have nothing to complain about, quite the contrary. However, the attitude of other nations toward us feels so bitter to me...

---------------------------------------------------------------

A few months ago I wrote that Misty and I have many plans for our future life, and that we came to live here to put them into practice.


We are in our early thirties now, we own our home, and we have stable incomes. We both always thought that, at some point in our lives, we wanted to start a family. The more time passed, the more that desire seemed concrete, close.

And now we are both convinced that the right time has come to try for real.


We knew it's not easy for everyone to succeed in such a short time, but we were lucky. Just a few months later, on my way back from the library I was welcomed by Misty running to me in excitement, to then tell me:


Misty: We did it, I'm pregnant!


Soon later Misty told Lyra and Ariana, who are still her best friends. By now I'm pretty sure they are the very reason why gossip about us is always circulating so quickly. 



Lyra: Well, at this point you two should also start to plan for a wedding, isn't it?
Misty: What? And with what money, if I can ask?
Lyra: I'll give you the clothes, the rest isn't such a big deal after all!

Misty replied with an alarmed expression, she was probably imagining the clothes that Lyra might have decided to give us.

Ariana: (amused)  You’re not just saying that for publicity, are you?
Lyra: (caught out) Well, ehm...

Within hours, half of New Sixam's population seemed to be aware of our good news, so we met my parents that evening. They seemed at least as excited as we were.


Claire: You were not joking when you said you had a lot of projects in mind!

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Misty was reassigned to a bit less physical job during her pregnancy, but she always continued to work for the same number of hours. I don't know how she does, she seems unstoppable. 


Misty: have you already thought of any names?
Luke: Um, there are so many to choose from...

It's probably because I've spent so much time writing, but I thought so much about possible names. Many sixamians use common human names, like mine, but since our arrival on this planet the frequency of names related to space or nature has been remarkable. I'm already proposing a lot of uncommon names, but Misty dismisses most of them with comments like: "I won't call my baby Hyperion, okay?" Probably she's right, I should think a bit longer about it...


Meanwhile her belly is growing more and more, even more than we expected.


Misty: I'm really turning into a whale...

She went into labour the day after that comment, a few weeks earlier than expected. A bit worried, we thus rushed to the closest hospital.


Misty: A hologram at the reception, but are they serious?
Receptionist: We're a little short-staffed, you know. 


I admit that I have never been so worried, excited and anxious as I was today. They let me out to wait for I don't know how long, before I finally met...


Our TWO daughters, that's why Misty's belly grew so much! 
Luckily I had a lot of names to choose from, yet they came so early that we hadn't made a definitive choice yet. After a final discussion, and after seeing how pretty they were, we eventually decided to call them Venus and Cassiopeia (although everyone already calls her Cassy).

--------------------------------------------------------------

My whole family immediately rushed to our house to meet them. We were newly parents, but they had just turned into grandparents, uncles and aunts. 

^The only one to rush to say hello to the little ones was Orion, albeit he was a quite far relative to them.

Orion: They look a lot like you, Luke.


Lyra: Twins, you won't sleep ever again!
Claire: You really don't like children, do you, Lyra?
Lyra: Well, it's quite clear...


Leo: As for twins, I think I have some experience... You can be the most different people in the world and live on different planets, but the bond among twins is always very strong. I think they're lucky for that.
Orion: (sarcastic) What a moving speech... Do you want to make me cry?

--------------------------------------------------------------------


Misty returned back to work full-time as soon as she chould. Since the library won't collapse if I'm absent for a few months, and considering that we continue receiving the revenue from my books even if I stay at home for a while, we decided that I would have been a stay-at-home dad for a while.


It is so exhausting, especially when they start crying together...

But, although we both always arrive so tired at the end of the day, we are very satisfied with what we are managing to do.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The little ones grow up quickly, in no time at all they were staggering around the house, babbling bits of sentences and investigating everything they saw.


Over time Cassy is turning bluer and bluer, just like Misty, while Venus remained as purple as I am. I heard this often happens to little sixamians, but it's quite fascinating to observe it in person. 


I often read stories to them, to be honest I wrote a couple of these little books by myself. The protagonists are, by chance, two little sixamians very similar to them who travel in space and make friends with many other aliens. Both Venus and Cassy seem to be having a lot of fun, and in fact they always ask me to read them new stories of their two favourite heroines.

They also seem to get along very well with each other. Maybe dad is right, the relationship between twins is really closer than that between simple siblings. They seem so special to me, I'm sure they will achieve great goals growing up.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

§HermioneSims§ corner

All this part feels quite rushed to me, but when you will realise how close Luke's birthday is it will be probably clear why I managed this part of the legacy this way.

I also want to point out that, again, I decided to change the skin colour of one of the twins. I just like to have a very colourful save, and this way it's easier to spot them immediately in a picture. 

Chapter 4.4: Projects for the future


From Luke's diary


Lyra: Hey Ari, did you hear that... (whispers)


Ariana: Come on, seriously?


Lyra: Hey Luke, is that true that you and Misty are dating now? Everyone in town is talking about it!
Luke: To be honest, I have the impression that you are the one who is telling it to everyone, actually.
Lyra: Ehi! I was just surprised, after all your talking about the "pretty-hair" club back in high school, I didn't expect you to, I mean...
Luke: C'mon, we were almost kids back then, it's not like...

Lyra and I always end up bickering for trivial reasons, so I wasn't surprised when dad interrupted us to say, simply:

Leo: Oh, so that's why you always look so happy lately! Good for you!


This description, however simplistic, seemed to be pretty accurate.

Lyra: Well, if you don't want to talk about it, we are asking directly to her instead!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From Lyra's diary

I don't get why Luke doesn't want to talk with me about Misty, I'm so curious to know more details! So all I can do is ask her directly at this point. I still can't believe they are dating, they are so different! Could it really work out, somehow, or are they just heading toward another difficult breakup?

Luckily I and Ariana were planning to meet Misty for breakfast that morning, we were having waffles at a diner next to the main street downtown. 



Misty: Why so silent today? Are you all right?
Ariana: Of course we are! We were just wondering if you had anything you wanted to tell us, you know...
Misty: C'mon, are you really that surprised that I and Luke are dating now? What's so weird about it?
Lyra: I mean, we're talking about Luke! Do you really like him?
Misty(ironic) I've always had a thing for guys with broad shoulders, don't you remember?
Lyra: Well, yes, but...
Misty: Lyra, seriously, I really don't get why you keep mocking him this way all the time, you've told him he's a loser so many times that he almost started to really believe it, you know? (Rising her voice) If you just listened to him a bit more instead, you'd know he's just a very good person instead. And I...


Ariana: Okay, okay, we got it, there's no need to argue! (To Lyra) I think she passed the test, didn't she?
Misty: (perplexed) Test? What test?
Ariana: Lyra was a bit worried, after seeing how badly Luke was doing when he and Serena broke up, I mean... We just wanted to be sure you were serious about it, that's all.
Lyra: Well, that was the idea, yes...

Misty took some seconds to calm down again, probably she didn't enjoy the interrogation we had set up for her. But she didn't seem to want to start any trouble either, so she ended up telling us:

Misty: Well, girls, but I've been working since this morning at 4:00. I have to be back in the afternoon and I have other stuff to do in the meanwhile, so...
Ariana: Are you going to meet Luke somewhere?
Misty: Well, yes. Are you interested in hearing more private details, or can I go?
Lyra(uneasy) No, this time I will pass...
Misty: I see. Bye then!

From Luke's diary


Misty: Hi! Sorry, I'm a bit late, but your sister had a lot of stuff to ask me, apparently.
Luke: So she really did? I hoped she was just joking this morning.


MistyWould you like to have a walk together?
Luke: Sure.

There isn't much to do around New Sixam, up to now most of the focus had been on building the essential infrastructures. So we always end up walking around the town, after all what really matters is to spend some time together.



Luke: How was work today? You seem tired.
Misty: Well, the training is quite hard this week. My muscles are still aching a lot, but there isn't much I can do about it.
Luke: Maybe we should look for a bench where to sit, then.
Misty: It wouldn't be a bad idea, but I can still walk, don't worry. Rather, did you start writing anything new instead?
Luke: Well, actually...


Luke: I still have a lot of material I could use for a new book, but it would take so much time to analyse it properly... I'm not sure, maybe I should just look for a normal job instead.

As we continued walking, my head kept spinning. I graduated quite a lot of time ago, but since then I've always remained at my parents' place, spending most of my time writing.  Somehow I managed to write a book, and I'm also having quite good revenue from it, but I can't keep relying on it forever. 


Misty: Before your book, there wasn't anything else to read about us sixamians. I heard that it is being also read in schools! And I think that many people would like other books like that one.
Luke: I see... But how can I be really sure about it? I mean, books revenue is not stable, people could just stop buying them, or dislike the next one, or...
Misty: Then you can just look for another job when that happens, isn't it? 

While keeping talking, she pointed to a bench she saw nearby. We often sit there, there is a good view over the canyon, but even if she wasn't complaining I knew she needed to take a break.





Misty: I mean, if you find some other job you like that would be great for you, but I don't think you should completely quit writing. Actually, I think what you're doing is important for us sixamians, you know?
Luke: Really?


Misty: Of course I do! I learnt a lot from that book... I mean, it helped me to understand better what really happened when the first sixamians arrived on Earth. It's our own history, something that unites us all, you know? And I'm sure it was the same for many other people.
Luke: ...  I never thought about it in these terms... Thanks, really. Did I have told you you're doing a tremendous job with that hospital you guys have built?
Misty(laughing) Every other day, actually.



Misty: I know it could seem a bit too soon, but I was thinking... Would you like to move in together?

I could exactly see where that question came from. She still lives with her parents and siblings in one of the small houses around downtown Strangerville, while I live with my parents and Lyra in a quite larger house, yet always very crowded. We often find ourselves looking for a place just for us recently, but also we would like to start to seriously think about our future. Thus, the only answer I could give her was:

Luke: Of course I'd like to.

------------------------------------------------------------------
A few days later, Miller's house


Claire: Oh, so you want to find a house all to yourself?
Leo: Are you sure? The queue for home allocation is long, and there's plenty of room here for everyone, after all.
Luke: It seems like the best solution to us. But don't worry, we don't plan on moving too far from here.

Both Misty and I are adamant about this: to achieve our projects, we want to rely only on our strengths. We don't want anyone's help, nor do we want to take advantage of our parents' savings. 

We found a little house downtown, one of those little houses that were built to give all sixamians a place to live.



We used up almost all of our savings, those coming from Misty's work and the proceeds from the publication of my book, to be able to buy it. We don't have much money left, at least for a few months we will be forced to live on a strict budget. But we are here, it's our starting point.


As an inauguration for the new house, we invited all our families to a BBQ in the garden.


Orion: It's a quite nice place, have you ever thought about installing a plasma heating system though? 



Aster: Congratulations on the house!
Leo: For any problem, don't hesitate to call us, ok?

Dad is happy for us, but also worried. If it were up to him, he would always be here to give us a hand.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

If we want to be able to save some simoleons, we need to work even harder than we did before. Misty wakes up very early every morning to go to the barracks and do her work, to then fall asleep in bed already at the mid of the afternoon.



I'm continuing to write instead, and seriously this time. You may be wondering why, isn't it, dear diary? I was hesitant for so long about this project, yet the more time passes the more it seems like the obvious choice to me. 
My dear diary, even you have probably heard that my first book, the one on the history of Sixam, is selling well. I would even dare to say very well, actually. I don't like to brag about it, but from the proceeds of the sales I'm currently receiving an amount of money comparable to a respectable salary. 

Misty is right, the people of New Sixam are interested in reading what I write, and many ask for more. And they are motivating me to write down the draft of a sequel, this time I'm planning to focus on the history of the relationship between humans and sixamians from our arrival on Earth until today. I expect to spark a lot more controversies this time, but this won't make me sugarcoat the reality of facts.



In front of our house there is a small library. I've always enjoyed writing in places like this, in Windenburg I always did.


It's easier for me to find the right inspiration when I'm in there, so when I'm alone I very often visit the place. I also take this opportunity to put some books back on their shelves, I really can't stand the disorder...



???: Hey, wouldn't you like to be a librarian? This would really need someone putting the books back into their shelves, but as you can see it's abandoned most of the time!

I haven't thought about it that much. Being a librarian is not a well-paid job perhaps, but the library is my natural habitat. When I told Misty she almost laughed, she said it remembered her of when we first met, in a very old and dusty library in Windenburg.


Here in the library I have a lot of time to read and to write, but I also have the chance to meet many people. 
I also often help uncle Silas to find the book he's looking for on that given day, now that he is retired he says he has started reading botanical books as a hobby.


Silas: Lukas Mills, the guy who published that book on Sixam's history... Is that you, by chance?
Luke: (surprised) How did you...
Silas: You chose a pseudonym very similar to your name. And then your dad told Orion, of course.
Luke: (shaking his head) I see...

I have so many relatives around New Sixam, I can't avoid wondering for how long this could remain a secret... 

Luke: Rather, thanks to you and uncle Orion for giving me all those files from your base on Sixam. There wouldn't be any book, if it wasn't for that.
Silas: (amused) You're welcome! At least those old archives were good for something, after all.


When we were forced to move here to New Sixam I felt like the ground crumbled under my feet, I didn't have a purpose at all. But during these years the situation flipped completely.

It was thanks to Misty, and to the people who read and appreciated by book, they all gave me something to look forward to. Now I have so many plans for the future that you can’t even imagine, my dear diary, and I can't wait for them to come true. 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

§HermioneSims§ corner:

All this talking about Luke earning enough from his books is because he is actually earning a lot from it. Actually, in-game he reached level 10 in writing quite a long ago and putting together the revenues from all the stuff he wrote he is getting about 2300-2600§ each day. Given the situation, for me it's much easier to make him focus on keeping writing new books than to find him a real job.



Furthermore, so that this is a legacy and I can still use Leo and Claire's money (I've earned it during the last generation, after all), I actually ended up buying the whole library for Luke. 



Basically now he can open the library and work in there every time he feels like to, and take it as a chance for selling a few other extra copies of his own books. 
I didn't imagine it would have been so easy to make a ton of money so quickly with writing in this game,  instead...