Chapter 7.7: Do the island spirits... meow?

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Nacho: (interrogative) … Meow?

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From Alba's diary

Maki: Are you sure you took everything, Alba?

Alba: Yes, we have already checked four times!

Lily: C'mon mom, there isn't any need to worry! Even if something is missing, you just need to ship it to her with the teleport machine, isn't it?

Helios: Remember to invite us every now and then to your new place, okay?

Lily: You're trying to snag a vacation in Sulani right away, Helios?

Helios: As if you hadn't thought of it too!

Alba: (laughing) You can come whenever you want, just knock!

That's right, after a thousand doubts I decided to go and live permanently in Sulani. I have many challenges to face, such as finding a house where to live, a job to support myself and learning to live on my own, but this time I feel determined as I rarely have in the past.

So today I am saying goodbye to my family, who have gathered again for the occasion. I would have liked to be able to celebrate the inauguration of the new house together, but due to dad and Techna's international travel ban we decided to meet here instead.

Sirio: Good luck, Alba.

Alba: Thanks, dad!

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Sulani has many houses built facing onward on the sea, but after seeing how frightening the force of the elements can be during the monsoon season I preferred to aim for a house slightly more inland. This way I also managed to get a better price, as places like this seem to be less interesting for tourists looking for a memorable vacation home. Despite this, I think it will take me a long time before I completely repay my loan...

Yet the view is so beautiful from here... Is there anything more relaxing than this?

As for the job instead, I asked Manu and Kai for the telephone number of the company where those environmental operators I saw a few weeks ago work. Despite my total lack of qualifications, they seemed thrilled to be able to add to their team someone who would be willing to help them remove rubbish from the beaches and keep an eye on vulnerable wildlife spots.

The pay isn't great, but I really like working outdoors (even more so in this island paradise!), and I'm more than satisfied with this arrangement right now.

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Nacho: (focused on the prey) Grrrr…..

Those who live by the sea have a fantastic piece of sandy beach at their disposal, but here I have a nice piece of arable land where I can grow some fruit and vegetables. I've always enjoyed spending time in the garden and then who knows, maybe I'll even be able to sell something.

Inevitably, I always collapse from tiredness in the late afternoon. Between work, which leads me to walk and swim all over the archipelago for eight hours each day, and taking care of the vegetable garden, I don't think this is surprising.

But it is in the evening, when I wake up from that nap, that I pick up my old guitar again, play, and think.

Yes, because in here my life seems fantastic, but the bad thoughts never completely abandon me. More than anything else, it is precisely in these moments that I realize how alone I feel. Maybe it's because I'm used to living in a very large family, but now that I find myself alone in such a large house I can't help but feel very homesick.

I miss mom and dad, and my siblings Lily and Helios, and of course Techna too. And I also miss Olivier, when we decided not to see each other anymore I thought it would be easier to move on, but it isn't the case... And so I find myself alone on a little bridge in Sulani, at night, playing that song we sang together with the last New Year's Eve...

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Nacho: zzzz.....

Helios recently gave me a strange scarecrow. He hasn't said much to me, to be honest he seems a bit… evasive recently, but he only muttered a “it might help you with your vegetable garden” before returning to Tech Sixam. I didn't even know they had scarecrows in Tech Sixam, where did he find one?

He certainly has a nice face, I even spoke to him a couple of times. Every now and then I even had the impression that it was actually listening to me... But this must be just an impression, right?

I think that the best way I have to fight loneliness is to spend as much time as possible with my new friends and my relatives. So I often invite them to my house, or I take the teleport machine to go back to New Sixam and spend a few hours with them.

Kai: (worried) What are those blue plants? They look very strange! Aren't they... alien? Are they?

Alba: I think a couple come from Sixam, yes. But in my area they have been cultivated for generations and generations and nothing bad has ever happened, don't worry!

Kai: I see...

Kai: You seem a bit sad. Do you feel alone here?

Sulani people are sometimes as direct in their speech as they are spontaneous in everything else. It took me a while, but I think I'm starting to get used to it.

Kai: Yet, I have the impression that you are not completely alone here, I think there is someone else... Hey, but it could be an island spirit!

Alba: A spirit?

Kai: Yes, there it is! To be honest he seems a little… annoyed, as if he's been ignored for a long time.

Alba: Oh.

Kai: But I know what to do! Try giving him this, come on!

I was a bit perplexed, superstitions like this have never existed in New Sixam and so I can't help but see them as strange folklore. But Kai seemed to genuinely believe in what she was saying, and I was also curious to see what could have happened, so I decided to listen to her.

Alba: (perplexed) Like this?

Kai: Yes, that's perfect!

Alba: (surprised) What? A cat? 

Kai: (amused) You see? He's the manifestation of the island spirits!

A little hesitant, I approached that big cat to try to pet him. It was a very big furry cat, I've rarely seen fluffier cats before, how did he get here on a tropical island like Sulani?

Alba: (more and more confused) There is a name on his collar, it says here that his name is... Nacho?

Seeing that the feline didn't seem hostile towards me, I picked him up for some cuddles. He was so cute!

Alba: Are you happy, Nacho? Do you want some food?

I don't know if it was for the cuddles or the mention of food, but Nacho seemed the happiest cat on the island at that moment. I think we'll be fine, living together.

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And so this is the story of my life now, of the life I chose for myself. I clean the beaches during the day, play the guitar at night and live with a big cat called Nacho who, according to my friend Kai, is actually the manifestation of an island spirit.

Nacho: Meow!

Alba: Do you want to see the sea too?

It may seem like a weird lifestyle choice, but little by little I feel like I'm starting to get used to all this.

Next chapter -->

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§HermioneSims§ corner

Well well well... I think that this requires some little explanation, doesn't it?

Basically, at this point in the Legacy, I found out that you can buy some interesting pet treats from a vending machine next to the entrance at the Brindleton Bay veterinary clinic. Among these there is also ambrosia for animals, to be given to the ghosts of your favourite pets to bring them back to life, and other treats that allow them to rejuvenate.

So today I resurrected Nacho, and from now on I will give him the rejuvenating treat whenever he turns into an old cat. So I should be able to have an immortal Nacho, and without cheating. Bwahahahaha!  

What will the purpose of this move be? Did I just decide to bring back into his furry glory my favourite sim-cat, or my plans could be more complex? Who knows...

For the moment, if you are having fun with the Nacho lore, I remind you of the Nacho-origins chapter I wrote for the MSSS challenge quite a lot of time ago here.