From Alba's diary
I think it has been a while since the last time I wrote anything interesting on these pages. During the last few years there was just so much to do, and finding the time for writing anything wasn't easy at all. But today was a great day, and even if I should have gone to bed a while ago I want to take some time to make an update.
You may be wondering, my dear diary, about what could have happened to make me write this. Well, it's simple, today was the twins' birthday!
Alba: C'mon, Iris, you have to take a bath, everyone will be arriving soon and...
Iris: No, I don't want to!
Alba: ... Whatever, in any case it's too late already.
I worked really hard to make their party memorable, I even tried to retrieve some honey from the hive I decided to buy some time ago, to make their favourite cake.
Alba: You don't look very friendly, you know?
Alba: It's probably better to dress properly...
Olivier: Is it a honey cake?
Alba: Yes, exactly!
Olivier: Meanwhile, the others have written that they will arrive shortly. How are the children doing?
Alba: River is fine, but it took one hour to convince Iris to wear something other than her pyjama...
I don't know how we prepared everything in time, but somehow we managed to.
I can't believe that tomorrow they are really starting elementary school, has so much time passed already? Really?
I also noticed that, halfway through the party, Iris rushed towards the keyboard and started strumming notes at random. She's always spending a lot of time around that keyboard, could this be the prelude to another artist in the family?
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During this time we also received numerous visits from Helios and his memory doctor, Kate. They periodically pass from our place to meet the kids, as (according to Kate) seeing my brother together with his children could trigger some of his instinctive memories, and thus provide a new possible starting point to pull out the remaining missing memories.
The progress still seem slow and frustrating, but at least spending time together seems to be important for both the twins and Helios.
Helios: Hi!
Iris: Hi dad!
River: Hi! Oh, and Kate is here too!
Iris: Did you get any memory back?
Helios: Not yet, but...
River: Are her methods really working?
Helios: Stay assured, she's the best in the whole memory clinic!
Iris: Why you still don't remember, then?
Kate observed the scene carefully, ignoring the comments about her while trying to grasp details of that dialogue that were so little to be completely invisible to us. When she finally was able to find what she was looking for, she eventually stepped in commenting:
Kate: Maybe I glimpsed something, but I need to do a more thorough examination…
Helios: What, again?
Kate: I'm sorry, but it's the only way I know.
Helios: At least not in front of the children, please!
Kate: Yes, maybe you're not entirely wrong...
Alba: (perplexed) So do you really think you'll find something this time?
Kate: I have a good feeling this time, as if I'd managed to localize what I'm looking for, and I'd just need to find a way to access it.
As I was saying, Kate has a somewhat strange way of working, but she always seems sincere when she says she thinks she can recover Helios' memories. My brother seems a little tired by her methods, but deep down he seems to have faith in her, and I want to do the same.
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And I think to have some updates to make about Olivier, as well. Turning back the pages of this diary, I read that the last time I wrote anything about him was during that rainy day, when he revealed to me the reason why he almost quit singing. Well, quite a lot happened after that.
That episode wasn't isolated, and after that day Olivier actually started to open up more and more often with me.
He was finally showing a side of himself that he was taught to consider as an unthinkable weakness, something to keep hidden and reprime. And I could actually recognize it from the time when we were dating as teens, it was the vibe I perceived when we used to sing together. That same vibe that made me fall in love with him the first time, to be precise.
Without even noticing, we were spending more and more time together, and getting closer and closer. Until, eventually...
Olivier: This place is just fantastic!
Alba: Kai and Manu recommend it to everyone, if I'm not wrong the owners are their cousins.
Olivier: Oh.
Olivier: Listen, I'd like to ask you something...
Alba: (surprised) Sure, what is it about?
Olivier: Well... At this point, I spend more time at your house than at my place, and I was thinking that, maybe, I should at least start paying my share of the bills, and things like that...
Alba: That would sound quite close to moving in and living together, is that what you mean?
Olivier: …
He really seemed to be struggling to decide what to say at that moment, as if he feared that any possible answer from him would be wrong. Not that I can blame him, the last time he tried to make our relationship more serious I threw an engagement ring into a bush.
Alba: Well, why not, I actually think it may be a good idea, you know? And I think that Iris and River would be happy too, when you're not around they always ask me: "Where did uncle Olivier go?"
Olivier: … seriously?
Alba: Yes, for me it would be great, really. However, what do you plan to do with your job? I know that with the teleport machine you can go back and forth from New Sixam in a moment, but considering the time zone your days would be a real mess...
Olivier: Yes, I know. Actually, I thought about this quite a bit already.
Alba: And do you have any solutions?
Olivier: Well... Do you remember in which sector the company I'm working for is operating, right? You worked there too for a few months, too.
Alba: Yes, they export goods from New Sixam to other countries, if I'm not wrong.
Olivier: Exactly. And this means that they also have a few secondary offices overseas, in the countries to which they export. They also have an office in Sulani, on the main island of the archipelago. If I asked for a transfer, it would be quite likely that the CEOs would grant it relatively quickly.
We continued talking about it as we left the restaurant, along the pier that leads to my house.
Alba: But are you really sure you want to move here permanently? I mean, all your family and friends are in New Sixam, and…
Olivier: You say it as if this were a bad place where to live. It's such a peaceful place, all the opposite of how back home is...
It's hard to explain, the changes that occurred since when I moved to Sulani were so gradual that I didn't even notice them until when I stopped for a second to look back. I grew a lot, and so did Olivier. And the relationship we have, inevitably, changed enormously too.
Some people (like Lily, *cough*) keep shaking their heads when seeing us together, as if our relationship was doomed to end disastrously again.
I don't know if it's because of my age, or the attitude I'm borrowing from the local inhabitants of Sulani, or a bit of both, but I actually care less and less about what they say. We reconciled, and then we decided we wanted to live together in a house facing the ocean in Sulani, and nor my sister, nor his parents, nor anyone else's opinion will bother us anymore.
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§HermioneSims§ corner:
This really is the textbook example of situation in which I had to rush a lot of developments in a single chapter because the advancement of the legacy (in this case, the twins' birthday) clearly set that a lot of years have passed since the beginning of this story arc. Sometimes the fact that sims-days are like real-life years is really hard to handle...
The fact that I remained very unsure about the direction to take all over this section, and I basically took a choice at the latest possible moment didn't help, either.
If I have to be totally honest, this could be one of the most disappointing chapters in the whole legacy to me. Anyway, it's a long challenge, to pass through a moment like this was probably quite inevitable.
