From Gaia's diary
Diego: (distraught) Can I… Can I come in, please? It's been a real mess, I don't even know where to start, but-
Techna: The last bolt struck at less than 15 m from here. Were you involved, by any chance?
Diego: Maybe. Probably, in fact.
Techna: Come inside, it's dangerous out there.
Gaia: (from upstairs) Hey, is there anyone at the door? The last bolt struck really close by, it's dangerou-
I already had many worried that evening, the weather was turning way more catastrophic than the forecast warned us for after all. Yet, that was the last scene I expected to see: why was Diego there, and why was he all burned? Was he hit by that last lightning bolt, by chance?
Gaia: (worried) Diego, are you okay?
Diego: I can't explain how it is even possible, but apart from a few burns, I think I'm okay. Well, and then my ears are buzzing quite a lot, but that's improving already.
He hesitated for a moment before continuing to speak, he seemed really confused, shaken and tired.
Diego: … I know it's late and I don't want to bother you at all, but-
Gaia: Don't be silly, of course we're helping you! By the way, do you need anything? Do you want to call the hospital, to medicate the burns, or anything else?
Diego: Actually, looking at all the stuff I'm covered in... I think I need to take a shower.
Gaia: Sure, the shower is upstairs. In the meantime, I'm going to look for some clothes then!
Diego's clothes were in a very bad state, even by using the matter recomposer there wasn't enough fabric left to make a long-sleeved shirt and pants. But I was lucky, because I managed to find some old clothes Matt forgot in a closet (for once, his carelessness proved to be useful). They're slightly small for Diego, but still orders of magnitude better than the burned and socked ones he was wearing before.
So, after showering and changing clothes, Diego finally managed to explain to me what he was doing outside in that awful weather. And I'm not exaggerating about the weather, both the rain and the lightings kept worsening all over the evening. Around midnight we also had an electricity outrage, I don't think I've ever seen such bad weather before.
Gaia: I hope the blackout will be solved soon… Rather, what happened to you? Why were you outside in this terrible weather?
Diego: (tired) You see, I was getting ready to leave for the trip to Selvadorada, but then I realized that my teleport device had a completely dead battery…
As usual, he was making the longest explanation possible, but I didn't rush him. By now I know him well enough to be sure he would have gotten to the point.
Diego: And then… Well, I don't know if you noticed, but I live near a little stream. Usually, there's barely any water in there, but with this weather it filled up in no time, and… And, before I knew it, my living room was flooded!
Gaia: What!? Are you serious?
Diego: I was ankle-deep in water, and it kept rising, I'm not kidding!
Diego: And at that point, of course, the power went out, and the teleport device was still unusable,so I couldn't go to my sister Vale in Tech Sixam. At that point, I thought I'd come and ask you for a hand. I've been on a lot of trips to tropical forests, but let me tell you, I've rarely seen such bad weather. There weren't any lightings yet when I left, otherwise I think I would have holed up in my upstairs room and waited for the weather to improve. But what's done is done, right?
Gaia: What a crazy story… But, above all, I’m so relieved you weren't seriously injured! But are you really sure you're not injured?
Diego: I only have a couple of shallow burns, nothing serious.
At that point the adrenaline was starting to wear-off, and so tiredness had started to take over his face again. So I told him, before letting him sleep:
Gaia: I don’t think our house is at risk of flooding, we’re on top of a hill, but if you want I can set up something upstairs for you to sleep on. For example…
Diego: Don’t worry, I’ll be fine here on the couch. You’re all too kind.
Gaia: There’s no need to thank us, do you really think we weren't welcoming you in this weather? You can stay at least until it stops raining, then we’ll think about fixing up your house and everything else.
Now completely exhausted, Diego used his last bit of energy to thank me with a hug before collapsing into sleep.
What an absurd situation… But, most of all, what matters is that he somehow survived that lighting. Don't you agree, my dear diary?
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Nacho: Mh...
Techna: According to the weather forecast, it's going to rain for at least three more days. I wonder how the chickens out there are coping… Luckily, we managed to fill their feeder before the weather got too bad, but all these thunders are likely to cause them a high level of stress.
Nacho: …
Techna: At least the power supply was restored after a few hours. We can't teleport to a safer place yet because the local geolocation system is still down, but as long as we stay here we shouldn't encounter a significant level of danger.
Nacho: Meow.
Techna: You're a weird cat, Nacho, but I don't think you're entirely wrong to be worried. A rainy event of this magnitude is unheard of in this region, isn't it?
Nacho: …
Techna: Humans continue to take these episodes lightly, it's difficult for them to think in terms of the frequency of an extreme event, and yet everything should be so obvious by now...
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From Gaia's diary
The next morning, we were woken up by a delicious smell coming from the kitchen.
Gaia: Ehy, by chance, are you baking something for breakfast?
Diego: Of course I am, it seemed like the least I could do! Also, there were some wonderful blueberries in the fridge that would have gone bad with the blackout, it'd be a shame to waste them, right?
Diego: And here it is, a wonderful pie!
Aside from the pie, which was of course excellent, that had also been a great opportunity to explain to the children about the bad weather, and the fact that we would all be stuck at home for a while.
I admit that being stuck at home because of the rain was a bit unsettling, but having Diego around the house all day confused me even more.
But it couldn't have been easy for him either. Until the day before, he had been planning his trip to Selvadorada to look for edible insects, and instead he ended up with his house flooded, stuck indoors with us when he loves being outdoors, forced to live with three small kids when he always says how tiring it is for him to deal with them, and even with some burns from that lightning to treat.
And yet all I could think of was how kind it was of him to continue cooking for us, just to reciprocate our hospitality.
Of course we are talking often, very often, in fact. We always have a lot to say, but until now we never really had the time to talk for so long!
He told me about many of his trips, and the adventures he faced trying to collect exotic plants with unpronounceable names or learning almost forgotten recipes from some remote village in the mountains. I instead told him about my excursions and climbs, and also how good I once was with skis. Our eyes light up when hearing each other's stories, how wonderful would it be to be able to take a trip like this together?
We talk so much that we ignore what's around us, it's been a long time since I met someone who was so much on my wavelength as he is. At certain moments the atmosphere then seems perfect, we're on the verge of making a move, when...
Alec: Cake!
In the end, it's always the children who bring us back down to earth, reminding us that it's neither the time nor the place to have certain thoughts. Or, maybe, that we shouldn't have those thoughts at all. It's obvious that he always tries so hard to appear kind and cheerful with the children, how can I expect him to actually decide to start a relationship with me?
Even though I admit that it's exhausting as hell sometimes. Wouldn't you also have certain thoughts if you kept running into him like this around the house, my dear diary?
But for now our focus should remain on the weather, then we'll see...
Petra: Ugh, but when will it stop raining? When can I go back to school?
Gaia: According to the forecast guy, tomorrow it should stop raining, and at the latest the following day it should be sunny too.
Petra: Bah, let's hope so. I don't like it when it rains like this...
It's not just you, Petra, nobody likes this situation...
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§HermioneSims§ corner
Phew, Diego was fine after all! In this game sims are quite sturdy after all, if I'm not mistaken they need to be stuck twice in a row in this game to have a good chance of dying for lightning.
Anyway, this time I'm here with a small in-game parenthesis about Techna.
You have to know I bought Snowy Escape during Gen 8, so before that point I didn't have lifestyles in my game. This means this generation was the first chance for Techna to develop some lifestyles, and they developed a quite ironic one: Techie. And it had some quite funny consequences too:
^translation:
Inspired +3
I am the future!
(for the Techie lifestyle)
Techna is the pinnacle of technology!
A symbol of progress! The future of the planet!
Bow down befor- Wait: sims don't like
idolatrating technology! Well,
let's just admire it then.
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