Gender Defenders: Behind The Scenes - Chapter Twelve: Change of Heart
erica_jean698:
Oh wonderful love! I really enjoyed it as usual. And there is Kat, yay! Got the name of her city right as well. Very good capturing the awkwardness it must be knowing you will grow older then your parents someday. Though his Dad still appears to be just that, a Dad. ;)
I had to take her out of my game unfortunately. :( Way to many sims, I did some house cleaning. I mean she is still in bodyshop but I'm not actively playing her. Nice to see she's getting a second life here! :D
Sam the T-man:
Thanks! :D So glad to see I managed to get across what I'd hoped to - about growing older than your parents, and about his Dad - Evan may only be fifteen, and still immature in some ways, but as Luca pointed out right at the start, he's the most serious of them along with their sister ;) That'll be more apparent next chapter.
I know what you mean about too many sims though; I've started making those I very rarely play into townies. I've still got enough to make up a small town without any help from extras... although said extras have been appearing in-game for some reason. Do I have an out-dated notownieregen or something? :scratch: Oh well. Yeah, I regularly check back on your applications/rounds (your = everyone who took part) to make sure I've got my facts right, although there's been plenty of gaps left for my imagination to fill :twisted:
Sam the T-man:
Disclaimer: I don't pretend to be fluent in Italian - just the opposite in fact, which is why I had to consult http://www.freetranslation.com to get the phrases I needed. Apologies in advance if you speak Italian and the translator's efforts make you cringe :angel:
Chapter Eight – Leaving Party
“Come on slow-coach!” he calls as we reach the stairs.
“Hold on, hold on,” I mutter, slowing down. There’s a distinct sliding sensation at my hips, and a draft chilling more skin that it should. I know I’m baring a lot of flesh this evening, but…
Luca turns, and starts to snigger as he notes my predicament. I don’t even want to know what expressions are worn by the rest of my family as they tail behind.
“Running and tight leather doesn’t mix,” I finish, tugging at my trousers.
“Oh Leo,” Dad chuckles as they catch up. Luca just bursts out laughing as I begin to wonder if I’m fighting a losing battle. I’m just glad they’re used to seeing me in the buff, since I don’t always cover up after a shower, but here there are cameras. Oh well, I guess the guys at home could do with a good laugh.
“You need a shield?” Jo offers.
“Might be a good idea,” I accept, already beginning to work at the buckle. My folks huddle around with their backs towards me and, satisfied, I unfasten my trousers and resume the task of pulling them back up.
“Leo?”
I look up from my struggle at the sound of Alec’s voice, a smile spreading across my face.
“Hi there!” I call, releasing my lower garments to give a wave, before addressing the human – or not – shield in front of me. “S’okay, he’s my boyfriend.”
Alec looks about the faces with a bewildered expression. “What’s going on?” he asks.
Luca gives a little snigger as he explains, before moving aside to let him pass. Understandably, he cracks up when he sees me.
“I wondered what kept you,” he chuckles, “Come here.”
I decide against telling him the whole story for now, allowing his focus to remain on getting me re-dressed, a feat in itself if his next remark is anything to go by.
“Damn, just how tight are these things?!”
“The idea was to keep them from slipping,” I muse, prompting another fit of titters from just in front of us, before my eyes widen as he yanks them upwards. “Careful!” I complain, “There’s fragile equipment down there!”
“Wouldn’t want to damage that, would we?” he smiles, “Breathe in!”
I find myself having to do so as my belt is re-fastened.
“Thanks,” I smile, before turning to Luca, “and next time you want a race, the answer’s no!”
“Not my fault you wanted to shoehorn yourself into those trousers!”
“Yeah yeah,” I reply, before introducing Alec properly.
“Hi,” he smiles, before eyeing Dad’s outfit. “So that’s where he gets it from!”
Dad gives an innocent shrug, before he and Mum gaze upwards.
“Oh yuck,” he groans, “We need to fix that quick!”
“What, the music?” I check.
“Yeah, that’s partly why I came down,” Alec says, “That and, you going missing, a certain couple all over each other…”
“Say no more,” I groan, and take him by the hand as I lead us all back up to the party.
“Oh boy,” I grimace, before looking back to my parents, who look equally disgusted. Yes we’re old-fashioned, and now especially I’m proud of that.
“Turn the stereo down,” I tell either of them, my pace quickening as I release my grip on Alec’s hand, raising my fingers to my mouth to give a piercing whistle. At about the same time, one of them has worked their magic on the stereo, and that god-awful “music” that was playing drops to a more acceptable level.
“Come on guys!” I protest at the offending couple, “Save it for the bedroom!”
Zamir throws up his hands apologetically as I approach the stereo, and briefly introduce my folks.
“Hey, is a party, no?” he grins, before watching me work the equipment, “Oh no, not this screaming you call…”
“Screaming?” I check, before hitting play. It seems this Autumn shares our taste, as she rises happily from her seat while Gethsemane plays through the speakers.
“Okay, okay,” he surrenders, “but how we dance to this?”
I glance across at Alec, who shares my knowing smile. “Allow me to demonstrate,” I grin as I take his hand.
The party gets into full swing, complete with Mum singing along in a voice that puts Tarja Turunen to shame. We take an occasional break to prop ourselves up on the wall, and dive into the tasty punch that Zamir knocked up earlier, and I notice that Autumn seems to be taking an interest in Luca. Happy that my brother’s taken care of, I scrunch up another emptied punch cup and get back to the music.
As the evening draws on however, I start to feel light-headed. Alec and even Luca are acting very out of character, and my otherwise quiet boyfriend is prattling and even starting to giggle on occasion. The only people who seem to be acting normally are my parents, but as Kii tells me how cool they are, just looking at his face tells me something is very wrong. His eyes are glazed over and he’s unsteady on his feet, almost as if…
“Thanks,” I smile evasively, before excusing myself from the presence of my friends. No sign of Autumn or Luca, but right now that’s the least of my concerns. Heading for the punch bowl again, I grab a cup, fill it and head straight for my parents.
“Hi Leo,” Dad smiles, but that drops from his face when he notices that mine is serious.
“Hey Dad,” I greet him, “Could you do me a big favour please?”
“Sure,” he frowns, “What’s up?”
“Drink this,” I tell him, holding out the cup.
He takes it, eyeing the fluid bemused before looking back at me. “This is the punch?” he checks.
“Yeah,” I tell him, “Don’t add your vodka this time, just drink it.”
“Right,” he complies with an understanding nod, and throws his head back as he guzzles quickly at the liquid inside. I wait with bated breath as he draws the back of his hand across his mouth, crumples the cup and… waits.
I notice Mum eyeing him with equal concern as she takes the buckled cardboard from his hand. For a moment it looks as though he’s about to reject the drink, but all that comes forth is a stifled burp.
“S’cuse me,” he mumbles, before looking across at Mum expectantly.
“No,” she observes, just as sombre, “It would have happened by now.”
He looks back at me intently. “Is there a reason you suspected something?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I begin, gesturing behind me, “Look at them! Kii can’t even walk in a straight line! I’m feeling a little weird myself…”
“And you were drinking the least,” Mum remarks.
“Exactly.”
“Alright,” Dad says, already heading off, and throws the stereo a gaze long enough to shut it off as we walk by. The others look about themselves puzzled, but he draws their attention with one question.
“Okay guys, who added what to the punch?”
The guy who mixed the drinks looks back at him, stunned.
“Perdón??” he queries, with an expression reading “Are you implying what I think you’re implying?!”
“That sobered you up, didn't it?!” I hint, addressing all of them.
Dad doesn’t wait for an answer. Instead he studies the crowd, likely tuning into their thoughts, and listening for anything that would give away something even well-mastered body language wouldn’t.
The question seems to have a sobering effect on the others too. Alec’s face drops as he notes the stern expressions on our faces.
“Hey, wait a minute,” he checks, rising from his seat, “You’re suggesting someone spiked the punch?!”
“Not suggesting, Alec,” I tell him, “Stating.”
“But how do you know?”
“You may have noticed, we have been adding to our own drinks these past hours,” Mum explains, “I understand Leo has explained of us to you all?”
“He’s said you’re vampires, if that’s what you mean…”
“Vampires can’t stomach a non-alcoholic drink,” I tell not only him, but the others, “So I asked Dad to drink some without adding the alcohol, but he kept it down.”
“Whoa, whoa,” Kii complains, “Slow down, my head’s spinning here…”
“I’m not surprised!” I blurt out, “You’re p***ed!!”
“And our survey says…!” Dad deduces, pulling Ginny forward.
“Look, I didn’t mean anything,” she protests, “Just wanted to add a little something to the party…”
“There’s a reason we have an age limit you know,” he tells her, “Kids your age can’t handle it!”
“Kids??” she splutters, “Look who’s talking!”
“I’m actually twenty-six,” he tells her, “I only stayed fifteen ‘cause that’s when I was bitten. Not that it matters, since we can’t get drunk like you can.”
“Uh-huh, and you expect me to believe that?”
Alec’s head twitches off to the side, as if spotting movement. I follow his gaze to find Luca and Autumn trotting across to join us.
“There you are!” I acknowledge, before explaining the situation, deliberately ignoring the look of shock on Ginny’s face as Dad displays his fangs.
“What??” Luca exclaims as I finish.
My gaze returns to the rest of the gathering, noticing with dismay a similar surprised look upon the faces of the other girls. I look to the boys with them, my patience beginning to wear thin – I idly wonder how much of that is down to the drink.
“Didn’t you tell them?” I ask.
“We never got to it,” Kii shrugs. I cradle my head in my hand, but movement out of the corner of my eye catches my attention. I turn to find both Mum and Dad eyeing Luca accusingly.
“Così dove lei era?” (So where were you?) Dad asks him.
“Giusto posa l'atrio,” (Just down the hall) comes the oddly meek reply.
“What’s going on?” Alec asks softly as he approaches my side, slipping his hands round my waist. All I can do is shrug in reply, frowning as the conversation gets more heated. For some reason Luca’s head drops into his chest, his face turning red. I frown as I notice another shade about his mouth, and decide to put forward a question of my own, hoping my own mounting concerns are unjustified.
“Quel rossetto è?” (Is that lipstick?) I check gently, but firmly.
The silence he gives in reply is disturbing.
“Oh Luca, you didn’t…”
His head jerks upwards, and his tone becomes defiant as he speaks.
“Ha sentito la destra a lei, ha fatto non?!” (It felt right to you, didn't it?!)
After allowing my poor head to rest in my hand for a moment, I look back at him, continuing our talk in Italian as I do so.
“Don’t pass this onto me!” I snap, “I wasn’t drunk! I’d known him longer than a few hours! You might never see her again!”
“You might never see him again,” he challenges, “Did that never occur to you?”
“Oi,” Dad interrupts, “This isn’t about him anymore.”
“Perhaps we should wait until he is sober,” Mum suggests.
“You guys mind speaking in English?” Autumn chips in, looking indignant.
Dad looks about him, before pulling us all aside from the others. Alec tails along, thinking he may have something to contribute, and in a sense I’m glad he does. In a roundabout way this concerns him too.
I offer to take us into my room as Zamir shrugs and advances on the stereo. Safely shut away from the rest of the group, the first thing I tell Alec is the real reason I was detained at the start of the night.
“Oh s***!”
“I know,” I tell him gently, but it does nothing to soothe his nerves.
“She’s gonna kill me, I just know it…!”
“You two weren’t drunk,” Dad prompts us, bringing our attention back to the most recent problem as he faces Autumn. “Did you know he was a virgin?”
The look on her face amplifies her answer.
“He was?” she utters, a hand rising to her mouth.
“Hold on, what’s going on?” Alec asks again.
“Oh, I’m pretty sure if alcohol wasn’t involved he still would be,” I growl in reply, “but I gather my very shy, quiet brother tossed his cherry out the bathroom window.”
“No need to be like that,” comes the insolent reply.
“Definitely wait until he’s sober,” Dad muses, gazing coldly at him. “Maybe then he’ll realise why we’re angry.”
Luca stares back at him, with an expression I can’t see given I’m faced with the back of his head.
“I am sober!” he protests.
“Tell that to the judge,” Dad remarks, “I bet you didn’t use protection either.”
“We didn’t have any,” he tells him. In reply both parents hang their heads in dismay.
“It was just the once!” he justifies. Dad merely laughs in reply as he raises his head, before he becomes serious once again.
“So were you three,” he states simply.
I look between my family, and I notice Jo looks just as surprised as I now feel. I’m fast wishing that Alec and Autumn weren’t around to hear what is becoming a very personal family discussion.
erica_jean698:
Ah, teen troubles. Glad you addressed the issue of young sex and drinking. Those are tricky things to reconcile. I am feeling that I am really getting to know that characters well. Keep it up. ;)
Sam the T-man:
I could've sworn I replied to that earlier :scratch: Oh well. Great to hear you're getting to know the characters, as a writer that's such a big compliment (it means I'm doing my job properly!), so thank you so much *hugs* Oh yes, teen troubles at their best, with teen parents having to deal with them :evil4: This is just scratching the surface, however... :twisted:
Also wanted to say, I finally added a little list of "sim credits" to my first post, so anyone wondering who was made by who can now find out :) Update on the way!
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page