October 18, 2009

In Which Danthia Requests a Favor of Her Friend

December 31, 1162

At the sound of the door slamming shut no sooner than it had been opened, Danthia turned her head to see her husband standing beside her bed, simply staring at her. She couldn't say she had expected him; after all, in the entire time she'd been here, he'd scarcely said a word to her, and his eyes had yet to meet her own. They did not even have rooms on the same floor of the castle.

"Searle?" she addressed him cautiously; thus far, he had only ever responded to her concern with silence, but it seemed to her that it was only a matter of time before his mask of melancholy snapped, giving way to whatever other unpleasant emotions it may have been damming.

As usual, however, he said nothing. Even his eyes were as empty as his mouth--or so she thought before she caught sight of a small tear just as it was pushed aside by a blink.

Was it possible that she was doing him a disservice by walking on eggshells? Maybe he would be better off if she simply tried to talk to him about something--anything. Anything but them, at any rate.

"Uh... so, your twin sister had her baby last month," she muttered as she pulled herself off the bed. "A girl. She named her Cladelia." Again, he did not reply; she hastily added, "For your mother."

Searle's brow twitched. "I know my mother's name."

Startled, Danthia cringed; there was something venomously blunt about his tone. "Yes, well..."

Nothing came after "well", she realized as Searle drummed his fingers across his crossed arm. She closed her mouth and looked him up and down; logically, if she did nothing, he would either speak or leave.

And she was right--he did speak. "Does the baby look much like Riona's husband?"

"I don't know," answered Danthia. "I haven't seen her. I heard the news from a messenger."

A messenger who asked for you, she added bitterly to herself. A messenger who stood there like an idiot until I told him you were out. I've told lots of messengers you were out--I wonder when they'll clue in and figure out that you had no intention of ever coming back?

Again, there was silence; it seemed he had nothing more to say on that subject. But if that was the case, why didn't he change it? Surely he had a reason for coming to her room, and she wasn't about to disillusion herself by thinking he wanted to sleep with her.

The seconds past. Minutes. Then--

"For the love of God, Danthia, why are you here?" he demanded through gritted white teeth. "You're supposed to be back home in Dovia!"

"Oh, well it's nice to see you too," she sniffed. "I thought we were at least friends, Searle."

Her husband scowled. "I thought so too--until you showed up here, that is. A friend would have realized that I need my space. A friend would have stayed home and made sure things were kept running until I got back. I never meant for you to come after me, you know!"

"Stop being an idiot," Danthia scolded; God, why was he being such a child? "You're needed back home. Did you know that your mother rides out every week to see you? How many more times do you think I could have told her that you weren't there? I got a letter from Lileina saying that your mother thinks you've killed yourself and I'm just not telling her--what do you say to that?"

"Well, if that was the case, my mother wouldn't exactly be blameless there, would she?"

She didn't know how to respond to that. Danthia did not know all the details about what had happened between Searle and his parents, other than the fact that he had been involved with another girl. Her father had told her that much. He'd wanted her to know; he'd given her an opportunity to get out if she'd chosen to take it. For his sake, however, she had gone through with the marriage, as she knew it had been her father's plan for many years and the match would serve him well. Now, it seemed as though by she should have taken the chance when it had come. She wanted to love him--she really, really did--but it was painful to love someone who could not even be bothered to attempt to love her.

"Searle..."

"Look, Danthia!" he snapped at her; she did not recoil, though she felt a distinct shiver trill from her ears to her spine. "I was going to come back eventually, all right? Just not now--not this soon. Now that you're here, however, I'm obliged to take you back and stay with you. Trust me... you don't want me to stay with you."

Taken aback somewhat, Danthia's back straightened as she looked him in the eye. It seemed that he was trying to avoid her gaze, as he always did--this time, however, she would not let him glance aimlessly about the room. "I never said that."

It seemed he had run out of words--a ridiculous notion, as he had been saving them for months. After a few long, painful moments, however, he seemed to find a few more.

"I didn't want to hurt you, you know," Searle sighed wearily. "You'd be better off without me. If you're willing to chase someone all this way on your own, then you should be with someone capable of loving you."

Danthia shook her head. "Searle..."

"Danthia..."

"Searle, look at me."

Surprisingly, he did. Trying to keep her face as neutral as possible, Danthia dove into his eyes and told him, "Go to bed, Searle; we have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow."

Searle shifted slightly in protest. "I don't think I can sleep."

"Try to, at least. Please."

"But..."

"Try," she insisted once again. "If you can't love me... at least sleep. If not for your wife, please--do that much for your friend."

NEXT CHAPTER:

19 comments:

Van said...

Aaaaaand we're done with 1162!!

Sorry, I know I said that this would be up last night, but I got sick. Probably because I had instant noodles and crispy minis for supper. I never thought I would miss my mom's cooking. Don't tell her I said that.

Anyway... it would seem that Wednesday is the one year anniversary of Naroni, so... do you guys want anything (providing I can actually whip something up)? Wallpapers (if I can download a program suitable for making them--none of my programs resize well)? Q&A session, both plot-related and production-related? Special photoshoot? Choice guys go swimming in the sex pond? I'm open to suggestions here (this is also a great de-lurking opportunity, if I can presume that I actually have any lurkers).

Anyway... don't expect a new Ashelia today. I'm still sitting around in my pajamas right now, so I have to get my ass off this chair, get dressed, and have breakfast. Then, I need to take some more pictures for both Naroni and THIV, and then I have to write a 1500 word essay on Dr. Faustus for tomorrow--at least it's better than Aristotle, but it's still a pain in the ass. If I end up finishing before one in the morning this time, then maybe--maybe--u can has Asheliaz.

lothere said...

Interesting priorities. :-D But I confess to having saved many a homework assignment as "dessert" after a Simming session.

Searle is a crybaby and a churl. "I need my space! I'm not done feeling sorry for myself yet!" *passes Kleenex*

(But I cannot stop staring at his CHIN! I want his babies for my Sims.)

Danthia is just wonderful however. She is trying SO hard, first by covering for him at home and now by coming here. And I love her face. Sort of ugly-pretty. I love everything about her so far. She doesn't even earn my disdain for having silly illusions about her husband. She's just trying to make life work.

OMG I just noticed your teens are wearing wedding rings. I haven't been able to get that to work! I can't get teens farther than engagement. (Which is how Eithne and Cian ended up with the rings they have... though I admit the ostentatious gemstone is a very Dante thing to do.) I have been wanting so badly to give Brit and Dunstan their rings. Did you have to do anything special for that?

Happy story anniversary by the way! *confetti* In celebration I would like to see Florian get some therapy. Or at least see Thetis say to him OMG SKELETONS?? (LOLroni?) Florian could totally have a "WAT HAS I DUN?" breakthrough that way.

Van said...

Oh, I know. I've always been one for leaving homework to the very last possible minute :D

...want their sims? Pre-Nightlife BodyShop is a thoroughly flawed program that won't even open, but I could export them using Sim PE and put them up for download. The one problem would be that you'd have to already have any CC they're using, but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be a problem for you since the bulk of my CC comes from your "Where can I get?" page anyway.

But yeah, Searle is such an emo kid, and Danthia's just trying to hold everything together. She has some serious, serious get-go. And yeah, I love her face too--the fact that she's not beautiful makes her all the more awesome, I think.

As for the wedding rings... here's the secret. These teens aren't really teens, or at least as far as my game is concerned. If you take out the InSim temporal adjuster, choose the "Select Age" option and change the teen you want to get married to "Independent teen". This way, the sim will still have a teen body, and wear teen clothes and whatnot, but the game will treat the sim as an adult, and they will be able to marry.

Of course, don't do this right before taking pictures, since you'll have to change the sim's stretch again, unfortunately.

Thank you :) LOLroni about OMG SKELETONS? Hmmm... I may be able to do that. Let me see if I have any pictures that will work. If not, I could always take a new one...

Phoenix said...

I thought I liked Searle but in this piece he annoyed me! A LOT!!! O_o

HAPPY EARLY ANNIVERSARY VAN!!!!!!

MOAR FLORIAN would be my wish! I miss grouchy Florian!:( I peeked at the stats and didn't see him around much! It made me sad!

Van said...

Yeah, Searle is a self-pitying crybaby. He has a ton of issues, and he is very bad about actually dealing with them.

Thanks Phoenix :)

I'm trying to fit Florian in wherever possible in 1163, because I need more of him too but he and Thetis are quite happy right now (though Florian is still has grouchy, curmudgeonly self) and for the most part, I only write about miserable people and I can't really think of a storyline for him right now. I'm hoping we see more of him in 1164.

lothere said...

Florian is the youngest curmudgeon ever. :-D But that word describes him so well.

I found the chin! I had to take out my custom face templates. It belongs to the very last face, so not the Egelric face. I expect to see lots of cleft chins in my future. :-)

Van said...

Hooray! Cleft chins in Lothere! I kind of can't wait to see someone with that chin make babies with someone with The Nose :D

Sorry about your face templates, though. Hmmm... I guess you could make a sim with that chin in BodyShop, then put the face templates back in? I don't know.

lothere said...

Young Aed would have had the chin, too, if I had known! >8(

I will probably just put back all my face templates except for the last one, so I will have the cleft chin option available. Apparently BodyShop does use your face templates if you have any, because I was shocked at what I saw as soon as I took them out. I had forgotten how unredeemably freakish some of the default heads are!

Van said...

That's why all of my sims look kind of samey--so few good default faces!

And yet, I still won't download defaults because I know that if I do, I'll make tons of sims that I'll never use and I'll just end up wasting space on my computer :(

S.B. said...

how achingly sad, but good for Danthia for trying. I want to smack Searle for enjoying his moods and pouring them all over everyone else, since he's having such a great time feeling sorry for himself.

also started staring at his chin, which is weird LOL! but it is nice.

beautiful shots and lovely, lovely writing!

Van said...

Thanks S.B. :)

Searle just spreads gloom wherever he goes. You'd think he'd have a better coping strategy at this point, but... nope... *sigh*

Penelope said...

I agree with everyone! He's just such a miserable brat. And selfish! I mean, is it really that bad, Searle? Of the two of them, Danthia is the only one who deserves to throw a fit and she has more sense than to do that.

Happy Naroniversary! *blows party horn*

hehehe, Florian getting counseling.

Is Florian aging backwards? Like, when he's 80, will he be a hip, happening dude? Or just more of a sour old man?

Penelope said...

Actually, THAT'S WHAT I VOTE FOR! An elderly Florian featurette, starring Elderly Florian.

Van said...

Florian needs counseling :P

Searle is definitely being an emo drama queen right now. Yeah, his daddy made him marry a girl he'd rather just be friends with when he had another girl that he loved... but what can I say? It's the 12th century. He's lucky to be married to someone he can even have a conversation with. He needs to grow a pair.

Hmmm... I'll consider it, but I think I would need to see Florian's progressive aging in order to do his seniorhood justice, so we probably won't be seeing Florian as an old man until he actually is an old man. We shall see :)

Thanks Pen :)

thewynd said...

*dons party hat and tries to spin noisemaker*

Happy anniversary!

I was wishing that Danthia would have said what she was thinking out loud. Searle needs a swift kick in the ass. But she is a good friend to him and he needs to realize that. Damn straight he needs to take her home and deal.

Van said...

Thanks Gayl :)

Yeah, Searle really needs to get his butt in gear. Fortunately, Danthia's got a good head on her shoulders and she had the guts to go after him. He's definitely taking her for granted, though.

Unknown said...

Oh, Danthia is a dear! I have to agree with everyone else on Searle, though -- such a wimp!

However, the evidence this chapter gives us does make me feel sorry for him. If my suspicions are correct, that is. The first time he showed up and talked about how he couldn't be forgiven, especially by his parents and whatnot, I thought, "OMG incest??" and now I have to say, "OMG twincest??"

Van said...

I was wondering if anyone would catch what's written between the lines in that particular section :P

Unknown said...

I feel so specialz!