Generation Two - Chapter Eight: So Much For Hospitality

Since they didn't kiss or hug or anything else romantic that would put their names in the papers, Shannon and Geoffrey parted ways. Besides, she had an ulterior motive. Her ancestors houses weren't very far away and no matter how she tried, she couldn't get an invite to pop in and say hello.

So she watched their routines carefully and hoped that she would be able to catch this apparently 'busy' household at home.


Time ticked onwards as she firstly saw one boy zoom into the house, then straight back out again.

The same with another descendant. She was pretty sure that she recognised that one as Derrick, but it was getting quite dark and the old street lighting wasn't illuminating the roads quite so well.

So she took the bravest step, and decided to go for it.

Tentatively, she knocked on the door and was about to leave when she heard

Coming!!

She stopped dead to see an elderly lady hobbling towards her.

We don't get many visitors, that's why .... oh goodness..... 

She peered at Shannon, then broke out into a grin.

Derrick told me all about you, come here and give old Shavon a hug.

Shannon thought she felt fragile in her arms and clung on tentatively, afraid that she might squeeze too hard and break some bones!

Come in Come in..... make yourself at home!
Well, if you don't mind, I'm feeling a little stinky and could do with a freshen up.
There's a bath upstairs, not one of those new fangled sonic showers here. Goodness, the first time I used one of those I almost shot out of the window!

Shannon knew what her descendant meant, as she'd had that experience on several occasions back at the community centre.

Only if you don't mind.
Of course not, Derrick's just cooking dinner, I hope you won't mind staying. It'll be nice to catch up on a few things.

She got the directions to the bathroom and headed there, marvelling at the quaint old furnishings as she passed through each room.

They might have been poor, but at least they looked after their possessions.
As she soaked, she twitched her nose, waiting to smell any wonderful aromas from the kitchen. She could hear clattering and banging coming from there, and as she soaked, her stomach growled.

There was a knock on the door. It was Shavon.

Are you okay in there?
I'm fine thanks.
Oh, okay, it's just that ...... I think you'd better head off home.

What???

Shannon was stunned. When did this happen? She'd asked nicely to take a bath, she didn't think it was that much of an inconvenience.

But apparently, it was.

Grabbing her clothes and quickly drying herself off, she headed outside and turned to say goodnight, only for the door to be slammed in her face.

So much for their hospitality.

Editor's Notes

That's exactly what happened. One minute Shannon was soaking in a nice hot bath, the next they're evicting her from the premises!

Generation Two - Chapter Seven: Shannon Goes Into Mommy Mode

The Robotics Emporium (as I've now discovered) is Shannon's latest hangout, almost every day you can find her there working on nanites as well as trait chips for J1NX1E. So it was a matter of time that someone of some interest would walk in there and discover her.

She'd just created some nanites that ran amok all over her body, causing her to squirm and scream at the same time when the door of the emporium opened .....

Shannon: EEEEEK!!! GET THEM OFF ME!!!!
And who should just happened to walk through the doors but the rather dashing and debonair Geoffrey Landgrabb. Wealthy, good looking, a long family history......

He was perfect husband material actually. Apart from one teeny tiny little oversight. He was MARRIED. Apparently ... happily too. But that didn't stop them chatting to one another. Basically they got on like a house on fire, chattering away as if they were old buddies!

You could tell that he was completely enchanted and couldn't take his eyes off her.

So it was quite a shocker when he phoned Shannon up, completely out of the blue, to ask her on a date!!!
She was in the process of searching out her descendants and wanted to pay them a visit. Apparently they were dirt poor and she wanted to know how they managed to drop to that all time low.

She'd even pinpointed their house, a large but humble property not too far from the old miners village. It explained why Derrick dressed in such unique clothing. They were basically hand-me-downs and antique attire that had been stored away in the attic all those centuries ago.

Sooo, whilst she dreamed about Geoffrey taking her to the swankiest night spot in Oasis Landing, poor J1NX1E was allowed to roam freely wherever she wished. And ended up breaking down .... in the middle of the road of all places.

She had been so looking forward to visiting that alien crash site in the wastelands too!

Anyways, back to Shannon. She couldn't hide her disappointment when the taxi pulled up outside what she'd regard as a slum of a bar. Faded wooden clapboard walls with the varnish and paint peeling off in places.

But ....

this was where Geoffrey had arranged to meet. Not familiar with the town as such, she had to take him for face value.

However, when she finally arrived, she noticed that the place was buzzing with activity, even her descendants were there. Apparently it was the 'place to be'. Shows you that you can't judge something just because it's got a grotty exterior.

Geoffrey looked rather sheepish as she approached.

Shannon: What's wrong?
Geoffrey: I shouldn't have brought you here.
Shannon: It's fine ... it's got .... character at least.

He managed a weak smile but still looked uncomfortable and shifted from one foot to the other, his gaze often locking onto the floor. What made matters worse, was the paparazzi were there too taking pics and notes.

Shannon: Geoffrey, talk to me, the suspense is killing me.
Geoffrey: Not as much as my wife and kids will if they found out about this.
Shannon: Uh huh, okay.
Geoffrey: You aren't bothered about this?

She started to smile and touched his arm gently.

Shannon: Geoffrey, I know all about your family
Geoffrey: You do?
Shannon: In my line of work, it pays to gain a little knowledge
Geoffrey: And you went along with it? That's cruel.
Shannon: No it's not. I couldn't let you down without knowing the 'real' you. I can tell you love your family and you'd rather be with them instead of on a hot date with someone you've only just met.
Geoffrey: That's not entirely true. Most of the time I'm working, so I barely see my family.
Shannon: Then every minute you spend with them, make it precious
Geoffrey: You know, this IS kinda awkward
Shannon: Why's that?
Geoffrey: We DID organise a 'date'.
Shannon: Lets just call it 'down time' and relax, chill out okay? I can show you one of my special abilities if you want. I'll just need a drink first.

So they went into the bar, where it was basically a free for all, and a few people were already queueing up for their drinks.

Also sat at the bar was none other than her descendant Derrick, with his nose wedged firmly into a book. When he got tired of reading, he wandered into the centre of the room, just to stand there looking uncomfortable.

Geoffrey: He's an odd one isn't he?
Shannon: He's my descendant.
Geoffrey: I'm sorry.

Shannon: I must admit, I don't really know him that well.....
Geoffrey: You've never been invited to their house? 
Shannon: No. Not really.
Geoffrey: They must be ashamed.
Shannon: Of me?
Geoffrey: No, because they're so .....

He cut the topic short and bit his lip.

Geoffrey: I'm sorry, I'm not one to gossip here. 
Shannon: You know what happened to them to make them so poor .....

He nodded quietly.

Geoffrey: And it's none of my business really. All I'll say is that one factor was that along the timeline one of your descendants refused to move forward with any kind of progress

Shannon thought back to Dragon Valley and the fact that that town was determined to remain in it's own time warp. She knew exactly what Geoffrey meant. But that put her in a dilemma. With this knowledge, should she make steps to help her family or simply carry on as normal and let fate throw the dice?

She shook her head and grinned brightly.

Shannon: How rude of me, I haven't shown you my special ability have I?

He smiled. In that short space in time, he realised just how lucky he was and what a great friend he'd made with this amazing woman. Shannon took a deep breath and suddenly started to glow..... purple. Not only that, he noticed that many other Sims in the vicinity had a purple aura too.

Shannon: It's my fairy magic. I can project auras. This one happens to be the Aura of Soothing.
Geoffrey: Oh wow, that's impressive indeed, can you do any others?
Shannon: I can, the Aura of Creativity, and the Aura of Body and Mind ..... but I cannot keep them up indefinitely, they do sap my energy and drain at an alarming rate if I'm not careful.

This aura attracted the attention of Derrick, who approached Shannon.

Derrick: Oh wow, that's amazing!
Shannon: Why thank you. Can't you do that?
Derrick: Well, we don't... really ... know, we haven't tried. Maybe you could come over and teach us some day?
Shannon: How about now? Now's good.
Derrick: Um .... well......

Geoffrey threw Shannon a knowing look as if to say 'told you' but Derrick caved in.

Derrick: I guess it won't hurt ... one more guest.....

Generation Two - Chapter Six: Meet J1NX1E

After a rough nights' sleep, Shannon awoke to find herself feeling a little yucky and smelly. Well.... a LOT smelly actually. So she decided to try out the sonic shower. It didn't work out for her.

How the heck do these folks deal with this technology? It's giving me a splitting headache!

The quarters that she'd chosen - at the community centre - had a bedroom, bathroom and a small lobby area. As she was passing through the lobby, she heard a small crying noise and looking down, she spotted a little virtua-fox thingy. It was distressed and hungry.

She couldn't resist it, she HAD to pick it up.

Hello there young fella, feeling a little lonely?
E3E3WWWWE3E3WWWWEEEEO0O0O0
Hmm, how do you work these things?

Pressing a button, it gave her instructions on how to maintain this cute little thing and proceeded to clean in, talk to it and thankfully after her experimentation at the Robotics workshop, she had some nanites left over so she fed it. It shut up after that.

Wonder if I'm allowed to bring you back home with me? Sophie would LOVE this. I know she would. I feel so bad for giving her a hard time lately. It'd be nice to bring her something back at least. Besides, it's pink, her favourite colour.

Emit was nowhere to be seen, so she slipped it into her backpack and hoped that what she was doing wasn't illegal and that she wasn't going to be arrested for stealing or something much much worse!!!

After breakfast - which consisted of long life synthesised lasagne - seriously, this stuff was brought out of the replicator well over 24 hours ago and it STILL maintained it's 'freshness'. No green haze or horrid smells.

Shannon then decided that since she was going to be here for a little while - she only had fleeting wishes to return home - she'd become a Freelance Painter to earn her keep and have some extra pennies in her pocket.

Setting up the digital easel was pretty straightforward since she'd boosted her Advanced Technology skill when she fed and talked to that virtua fox. She even attracted the attention of a passing plumbob paparazzi. Already she was getting attention here in Oasis Landing.

However, the sky started darkening in, and that meant that even in the future, there was always a risk of rain. So she gave up painting and decided to return to the Robotics workshop to try her luck at creating a Plumbot of her very own. She thought about Blaine and how he was high maintenance, and wondered if there was a chance that a Plumbot from the future might add some 'spark' into Blaine's mundane, routine life.

After a few fits and starts, and nanites crawling all over (and under) her skin, Shannon managed to make enough to start the plumbot process.

With a hiss, the doors swept open from the egg shaped machine......

.... to reveal......

J1NX1E.

A delightful combination of silvers, pinks and greens!

Shannon discovered, however, that J1NX1E was a simple bot with no personalities or any traits fitted in her memory chip. So, apart from upgrading and maintaining her, J1NX1E was worse than useless. So Shannon left her to her own devices whilst she continued working on more nanites.

J1NX1E, in the meantime, proved NOT to be as boring as Shannon had portrayed. She had a childlike curiosity that led her to standing on more than one occasion, admiring a prototype bot that was on display ready to be sold.

HMMM, T1TAN1UM ALL0Y, 1NT3R3ST1NG

She also proved more than her worth when, after a long day, she and Shannon went back to the community centre. Shannon fell fast asleep with no bad dreams this time, only to be accosted by TWO plumbob paps who took it upon themselves to stand and stare at Shannon.

J1NX1E stepped forward and challenged them to leave.

PL3A53 L3AV3

They did, with great reluctance, but at least Shannon had herself a little bodyguard that she herself had created.

Whilst at the Robotics workshop, I happened to espy a familiar figure - or so I thought.
Atom Beaker.

And wondered if he was related to the Beakers from Sims 2, especially the infamous Loki Beaker
And yep, he sure is, Evil and all, like father like son ..... especially when he gave out the most evil of cackles right there and then.

Thankfully Shannon didn't roll a wish to meet and greet him. As goodness knows WHAT would have happened there!!!!

Generation Two - Chapter Five: You Look Familiar

Next on the agenda for Shannon was a long standing wish. To learn the Robotics skill, something that was completely unattainable in Dragon Valley. However, the only way to do that .... was to go to the Robotics Store/Workshop. Tapping into her jet pack, she found herself there in the blink of an eye.
It was fairly busy actually, when she arrived, people bustling around, looking busy.

But then something ... or rather someone, caught her eye.

Not wanting to attract too much attention, she sidled up to the pale skinned elderly gent standing there deep in thought.

Um, excuse me?

He apparently hadn't heard her because he failed to reply.

Pardon me, I don't wish to be rude .... but you look ... familiar to me. have we met? 

He looked suitably confused and baffled as he studied her face.

I don't believe we have, my name is Derrick Powers, the young girl over there playing with her virtual toy is my granddaughter Tina Acker. 

She has a very vivid imagination too. Often likes to pretend she's in medieval Simland addressing her subjects.... oh there she goes again.

Did you say .... Powers?
That I did, yes. Why?
Why I am Shannon Powers, you must be my descendants!

Derrick blinked a couple of times before realising what Shannon had just said.

Oh my! Tina would be so happy to meet you! She's a big big fan of yours, always bragging about her beautiful fairy queen. It's a shame none of us inherited the wings, the ears yes, but sadly not the wings.

Shannon had noticed that but remained quiet. Maybe, just maybe those genes had skipped a generation and may possibly crop up a little later along the family tree.

Please excuse us, we have to go, Tina has scouting to go to and I've got my dominoes club to go to. Hey, it was nice meeting you. Maybe we could meet up one day, have synthesised coffee and reminisce?

With that they were gone, leaving Shannon alone in the workshop/store. She soon found out that it wasn't that simple, getting a Robotics skill. She had to learn the first level of Advanced Technology skill to begin with. So, with nervous shaking hands, Shannon played around with the virtua screen, moving images around and pulling information from files. It was quite unlike the computer they had back home where you used the keys to type in anything.

But her family wasn't far from her mind. Even after fatigue got the better of her and she had to go back to her temporary home to sleep, she had nightmares about her descendants and worried that meeting them maybe wasn't such a good idea to begin with.

Maybe Emit was wrong, that in some way she'd caused a rift in the continuum and it was going to affect her own family back home.