"At exactly 4 pm, you must hurry to the merchant and stock up on some seeds. You will need to grow your own garden, for the community gardens are now inaccessible."
His beloved garden inaccessible? The thought sent shudders down his spine, but the Traveler wasn't finished. "Then you must go to the your local bookstore, and pick out some books to read. You have several long days and nights ahead of you, you might want something new to read. You must be back home before 6:30 pm, and do not leave until I tell you, or evil will befall you."
Aesar didn't like the sound of anything that the Traveler had said, but he knew his race depended on his actions. So he did as he was told.
The store was empty of eleves, even Ridas, the owner, was gone. Aesar felt uncomfortable with the thought of breaking in, but the Traveler had told him that he must get more seeds. Aesar fingered the coins in his pocket, he would buy only what he had coins for. Ridas usually let him get things on credit, but without Ridas here to actually talk to about it, Aesar just couldn't leave an IOU.
He grabbed as many seeds as he could, and placed them in a pack. He counted out the coins and placed them on the counter with a note.
The sun was beginning to set by the time he made it to the bookstore. His time was running short, he had spent too much time dithering over what seeds to get.
Again eerie silence greeted him, and Aesar actually began to wish that he could hear even one voice. The quiet was starting to get to him. Him, who prized silence!
Mindful that he had very little time, he grabbed some books without really considering the titles. He needed to get home, he didn't like the sound of evil befalling him, and it was nearly the six o clock hour. He would have to run home to make the deadline.
He threw some coins on the counter, and hastily scrawled a note. He grunted a little when he picked up his pack. Books weighed more than seeds.
Thankfully he was in good shape, and he made it home with a few minutes to spare. He put the books on his table, and set the pack that still held the seeds, down onto the floor. He would plant them in the morning.
He fixed himself something to eat, and began to peruse the titles he had grabbed. Perhaps he should have paid more attention to what he had picked out. Some of them were children's books, and didn't hold much value to him. He found the alchemy one, and opened it and began to read.
He was up bright and early the next morning, planting the seeds he had picked out the day before.
It took him several hours, but he didn't mind the work. It was soothing even, the feel of the cool dirt between his fingers, the smell of life around him. Even if it was plant life, it was still alive, and he found it reassuring.
Just as he was finishing up, the metal square chirped again, and he poked at it. "I left you a small gift in your living quarters. It'll keep you company for the long days ahead."
Aesar frowned. He didn't remember seeing any gifts in his living quarters. He dusted the dirt off his hands and headed indoors. He saw immediately what the Traveler was speaking of, but he could have sworn it was not there earlier in the day. Had the Traveler paid him a visit and he had been unaware of it?
The thing squawked and hissed, and beat its tiny wings. It looked like a miniature fire breather, but weren't they dead? He cautiously grabbed it around it's stomach, mindful of the jaws that twisted around and tried to bite him. Some company this thing would be!
He set it on the ground outside, and watched as it sniffed the air. It shifted its attention to him, and beat its wings again. He looked up at the horizon, and sighed heavily. What was he going to do with this thing?
The metal box chirped, and Aesar pulled it out of his pocket. "It's not a fire breather." The Traveler's voice said. "It's similar, but a totally different species, and is of no danger to you. It'll make a good friend, and welcome company, I promise. It will stay small as well, so need to worry on that account. Stay safe, and I will be contact again soon."
Before Aesar could say one word in return, the box went silent. "Well, if I am to be stuck with you, I suppose you deserve a name." He thought about it for a few minutes before deciding, "Pachua. Your name is Pachua."
The next few weeks crept past slowly. Aesar did his best to keep busy, at least with Pachua by his side, the interminable silence was broken. There still wasn't any signs of his people, the streets remained barren.
He was glad for the books, he even read the children's ones, out of sheer desperation. At least they had pretty pictures to look at, whoever the artist had been, they had been talented. He spent most of his hours puttering around in his garden, and he was just starting to see the fruits of his labors.
As the days slipped into weeks, and the weeks slipped into months, Aesar began to wonder if he would ever hear another voice besides his own. He could hardly believe it, but he was actually starting to feel lonely.
He'd had no idea how meaningful those few short conversations with his fellow elves had been. He would even take a snub from Catiriona right now, for it would show that he was not the only one alive.
Catiriona was not the only one to snub him. He had been snubbed by many of his kind because of his deformed ears, which he was now careful to keep them hidden under his hair. An elf's pride was his ears, but for Aesar, his ears were his curse.
It was why he had chosen horticulture. Plants did not judge him as the Elves did.
Just when he had given up all hope, the metal box chirped again. Aesar eagerly poked it, anxious to hear a voice other than his own. The Traveler's voice was hushed though, and Aesar had to strain to make out his words. "I am sorry for my long absence, but things are getting really ugly around here." The Traveler whispered. "I must be even more careful now, for there are eyes everywhere!"
Was that why the being did not have eyes of his own? Aesar tried to picture eyes being everywhere, but found that he could not. The Traveler continued, "Tonight at 6 o'clock, you must go to the Park. You will find one of your kind there. You must speak with her, and convince her to go with you back to your home. She is in grave danger, and may not even live long enough to be of help to us. But I have thought of nothing else for months now, and I am convinced she is our best chance."
"Best chance for what?"
"Propagating your race."
Aesar was stunned. The Traveler had used a term that was very familiar to him, did he mean... Aesar gulped. He was not very good at socializing with males, but he was even worse with females! How would he..."Just go!" The Traveler commanded him, and so Aesar obeyed.
The female was beautiful, and Aesar stammered and stuttered all over himself. His cursed tongue refused to speak even one intelligible word, and Aesar was convinced that she would think him a mad elf.
She did not seem to notice though, and her eyes had a far away look in them. When Aesar finally managed to get a question out, he asked her if everything was well with her. "No." She said sadly. "I buried my husband and unborn child five months ago. I am all alone now."
Aesar knew that feeling quite well. In halting terms, and a few more stumbles, he managed to ask her if she would return with him, they could keep each other company. Be mates. Propagate their race. He cringed as the words came out of his mouth. Who was he to ask one such as her to come and keep him company? He was deformed, and unworthy of her. She was perfection, and must have been married to one of high stature.
She surprised him though, when she murmured her agreement, but he didn't wait for her to change her mind. He led her back to his home, and gave her a tour of his cozy little house.
Once the tour was complete, he stared at her for several minutes, she didn't seem to be all there. He worried that she didn't fully understand what she had agreed to. "Are you sure?" He waved his hand to indicate his home, and then pointed at himself. "About everything?"
"Yes, I'm sure." She said softly. "I am tired of being all alone."
Aesar could understand that, even he had been feeling the walls close in on him. "Okay, then." He nervously rubbed his palms down the front of his pants. "Who is cooking dinner tonight? You? Or me?"
Her eyes lit up. "I do enjoy cooking."
"Thank goodness one of us does!" Aesar laughed.
Over the next few weeks they got to know each other, and became not just lovers, but also friends.
He began to notice though, that she seemed to be constantly hungry, yet she never gained any weight. Instead her arms grew thinner and thinner, and he could begin to see her bones protruding through her pale skin. He worried about her constantly, as she spent more and more time just sleeping. If she was awake, she was eating.
He felt like she was slowly slipping away from him, and if she did? He would be all alone once more. He hadn't heard from the Traveler in months, but he remembered every word that had been spoken. The words she may not live long enough haunted him.
He spent as much time with her as he could, cuddling with her on the bed while buried under layers of blankets; as she shivered uncontrollably and her teeth chattered.
Some days it seemed the fever would leave her, and she would throw off all the blankets, and her clothes. In those times her lips would seek his, and they would copulate, almost in desperation, as if trying to assure themselves that they both still lived. That they weren't alone. He was ashamed to admit it, but he loved those times most, though they were few and far between.
He labored long hours in his garden, tending to the plants that would be their food supply through the long winter months. He used to enjoy it, but now he hated that it was time spent away from her. It was a necessary evil, they would die if they had no food.
In his most hopeless moments, he was almost sure that they would die anyway. His mission and the Traveler seemed so long ago. He longed to give up, especially when the chills started to take over his body, and his muscles ached so much he could barely move.
Yet something inside him wouldn't let him quit, wouldn't let him rest, but forced him to continue on.
Forced him to continue working long hours in the garden.
Forced him to make some type of food for both he and Sarah; that, while it might have tasted plain, was at least filling and nutritious.
Forced him to continue living.
Moment by painful moment.
Then one day, everything suddenly changed, yet nothing changed. They were still battling for their very lives, but they were also battling for one more life.
He had pollinated Sarah.
The idea that their copulating could result in offspring had never really occurred to Aesar. Now that it was a reality, it rejuvenated him, and renewed his will to live. To survive.
It had the same effect on Sarah.
In the darkness of that night, as they shared their body's heat, they spoke of their hopes, their dreams, their fears. "I never thought I would have another child." Sarah whispered to him.
He pulled her thin, bony body closer to him. "I never thought I would have one at all." He whispered back.
"I am so sorry, to drag you through all of this, but I had no where else to go."
"Hush now Sarah, it's okay, you have brought me more joy than my corn plant."
She laughed softly. "Coming from you, I'll take that as compliment."
In response, he nuzzled her, and they fell asleep, wrapped in each other.
________________________________________________________________________
Notes: Oh my goodness you guys! I had forgotten how HARD Vector is! There is a reason I don't enable it very often.
When Sarah moved in--she had this:
She was already infected! Gah! It was too late though, she was already a part of the household. She had 2 points Athletic (how had I looked past that little detail in the challenge notes? That the higher the Athletic skill, the better?) So 10 was the number to beat, to see if she lived through it. She did, so I was glad about that. Would have hated to see her die right off the bat!
I figured she must have contracted the Munchies virus:
LOL! That's a little disturbing Twallan!
Within minutes, Aesar became germy. Dang it! So I had to roll for him, and I was really anxious about it, haha! Luckily he beat it, so he got to live.
Except, Vector is Vector. There is no cure, so my poor sims are doomed to be miserable ALL the time! Sarah, especially. Her hunger tanks, her social tanks, she gets a ton of bad moodlets associated with the disease, which tanks her mood. The germy moodlet keeps changing between 5 and 7 days, so she gets no relief, because she hasn't built an immunity to it yet.
Aesar is a little better off, I think he has a less severe illness. His germy moodlet switches between 2 and 3 days, and he feels bananas a lot. Which makes me think he contracted the Laugh Riot Virus. It hasn't been quite as harsh on him, but his motives drop quicker now than they used to.
Day 48 is quickly approaching (they are at day 51), and with it, a new strain. Which means, if they are still sick, then the virus they had has mutated, and I will need to reroll again and see if they live or not. I am trying to get at least one kid out of the pair before one of them dies! Bummer thing is--- the kid can contract the viruses from the parents---which makes keeping a baby/toddler happy very difficult.
So---we shall see what happens! I really have no idea either, whether they will live or die!
One final note--I used the words propagate, copulate, pollinate, etc., cause that is how Aesar thinks, more scientific like than romantic like, lol
Thanks for reading! =)
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