Chapter 1.3: Calls and Visitors

Life continued as normal for Evelyn after she returned home, with one exception: she kept getting bothered by men calling her to ask her out on dates. She had no idea why they suddenly started to call her when she was no longer interested in any of them. The first time she received a call she was flattered, but turned down the offer since she was still holding out for Gustave, hoping he’d call.

The second time she received a call, she was a little irritated since she was woken up by the call. She had never met the guy calling her and she certainly wasn’t going to go on a date with someone she’s never even heard of. Needless to say, she turned him down a little more harshly than the previous caller.

 

 The third time it happened, she was more than a little irritated. The caller this time was at least someone she knew, but that did not change the fact that she most definitively did NOT want to go on a date with him.
 
“Are you out of your freaking mind? You’re MARRIED for crying out! I don’t care if you’re a cheating bastard, but at least keep me out of it!”
 

She answered each call she received in the hopes that it would be Gustave, but every time her hopes were crushed her irritation grew. The fourth call from an unknown number finally caused her temper to snap, causing her to answer the phone with a little more vehemence than usually.

 

“What is it?” Evelyn snarled into the phone. “If you’re calling for a date then you can spare your breath and get lost right now,” she snapped.

A stunned silence followed her sentence before a familiar voice sounded from the phone.

 

“Uhm, okay. I’ll just-” Evelyn’s expression immediately cheered up at the voice she’s waited so long to hear. She interrupted him before he could finish the sentence and hang up.

“Gustave! I’m sorry! I didn’t realise it’s you! I’ve been bothered quite a lot over the last few days, so when I didn’t recognise the number I assumed the worst. I’m so sorry,” she explained, hoping that he wouldn’t hang up on her. His reply in the form of rich laughter immediately laid her fears to rest.

“It’s fine,” he assured her, his voice still heavy with amusement. “I understand completely.”

Evelyn smiled in relief at his assurances.

They continued talking late into the night, swapping stories and jokes until Evelyn finally realised she had to get some sleep if she wanted to be able to function the following day at her work.

They called each other constantly after that first call. It soon became a ritual: as soon as Evelyn got back from work, she either called him or he called her. They spent hours talking to each other, regaling the other with stories from recent events. It was only a couple of weeks after they started having regular contact that Evelyn decided to take the next step.

“I’ve been wondering…” Evelyn stated during one of their numerous calls. “We’ve been calling each other quite a lot now, so I’ve been thinking that…maybe…we should, well, see each other again,” she stammered uncertainly. A pregnant silence hung between them before he replied.

“I’m sure I’ll be able to get some time off to come see you,” he proposed. “Unless you were planning on coming here again?”

“I would love to,” she assured him, “but why don’t you come here instead? It’ll be my turn to show you the wonders of Sunset Valley, which is, admittedly, not nearly as intriguing as Champs Les Sims, but still something to see,” she suggested.

“Sure, sounds like a good idea,” he agreed. “I’ll let you know as soon as I can get a flight, so I’ll probably see you in a couple of days.”

The days following that call seemed to slowly creep by for Evelyn. Finally, after a couple of long days, Gustave finally arrived at Evelyn’s house, causing Evelyn to immediately run outside to greet him.

“Gustave! I’m so glad you could come!” Evelyn exclaimed. Gustave smiled happily at her and wrapped his arms around her.

 “I’m glad to be here. It’s really good to see you again,” he replied with warmth in his eyes. Evelyn smiled at him before inviting him inside, showing him where to stow his things. A few hours later, they were ready to hit the town.

Over the next couple of days, she showed him everything she could. She showed him the beauty of Central Park, where they spend hours enjoying the other’s company, holding hands and talking about whatever was on their mind.

She showed him the beach, where they wasted time lazing around on the beach and cooling down in the sea, playfully arguing philosophy.

In the nights, she took him to the local dancing club, where they enjoyed drinks together and danced away the night, losing themselves in the music and the beat.

After spending long and busy hours braving the town, they always winded down their evenings with a quick bite at the bistro, where they regaled the other with jokes and stories, usually discussing the events of the day.

Finally, the last day of Gustave’s visit arrived. For one last time, they spent their time on the beach, swimming in the sea and generally just enjoying the other’s company, until at last, the sun descended behind the horizon. Evelyn laid in his arms, both of them watching the sun slowly disappear beyond the sea.

“I don’t want this day to end,” she whispered softly, hoping beyond reason that the sun will never disappear behind the horizon. She heard Gustave sigh behind her, his breath moving her hair.

“I know,” he murmured. “I don’t want it to end either.” They spent a couple of minutes in silence, just staring at the sunset, before Gustave stood up, gently pulling her after him. “Come on, we have to get going,” he said softly, his tone filled with regret. Evelyn said nothing in response, merely wrapping her arms around his waist.

“Do we really have to?” Evelyn questioned softly, loath to move from the spot and return to her house where the dream would come to an end. Gustave chuckled at her question, tightening his arms around her.

“Unfortunately, yes,” he replied, the regret heavy in his voice, “but I guess we can stay a couple of minutes longer.”

Evelyn sighed softly, listening to his heartbeat and revelling in his warmth, the sound of the waves breaking in the background slowly lulling her. All too soon, Gustave stepped back, softly planting a kiss on her forehead.

“We have to go, Evi,” he reiterated. “Besides, it’s not like it’s the end between us. We’ll see each other again,” he promised. Evelyn wiped her tears away, trying to calm herself.

“I know,” she murmured, “but who knows when that’ll be? I wish you could just stay here, but I know you can’t,” she said regretfully. Gustave gave her one last hug in reply before gently taking her hand, leading her back towards reality.

By the time they arrived at her house, it was already dark. Evelyn glanced up at the sky before stopping, her breath taken away by the sight.

“Beautiful,” she whispered in awe. Gustave followed her gaze and softly murmured his agreement.

“Let’s stay here a bit,” he whispered in her ear before taking a seat on the grass, his gaze fixed on the sky. Evelyn smiled and took a seat next to him, her smile widening when she felt his arm snake around her waist. They spent a long time under the stars, pointing out the different stars and constellations and talking about the tales surrounding the constellations.

 

Again, all too soon, the magical moment came to an end. Gustave pulled Evelyn into his arms, holding her for a couple of seconds before gazing into her eyes.

“Thank you,” he said softly, his eyes shining with gratitude. “My visit here was simply amazing,” he said before leaning in and softly kissing her. Evelyn gazed into his eyes after the kiss had ended for a few seconds before making a decision.

“It isn’t over yet,” she disagreed, taking his hand and leading him inside. They soon arrived in her bedroom, where she playfully pushed him to the bed, getting rid of their clothes along the way.

 

Needless to say, things escalated rather quickly after that.

Chapter 1.2: A Vacation to Remember

The conversation had started normally enough. They had talked about small, inconsequential things until Evelyn asked Teresa, out of interest sake, how Teresa’s vacation in France had been. The tale her friend wove sounded so amazing that Evelyn could feel her lust for adventure acting up again.

 

The tale stayed with her days. She often caught herself daydreaming about the places Teresa told her about: the nectar breweries, the beautiful Chateau du Landgraab and of course the famous La Gallerie d'Art. After agonizing over it for a couple of days, Evelyn decided it wouldn’t hurt to just hear what travel information the travel agency had available.

The travel agency overloaded her with tales of the famous tourist attractions in the city. She was instantly hooked by their descriptions. She immediately booked herself a trip to the historic city.

 

The days that passed after she made her booking was filled with anticipation and nervous excitement. The booking had cost a lot of money to make, digging deep into her savings. Still, she believed it would absolutely be worth the money.

The day of her journey finally arrived. After a long and uncomfortable flight, Evelyn arrived in the beautiful city of Champs Les Sims.

 

After checking in at the hotel, she immediately got started on her goals for the vacation. The local nectary was said to be one of the places every Sim visiting Champs Les Sims had to see at least once. While there, she shared a bottle of nectar with one of the local Sims, Gustave Delven. They hit it off quite well, sharing tales and enthusing over good quality nectar.

When he heard she was a tourist with a sense of true adventure who loved local legends, he offered to show her some of Champs Les Sims’ less known historical locations.

“There’s an old burial ground just to the west of here,” he told her. “French children grow up with the legend of L’amour et de Trahison. Love and Betrayal. It’s a very poignant tale of three friends who ended up in a love triangle that ended in tragedy. However, local legend says that the three friends mentioned in the tale are buried beneath the mound located at the burial ground,” he explained.

Evelyn’s interest was immediately peaked. She loved stories and legends. Visiting a place that was allegedly involved in one such a legend sounded like a dream come true to her.

"I would love to see it,” she told him enthusiastically.

 

He grinned at her answer, a boyish look of excitement on his face.

“Great! Let’s meet here again in an hour’s time, okay?” Gustave told her. She agreed with him and set off towards the local stores in order to buy any supplies they might need.

A little more than an hour later they were finally at the burial grounds. He showed her the different standing stones surrounding the mound, telling her of the stories weaved around them.

Soon afterwards, they descended into the mound itself. It was dark and spooky and Evelyn loved every second of it. Gustave was funny and interesting and the tales he wove about the history of the mound captivated her attention completely.

They spent a large amount of time in the tomb, just about the entire duration of her vacation, gradually growing closer to each other. Before long, Evelyn realised that she was genuinely attracted to him.

Looking back on her journey, she would never be able to say what had prompted her actions. Perhaps it was the genuine attraction she felt for him. Perhaps it was his witty remarks and                the enchanting way he wove the tales of the past. Either way, it was only after it happened that she realised what she did.

She immediately took a step back, hiding her face from him.

“I-I’m sorry, I don’t know w-what came over me,” she stammered, looking everywhere but him. To her surprise, she suddenly felt him take her hands in his.

“Hey, it’s okay. I don’t mind,” he confessed, causing her to look at him in surprise. “You’re a pretty woman.”

“R-Really? Well, I guess it’s okay then, isn’t it?” A pregnant silence hung in the air at her words until they both suddenly burst out in laughter. The moment broken, Gustave gently folded his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

“You are truly an amazing woman, Evelyn. It’s such a pity that you have to return to Sunset Valley so soon,” he told her with a soft look in his eyes. She gave him an inviting smile in return.

“You’re welcome to come visit at any time,” she proposed with a coy smile, causing him to smile at her.

“I’ll definitely take you up on that,” he promised before stepping away from her. “But first, I still have to complete your tour,” he reminded her with laughter in his voice before taking her hand and pulling her towards the last room in the tomb.

The last room in the tomb was decorated with ancient statutes and, as promised, the three graves that allegedly belonged to the people from the legend. While it was definitely impressive to see, she had to say that it was the journey through the tomb that led her to the graves that meant the most to her.

 

By the time they arrived outside, dawn had just broken and Evelyn’s plane was scheduled to leave within the next two hours. She turned her attention to Gustave, a grateful smile on her face.

“Thank you, Gustave. I’ll never forget this vacation,” she promised before wrapping her arms around him. “This was a once in a lifetime experience.”

He smiled warmly at her, his eyes sparkling in happiness. “You’re welcome. It was really fun exploring the tomb with you.”

She leaned in to him, planting a soft kiss on his lips. “I really want to keep in contact with you. If by any chance you find yourself in Sunset Valley someday, come drop by, okay?” Evelyn requested and handed him a slip of paper with her cellphone number on it.

“I’ll do that,” he promised with a smile. She gave him one last farewell kiss before returning back home to Sunset Valley, wondering if she’ll ever see him again.

_~...~_

Phew, finally done. I had so much difficulty in getting the shots for this chapter. The game just didn't want to work with Gustave, who is an actual native sim from the vacation world. I added him to my active family in order to get the shots, but then I couldn't take him into the tombs AT ALL. While Evi did absolutely everything I wanted, Gustave just didn't have the option. I eventually managed to work around it by editing the tomb and removing all the markers marking it as a tomb -_-. It was a nightmare getting the shots.



Chapter 1.1: A New Beginning

Marquel Random Legacy

Generation 1: Chapter 1.1

Evelyn Marquel was born the fifth child out of eight children and the third daughter out of four. She grew up in a small, stagnant community far removed from any of the major towns where nothing new ever happened (except of course the occasional scandalous gossip) and the biggest prospect available to her was to marry her mother’s best friend’s son in an attempt to merge the two families. As a child with an abnormal (in that part of the country) lust for adventure, Evelyn had a hard time growing up in the community and simply couldn’t take that prospect. The moment she became a legal adult, she took the small amount of savings she had managed to gather and fled the small community, changing her name from her birth name of Kyoko Wyvern to Evelyn Marquel.

After many days of travelling, she eventually reached the town that would be her new home; a beautiful seaside town with the name of Sunset Valley.
 

_~…~_

Evelyn looked at the small cottage that was her new home. It was simply beautiful. After eighteen years of having to share everything with her overbearing siblings, it was difficult to believe that the cottage was all hers.
 

 

With a deep breath, she took her first steps into the cottage. There weren’t a lot of decorations, but she didn’t care about that. She was finally free from her family and on her own. The only person she would miss was Takuo, her eldest brother. He was the only one of her family who actually seemed to care about her dreams. If it wasn’t for him, she would never have had been able to leave that miserable little community.

 

She spent the first half of her first day cooped up in the house, unpacking her meagre belongings and making the house liveable before calling her brother.

 

 

The phone rang a couple of times until before someone picked up and answered in a tired voice.

“Hello?”

Evelyn smiled, happy to hear her brother’s voice.

“Hey Takuo. It’s me, Kyoko,” Evelyn said. “I promised I would call you when I got settled in.”

 

Her brother’s voice immediately grew more energetic.

 

“Kyoko! You’re okay! Where are you? No, don’t tell me that: I can’t tell Mother where you are if I don’t know. Are you at least okay?” Takuo asked with concern in his voice. Evelyn smiled again, touched by his concern.

 

“I’m perfectly fine. I’ve already settled into my new home,” she reassured him. “I still have to see if I can get a job, but apparently there’re a lot of vacancies, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” he replied. “Mother is of course furious with you, but she’ll get over it. She’ll just have to.”

“You’re right. I’m sick and tired of letting her choose my life for me,” Evelyn complained.

They talked inconsequential things until Evelyn finally hung up. She had to find a job soon if she wanted to be able to pay the bills.

She went to the local library to get access to a computer where she could search for job vacancies. After some time of searching, she finally found one that looked promising: an opening for a Playground Monitor at the local school. After going for an interview, the school decided to appoint her, telling her that she was expected at work the next day.

 

 

She spent the rest of the day preparing for her first day at work, practicing possible speeches. By the time she was more or less content with her progress, it was already starting to get dark outside. She spent the rest of her evening relaxing with a book, happy that she wouldn’t be interrupted and bothered by younger siblings.

 

The next day dawned bright and clear, reinforcing the beauty of the town. Evelyn nervously went to work, hoping to make a good impression on her new employer.

 

 

All in all, she could say the day was a success. The children seemed to love her and nothing serious happened under her watch. The most serious thing that happened was the usual scraping of knees that occurred so much under young children. Her boss was impressed with her, complimenting her on her work ethics.

Very soon, Evelyn’s days settled into a comfortable routine. She went to work from morning to noon and in the afternoon she socialized with some of her neighbours. She got rather close to Teresa Mendal, her neighbour from across the street, becoming best friends in a short amount of time due to their shared interests.

Time passed. Evelyn was much happier in Sunset Valley than she had ever been in the community she grew up in. She was convinced that she was completely content with her life. That is, until she and Teresa talked one day about Teresa’s recent vacation in Champs Les Sims.