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.