Round 4: Gere & Beare
Arabel Gere didn't have a father. She hardly had a mother either, for all she saw the other inhabitant of the house. Chastity worked late into the night, getting home long after Arabel was asleep, and then slept all the next day. Arabel knew her mother had to work hard for them, but sometimes she wished Chastity could spare time to just sit down and help her with her homework, like the kids' at school's mothers and fathers.
At least she had her "Uncle" Gabe. Gabriel Green dropped by almost every night to check up on Arabel, play some trains with her, read her a bedtime story, and tuck her into bed. Arabel loved her Uncle Gabe. Sometimes she wished she could go live with him instead. At least he paid attention to her.
Then one night, something terrible happened.
Chastity brought a friend home from work; one she had all sorts of romantic plans for. They were all spoiled by that useless nanny. For some reason, she thought cooking after midnight was a good idea.
She left quickly, once she realized Chastity was home. Chastity's new boyfriend followed right after. Both assumed Chastity knew how to handle a fire extinguisher. Both were wrong.
Gabriel reported that Arabel had been just exhausted before she went to bed, so everyone thought she had managed to sleep through the whole thing. She didn't. She buried her head under the pillow, trying to drown out the screams, but still she managed to hear every single one as the fire took away her mother.
She only got a quick look at her mother's remains as the social worker hurried her out of the house. The stern-looking woman was in a big hurry to get her out of there, muttering about structural damage, and other things Arabel didn't understand. She just wanted Mr Moo, her favourite toy, but the lady said there was no time.
Meanwhile, in a nicer part of town, Kevin Beare throws a house-warming party.
It didn't take long for Kevin to realize that college just wasn't for him, so he dropped out and moved to Belladonna Cove. With the money he made selling some of his art, he was able to afford a nice big apartment in the newly renovated Crossroads Apartments
That doesn't mean he can't still keep in touch with all his college friends, though!
He even tries to help repair some of the damaged relationships...
...unsuccessfully.
This is really getting old, you two... >:/
The party dies down, but Kevin is ready for more, so he heads downtown to see what there is to offer there.
As suspected, Voleste's Magic Town is absolutely beautiful.
Despite his night out on the town, Kevin is up early the next morning, waiting for a new arrival.
Arabel likes the new door.
Their first meeting is a little awkward, but Kevin quickly makes Arabel feel right at home.
Even though she lives farther away now, Uncle Gabe still makes sure to come visit his surrogate niece, just like always.
The flowers outside are apparently so strongly scented that Gabriel can smell them through the floor.
And while everyone is inside, innocently watching TV, Tara makes her move. I guess her little eco lot is running low on toilet paper.
Kevin continues to practice his art. So much so that he recieves an invitation to an exclusive arts club...
The multicoloured picnic tables were pretty cool, but the people were weird and the buildings were strange, so Kevin probably won't be going back to this little arts club. Magic Town is way nicer.
And it has pretty girls to awkwardly point at.
Kevin: Hey ladies, check out these guns...ooh! I think I pulled a muscle.
Ginger: Er, I have to go...
Kevin has more luck befriending four-footed creatures than those with two. Webster the chair-destroying dog follows him home and promptly gets to work doing what he does best.
Despite his destructive nature, Webster is still well loved.
Just because Kevin dropped out of college doesn't mean he's stupid. He gives Arabel a few tips on those tricky math problems, and soon enough her bad grades start to improve.
Uncle Gabe still visits every day.
As do many others. Kevin has a lot of friends and likes to see them all regularly. He makes sure they're all out of the house before Arabel's bedtime, though.
Arabel has adjusted well since her mother's death, although she still has some issues around burning food. But all in all, living with Kevin allowed her to have a mostly happy childhood, and the social workers are glad to see her finally getting good marks in school.
Some notes:
- Believe it or not, I actually have that hack that makes social workers more reasonable, but still Arabel managed to be the third child they came for in this neighbourhood. Yikes.
- I decided to try a different writing style in the first bit of this. It probably won't happen regularly, whether that's a good or bad thing.
- I would have liked Arabel to move in with her Uncle Gabe (who, by the way, would always show up of his own free will, the big softie) but I played the Green/Cordial household quite early in the rotation, so it would have messed up her age. So she got to move in with Kevin for a few days to age properly before going to live with her uncle. I'm just pretending Kevin was a registered foster parent who took care of her while Gabriel had to go through all the necessary paperwork to legally adopt Arabel.
- As I mentioned last time, I don't remember who Arabel's father is, except that he was a random townie notch in the bedpost for Chastity. I meant to check this round, but the fire distracted me and, now that Arabel has been put through the Sim City adoption service, the identity of her father will be forever a mystery. I kind of like it that way.