In Medias Res
Note: This post will probably be hard on dial-up. Rated PG (on the safe side) for teenage attitude, slight innuendo, and ghostly figures.
Dear Journal or whatever,
I’m Taura. Taura Legacy. And I’m only doing this because Mom is making me. Just so you know, whoever you are, 'cause I doubt anyone is actually going to read this. (Adam or Seth, if you are reading this, get out now or else!) Anyway, Mom thinks that I’m too rebellious, not "centered" enough, just because I got a little creative with my hair!
I was just experimenting! Everyone in our family has the same boring old brown hair. Well, except Dad. And Aria. They’ve both got blond, but that’s not all that exciting either, especially since they both have their noses too much in their books to care what to do with it.
Mom thinks I’ve got an attitude. Whatever.
Guess I should officially introduce my family. Here’s Mom, also known to those NOT her kids as Astra.
Pretty, right? She finally let me give her a makeover--she had the same haircut since before she met Dad, and that was centuries ago! I think she should totally have been a model; I’ve seen pictures of her when she was younger and she was gooooorgeous. But she just wanted to settle down and start a family.
Obviously, she got her wish, or I wouldn't be writing this. Mom loves to cook; she didn’t get a job until after all of us kids were old enough to take care of ourselves, but when she did, she went into the restaurant business. Right now she works fast food, but I know it won’t be long before she has a restaurant of her own. If you’d ever tasted her pork chops you’d think so too.
Hey, this writing thing isn’t so bad after all, I guess. Though it's hard to stay on topic. I'm tempted to just make up random stuff. Like, ever seen those stupid commercials with the traveling gnome?
Um, I’m getting off track. Now onto Dad. He met Mom when she was just a few years older than me. He was just walking down our street one day, and she said hi when she went out to get the mail.
If I were her I wouldn’t have been too impressed with his fashion sense, but Mom’s never been one to care about that sort of thing. They slowly became friends--he needed someone to vent to, because he hated his job in the military. Dad loves to read and learn, but is always so exhausted from his training. But when he started talking to Mom, he felt full of energy, or so he told me. So soon enough, Benjamin Long became Benjamin Legacy (he decided to take Mom’s name; it’s kind of a family tradition). Dad’s still in the military, slowly working his way up.
I like watching him train, I don’t know why he hates it so much. I think it’d be neat to be as strong and in command as he is. Plus camo’s kind of in right now.
Well, my mom really wanted kids, so it wasn’t too long after they got married before my big sis Aria showed up. She looks a lot like Dad, with his eyes, nose, and hair, and she had a personality like his right from the start. She started reading practically before she could walk! Seems like she’s been doing it nonstop ever since.
Aria went off to college a few years ago on full scholarship for her great grades--Dad was so proud. She’s a Physics major and wants to work in a lab. Dad’s always been more into the literature side of things, but he’s lately been reading up on the sciences so he can keep up with Aria.
Then there’s my dorky brother Adam. We’re really close in age, and we get along pretty well, but he’s so shy and no matter how hard I try, he won’t let me cut his hair or convince him to get contacts. He was the one who wanted us to go to private school, ugh. He just loves those stiff ugly uniforms.
Well, I guess they’re ok if accessorized properly. Guys really like the whole schoolgirl shtick...a little too much sometimes. I do like to have fun but there’s only so far I’ll go...I’m not that kind of schoolgirl!
Anyway, Adam is always thinking about one thing, and it might not be what you think--he loves the money. Our family’s not too badly off, but according to Mom we’re the first Legacy generation to go to private school or college. So Adam wants to make sure we continue on the up and up, I suppose. I’m glad he’s going to take care of that part of our family’s future, because economics puts me to sleep! I make fun of him for being a dork, but I really do love him.
I guess you could say that my brother’s one of my best friends.
And I’m next...well, I guess you’ll get to know me pretty well if you keep reading, mysterious reader. My family’s lucky I’m around to keep them on their toes, or things would really be boring around here!
I just got a new guitar set for my 17th birthday, and I love it almost as much as I love my hair.
Well, Mom wanted a lot of kids, so there’s my baby brother Seth as well.
Though he’s not a baby any more, 'cause he just turned 14.
His personality is a little more easy-going than Adam’s, but we’re not too close because he’s so much younger. Only three years, but when you’re in high school, that makes a big difference, trust me.
We’ve just moved to this new house. It used to be a big old vacant lot--apparently there was a really old house on it before, but it got cleared a long time ago. Our old house was out in the woods, at the base of a big mountain. I liked it there a lot, especially 'cause we had an awesome pool! But Mom and Dad were worried that when they got old, they wouldn’t be able to handle the stairs. Plus, that house was Mom’s childhood home. Her mom died there not too long ago, and Mom couldn’t handle the memories. She kept thinking she saw her mother lurking around the place! Crazy, huh? And not at all like Mom. She’s so level-headed usually. But she felt a lot better once we moved here. I wasn’t sad about moving for long, because this house is great. It’s really big, and the bedrooms have nice comfy double beds. Plus, there’s an even better swimming pool out back.
Well, got to go. Dad’s nagging me about my homework. I don’t love doing it, but I want to go to college, and with four of us kids, we need to get some scholarship money. So off to calculus I go.
---
Thank god Seth finally went to soccer practice. I couldn’t wait to write. So last night, I had this crazy dream. I thought Mom was nuts for talking about seeing her mother...but last night, I could have sworn I saw someone too, even though everything was blurry--you know how it is in dreams.
He was just a regular guy, but pale, almost see-through. And he looked kind of like Mom, and even more like Uncle Luke. I was freaked out, but he smiled at me.
I can see my family’s all but forgotten me. I know you’re a curious young lady, Taura. Look beneath the old birch tree and you’ll find something interesting.
He smiled again, then just vanished!
I’m really glad I’ve got this journal now. Who could I talk to about this? No way would Adam believe me. Dad would probably love to see a ghost, but he’s the kind of person who wouldn’t believe without seeing. Maybe I could talk to Mom. All that stuff about seeing Grandma is really starting to make sense. But first, I’m going to take a look in the back yard. I can’t get those words out of my mind. Look beneath the old birch tree...
---
You’re not going to believe this! All that stuff I wrote yesterday about our "new" house? Turns out it’s not so new after all.
I went outside yesterday after school. Told mom I was going to do some gardening. She seemed surprised--it's not like I’ve shown any interest in that stuff before. I hate getting dirt under my nails. But this was totally worth it. Because when I dug under the old birch tree, I found an urn, a really old one. The stone was cracked and worn away, but I could just make out the name:
Ken Legacy! I remember hearing that name before--he’s the founder of our family, who came to Pleasantview with just a few simoleons in his pocket. But no one really knows much about him. I bet he lived here, a long time ago, and I’m going to find out more about him and the rest of our family. My parents are big on looking to the future. God, I hear that word all the time, that and college. But the past is important, too. And now I have this journal, I’m going to record everything I learn. Maybe someday, some inquisitive (isn’t that a great word? It’s one of my vocab terms for this week) Legacy kid will read about our generation!
Author's Notes:
If you've made it this far, thanks! I've been playing this legacy off and on for at least a year. I started it before I was aware that there was such a thing as an online legacy story, and so I didn't take many pictures at first (and those I did were not very conducive to story purposes!) I cleverly named the family "Legacy"--just to make things easy, not thinking anyone but me would ever know what the family's name was. Eventually, I became a fan of online legacies, and decided I wanted to post one...but I was up to Generation 5 with very few pictures. So, the story took this convoluted format.
Pretty much any confusing elements can be explained by the fact that I'm trying to fill earlier generations after all the sims have passed on! The next two updates will contain a brief retelling of the first four generations, intermingled with the current one (Taura's generation). From then on, things will operate like a normal legacy...more or less.
I'm planning on posting a (pretty bare-bones) family tree and stats for the current generation once I finish posting the "past" updates.
And since I'm new at this, any comments/questions/critiques are really appreciated. Hope you enjoyed!