The Goth Legacy: Chapter Six - Part B
Content warning:This story contains mature themes and is not suitable for minors. For this chapter, sexual references, references to infertility and miscarriage, sim-eating cow plants, suicide, swearing, juice and bubbles (it is sim college after all) and sexuality.
That Saturday, Izzy and John, and John’s five siblings, arrived at the Paranormal Expo at the Downtown Exhibition Centre.
Their first stop was the Cordial Sister’s booth and as the small crowd gathered, Kimberly Cordial addressed them, “I’ve been waiting for you.” No one in the group knew how they should reply; it wasn’t as if they had made a booking.
Kimberly sighed, no one appreciated a good psychic joke anymore. Speaking directly to Izzy, she indicated the curtained section behind her, “You can go on through, Samantha’s waiting for you.”
Izzy, ignoring the uncertainty she felt, muttered a thank you before heading towards the back of the booth and behind the heavy red curtain.
John’s brother Ryan scowled, “Why does she get to go first?”
“Because,” Kimberly replied, “I’m going to do my one good deed for the year and save everyone a lot of time and money by telling you right now what you need to know.”
“And how do you know what that is if we haven’t even asked yet?” Ryan countered.
Kimberly put her hands together in an exaggerated motion of being in deep thought, “hmm, let’s see. Well, apart from the fact I’m psychic, you moron, anyone who moves in the magical circles of Sim City knows who your father was. And that is why you are here, isn’t it? Because you want to know who the man was who swept your mother’s off their feet and into his bed?
The six siblings each responded differently to Kimberly’s summary of the reasons they were there. Ryan, Lila and Willow in particular didn’t hold back from expressing their indignation.
Kimberly held up her hand to silence the young adults, “don’t take it out on me if you don’t like the truth. I can see at least some of you have the decency to acknowledge your father clearly had nothing but a passing interest in your mothers.
And surely upon discovering all six of you shared a father, you would have had to know there was more to the story? Six children born in as many months, to the same father, can’t all be ‘unexpected blessings’, or whatever term your mother’s chose to use.
The truth is Jon Tricou was a very ordinary man whose only real ability was that he could be incredibly charming. That’s how he landed one of the only few remaining full blooded fairies as his wife and lived a life of magic despite not possessing any. But he was also a coward. He feared death but was too chicken to take the path his family did to try and ensure their immortality.
So, in his last few months, miserable at the idea he was going to simply vanish without a trace, he set out to sire as many children as possible, consoling himself that even after he was nothing but ashes, a part of him would still exist.”
“Now, did that answer your questions?” Kimberly asked cheerfully.
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Samantha smiled warmly as Izzy took a seat, “How are you Isabella?”
Izzy was just about to ask how the older woman knew her name when it clicked, “right, psychic, that how you know my name.”
“Not that my sister would admit it, but there are limits to our ability. Mostly I knew because you’re a dead ringer, pardon the expression, for your grandmother,” Samantha explained.
“Oh,” Izzy said with a small smile. “I don’t know much about her, dad doesn’t talk about her much.”
“Bella’s children took after their father, both in their interests and pragmatism. You, on the other hand, are without a doubt, her descendant.”
“I hope that’s a good thing,” Izzy joked feebly.
“You really haven’t been told anything about her at all have you?” Samantha asked sadly.
“I’m not sure what you mean,” Izzy told her honestly. “There isn’t much I haven’t been told when it comes to my grandmother, or any of my family, for that matter.”
“I was referring to her abilities? They may have skipped her children but it is abundantly clear that you have inherited her power.”
Izzy’s eyes fell to her lap as she suddenly remembered all too clearly hearing about her grandmother’s abilities. If she remembered correctly, the exact term Dianne had used was “evil witch”. And she did remember correctly; so soon after her mother’s miscarriage those words had burned into her mind, keeping her awake at night fearing she had been the one to cause her mother to lose the baby.
Izzy’s attention was brought back to Samantha when the witch sighed, “this is what happens when it’s swept under the magic carpet, so to speak. Your grandmother would be furious. If only you’d been told the truth, you would have known there was no possible way you were responsible for your family’s loss. If for no other reason than mastering that sort of dark magic takes decades. ”
“Even if that’s true, I’m the last person who can be trusted. I mean, I nearly killed someone in high school for Wright’s sake!” Izzy’s voice wavered.
“You wouldn’t have gone through with it,” Samantha assured her.
“Well you’re more confident about that than anyone else is. Myself included,” Izzy replied.
Samantha paid no heed to the young woman’s hesitation, “just as I’m confident you will use your magical gifts wisely. Your planned actions may have been evil, but your reasons for them were far from it. As you grow, so will your faith in your ability to make the right choices.
They say that with great power comes great responsibility, and it’s time Isabella for you to accept that that responsibility has becomes yours.”
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Everyone had been pretty quiet on the trip back to SSU. That evening in the dorm Izzy and John’s discussion turned to what they had been told by the Cordial sisters. “Your family seemed pretty unhappy when I came out,” Izzy commented, “was it really that bad?”
“I don’t know what everyone was expecting, but essentially she just said what I’d figured out already. That he was kind of a jerk.”
“No great insights into what your future holds then?”
John gave a sharp laugh, “unless I feel like following my step-family’s tradition of becoming vampires and being burned to death by vigilantes.”
“What a shame for you that vampires are so passé now,” Izzy shighed.
“Damn Dusk saga,” John frowned.
“So what about you then?” John asked.
“Oh, I’m going to be an all powerful witch,” she informed him.
“Received your invite to Hogwarts yet?”
Izzy laughed, “We’ll make quiet the pair, won't we?”
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The end of semester came quickly, and after declaring art as her major, Izzy chose to take a catch up subject instead of heading home for the holidays. Her parents had almost seemed relieved at the news, as if they had been worried that she wouldn’t take her university studies seriously. She didn’t let it bother her, she was confident her 4.00 GPA would reassure them.
While Izzy enjoyed the practical aspects of her major, she knew she wasn’t exactly producing masterpieces, and studied hard to make sure she thoroughly understood the theoretical material that was sure to turn up on her exam.
She quickly discovered this was easier if she wasn’t studying with Jeff, who preferred a more hands on approach to his studies. She had told she was well aware he didn’t take biology but that hadn’t stopped their “study” moving to his bedroom.
Despite their frequent hook-ups, Izzy was happy for her relationship with Jeff to be non committed one, at least for the time being. Her only stipulation had been that if either of them did want to commit to someone else, their thing had to stop. She never wanted to be known as ‘the other woman’.
The other reason she had set that condition with Jeff was because it was getting harder for her to ignore her growing feelings for John. Despite nothing further happening romantically after their almost kiss, they had spent a lot of time together, and were becoming very close friends.
She wasn’t sure if he hadn’t made a move because he was chronically shy, or maybe not even interested in women, after all, there had been a fair bit of juice and bubble involved that night. As the end of the semester approached, Izzy decided she couldn’t stand the wait any longer and came to breakfast in her underwear.
John nearly choked on his pancakes.
“I’m afraid that doesn’t help me,” Izzy said with false bravado, picking up her fork. “I was kind of hoping you would make a reaction that would let me know that you were either interested in me, or in men.”
John face burrowed in uncertainty.
“Okay, or just, your preference generally, you know, for women or men. It doesn’t have to be that you’re attracted to me,” Izzy added with a nervous laugh.
“Well both,” he told her when he had finally regained his composure.
“Both?”
“Yes. I’m interested in both, women and men,” he clarified. John really hadn’t prepared himself for a discussion on his sexuality this early morning.
Izzy tried to hide her disappointment at not getting a better indication of his feelings towards her, “that’s cool you know. You know I would never judge anyone on that.”
“I know,” he told her. “But even if was only interested in men, the only way I wouldn’t be attracted o you was if I was blind.”
While nothing was official, Izzy felt too invested with John to continue her casual fling with Jeff. But when she went to tell him as such, she found him in a very intimate embrace.
Jeff paled as Izzy approached and quickly moved from the other woman’s arms, “I can explain,” he told her quickly.
“There’s nothing to explain, to me at least,” Izzy replied before continuing towards the cafeteria.
There she ran into John who looked rather sheepish, “sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. I really was just here and heard the conversation. Is everything alright?”
“Not for him,” she replied deadpan, indicating the doubtful look the young woman was now giving Jeff who was trying to talk himself out of further trouble.
Despite her growing feelings for John, Izzy had never stopped caring for Jeff. He had been a friend first, and then her first love, and she had trusted him when he promised her he would never put her in a position like that.
Forcing herself to smile, she assured John anything between her and Jeff had been casual and over anyway. “But you,” she told him firmly, “shy or not, are asking me out on a date tonight.”
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That night the two of them walked down the road to the Campus Coffee Lounge and had the obligatory photo booth picture together.
After approving the photos John asked Izzy to join him outside on the balcony. Izzy was perplexed but followed him none the less.
“Is everything alright?” Izzy asked once they were outside. “It’s really not that crowded in there,” she laughed.
“No,” John agreed with a smile, taking her hands in his, “but I’ve wanted to do this for so long and I don’t parctically feel like sharing the moment.”
So engrossed in each other, John and Izzy didn’t notice the lightening storm until it was right upon them.
“If I was a gentleman I’d insist on getting you out of this weather,” John commented once he had regained his breath.
“Completely,” Izzy agreed, “in fact, you probably should just take me home.”
All thoughts of dinner were completely forgotten as the couple ran, hand in hand, back to their dorm through the rain.
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Izzy couldn’t have been happier for the holidays to arrive and for her to retreat to her parent’s place. Between Jeff’s apologetic puppy-dog stares and John’s constant affectionate glances, she welcomed a break from the boys in her dorm.
It was also nice to see how clearly excited her parents were to have her home and how happy they looked. Izzy couldn’t recall her mother smiling as brightly for a long time.
She vaguely noticed her father was heading to the study while she assured her mother of her welfare. After her mother seemed satisfied that Izzy hadn’t sustained any sort of injury, illness or nutrition deficiency in her first year of university, Tosha excitedly told her that they had someone they wanted her to meet.
Assuming the cat must have kittens, Izzy followed her mother into the study.
Or what was the study.
Izzy couldn’t help but gasp loudly in excitement as she saw the tiny bundle in her father’s arms.
Tosha grinned, “We’d like you to meet your brother, Hugo.”
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So, it took over a year, but generation two finally arrived!
Here’s a close up of the generation two heir:
Okay, all sim babies look the same, but after thinking these two would NEVER have a child biologically, I’m pretty darn excited :)