Gen 7 Ch 9: Not Enough

Gene's bedroom walls bore testimony to his numerous achievements: scouting trophies, signed jerseys, the prom king's crown, an award in the shape of an ambiguous athlete--cheap plastic painted gold and silver; all of it displayed against a lurid green because he had once told his sister that green was his favorite color.

It was all so childish, really.

Just as he had outgrown this room, Gene had outgrown this life. It was time to move on.

His family had always been there to depend on; their home a refuge to hide in when the world pushed too hard against Gene's strangeness.

Still, while they had stood by him, they had never fully understood him. There were things they couldn't give him, questions they would never be able to answer. But Gene needed to know.

His bags were packed and his tank was full.

He would miss Starlight Shores, but he had always been an oddity here.

Maybe Gene would find a place for sims like himself, somewhere he could truly feel like he belonged. And even if there was no such place, Gene was determined to at least find some answers.

For now he had the open road ahead of him.

***

The Man in the Ironic Mask had received rave reviews throughout, catapulting Jamey Mason to the top of all the bestseller lists. Critics hailed him as a sensation, akin to notable authors such as Nick Simby and Aldousim Huxley.

In the wake of this spectacular debut, Jamey's fans waited eagerly for his next novel to hit the shelves.

They had been waiting for a while.

Jamey's editor had gone from patient to anxious to exasperated. Now her phone calls and emails were nothing short of furious, constantly reminding Jamey of missed deadlines and signed contracts.

Grace's support through all of this had been unwavering, enthusiastic and constant.

Just thinking about it made Jamey tense up, expecting his wife to sweep through the door any second with more good advice in tow. Try this, try that, try something different. She had no idea what it was like, being stuck. Everything always came so easily to her.

She wasn't only like that about Jamey's writing. Grace was always encouraging Jamey push himself past the edge of his comfort zone.

Grace practically lived on that edge.

She laughed off Jamey's discomfort, telling him to 'loosen up'. As if it were that easy.

But Grace had a way of getting what she wanted.

 Frequently...

 ... and anywhere.

Jamey had to admit, sometimes he didn't mind so much.

Of course these frisky adventures soon led to the inevitable...

... and baby Huxley was born.

*

His hair had gone gray and he was officially a grandfather now, but Freddie's life hadn't really changed much since his youth.

He went to the arcade, blew some bubbles and hung out with his friends. Even after Larissa's confession things between them remained much the same as they had always been.

Except now there was kissing, too.

*

The days went by and Huxley shed her swaddling clothes, turning from a pink burrito into a temperamental toddler.

Summoned by Huxley's ear-splitting wails, Jamey had rushed to the nursery, ready to save the day--only to find her already giggling happily in her grandfather's arms.

"Here, I can do that," Jamey said, reaching out to take her. "You don't need to come all the way up here every time she cries. I can handle it."

"It's no bother," Freddie replied without looking up, too focused on the little girl that gazed adoringly back at him. "I like spending time with her. You go write."

Go write, go write, go write. It seemed like that was all anyone ever wanted Jamey to do these days. Now even his dopey father-in-law was getting all high and mighty about it! Fred had never done anything noteworthy in his life, spending his days blowing bubbles and wearing that ridiculous beanie, yet no one ever bothered him about doing things.

People seemed to have forgotten about Jamey's accomplishments lately. They just didn't appreciate that he'd already achieved so much; he'd graduated from Sim University with a perfect GPA, after all. And as if that wasn't enough, he was a best-selling author to boot. He didn't see why he needed to prove himself any more than that.

Jamey stared at the vertical line blinking at the end of an unfinished sentence. The laptop's fans whirred judgmentally.

Stale. Derivative. Needs work.

Despite the many distractions in his life, Jamey had gone out of his way to submit some chapters to his editor and that was the response she'd had for him. What did she know, anyway?

It was a dark and stormy... no. Backspace.

Well, they said that the occasional break boosts productivity. He opened his internet browser.

You won't believe what we found in these 25 sims' inventories! #17 blew my mind!--now that sounded like some great material to research! Jamey was enthralled.

Several such informative articles on various topics later, he noticed the time in the corner of his screen with a start. 6pm. Was it really that late? His wife would be home any moment.

As if on cue, Grace entered. "Hi honey," she called with her usual cheer, "How was your day?"

Jamey quickly closed his laptop. "Fine. Just finished up for today."

"Oh good, do you have a moment then? I've been wanting to bounce some ideas off of you for this thing I've been working on."

Jamey nodded wordlessly.

Grace had always loved movies. Her youth had been spent analyzing why she loved them and what made her favorites so great. In her college years, she'd studied the rules of cinematography and learned when to break them. After graduation she had become a famous director's assistant to gain insight into the reality of filmmaking. It was a grueling job, with long hours and unreasonable demands, but Grace kept her spirits up, knowing that it was all going to be worth it in the end.

All the while, she had been working on this one script, distilling everything she knew and everything she loved into this one story. One day, she hoped, she'd be able to turn it into a movie. A movie that would become another sim's favorite.

It was atypical for Grace to keep something like this a secret, but this script had been too close to her heart to share up to now. Grace felt like she had poured her innermost self into it, making it too vulnerable to share in its early stages.

Now, after all this hard work, she finally felt like it was ready to see the light of day. She was nervous, but elated that her beloved husband would be the first to experience it.

Grace told him everything.

“… and then I was thinking about a fade to black followed by the credits,” Grace finally finished. She took a deep breath and looked at Jamey expectantly.

“Heh, alright,” he said.

“‘Alright’?” she prodded, exhaling the breath she'd been holding in a huff. Grace had just spent close to an hour explaining her elaborate plot to him. She needed more than that. “What do you mean, ‘alright’?”

“Well, a fade to black? It’s a bit of a cop-out for an ending, don’t you think?” Jamey let out a laugh. “I wish novelists could get away with things like that…”

Grace winced at the unexpected blow. Getting harsh criticism on the script she held so dear was tougher than she'd expected.

"I wanted the viewers to draw their own conclusion," she began to explain, then stopped herself. This was what she had come for. Constructive criticism would only improve her story. This was a good thing.

“So what do you suggest instead?” she asked, eager to hear her husband's insights.

Jamey sneered. He'd been waiting to deliver his punchline. “You might as well tell us that all the characters are already dead and have been in purgatory all along…”

“Great," she snapped, "Thanks for being so fucking helpful."

Grace blinked back angry tears as she stormed out of Jamey's office.




_______________

Pregnancy, baby and toddler all in one chapter?! I really want to push the story along (and finally move on to things I've been planning/making almost a year ago), so I figured it wouldn't hurt to trim some of the fluff!

Gene is a perfect child, just like Grace and Gloria before him. So yay, Perfect Children goal achieved--though also kind of failed because the new generation started before that? Ah well :)

I had to briefly turn Gene human just for this one picture, because apparently genies can't carry backpacks (Really, why would they need to? Magic and all.). And then I didn't end up using it D:

Full disclosure: I was planning on starting yet another spin-off challenge with Gene, but ultimately decided against it. I've been spreading myself thin enough as it is! So there might be some snippets of what Gene gets up to, or this might be the last time we ever see him o_o;;