Gen 8 Ch 7: The Time Keeper

After the project was cancelled, the construction company had hauled away all of their tools and materials. The mess of muddy tire tracks they had left behind was unrecognizable as the thriving forest it once had been.

It may have been the last task on their list, but at that moment, it seemed like an insurmountable one.

Hazel buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

 But, as always, she could rely on Aidan to lift her up. His warm embrace and well-chosen words were all she needed to give her courage again.

It took many days of hard work, but each day there were new volunteers willing to lend a helping hand.

The ancient trees were impossible to replace, but with the help of the community, the dead stumps made way for new saplings. Now all that was left to do was to wait and see.

Or, in Hazel and Aidan's case, to skip the waiting part and go straight to finding out what the future would hold.

They made some calculations, powered up the portal and things were good to go.

Eager to find out if their hard work had paid off, Hazel opened the door to the containment chamber and was about to approach the portal when Aidan's hand closed around her wrist.

She looked at him with wide eyes. "What? It's all ready. I'll be back in just a second, you'll see."

"But what if we didn't make a difference and it's still dangerous? What if you don't find your way back? I can't let that happen."

"I know better now. It won't happen again."

"Damn right it won't," Aidan agreed, "because I'm coming with you."

She protested at first, but Aidan was adamant. And so they stepped into the portal, their hands clasped together.

It took Aidan a moment to recover from the excruciating sensation of portal travel, but he soon marveled at the view of the futuristic city around him. 

"Wow," he breathed, "is this how the future is supposed to look?"

Hazel grinned. "Let's find out!"

When they entered the sleek building on top of which they'd arrived, Hazel spotted a familiar face.

Emit Relevart, unmistakable with his blue hair and glowing suit, was deep in conversation with a woman wearing a white dress adorned with pastel-colored roses.

"Emit!" No reaction. Hazel ran up to him, tapped his shoulder and beamed. "Emit Relevart! Remember me? It's Hazel!"

The blue haired man, looking confused at the interruption, eyed Hazel with no hint of recognition. "I believe you have me mistaken, Miss... Pistachio, was it? I don't know of anyone called Emit Relevart - what a ridiculous name, by the way. Do you realize that it would spell out 'time traveler' backwards?"

 Hazel furrowed her brow. Of course, it made sense. More things might have gone differently in this future, now that they had changed the course of events. The man she had known as Emit Relevart might never have become the receptionist for time travelers; never adopting the peculiar alias.

"Im sorry," she smiled, "I guess I really mistook you." But just as she turned to leave, he stopped her.

"Wait a moment." The blue-haired man gazed at Hazel intently, then turned to his companion. "Doesn't she remind you of someone? Look at her! Doesn't she look just like the statue? You know, the one if front of city hall?"

The woman looked Hazel up and down. "You're right, she does! You should go see the statue, Miss. The resemblance is uncanny! Let me give you directions."

*

With the excited pair of time travelers gone, the lady in the floral dress turned to her blue-haired companion. "Bless them," she said with an indulgent smile. "They're so sweet and innocent."

He quirked an eyebrow. "Naive is more like it. Clueless, even. To be honest, I thought you were going a bit overboard, sending them to the Omega Badlands. Those sims from underdeveloped universes can be pretty dense. This one took over twenty-four hours to find the portal in the shed! I almost thought I'd have to interfere... but she did make it back in the end."

The woman tilted her head. "It's a risk, but it serves to deliver a message they'd never understand with words alone. Sure, we could tell them about how hard we have to work to preserve what little nature we have here, after centuries of not caring for the planet. Or we can show them the alternative. Make them live it, that's how you drive a lesson home."

The blue-haired man nodded. "They don't know how good they have it, living in a universe that is not yet beyond repair."

"We'll save the world, one universe at a time." She said the words mechanically, a mantra she had repeated many times before, but she punctuated them with a sweet smile and a kiss for her companion. "I couldn't have done it without you. You were amazing! Emit Relevart? You're so funny!"

"Same goes to you! That idea with the statue was a nice touch."

"Just another visual aid to drive home the point." She shrugged. "And they try so hard, just so we can keep visiting pretty universes. Might as well throw them a bone."

*

Meanwhile, Hazel and Aidan had arrived at Legacy Park, the large square in front of Oasis Landing's city hall, and were making their way up to a gleaming statue.

"It really does look like you!" Aidan broke into a run. "Come on, keep up!"

Hazel continued to walk at a normal pace. She could see it too, but this was just too weird to be true, right?

"What the heck... what is this?" Hazel wondered aloud, and in response, a mechanical voice emanated from the base of the statue.

This monument stands in commemoration of a sim who, through her persistence and tireless idealism, has laid the groundwork of the values we still follow to this day. The details of her life and work have been lost to time, but in the hearts of the people of Oasis Landing, she will live on forever as the Time Keeper.

Aidan smirked. "Congratulations, Time Keeper."

"Stop it," Hazel giggled, "this is so over-the-top. And they're neglecting to mention all the hard work that you and everyone else put into this."

"Don't be too modest. None of this would have happened without you. You deserve this!"

They spent the next few hours strolling around the city, shopping for exciting new gadgets and ostentatious fashion.

At first Aidan was dumbfounded by the advanced technology of Oasis Landing that had become so familiar to Hazel by now.

But he picked it up quickly enough.

And with a confident grin he showed Hazel something else he picked up at one of the shops.

It was the perfect end to an incredible day. As the two of them made their way back to the portal, their smiles spoke of hope and triumph.

***

They held the ceremony on a sunny autumn day, under a canopy of amber and gold. It was a lovely sight, though the young saplings were a sad substitute for the towering trees that were lost forever.

Soon the slender trees would go into dormancy, hiding under a thick blanket of snow until spring would come again.

The park was never going to be what it once had been, but in that moment Hazel and Aidan knew that they had all the time in the world to watch it grow together.

That was the heart of their promise to each other.

Huxley thought she might gag. Aidan's mother, who had been oohing and aahing all throughout the ceremony, had now proceeded to bawl unashamedly; and she was not the only one.

What was it with crying at weddings? People got married every day, and surely the fact that Hazel and Aidan had finally done it was no surprise to anyone. Huxley stifled a yawn and inched away from the crying lady.

That night the bride's parents went out on the town to have a few drinks in celebration of their daughter's happiness. Reminiscing about their own wedding made Grace and Adam forget about the time. They stayed out late, dancing until the early hours of the morning.

It was a good excuse to let the newlyweds have the house to themselves that night.

Huxley had slipped away from the wedding as soon as an opportunity had presented itself, ditching the park with its flower petals and twinkling fairy lights for a venue that was more her style.

Theo had been working on his pet project when she'd arrived: a classic car he'd built completely from scratch using vintage and scavenged parts. Now she sat beside him on the newly installed leather seats, letting her thoughts wander as he droned on about the chassis and cylinders other stuff that made little sense to Huxley.

"What's wrong, Hux?"

The sudden shift in tone made her look up. "Huh?"

"I've been talking about the car for almost an hour now and you've been silent all this time." He gave her a quizzical look. "Normally you'd have told me how boring you find all of this by now."

Huxley snorted. "Sorry--This car talk is fucking tedious. There."

Theo smiled, but his brows were furrowed in concern when he draped his arm over the top of the seat behind Hux and looked into her eyes. "So what's up?"

She sighed and began to tell him all about the wedding she'd been forced to attend that day.

"That's nice, I'm happy for them. They've always been great together."

Huxley scowled. "Sure, but you're missing my point. The way it's going, it's just a matter of time until Hazel starts popping out babies. And the thing is, there's just no space." Theo frowned in confusion, so Huxley elaborated, "That is, unless the loser in the attic finally gets her shit together and moves out."

"I'm sure they don't think of you that way, Hux."

"Whatever. It's still true. I don't make enough money to live on my own, but there's something else..." Huxley paused and picked at the chipped polish on her nails. She'd never admitted this to herself before, but as she finally willed herself to say it out loud, it rang undeniably true. "It's just that... for the first time since I moved here I feel at home, you know? I kind of like the house and my room. And now, all of the sudden, I feel out of place."

When Theo's eyes found hers again, he moved closer and murmured, "You'll always have a place with me."

"You're such a sap!" She wrinkled her nose, but leaned in to kiss him anyway.

And Huxley finally gained an appreciation for just how nice those new leather seats were.

***

The days had started getting shorter and there was a definite chill in the air.

A few resolute leaves still clung to the branches of the skeletal trees, but there was no denying that the season was nearing its end.

As the world around them grew feeble, so did Adam and Grace.

Seeing Scout as a young dog again was still nothing short of miraculous to Grace. Her son-in-law had been working on adjusting his formula for humans, but so far he'd had no success. At this point, Aidan admitted, he wasn't sure if it was ever going to work at all.

Grace didn't mind. She had decided long ago that she was going to age with, well, grace.

Adam agreed with his wife. They'd led a long and fulfilled life together and felt no regrets that would have made a chance to start over feel enticing.

But as much as he hated to admit it, the daily chores that came with running a farm were starting to take a toll on his aging body.

Luckily Hazel and Aidan were always more than willing to help out.

Most of their time, however, was spent in the basement lab, usually studying the portal. The residents of Oasis Landing had been unwilling to provide them with details of how the portal worked, but Hazel and Aidan had now finally gotten to a point where they believed they'd figured it out.

Their next goal was to try and manipulate the portal so it would take them to the past.

As hard as they worked, they always made time to have a little fun. They had been together for so long, but there was just something about being newlyweds that made them unable to keep their hands off each other.

*

One evening Aidan walked into the kitchen and found Hazel at the counter, ripping open a cardboard box and pouring its contents into a bowl.

“Mac and cheese,” he questioned, “from a mix? Hazel, you know that stuff is—“

“Full of chemicals and artificial preservatives,” she cut in as she stirred the contents of the bowl, “It’s vile, I know. But I just really felt like having some!” She gave him a sheepish grin and licked the spoon.

Aidan shrugged, watched her cook and eat her food with obvious relish. But when she finished the entire giant bowl by herself, realization dawned on him.

“I’m pregnant,” Hazel agreed, rubbing her belly. Her expression was one of bliss as she looked up at Aidan. “We’re having a baby.” Then, slowly, her eyes grew wide in terror. “We’re… having… a baby!”

“Plenty of people have babies," he tried to reassure her.

“And plenty of people do everything wrong!" Hazel grabbed fistful of her hair as she listed various possible disasters, but Aidan stopped her by gently taking hold of her hands.

“You won’t be one of those people! Besides,” he smirked, “you have me.”

“Yes.” She relaxed. “We can do this, together.”




__________________________

As I mentioned before, I was planning to remain vague on the time travel vs parallel universe question, but I changed my mind after reading your comments. Emit was acting way too shady XD

I hope their info-dump conversation explained things, but in case it wasn't clear, let me yap some more. The people of Oasis Landing created these portals, presumably to travel to other universes for leisure, and were appalled by the way sims from other (less developed) universes were treating their worlds. Oasis Landing has a very narrow range of flora and fauna and they work hard to preserve what little they have. They've seen what can happen to worlds that don't take care of their environment (the dystopian wasteland, the "Omega Badlands") and felt the responsibility to open the eyes of people in universes that are headed down that same path. They believed that words alone would be ineffective, so they went for an aggressive, 'scared straight' kind of approach. You could call Emit and his companion interuniversal eco-terrorists, if you will XD

Hazel and Aidan probably won't find out about any of this. They did a good thing for Appaloosa Plains though, so all is well :)

Oh, and Hazel completed her LTW by getting the time keeper statue, yay!


Completely unrelated, but here's a picture of John Pay aka Becky's Junpei looking magnificent on horseback:

I took away his powers, but gave him level 10 riding skill, which in a way is its own kind of magic.

Gen 8 Ch 6: Going Green

Grace's work schedule was more relaxed these days, and so her newest goal became baking the perfect key lime pie. She was getting very close, thanks to the high quality fruit Adam had cultivated, but there was still something missing. Adam didn't complain when his wife kept asking him to taste-test one pie after another. Key lime pie was his favorite, after all.

Both of them remained blissfully unaware of the fact that there was stolen government property right beneath their house. 

On the surface, Hazel and Aidan's lives continued as usual. There was an underlying sense of dread each time they opened a newspaper or watched TV news, but there was no mention of a burglary at the science lab. As Hazel had hoped, the portal had been completely forgotten after being put into storage.

"I think we really got away with it," Aidan confided to Jake the dog as he lathered shampoo into his thick coat. "And I can trust you not to go telling on us. Right, buddy?"

Jake barked and wagged his tail, splashing water and bubbles everywhere.

Even though they'd lost no time taking possession of the portal, for now it rested in the basement, deactivated and unused. This step of their plan had nothing to do with traveling, to the future or elsewhere. It was all about the here and now.

Hazel and Aidan spent every free minute out and about, talking to their neighbors and passers-by on the street. Raising awareness for environmental issues turned out be more adventurous than one would have thought. Some sims were incredulous to learn about the errors of their ways and convincing them to change their habits was almost impossible.

Others turned out to have the eco-friendly trait themselves. "Recycled paper, nice," the retired actor John Pay praised their flyers. "I'll be sure to spread the word. Keep up the good work."

Hazel beamed as she watched him mount his horse and ride away. Having a famous celebrity like John Pay backing their cause was going to be a great help!

 They even went so far as to visit people in their homes to help them transition to a more sustainable lifestyle.

"Wait, so you're saying I can save two hundred simoleons on bills if I only switch out my light bulbs?" Calvin Riffin looked like Snowflake Day had come early this year. "Why didn't anyone tell me sooner?"

Some people were a little harder to persuade, but even Helen Bird ran out of excuses when Hazel gifted her with a brand new bicycle.

"You're right," Helen sighed, "My workplace is only two blocks away. There's no need to take the car every day, and the exercise will do me good."

Hazel's parents generously stepped in when the time came to convince local business owners. They invested hundreds of thousands of their (admittedly ample) savings to buy shares and then insist on the addition of solar panels and other environmentally-friendly measures.

They had made great strides towards their goal, but the public protest Hazel had organized would serve as the true measure of how many sims they had won for their cause.

As they set up their banners on the small square in front of city hall, things were looking grim. Could it really be that Hazel's family were the only people who showed up?

To make matters worse, the Mayor Wells chose that precise moment to exit the building, presumably to gloat.



But almost immediately after the mayor had come out, sims began arriving in droves, carrying signs and banners of their own.

Hazel was overwhelmed at first. Public speaking had never been one of her strengths, but she gathered her courage and began to talk. Her words came haltingly at first, but they were genuine as she spoke about issues that had always been close to her heart. Soon Hazel had the crowd cheering and was leading them in chants.

The mayor, meanwhile, sought assistance.

"There's nothing I can do, sir," the police officer said in a baritone voice, "They've got a permit. They're doing nothing wrong."

What the officer didn't tell the mayor was that he secretly supported the cause himself and that the only thing that kept him from joining the protest was the fact that he was technically on duty. Other members of the police force dared to show their approval more openly.

Patricia Brooks watched from the sidelines, amazed by the turnout. She had organized protests just like this in her youth, but she'd never seen this many sims joining in. It seemed that people truly were incensed at the mayor's decision to destroy the park, but Patricia did not doubt that it was ultimately Hazel and Aidan's dedication that had made this day such a success.

She was incredibly proud of her son and the young woman he had chosen to spend his life with.

But Patricia's contented smile was wiped off her face when she noticed the mayor stomping towards her.

"What do you think you're doing here," he growled.

"Excuse me? What do you mean?"

"I can see through your dirty little tricks," he hissed, his mustache quivering with rage, "Using your children to run a smear campaign against me? Disgusting!"

Patricia frowned. "And that's exactly your problem. You think everything is about politics and power. But this is about values, Mr Wells."  Her voice was steely. "I don't care who wins the election. I'll even support you if the voters decide that you should be the one to represent their interests. But that's just it - it's about the people's interests, and I think those have been made very clear today."

"We want our park! We want it now! We want our park! We want it back!"

The mayor's response was drowned out by chanting and then a chorus of cheers from the crowd. Hazel had just finished her stirring speech, to raucous applause.

The protest had turned out to be a greater success than anyone could ever have anticipated.

As the day neared its end and the last few protesters began to trickle away with satisfied smiles on their faces, the Brooks invited the Cardwells to their small home to celebrate.

Grace volunteered to prepare dinner for everyone while the others talked.

... or in the case of Hazel and Aidan, kissed.

"No matter how things turn out in the election, there is no way anyone could ignore this movement," Patricia assured Adam. Their quest to make Appaloosa Plains environmentally friendly had made waves that reached far and wide. Other areas and even large cities, embarrassed to be shown up by a backwater town like Appaloosa Plains, had followed suit and started their own campaigns to go green.

"Whoever the next mayor is going to be, they'll have to support it or put their entire career in jeopardy," Patricia concluded with a smile.

 It was truly a cause for celebration.

But even though they'd come far, there was still one more task ahead of them.





_________________

I know I said I'd explain the portal in this chapter, but it was getting too long, so it'll have to wait until the next. Oh, the suspense!

So much rambling about how they convinced the neighbors to go green! This generation's goal is AWESOME! and as a part of that I set a little challenge for myself. I had Hazel befriend sims using only the eco-friendly trait interactions ("Talk about going green/composting/renewable energy" etc) at which point she'd seal the deal by gifting them a bicycle. I tried get as many households as possible, one friend each at minimum, with the rule that the friend had to be older than a teen (so they'd have influence over the rest of the household) and ideally the 'head' of the family, like a parent. I think she went up to about fifteen households in the end, at which point I started running out of neighbors.

The family also became partners with or bought almost every rabbithole/venue in town and added solar panels where it was possible. Not that difficult of a challenge since they had way too much money anyway, but still a nice image. :D

So they presumably saved the future by making all of Appaloosa Plains go green, yay! That's pretty awesome in my book. But Hazel (being the heir) is still going to achieve something different (and more challenging gameplay-wise) before I count the goal as completed.