Gen 8 Ch 13: Old and New Friends

Ivy's dad Theo was really nice, Icarus thought. He'd often pick up Ivy to take her somewhere fun and sometimes he just came over for a few hours to help her with homework or play. And when he did, he always made sure to include Icarus too. So it was that one sunny afternoon Theo asked Icarus if he wanted to play catch with them.

"NO," Ivy cut in, "Icarus sucks at playing catch!"

Theo gaped at his daughter in shock. "Ivy! That's not nice! Apologize to your cousin."

"It's true though." Icarus shrugged. "Thanks for asking, but I don't want to play."

Before Theo could say anything, Ivy had grabbed his hand and dragged him away.

It was true, honestly. Icarus had never been good at ball games. He much preferred video games, but the old game console and the tiny TV were in the living room, which unfortunately was where his grandmother spent most of her time painting ever since she retired.

With her it was always either play outside or do your homework. She hated it when Icarus watched TV or played video games and would absolutely not allow it while she was painting in the room, even if he'd already done his homework.

That's why Icarus was delighted when he looked through the spyglass in the treehouse and saw his grandmother get in her car and drive away.

With the living room empty, it was his time to strike!

Icarus had barely started up the game when someone entered the room.

"Ah!" he squeaked, "I mean, hey aunt Hux. I was just... my homework is, uh, almost done, so..." He sighed. "I'll turn it off."

"What for?" Huxley dropped heavily on the couch beside him. "Man, that screen is tiny. We should get a real TV in here sometime."

"Grandma won't like that," Icarus warned.

Huxley chuckled. "If I let that stop me, I'd never do anything." Then her tone grew more serious. "Hey, Theo told me what happened. Are you ok? I know Ivy can be a little shit, but she doesn't mean it. They'd be happy if you joined them."

"Um, is it okay if I stay here just a bit longer? I know video games rot your brain and all but--"

"Psh, did grandma say that? Typical. Listen, don't let anyone tell you that something that makes you happy is bad just because they don't like it." She smiled at Icarus and he grinned back. "Now pass me that second controller. I'll show you how it's done!"

*

The next day Huxley made her way into town to the tattoo parlor. As she had done after Ivy's birth, she wanted to get a tattoo to represent Idris. And while she was at it, she got another that was long overdue.

One feather for each of her babies, and in her heart she knew that included Icarus.

When Huxley left the tattoo parlor it was pouring outside. She looked at the time on her phone. The school had set up a free basketball game as an extracurricular activity and the two children had ridden their bikes to the stadium earlier that day. They had planned to ride them home too, but with the weather like this, Huxley decided to go pick them up by car.

She was exactly on time--Ivy and Icarus came running towards her as soon as she arrived.

"MOM! Mom, that was so awesome!" Ivy was practically bouncing with excitement. "I'm going to be a famous basketball player when I grow up. AND a cheerleader! AND a referee!"

"Oh yeah?" Huxley grinned. "Did you have fun too, Icarus?"

Icarus was too distracted to answer, however.

Huxley turned to see what he was looking at and frowned. Hazel had just parked her bicycle and was walking towards Icarus, but Huxley moved to intercept her.

"I was just about to drive the kids home," Huxley said in a clipped tone. It was the first time the sisters talked since their falling-out and the atmosphere was predictably icy.

Hazel pursed her lips. "I'm taking Icarus to the cemetery."

"It's raining."

"A little rain never hurt anyone." This might have seemed like no more than a banal phrase to most, but Hazel's disapproving glare told Huxley so much more: How typical of her to choose the easy way out and drive a car, contributing to the destruction of the environment, just to avoid a minor inconvenience like rain.

Through gritted teeth Huxley hissed, "What, you want him to catch a cold?"

"He's my son and he will know his father."

Their voices had remained quiet, but both sisters were breathing heavily at this point. Huxley shook with unexpressed rage.

"It's fine, I don't mind the rain," Icarus piped up, trying to dispel the tension. "I'll see you later aunt Hux."

He followed his mother, half-running to keep up with her long strides.

Matching her pace on the bike was almost impossible.

When he caught up with her at the cemetery, she was already standing in front of a grave stone, weeping.

The last time his mother had taken Icarus here he'd been very confused. His daddy was a slab of stone and his mommy was sad about that somehow? It had made no sense.

Now Icarus was older and knew better, but he still didn't like being here one bit.

 

As far as Icarus was concerned, he had no father and that was fine. How was he supposed to miss someone he never knew? But his mother's unrestrained grief always made the absence feel like a fresh wound.

Back at home, another sim was mourning the loss of a loved one.

Adam's horse Jumper had passed away during the night. No one had noticed until the morning, which only added to Adam's grief.

Idris was still too little to understand it all, but Adam told him stories of long afternoon rides and the boy listened attentively, which lessened the pain a little.

Adam kept the horse's remains in a wooden box in the living room, unwilling to let go of his friend.

At night Adam often lay awake, remembering the day he'd brought Jumper home. Hazel had only been a toddler back then, and now she had a child of her own.

Sometimes he dreamed that Jumper was still here, just waiting for him in the stable. But no matter how real these dreams felt, the morning light always washed them away.

The spirited stallion had grown old and died. And if Adam thought himself still in his prime, the aches and pains he felt each morning told him otherwise.

Eventually Grace sensed that her husband's mood was finally getting better again. She had no doubt that her cooking was largely responsible.

It had taken her a long time to perfect the recipe; weeks in which the family had eaten nothing but French toast for breakfast. But this payoff was more than worth it. Grace savored every bite and was already chatting excitedly about which recipe she should tackle next.

"It's delicious, love," Adam said kindly, "now that you nailed this, I wouldn't say no to some key lime pie for a change. It's my favorite."

"Too much pie isn't good for you, darling," Grace replied and shoved another bite of fluffy deliciousness into her mouth.

That day after school, Icarus got off the bus at what was known around town as The Bird House. His classmate Lena Bird had invited him over so they could work on a school project together.

Lena was a bubbly girl, always giggling and smiling, and her house was just as fun as she was. In addition to the friendly horse outside there were several colorful songbirds and two cats that were always at each other's throats.

The noise was maddening, but Lena didn't seem to notice the chaos. She simply sat down on the kitchen floor right beside the two screeching cats and started doing her homework.

Icarus liked Lena, but he was really glad when his grandparents finally came to pick him up.

The play date his aunt arranged for the weekend was much more to Icarus' liking. Ralph Riffin was the son of one of Huxley's old bandmates. He and Icarus became instant friends.

Ralph's dad Ethan sat perfectly still as he watched the two boys play. At first Icarus had found the man scary, with his dark makeup and constant frown, but in the end he turned out to be just as nice as Ralph.

The boys quickly grew inseparable and from then on, Ralph was rarely missing from any family outing.

 So when Huxley took the children to the county fair one summer afternoon, she found herself wrangling four kids instead of three. Miraculously, everything went fine.

Were the children better behaved when Huxley was around? Maybe, but perhaps it was simply due to the fact that she believed in letting the children make heir own mistakes.

Even Ivy was surprisingly docile--just as long as the boys let her have her way with everything, of course.

With Huxley taking care of the children, Adam and Grace had the day to themselves and went out for a long overdue date night.

But the night ended before it had even begun. Grace gasped in horror when Adam let out a long sigh and sank to the ground.

"...but my family," Adam croaked feebly.

Grim had heard them all already. All the reasons, all the excuses; all the most outrageous pleas and attempts to bargain. None of them had ever swayed him. "You've prepared them to be fine without you," he said, "That is all anyone can ask for."

Adam nodded slowly and took Grim's outstretched hand.

Grace saw none of this, but she felt her heart break.






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Some cute bonus pics that didn't make it into the chapter:

R.I.P. Adam :( Even after 8 generations losing sims is still sad every time!