Saturday, September 3, 2011

Chapter 1: On Another Planet

After the long train ride from Riverblossom Hills, Hawke and Raven Enmity arrive to their new apartment in Brooklyn Heights. Though the two siblings are very different, they have one important thing in common, a drive to make it big on their own, without the help of their parents' wealth and status.  Though they could have afforded to buy the largest mansion available in this city, they took only enough money with them to lease a modest apartment.

On the top floor os the St. Chelsea, their apartment has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and an open kitchen/living area.

And it boasts a spectacular view of the waterfall, and the beach below.

"I was thinking about taking Dad's name," Hawke says after they get settled in, "I don't want to be famous based on our mother." Their mother, Aislin Enmity, is a famous movie star, and her name would certainly give Hawke an unfair advantage in any branch of the entertainment industry.

"'Hawke Roman', I like it," Raven says, "I was thinking of changing my name, too."

"'Raven Roman' sounds kind of dumb," Hawke says.

"It's the Raven part I want to change," his sister says, "What were they smoking when they named us, anyway?"

Hawke shrugs, "I like my name. And Nixie's name is just too awesome." Hawke and Raven are two of a set of triplets; their sister Phoenix chose to stay in Riverblossom Hills rather than join her siblings in Brooklyn Heights.

Raven rolls her eyes, "Sure, 'Hawke' is great for a rock star. But I want to go into business, I need people to take me seriously. I'm going to change my name to Eleanor. Eleanor Roman."

Now it's Hawke's turn for an eye roll. "Why don't you just toss a 'her Royal Highness' in front of that?"

She smiles, "That's exactly the image I'm going for. Eleanor it is, then."


After applying for a position at the Doo Peas corporate headquarters, her Royal Highness Eleanor Roman makes practical use of her afternoon by studying in the local library.

Hawke gets himself a job in the theater, and then spends the afternoon hanging out with his new coworker, Rio Archer.

"Watch this!" Hawke cries, grabbing a handful of dirt from the sidewalk and shoving it in his mouth.

"Dude! Do you have any idea what people do on these sidewalks?!"

Rio has no words for how sick this stunt makes him.

Hawke suddenly feels bit sick himself. Not nausea, exactly, but a strange emptiness in the pit of stomach.

When he gets home later that evening, Hawke learns the cause of the weird hollowness he experienced that afternoon. While he was out with Rio, his parents called to tell them their sister Phoenix had disappeared.

"She went to investigate some complaints about noises in the museum," Eleanor explains. Back in Riverblossom Hills, their family owned a museum, founded by one of their ancestors, "She was with Emilio. The police have him for questioning. But whatever happened, she's gone."

Hawke has always had a deep bond with his sisters, he always knew when one of them was hurting. And when Phoenix disappeared, he felt that, too. "You don't think Emilio did anything to her?" Hawke asks, wondering if he'd feel it if one of his sisters died, or if the empty feeling he'd gotten was how a death would feel.

Eleanor shakes her head, "It's hard to imagine, they were so happy with each other. But the first suspect is always a spouse or partner. And he was the last person to see her. Mom and Dad don't think it was him, or they don't want to, anyway."

"Should we go back there?" Hawke suggests.

"I asked Mom if she wanted us home. She said to stay here. There's nothing we can do there but wait, same as we'll be doing here."

The next morning, they got another call from their parents. The police told them everything Emilio had to say about Phoenix's disappearance. They had found some weird old broken machine in the attic of the museum. Phoenix had fiddled with it, and made its door open. A bright light shone from inside, and Phoenix walked into it, despite Emilio's protests. The doors closed behind her and the machine broke down again. Emilio tried getting the doors to open again, but they never did, and Phoenix never returned. The police weren't quite ready to buy such an improbable story, and were holding Emilio in custody until the scientists could study the old machine, which did at least actually exist, and weigh in on the case. After a few more days of waiting, the scientists announced that Phoenix had activated and disappeared into a malfunctioning time machine, and there was no way to get her back.


Eleanor was hired by the Doo Peas corporation, but at the lowly position of a coffee courier. She wanted to climb to the top of the corporate ladder on her own, and she's starting at rock bottom. Not content to merely serve coffee to executives who don't notice her, she decides to do some networking. Dressed in her best blouse, she headed to the Lincon Hotel's lounge to hobnob with the higher ups. She considered herself quite lucky to run into Thornton Wolff, her division manager.

Wealthy, powerful and single again after his recent divorce, Thornton is exactly the kind of man Eleanor intends to marry someday. She boldly approaches and starts a conversation; wallflowers never get anywhere in business or romance. Right away, she feels the spark of attraction between them. Though she hadn't intended to settle on a mate so early in her career, wanting to establish herself first, she's willing to change her plans for a man so obviously suited to her.

But as soon as Thornton learns she works as a coffee courier in his own company, all flirting is over. Eleanor slinks away from the bar. She jumped the gun, and now can only hope he'll forget about her, so that when she's risen a few ranks and is no longer beneath his notice, she'll be able to try again.

Hawke works an evening shift, and when he and Rio get done, they go clubbing.

"Your eyebrows actually match your hair," Hawke observes, "Doesn't the dye sting there?"

"It's my natural color," Rio answers.

"Bullshit," is Hawke's response.

"No really," Rio laughs, "My grandmother said it's elfin magic."

"I'm not that much of a yokel," Hawke says.

"Hawke! I've been looking for you since I got into town!" It takes Hawke a few minutes to recognize the man who interrupted his conversation as Emilio, his sister Phoenix's boyfriend. "You aren't in the phonebook."

"I took my father's name," Hawke explains, "I'm listed under Roman. But what the hell are you doing here?"

"The cops held me as a 'person of interest' for days until the geeks at Morcucrop confirmed my story. The finally had to let me go, but you know how it is in the Hills, everywhere I went, people still suspected me. I couldn't go anywhere without people pointing and staring. So I took up the offer to joining the Brooklyn Heights Llamas."

"You two obviously have some serious catching up to do," Rio remarks, "I'm heading over to the dance floor. I'll catch you later."

Hawke and Emilio are left awkwardly alone. "Tell me," Hawke says.

Emilio sighs heavily, "I've told this story so many times now. You've heard it all from your parents."

"She was my sister," Hawke says.

"Is. She is your sister. She's still alive, somewhere," Emilio says, his eyes starting to tear, "But they say I'll never see her again. I don't want to believe that."

"I don't either," Hawke agrees, "But if scientists can't figure it out, what can we do?"

Emilio hangs his head sadly, "Look, I'm at the Neapolitan," he says, scribbling his phone number and address on a cocktail napkin, "I'd like to get together with you and Raven. To talk, Or hang out. Or whatever."

"Sure, man, you're still family," Hawke says, clapping a comforting hand on Emilio's shoulder. "Raven changed her name," he adds before Emilio takes off, "She's Eleanor now."

Hawke heads over to join Rio on the dance floor, but is intercepted on the way by Leliana, one of their coworkers, but higher up on the theater food chain. Normally Hawke doesn't get to see her or talk to her much during the work day, but now that they're out after work, he discovers she's very flirtatious.

Rio continues dancing alone while Hawke partners up with Leliana.

She even agrees to come up to his apartment to see the spectacular view they have. But when Hawke offers to show her the view of his bedroom, Leliana laughingly turns him down.

"I think I'll save that for another night," she says.

Hawke gives Eleanor Emilio's address, and she heads over to his apartment the next day. She knows he can't really tell her any more than she's already heard, but she wants to hear it from him, the last man to see her sister. Just as she's about to punch his number into the callbox, the elevator doors open and a man falls to the floor in front of her.

As he stands up, she recognizes Emilio.

"Raven!" he exclaims when he sees her, "I'm so happy to see you."

"Eleanor," she corrects hims, "I wanted to talk to you. About...you know."

"Yeah," Emilio says, "I know. You want to hear it from me personally. But I can't right now, I'm late for practice. I'm off tomorrow, though, if you want to get together then."

Eleanor invites him to their apartment for dinner the next evening, which also happens to be Hawke's day off.

Leliana visits Hawke the next afternoon. Though she's more of a classical musician, she agrees to jam with him.

Emilio comes by after Eleanor gets home from work. He tells her the same story he's told everyone else.

"Why didn't you stop her?" Eleanor demands when he finishes.

"I begged her not to go into that thing," Emilio says, "Outside of using force, there was no stopping her."

"Why didn't you use force, then?"

Emilio hangs his head, "I wish I had. I really do. But, I know my strength, and day to day, I'm always holding it back. What kind of man would I be if I made a habit of manhandling people to make them do what I want? If I had known what was going to happen, you bet I'd have pulled her back before she took a step. But I didn't know, and I didn't get physical."

Eleanor nods. "I understand," she says. She'd like to have someone to blame for her sister's disappearance, but she knows Phoenix, and walking right into danger was definitely something she'd do. If anyone can be blamed, it's Phoenix herself.

After getting that uncomfortable conversation out of the way, Eleanor prepares the promised dinner. Which just a quick salad, as neither she or her brother have any skills with cooking.

Hawke and Leliana emerge from the jam room to join Emilio while they wait for dinner.

As the evening draws to a close, Hawke gets Leliana to join him in his bed.

"Rav...Eleanor, I have a favor I need to ask," Emilio says after Hawke and his guest leave them alone. "I have this party I have to go to. For the team. My agent says I need to bring a date."

"Surely a budding sports star like yourself can get a date in this town," Eleanor says.

"Oh, yeah," Emilio says, "I could, but I don't want to. I'm not over Phoenix yet, not by a long shot. I don't want to lead some girl on. But you're a friend."

"I really don't like sports," Ekeanor sighs, "I'd rather do anything than go to some party at a sports bar with a bunch of jocks."

"It's not that kind of a party," Emilio says, "There will be some jocks around, sure. Like me," he smiles, "But this party is for the investors and political types. Governor Landgraab is supposed to be there, even.  The jocks are there mostly to be on display for them. And we're supposed to have dates. I'd be especially grateful to have a date like you. You know, one of their type. So I'd don't feel like I'm on another planet."

As soon as he mentioned investors and the governor, whose wife Hannelore is the vice president of Doo Peas corporation, Eleanor was in. "I'd love to go to this party with you," she says with a smile.

_______________________________________
Challenge Notes:
For anyone who hasn't read my previous random legacy, The Foster Enmity legacy, this legacy mentions events that happened in generation 9 of that legacy.
Hawke and Raven/Eleanor were the spares of generation 9. Their sister Phoenix was the heir. She went into a malfunctioning time machine and came out in an earlier version of Riverblossom Hills, the town that legacy was set in.
Hawke and Eleanor are made from clones of the originals, so they have no skills or LTH points or rewards, just like CAS Sims.

My roll for Generation 1 is Single with help. Primary career is Business and secondary is Music/Rock.
The goal is Fulfilled and the Misc. Fun is It's So You.
So, Raven's LTW is to be CEO. Hawke's is Master Romancer, to woohoo 5 different Sims in 5 different places. I hope I don't regret that later.
Her traits are Perfectionist, Workaholic, Ambitious, Brave and Schmoozer.
His are Flirty, Commitment Issues, Virtuoso, Lucky, and I'm forgetting the 5th.
They were both originally born with Green as a favorite color, but since they had to lose all the skills and points they had when starting this legacy as CAS Sims, I thought it would be fair to change their favorite colors. Eleanor's is Spice Brown and Hawke's is Red. So, their apartment was decorated to reflect that for It's so you. The spare room is currently in neutral colors, and will later be decorated to match the favorites of the two required children.
I'm assuming the family will move at some point, either during this generation (meaning we'll have to do It's So You for the next place) or the heir will move on as a YA.

12 comments:

  1. I very much like the beginning. And it's so funny to see Leliana in TS3... I think you pretty much have her personality down. (Especially not sleeping together on the first "date").

    Can't wait to see where this goes!

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  2. Awesome first chapter! I love Eleanor and Hawke. I was curious about what happened to Emilio so I'm glad he's here. ^^

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  3. A "modest" apartment yeah right. xD

    Great start! I loved the name Raven, but I can see why she'd want to change her name. ;)

    You got really good pics of Rio. Jeez. His hair looks so good that way. Err... from the front anyway. The back's kind of a mess. *touches hair...* *shifty eyes...*

    Also very good to see Emilio again. I'm glad he gets a second chance.

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  4. I love it :) Maybe you should've made her keep the name as a middle name though, I do love the name Raven :) But Eleanor is pretty too :)

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  5. Just looking back I notice Thornton and Hawke have the same facial hair. I would LOVE to write an essay on the possible fruedian implications of Raven/Eleanor going for Thornton if that does end up happening... (I'm sorry. But now I can't stop thinking about it!)

    And am I the only one thinking about how Hawke is really mirroring his ancestor Carey at the start of the Foster Legacy? I <3 the way you write. (And yes I am aware this is my second review on the chapter. Shush. >_>)

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  6. Thanks, guys!
    About the naming, I knew right away I wanted a new last name. Enmity was cute for awhile, but I'm tired of it. And it made the most sense that they would take their father's name as a back up. But I really hated the sound of Raven Roman. I thought about her changing her last name to something other than Roman, but I couldn't think of anything plausible, and it did make sense that she'd prefer a more 'dignified' name. But I love Raven, myself.
    I love that hair on Rio, too. :D He's such a cutie.
    You know, I only noticed Hawke & Thornton had the same facial when I was sorting through screenshots. I gave that facial hair to Max Vatos (original Thornton's son, who this Thornton is cloned from) ages ago.
    I named her after one of my Sims 1 Sims, who her personality is sort of modeled after.
    I didn't even notice that Thornton and Hawke had the same facial hair until I was going through my screenshots, lol. It's one of my favorite facial hairs that I have. It's the same I used for Foster, in fact.
    My husband is a rock musician, and my musician characters tend to share some of his traits, or those of his friends. Carey and Foster were a lot like my husband and one of his old roommates.

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  7. It's great to get to see how Phoenix's family reacted to her disappearance. I'm glad you wrote that into your story. Also, I'm happy to see Emilio again. I always liked him.

    Excellent first chapter! You really set up some great story lines for your new legacy! (And I love their "modest" apartment. :)

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  8. Thanks, Colleen.
    The apt. is modest compared to the giant house they came from, lol.
    I did use almost their whole starting budget on it.

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  9. I think the apartment looks pretty amazing!

    I, too, love getting the backstory on how life was like after Phoenix "disappeared", it's like we get to see both worlds. Nicely done!

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  10. Great first chapter! I love the triplet's names.

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  12. I've just finished reading through all the Foster enmity legacy and I really enjoyed it. Wonderful 1st chapter to the next legacy and love how you have kept continuality into this.

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