Chapter 23: Tastes Like Despair

Allyriane ran a clean campaign. Despite the urgings of her advisors to counter Landgraab's attack ads with attacks of her own, Allyriane kept her ads positive, focusing only on what she wanted to do for the state, not on her opponent, or on the mud he hurled at her. She was mocked by comedians, portrayed as naive and loonie, but she ignored it all. And she lost.

The defeat wouldn't have been so bad if it were just about herself, but what she lost was so much more than a position. "I wanted to make a difference," she sighed as Aymeri comforted her with his embrace, "But they just wanted business as usual." In her brief career in politics, she hadn't been able to make any real changes in policy. After every victory came another election cycle, all her time was spent campaigning, fundraising, and precious little ever got done. Now that she'd lost one, Allyriane decides not to jump back into the fray; she could do more as a private citizen than as a politician.

Governor Harris Landgraab...he likes the way it sounds. He never had any doubts about his victory, his opponent was weak, an idealist who didn't know how to play the game. And it didn't hurt that Landgraab Industries secretly finances the company that makes the electronic voting machines.

His advisors tell him he should marry, that the voters will be more comfortable with a a family man in the governor's mansion. Harris isn't entirely adverse to the idea, and has been vetting candidates from the upper echelons of Brooklyn Heights for his future Mrs. Landgraab. He will of course choose the best of all possible brides, but even the best would be no match for his own perfection, and any child he produced naturally would be diminished. Marry he might, and even father children, but his heir must be as perfect as he is.

Landgraab Industries have always funded scientific research in every field, have always been on the cutting edge of technology. So it's no wonder Landgraab Industries are the first to produce a human clone, Harrison Landgraab. Harris Landgraab has ensured the next generation of his line will be as perfect as he is.

Ryanne becomes a teen.

A lover of the outdoors, Ryanne likes nothing better than helping her father in the garden, and fishing in the local parks. Despite her mother's antagonistic relationship with Harris Landgraab, Ryanne is very likely to work for the Landgraab Marine Sciences facility when she grows up.

Seirian becomes a child.

An inquisitive genius who enjoys playing with her chemistry set and conversing with ghosts, Seirian would seem like a likely candidate for a future scientist. But the field of scientific research leans heavily toward the biological, and Seirian will probably find herself more fulfilled working in the forensics branch of law enforcement someday.

Bryce and Tearney shared a birthday. Bryce went first, becoming a child in time to celebrate his sister's transition into the teen stage.

Not the easiest of transitions. The flood of hormones of a human teenager don't mix well with the natural fire of a young dragon.

"I feel like I'm going to explode," Tearney confesses to her father, "What's wrong with me?"

"When I was your age, I burned down several human villages in one night," Aymeri confesses in return, "You will have a much more difficult time of it than I did, but I know you have the strength to get through this. When the rages come on, you must find an outlet, a way to release it that doesn't hurt you or anyone else."

Tearney would prefer the burning down villages option, but she sees her father's point.

Tearney wakes on her first day of high school with a burning desire to do...something. She isn't sure what.

She's not sure if booby trapping the shower is what her father meant by finding a harmless outlet, and she doesn't really care.

Ryanne nearly misses the bus because she had to wash the dye out of her hair.

Tearney misses the bus on purpose. The small prank did nothing to alleviate her raging hormones, but being near the sea does. So Tearney skips school to spend the day painting at the beach.

Aymeri has taken to mixing new drinks with the juices of the many fruits he's grown in his garden.

"Tastes like despair," Thierry comments, trying his latest concoction.

"Really? It should taste like cherry and flame fruit," Aymeri answers.

The school calls and Tearney is confronted by her mother when she comes home in the afternoon.

"I'm going to have to ground you for this," Allyriane says, unable to raise her voice.

"I hate you! You are ruining my life!" Tearney rages.

"Your daughter skipped school today," Allyriane sighs wearily, "You need to have a talk with her."

Last he checked, Aymeri had three daughters, but he doesn't need to ask which one was misbehaving, and why she's suddenly 'his' more than 'theirs'.

"You're so much better at this than I am," Allyriane says with a gentle kiss, leaving him to the difficult task of parenting.

"I wasn't doing anything wrong, I just spent the day painting," Tearney explains, "School is stupid anyway, and I'm going to be an artist, so I don't even need it."

Truth be told, Aymeri has never understood the public education system himself, and he has a hard time defending it's merits. "You have to go. It's the law." Law and duty are concepts he can get his head around.

"Well, it's a bullshit law! I'm just wasting my time there!" Tearney explodes in sudden anger.

"Temper, dragonling," Aymeri chides gently, "You haven't even spent one day in high school yet, so how can you be sure it is waste of time?"

"Why are you such a goody good?" Tearney unleashes her anger on Ryanne later that evening, "You never get in trouble."

"Tea, life is easier when you have a smile on your face," Ryanne advises, "If you act happy, you'll find that you become happy."

"Blah blah blah," Tearney yawns.

Thierry wakes late that night, feeling oddly light.

Aymeri is the first to sense Grim's presence in their house.

It's strange, Allyriane thinks, that her husband should be so much more affected by her father's death thn she is. But Aymeri and Thierry were war buddies, she remembers, for a hundred years in the fae they fought together, while she grew up seeing her father only rarely.

Tearney and Ryanne forget their quarrel of the day before to console each other over the loss of their grandfather.

After spending a day in school, Tearney can say for a fact that it's  stupid waste of time. But at least she's got a friend to complain about it with.

More importantly, Maricela enjoys a good pillow fight. For Tearney, nothing is a better release of her fiery rage than pounding on someone.

On Friday night, the girls decide to go dancing at the Moonlight Lounge. Tearney looks askance at her friend's choice of attire.

"It's a nightclub," Maricela says, "So...pyjamas. Right?" Maricela is a little insane.

Tearney buys a drink the bartender promises has mind-bending properties. She's not sure how much more bent Maricela's mind can get, but for her own part, Tearney feels nothing unusual after she guzzles down the rainbow beverage.

Ryanne's prom occurred before she had a chance to get to know anyone well enough to go to it with, so she had gone alone. While she was there, she danced with Reynaldo Foreman. Tonight is there first actual date, and first kiss. Before the evening is over, they are going steady.

She's underage, so she shouldn't be here. But Tearney manages to talk the tattoo artist into giving her a tattoo anyway.

"Oh, you didn't," Ryanne says, noticing the new ink on her sister's hip.

Tearney rather expected to be scolded for it, but, while everyone obviously notices the tattoo, no one even mentions it.

Her mother is even supportive, saying how important it is to express yourself and be your own person.

She's a pushover, Tearney thinks, realizing she can get away with almost anything.

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Challenge Notes:
When I started this generation, I intended to let Allyriane rise to the top of her career like Sims always do. I did try slowing the pace, not having her hold too many fundraising parties or getting too many donations, so that she was getting promoted only every 3 days instead of every day.
But when it came to running for governor against Harris Landgraab, I decided she had to lose. And in Sims, the only way to lose is to quit. Well, I could have just dropped her down a career level with MC, but then she'd just get promoted again. So I made her drop out of politics.
And that leaves me with no employed Sims. Well, Aymeri has the job hopper gig. He did the Freelance Scientist week, going out collecting space rocks and insects in the afternoon, not enough to really mean anything. The next week was 'none', so no income. After that will be a week of mixology. So he's been practicing at home. But I may not actually have him do the job at all, it depends on how much of a pain in the ass it will be to get him down to a club during the evening.
Even without income, the family has 75k in funds, so I'm not worried.

I haven't announced every new tattoo of Aymeri's, but he gets a new one every week, and they do get shown in some screenshots.

Yes, I pretty much forget the younger kids exist, so I don't even have a good childhood pic of Bryce. Shame on me.

Since SP wasn't doing anything for Harris Landgraab in the romance dept., I decided to insure the continuation of the line by cloning him. After I did this, SP decided to have him impregnate Cecilia Tricou (daughter of Anais Tricou, who was the daughter of Nylissit Tricou, so not a Tricou from Laramie's house.) Harris and Cecilia are now 'partnered' but still don't live together. Perhaps when Cecilia's younger sister ages up to YA, I might move Cecilia into the Landgraab house. But right now I want to preserve the Landgraab estate and the Tricous, so I'd prefer they live apart until the next Tricou is old enough to take the house. Cecilia Tricou is also Evil, so they make a nice pair.