In the Dark

Amberle sat alone (at least she hoped) in the forest far enough away from the clearing and the campfire that she was only bathed in moonlight. The only sound in her ears was the gentle whisper of the trees overhead as a breeze reached down to caress Amberle's cheek as if to comfort her.

Her father's people were out here. Possibly keeping an eye on her. She hadn't had time or energy to turn her fury on him and begin to ask him about her mother. Was her mother actually still alive? Had she ran off to be with him and left Amberle behind?

There was a slight rustle of the leaves behind her as if someone who normally walked quietly through the forest were trying to make noise so as not to startle her.

"Leave me alone!" She called out in greeting.


Amberle saw Leander's green eyes before he even stepped out from the trees. Even in the pale moonlight, his large bright eyes shone.

"Would you please talk to me?"

"No."


Leander didn't listen. He sat down on the grass near her. "We call your father's people 'the nameless ones.' They are a group of elves that live in the forest." Leander sat quietly for a moment biting on his lip as he seemed to turn over thoughts. She was almost ready to tell him to spit it out when he started talking again. "The problem is that there is bad blood between our people. They've killed elves, Amberle. Our kind of elves. The kind of elf your mother was."

Leander paused again, and this time Amberle let him sit until he was ready to speak. "That's why we told everyone who didn't know that you were half sim. The stigma would still be bad, but it could have been worse." He turned his head so that he was looking her in the eyes. "The council wanted to train you to be a soldier due to your 'heritage'. They foresaw that there could be a war on our hands and they hoped to use you as one of the foot soldiers that rushes in first.


"But I couldn't let them do that. So I convinced them you were bad luck and would bring our ruin if they taught you magic and put you on the battlefield."

His words brought to mind the day Leander, acting on the council's decision, sent her away. That day he had been so strongly insistent that she leave; it was as if he had sliced her chest open with a silver sword. The wound had festered at the thought that her one friend-- the one person who seemed at all on her side-- had wanted her to leave to badly.


Amberle brought her hand to her chest and pressed her cotton shirt against her skin. "You told me in town that the council feared for the elves' safety with me around."

"That's not what I said exactly. I only said that the council feared for our safety. They knew a war was coming. You were sent away in case one of the enemies got their hands on you." Leander glanced over at her. She was sure he was thinking of Henry. "Actually, there is something else I have to talk to you about. To explain." Leander's green eyes flashed in concern, though Amberle wondered if there wasn't also a little bit of guilt. "You know that some elves have special abilities that make them stronger in one area than in others? Like the way some elves can talk to animals? Well, you have that ability too. But you... ah... 'talk' to fire."

Amberle had nothing to say. There were no words. Fire was NOT her friend. If anything, she had spent more time on fire than any other elf. She wouldn't consider that a power.

"Amberle? I can't completely explain it, and it wasn't something we could be sure of until you became older. And by the time we were sure, you were sent away." Leander quietly watched her for a moment. "Will you say something?"

"NO. WAY."

"Was that you saying you're not going to say something?"

"That was me denying everything in two words. NO. WAY."

"Listen, would you be serious? It is a very rare gift among the elves. It is another reason why no one could teach you. There simply was no one else who could. But it doesn't make you immune to fire. You can still die, so it's a very danger--"

"NO."

"Amberle..."


"WAY." Amberle stood up. "That's it. I'm ready to head back now. Good bye. I'll see you around."

**************************************

For the longest time, I have had a story in my head about a girl who could control the wind but was afraid of flying.

Well, sparked by a certain event ("sparked" ahaha-- see what I did there?), I combined the older story with this story.


And Leander is so darn cute! He's always either scowling or looking concerned in game.

Also, sorry for two night time/photoshopped posts in a row. I suppose it's fitting in a way to have the two styles of these last two posts be similar. But with the extra shopping, the dark pictures are so much easier to see!

The tutorial is by Mao and can be found here.

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7. Fight

"Anna..."


I stand before him ready to die to buy the others time to get to the top of the mountain. He must not get to them or he will ruin everything. Lord Henry has followed us from one kingdom to another all because of me.


"No." The sword pulls on my arm as I lift it into a defensive position the way Joan taught me. How long do I have? How long can I hold him off?

He takes a step towards me and I tighten my grip on the sword handle. "Anna," my name falls softly from his lips. His deep voice brings back the memories of sitting on his lap and curling up in his arms. I am ashamed that I was ever so naive. My grip tightens on the sword so that the leather squeaks in protest.

Although he hesitates, he does not stop. Another step towards me, and I shout, "Stop!" There is a warmth that floods me. My own magical defenses, natural and innate, warm my muscles, traveling down my limbs. When he is within the swing of my sword, I follow through.


The weight of the sword disappears once it has begun its swing. I put my body behind it so that I feel the aftershock of my attack in my shoulders. I open my eyes to see that I have managed to hit him in the shoulder. The wound is deep; the blood flows down his tunic, but he will heal in minutes.

He stands still long enough for me to see the damage I have caused before he swoops in, wrapping his arms around me and pressing the sword, still clutched in my hands, against my body. "No!" It is a guttural sound that comes from deep within me. The denial is so strong, it almost feels as if I can break away. But my mind knows better despite my thrashing.


I can feel his breath upon my neck, and I know the end must be near. The only thing to do is to stop fighting and hope that I have given the others enough time.

"Anna," his voice is soft in my ear. His arms are still wrapped tightly around me in an embrace that is impossible to break.

I still live, and though I do not fight him physically any longer, I still hear myself saying, "Come sun rise, the vampires turn to dust and the werewolves will become human. It's over. You can kill me now if you wish."

Softly, he kisses my forehead as he hasn't done since I was a little girl. He moves away from me, and the sword drops to the ground, my muscles are too drained to lift it again. The cold night air rushes in, chilling all the parts of me that had been pressed to his warm body. He is gone and I am alone in the moonlight.

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Since this is the last post for the past part of the story line, feel free to ask me anything you want. Basically, if it isn't clear, Anna is buying time for Joan and "others" to get to a spot where they can cast a curse. The curse will make it so that the supernaturals can only come out at night. (But oddly, it does not affect the mermaids. I have some reasoning for that, but I am reserving it for possible future storylines.)

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Uh oh!

First off: A new Living Sims is out. I love this magazine. Usually takes me a while to read through it because after reading a few pages, I want to redecorate homes.

Secondly: I visited my mother, and she got me Sims 3! I expected she would. So I get $10 for the store. I'm thinking I'll pick up some new sims clothes and hair styles. Definitely going to try out the new 'hood.

I'll post up my Sims 3 stuff over here to keep it separate from my Sims 2 stuff. I will not quit playing Sims 2. (Since I cheated and got a sneak peek I can tell you that for sure.)

Plus, I still have quite a few updates planned as I played over the weekend. But I am thinking I will have to slow down my posting pace. I think three times a week is just too much for a casual reader. (If you miss a week or two, that's a lot of catching up to do.) So I might go down to only once or twice a week.

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Heart of the Matter

Where we left off
Time: Present day

"What're you doing? Leander asked angrily. "He can't speak. He probably can't even understand you!"

The hulking creature turned only his head towards Leander as he growed a retort. "I can speak. Best for you if you don't right now."



Amberle still sat on the ground in utter confusion of the scene before her. The creature tried to take a step towards her, but Henry stepped between them again. "You are going to frighten her. She didn't know. They never told her."


Amberle stood up slowly, brushing the dirt that stuck to her pants.

"Then why am I not here if not for her?" He glowered at Henry. Amberle only had to catch a glimpse of his red eyes to see how they burned like embers of a dying campfire.

Henry stood his ground. "I have come to ask for your help-- for her as well as those who have accepted and adopted her."


"Those sims are in trouble?" Amberle couldn't help noting the tone in his voice. She could almost think he sounded concerned, but she knew nothing of the man and decided she must be reading too much into it.

"A war is brewing. Just as I have woken up, so have others. They want the world of old when we ruled the world."


"'We?' Who's 'we?'" Amberle looked at Henry.

It was Leander who answered her. "The supernaturals-- like him." Amberle could sense that Leander crossing his arms and scowling unattractively. "The civilized elves already have their eye on it. Why do you think I'm here?"


"Wait a minute," Amberle thought back to their last meeting as she turned to face him. "You said you were here to check out the sim settlement for the council."

Leander dropped his scowl when he glanced at her with his large green eyes. "I just figured war with supernatural creatures would be worse than simply getting kicked out again."

Amberle felt she could hit him. "And you!" She said as she turned on Henry. "Why didn't you mention this to me before instead of carting me around and plopping me down in the forest? How can we even trust you? You're a vampire; why would you want to even stop something like that from happening?"

He looked at her steadily, but there was a flicker of sadness that only she would catch. "I have my reasons."

*******************

I've been cleaning through my downloads folder recently. The other day, I spent time downloading new and old hacks for my game. SO I think that is what prompted my Henry and Amberle dream.

It was very odd, but it matched my color scheme of these darker pictures. And all I can remember thinking at the end was, "Aw! Don't be a bad guy, Henry!" He must've done something very bad. O_O

Wednesday, another piece to the puzzle.

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6. Flight

Norma, my maid, runs a brush gently through my hair. "I heard it was quite a show last night. Chef says that you impressed our guest very much."

I sit still as she begins braiding my hair. "Mermaids don't even use magic; of course he was impressed." At the thought of his red eyes on me, a chill runs down my spine, and I feel indecent in my night gown.



"No dear," Norma's voice is hardly above a whisper. She leans in as she continues braiding. "There was another guest. One of our guests."


I turn my head quickly to look her in the eyes. Could it be? A true human rebel here in the castle? Norma has told me stories of the human resistance through out the kingdoms fighting for the freedom of all humans. But I could never fully imagine someone who would do such a thing. What kind of person would be so brave as to risk their lives for the impossible?

"Come. She will help you escape." Norma takes me by the hands and has me stand up and she takes off my night gown and replaces it with a course dress that smells of the scullery. "You must leave. You are powerful." She smooths my hair with one hand. "This dress will confuse his sense of smell long enough for you to get away."

There is a knock on the door. On the other side is the one who must be the "guest." She holds a tray of food which she quickly puts down. Her eyes have a glint in them that a normal maid would never have. She glances at me, taking in the sight of me in my course maid's dress with an unreadable expression.


There isn't much time. Norma packs the food the guest brought in for lunch and ushers us to a secret passage way with brisk instructions which she aims at The Guest who I assume will know enough about the outside to know where we are going.

My chest constricts as we run from everything I have known my entire life into a world I have only seen through windows.

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5. The Show of Your Life

The chef enters the large dining hall and gives me an encouraging smile. Earlier, he had said, "Just make sure to stay put, my dear." I was to be his "assistant." "You will see the most amazing show you have ever seen in your life. If only your father could have seen..."



The chef bows to the lord of the manner and the two guests nearest him. The face of the ruler of this land remains hard edged and stoic. I get the feeling he simply wants the show to start already and could do without the formality.


The chef sits down at the piano and begins to play a soft melody as the candle lights go out and we are left bathed in the partial moonlight filtering in through the large windows. My heart thumps as I stand in the dark, a strange crawling feeling rolls up my back. I do my best to stay as still as possible. Being trapped in the dark with a bunch of vampires and a mermaid requires a special ability to remain as un-prey-like as possible.

The music swirls around the large room as it begins to crescendo. As if on cue, a blue light beings to gently glow.


I suck in a breath when I notice the girl standing in the middle of the room. A small ball of blue light floats at her fingertips as if it were an animal she were gently coaxing back to the stable after the freedom of a pasture field.


The ball moves with her as she dances, twirling around her torso then her arms as she stretches out her perfect limbs in time with the music. She raises her hand into the air and the ball twirls up her arm and to her fingertips where it shatters shatters into small sparkles which appear to fall from her graceful fingertips to the ground.

Ever so delicately, her bare feet daintily prance across the floor as her arms gracefully arc away from her body. There is a light that comes down from the ceiling and falls down upon her and around her.


As she stretches out her arm, the light turns blue and envelopes her. It surrounds her as the music reaches its finale and, as suddenly as she appeared, she is gone. The room is in the dark once again, and my life suddenly feels dark as well. I have just seen the sun for the first time and I realize now that I have only been living in a dark cave this entire time with nothing but a campfire for light.

***********************

So I fixed up some of the storyline side bars. I'm horrible with names, but I like to keep things organized. So this current storyline is called "Connections." All the past Amberle and Henry stories are now all filed under "Embarrassing Amberle."

Oh and new background images. ^_^

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Amberle's Outsting

Just an FYI: There is a player at the bottom of this entry that will start playing music automatically.

The last time we saw Amberle


Time: About 20 years ago...



Amberle had waited all afternoon for word from the elven council. She wore the first fine dress she had ever worn in her life. The soft fabric gently rubbed against her skin as if to calm her.

The two sisters sat on a wooden bench cackling as they whispered softly. Leander’s mother looked up. “Have a seat dear. He’ll be here soon.”



Amberle sat down impatiently though she tried to keep a smile so as not to ruin the good mood of the ladies before her. It was unlike them to invite Amberle to have a seat. Her entire childhood was filled with memories of their horribly sweet voices ordering her to clean or behave. They had remained as distant from her as possible so that they wouldn't waste any energy or life force on Amberle-- "the little beast" as they often called her.


She had an early memory of the particularly difficult time she had adjusting after Anthea (the elf who took her in) passed away. Amberle had often cried, and one day Honeydew Hazelbone looked at her and said in a voice that simply dripped like honey, "Amberle, civilized elves do not behave in this way. Which would you rather be? A civilized elf or a little beast?" Amberle had shouted, "BEAST!" then kicked her in front of her sister and her son, Leander.

Amberle had paid for it, but she had to admit now that she was older that it was the only response really.

The sound of Leander’s boots sounded securely on the stone steps of the hallway.

Leander stepped into the room, his bright white and traditional garment drawing all eyes to him. But his large green eyes fell only on Amberle.



********************



Amberle felt disheartened upon the sight of the little boat she was supposed to use to travel across the sea. “I’m supposed to go away in THAT?”

Leander used his calming voice on her. She hated that voice. “You'll be fine. I’ll cast a spell that will put you to sleep and protect you until you reach land.”

Amberle’s voice was hardly a whisper. “You won’t know… I could drown out there.”

“You will not drown.” Leander’s voice was suddenly strong and urgent. He wanted nothing more than for her to get in the boat. He wanted to be rid of her the same as all the other elves.

The anger welled up in her chest and spilled over so that the words that fell out of her mouth hardly sounded like her own. “You’re just SO glad to get rid of me, aren’t you?” She wanted to kick the boat, and she would have but for Leander’s suddenly stern voice sounding strongly over her thoughts.


“Amberle Silverring there happens to be plenty you don’t know. Quit feeling sorry for yourself and just get in the boat.”

He had never yelled at her before. Amberle hesitated. His yelling almost hurt worse than the abandonment. She thought back to the time he had snuck her out so she could play in the forest in the rain. After that, although they didn't sneak out again, she had felt closer to him than the other elves.

“Amberle,” his voice was low, “Get in the boat.”

She didn’t want to. She didn’t want to leave her home or the forest she had grown up in and loved since she was a little girl. But she couldn’t say so after he had yelled and then followed up with a low warning growl. So she climbed into the boat while trying to hold back her tears as Leander started to cast the spells.


Amberle's eyelids became heavy as the spells infused her consciousness with dreams of the forest. She lay on a bed of lady's mantle; the yellow flowers surrounded her, comforting her as the first few drops of a warm rain gently splashed her face, running down her temple.

The wind gently touched her face carrying soft words to her elfen ears. “… a new start…” Leander’s voice was but a whisper in her ear. “Good luck, Amber…” It seemed he said something else, one last phrase which drifted away with her conscious as she slipped completely into the dream state...



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What a weekend! I went to a local anime festival (Fanime) with my boyfriend and best friend. We had no internet though, so I'm still catching up on all the entries I missed.

Plus, I didn't get a chance to play before I left, so I just took these pictures. Phew!

I also had a little bit of trouble getting the words out for this entry. I've had it written, but it didn't sound right. I hope I managed to do it justice.

Here is the music I listened to while I tried to re-write and edit. The first is actually from my favorite game Final Fantasy 4 (on the Super Nintendo). The second is from the anime series Record of Lodoss war which also deals with magic and elves. *shoves glasses up nose*

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