Bebe is a technophobe, and as such, relies on the daily newspaper to catch up on what’s going on in the world. She is also among the last in Sunset Valley to learn the news. BREAKING NEWS!! Authorities have solved a mysterious string of high profile robberies overseas. Julian Barimen, of Sunset Valley, was apprehended in the act while attempting to steal the wolds largest diamond at a museum near Paris. Information taken from the computer in his rented flat show transactions that implicate him in the theft of dozens of priceless artworks and artifacts. These transactions have lead authorities … Continue reading Chapter 1.22 – Answers

If you’re completely lost, take a look back at Chapter 1.12 to get some history pertaining to this post.   —   No. It cannot be possible. He has come so close …too close to completion to be stopped now. But he is paralyzed with fear and terror. He can feel the pain of the flames licking her flesh. He can feel the agony of the knowledge that she will not get to see Julian grow, help shape his life …watch him carry on her family tradition. She has returned to stop him from ending the legacy.   She has … Continue reading Chapter 1.21 – Guardian

Corwin has pulled off some pretty vile schemes before, but as insidious plots go, this one stands alone as an extraordinary achievement.   If he had a conscience, he might even feel bad about it. But things being as they are, he feels nothing but anticipation to watch the carnage unfold. It was almost too easy to remove Julian from the equation, albeit temporarily. The permanent solution will not be difficult, he only has to think of a creative method of implementation.   So many loose ends would be tied up tonight. First is his plan to own this land, … Continue reading Chapter 1.20 – Insidious

…just gone. Several weeks have passed since David’s birthday at the beach. They spent the entire day together playing, fishing, walking… Bebe remembers thinking that it was a dream come true, how much Julian had changed. When he first rolled into town, Julian was a different person. But recently, he had become such an amazing and attentive father, husband, and lover.   They had come back home late and gone right to sleep after putting David in his crib. Then, in the morning, she woke up alone. At first, she assumed he had just gone fishing. But as the day … Continue reading Chapter 1.19 – Gone

Julian’s phone rings in the middle of the night, waking him up. Bebe and David are still asleep, so he staggers into the next room to see who would be calling this late. It is his day off, and he had spent the day with Bebe and David. Yesterday was David’s birthday, and they took him to the beach to celebrate. They were late coming back, and Julian is dead tired. There is a text message informing him of an urgent meeting going on “immediately” at the warehouse. It goes on to suggest that ignoring the call is “strongly discouraged”. … Continue reading Chapter 1.18 – Debt

When a sim lives most of his life in the shadows, it is sometimes difficult to tell who, exactly, is in there with him. And when the time comes to emerge, it can be just as difficult to tell who still remains.   The problem with Julian’s line of work is that “friends” are really not that at all. Any relationships are temporary and symbiotic. And when the symbiosis is no longer beneficial, each goes their separate way.   And just as in nature, a mutually beneficial arrangement can turn into a one-sided affair, or worse yet, degenerate to a predator/prey relationship.   … Continue reading Chapter 1.17 – Shadows

Julian has finally saved enough lifetime happiness reward points for a “Mid-Life Crisis”. After the last entry, I figured it was as good a time as any. He dropped “Commitment Issues” and “Absent Minded” for Athletic and Charismatic. Julian is a reinvented man. He remembers the first night in Sunset Valley sleeping on the lounge chair at the beach. His only desire was to profit from the cliff-side mansions. Nearly a year has passed since that time. While he continues to work at the warehouse, he no longer perpetrates robberies on his own time. He still works toward his goal of becoming a master thief, … Continue reading Chapter 1.16 – Family

…a child …HIS child He has come full circle now. He understands that he has been guided to this place; to Bebe. And he was shown his own ugly past for the sole purpose of preparing him for this moment. But despite all the strides he has made over the weeks, he is not ready for this. He can understand Bebe’s hesitation in telling him. The deeds of his past open up like a book in front of him. He can see every broken family, every jilted lover, every callous rejection of friendship. It has lead him down a desolate road. And … Continue reading Chapter 1.15 – Crossroads

Much has changed since Julian’s revelation at the graveyard. He left that night with a mental image that still haunts him. It is not of the reaper, or of his mother’s last moments. It is the memory of his father’s tarnished smile upon discovering his wife’s demise. It was nothing short of evil. But that, in itself, is not the issue. He had no control over his father’s actions. The thing most haunting him is the reailzation that with every passing town, he is becoming more like his father; self-gratifying, cold, and unfeeling. He has lived his life drifting from … Continue reading Chapter 1.14 – Revelation

Bebe just isn’t feeling herself.   Her normal workout has been cut short over the past few days as fatigue sets in much sooner than normal. Parts of her body hurt that ought not hurt, and it begins to concern her.   To make matters worse, her daily visit to her parent’s house has become more stressful now that her dad has become an elder. His mind, which was put together wrong to begin with, is slipping even more. Her mother also suffers from her own brand of insanity, making the visits even less enjoyable.   It is in Bebe’s nature … Continue reading Chapter 1.13 – Illness

Julian stands frozen in time before the statue of the reaper. The statue itself is not particularly shocking; sims walk past it every day. This is a graveyard, after all. But for Julian, it has the same effect as walking into a busy street without paying attention to the cars. Even as a statue, sight of the reaper is enough to unsettle an unsuspecting sim. And he realizes, rather suddenly, that this sighting was not his first. He had seen it once before, when he was a small child. The part Julian does not realize is the nature of the … Continue reading Chapter 1.12 – Memories

What I have been trying to convey with Julian is this battle of the mind against the heart. Many times we experience this same thing in our own lives; going with what we want rather than what we need. Every home has that one place where all the “junk” is tossed. Sometimes it’s a drawer. Some folks need a whole closet. While others still, fill up an entire garage with junk. The problem comes when it’s time to find that one thing among the clutter. Julian’s memories have been treated much like that somewhat-important might-be-useful-later stuff. The issue, it seems, is … Continue reading Chapter 1.11 – Clutter

When Bebe first did her research on the house, she uncovered Julian’s birth records. His birthday, for some reason, was one of those unusual things that just stuck. At one time it might have been useless knowledge. But for today, it turns out to be a blessing. Julian’s night shift ends in the early morning hours while Bebe is asleep. But tonight, she makes an effort to stay awake so that when he gets home, she can surprise him with a birthday cake. But Julian is some weird kind of silent, and when she gets out of bed to look … Continue reading Chapter 1.10 – Surprise

What happens when a sim who has always followed his instinct decides to second-guess it? And if his instinct has always lead him to disappear before forming the bonds of friendship, then how would ignoring it, just this one time, possibly change things? Julian is a sim who fits that description exactly. For the first time in his life, Julian decides to stay despite his instinct telling him it is time to leave. Of course, he dismisses the possibility that he may actually be becoming attached to Sunset Valley. Nevermind the compelling window to his mostly-forgotten past; that property on … Continue reading Chapter 1.9 – Instinct

For Bebe, the sudden appearance of Julian in Sunset Valley has brought memories from her childhood back into the forefront of her mind. They are wonderful memories. She and her friends would spend entire days running in the huge field where the tiny log home sit perched on the vista. To a child, this is the stuff of high-romance and love stories. But what follows after Julian’s gracious invitation to live there quickly brings her crashing back down to reality. There is a decidely dark side to Julian that sometimes gives her the creeps. Almost like a light-switch, he will … Continue reading Chapter 1.8 – Reality