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== Chapter One: Humble Beginnings ==
<br />
[[File:
''These are my grandparents, Angua and Vince De Crypt. In the early days of our dynasty few records were kept. I struggle to understand how one can leave their family, their home, and not even record the reason why. I do not expect I will ever understand - I have never lived the kind of life they lived, I have never experienced the poverty they accepted as normal. I hope I never will. I remember my grandfather telling me once, when I was a toddler all those centuries ago, that moving to Aridia was meant to be a 'fresh start' for them. Why did they need a fresh start? What were they running from?''
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''Those were less enlightend times, people were not as accepting then as they are now. Even in Aridia, in my grandparent's time, vampires and werewolves were creatures to be feared. My children and I can proudly walk down any street without fear of being attacked, but back then our kind had to hide behind locked doors and could only socialise with fellow creatures of the night. Maybe Angua and Vince lived somewhere even worse before they moved to Aridia, and had to leave in a hurry when thier neighbourhood turned on them. That would certainly explain why there are no pictures of thier childhood homes.''
[[File:
''Of course, at the start of the story Vince is still alive, and his coffin still sat in the bedroom next to Angua's bed. Money was short and bills needed to be paid - Vince needed to get a job. It is often a struggle for vampires to find a job, simply because we cannot go out at night. If we are lucky we can get a job as a security guard, prehaps, but the pay is low and you cannot get promoted without being pushed into a day shift. Who wants to be a security guard forever? Luckily for Vince, the local Job Centre was little more understanding than most and he found a job in the local vampire coven.''
[[File:
''Of course, no relationship is enitrely without trouble. My grandmother was desperate to have a child, but Vince was uncertain. The excuse he gave Angua was that he wanted to be in a more stable position, but in reality he was worried what the offspring of a vampire and a werewolf would be like. I think his worry was justified; at that time no such creature exisisted and thier understanding of genetics was less complete. We still have some way to go, of course, but we now know that if a Vampire or a Werewolf has a child it will be human. I am proof of that, as are my father and my children. We were all born human and were bitten as teenagers to become vampires, or werewolves.''' '''Of course, It is a well known fact that I am only half-human; my mother is an alien. That part of the story will be explained in more detail later.''
''I never met my grandmother, but by all accounts she was a strong willed woman. She knew how to get her way. I hope that trait has passed down through the generations, it would be no bad thing for my children to have a little of that iron will. With a little self-control we could keep the blood strong and pure, and my descendants could continue this book until it becomes a saga to last the ages.''
''Of course [[File:
''So this is how it began. My grandparents moved to Aridia, my grandfather got work in the local coven. My grandmother wanted a child, but my grandfather was afraid. Friends were made, and a fresh start was made.''<br />
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[[File:
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''It was in his very last days that Vince told me that story, and I wish I could remember it better but I was young and foolish. I thought he would be there to tell me the story again next week, next month. This is one of the few disadvantages of being a vampire. Sooner or later you will find you have a friend, a lover, a family member who is mortal. They will age and they will leave you. You try to forget, but after the while you make new friends, and they are aging also. You will outlive so many of the people you love, and people wonder why vampires are dark - but how could we be otherwise? You can see a family multiply before your eyes, you can watch look at a mighty oak and remember the sapling, but you can't stop grieving for those you have lost. If we felt nothing when our friends died, we would be monsters. I am many things, but I am not a monster.''
[[File:
''Again I have digressed from the main storyline - forgive me. ''
''Vince was frightend of having the child Angua was desperate for, but mother nature had other ideas. Angua fell pregnant multiple times, but each time the transformation from human to werewolf was too traumatic and she lost the child. Finally, with a lot of support from Vince and the local hospital, she managed to carry a pregnancy to term.''
''[[File:
''This pregnancy, of course, was my father, Vlad De Crypt. From the first moment they looked at my father, it was obvious he was no monster, neithier was he a vampire. In the evening, when he failed to transform, they discovered he was not a werewolf eithier. Vlad had his father's black hair and his mother's brown eyes. ''
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''I love the hope a new child represents, I love the moment when you first hold a child and look into its eyes, and see all the future, all the maybes and possibilities. This loud little armful of tears and smiles could be the next prime minister, or a surgeon, or a homemaker, you just don't know. It's been too long since I held a child, mine are all grown, and thier grandchildren too. I suppose I must have great-grandchildren out in the world somewhere, but they don't want to know me. Families look forward, to the future, and I am the past, a living fossil. My latest wife is gone and I sit here alone in my mansion with empty arms. Your children are your legacy, but that legacy will run on without you and leave you looking after it longingly. ''
[[File:
''Angua felt that vampires could be a force for good, and of course she was right. She realised we are not inherently evil, no more so than any other person.''
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== Chapter Three: Births and Birthdays ==
''[[File:
''As a toddler my father kept a strange schedule. Angua, who didn't work, had got into the habit of sleeping partly during the day and partly during the night so that she could meet Vince when he left for and came home from work. Of course they wanted my father to spend as much time with Vince as he could, so Vlad was out to bed at odd hours of the day and night.''
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''I remember a story my father told me once, of when he was a toddler and barely able to walk. I don't suppose he actually remembers the event himself, he must have been told the story by his parents. Angua was in the living room, studying and researching spells, and waiting for the sun to set. What an exciting time of day that must have been! I have known werewolves, but I have not lived with them. Imagine, for Vlad, what it must have been like - your father is about to come to life, and your mother is about to change into something more akin to an animal than a human. In this story Vlad took advantage of his mother's distraction to go find his father. As I said, the sun had not yet set, so VInce slept so deep it would have been nearly impossible to wake him, which explains how Vlad managed to get the coffin open without disturbing him. My father spoke of the incredible peace he saw on Vince's face, and the puzzling absence of any fear at seeing his father like this. Would you have been afraid? To find your father cold, silent, and being unable to rouse him? Nonetheless, a few minutes later when the sun set and Vince woke, he found his son curled up in his arms, sleeping the way any human toddler would.''
''[[File:
''Pregnant with Damien'']]''[[File:
''My father was not an only child - for a short time, he had a brother, Damien. Damien was born only a couple days after Vlad started school, and he died only a couple of days before Vlad left for University. I wish I knew more of genetics, so I could explain why Damien grew up so quickly and Vlad was an ordinary human. The fact remains that Damien must of inherited something of the vampire or werewolf genes so that he was a teenager when he died, despite only being old enough to be a child. I am getting ahead of myself - Damien lived for many years, you need to hear a little of those first.''
[[File:
Angua (witch), Vlad (child), Damien (toddler) and Vince (vampire)]]''Damien's black hair grew long and thick, and it seemed obvious to Angua he was destined to be a werewolf. Strangely, he had a slightly feminine look about him. By now Angua and Vince had more money, although not much, as Vince had worked his way up to be a hunter at the coven, and they managed to scrape together enough to send the boys to private school.''
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== Chapter Four: Growing up ==
''I said previously that I never met my Uncle. His death was a tragic accident, and many mourned, for (unlike my father) Damien never struggled to fit in. His friendly personality charmed all that knew him. He wasn't as academically successful as my father, but was less withdrawn. If the teachers at school ever had a problem with him, it was because of his frequent truancy, but all he needed to do was flash that winning smile and he was back in thier good book. Many objected that he was bright enough to do better, if he would only attend classes, but thier objections fell on deaf ears. [[File:
''Vlad was a talented musician, from an early age he could play any music he laid his hands on and wrote musi as easily as he breathed. Mostly he wanted to play the violin, and would spend hours every night producing gothic music that wound its way into a listeners mind and left a stain long after the piece had finished. He stayed up so long every night that he developed dark circles under his eyes, but when his teachers suggested he get an early night, he would just stare at them, silently, seriously, as if calculating the best place to strike.''
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[[File:Picture_(67).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Sim Wedding]]
'''''Dear Vlad, It's such a shame you missed the wedding last week. You and Kazuo were such good friends at school. I've sent you this picture so you can see how pretty everyone looked -
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'''''Hi mum! Just letting you know we're all ok here. Not much is really happening here, we're all working hard. As you can see, Nova's dress sense hasn't improved, but his beard has. I loved your postcard - but wasn't that the maid behind you? Since when was she a werewolf? Or a witch? Give Kazuo my best. It's a shame he didn't come with me to university but to each
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[[File:Picture_(78).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Learning to fire dance]]
'''''Dear Vlad,
'''''PS What hints? I
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[[File:Picture_(75).jpg|thumb|left|300px|From Left; Rose Dai, Moriko Sakurako, Angua De Crypt, Witch Doctor, Gretchen Chin]]'''''Oh Vlad, I'm so pleased for them! It's so nice to see a young couple who care enough about each other to make that big a commitment. But you still
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''These are pictures from my aunt and uncle's wedding. Stella Terrano and Nova Terrano got married at night so that the De Crypt family could visit. As you can see, my aunt was a beautiful woman. Im told it was a moving ceremony. Stella persuaded Nova to wear something a little less abnormal for thier wedding, it's probably one of the few times she succeeded at that. A few days after the wedding, my aunt discovered she was pregnant. Alien genetics is a strange and confusing business. I am half alien, but it only really shows in my eyes, which are human. That is a common combination - you hardly ever see half-alien sims with human skin and alien eyes. Why should that be? Surely eithier combination is equally likely? We may never know. ''
[[File:
''My aunt and Uncle had a baby girl, whom they named Astria Terrano. She had Stella's black hair and the typical alien solid black eyes. Astria is a full blooded alien. The same day they adopted a cat, to be a childhood friend for ther daughter. Vanessa, jealous of thier happiness, persuaded Vlad to move the date of the wedding forward. They planned a typical vampire wedding, in red and black. Since leaving university Vanessa had grown up into an elegant vampire-bride-to-be.''
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== Chapter Nine: My People ==
''Up until now I have talked almost exclusively about my own family - but we do not live in a bubble. We have friends, neighbours, families we know like our own. Prehaps if I filled in some of the blanks you could understand the background of our lives and the setting in which we perform our actions. There are two main divisions in the nieghbourhood - those who engage in the paranormal, embrace it, make it part of thier everyday lives, and those who are 'normal'. Normality is relative, of course, but this simple division influences who many of us are friends with, who we marry. It's not compulsory, of course, but if you never see a person you can never get to know them well enough to fall in love, and as a rule these two halves of the neighbourhood do not mix. At this time the nieghbourhood is not as well aligned as it is now, and a single generation can span many ages.. Nowadays each generation is the same age, purely by accident of course. No-one could control that many people that closely to bring this about - it must be coincidence.''
[[File:
Children; Eric Morrison, Elizabeth Morrison]] ''
''Obviously there is Stella and Nova, with
''At that time, Ellie Aridia, Sky Aridia, Fricorith Tricou, and Gvaudoin Tricou were all teenagers. Ellie and Sky Aridia are cousins, as was
Carlos, Alan, Nerissa, Pettina, Marcus, Ellie, Sky]]Marucs Aridia. The Aridia family was a family of rich
''Fricorith and Gvaudoin Tricou were also cousins, they lived with
''Kazuo had two half-brothers, Shui and Yoshi. Kazuo was the son of Moriko Sakurako and Rod Humble, but Rod abandoned Moriko after she followed him to Aridia and left her a single mother. A few years after, Moriko [[File:Picture_(96).jpg|thumb|Shui Sakurako and his plantbabies]]became a plantsim, and entered the paranormal side of the neighbourhood. Kazuo had no
''Shui quickly outgrew his brother and was an adult whilst Kazuo was only just starting school, and eventually left [[File:Picture_(97).jpg|thumb|left|Rose Dai and Yoshi Dai]]to build his own house specially designed for plantsims. Kazuo's third half-brother was Yoshi Dai. Moriko began dating Rose Dai, the werewolf my father remembers as being a good friend of Angua during his childhood. Rose moved in and they had a child together. Eventually Rose and Moriko got engaged at Kazuo's wedding, but they never married themselves.''
''This is my neighbourhood, my home. These are the people I knew as well as I know myself, although they are all long gone now. Thier grandchildren and great-grandchildren play in the streets as I write this. By the time I'm old enough to remember any of these people they are all adults and have children of
== Chapter Ten: Poetry ==
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''***''
''I once refused your
''I set it down, and did not drink''
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''The price is immortality''
''To watch my
''Wither''
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''An empty clatter, mocking me in my lonliness''
''as the coffin lid falls shut, my safety net, my
''trapping me for another day''
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== Chapter Eleven: My Childhood ==
''Its odd, the things you remember when you get old. I remember the first flake of snow I ever saw, landing on my upturned palm, melting almost instantly from my body warmth. I had only the briefest impression of its fragile beauty before the mere fact that I was alive destroyed its very
Count Dracula (toddler), Vince (evil warlock), Vlad (in chair), Vanessa (witch), Maria (child)]]seeing the snowflakes settle on his skin. They did not melt - his cold vampric skin held no warmth. That was when I saw the truth - the death we undergo to become vampires preserves beauty, cold and lifeless and pure. Like that snowflake, we are not destroyed but rather protected from the ravages of time, and are left, unchanging as the world moves on around us. We are a statue to some long forgotten hero, standing silently in the crowds, admired for a moment then passed over in the busy and fretful bustlings that are your lives.''
''My grandfather is dead, and so is my father. Time takes us all eventually. We should live forever - but who would want to? I have outlived three wives, I have raised three families, I have outlived grandchildren, and greatgrandchildren, and few of my family that are alve today wish to know me. I am a relic. I am so far out of my time that I cannot adjust. I no longer know the
''I have wandered away from my topic again. I am meant to be talking about my childhood - I have not met Carina yet, nor Jennail. I am still a toddler, squalling and grabbing at snowflakes, wanting them to linger and furious that they would not. My mother puts me down in the snow and I totter unsteadily - I am just learning to walk this past week. Finally I cling to my grandfathers legs. He is a giant to my eyes, and lifts me up easily. I place my hand on his cheeks, seeing the difference between my green skin and his grey skin, looking into his red eyes and remembering that my own are brown. This is the man who taught me to talk, who held me after I fell off my tricycle and scraped my knee, who was sleeping in his coffin on my first day of school but gave me advice the night before on making friends, and promised to be there the next night to hear all about it.''
''I doubt it was any one thing that took Vince De Crypt from us. He had been suffering from a lung infection for a while, but he had seemed to be on the mend. I am told that he had been unhappy ever since my grandmother passed, although he kept it hidden from me.
''I was the one that found him.''
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''It had been my first day of school, and I couldn't wait to tell my grandfather all about it. I had waited anxiously in his room at sunset until the last flickers of sun drained from the sky, until I could hear my father stirring in the next room. I lifted up the lid of the coffin to wake him, but his grey lifeless skin had somehow become even more pale and drained, and his eyes were firmly shut. I touched his cheek, and it crumbled away like ash beneath my touch. I backed away then, trying to call for help, but no words came. Finally my mother came to find me, and took me away from that room, as if she could make me unsee what I knew was engraved on my memory.''
''[[File:Picture_(100).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Maria De Crypt]]I suppose you're surprised that I havnt mentioned Maria much yet. Ah, Maria, with her halo of auburn hair. Everyone remarked on how pretty she was, how
''Whilst we were at school we rarely saw our father. During the night we were worn out and slept deeply whilst he awoke and lived his own,
''Astria and Venus did not feature largely in my life I'm afraid. I suppose I regret that.
== Chapter Twelve: Alone ==
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''Memories can ambush you at the most unexpected times. Yesterday I found a piece of chalk one of my grandchildren had left here, but rather than reminding me of my living family, I remembered Maria's teenage years. She had decided she would be an artist when she was older and threw herself into painting, sculpting, everything she could, the house was full of the smells of chalk and clay and paint. Her room was full with portraits of the family, of friends, and landscape after landscape, the view from her window, from our school, from the car window... I remembered one portrait in particular, done in chalk, of our pet Womrat, Midnight, pressing his paws
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''The trivial details of our teenage relationship are of little interest to most people, however important they [[File:Pciture_(113).png|thumb|300px|A note from Arianne Tricou]]seem at the time to the people involved. We think our current partner is the most important person in the whole world, and for a time they are, but reality pushes onwards and people grow apart. As adults we grow less and therefore grow apart less, but even so I know firsthand how easily a personality can change and the one you love turn into someone unrecognisable. Suffice to say
''I suppose since I've already mentioned my cousins, it might be worth saying how they are doing. Astria was doing well at uni, she lived with Maria. Astria was dating Kenji Sakurako, a plantsim, and a child and grandchild of Plantsims. Kenji didn't like his limited life, growing up so quickly, knowing things he never learnt. His sister Kokoro loved it and was going to carry on their family's lifestyle, but Kenji was determined to leave and have his own children rather [[File:Picture_(114).jpg|thumb|left|200px|Kenji Sakurako and Astria Terrano]]than grow Plantbabies. Kenji later married Astria, and they had a child - but for the life of me I can't remember the name of their child! I should do, that child married my own. One of the curses of old age I suppose. Kokoro did have her own Plantbaby, eventually. First she married a Servo and fell pregnant by it, producing a human child. No-one ever figured out how they managed that one. Venus lived with me, so you might hear a [[File:Picture_(117).jpg|thumb|200px|Elizabeth Morrison and Venus Terrano]]little more of her later, but for now suffice to say she began dating Elizabeth Morrison. I think by now everyone had pretty much met who they were going to marry, as Venus and Elizabeth went on to do. Certainly I decided very quickly to marry Carina, although of course at the time I thought it would be forever, not for only a human lifetime. I still don't understand how such a small accident can completely wipe out someone so full of life, so perfect. None of my wives stayed with me. Penthesilea wouldn't even give up her humanity for me, and as for Jennail... maybe, as I near the end, I will find that Death is merely a kind of rebirth, and in my next life I will find love that lasts, a wife that will not leave me. There was an important experience I should mention - though I haven't spoken of it to anyone. As a creature of the night it is very easy to find an interest in the stars and it became a habit of mine to stargaze from the roof of my dormitory. One night I was marvelling at the beauty of the universe when something happened that is so rare I [[File:1514825_original.png|thumb|left|200px|Aliens!]]should count myself a lucky man. I was abducted by aliens! The ship swooped down on me when my back was turned, the first I knew of it was when I was snatched from my chair and sucked up into the night sky before I could even call out. In my panic I lashed out at my invisible bonds and transformed into a bat, a talent of vampires. For a moment I almost escaped as the sudden change of shape confused their machine, but then the doors of the ship clanged in front of me and I was trapped. Hissing, I spun round to face my captors, and saw the last thing I expected. A human woman."Relax, we're not going to hurt you." She said, looking absolutely wretched. "You're too young for them to impregnate, we - they - just want information." Her beautiful face was twisted by sorrow, pain that have gone on for so long she could no longer imagine life without it. I couldn't help it - I wanted to help her. "Relax." She repeated. "We just want to talk." It turned out one of the ships officers had a daughter who wanted to go to university in SimNation, and they were looking for a suitable place to go, somewhere safe. So I talked. I talked about the various towns and cities across our land, some of them more accepting than others. I talked about the concrete forests of tower blocks in the cities, I talked about the gentle rolling green hills and the small towns nestled within. I talked about the quiet openness of our desert, where you can see all the way to the horizon, and beyond. I explained about towns consisting entirely of humans, pleasant but close minded and suspicious of strangers, especially those of different species. I spoke a little of Strangetown, half remembered facts Jasper had told me, how the alien population was growing there and people moved there to seek the paranormal, and I talked of Aridia, our growing town that had not yet become particularly well known in the public eye but was generally agreed to be the town where the paranormal was normal. I explained how vampires and werewolves lived in quiet harmony by staying out of each other's way, how aliens seemed tame compared to the evil witches and warlocks constantly battling the good, and the recent addition of two living statues had barely been an event to most people. Aridia was the most accepting, peaceful and welcoming town possible to anyone who was more than human.The aliens listened and took notes, then finally nodded and left me and this strange woman alone.[[File:235px-Colony_Drone_65535.png|thumb|200px|Aliens]]"You realise that he will probably send his daughter to your town now?" She said quietly.'' ''"You realise I am half-alien myself under this vampirism? Why would that bother me? My mother came to La Fiesta Tech along with her boyfriend and his sister, none of them left, they all live in Aridia. We have also have an alien werewolf. That's my parents generation, I have a sister who's also half alien, two alien cousins, my sister and I are both dating aliens... It's just another shade of skin colour and some funny eyes. Maybe a funny nose if you don't have much human in you." I leant forward slightly. "Speaking of being human... what are you doing here? Are you part alien but take after the human side of the family? We have some of those too." "No, I..." She looked a bit embarrassed. "I don't really remember. I used to live with my husband and our two children. Then... then I was here. I don't know why. I was talking to my neighbour, we were on his roof, there was a flash of light, and now I just want to get home. When I left my daughter was about to get married, her name is... Cathy? Cassie? I can't remember! I try to remember, I do, but every day more of it slips away and one day I wont remember my own family!" She began to sob and with a sinking feeling I realised she looked familiar. "How long have you been on here?" "I'm not sure. A long time. I think they are keeping me young, but why? I'm not sure anyway, I could be wrong, the days blur together a lot here, it could be only a few years, I certainly hope so. I want to go home to... Marty? I think it was Marty." I sat quietly for a while, digesting this. I was sure I knew who she was, she was famous for having vanished overnight and never being found. It was the way she dressed that convinced me, she reminded me of my mother, except she had been born into the kind of family that wore these clothes, whereas Vanessa had married into the kind of family. It showed in the way they acted. If she was who I thought she was... she had vanished years back, while I was still a toddler. For years campaigns went out on TV whilst her husband and children asked for her return. "Bella." I whispered. Her head snapped up and she stared at me wordlessly. "Get off this ship. It's been longer ''
''[[File:Portrait_de_Sonia_Gothik_(Les_Sims_3_Ambitions).png|thumb|left|169px|The woman I met on the ship]]than you think, but your family want you back. The first chance you get, jump ship, you'll find your way home, you're famous! Run, Bella..." At that moment the aliens returned and dragged us away from each other down opposite corridors. I called out her name and snatched at the walls, but I couldn't get a grip, and then suddenly I was falling, falling... the night rushed passed me and I yelled aloud and the road rushed up to meet me. A few months later I spotted her in the newspaper. It was only a face in the crowd, but it was her alright. She had escaped and ended up in Strangetown. I searched for articles about her being found and returned to her family, but there was none. Did she ever get home to her family? I thought of how she couldn't
== Chapter Fifteen: My first Love ==
''Again, forgive an old man his drama. I know Arianne was my first love, but they rarely last beyond the teenage years they started in. I am talking of my first adult love, a very different thing. Such joy, to find yourself seriously considering a future with a person in, rather than just idly daydreaming the
''Carina's skin was a soft turquoise colour, yet was cold and hard like diamond. Her scarlet eyes could see right into your soul and find the best part of you. As vampires, our life can sour even the kindest heart, but with Carina nearby it was easier to remember who you really were, and what kind of person you wanted to be. Arianne never fully accepted Carina as a friend, and away from her influence she developed a seed of bitterness of her own. ''
''[[File:Picture_(126).png|thumb|400px|De Crypt family tree]]There was nothing I wanted more than to include Carina into my family, but sometimes I think she felt my family was larger than it really was. I drew this once for her - a family tree of the De Crypts. Reduced to paper, our family was rather small at that time and a lot simpler to understand. We were all still in university, so none of us had married yet, none of us had children. Maria had not married Jasper and had his child, or an affair and child by Rodrigue. Astria was not married to Kenji, and Venus was not married to Elizabeth. In Aridia there is no hard and fast rule for who takes whose name after marriage - both Astria and Venus kept
''I suppose I am a little harsh to the pair of them, my mother and my sister, for aspiring to a simple life. That is all anyone has any right to expect, but when you are offered the chance for more, when you are born into a greater life, with money to buy your every desire, to wish for something less, to turn your back on that lifestyle and settle for the suburbs - unthinkable! Our family worked hard to rise itself above the common man, even if Vince and Angua did not know that was what they were striving for, it is what we achieved! Our family has achieved greatness! Vanessa married into a better family than she had any right to hope for, to dream for, a little girl who actually found a Prince Charming, and yet she felt unfulfilled because we could afford the best without having to struggle for it. Maria was ashamed - ashamed! - to admit she came from a richer family and always associated with the lower classes when she knew that would only anger our father, and rightly so. The Tricou family would have been better friends for her, as they were always mine, or the Aridia's, our neighbourhood's founders, or the Morrison's. Our four families are the pinnacle of our neighbourhood, people look up to us and wish they were us. Every young lady or gentlemen hopes to catch the eye of someone from our families so they can marry up into a better lifestyle. I admit, sometimes true love will surpass class boundaries, but Maria could have brought Jasper here to live with us as Jasper De Crypt, elevating him above his peers and opening doors for him. I am proud to say I married according to my status in the community, first Carina, my cold beauty, taken before her time, then Penthesilea, warm and loving, human to the end, and finally Jennail, who couldn't find room in her heart for me but loved our children unconditionally. I loved them all, and they were all suitable for me. Why couldn't Maria find the same?''
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</gallery>''</p>
''Elizabeth and Venus, Eric and Prof. Lisa, all were married in due course. Elizabeth’s father, Jack, had been lonely since the passing of his wife and decided to adopt a toddler, a boy named Alvin. Shortly after, Elizabeth announced she was pregnant. Unfortunately they lost the first pregnancy, but a while after that Elizabeth gave birth to Lyra, their daughter. Alvin was a child by the time Lyra was born, and eager to help raise his
Picture (124).jpg
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''Shui Sakurako built Servo to look after his children when he was gone. However, Shui accidently created an [[File:Kokoro,_Servo_and_Shui_Sakurako.jpg|thumb|Kokoro Sakurako (back, left), Servo Sakurako and Shui Sakurako (child in front)]]artificial person, with thoughts and feelings and a mind of his own. Servo later went on to marry Kokoro, Shui's daughter, and raised two children together, one of which was genetically his. After Kokoro’s death, Servo spent some years with the plantsim family before eventually moving out. He started his own business at one point, selling robots (the non-self-aware kind). Servo was turned on – “born” – in the same year that I was, so at this point Servo is the only one who has lived as long as I have and seen the changes in the neighbourhood that I have. Servo is the only one of the three Sims I mentioned still alive. Jennail gave up her vampirism, aged fast, and died. Calista died, I can’t recall how as I didn’t know her particularly well. ''
''My children’s loneliness in childhood led to my loneliness now – they were forced to find company other than their sleeping, undead, parents are eventually stopped needing us altogether. My cousins were somewhat luckier in that regard, although they both only the one child each they were both very close to their children. After all, after Astria and Kenji got divorced, and Uncle Nova passed away, Astria and Mars only had each other. Kenji left Astria for another man, saying that he realized he only married Astria in order to escape his family’s lifestyle. Maria used a similar excuse for marrying Jasper rather than the man she truly loved – but she never left Jasper when she had the chance.''
''Maria stayed with Jasper and their son. Eventually she had a second child by Rodrigue, and although she loved both her children she clearly favored Rodrigue’s child. It was plain to everyone that he child was Rodrigue’s – the child had inherited human skin, rather than alien. Alien skin is a dominant trait, but Maria and I are half-human. We still carry – and can pass on – the gene for human colored skin. If a child inherits two human skin genes, it will look human. Jasper was a full blooded alien. All of Jasper’s children would inherit and express alien skin, so any human child literally could not be his. No one could blame for being a little cool towards that second child at times, but Maria’s spells stopped him from leaving entirely. With magic and with blood she bound both the men in her life to her. Neither would leave whilst she held custody of their child.''
''[[File:Sabine_and_Solange_Sangria_begin_renting_an_apartment.jpg|thumb|left|Sabine and Solange (toddler) Sangria begin renting an apartment]]''
''Venus, Elizabeth, Jack, Alvin and Lyra all remained as a close-knit family group. Jack eventually passed away, of course, and Alvin went on to marry someone very unusual. Alvin was friends with them from the moment they moved into Aridia. The Sangria family. Back in our childhood, we all learnt about these mythical leopard-people. They were similar to the werewolves in that they took the form of a beast, but the leopard-people weren’t restricted to night. They were permanently in the form of a leopard, but one that strongly resembled a person also. They walked and talked and were civilized like us, but preferred to live in the jungle or rainforest. We were taught that they died out. Imagine my delight when they moved into Aridia! There was only two of them, quite possibly the last of their kind, but they knew if they could get acceptance anywhere it would be here. Sabine Sangria and her daughter Solange, creatures of myth and legend reduced to barely scratching out a living in the desert, far ''
[[File:Sabine_and_Solange_Sangria.jpg|thumb|Sabine and Solange (toddler) Sangria]]
''from home. ''
''When a neighbourhood become this interconnected, it is difficult to draw the lines between who is my family and who is not. At the time of this narrative – when we were all married and raising our children, only Solange and Sabine were not related to me, by marriage or otherwise. Eventually Solange married Alvin, and Alvin is the adopted younger sister of the woman who married my cousin… there is not anyone in this neighbourhood I am not related to in some manner.''
==Chapter Twenty-Six: Family Affairs==
<p class="MsoNormal">''<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">I mentioned previously that Astria and Kenji got divorced. Kenji tried to explain by saying he loved Astria, but was not in love with her. I think it was partly his sister’s fault, after their father died she insisted that they maintain her specialized plantsim lifestyle. Kenji knew she would only allow him to leave for love – so he tried to convince himself that he fell in love with Astria. After their child was born, however, their relationship decayed and eventually they got divorced. Kenji still lived with Astria and Mars for a while, trying to help raise his son. Kenji eventually left Astria entirely for another man, Steve Smith. Afterwards, Astria and Mars only had each other. </span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;mso-no-proof:yes"> </span>''</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">''<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">[[File:Scoria_and_Obsidian_Aridia.jpg|thumb|left|Scoria and Obsidian Aridia]]Around this time, Scoria and Mitchell had their first child, Obsidian. Obsidian was a beautiful baby girl, born with her father’s blonde hair, which she chose to dye black when she grew up. Obsidian eventually married Pierrine and inherited the Tricou estate, whilst Obsidian’s younger sibling inherited the Aridia estate.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span> </span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;mso-no-proof:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;mso-no-proof:yes"> </span>[[File:Picture_(141).jpg|thumb|Adults, from left: Taro, Toshiko and Kenji Sakurako
Toddlers, from left: Aina, Arata and Akira Sakurako]]''</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">''Whilst most families were raising one or two children, Toshiko and Taro Sakurako were raising triplets. Aina, Akira and Arata all stayed close through their adulthood. Almost as troublesome were the Morrison twins – Charlotte and Christina, nearly identical, grew up to be the beauties of the town. One of them went on to marry Maria and Rodrigue’s child - I can’t remember who, and it was always difficult to tell them apart. I believe it was a less than [[File:Christina_(left)_and_Charlotte_(right)_Morrison.jpg|thumb|left|Christina (left) and Charlotte (right) Morrison]]traditional marriage, with Maria and Rodrigue’s child being somewhat shared between the twins. ''</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">''There was an unusual numbers of multiple births of the next few years. Both Scoria Aridia and Baby Doll Dai gave birth to twins – Thomas and Teresa Aridia and Sophie and Sarah Dai. Thomas and Teresa both inherited their father’s eyes, and Thomas also inherited his father’s blonde hair but elected to keep his natural hair colour. Teresa inherited her mother’s stone hair. Sophie and Sarah were both born with their mother’s alien skin. Sophie grew up with her father’s black hair whilst Sarah had Baby Doll’s red hair.''</p>
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Alien playing chess.jpg
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Adrian De Crypt and Vanessa De Crypt .jpg
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