The Shyr Twins: Move to Neverglade

From this point on, the story will be told, first-hand, by Ellarain.

The trip to Neverglade was a long one, but we're here now and to our surprise it is beautiful! Nestled comfortably in a large valley at the foothills of a glorious and lush mountainscape, the town stretches as far as we can see. I took a deep breath of the clean crisp air. It's as if I'm breathing in purity, the quality of the air here is definitely a step above what it was back in Abbotsford.

Ellarian, or Rian, as I like to call her, slid to my side and wrapped her arm around me, giving me a tight hug. We stood there at the outskirts of town just drinking in the scenery watching as the sun set over the mountains. I could feel wonderment blooming within me, this is where we are going to live now!

Our Uncle Evindal had not lied when he told us that the town was new and we would be the first residents to move to Neverglade.  It was completely empty except for the few sims who work in the community lots. Uncle's friend, Dane Barksdale, the developer of Neverglade, was supposed to meet us at City Hall, so I waited there while Rian explored the building.

I was napping under a red-leafed shady tree out in front of City Hall when Mr. Barksdale finally showed up. He made his apologies saying he and his team were testing the integrity of a bridge in his latest town and got delayed there.  Rian met up with us and we went on a tour of the city. There are soooooo many houses to choose from, I don't know how we are going to decide.... But then we spotted the perfect house.

The Orchard House, 3 bedroom, 1 bath. Located at Hungry Holly Street 78. It is perfect for us for a couple of reasons, it's not too big, it's not too little, and we love the two extra buildings in the back. Rian wants to eventually turn the bigger building into a garage for her vintage cars - did I mention she loves vintage cars? I don't see the lure and think that the rusty broken down cars she likes are eyesores, but it's what she loves.  The smaller building we both agreed we'd turn into our hobby/music room.

Though we had a trust fund that our grandparents had intended for us to use at our leisure, once our Uncle took over the estate and the trust fund account, he limited our access to it - we'd only receive a small stipend each month.  The house, we were told, is valued at approximately $108,000 (lower costs since they're trying to populate the valley and move these houses for quick sales). We don't have to pay that, as this is our Uncle's "gift" to us, but if we want to add/change/decorate it to our liking it would come out of our own money.  We got a couple of things for the house, just comfort stuff, but mostly made sure our entertainment was covered and filled the hobby/music house and bought new cars - well I bought a brand new economical Toyota Prius, where as Rian bought a rusty old classic Retro Ride, and a broken down fixer-upper. We plan on redecorating slowly, we especially need to add another bathroom.

Money is now an issue for us, so we had to get jobs. I'm still not sure what I want to do in life, but I know I like music, so I'm going to give the Music Career a shot and see how I like it. Rian, surprise, surprise, got a job in the Motor Mechanic Career.

We're home now, home sweet home. Rian immediately set to work on her car, while I practice on guitar.

It started to get dark and we were both starving. Rian thought she would cook us mac and cheese, we'll unfortunately her cooking skills aren't that great and we ended up with a fire!!!

We both freaked out, and it took us a moment or two too long before we grabbed fire extinguishers to attempt to put it out.

The fire grew so large that it took out the cabinets on either side of it, including the sink and stove.

Our insurance company gave us a few hundred dollars for damages, but that didn't even cover half of what we had to pay to replace the stove, two cabinets, and a sink.  It all but wiped out the rest of our money except for $531.

Needless-to-say we ended up eating cereal for dinner.

The fire put a little worry in our minds about our financial situation, not to mention the need to get a fire alarm (a burglar alarm wouldn't hurt either), so we put our heads together and came up with the decision that since we have an extra bedroom that has two single beds in it, we could add a privacy divider and put out an ad for two roommates.  We'd require first and last month's rent at a monthly rate of $531 per roommate.

With that settled, we also thought it would be a good idea to try to work on our skills whenever we could so that we could sell whatever we made and turn a profit.

Living on your own is hard! I don't think we realized just exactly what it meant until now. Hopefully, someone will answer our roommate ad soon!

(picked out from google, thanks google :O))

Sim-u-later!

Sims Photo Studio

It's about time my simmies get a studio to show off. I just converted some space in a cc salon building and turned it into a simple studio.  Still need to play around with lighting and posing, but I like it!

The thing in the middle is jomsims' wall 1 from the tulsa bathroom set downloadable at TSR.

[with my Shyr Twins] | Female twin poses by Dovahsiims.

Poses: Cabaret Poses by k2mtoo @MTS + Puccamichi Sims Calendar Girl

Poses: Mamyrocker RTS JUST ME! + Puccamichi Sims Fashion

behind the scenes (:

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Sim-u-later!

The Shyr Twins: Backstory Part 3 (Final)

Dr. McSimmons, with his tired dull grey eyes, sagging bristly white-whiskered jowls, and age-slouched gait, swept the minty green surgical cap from his head as he approached the waiting party. He knew the family was anxious to hear the fate of their Elora and hastened, albeit in his own slow-motion-like mannerisms, to relay the news.

He told them that Elora had pulled through, they had managed to resuscitate her, however, she was still in pretty bad shape. Already weakened from her illnesses and the stress of the c-section, her body sustained even more stress-injury and would take even longer for her to recover - at minimum, several weeks.

The family was relieved, however, that relief was short-lived as Elora ended up having a heart attack during the night that followed. She never got to meet and fall in love with the doting Deputy Boyd, never got to re-establish a relationship with her parents, never got to get to know her younger brother or his wife and children, and as fate would have it, she never got to meet her precious twins - later named by their grandparents - Ellarian and Ellarain - beautiful sweet babies who inherited their mother's mesmerizing green eyes, lovely dark hair, and indomitable spirit.

Elidry and Eunice did what they could for the twins, tried as they could to love them as they would their own children, but it was hard for them. As the girls grew older and their features developed, they looked more and more like their mother, and every day was a struggle for the elder couple as the twins were a constant reminder of Elora and the past.

Deputy Boyd became like an uncle to them, he made sure to be a part of their lives, bringing them gifts, taking them out to play, doing fun activities with them.  He never got married and never had children of his own. In part it was like he was trying to fill the void that Elora had suddenly placed in his heart by her act - however unbeknownst as it was to her - of coming back into his life so quickly and leaving just as quick. The girls loved him, he was the only real male figure they had in their lives.  He was killed on duty while responding to a bank heist in progress, the twins had just turned ten the week prior.

Their real uncle, Uncle Evindal, though a nice man, kept his distance from the twins, never really taking to them, nor allowing them to get to know his side of the family. He always made excuses.

Aside from the losses, the vacancy of real affection from their grandparents, and the absence of their biological father that they had no clue about, the girls didn't lack for anything - they had everything they asked for that money could buy. When they came of age and graduated from high school, their grandparents setup a trust fund for them that they could use at their leisure. It wasn't long after graduation that Elidry and Eunice passed away.

The Straeth Estate was left to Evindal, of course, and since he had an aversion to the twins, he found the girls a place far from Abbotsford where they could move to and "thrive" in - as he had put it.

He had an extended contact, a developer, who had just opened up a new mountain village called Neverglade. In the village, more like a massive town, currently and literally empty of residents at the moment as the population had yet to begin to fill, the girls would have their pick of any place they wanted.  Uncle Evindal, ever practical, thought it was the best decision for everyone that they move there and start their lives anew.

Ellarian and Ellarain, though saddened by the thought of leaving behind what little friends they had made through school, were also excited about the prospect of a new adventure away from the small resistant town that seemed to be ladened down by heavy baggage - old, raggedy and vintage, no less. They didn't have anyone in Abbotsford that cared for them, they only had each other. Neverglade seemed like an opportunity to "thrive" like their Uncle had suggested (even though they knew that it was his way of getting rid of them - out of sight, out of mind).

And so... Welcome to Neverglade.

[Just a small portion of Neverglade.]

Ellarian and Ellarain's story to be continued...

Sim-u-later! (and Merry Christmas BTW!)

The Shyr Twins: Backstory Part 2

And there she stood.

It took a moment for the Straeths to recognize their daughter. Gone was the tough girl and in her place was a slightly bedraggled, mused-haired, tired-looking woman. Her body was so frail that a gentle breeze could probably topple her over, but that was not the first thing they noticed. Elora was well advanced in pregnancy, a belly of immense proportions protruded awkwardly, seemingly alien to her reed thin body.

Before a word was spoken she fainted and if it were not for the quick reflexes of the Deputy, who stood behind her, she would have fallen to the ground.

---

The young Deputy, Howell Boyd, had been patrolling the outskirts of town when he came across Elora stranded on the side of the highway, knee deep in snow, next to her broken-down rusty old brown jalopy. He, like the Straeths, didn't recognize her at first, until he looked into those mesmerizing green eyes of hers. When he had approached her, she didn't know who he was either, which didn't surprise him because she never knew he existed. He had had a crush on her in high school from the moment she had once given him a rare smile in passing, but because she was always so angry at the world, he never had the courage to talk to her. Seeing her again, so worn and used, yet still very much beautiful, resurfaced those old feelings. He had brought her home and now, holding her in his arms, feeling as if she was brittle and she would crumble if he even breathed he felt a little protective of her. He entered the Straeth's home and laid Elora down on the couch as gently as he would a newborn baby, then smoothed back the stringy dark hair from her face, never in his life did he want to kiss anyone as much as he did just then.  He stood, but within reaching distance from her, and turned to speak with her parents.

---

The family physician, Dr. McSimmons, who had delivered all of Eunice Straeth's babies, as well as her grand babies, was summoned and made a house call to see about Elora's condition, he took her vitals and did what he could, but she was burning up with a fever and had to be taken to the hospital immediately where she could receive proper care. 

At the hospital they managed to bring her fever down, they hooked her up with IVs, but she had a very bad case of pneumosimsnia and bronchsimsitis  and it wasn't long before the fever spiked again. Howell had stayed by her side as long as he could, despite the dismay of her parents and the hospital staff, holding her hand all the while.

They were all worried for her, especially since she was pregnant and were told that she was carrying twins after Dr. McSimmons did an emergency ultrasound to monitor the baby.  The unborn twins weren't in distress and were healthy, as far as the doctor could determine, and Elora was definitely in her last trimester and would likely be giving birth any day now.

Elora came-to about mid-afternoon, opening her eye slowly as if they were so heavy that it took every ounce of her energy to carry out the movement.  She saw her parents who sat at the far end of the room, both passed out in their chairs. Her father's silvery head was tipped backward, his normally closed-lipped mouth was wide open as he bellowed out some bullhorn snores. Her mother, who was usually so clean and neat and wrinkle-free was no worse for wear, some of the pins had fallen out of her hair as her head was propped upon her makeshift arm pillow.  Elora glanced over at the man holding her hand giving the pleasing-to-look-upon stranger a quizzical look before she her eyes closed again and drifted out of consciousness.

Howell had to return to work, but made sure to visit her as often as he could.

A few days passed by, she would come-to for just brief moments before going under again.  Elidry and Eunice hadn't even had a chance to speak with her yet, and like Howell, they too had to return to their lives, but visited her frequently.  They were experiencing a gamut of feelings, still hurt and angry with her for leaving all those years back, but frantic with fear over her current state and sick with worry - she was still their daughter and they did still care and love her after all.

When labor contractions began and the babies' heartbeats where showing signs of dropping, being still very much out of it and too weak to be able to deliver the twins naturally, Elora was prepped for a C-Section.  She was given IV drugs, shaved, cut, and prodded... all of which she was unaware and Dr. McSimmons successfully pulled out the first baby and handed it to the nurse. The second baby came moments later and it too was handed off to the nurse to be warmed.  The first cries lit the air as baby 1 voiced dismay over the change in atmosphere and the intrusion of foreign objects into its nostrils and mouth. Though baby 2 remained quiet, it was given a clean bill of health.

Once the twins were seen to and were tucked away in the nursery to be fawned over by their grandparents, the doctors and nurses were quick to turn their attention back to Elora. Just as Dr. McSimmons had finished stitching up her uterus, the blood-pressure monitor alarms went off. Her BP dropped fast and she went into cardiac arrest. 

They rolled up blankets and tilted her hip, slid a board under her and began compressions. They worked efficiently in an organized fashion, doing what they do best to try to resuscitate her. 

Forty-five minutes later Dr. McSimmons walked out into the waiting room where the Straeths and Deputy Boyd awaited news about Elora.

To be continued...

Sim-u-later! {Sorry for the lack of images in this post! Maybe in the next one ;)}

The Shyr Twins

Meet the Shyr Twins, Ellarian (pronounced: el-air-e-n, which is my preference, or alternately el-la-ry-an) and Ellarain (pronounced: el-la-rain).

{Sorry, I can't remember specifics about their hair/makeup, clothes, skintone, or where the CC came from. To date, I haven't been keeping up with what came from where :( If anyone knows how to look this up from CAS, please let me know. The only things that I might be able to via CAS is skintone, eye contacts, and maybe makeup.}

These two are actually from another legacy town that I had going on, the Spades. I'll go more into the Spades another time, but the were originally named Acheri {Ellarian} and Boobrie {Ellarain} and were 4th generation Spades {I was able to take the original Spades to 9 gens before that game stopped wanting to load for me. I followed the entire family and created a genealogy chart as well as a list by generations, when I talk about the Spades at a later time, I'll go more into that}. Their parents were Cassanova Spade and Magdalena [Natori] Spade.  This is an excel sheet snapshot of Acheri's branch in the Spades:

Acheri had a daughter, two grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.

Boobrie's branch:

Boobrie had two daughters, one son, five grandchildren, and 4 great grandchildren.

I kept note of the species/occult and rough estimate of the percentages for every single blood relation from the Spade founders.  Acheri and Boobrie were approximately 81.25%  human {hmm... looks I need to go recalculate as that shows an error}, 6.25% plantsim  (my reasoning is that the original plantsim is 50% plant and 50% human), and 12.5% fairy, but the dominant gene that they received was the fairy as they both inherited the white fairy wings from their great grandmother, Pandora [Siren] Spade.

{12/19/13 10:25PM how funny! I just learned that a Boobrie is a mythical creature - what can be termed as a Scottish Horror Bird. Had I known that maybe she would have had a different personality to start off with. Ah well.}


Anyway, that was a quick snapshot at their previous life.

So now onto their new life as Ellarian and Ellarain.  Their back-story starts here with Part 1:

~-~

Elidry and Eunice Straeth were a well-to-do and well-off couple, their wealth came from old money. They were a prominent family in their community; well-respected, not only for their opulence, but for their undulating charm and social influence. They lived in an impressive mansion in the northern end of Abbotsford at the foothills of the Abbotsford Mountains. The property had been in their family since the late 1800s and was one of the largest and lush in Abbotsford, with gorgeous landscaping and natural waterways.

The Straeths had four children, Edyrm, Elora and Elaith - girl and boy twins, and Evindal.  Edyrm only lived a few short days after birth as he died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrom (SIDS). Elora and Elaith were born a year later - they were the pride and joy of the Straeths. Because their hearts had never really healed from Edyrm's death, they coddled the two, so much so that the twins became rebellious and unruly.

The sheriff got to know them very well and the town loathed them for their tricks and pranks. It was suggested to the Straeths, on more than one occasion, that they send them off to a military boarding school. The Straeths ignored the advice and overlooked the twins antics and behavior, preferring to keep them as close as they could rather than sending them away.

Immediately after graduating from high school, Elaith ran off to joined the military, two years later he was killed in action as he served overseas. The Straeths were devastated, not one more so than his twin sister, Elora. While Elaith had been serving his country, she had been left behind. {During this time, the Straeths had another child, Edyrm, who later went on to became a fat, happy politician and eventually Governor. He gave Elidry and Eunice seven grandchildren - yes all their names began with the letter "E".}

Left to the mercy of their parents, Elora was subjected to innumerous social activities that kept her busy and out of trouble from sunset to sunrise, practically under lock and key. However, upon hearing of Elaith's death, she tried to commit suicide by downing a whole bottle of asimsprin. Her attempt was a failure, the asimsprin just caused her to vomit, gave her a headache and a nasty ulcer.

Her rebellion resurfaced from that point onward, she started smoking, got several tattoos and piercings, and hung out with the seediest degenerates that the town had to offer. One night, as she walked the tracks, drunk, she met a drifter named Arlen Shyr. They became instantly smitten with each other and it wasn't long before she ran away with him, subsequently breaking her parent's hearts.

The Straeths didn't hear a word from her, never knew of her whereabouts, didn't know if she was alive or dead for several years until a knock at the door woke them in the dead of a mid-winter night.

To be continued...

Sim-u-later!