Revenge, 143

Headwoman's tents, Fire Moon 143.

Ganyalis felt like he was going to snap any moment.

Love Troubles, Spring 131

Spring 131

Markal Go is 34; Abina & Kenda zan-Avira are 10; Moluu zan-Ace is 7

The last few months had been hard on Markal's family.

Abina had lost her sight last winter, and Aralata and Kitira had left for Teal Camp not long after the first spring thaws. The family was still struggling with a lack of food and resources from a fire just before the older twins moved out. They'd had help from the rest of the tribe, but even with two fewer mouths to feed it was clear that they barely had enough to get by. Markal's mother, who had come from SimNation as a young woman, would have called them "broke".

And then, less than a month ago, Zade had walked out. After that, it felt like nothing would ever recover.

Emergency Meeting, Year 119

Year 119, fourth quarter
Casey z.Ellen is 69, Li Yoo is 60, Kim Yoo is 26

Daniel was late.

Li wouldn't have minded as much, but he'd been the one to call this emergency meeting in the first place.

Crushes, Autumn 97

Skyday, Redleaf 10, 97

Claire is 47, Joe is 43, Daniel is 14

Daniel had been spending way too much time with Elle zan-Ace lately. He'd become a man three months ago, and now had an apprenticeship with Elle's uncle. So did she. Since they started working together, Daniel had really got to like her. Too bad it wasn't going to happen.

Seriously Worried, Longday 29

Midquarter, Longday 11th 29 A.G.S.
Claire zan-Avira (54), Joe zan-Avira (52), Daniel zan-Avira (12)

Daniel's Journal
Keep Out
This Means You Alexa

...but Alexa's not here any more, is she? Not that I mind about that. She just sees "Keep Out" as an invitation to snoop. I pity all the other single girls in the Women's Lodge. Bet they get no privacy at all.

I should be in the Men's Lodge now myself. Me and Armando... but he's not here any more either. It's been about a year and a half since we lost him, and I still feel like it was this morning. It's still hard to believe it happened at all. He was always the life of the party, with a wisecrack for every occasion and a barrel full of tall tales about his life in SimCity, before we adopted him.

I still want to know what a "TV" is. He never finished telling me.

We still have his book collection - I sort of inherited them. I've been reading through them all - most of it's about spaceships and aliens and machines that do all sorts of incredible things. I'd love to have stuff like that. I know most of the tribe prefers not to rely on technology for everything, but if you ask me, a laser cannon would be way more useful than our slings and spears if that new dimension invasion everyone's been babbling on about since the time of the dinosaurs ever actually happens.

I think I'd like to work with machines myself. I've talked to Dad about finding me a mentor that knows about that sort of thing, now they've changed the coming of age rites so I need one. He just thinks I'm crazy, though.

Ha. I'm crazy? That's like the ocean calling a raindrop wet. What does he call cuddling an old sack, then?

He's been like that ever since Armando died, and I think he's getting worse. Talking to the flour sacks is definitely a new one. Mum and I are really starting to worry about him.

At least he retained enough of his sanity to remember her birthday was today. She's officially one of our elders now, so she's retired from the fields - and guess who gets to take over the bulk of the farm work? Anyway, Dad got her some sort of thing full of flowers that you make, er, bunches of flowers with. It would have been much easier to just get one bunch of flowers, but hey, he talks to flour now.

It's given me an idea - but I'll have to make sure I don't tell anyone. (Score one for Alexa not being here! If she was, it'd be all over the village by tomorrow noon.) I am going to try building one of those things myself. Not for flowers, mind. I'm going to get myself some gadget parts - don't ask me how - and learn how to make super-machine-things like the ones in those space books. Oh, they'll all call me crazy, but when the tayzi do invade and I save everyone with my giant fighting robot, we'll see who's crazy then!

Question: How do I hide a giant fighting robot while I wait for us to need one?

*****

VT says: I'm experimenting with a new style, trying to figure out what works best for me and also to get inside my Sims' heads a little more. I think I might have a mix of first- and third-person perspectives in the updates.

I'm not sure where Daniel gets his interest in technology from. It's certainly not Nuidya, but I do plan to run with it and see what happens.

Tayzi, by the way, means "Sim from the new dimension" in Maltiazi, my Universal Sim Language. The Nuidya have never trusted the new dimension - to this day, the number 3 is very unlucky over there.

28: The Trouble with Retirement

28 A.G.S. Monday, Spring 1
Elders' Lodge, Kulo Seeri: Binidu zan-Arzep (55) & Waylon zan-Arzep (50); Cassie zan-Avira (55) & Jorthu zan-Avira (55); Viru zan-Avei (55) & Lily zan-Avei (50); Casey zan-Ellen (52) & Manewa zan-Ellen (55)
please note: all ages are estimates.The old hood records were lost in the Great Storm, so no one born before that is quite sure how old they are.


The latest group of teens leaving for Kulo Kor left four older couples with no children still at home. Rather than staying in four separate 'empty nests', they had decided to move in together, setting up an Elders' Lodge. While everyone there was, of course, concerned about their children being on their own for the first time, it wasn't long before some found their thoughts turning to other things...

"You've got some nerve talking to me about love and loyalty, Manewa - you, of all Sims, who said you'd always put your family first, then ran off with the first outsider to show up!"


Binidu was trying hard to keep herself under control. She and Manewa had always been good friends, but it was so hard to forget that Manewa had left her first husband and children when Casey, a distant cousin of the Nuidya, had arrived several years earlier - especially when Binidu herself had been raised by her cousin Viru's mother, always knowing that her own parents hadn't wanted more children. Even now, nearing elderhood, that knowledge hurt more than anything.


Manewa didn't bother trying to defend herself this time; the two women had had this argument often enough.


"All I'm saying, Binidu, is... you might want to keep a closer eye on Waylon. I think he's getting a little too friendly with Cassie over there."

Sure enough, Binidu's husband - who had always been a devoted family man himself - was flirting with Cassie zan-Avira, when both of their spouses were in the same room - and neither Binidu nor Cassie's husband Jorthu had missed it.

Binidu's reaction was pure impulse; she flung herself at her cousin, knocking her to the floor. The other residents of the lodge quickly dropped everything and gathered to watch the two of them brawling in the middle of the living room. The initial worry soon gave way to an almost primal frenzy of whoops and cheers that wouldn't have seemed out of place at an ancient gladiatorial contest (although Waylon did seem to be taking the wrong side on both counts).

As the day wore on, it seemed more and more likely that the residents of the Elders' Lodge were starting to lose their minds. Casey zan-Ellen attempted to comfort Cassie after she lost the 'match' with Binidu by congratulating her for accepting Waylon's attentions in front of Jorthu.


Waylon himself, meanwhile, was outside in the vegetable garden, splashing in the rain puddles. Exactly what this was supposed to achieve, no one was quite sure.

Fortunately, Cassie did seem to want to make things right before the day was out.


"Waylon, I just wanted to congratulate you on falling in love with Binidu. You've had a good 23 years together. Don't blow it."


Just where was all this going to end up?


*****


VT says: Chaos! Utter chaos! The annoying thing is Waylon has a Family aspiration, and he and Cassie have no chemistry whatsoever! I would also like to note that there was very little VT intervention here - all pictured events happened on their own. I was just going "HUH?!" Oh well, at least it'll shake up the hood a bit. :)

28: First Day Away, Part 2

28 A.G.S. Monday, Spring 1
Girls' Camp, Kulo Kor: S'Ahmisa zan-Ace (15), Larkspur zan-Avei (15), Uchenna zan-Avira (13), Elle zan-Ace (12), Clarisse zan-Avei (12)


"I'd love to know who came up with this brainwave," Clarisse grumbled. "Why can't we just have a party or something when we come of age? I could handle a party. A whole season in the wilderness, on the other hand..."


"...is supposed to build character and create strong bonds between the young adults of the tribe." Uchenna zan-Avira completed the sentence, though not in the way Clarisse had intended.


"Anyway," she went on, "if you don't want to stay and become an adult with the rest of us, Your Highness, then you can just pack up right now and go back to SimNation."

"Shut up!" Clarisse shouted, sticking her fingers in her ears. True, she wasn't technically Nuidya, having come to the tribe from foster care in SimCity. Maybe she wasn't quite cut out for the Nuidya life. Why did she have to live with the constant reminders?

*****

At the other end of the campsite, the two oldest girls sat on the grass, talking about the next four days, what they would do when they returned - and, strangely enough, about SimNation and the rest of the world outside Kulo Seeri.

It was a subject that S'Ahmisa zan-Ace had been thinking about a lot recently. She had always known that she was named after a resident of Apple Valley, who had been a friend of her father and visited one of the old villages when she was a baby. What she didn't know was what things were like out there, and now, approaching adulthood, she wanted to find out.

"Maybe I could travel to another hood one day," she said to her best friend Larkspur. "I think it would be different travelling because you want to go somewhere new, not just because you have to."

Larkspur rolled her eyes. No Nuidya could survive in the city, everyone knew that. It was crazy to even think about it. Still, she wasn't going to crush her friend's ambitions.

"I guess so. I mean, Sims have come here from SimNation before, so... maybe it would be OK for one of us to go there." she replied after a moment's hesitation. And maybe the moons will land in the village centre and tap dance for us, too, she thought. A Nuidya in SimNation is like a fish in the desert.

*****

Kulo Kor is not a desert, and there is no shortage of fish in its waters. Both boys and girls had been given fishing equipment before leaving Kulo Seeri, and with the day moving along, Elle zan-Ace was taking the opportunity to learn to use it before what little food they had brought ran out.

"Need any help over there?" Uchenna picked up one of the spare poles and joined Elle at the side of the pond. "We could use some more supplies, and I could use some intelligent company. That Clarisse - I'm so glad our family didn't get stuck with her!"

Elle just managed to suppress a snort. Like Clarisse, Elle was one of the six children the tribe had taken in seven years ago. The two had known each other from preschool before being adopted, and Elle would be the first to admit that her friend's demanding ways drove everybody crazy. But...

"There's a good heart beneath the diva exterior, you know. It's just hard to notice it when she's flouncing about in that ridiculous dress, looking for a show to steal."

Uchenna quickly learned not to try recasting while laughing at sarcastic remarks.

*****

Meanwhile, the subject of the conversation was lounging on her bed inside the larger of the two cabins. Her daydreams were starting to give way to thoughts of her parents, who would have moved into the Elders' Lodge now that both their daughters were away.

Dad should be telling me to get up and help with the chores right now.

Mum should be doing that irritating mock bow when I walk in. I kinda miss that.

Never thought I'd miss them this much. Are they missing me, or are they just relieved that I'm out of the house?

I wonder if there are bears on this island? They wouldn't let us go if there were... would they?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of four other teenage girls outside the cabin door, yelling something about cooking fish.

Ick. I hope they're saying they've done it so I don't have to.

*****

VT says: I started this post yesterday, but didn't have time to finish it. Coming on today to find I've got my first follower gave me the motivation to finish it. I don't know who you are, but thank you. Major confidence boost there.

28: First Day Away, Part 1

28 A.G.S. Monday, Spring 1
Boys' Camp, Kulo Kor: Hestrie zan-Avira (13), Shiloh zan-Arzep (13), Amin zan-Arzep (12), Andrew zan-Avira (12), Eric zan-Ellen (12)




"Armando should have been here,"  Andrew said, walking over to stand beside his brother. "No way it's going to be the same around here without him."

Hestrie just stared at the two cabins that had been prepared for their group. The three other boys who had come with them stood close to the nearest cabin; Hestrie could hear one of them muttering something about "built yesterday and already look like they're falling down".




"He should definitely be here," he agreed. Armando zan-Avira, their adopted cousin, had fallen ill during the tribe's long journey to their new home of Kulo Seeri; in the middle of a remote area with very limited supplies, there was very little that could be done, and he was dead before the Nuidya had reached their destination. If he had survived, he would have been the eleventh of the new teens coming of age at the season's end.

"Knock it off with the doom and gloom already!" Amin zan-Arzep grabbed Hestrie in a headlock and explained that "We're practically in paradise here - no adults to tell us what to do, and the girls can't tell us off for goofing around either, 'cause they're in a separate camp... and when we come back, we'll be men and we can join the guard or the council or something. But right now, we're out on our own for the first time, and Armando would have wanted us to have fun! Four days until we have to start being responsible, let's make the most of them!"

After a similar discussion with Eric zan-Ellen, Andrew decided to head for the small pond in the centre of the campsite. The boys were going to need food for the next four days, and if anyone was going to get credit for the first catch, he decided, it was going to be him.

It wasn't long before he got what he was looking for, prompting Amin and Shiloh to grab a couple of spare rods and hopefully outdo him with a bigger fish or two.

However, things didn't work out exactly as they had planned.

Meanwhile, Eric challenged Hestrie to a few rounds of rock-paper-scissors, in the hope that it would take his mind off the loss of his cousin and get him into the "vacation" spirit.

"Rock smashes scissors! Whooo! I am Emperor Rock and I crush your puny scissors with my bare hands!"

"Sena spear it, Hestrie, you're so irritating when you get it right... what is the matter with you?"

As the day went on, the mood gradually changed. The fact that there should have been six boys in the camp, although not quite forgotten, became less depressing, and silliness started to take over. In four days, they would return to the village, leaving their childhood behind on Kulo Kor. For now, they would make the most of it.

From Shiloh's declaration that "A giant robot with laser eyes couldn't get a ball past me! Nyah!" to Eric and Amin's discussion of genies and lamps in the outhouse, it was beginning to seem that the boys were more like children now than they had ever been.

Towards the end of the day, with everyone starting to get hungry, Shiloh attempted to cook one of Andrew's fish. For a first attempt at cooking, everyone agreed, it wasn't half bad.

Long after night fell, they were still wide awake, and starting to discuss the possibility that maybe having girls in the camp wouldn't have been so bad.

*****

VT says: I am so glad I went with a group camping trip as the Nuidya coming of age rite. These boys are hilarious to play - especially when I'm mostly letting them run around on free will.

Part 2, the first day in the girls' camp, will be up next.