2.18. One Hundred Words


The days fly by.


There are late nights


...feedings....


...diaper changes.


An absent dad meets his son.


An interloper toes the line between caregiver and father figure.


A mother goes insane.


Older siblings learn to entertain themselves.


Life returns to normal.


More or less.


There are content moments.


Sad moments.


Gross moments.


Painful moments.


It bleeds together.


Life is a series of events.


Not fortunate.


Not unfortunate.


Just events.


We assign meaning to them because it's human nature.


We want to believe there's a larger narrative, that our lives are important on some cosmic level.


But sometimes


Things


Just


Are.


***

Comments

  1. The dutch angles in quick succession this chapter made it hard for my stupid brain to know what I was looking at sometimes. O.O

    Seems Lark and Dom are content together though. :) And does Fenrir have his grandmother's orange hair there? :D

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    1. Oh no! I actually worried about the dutch angles. I should've gone with my instinct to use level angles. ;_; Sorry.

      They're content, and Dom fulfilled a wish that had been locked for a long time. And he does!! I was so excited when I realized that. I might tone it down just a little bit when he ages up, because it kind of clashes with his skintone.

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    2. Eh, I figured it out eventually. ;) With some head tilting.

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    3. Still, I promise to lay off the dutch angles in the future. XD

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  2. I think the Dutch angles were a bit confusing this time because there was less text and we ended up scrolling past the pictures faster. One way to counteract that would be to go the movie way--making sure that each picture's focal point is in the same place as in the one preceding it--but that would be pretty difficult to pull off with screenshots taken during gameplay. That said, I actually liked how it enhanced the feeling of everyday chaos and time flying by! It worked out really well.

    The toddlers are totes adorbs :3 Raven and the rubber ducky <3 I wonder how Bjorn is going to feel when they grow older and he's the only non-supernatural child in the house!

    Super random, but I keep having to gush about your interior design: Loving the kitchen! TS3 is awesome because you get to live out dreams of wooden countertops without actually having to deal with maintaining them! XD

    Lark and Dom forever <3<3<3 (Again, amazing job converting a former Nik fan here!)

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    1. I was trying to catch the chaos of having three diapered children in the house. I did try to set the focal point for some scenes but as you said, it was difficult during gameplay. XD This chapter was an experiment, and I don't think I'll do anything like this again because I've discovered my preference is to actually explain what the heck is going on. At least it was fun/much easier to write than normal!

      Yeah, I feel pretty bad for Bjorn. But maybe being supernatural won't be fun for Raven and Fenrir?

      Thanks! I love wooden countertops to the point that even the bathrooms in the Bee house are wood.

      Lark and Dom are so cute together. But next chapter I'll actually write about their relationship. I promise!

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    2. You really managed to get the feeling across and I thought it was a fun chapter! Though of course I like it even better when there's more text because your writing is just so phenomenal and it's nice when there's lots of it to read <3

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    3. D'aww, thanks Annie. <3 I'll make sure the next chapter is wordy as possible. ;)

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  3. I kind of liked the angle thing; the cat facepalming there is especially greatlooking. I think level would've looked a bit to plain in the end. You tied together the chapter with those still- lifes at the beggining and ending to. But, if you prefer writing more, it's not really relevant anyway, and you got to have fun trying something new after all.

    Lark and Dom seems a better match, but it'll be interesting to see more about their relationship. Especially with three kids around. Does this mean she'll have more kids?

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    1. I honestly had about five million pictures of that damn cat. And thank you! This was a fun chapter in the sense I had to limit myself to only 100 words, but I'll stick to writing as much as I want to in the future. XD

      They balance each other out better than Lark and Nikolas did. I'm hoping to delve more into their relationship in the next chapter!

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  4. I think this chapter was great in showing that time can fly by when there's so many babies to take care of!

    Fenrir has RED hair?! The cuteness! But I think Bjorn is still the cutest one around here. <3

    I love the picture with Vinegar Tom falling on his face! It's so funny when the cats do that. Tbh I loved the use of the dutch angle there, but I can see how that picture with the two before and after it can be a bit hard to follow.

    Aww, I love how things came together for Lark and Dom. Can't wait to see how their relationship works out.

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    1. Yes, his hair is SO RED! It's adorable. But I agree with you--Bjorn is still the cutest.

      It was really funny. And there was a sequence I wanted to show in those pictures but it was hard to demonstrate all of it: he was on the counter, Lark glared at him and shooed him, he fell, and then she IMMEDIATELY got burned by the coffee machine. XD

      Thanks! I think I'm going to do a chapter centered around them next.

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  5. You have a phrenology head! I feel like I've seen something like that in my game too, or was it a store object? And what's with the proclivity of having inanimate objects bearing uncanny witness to moments of passion? xD

    I'm kind of excited for Dom & Lark, but I feel like I'm unsure about them too. It may be that Dom is so quietly intelligent, and I'm not sure what the attraction is for him. Like, I'm not even sure if he gets her type of humor or not, even though I think they can work as a couple. I'm still missing Nicholas, but just because he's such an upstart and was such a great dad. I kind of liked how genuine they were together even when fighting, if that makes sense? But Dom & Lark taking things slow and being friends first is a very good sign!

    Anyways the 'painful moments' sequence was my favorite, that cat (And I had no idea they could burn themselves on the coffee!)

    Fenrir's gonna be cute I KNOW it!

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    1. It's from the Supernatural EP, and it's under sculptures. Honestly, the inanimate objects witnessing these moments has become one of my favorite things. I laugh every time I take a picture of a sculpture or whatever staring unblinkingly at woohoo. XD

      That's a good point. I was going to answer what is attractive about her to him, but I think I'll try to cover that in the next chapter! And Nik and Lark were very genuine with each other, but they were also too similar I think.

      That was such a surprise to me, too! I think this is literally like the third time I've ever used a coffee machine in game.

      He's...a little weird looking, tbh. XD But in a cute way.

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  6. I really enjoyed this chapter. The way you managed to capture everyday life with its struggles and highlights was great. Vinegar Tom is still awesome, and I LOVE that Fenrir got throwback hair. <3

    I like how subtle the mirror woohoo shot was. I know (think?) you've used it before, but I still really like it. :)

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    1. Thanks! It was also nice to be able to just play the game for a few days. XD Fenrir's throwback hair was such a pleasant surprise. I'm hoping it sticks around if/when he ever has kids.

      Thank you! It's one of my favorite shots, because it gives the viewer something to look at then just a mound in bed. XD

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  7. Okay so I LOVED this chapter, so much so that I read it once, went away, and then came back so I could re-experience this. I think what I enjoy so much is that time skips in legacies are hard and often done kinda clumsily, or shoehorned in, or not really mentioned at all, and this was such a beautiful and cinematic way of doing it.
    Contrary to the first couple of comments I really enjoyed the angles. It made it more powerful to me. In fact the contrast to the previous shots made me slow down further and really take notice of the pictures, which is something I rarely do in legacies.
    Anyway, yeah. Powerful stuff, very much enjoyed.

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    1. Thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed! Time skips are very hard, and I'm happy this one turned out.

      Thank you! I really struggled with the angles because I wanted to have a different angle in each shot but I was afraid it would be clumsy. I think more text will help if I ever change my mind and do a fast-forward chapter like this (maybe I'll do 200 words next time XD).

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  8. I just read this on my mobile and it flowed really nicely and I really really enjoyed it. It was cute and touching. I had no idea those angles were called Dutch angles or even that they were really a thing. All i know is that they didn't impede my enjoyment in any way -they may even have enhanced the story. Cinematic is a good description 😊

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    1. Thank you! "Cute and touching" was actually exactly what I was going for--a nice, light chapter since some previous ones have been bummers. Thanks so much again! :D

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  9. Tommy ♥ My cat is an expert at facepalming in real life but I never have a camera at hand when something silly happens!
    I love the first photo of Bjorn, any chance he can become the heir even though he's the first born in this generation? Although I'm sure Fenrir will be awesome too, red hair rocks \m/ Now if Dom and Lark have a biological child too and it inherits Dom's magic you could have a cool supernatural zoo!
    Is the statue the new stuffed unicorn?

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    1. Hahahaha your poor cat. XD I always think of cats as these magical, agile creatures and then I witness my friend's cat run into a wall or something and I'm like "oh right, they're just as stupid as dogs."

      Honestly, Bjorn probably won't be heir. I really like him so far, but his traits don't fit gen 3's rolls, and I like to choose younger kids. Fenrir is probably gonna be awesome!!

      Haha, maybe! I felt bad for the unicorn, so I set him up in Lark's room facing AWAY from the bed. XD

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  10. Hey, still rereading old chapters (in reverse order... weird, I know!) and just wanted to pop in with a comment again. Looking back, I realize how much I love this chapter! Everything about it, really. And I wanted to say that I'm very sorry for offering unnecessary criticism the first time around.

    Since new updates are so infrequent (and obv that is completely understandable; we all have lives), I get all excited whenever you post on the thread; and so getting only a hundred words was somewhat unexpected. But! Now, rereading this chapter in the context of the overall story, it's absolutely perfect. So sweet, so touching. I love it.

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