Monday, January 5, 2009

Chapter 41: Sabina Allows Herself To Be Lead

Weds, November 18, 2074 1:10 am: Dewilliker Academy- Rawling Hills, Pleasantview

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Sabina would know that voice anywhere, no matter how soundly she slept. Throwing off the covers, she sat bolt upright in bed. A slight chill was creeping through the windowpanes and as she pressed her face against the glass to see into the yard, her breath painted a thick fog across the landscape. She wiped the window clean with her wrist.

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Troy was ducking out of the back door, pulling his jacket up around his neck against the cold. Sabina tapped on the window with her fingernails, causing him to stop in his tracks. He cautiously tilted his head upwards and gave her an exaggerated shrug, hoping to make the gesture large enough for her to see. Sabina pressed her palm against the freezing glass and frowning pitifully, she mouthed the word please.

Troy dropped his arms, appearing to consider. He then held up his left hand, fingers spread. Sabina was granted five minutes. She smiled brightly and pointed downwards, indicating that he should stay put. She climbed out of bed, threw on a pair of boots and took off down the back stairwell.


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In the backyard, Troy had not moved an inch. He watched her jump down from the steps with his head cocked curiously to the side and his eyes wearily downcast. Sabina had the sudden urge to creep back into the house, leaving Troy to whatever morose thoughts were floating around in his inscrutable brain. But her legs wouldn't allow it. They pulled her awkwardly forward, her feet sliding in her rubber boots. When his gaze met her face, his expression did not soften. His eyes were the funereal shade of black that was more familiar to Sabina than the dark blue that they assumed in the daylight. But this frigid pensiveness of his was altogether new. And it was unsettling.

"How is he," she blurted. Troy smiled weakly, unconvincingly.


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"He's fine. Surgery went well. He'll be out of the hospital in just a few days." Sabina relaxed a little, pleased to have this news of Roan. A brief silence fell and Troy's brow furrowed. Clearly, he had no idea of what she wanted from him. She wasn't quite sure herself.

"So what brings you out here," she asked.

"Shane wanted to come back for the night and I didn't feel like arguing so I brought him," he said. He then reached forward and took a handful of her hair.


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"What in the name of all that is flaxen have you done to your head?" Sabina giggled though part of her felt the desire to cry. Her hair! For a moment, she had mercifully almost forgotten about it.

"I dyed it."

"I can see that."

"It was impulsive."

"I bet it was." Troy stroked her cheek with the backs of his fingers, allowing her hair to slip from his grasp. If he hated it as much as she did, then he was too tactful to say. But Sabina didn't care about her hair anymore. To hell with it. Troy was touching her. His solemnity had melted away though he still seemed somehow crestfallen. Sabina knew better than to ask him what was wrong. If he wanted her to know, he would tell her. She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed.


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"I missed you," she said wistfully. He sighed through his nose.

"I shouldn't be here. I never should have been here. This isn't right." Troy's face was drawing nearer to hers with every word until their lips were brushing. It was a vaguely ticklish sensation. Sabina's eyelids fluttered shut, her adrenaline racing. "My wife needs me," he murmured. And there it was, all of his misery laid bare before her. His wife needed him. Sabina was jealous of Siren for many reasons but for this above all else- She was and always would be the center of his universe. Sabina did not want to say the obvious thing; that she needed him too. So she resolved to say nothing at all.


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He froze at first, as rigid as a board. Sabina took his bottom lip between hers, never having kissed a man before but understanding the general mechanics of the thing. Groaning, he held her tightly and nudged her mouth open with his tongue. He tasted like espresso. When she tried to release him, he lowered his hands to the small of her back, forcefully tugging her hips towards him. She gasped involuntarily, feeling his erection pressed against her thigh. Her pulse quickened as she fantasized for about what it might be like to have him right there on the lawn. He pulled his head away from her unexpectedly.

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"You're shivering," he said, running his hands up and down her arms to warm them. She was shivering but it had nothing to do with the cold. She pressed her fingers to his lips.

"Don't worry about me. I'm very, very ok right now." The smile that he graced her with then was genuine and ecstatic.

"You are easily the best thing that has happened to me all day," he said.


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Sabina placed her hands on his chest and stared into the bottomless dark of his eyes. It saddened her to think that this might be her last opportunity to see his eyes that color. He took her hands in his.

"Come on," he said quietly. Sabina giggled stupidly.

"Where are we going?"

"Into the shed."

"It's locked."

"Dewilliker keeps a spare key over the door," he said dismissively. Sabina raised an eyebrow.

"How do you know?" Troy brought her fingers to his lips and kissed them.

"It isn't wise to ask questions that you don't want the answers to," he said. Sabina rolled her eyes.

"Lie to me then," she demanded.

"I'm the night gardener." Sabina smirked at this pronouncement and allowed herself to be lead.


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Troy scanned the potting shed as though he were looking for something in particular. The air inside was so acrid and dry that it made Sabina cough initially. It was the scent of fertilizer and old wood. Troy closed the door behind him, straightening the floor mat with his foot. The room was not heated but at least they were shielded from the wind.

"Charming," Sabina remarked, noticing a dead field mouse in the corner by the door.

"Better inside than out," Troy asserted. He took her by the hands and swung her arms playfully.


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"Are you scared," he asked. Sabina smiled and shook her head. It was quite the contrary. She was excited. Troy's eyes widened. "Really? Because I'm fucking terrified." He chortled nervously. Sabina stepped back from him a little and let go of his hands. He was too infinitely perfect for her not to want all of him. Sabina gathered her nightgown at the hips and pulled it over her head. Then tossing it behind her, she slipped out of her boots. The floor was dusty and cool beneath her feet. She looked down at her toes and wiggled them, suddenly stricken by the fact that she was standing completely naked in front of Troy. Scooping her up in his arms, he kissed the tip of her nose.

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"You're so beautiful," he whispered. Sabina smiled bashfully and stared down at his collar. He picked her chin up, looking her in the eyes. "I absolutely worship you. You know that, right?" He kissed her softly and she closed her eyes, focusing on her breathing. It couldn't possibly have been normal or healthy for a heart to beat at the rate that hers did. Sabina's knees began to buckle beneath her. She opened her eyes and smiled wickedly at Troy who was gradually tipping her backwards.

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"You're mental if you think I'm going to lay on that floor, buddy," she said. Troy pulled her back up into a standing position.

"I think I'm mental for being here at all." Sabina slipped off his jacket.

"Maybe we're both a little mental."

"I can live with that." Sabina kissed him deeply and started to undo his belt. He was the only man in the world as far as she was concerned. Damn the consequences.


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22 comments:

  1. Her first kiss and her first time!!! Awwww....it's a bittersweet moment! Troy does love her in his own way but at the same time, like Sabina said, Siren is his whole world. He's never going to leave her.

    I just hope Sabina can move on...find happiness somewhere else when the time comes! :S

    And OMG!!! She DYED her HAIR!!!!!! Hahaha!! Awesome! Wait two weeks and dye it again! I should know!:P

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  2. Hmmm... something tells me the line "Damn the consequences" might be important, or at least some degree of foreshadowing :|

    Sabina definitely looked better with black hair--I guess Troy doesn't really care either way though.

    So quick question. The residents of Pleasantview all marry quite young because of the caste system, and Sabina's seventeen, so are her parents making arrangements for her? Because Enoch and Madeline are already engaged and they're... fifteen? I forget. Younger than seventeen, though, I'm pretty sure.

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  3. Phoenix:
    You're absolutely right, he'd never leave her! I don't think he'd know what to do with himself if he had to live without Siren. They've spent the past 32 years together. It would be like him waking up one morning and finding that he was missing a limb.

    Sabina has pretty much convinced herself that Troy is the end-all, be-all of romantic experiences for her. This doesn't mean that she can't move on but that, for the moment, she'd rather not.

    I toyed with the idea of doing this chapter from Troy's perspective but decided against it because the chapter would have been such an incredible downer if we had known what he was thinking. Plus, Troy would have come off a wee bit despicable from his own POV. He was basically kicking himself the entire time that this was going on.

    Sabina might be keeping that hair color by the way. She hates it but she's the sort of person that would keep it just to save herself from looking like she made an error in judgement.

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  4. Dinuriel:
    The Pleasants aren't in a big rush like some of the other families are to get their kids married off. But they do recognize that Sabina is hurtling towards 18 and they are looking into arranging a marriage for her. You'll see who they have in mind a ways down the road. He's a young doctor from Veronaville. But we're getting ahead of ourselves with that. ;)

    Troy would still have floaty pink hearts for Sabina even if she shaved her head bald. He's completely infatuated.

    And as for the foreshadowing... *cue lightning*

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  5. Oh no, don't go there!But what to do? She was so in love with him and he was crazy for her. Sheesh, what if he knock her up? That would be a scandal! But usually they will cover up pretty fast, if something like that happens.

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  6. Well Sabina has a plan for such an eventuality. (Given that even if Sabina isn't terribly bright, she has at least thought that through.)

    hehehe And as far as not going there is concerned, this is Troy we're talking about here. It was inevitable.

    Or maybe it wasn't. If Sabina could have just let him keep the distance that he was trying so hard to maintain... Ah, well.

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  7. Man, Troy! Your kid's in the hospital and you're off banging a 17-year-old. It's probably a shame we DIDN'T get to see what he was thinking because that was his only hope of making himself look like anything other than words I shall not mention on other people's blogs. *grumbles*

    That would be so Sabina to keep her hair blonde!! I really <3 Sabina even though she is so La-la-la about Troy, who doesn't deserve the La-la-la of an innocent 17-year-old (who has never even kissed a man? what what?)

    And I really like Troy. His relationship with Siren is so complex, and I am even amused by all his infidelities. Just not with Sabina, man.

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  8. She has a plan? Wonder what it could be. I guess she could always seduce Shane, blame it on him since it would explain any resemblance between the baby and Troy, and marry him. From what I can guess of Shane's character, he probably wouldn't mind being married to a Pleasant (if I remember correctly, the only family higher than the Pleasants are the Goths?). How old is Shane, anyway? I kind of remember you saying he was older than Laurie... oh, it would be SOOOO FUNNY if Sabina tried to seduce Laurie :D

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  9. Lothere:

    Ha! That was the thing though. Other than the awfulness of
    1) Actually having sex with Sabina and
    2) Doing it while Roan is in the hospital, there were whole other levels of weirdness that Sabina didn't even know about. Like the fact that he'd had crazy, angry, passionate sex with Angela in that same shed right after he found out that Siren was pregnant with Lydia. And it was one of those moments that he is fairly certain that he'll remember on his deathbed.

    I'm not quite sure that Troy deserves Sabina or Siren (and probably most especially not Siren). Which brings into question what Troy DOES deserve. But as in life, not everyone gets what they deserve in Blue Lake. Oona didn't deserve Phoenix (who is still very mopey and piney and depressed over losing her) but she got him anyway. We'll be introduced to her soon too, actually. I love Oona to death but she's totally psycho.

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  10. Van:

    Yikes! Shane is only 12!! And if he were older than Laurie, I'm still not sure that Sabina would go after him. He's incredibly shrewd and calculating. He's already started to suspect that something is happening between Sabina and Troy. If Sabina started paying him sudden, undue attention then he would see straight through her. Poor, sweet little Laurie on the other hand would have no idea what hit him.

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  11. Oh and I forgot to mention- Being a Pleasant is good only in name. They don't have the kind of money that the Calientes, Tellermans, Lotharios and certainly the Goths have. The Dreamers are also on the broke end of the spectrum. But the Pleasants do have a number of Pleasantview generations under their belts. Shane hasn't put a whole lot of thought into marriage at his age but I imagine that he would want to marry strategically. And for him, "strategically" would probably mean Francesca Lothario. The money is certainly there. Then of course, a high-paying career at Pleasantview Motor Industries would be waiting for him. And there's the added bonus that Frannie is probably going to grow-up to be a knock-out.

    I should probably also mention that Dina has her eye on Shane for Frannie. God, poor Frannie. Only eight months old and already her G-ma is looking to bung her off to Shane Caliente.

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  12. *Additionally, Shane is... What? Frannie's 2nd cousin? That would trump Troy and Siren for the "Pleasantview's Most Incestuous Couple" competition.

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  13. Not nearly as bad as my own Veronaville neighborhood, I assure you.

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  14. I don't even HAVE a Veronaville. *Shhhh, don't tell anyone.* Everything is shot in Pleasantview.

    A long time ago, I completely deleted Veronaville and Strangetown (WAY before I thought about writing a story). In the past, I've tried to play the other neighborhoods but never enjoyed them as much as Pleasantview. I have no idea why.

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  15. Probably because Pleasantview just seems less scripted than Veronaville and Strangetown. That's why I enjoy playing Pleasantview every once in a while. When I played Veronaville, I felt the need to totally rip apart everything Maxis had built (except for the actual buildings--I kind of hate making my own buildings), just because it was so damn predictable. I haven't really played Strangetown, but I imagine it would be similar.

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  16. I think you just might be right about that! And not only is Veronaville predictable but the drama isn't really that dramatic. Strangetown has a lot of intrigue. Olive Spektor, I think, probably deserves a sim story of all her own. The Beakers were fun to play too. But at the end of the day, I'd much rather have my Don Lothario and Mortimer Goth.

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  17. What an intriguing story!!! ok, I cheated, I read the last chapter and it hooked me up... now I need to go back and read all 40+ chapters!!!

    Really nice pictures and the lighting works great for this chapter!!!

    Awesome job....

    I would love to add your story to my reading list, would you mind?

    I will come back and continue reading!!!

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  18. HA! That's exactly the same thing that Phoenix did when she started the story. No worries though. :) You were lucky enough to start on a chapter that you didn't necessarily need the other chapters to understand.

    Thanks for the compliments, Sandy! Glad you enjoyed the chapter! And of course you can add me if you would like to. I should have the next chapter up in just a couple of hours. *crosses fingers*

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  19. Haha, after seeing the first pics of Sabina, I thought, "Wow! I think I need to re-read. I thought Sabina had dark hair."

    Scared me for a minute. I forgot about her mentioning the dying her hair thing.

    And oh, 17 year old adoration. Well, I will say she's rather brave to go into the shed with him after only a first kiss. The girl has some serious initiative!

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  20. Both the hair-dying and the shed-entering are symptoms of Sabina's larger problem- The fact that she acts before she thinks. This is one of the things that Troy admires about her because he has never been able to just cut-loose like that.

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  21. Hey Pen, a few random questions for you. I tried to find the most recent post that was at least somewhat relevant to either of them.

    1. Do either Troy or Siren have anyone in mind for Laurie in terms of his future marriage (I vaguely recall you saying that Troy was okay with Laurie being gay, but he wanted him to marry a woman anyway)? It would be horribly hilarious (and hilariously horrible) if he ended up marrying Sabina :P

    2. I was looking at the family trees earlier and saw that Agrippa Dreamer is like, eleven years younger than his wife or something like that. Approximately how long have they been married? And given that Pleasantview society seems to have a thing about marrying their kids off pretty young, why didn't she get married earlier?

    Sorry for spamming your comments.

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  22. Ah ha! Originally, Troy and Siren were thinking about Sabina for Laurie. But the logistics might have proven odd because Sabina is the Pleasant heiress. The Pleasants have the lineage but the Calientes have the money. So if the two of them married, which household would they inherit?

    Troy and Siren think of themselves as the liberal couple in town, anyway. They don't necessarily want to arrange their children's marriages (although Shane does have designs on Pleasantview Motor Industries- I mean, Francesca Lothario). Siren is probably thinking about Rhiannon Pleasant for Laurie. Troy, I think, wants to schmooze his way back into a Veronaville family. In fact, if Macaulay had been a girl, that would have been a done deal (provided that Jorge agreed to it). Half LeCroix and half Pleasantview Townie? Smart, shy, polite, altruistic, good-looking? Troy and Siren would have fallen all over girl-Cully.

    So who do they want? No one currently. But that doesn't mean they won't find someone.

    Agrippa and Daphne have not been married for very long- about a year and a half. Their age difference is not unusual for a couple in this society (not just Pleasantview but the rest of the continent as well). It is unusual for the woman to be older than the man, though.

    Daphne didn't get married because she just wasn't particularly desirable. She is half Pleasant but she's also half Burb which makes her birth sort of *eh*. She's plain and none too bright. She doesn't have any special talents that anyone knows of. Her personality is equally bland.

    Don always liked her though! But then again, Don liked everyone.

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