Michael and Sade Saunders have a stable family life, despite their differences. Their eldest daughter Grace, while gifted with seemingly endless intellect, prefers bullying her peers over games of chess. Alexander and Charity, thankfully, are a bit nicer than their sibling.
“I know you went downtown, Grace,” Michael scolds, forcing Grace to sit next to him. “You’re too young to be going downtown alone.”
“I am not,” Grace huffed, arms crossed over her chest. “Stop treating me like a baby.”
“When you stop acting like one, I will. Until that time, don’t go running to your grandfather. You think I’m hard on you because I like it? He was no easier on me–he once grounded Elena for two whole years of high school.”
Grace was indignant, “you’re lying.”
“Call her and ask her yourself. What I’m doing with you now is lenient, realize that and appreciate it.”
Of course, the reality eventually settled in. Gordon was a giving and loving grandfather, but his hammer of justice knew no mercy. Everyone had heard of Emma’s fate and that was something Grace did not desire for herself. Money was important to her, too important to let slip away over something stupid. She’d stop running to her grandfather’s… but hanging out with her annoying siblings wasn’t really a good alternative. Especially when they asked her stupid questions.
“Are you going to be a tennis star?” Charity asked.
“What? Why? That’s a stupid question.”
Alexander piped in, adding, “well, you’ve got those beefy arms, like that one… lady… thing… person. She’s… kind of scary.”
Grace said nothing, she only sighed loudly and left the room.
As if her siblings weren’t bad enough, there was the case of her parents and their incessant need to try and make her vomit. She should be happy her parents were still in love, but being a teenager, all she could do was gag at the thought. Their little displays of affection were truly quite sickening.
Sade had begun to worry about getting older, what with the important five zero birthday coming up for Michael. Her time wasn’t far behind, there was an age gap, but in the later years, it seems to catch up pretty quickly.
“I can’t believe I found a gray hair!” Sade lamented dramatically, almost to the point of sobbing. “Next it will be wrinkles that won’t go away and sagging and urrrgh! Can’t I just be a vampire, Michael?”
“No, you can’t. Remember, vampires drink blood–you hate blood,” He squeezed her hand, pulling her closer. “Besides, I think you’re beautiful and I’ll think the same even when we’re five seconds from death. I’d think it even if all your hair fell out and never came back.”
She smiled, “really? You’re not lying?”
“I don’t lie, Sade. To me, you’ll always be beautiful.”
“And gorgeous?”
He sighed, adding quickly, “and gorgeous.”
She hugged him tightly, “see? This is why, no matter what, you were going to be stuck with me. Even if it took me until you were old and gray.”
“Which, unfortunately, seems to have come faster than I anticipated. Is it wrong that I’m a little disturbed by the fact my own father looks younger than me?”
“Hmm, no. But I think it will suit you. And it will make me look younger in comparison!”
Needing an escape, Grace made her way downtown again. It wasn’t hard, what with her parents wrapped up in their amorous ways and the twins too busy with their twin things. Getting cash wasn’t hard and calling up a taxi took practically no effort at all. She was relieved when she saw the lights, comforted when she stepped into the crowd, nameless and faceless. All of that came to a quick, abrupt halt when she saw the familiar figure of one Fujin Yu, however.
“You know, this stalking thing is getting a little creepy,” he said without turning around.
“I’m not stalking you,” Grace snapped. “Fate has a way of raining on my parade. You just happen to be the rain.”
“Lucky me,” he grabbed a pool cue, gesturing towards her with it, “want to play?”
“Only if we can make it interesting,” she replied snappily, snatching the pool cue from him.
He laughed, “oh, great, now I’m getting hustled. Fine, all right. Let’s see what you’ve got, little girl.”
“You are so dead now. I hope you’ve thought ahead and already made your funeral preparations.”
“Yeah, yeah… less talking, more action. This isn’t my first time getting hustled.”
“I wouldn’t imagine,” she smirked, tapping her cue against the floor. She watched as he missed, the cue ball bouncing uselessly against the side, just narrowly missing his target. “Ooh, is this skill? Should I be taking notes.”
Fujin grumbled, taking a step back, “just a tiny setback. I’ll recover. And anyway, what are you doing downtown? Shouldn’t you be at home or something–I mean, isn’t it dangerous for you to just wander around alone?”
“Really, nerdboy, after all this time… I thought you’d pick up a thing or two. My grandfather is a vampire crime boss. What part of that screams ‘helpless little lamb’ to you? Even without that, I can handle my own.”
“Must be nice to be so fearless.”
“I eat fear for breakfast, right after I choke hold it into submission.”
“Ouch… you know, for being a little girl, you’re kind of scary sometimes.”
She sunk all of her stripes without making a mistake and nailed the eight ball without a single slip-up. She stepped back, basking in her own glory, “be afraid. Be very afraid.”
Fujin was forced to watch as all it came to one quick, final end. He sighed, shaking his head.
“Oh, I am. Definitely. My wallet is crying.”
“Tell it to stop it’s sniveling–there’s debt to be paid.”
“Harsh.”
“Nice doing business with you,” Grace said, pocketing the cash.
Fujin couldn’t help but laugh, “I can’t believe I just got shook down by a little girl. Are you sure you’re not a criminal?”
“No, and I’m not a little girl, either. I’m off to University in a few months. You know, that place people go to not fail at life. I hear it’s pretty nice, the whole higher education thing. I’ll let you know how it goes.”
“You really go for the gullet don’t you?”
“I’m a take no prisoners kind of girl. Just be glad I’m saving you the added shame of being noogied by a little girl.”
“You sure you’re all right out there?” Fujin asked, feeling suddenly guilty. She may not have been little, but she was still a girl. Perhaps not a fragile, delicate girl, but a girl nonetheles and girls shouldn’t be wandering the city streets, alone, at night.
“Don’t patronize me, it’s agitating,” she said, turning to leave. She gave a small wave, a few bills tucked between her fingers. “Thanks for the cab fair, sucker.”
Fujin shook his head. He remembered stories about his grandmother Lilith’s antics as a teen and young adult. He couldn’t help but wonder if Grace was some kind of successor to the throne of female tyrants. He wasn’t sure he really wanted to find out, either. She really was scary, even without the vampire crime boss for a grandfather.
Michael’s birthday came and went. The only thing that changed was his hair, which was now completely gray. He’d stopped dyeing it, preferring to go au naturale. Plus, Sade insisted it made him look distinguished and again, made her look younger by comparison. Grace enjoyed her final moments with her family before the big step to college.
She was around yet for the twins’ birthdays, too. They were kind of thankful their big sister was off to university. They weren’t nearly as aggressive and really didn’t want the stigma attached to Grace also put on them.
Alexander, looking quite a bit like his father, preferred books and learning to most everything else. He was shy, but not nearly so reclusive as Michael. He liked people, but he also liked knowing he was smarter than most of them.
Charity was the odd one out, following more in her mother’s footsteps. She wanted to be hot, so hot it burned when people looked at her. Having inherited her mother’s naturally gorgeous genes, this was no problem at all. It also helped that her cousin Deidre O`Hanlon, an already established ‘it girl’, was only a grade ahead.
Of course, even though they were in high school now, that didn’t really get them out of a goodbye noogie from Grace before she left.
“You brats better behave while I’m gone,” she warned.
“Yes, yes, just… stop,” Alexander pleaded, worried for the state of his hair. “The hair!”
Grace wouldn’t miss the chaos, the lovey-doveyness, or the annoyance of her siblings… but she would miss giving them noogies. A pastime she’d remember forever, to be certain.
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Note from Mao: I love Grace. I think we are like, sim soul sisters. No, seriously. I don’t have beefy arms, but uh… I’m finding that I borrow more and more from personal experience/etc for her scenes… LOL! Good thing she isn’t a scrapper like I was, though. I’m not fond of sim fights, lol.
Moving on… I think Michael was a little confused at the beginning of this rotation! Sorry, buddy. I’d love for you guys to just endlessly spit out spawn, but I’ve got to encourage some form of population control here.
A picture that got left out. I just think it’s hilarious because of the context I associate with it. Grace has won, but it seems her beatin’ hand has got to twitchin’. Poor Fujin looks a bit worried about his chances of survival, LOL.
For those of you wondering if OMGROMANCE is possible, it is… but uh, would you really want that for poor Fujin? If Grace ends up feeling something other than annoyance towards him… I think I’ll actually kinda feel bad for the poor guy. 
Happy Christmas Eve, everyone! I probably won’t post again until after Christmas, so I hope everyone has a great holiday!
I was surprised when they both got Sade’s ears, wow! 
