The Intruders

(Hey guys, this is just a little teaser for the other story I mentioned — hope you enjoy! Also, I apologize for the pics being dark — they looked fine on my computer at home, but much darker where I am now, so they might be hard to see for some of you. If it’s really bad, let me know and I will lighten them up.)

Good morning, dear readers! You may not remember me, as I haven’t been allowed to divulge my tragic tales to you in quite some time, but my name is Maude Berthiaume, and I’m Mt. Geneva’s ghostly historian. You might also be inclined to call me a “spy” or a “gossip”, and, unsavory as those terms may be, they’re not far off the mark. When one is incorporeal as well as incurably curious, one has precious little else to do with one’s time. Sad, but true! Observing the inhabitants of Mt. Geneva is one of the few pleasures my spectral existence affords.

One of the other pleasures is telling you my stories, but I must take issue with my typist making light of my current situation by calling it a “teaser”. Teaser, indeed! My world was quite shaken up the other night, and it is with utmost seriousness that I now impart this tale to you.

With all of my drifting and floating around Mt. Geneva, it can sometimes be days, perhaps weeks, before I make my way back to Berthiaume Manor to check on the place and make sure no one has disturbed my “resting grounds”. I used to revisit it more often, but I’ve scared away intruders so many times that it has gained quite the reputation for being haunted by a most terrifying ghost, and so it has lain dusty and dormant for many years. That is, until now.

Maude

I was just returning from a particularly long visit to the Dobbins family (part of which they spent on a trip to Veronaville — of course I had to go along!) and about to take my usual survey of the grounds, when I was struck senseless by how much things had altered in my absence. Someone had coaxed the once-shaggy topiaries back to their original shapes and planted lovely new flowers around them. Clean, chlorinated water glistened at me from the old swimming pool, which used to be coated with mud and decaying leaves.

I panicked instantly. Who had been here? Had someone taken my house while I was off gallivanting with the Dobbinses? Oh dear, I had stayed away too long! How foolish of me! In a flurry of horror and anxiety, I rushed inside to see what I could discover.

What I saw when I passed through the door confirmed my fears — someone was indeed living in Berthiaume Manor! There was new furniture everywhere, plants in the corners, pictures on the walls. Everything was clean and modern and garishly painted. They had ruined my house!

Maude

Whoever “they” were, it’s a good thing they weren’t at home at that moment, because I fell into the most terrible rage of my life (or death), and you know how we ghosts can be when we’re angry!

Maude

Like a gust of wind I swept through the rest of the house, noting the same tasteless decor and hideous colors throughout. Most of the upstairs had been transformed into two large bedrooms, each containing five single beds. Ten little beds in all! My heart melted slightly at the thought of ten children running around Berthiaume Manor, their laughter bouncing off the walls and making the house a joyful place. It had never been very joyful in all my living years, and the idea that it might finally see some happiness made me regret having been so enraged just a few moments earlier.

In a somewhat calmer mood, I descended the staircase, but the sound of a key clicking in the lock of the front door below sent me flying back upwards. I wanted to get a good look at the new inhabitants before I frightened the living daylights out of them.

As the door swung open, I expected to see a married couple, very modern but horribly dressed, with a parade of children trailing behind them, but all I saw was a single man in a jogging suit carrying a basket of groceries. After locking the door behind him, he flipped a switch, which ignited the pseudo-candlelight sconces lining the walls. After glancing absently about the room, he headed for the kitchen. A bit disappointed but still wildly curious, I swooped down the stairs and followed him.

In the polished chrome monstrosity that was the remodeled kitchen, I watched him put away the groceries while he hummed some tuneless melody.

Groceries

The refrigerator was nearly empy but for the new items he placed within it, and I realized that if ten children were moving in, it wasn’t going to be anytime soon. The man in the jogging suit looked for all the world like a hopeless bachelor. So why the ten single beds? I was befuddled, and my confusion kept me from trying to drive the intruder out right then and there. I had more investigating to do.

I continued my tour of the house, moving to the downstairs. Much to my surprise, the ballroom, the scene of perhaps my finest moments in this house, looked much the same as it always had, except that instead of containing just a few chairs and ornaments, it also housed a beautiful grand piano, an electronic keyboard, and some stereo equipment. Perhaps the man in the jogging suit was a musician? That must be it, I decided. And he had bought the house in order to have some solitude and inspiration for his next suite of songs.

But then I saw something that struck me as very odd. Along the wall was a set of portraits featuring five women, all of whom looked to be in their early 20s. I examined them closely — none of the girls looked familiar in any way.

The girls

Drifting to the other side of the room I found similar portraits of five young men. Again, none of them were familiar to me, nor did any of them resemble the man in the jogging suit.

The boys

Could these ten young people be the future occupants of the two bedrooms upstairs? Who on earth are they? It was so strange to see their faces smiling at me from the walls of the ballroom. A little of my anger crept back in, as I began to feel once again that their intrusion was just that — an intrusion onto MY property, and a total disregard for my feelings on the matter, though at this point, of course, they don’t know I exist. Well, they will.

Floating out

28 thoughts on “The Intruders

  1. Ooooh… dundundun!!

    Poor Maude. I mean it–look at all the blitzkrieg she has to put up with! She’s dead, Goll-darn-it! Let her Rest In Peas (and carrots)!

    I’m looking forward to this story, Jen. I can’t wait, can’t wait, can’t wait!

    (P.S. Ya remember the Braytons? Well, over at the official sims 2 site, I started a makeover series. A Victorian makeover series. Check it out for me, wouldja?–my screenname there is ‘eatsataco’.)

  2. Hmmmmmm…..interesting. I’m hooked. Is this the teaser for the story about the foster house or some other story that I missed the train on? And I agree with Audrey, it is good to say hello to ol’ Maude again. Well, you’ve done it again, Jen. You’re an excellent story-teller!

  3. Ooooooooooh! I sense a big conflict between Maude and the new occupants, great update, I cant wait to read more! great story telling!

  4. Sweeeeeeeeeet. :D It almost looks like the setup for some kind of reality tv show or the like? Is poor Maud going to have to deal with the horrors of modern entertainment.. In *her* house? Rawr! Enter one angry ghost, stage right!

  5. Maude’s back!!! It’s about time!!! Go teach those intruders a lesson they’ll never forget! :D

  6. Oooooh this sounds interesting! I’ve missed Maude…I was wondering yesterday actually if you were going to do more Maudes Tales :D can’t wait for the next one!
    (and no, the pictures dont look that dark to me…)

  7. Hmm. Channe, I think that’s really possible and easy to do with the Tombstone of L&D. I’ll give it a whirl next time I play (which should be soon. I’m jonesing for Sims, man. Look, look! My hand is shaking! Withdrawl! Don’t put me in rehab, please.)
    (Also, as a note on the last entry: Every time I’ve seen a paper delivery kid walk by, I’ve been saying “S/he wants to be your friend!” Man, I love that line. :D)

    Anyway. I am TOTALLY COMMENTING ON THE ENTRY. It’s serious. Because it’s in caps.

    Poor Maude. She must feel like she’s being made light of, with teasers and all. Don’t you worry about a thing, Maudester! I shall take you as seriously as a capitalized heart attack!
    Wait, um, is calling her “Maudester” making light? Er… oops. Oh, look! It’s… Not this!

    I wonder what the trip to Veronaville was like? Personally, I, uh, kind of zipped up Veronaville and deleted the main folder of it. >_>; Just… never struck my fancy, I guess.
    Probably good for vacations, though. So long as li’l Puck doesn’t come around. Um. I don’t know what SimKidPuck is like. Just… well, if it’s anything like the other Puck, I just think he’d end up breaking the community lots.
    I was going to communicate with them, too.

    Um, anyway. I feel bad for the shaggy topiaries. Shaggy hair (leaves?) is neat. Now they can’t be in a rock band. Or can they?! What with the electronic keyboard, maybe there’s still a chance. (You can do it, shrubs!)

    That kitchen… is so… chromular. I don’t know, I had to make up a word for it. Seriously, though! I hope it doesn’t infect the food somehow. I’ve never heard of a Sim dying of recolor poisoning, though, so I think they’re in the clear. Thumbs up!

    Hee. I like the picture of the girl farthest on the right. It’s just… kind of like that face they always make when they’re dancing (er, they do it in my EP-less yet patched game, anyway). The face of “I think I pulled a muscle but I guess I’m happy about it”.

    Man. I’m just so curious as to how Maude will foul up whatever plans they have.
    I mean, I hope she fouls ’em up.
    …save for muscle-pulling girl, I feel suspicious!

  8. Heyy, I never post on these comments but I always read your stories so much, they’re great, and I’ve missed Maude and her little hat, lol. Anyway, you’ve got me inspired to start my own sim blog called Spring Rose Bay but it’s still in the pre- stage I’m afraid. I’ll be checking back for more story Jen, so keep up the good work. Toodles!

  9. This was most definately a teaser. A pretty darned good teaser at that. I wanna know whats happenin’ haha. If it’s a teaser…does that mean you wont ever tell us whats going on? If so…I will go jump off a bridge right now..ok maybe i wont be that extreme haha. Can’t wait for the next update. Whenever that may be….Adios!!

  10. That was great, Jen…you had me on my seat for a moment! Though, I do feel bad for Maude. I would be furious if I lost my mansion to some guy!

  11. *does a little dance* I got OFB yesterday. :D It had me up ’til 3 AM! I have successfully so far created lots of normal toys as well as some ‘failed’ EVIL jack-in-the-boxes and kites. I have also successfully killed someone through evil kites. ;)

  12. Woot! Have any Robots running around yet, either? They can get married! Which I find kind of adorable. Maybe with a capital A. Kind of like “yes, Servo and I adopted a couple of little ‘uns. Aren’t they the sweetest? Chandler Platz, put down the SimStation controller and eat the foodworkhome… thing! It’s spaghetti with LEARNING!” “Aw, mom! Or dad! I forget. My level is off of the charts, and I’m about to avoid three game over screens!”
    Chandler did not avoid the game over screens.
    …um, anyway. *blink*
    How’d the evil kites kill them? Did they go into a kite-eating tree, and then take the kite-flier with them?
    …and then the kite escaped, only to make the kite-eating tree into a sim-eating tree?
    Or maybe it was something more normal, like the kite guiding itself with the wind around the Sim’s neck, and then the Sim is all “oh spork– hey kite that is not good!” And the kite’s all like “‘course it’s not good, I’m EVIL! Hahahaha!”
    Or they just got into a tussle.
    I say the kite deserves about, oh. A life stage in prison. You’ll be an elder before you’re out, Kitey! (“You’ll never take me while you’re alive!” Kitey reported saying.)

    You know… I think I’m so on the edge of my seat over the teaser, my seat broke. Hm. That’s okay, though! I’m just on the edge of my floor, now– that’s… doubly anticipating.
    I think.

  13. *cracks up* XD
    Alas no, the kite isn’t quite so hands (string?) on. Instead what it does is attract lightning! It’s, uh.. Actually one of the prettiest deaths in the game. O.O The kite really is floating way above the Sim, and it tugs and dances and stuff, and then KAZOOM! Electrocuted Sim! Pulverized kite.
    Note that the Sim’ll only die if their needs are already low. In order to get my dead one I had to have her fly another evil kite after the first one. Then she got hit by lightning and then she burst into flames. 0:D
    One warning, though: like all the other EPs, this one is glitchy. The only thing I’ve encountered so far’s been one weird little timejerk, but my husband’s playing in Uni and there’s serious problems with ungreetable visitors and so on. On the other hand he’s also got a lot of mods installed, so I’m not sure if it’s Uni vs OFB, OFB vs mods or a combo.

  14. And no robots.. Yet! I’m working on that very thing. :D I have made a family of two sisters, Maxine and Demi Du Royde. Maxine’s the salesman, Demi’s the actual robot maker to be.