Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Chapter 5: Beach

CREDIT: Some poses are from the Unsure Pack at Mypalsim's Poses for Sims 3


How did The Leader recruit new members?

He was very good at manipulating people. You know how he told us The Strangers would lure us out with fake smiles and sweet words? In reality, those were the things he did to lure people in. He often held community gatherings, which were parties where he served free food and tried to convince those with no place to go that he had a safe haven for them. A lot of times homeless people would show up because they were hungry. Some of them became new recruits, while others just thanked him for the food and turned down his offers to live in The Compound.


The Leader knocks on the door to Titanium and Camo's room early in the morning. Titanium isn't quite awake yet, so Camo opens the door.


"Good morning children, I have some exciting news for you. It is a beautiful day today and I would like you to accompany me to the beach. I will be hosting a barbecue for the community, and there will be free food for anyone who shows up. You boys don't have to do anything except enjoy the sun, sand, and water."

"Holy crap, for real?"

"Yes, Camo. Also, you both might be particularly pleased to know that I have set aside some shorts for you boys to wear, but only for when we are at the beach, all right? As usual, please refrain from engaging The Strangers."

"Is Zinfandel coming?"

"No, Zinfandel is in Isolation. Get ready and meet me in the front yard, then we will go."

"Yes, Mr. Leader, sir!"


Titanium and Camo respond in unison to The Leader and are ecstatic. This will be their first time on the beach despite living in Silicon Shores their whole life.

"WOW! Can you believe it? We get to go to the beach! WITHOUT Zinfandel!"

"You'll get to play in the water like you wanted."


The Leader takes the boys out to the beach and gives them a bag of marshmallows and some skewers.

"All right, I will be up here for most of the day. There is a fire pit and some lounge chairs down on the sand. You boys can go explore the beach. These are snacks you can cook in the fire pit. If you go in the water, be careful. Sometimes the water can pull you under. I'll bring you some food when I'm done."


Titanium and Camo head off to the beach together, feeling the sand between their toes and the sun on their skin. Camo gets distracted by the fire pit and walks towards it, calling for Titanium to join him. Camo sits down and opens the bag of marshmallows as Titanium finds the lighter hidden in a compartment in the fire pit and lights the fire. Camo hands him a skewer with marshmallows and they start talking.

"Hey, Titanium, do you ever think about intimacy?"

"I guess, sometimes I wonder what it would feel like."

"I want to see some boobs."


"Of course you do, Camo."

"Don't you?"

"I'm not sure. When I think of boobs, I think of Zinfandel and she's a pain."

Camo laughs.

"Hey Titanium, you can be funny! I'm so glad she's not here talking to us about rules. Can you imagine what she'd do if she knew we were talking about this?"

All of a sudden, Camo gets a distant look in his eye and stares off into the horizon. Titanium doesn't notice at first and continues talking.

"Well, she'd probably start blabbing on about how we're teenagers and teenagers aren't sup- Camo? Camo! Your marshmallows are on fire!"

"Wha-? Huh? Crap!"

Camo pulls his skewer out of the fire and starts blowing on the fire to extinguish the flames.


"What were you looking at?"

"There's a hot girl over there by the water. She's got a nice ass."

Titanium looks over at the girl, and all of a sudden his marshmallows are on fire as well.

"Damn it!"

"These marshmallows take like burnt ass."


"We suck at this."

Titanium and Camo laugh at their lack of marshmallow cooking skills. Camo looks over at the girl again while taking a bite of his marshmallow.

"Camo, how do you know she's hot? It's just her backside."

"Yeah, but look at her! She's got to be hot with a body like that! She's got curves... and that ass!"


"Do you want to go down to the water and get a better look?"

"Whoa, Titanium. Where has this version of you been hiding? Of course I do!"

Titanium and Camo go down to the water, agreeing not to engage the strange girl so that The Leader doesn't get upset with them. After a while, The Leader comes down to the beach and gives them some hot dogs.

"Are you boys enjoying yourselves?"

"Yes, Mr. Leader, sir."


Titanium and Camo eat their hot dogs while chatting and watching the sunset. Camo occasionally steals a glance at the brunette girl.

"Wow that sunset is really awesome. Don't you think? Titanium? Titanium! Hello! Dude, what are you looking at?"


Camo wants to go in the water before they have to go back, but Titanium seems to be on a different planet. Camo looks around, but doesn't know what could be distracting Titanium. He gets up and taps Titanium on the shoulder.

"Hey, it's getting dark. I want to go play in the water quick before we go. Come with me."

Titanium follows Camo into the ocean. Camo smiles. He likes the feel of the cool water on his feet and legs. It's relaxing, just as he imagined it would be.


The boys stay in the shallow part of the ocean since neither of them have ever been taught how to swim and Titanium pauses again, looking in the direction of the beach.

"Titanium, you never told me what you were looking at."

"Not what, who."


Titanium looks up again and tries to signal without pointing at the aqua haired boy standing on the sand, since the boy seems to be looking their way.

"You mean that guy standing there?"

Titanium looks shyly at Camo and nods.

"I think he's cute."


"Boys? It's time to go."

The Leader's voice echoes down to the water's edge. He is standing on the shore, beckoning towards Titanium and Camo. As they walk towards the car, they notice a woman walking with them. Titanium and Camo get in the back seat of the car while The Leader opens the passenger side door for the woman and she gets in the car with them. She looks sad and withdrawn, doing nothing but staring out the window for the duration of the car ride.



Why do you think The Leader was being so nice to you?

Occasionally, The Leader would be nice to me to skew my opinion of him. I didn't like him in general because of the many rules he imposed on me. It was a sneaky way to curb dissent. You won't question things if you're happy with what you have.


Mrs. Balestrom gets up and I notice Camo staring at her. He's looking at her with a smile on his face, the same way he did when we first saw her on the beach.


20 comments:

  1. It's kind of sad how much people are willing to endure when they are fed a treat once in a while :(

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    1. It is, right?! Hindsight is a crazy thing. When I think about all the BS I put up with being a part of the group, it seems so ridiculous now that something as simple as being taken to a bar for my 21st birthday (they discouraged alcohol) was enough to keep me at their beck and call.. It's hard to admit I was that weak..

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    2. But that´s the point, right? Was. As in, were ;)
      I think it´s the same way abusive relationship last so surprisingly long time, would fit some I´ve seen

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    3. Yes, that was precisely the point. I feel like that place was just one big abusive relationship.

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  2. Good update! And I agree with Anna, it sucks being tricked like that. It's cute that they saw the people they're with now at the same place and time when they were at the compound. Camo's such a hornball, always thinking about the female form and their attributes, haha!
    Looking forward to more!

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    1. Thanks! The trick part is so stupid. I can't believe I bought into that back in the day. LOL, the word hornball. The first time, he was a teenage boy, so that's just kind of self-explanatory, ha-ha! Plus he'd been surrounded his whole life by girls who dressed like old ladies, so he was in desperate need of some eye candy. As an adult he's really grateful for his wife's personality and appearance. I kind of wrote a little of myself into Camo's personality cause I'm always like 'ooh hot guy.' LOL.

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  3. It's really cool to here the story from both ends of it (chronologically). I can't wait to read the next update, and I'm curious to know what the ever-obedient Zinfandel would have been put into isolation for.

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    1. Hey! Thanks for reading and commenting! I'm glad you are enjoying it. :o)

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  4. Alright, the leader guy is a douche, but that's already been established so I'm being redundant here.

    That was cute how they were checking everybody out at the beach. Hormones raging lol.

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    1. That's ok, Camo often says he's a douche pretty much all the time. LOL. Yeah, teenagers cooped up in a boring place where everyone dresses like old ladies and old men, they need eye candy really bad. LOL.

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  5. What did Zinfandel do to get in Isolation?
    It was really sweet the way both Titanium and Camo saw their later love interests on the beach that day. I love seeing the story unfold as memories; we know how it's going to turn out, but we don't know how it gets there.

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    1. Zinfandel's mistake is discussed in the next chapter. I tend to write in more of a suspenseful style, where things are foreshadowed but not always revealed in the same chapter. :)
      I am glad you like the way I decided to write this story. I had always written from the present day forward, so I thought for this one, I would try to go backwards and see how it treats me.

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  6. Imagine going to the beach for the first time at the age of a teen when you've lived your whole life by the ocean, so sick... And, I have to repeat what has been commented already, but I also think it's so cute that they both saw the people they're with now at the beach that same day. Can't wait to find out how they'll meet again. :)

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    1. Pretty messed up, huh? Poor Camo and Titanium. Thanks for commenting on the adorableness of the couples. :)

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  7. Just read the chapters 4 and 5 and I agree with Anna that it is sad how quickly people can be manipulated brainwashed by cult leaders in thinking that this is the only way to live and big consequences if you don't. At least the compound residents are able to go outside for awhile and I hope that eventually they can get back the freedom of controlling their lives.

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    1. Hi! Yeah, it is pretty sad how easily people can be tricked, especially if that is all they've ever known. Since this story is pretty much a memory of Titanium, we do know that at least that Titanium and Camo for sure escape the cult and get control of their lives.

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  8. I am surprised that the boys did not react to Zinfandel being in isolation, especially Titanium. I don't think that he has forgotten the childhood friend who didn't make it out, so I am really concerned that maybe he is becoming indifferent. Mr. Leader is really a sly one. Sugar coating everything, give a little, maintain control. Ugh! .... Camo is so much a boy. *L* He's a great character and a great friend for Titanium.

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    1. Well, the boys are pretty numb to things having grown up there. They've never been taught what love is, or even what it's like to really care about someone. Not to mention they both find Zinfandel annoying, honestly they don't really like her that much, she's just another person who lives there, and Isolation is a reality. It seems shocking to us who are not in a cult, but for them, the possibility of being thrown in Isolation is something they live with every day. Titanium has actually already been indifferent for many years ever since his friend died. You've got to be very manipulative to run a cult, because you have to make your members think everything is fine as you do horrible things to them. LOL. Camo doesn't have any eye candy to look at in the cult, everyone wears long skirts and high necklines and they don't make any effort to look good. That girl was the first pretty person he'd seen ever. Haha. =) I love Camo, he's my favorite.

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  9. Wow that woman in the car was probably another recruit...Those boys should run away whenever they get the chance to.
    As much as I dislike Mr.Leader, it was pretty nice to see the boys enjoy themselves instead of being his little puppets while he sits on his ass.
    It's really amazing how the boys don't know how to swim...I mean yeah there's some people who can't swim but they've never been to a beach or been in the ocean until now. It just really shows how shut off they are from not just the people, but the world itself.
    I can't wait to see how the boys meet Mrs.Balestrom and Absolon. Camo was funny as usual lol.
    Titanium's confusion was quite interesting, I don't think they will tolerate his feelings though.

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    1. Yes, that woman was a recruit, that's why she got in the car with them and The Leader. Well, if they ran away, the story would be over, so let's not have that happen quite yet. It's only Chapter 5, LOL.

      The Leader has to keep them brainwashed somehow, and one of the best ways to manipulate kids is to give them what they want sometimes. >:D

      Well, when, you've never been allowed to be near water of any kind, it's difficult to learn skills that are related to water, right? :D The seclusion of the cult members is very extreme, and I'm glad you picked up on that and how it amazed you.

      Titanium is also confused right now since he's never been taught anything about love. He just knew that he thought Absolon was attractive.

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