Annie's Sims Stuff

The only other patron, a man who was entirely focused on his drinking up until now, dashes Huxley’s plans for a quiet evening. He attempts to strike up a conversation and will not take a hint.

“I’m a bit of a virtuoso myself,” he says, and at this Hux perks up. With her flaky band members, she’s always on the lookout for competent musicians.

“Cool, what do you play?”

The guy takes a sip before he replies, “I dabble in this and that,” he smirks, “But if you’re a good girl, I’ll teach you how to play the flute sometime.”

When Huxley is done jamming, she puts down the guitar and heads straight for the bar.

Huxley knows nothing of her sister's dismay. She had a long day busking around town and decided spend the evening at one of her favorite haunts.

Hazel notices Aidan’s mother Patricia Brooks standing at the edge of her property, staring blankly at the eyesore of a construction site.

“It's his way of getting back at me," she croaks. Hazel does not have to ask who - Mayor Wells must have been furious to find out that he is going to have an opponent in the upcoming elections for the first time in years.

"I don't flatter myself to think that this was the only reason, of course. I'm sure there was a lot of money involved," Patricia scoffs, "A mall, right in the center of these well-populated suburbs... The investors will make a fortune, though they seem to have an inexhaustible budget already.”

What was once Hazel and Aidan’s favorite nature park turned into a filthy construction site seemingly overnight.

Hazel is devastated.

Hazel wears simple jeans and blouses under a lab coat to work these days, to spare her boss any more trouble in case the mayor comes by for a surprise inspection of the facility.

On rainy days, when she is forced to use the car pool instead of riding her bike to work, she almost feels like she lost every last little part of her individuality. She is nothing but a soulless cog in a great machine.

But the sun always comes out again, brightening the small town and with it Hazel’s mood. Hazel smiles widely as she zooms along on her bicycle, enjoying the fresh air and beautiful autumn foliage on her way home.

Until she sees something that makes her skid to a halt.

The running hypothesis is that the portal leads to an alternate universe, rather than to the future of Hazel’s own world. It is the only explanation that can be reconciled with what science knows about time and the laws of physics.

But something deep inside Hazel can’t help but wonder; what if? Could it be true? Did the brilliant minds of Oasis Landing really invent genuine time travel?

“Time travel tourism? Not in MY town,” mayor Wells declares.

With elections coming up, the mayor isn’t interested in anything that won’t directly result in more votes. Futuristic thingamabobs are more likely to scare his voter base than excite them, but Dr Wolfson manages to convince the mayor not to cut their funding—for now.

A portal to the future? It all sounds too crazy to be true. Luckily Hazel brought back proof! She pulls a tiny orb, barely the size of a marble, out of her pocket. When she presses her index finger to it, the object opens up, parts unfolding and reassembling into a much larger sphere, about the size of a basketball.

Dr Wolfson is excited. The mayor…not so much.

As it turns out, Hazel was only gone for a fraction of a second in the present. It takes her a good while to recount what she just experienced to Dr Wolfson and Mayor Wells.

Somehow Hazel managed to keep worry from her mind for this long, but now, as it’s time to return home, it all comes crashing down.

Will it really possible to return to the past? It goes against all current scientific assumptions about how the universe works. More likely than not, Hazel will perish within the next few seconds, her body torn apart by the force pulling at her from every angle.

Moments later, she steps out of the portal, still intact.

After a day of exploring, Hazel is back to bombard Emit with questions. Emit tells her he has never heard of a place called ‘Apple Loser Planes’ and doesn’t know where Oasis Landing may have been in the SimNation of her time.

Hazel sets out to explore Oasis Landing.