Hashima's Dollhouse

For Connor that time was now. He was met in the wings by his wife, Autumn, whose career as a singer-songwriter would see the pair relocate permanently to Del Sol Valley. There, Connor would lend his expertise to teaching young dancers on the precipice of their own professional careers.

Saying goodbye was never easy, but Connor encouraged everyone to look him up in DSV, and they sent him off with warm hugs before he and his wife caught a flight to their sunny new hometown.

Uptown, Ash Landgraab was moving into his own city dwelling before starting work at Landgraab Engineering. The palatial two-story apartment was a gift from Ash's grandmother, Nancy, who got him a place in the same building where her brother Johnny lived with his wife and kids.

Eva, son Deven, and the twins, Noemi and Cristal, were all over to help welcome Ash to the building, and they marveled at how different the place was to their own. Heather could hardly believe her son would live in a place like this, but he was a Landgraab, after all, and this place had 24/7 security.

She congratulated Malcolm on the birth of his new daughter, Catherine, just days earlier, wishing Miko and the newborn well. Heather had nothing to complain about, and she even got along with Nancy for the night for her son's sake.

Pearl made her way over after post-show drinks with the crew, finding everyone still milling about Ash's new apartment. The TV alone was bigger than her bathroom at home!

But for all the space in the apartment, it was only listed as a one bedroom. Ash planted a kiss on her cheek and invited her on a tour, leaving his family downstairs to start a dance party in the kitchen - just like his grandfather Geoffrey would have done.

They moved from room to room - from the luxurious bathrooms to the bedroom with full walk-in closet. Pearl was awestruck by the space, until Ash led her to one last door across the upstairs hall from the main bedroom.

Inside they found Ash's second cousin, Cristal, at his robotics workstation, set up near a desk at the other end of the room from a ballet practice space. "Oh, hey, guys! I was just tinkering, but I'll leave you alone," she said, heading downstairs and leaving the lovebirds in the room.

"I had the same guy who works on the equipment at your studio come in to install the barre this afternoon."

"You installed this for me?"

"This is a big apartment, and I don't want to live here by myself."

"You want me to move in?"

"I do. This room works great as an office for now, but some day this could be the place we raise a family."

Pearl smiled at the thought, but she pushed back. "Some day, like, years from now, right? I know Daniela raised four kids while dancing as prima ballerina for the company and she's done an amazing job at it, but I just don't think I'm made of the same stuff, you know? I don't want my kids to compete with the time I have to give the company."

"I understand," he said. "That's why, for now, this room is an office and a studio."

With a beaming grin, Pearl agreed to move in. She packed up her things at her home across town, bringing a few photos before hugging her family to say goodbye.

Saving the longest farewell for her mother, Pearl held her close. "I'm sorry things were so difficult between us over the years. I should have trusted your instincts that Charlie was bad news."

"I fought you too hard," Dylan conceded warmly. "It was the wrong way to convince you to see things a different way, but it's in the past now. I'm so proud of the woman you've become, and Ash is great for you. That boy was always the right choice."

While Pearl made peace with her mother, two of her coworkers were at home in the trendy Fashion District - where making peace was the last thing on their minds.

"I thought you said the poster was a weird gift for him to give you," Lando Nymph said to his younger sister, Ari. "But if that's true, why is hanging next to your bed?"

"I mean, she does kind of look like me," Ari protested. "I've given worse gifts than that."

"Are you talking about the times you tormented our younger siblings by doing spells on them for fun?"

"It wasn't just for fun, it was practice. But it doesn't even matter because I picked ballet, not spellcasting."

"Why did you pick ballet?"

"Because you weren't going to audition if you had to come here alone, and even though I'm here you're still afraid to tell the Landgraabs you're Nancy's dead husband's secret lovechild."

"Right. Because that's so easy to say."

"You're the one who said you wanted to know more about who you came from."

"I said that before I knew he was dead. I just remember that guy in the skeleton suit that used to come around when we were all really little."

"Do you think our mom made our dads do that so we wouldn't get attached? She did say they came over to provide extra childcare while she went out to get pregnant again. I don't think she really wanted us to know them. I don't even remember my dad's name."

"Whatever her reasons, it's not like we can ask her now."

"I just think you should get what you came for. That rich witch Nancy will probably throw her money at you just to hide the scandal."

"Who says I want money? Are you going to take your own advice and call the homeless guy?"

"He's not homeless. He lives in Moonwood Mill with his dad and sister."

"He said he sleeps in dumpsters sometimes, Ari."

Ari frowned. "And you're asking me why I haven't called him," she groused. "I think he might be a werewolf."

"So?"

After a minute, Ari steeled her nerves. "If I call him, you can't go anywhere. I don't know him well enough yet to be alone in here. I saw this weird thing online that someone might've been killed in this building." (Link goes to a lore video on YouTube, not by me.)

"It's San Myshuno. If it's true, it's probably not the only apartment with a story like that. Have you even smelled the air in the Spice District?"

When Lou arrived at the Nymphs' apartment, they buzzed him in and he walked through the front door with a wide grin. "What's up, city dwellers? I beat six lanes of traffic to get here; hope you're as excited to see me as I am to see you."

He glanced at Ari and they both blushed a little, leaving Lando to shake his head with a laugh. "Hey Lou. I'm not more excited to see you than Ari, here, even if I look it. How've you been?"

"Not bad," he announced, making himself at home in the living room. "Got a job digging graves recently. Apparently I'm the fastest digger they've ever had, and I've never been the best at any job before. I've never really been good at other jobs, come to think of it."

"That's great! I thought maybe you'd practice barre enough to join us in the company, but digging graves is good work."

"There's lots of it, too," Lou agreed. "Everyone dies eventually - except bloodsuckers, some werewolves, spellcasters..."

"What do you know about vampires, werewolves, and spellcasters?" Ari pressed.

"I know vamps can't do anything right," he scoffed.

"Do you know any?" wondered Ari. "Vamps, wolves, and witches, I mean?"

"I know I'm a werewolf," he admitted easily. "And I think I caught your coworker, Katrina, do a spell once to clean the showers at the studio."

"Katrina is a spellcaster?" Ari gaped. "I couldn't even tell!"

Lou cocked his head in confusion. "How could you tell unless you'd seen her do a spell?"

Lando laughed. "Because she's a spellcaster, too. Ari was training to be a pretty good mage before she auditioned for the ballet company."

"I know some spells, but I'm not that good," Ari said.

Lou Howell hated vampires, but other occults didn't bother him, and Ari's skill with magic just intrigued him more. "That's cool," he said, with a look that made the redheaded dancer blush. "Maybe you can show me some of those spells, sometime."

Lando glanced between the young wolf and his sister with a supportive smile. "I'll order a pizza," he said. "Do wolves like veggies, or do they just like their pies covered in meat?" ->

<- Previous Chapter | Gen 2 Start | Gen 2.1 Summary | Gen 2.2 Summary

Gen 1 Start | Gen 1 Summary

Thank you for your service to my stories, Connor and @changingplumbob. It's been a pleasure having him to lift up his dance partners, literally and figuratively, throughout his professional career. May his retirement from the stage in Del Sol Valley be both sunny and sweet.

NOTE: In @hashimasims' 100 Baby Save, where Lando and Ari were born, Lando and his twin, Akkar, were fathered by Geoffrey Landgraab cheating on his Nancy in that universe, but I'm using that lore in my own save because it's drama to throw at Nancy, especially with Geoffrey no longer here to answer for himself.

He did have to put up with the early arrival of his overbearing mother, Olive, before his graduation, as she made herself at home in Britechester to keep an eye on him. After everything, he couldn't blame her for her worry, so he stuffed his annoyance to focus on his work - when she wasn't pressing him for details about how he got involved, at least.

"Why would any scientist be so callous with human life?" Olive wondered, and Nyon paused his term paper long enough to answer her questions.

"They weren't actively malicious about it, they just put it second to scientific discovery. I got the sense that they're both angry and embarrassed that the last case ruined their reputations, and they were desperate to keep living the way they have. They wanted money, and they couldn't get regulatory approvals for anything because of their lab's probation. They told me their work wasn't unsanctioned, but they lied. They hoped the approvals might eventually go through, but they never did. They had to keep working in the shadows."

"And the fight club was just something they stumbled upon because they happened to rent underground labs from that shady gym?"

"The gym's owned by a shell company that doesn't care what it's used for if it collects rent. Whatever the rooms have been used for in the past is anyone's guess, but the labs were perfect for Loki and Circe and they bought them when Foxbury hired them to teach biology. They saw what the fight club was doing and decided to use it to test the injected. Either they'd observe how the injections didn't work, or note how their fighting styles changed with different injection levels."

"But they were always looking for a cure? I mean, really, a fight club, Nyon? You've never been a fighter."

"I didn't want them figuring out I was on to them. I offered myself as a control case when it looked like they were thinking of selling the tech to private contractors for genetic manipulation. To keep them on track because I just wanted to find a cure, or find it myself, if I had to. No other reason," he insisted. "To them, the cure was a bonus they'd entertain if their discoveries made them enough money first. Their dog breeding experiments started innocently enough, too, until greed took them too far."

"They sound like such horrible people," Olive fussed. "You did a good thing helping to put them away for good, but you did it entirely the wrong way, my dear."

"I know, Mom. I just didn't want anyone else to get hurt. I didn't think anyone would ever find me in an underground fight club. If I had, I probably wouldn't have lied."

"You also knew Annie didn't want you involved."

He nodded. "I shouldn't have lied thinking I was protecting her."

"I'm looking forward to finally meeting her, especially now that she helped save your life. It seems she's quite good for you, after all."

Nyon smiled. "She is."

To celebrate his freedom from Charlie and the Beakers, Ash skipped a few late-term classes to see Pearl dance the opening night of Coppelia with the San Myshuno Ballet Company.

He should have been wholly dedicated to his studies, but he missed his girl and the end of their troubles was worth celebrating.

As ever, Pearl and her company owned the stage for the performance, which garnered a long standing ovation when the curtain fell at the end of the show.

Of all the friends who might've joined him for a night at the ballet, few would've expected Lou Howell to have much interest. But he'd hung around the company studio after Ash asked him to stay close to the city, practicing his moves on the barre (autonomously!) and finding moments to talk to Ari Nymph.

To celebrate the show's opening, he'd even found Ari a gift!

"It's a poster of a girl...playing soccer?"

"I know ballet is your thing, but she has your red hair and she's athletic like you. When I saw it, I thought of you and wanted you to have it."

Kleptomaniac Lou had stolen the poster from the bedroom wall of Ash and Nyon's roommate in Britechester, and Ari wasn't entirely sure how to react to the present.

(He really did steal it. 😂 This was the poster he randomly stole of the three he could've taken, and I thought it was cute that she did look the most like Ari of the three. She was confused by the gift, ultimately, and that's fine, I can write to that!)

Ari laughed as dancers, staff, and guests mingled backstage. Board president Nancy found director Marina and choreographer Daniela to share her great news.

"Strangerville Ballet won't be a problem for us anymore. I bought them out this week, so now when they use your choreography, you'll get credit and we'll get paid for it, too."

Daniela looked at the wealthy woman with surprise. She'd always been so hard to like, but consistently proved herself in tune with the ballet company's best interests. "That's an imaginative solution," she said slowly. "Thank you for looking out for me and my work."

"Who was behind them plagiarizing us in the first place?" wondered Marina.

"I had my suspicions from the start of her tenure on the board that Circe Beaker wanted to sabotage us. I thought we'd be done with her after she and her husband were arrested for what they did to those dogs."

"Weren't they just arrested again?" asked Daniela. She pulled out her phone to check the headlines, but everyone had seen the news by now. "Human experiments this time? My goodness."

Nancy scowled. "She came from Strangerville and always spoke so well of her former company. I was hoping to catch her funneling information before she took a sabbatical to teach in Britechester," she scoffed. "Or should I say, conduct unlawful experiments under the cover of teaching at the university."

"So no one spied on us this time?"

"Whether they did or they didn't, I waited until after the Beakers were arrested again to make my offer to buy the Strangerville company. I figured if she was their source, they'd be even more vulnerable to the offer. They accepted so fast I'm convinced I was right, but we may never know the truth now." She let out a discontented sigh. "I should have removed her from the board after the first arrest, but we didn't have a vote before the charges were all dropped. This time, I've called an emergency meeting as a matter of course, but Circe Beaker won't be allowed within an inch of the San My or the Strangerville Ballet Companies ever again."

While Nancy gloated and grimaced, her grandson congratulated his girlfriend on another perfect opening night. Then he met Pearl's future full-time dance partner, Evan Steel, and chatted with her current partner, Connor Kibo.

"Pearl speaks pretty highly of you," Evan said. "Nice to meet you."

"Ash is half the reason I can focus on work when the world feels like it's going crazy," she said, cryptically avoiding details of their recent drama.

Fairly quickly, Ash realized he'd never need to worry about Evan and Pearl falling for each other the way she fell for Charlie, because Evan Steel was an open book. "I like to dance with women, but not date them," he admitted.

He was looking forward to finding love in the city, eventually, and called his hometown of Windenburg a wasteland for any men worth his time.

Ash was sure he could trust Pearl, but after tonight he felt as though he could trust her new dance partner, too. Considering how frayed his nerves had been for months, this was yet another comfort he could celebrate now that Charlie was off their backs and the rest of their lives were about to start.

But first, the guys had papers to write and presentations to give in pursuit of their degrees.

They'd finally made it, and only one more challenge remained. Finals arrived on a sunny day in Britechester, beckoning Ash and Nyon toward their futures.

And with grades like these, their futures were bright, indeed. ->

<- Higher Education: Part Thirteen | Higher Education: From the Start

Having learned Daniela Delarosa's choreography, the troupe had moved on to ensuring the steps could still be performed with the same grace in their costumes.

Every show contained so many moving parts, from conception to the final curtain. Costumes could change to suit a better move, but Daniela was versatile and creative, and always came up with the right solution. She had always worked well with Marina, and the director watched the troupe practice with a glower.

"They look incredible," she said, belying her usual expression. Dani was used to it and chuckled warmly.

"Good enough for the Strangerville Ballet to steal my moves again?"

"All your work is good enough to steal, but Nancy put cameras in to see who comes and goes. Legally she can't do anything about the 'professional flattery' from our weird, winged competitors in the desert, but she's determined to figure out who's behind it if they try to spy for Strangerville again."

"With the daycare full of kids all day, the cameras really weren't Nancy's worst idea." Both Daniela's youngest, Rhiannon, and Marina's daughter, Natalia, attended the adjoining nursery, and the doting working moms nodded in tacit agreement.

"At least, at the end of the day, Strangerville Ballet's Night Beast Before Winterfest was a viral sensation thanks to your genius, not theirs. Adding interpretive dance and fire breathing doesn't disguise all your great work."

The troupe paused for a break, snacking to keep their strength up while they worked hard in front of the floor-length mirrors.

The veterans - Pearl, Connor Kibo, Katrina Goth, and Natasha Lobo - offered advice to newbies Evan Steel, and Lando and Arilemna Nymph. These three took guidance with a lot more grace than Charlie ever did, and it was no exaggeration that troupe morale had never been better since Charlie's still unsolved disappearance.

Pearl, of course, knew what happened to him, but she trusted he had no reason to reveal himself to his former co-workers, so she hadn't let them in on the truth. Just as she found herself hoping she'd never regret that decision, the front door camera rang an alarm to signal an unexpected arrival.

Her spine straightened as her knees threatened to buckle.

"I'll see who's here," offered Ari, excusing herself in her 'evil doll' costume before Pearl could tell her to be careful. Ari and her brother had a solo as a pair of dolls made by the mad toymaker, Doctor Coppelius, dark precursors to his greatest creation, the beautiful doll, Coppelia, a tragic victim of a cruel and maniacal scientist.

Natasha would play Coppelia with all her elegance and experience, while the role of Doctor Coppelius would be imbued with the youth and naivete of the newest member, Evan Steel.

Pearl and Connor would play lovers Swanhilda and Franz, caught up in Doctor Coppelius' magic when Franz falls in love with Coppelia. Facing a vengeful madman, a cruel magistrate, and the loss of her true love, Swanhilda saves Franz from certain death before Coppelia is destroyed and Franz' spell is broken.

Newcomer Ari was excited about the performance. She was excited to be here at all, part of the best ballet company in the world, and excited to share a solo with her quiet older brother. She walked with more confidence than ever these days, and she marched into the hallway with a beaming smile to the man standing under the lights.

"It's a closed practice, you can't be in here," she announced, but nothing about her tone sounded demanding. Lou grinned back at the beautiful ballerina in a cinched dress, but he quickly remembered why he'd come.

"Is Pearl around? Her boyfriend asked me to come here."

"Why?"

"Because he can't be here."

"You don't look like a singing telegram or anything."

"I...what?"

"A singing telegram, with a love song from her boyfriend. I haven't met him, but everyone here says good things about Ash Landgraab. Did you know he danced as the Nutcracker Prince and saved opening night of the company's last show? Hang around these guys for ten minutes and they'll tell you. They love the guy!"

Carrying a bowl of acai berries, Dani joined Ari and Lou in the hallway outside the studio. "Who is it, Ari?"

"I don't know. He says he's here to talk to Pearl. Ash Landgraab sent him."

"My name's Lou," he said. "I met Pearl through Ash's college roommate. That guy's dating my sister."

"You're not here to steal Dani's choreography, are you?"

"No, thanks," he said. "Ballet's a little too light-footed for me."

"I'm sure he's just a friend. He looks harmless," said Dani, greeting the long-haired werewolf in disguise with a smile.

Pearl heard Lou's voice and, with a sigh of relief, joined them in the hall. "Hey Lou, how's it going?"

"Just getting the third-degree from the redhead."

"It's Ari," she corrected him. "It's nice to meet you, Lou."

"Ari's pretty. Your name suits you."

The ballerina blushed, and Daniela chuckled at the 19-year-old. "Come on, Ari. I want to test a few more moves with that skirt and Pearl and Lou should have their privacy."

Pearl waited until they were alone to bring up their connection. "Ash called to tell me about Charlie showing up in Britechester. You don't have to hover this close if you don't smell him around the studio; I know you're not a fan of the city."

Lou shook his head. "I think he sweat so much inside this place his scent will never really leave it no matter how much you clean things. Wolf problems, I guess, that I can smell that much. But I wanted to let you know I was around if you or your family need anything."

"Thanks, Lou. I get why you're hard on yourself after what happened with Annie, but I think you're a great guy. Want me to put in a good word with Ari for you?"

"What? Nah." He shook is head with an easygoing smile. "Can I ask you one thing, though? Do girls really care where a bracelet comes from as long as it's nice?"

"If you're really asking me whether I think a bracelet from a dumpster is a nice gift even if it's real gold, you can get right back to the woods."

"Nyon told you?"

"No, Nyon told Ash and Ash told me."

"Is this what it's like having friends?"

"If you want to impress Ari with jewelry, it can be as cheap as a necklace made of candy if it comes from the right guy. We don't care what it costs, we just care if you put real thought into it."

"Who said anything about Ari? I'm hunting a vampire right now, not thinking about Ari. I don't even know Ari. I just know she's pretty like her name. And feisty. Feisty, pretty, Ari. And she's a dancer. I know four things about Ari."

Pearl laughed. "That's four things more than you knew ten minutes ago."

While Pearl teased Lou in San Myshuno, Ash was busy with homework while Nyon was hard at work on extra credit research for his classes with the Beakers.

Deep into intriguing articles about molecular bioengineering and genetic manipulation, he forgot all about plans to meet Annie at the public ice rink by the library.

When she finally called him, the rink had just closed. "Where were you? You didn't even call, Nyon."

"Annie, I'm sorry, it's just these articles and all these papers I'm writing. I lost track of time."

"Do you even know why it took me so long to call you?" she seethed through the phone. "I was so mad you forgot about me, I had to go run somewhere to turn, and run it off until I could turn back."

"I'm sorry, Annie. I promise I'll make it up to you. I love you. I'm just facing the worst deadlines right now and if I don't pass these courses I won't get into med school."

"I love you, too, Nyon. But I hate this semester."

She hung up before she said more she might regret, as Ash joined his friend in the bedroom with a stack of books. "Everything okay?"

"I forgot about a date with Annie tonight and she's pissed."

"Fair. Does she know how much work you've got for the Beakers?"

"She doesn't know why I'm working so hard for them, no."

"You still haven't told her your goal is to help cure her wolfism?" He tried not to sound so surprised. "Maybe she'll back off a bit if you do."

"I can't do that. I can't get her hopes up before I know if it's even possible."

Ash nodded with understanding. "Well, then, you know what else you can't do? Forget when you make plans with your girlfriend."

"Yeah, man, I know. I screwed up."

"Don't beat yourself up. She loves you, and she'll forgive you. But I'd start setting alarms on your phone for stuff like this. Then if you have to reschedule, at least you won't blow her off."

Nyon was grateful for his friend's advice and returned his focus to the SimBook on his desk. He'd have to make it up to Annie another day; tonight he had to meet a deadline for the Beakers. ->

<- Higher Education: Part Seven | Higher Education: From the Start

Thank you @changingplumbob for working with me on some plot points for the ballet company behind the scenes for this episode, thank you @oimygiblets for the great studio lot where they all feel quite at home, and thank you @hashimasims for Lando and Ari, who Lou likes very much! 👀

He can tell Pearl whatever he wants, but the sentiments don't lie. Oh yeah PS she's a spellcaster but I'm not sure how much I'll do with that. I just know Lou is cool with it:

Tate Harrington… Recém-formado, o filho caçula do nosso querido Senador e sua adorável esposa vive uma vida repleta de aventura e ação.

Louise: Meu Deus! que chamada mais tediosa. Eu duvido que eles saibam o que esse imbecil realmente apronta. Cassidy: Ah, Lou, qual é, agora você só tá sendo maldosa, continua.

"Sem nem mesmo tirar férias depois que terminou a universidade, Tate entrou para o mesmo partido político que o pai e o irmão mais velho. Uma verdadeira linhagem de sucesso."

Louise: Um verdadeira linhagem de nepotismo, mas tudo bem, vamos fingir que não. Cassidy: …

“Tate, assim como Zane, são o meu maior projeto e realização”, derreteu-se o Senador recém-eleito Christopher Harrington.

Cassidy: Não ouse falar nada. o Zane é um príncipe. Louise: Tá, tá.

“Eu com certeza poderei me aposentar em paz sabendo que estou deixando nossa amada cidade em boas mãos. É claro, daqui alguns anos. Ainda estou bem vivo e disposto a continuar lutando pelo nosso progresso cada vez mais”, pontuou o Senador.

“Saber que eu criei homens verdadeiros e bons, acalenta o meu coração, como mãe e mulher”, disse a primeira-dama, Aubrie Harrington.