#rae flemming

Rae's feelings for Cedrus had seemed so clear back in spring, but something was changing and the plantsim felt it.

The plants and flowers around him only seemed to affirm that. "Loves me... loves me not...?!"

Their kiss after yesterday's fire showed Rae that in spite of her attraction to Niamh her feelings towards Cedrus were still there. She knew that her avoiding the plantsim the last few weeks had not been the best way to deal with the situation and decided that an open conversation was the best way forward.

After talking to Niamh, the two of them went to find Cedrus in the kitchen, where he was chugging one glass of water after another. The heat of the fire had left cells dehydrated and his skin feeling dry and itchy.

"Cedrus, Niamh and I would like to talk to you about something...", Rae began.

Cedrus: "You could have talked to me about this earlier, you know? It's not unusual in our culture to have more than one lover at once. We are not as close minded like your people in that regard. We know that love is not a finite resource, so what is the harm in sharing it?"

Rae: "I realize that now and I'm sorry for not having been open with you from the start. Can you forgive me?"

Cedrus: "It's already forgiven."

A malfunction of the old stove at the farmhouse caused a big fire to break out in the kitchen. Cedrus was the only one who stayed calm enough to think about fetching the fire extinguisher that Bree kept in her lab. While everybody was equally greatful, everyone expressed the sentitment in a different way.

The same evening Jasper got a call from Caleb. Ever since Marie had been born, Jasper and Bree had discussed leaving the farmhouse and moving into a home of their own. They ultimately comissioned Caleb to draw up the plans and after months of waiting and dealing with suppliers from SimCity, the construction was nearing the end.

"If everything goes as planned you will be moved in before Winterfest!", Caleb assured him.

Since Bree's little premature labour scare, Jasper made sure to pull his weight around the house. He did both nighttimes and mornings with Rosalind so that Bree would get enough sleep and he made sure that when his girlfirend woke up, a nutritious breakfast was already waiting for her at the table.

Rae's plantsim-boyfriend Cedrus was spending more and more time at the farmhouse.

After learning about the simlish tradition of giftgiving, he made sure to buy a gift for Rosalind's growing-up.

Jasper: "Oh, so THAT's what you wanted a toddler highchair for!" Cedrus had placed the order at Jasper's General Store a few weeks ago. "That really wasn't necessary!"

Cedrus: "It was not?", the plantsim was visibly confused. "But Rae said that giving a gift on a friend's growing-up day is customary... I'm sorry if I've misunderstood..."

Jasper: "No, no, you didn't! Erm.. It's just another way we sometimes say 'Thank you', ya know?"

Cedrus: "You sims are REALLY weird sometimes, you know that?"

Jasper: "WE?!" Jasper thought about all the times that Cedrus had been lying in their bathtub, soaking up all the water like a big sponge, or how he always grew a few centimeters taller when he was standing in the sun for too long.

"Sure, WE are the weird ones...", Jasper laughed.

With Bree pregnant and Jasper running his own business, Rae needed help at the farm shop, so she hired Cedrus.

The plantsim enjoyed helping with watering and talking to the plants, but he was utterly puzzled by the cash register.

One spring day, as Rae was planting new seeds, a visitor stopped by. A very green and leafy visitor.

Plantsimism was something most sims had only read about in kids stories. But here he was, a real, living, breathing plantsim!

To Cedrus' surprise the farmer didn't run away screaming, she also didn't pinch herself or cry for help. Instead she walked over to him, took his hand and shook it(something sims apparently did to greet each other).

"Hi I'm Rae. I suppose you haven't come by to buy produce?", she smiled.

"Rae...", he repeated. Sim names had a weird ring to it. "I'm Cedrus. Me and my brothers and sisters have been watching you since you arrived. And I have come to the conclusion that you are the best Sim to talk to about our situation."

"Brothers and sisters? So there are more plantsims?", Rae exclaimed excitedly. When she was small the stories about plantsims were one of her favorites. A small part of her always believed that they were out there somewhere. But here in Pinaccle Peaks? Who would have thought.

"Yes. For a long time there were many of us in these mountains.", Cedrus started telling the story about how the plantsim population started to decimate a few decades ago when the rain turned sour because of air pollution and most of them left the valley.

"But some of our ancestors stayed and managed to adapt. That is how we came to be."

Rae and Cedrus had been dating for a few months now, but Rae still got shy around him sometimes.

She just couldn't believe the luck she had meeting a plantsim and then him falling in love with her as well!

"The tree in the center of the lake must be thousands of years old", Rae marveled.

"Even older", Cedrus remarked, then whispered: "But he doesn't like to be reminded of it so we should keep it down."

Suddenly it began to rain.

"Oh, let's dance Cedrus! I always had this dream of dancing in the rain with the one I love!", Rae exclaimed.

"I don't know how you sims dance, but I would love to dance with you if you show me how."

"Okay. So, right food forward - yes! And then with the left..."

Cedrus smiled. Rae might not have noticed, but it was the first time she told him she loved him.

After weeks of talking with Cedrus, Rae had decided it was time for the mayor to oficially meet the plantsims - or at least a plantsim for starters.

Cedrus was visibly nervous, but Finley's friendly nature instantly put him at ease.

"I'm Finley. It is so nice to finally meet you." Of course the mayor had known about the green creatures that spent most of their time at Rae's farm, but she figured she would give them some time and let them decide when they wanted to establish contact with the rest of the community.

The three of them talked a lot about how the needs of plantsims differed from sims and how the community could accomodate them. All in all, it was a very productive discussion and Finley assured Cedrus that she and the inhabitants of Pinnacle Peaks would do everything to facilitate all of them living together in harmony.

They also decided they would wait to inform the SCIA of their newly discovered neighbours, mainly because Cedrus was worried about people wanting to experiment on them.