#stc chapter four

Chapter 4.3

"What the hell is this prompt, Zena?"

"Oh my lifegiver. Do they let any sim up here now? Seriously?"

"I won't do it. I'm not doing this!"

"Your mother can't keep bailing you out of high satisfaction whims, Moji. You have no choice."

"It makes no sense. She wouldn't want this."

"You saw what she wanted."

"She wanted life! Not this."

"She wants change! And I'm the one who decides how! ME!

Not you and your mediocre plans! Follow the prompt, Moji!"

"Why are you doing this? You messed with Acadia, didn't you? It's not enough that you've been trying to take my mother? My soulmate? You keep coming after everything that's important to me when I've done nothing to you!

NOTHING! I won't do it. I won't hurt them like this. I'm not ripping apart another sim-family just because you don't like me, Zena."

---

"Spy copters, in my Meta-Universe, Odenna? That breaks the treaty."

"I think the treaty has been broken for a while, Mojíọ́lá. Your daughter

and son have been sharing secrets with watched-sims. Your daughter once sent her sims to an Alternate-Simulation. That requires contact with the elevated, no? Contact that is not allowed for your bloodline. And for what? For her sims to go to a party? Tsk. Tsk. Irresponsible."

"It was one well-documented excursion. She did not go herself and she did not meet with any of the elevated. No plotting, no unsanctioned creations. No war."

"Forgive me, Omniscient One. I did not know... wait. Yes, wait a minute, there must be some mistake?

For I am the Omniscient One. I'm the one who knows all things and decides what did and did not happen. And I say the treaty is broken."

----

"Are you sure I can hold this, dad? All my life, you've been saying I shouldn't touch it."

"And something in the air is tellin' meh dat was a mistake, Damie. Look, we doh have much time. I need you to close your eyes and concentrate. Think about the song you sang when you realized you loved Maricela. Now, think of the rage that you felt when you saw her cry but don't make a sound, channel that rage downward instead of upward.

Not bad, son. You're a fast learner. And gold like your mother. Interesting."

"What's happening, dad? I've never done this before. The trident -"

"It's not the trident, chief. Now, all dat play fighting dat yuh like to do in de water with yuh lil buddies? Ah need more dan dat. Come at me.

Doh hold back, son. Ah eh goin' easy on yuh just cause yuh is meh son. Ready?"

"Are you sure? I've never seen you fight."

"And you've never fought in a blizzard, Sulani boy. I'll only give you one open shot. Come at me."

Chapter 4.5

Ravi! Ravi, where are you? Drop your shield so I can find you, please? And run! Please run.

I'm here, Moji. Home with Claire. Run where? What's going on?

The reapers are already there? Dammit! No place to run. How do I do this? How the void do I do this? Essence. Essence. Code. Strings. Patterns. Repeat. Home. Claire. Home. Home. Ravi. Gains. Home. Lifeforce. What's the lifeforce? What's the lifeforce! It must be - there! Please work. Please work. Please. So be it. Ravi?

I trust you, my love. We'll see you there.

M-302 [Sans Souci] can sustain itself for 100 sim-years. Very low. But it's my first. OMNI unable to access. World capacity? Unlimited. Savefile capacity? Unlimited. Current inhabitants? Three occult sims: two young adults and one toddler; one immortal young adult, one mortal young adult, one immortal toddler. Ravi is immortal? I don't think he knows.

OMNI:

New Architect identified: Simravi Josiah Kissoon. [ALLSERVOREAPERS]_deactivate [ALLOCCULTREAPERS]_freeze [ALLSAVEFILES]_quarantine <Search and contact = ALLDREAMERS> >Connecting M-302 to other Meta-Universes... >M-085 and M-143 connected - <Essence match> >Mojiola Dreamer Sinclair [+88 others] contacted >Location shared

>M-265 to M-301 transferring data and pixels >M-302 status update: 6 new worlds; one world underwater (inhabited by merfolk). No savefiles (no watched-sims). Current inhabitants: 154 occults: 54 immortals; 100 mortals.

>Architect integrating legacy lifeforce and data from M-001 to M-264 into M-302 >M-302 can now sustain itself for 1500 sim-years >OMNI protective update required: Update denied. >ONMI offline.

CLAIRE Online.

set_[MANIFESTOR: Simohgi Mojisola Dreamer Sinclair] [TheCube]_restructure <Run = inventory check> > 302 Meta-Universes made > 177 inactive {culled - historical data only} > Loading data for 125 active Meta-Universes...

"You know what, Zena? Maybe I should blame Odenna. Maybe I should believe that you are this way because of her and if I lock her up and keep her away from you, you would change.

But I have a choice and that level of forgiveness is not the choice I want to make. I understand why my mother did not want this level of power or responsibility. Why she trusted her cousins, Grim and Odenna, with her creations more than she trusted herself. They had a level of ruthlessness that she could never have. Ruthlessness that you need when you're responsible for every pixel around you. You tried to take my favourite watched-sim and my family away from me. You are a threat to the pixels that I love. You are a threat to the worlds I want to create. You are a threat to me.

And unlike your lifegiver, you are a mortal. So, I think it's time you test out the acid lake that you helped create."

Chapter 4.1

"You're up early."

"Mornin'. Yeah. Tryin' to remember all dem changes before the team meeting."

"Changes?"

"The Great Update, Moji. Updates and expansions mean new problems. We'll need to adjust our strategies."

---

Simravi Kissoon

I love my soulmate but sometimes it is difficult to share your mind with a sim that overcomplicates everything. Life is simple. Cause and effect. The Cube's guidebook is limited but if you spend a little time analyzing the code, you'll see the patterns. She spends too much time worrying about her watched-sims' essence when work is about gains. If she would spend as much time studying the code as she does worrying about Walker's feelings, maybe - Never mind...

She surpassed her first culling and earned her first Destine. I'm proud of her. I knew she could do it. She could only earn two out of three but two is all you need. Fewer and fewer watchers are earning Ajades (face Destines) because they refuse to work without enhancers.

Vanilla lockdowns make them panic. But it's just another day at the office for watchers like Aunty Angie, Uncle D and me. Aunty Angie is the best console-watcher at The Cube. She's a walking encyclopedia and after a Great Update, when other watchers are doing damage control, she is there with all the advice on how to manipulate the unenhanced system to get you what you need. She's also the one that gets on the Servos if something is truly broken. They still hide when they see her because she cussed them out when she had a watched-sim that could not teach their kid how to ride a bike in sim-year 1002. Now, most glitches that other watchers report, Aunty Angie never gets...

Her soulmate, Uncle D, was team leader until he passed the torch to me. They are ready to retire. After hearing about the Meta-Universes that were deleted after the last culling, they've become more disillusioned with The Cube. Uncle D said he just wants to go back home and live a quiet life with his family and whatever happens, happens. But he's done thinking that he can make the galaxy a better place.

I still believe. It's black and white. Before The Cube, deletion was random. With The Cube, survival is in your hands. If you work hard, if you study the system and do what they need you to do, you'll succeed. Your watched-sims will thrive and your Meta-universe will survive.

Chapter 4.6

My father always believed that I would be a late bloomer. He told me in different ways that I hear things that he would not hear. Which made no sense because merfolk have the best hearing out of all the occults. But I get it now. It's weird being a walking OMNI... A gift or a punishment for being the first in our Dreamer tribe to be half mermaid.

The Cube was never a good fit because it was never in line with what my mother wanted when she created OMNI and the additional Meta-Universes that Grim and Odenna controlled. I still see her as the most confident and logical sim. She could not hear or feel every sim like I can. She did what she thought was best. Give the best that she could to powerful Dreamers that she believed could execute her plans better than she can. In a way, I'll do the same. Because life was never meant to be lived alone. I can be the Dreamer but my soulmate can bring order to my chaos. He's there to remind me to trust myself and trust my sims. Our sims.

CLAIRE would do what my mother intended to do with OMNI. It would not be a spy to report all the ways that occults or watched-sims are not living up to The Cube's expectations. It would be a way to identify what a sim truly needs to achieve for their own fulfilling life and help them do what they need to do to get there.

Which brings me to Desiree... The sim I turned into a meta-sim instead of deleting. We still don't know how it happened. It's not something that I've been able to replicate, and it's different than turning a sim into a mermaid with mermaid kelp. It seems like I was able to give her a choice. To be adopted as my own and be an immortal Dreamer like me, or to become a mortal meta-sim that has a chance to reincarnate and find Jesse. Unsurprisingly, she chose Jesse.

Ravi said he needs some time to update CLAIRE because my family makes love and legacy too complicated for any system that does not properly override the programming of Dreamers before my mother. He wants to put proper transformation and ageing rules in place to accommodate my twin and his watched-sim-fiancée and my request to send Desiree back to live in a Savefile. He already put out a warning that a Great Reset is coming. Thankfully, the elders are not resisting because it is customary to have a reset when the goddess in our tribe chooses to elevate and pass on her legacy to her offspring. That is something that I don't want to think about... my mother and father elevating. But they said that it is time. Well, my father's exact words were "ah fed up ah havin' tuh think 'bout allyuh. Ah just want ah house on a beach wit some rum and my woman. Allyuh handle allyuh own stories fuh meh please." So I guess it's time to do that. We'll try our best and see how it goes.

Starting the Dreamer era of Mojisola Kissoon.

Tw: flashing gif; talking about deletion (murder)

Chapter 4.4

"I won't do it. I won't hurt them like this. I'm not ripping apart another sim-family just because you don't like me, Zena."

"You don't have a choice."

"I do. I always have a choice."

"And you don't make wise ones." That voice. Something about Odenna's voice has always boosted every negative buff from my high-maintenance trait.

"Odenna, I - mum? Mum, what's - Odenna, what are you doing?"

"Trying to figure out what else your mother has been hiding. What can you do, Mojiola's daughter?"

"Mum? Mum!" My mother? Unconscious? In ropes? I did not think my mother, a goddess in her tribe, could be tied up. I didn't think any immortal could be tied up.

"You know, I was expecting you to be like her. When she created her first meta-universe, she was a happy teenager. She floated around, singing, with little ooruns in her hand. It made me sick. And seeing you be so useless makes me sicker. So, go on. Make something."

"But I can't. I didn't inherit my mother's abilities."

"I don't think that's true. But it is not genetics alone that keeps our kind going, Mojisola. It's discipline. I proved it with Zena. This is what we study. This is what we perfect. Your mother has been trying to pass down our ways to you all your life. So, you must be able to do something. Ṣẹda. Create. Now."

"I - I - I - I can't. I don't have a machine. I -"

"YOU DON'T NEED ONE! Zena, delete Desiree Lavantille! Now!"

"Yes, lifegiver."

"Wait, what are you - AHHHH." What is this pain? I've lost pixels before, I've deleted watched-sims before but my head - it feels -

"OMNI cannot reach Desiree Lavantille, lifegiver."

"I knew it! I knew it. That Child of the Ocean trait. Is this what you've been hiding, cousin? I know you're awake! Look at this! She's a protector like her father?

What else are you hiding? There must be more. Try again, Zena. Add the enhancers. Desiree Lavantille. Keep trying. She won't have the energy to fight it off for long."

"Baby girl! Baby girl, listen to me. Remember life is not always about happiness. If she can't be with them, she can't be with them..."

I can't keep her with them? I can't keep Desiree with her soulmate? With her daughter? I can't do that to them. She needs to exist. She needs to exist! I'm sorry, Desiree. I'm sorry, Jesse. Deja. No! Deja!

"I can't find her, lifegiver. She's no longer in the Savefile. I think she's been deleted."

"No, look through OMNI's logs, Zena. Look for new creations."

"No new Savefiles, lifegiver."

"Look through bug reports. OMNI does not know Moji's worlds yet."

"There would not be a world, she - wait. What?"

"Ha! I knew it. I knew it. Oh, the things we will do, Mojiola's daughter.

Zena, find Ravi and Claire. If they are in their Meta-Universe, send the reapers."

"NO! Odenna! Don't you dare! Don't you dare touch my family! Do not touch my grandbaby."

"Let's just hope your daughter can stop me, Madam Sinclair."

I can feel dad. I can't feel Ravi. Dad! Dad! Can you hear me? Ravi. Please go to Ravi.

"Lifegiver! Kaiso is leaving the Savefile. I - I - I can't stop him from leaving his Savefile."

"Not a surprise. The reapers will get there first. Focus on Ravi."

Ravi! Ravi, where are you? Drop your shield so I can find you, please? And run! Please run.

Chapter 4.2

"Do you have to speak to her in Simrùbá, mum?"

"Of course. If you don't want to learn it, that's your choice, Mojisola."

"I know it. Well, enough of it. But my mother-in-law starts freaking out when she can't understand Claire."

"Ha. Not our problem."

Claire sees her grandmother the least but she has decided she's her favourite person. Her toddler speech is fluent in Simrùbá and barely recognizable in other simlish languages. She's not following first language acquisition expectations at all. She's not following any expectations, actually. But her hair changing quirk has made my life easier. I appreciate the heads up when my mother makes her rare visits to Meta Universe 143. The time from the teleporter station to our home is just enough to make sure the kitchen is clean before mum shows up at the door.

"How's Acadia? It still feels weird having no access to her."

"Lazy. But she'll be fine. I saw Walker's latest CC request list." That mischievous tone is also rare. Seeing and hearing my mum with playful buffs still feels weird...

"You know Walker! Go big or go home. With the twins ageing up and entering the academy, he wants to make a -"

"Lund impression. Good. Harrison will have no problem running that school but Theo could quickly be taken advantage of if Walker's not careful."

"It's just primary school, mum. Does it have to sound like the kids are entering some sort of fighting match?" I know she will ignore me but she makes every thing sound like life and death.

"I already got clearance for you to bring him into build mode. At this point, the higher ups are entertained by him acting like his grandfather. Just be careful with Dynasty sims like Walker, Moji. I know a lot of watched-sims don't listen but it's not a series of dumb decisions with the Lunds. They're as perceptive as Meta-sims and they are a powerhouse for a reason. If you're not careful, he'll have you creating a world for him for a plan that you do not know. And you'll quickly lose control."

Walker already has me revolving the savefile around him. This is normal for a legacy family or a favourite watched-sim. As usual, my mum is making regular interactions seem like life and death. "I'll be fine. Walker is simple. Everything was for Acadia and now everything is for -"

"When did helicopters start coming here?"

Why did she switch languages? "Huh? I did not

notice any helicopters."

"You really need to notice your surroundings more, Moji. But it can't be that long if Ravi didn't say anything. I'm going to Sixam. Are you going back to The Watchtowers soon? Is Claire staying here or are you sending her to your dad's savefile?"

"She's staying here with Ravi's parents."

"Okay, I'll send a servo I can trust."