Olivia wiggled her toes. The sun’s touch was light on her skin and the grass was green and good under her feet.
She watched the waterfall for a while, tracing the drops as they fell to the pool below.
She heard a sigh behind her and turned away from the water.
“What’s wrong, Grandma Emma?”
“Oh, nothing. Nothing at all.”
Her mother had said that the waterfall was a very special place for Grandma Emma, that she had been a little girl there until she had to leave. She said that Grandma Emma’s mother had died there and that Grandma Emma had come to Riverview all on her own. She had said to be respectful and quiet and to be nice and to give Grandma Emma a hug.
“Oh, pumpkin. Never mind your old grandma. Come on now, we’d better go before it gets too dark. Long drive ahead of us.”
As they left, Olivia could have sworn she heard laughter coming from the falls.
———————————————————
So, if you’d like to read the sequel to this story, where the gang’s all alive and kicking again, here you go! 🙂
In the Valley of the Sun 
And more stunning.
D: It’s over.
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Thanks! 🙂 I actually just started shooting this bit around 9 p.m. or so tonight. I guess my mind finally got to a place where it could do it. 🙂
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Very strong ending and definitely worth the wait. I’ve been dreading this chapter, but it’s nice to know the story has a close. Unanswered questions right untill the end, love it!
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I dreaded it too, but now…I still don’t know how I feel, actually. No tears yet, but I think they’re still a possibility.
I don’t have a blog anymore, but I may still do like an author’s note post on here soon with stuff about the story and the last eight months and everything.
Thank you so very much for all of your comments and support and I really really appreciate them.
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
IT CAN’T BE OVER! IT CANT IT CANT IT CANT!
IT WAS TOO AMAZING PLEASE NOOOOO!
It was amazing every step of the way. Every post was breath-taking. It can’t be over…yet it says ‘Ending’…
T.T
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Thank you! 🙂
I don’t know what I’m going to do next – I want to finish Ten. I want to possibly write that zombie apoc story. I want to maybe write a non-Sims version of Valley. We will see. At this very moment I’m feeling most drawn towards Ten, but I change quickly and often.
Thank you so so very much for all of your wonderful comments over the story. They’ve always been insightful and well thought out and I very very much appreciated them.
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Well done. So many congratulations, and a fabulous epilogue. So good to see Emma again.
Just so pleased for you that you’ve done it, and pleased for all of us that we got to read it.
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Thank you! Yeah – back in Nightmare days Emma was going to be dead but I realized a while ago that she needed to still be around, to complete the story. To show life continuing on.
Thank you so much for listening to me angst on about stuff and for looking at drafts on occasion and making suggestions and for being a friend.
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Congratulations! You finished it! But in a way, you’re only really beginning. It made a lot of other ideas come to life in your head, and it kept you writing. I’m so happy for you. 🙂
The ending is so fitting–mysterious and leaving some questions (but none that are enough to really distract from the fact that it is an ending). We’ll always wonder exactly how Emma made it out, and how she explained herself to the people of Riverview. But it’s enough to know that she simply found a way. There is a small bit of regret that she never told Bella she was alive–but it was too dangerous.
Lilith’s laughter coming over the sound of the waterfall is perfect–she’ll keep Seth in check forever now. Perfect.
Thank you for finishing this. It was a compelling and unique story, and you did a marvelous job of maximizing the impact of the tools at your disposal–text and pictures. I look forward to reading your next project, if you plan to post it. 🙂
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Thank you!
I want to give you like a million hugs. 🙂
My thought was that after the fire that killed Sarah Seth was so totally out of it and disconnected from reality that he didn’t even notice when Emma left – which I think would have been shortly after she became a teen. Who knows, I may write that story one day. 🙂
And when he finally became somewhat conscious of reality again, I don’t think he cared that she wasn’t there on the surface. But I think that somewhere inside he convinced himself that she’d also died in the fire and the guilt for that was locked away very very deep in his mind – thus why she appeared in Nightmare and Daydream. Ahem. 😉
I will be posting things here in the future, but I think VSS will be the only place that I advertise them.
Thank you so much for everything.
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Dear Misty,
You said you wanted to give the best you had for these last chapters and you did! You are an amazing writer an illustrationist… a very accomplished artist.
I have loved every step along this journey and I’d like to inerpret this final destination as a proof that innocence and kindness, love and courage are the seeds for renewal in the face of adversity and death.
This is a story that I will read time amd time again… 🙂
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Thank you! I’ve actually had most of the text written for almost a month. I just…it never seemed good enough. And then I went through a whole thing where I wasn’t good enough as a person and…yeah, should probably start self-censoring now. 😉
But then last night I shut down WoW (yeah, okay, the subscription is active again, lol) and loaded the game and started taking pics and kept taking pics until it was done.
That is a wonderful interpretation, and actually a message that I could use right now.
Thank you so very very much for all of your wonderful comments along the way. You are an amazing person.
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Innocence and hope triumph! And the water flows on… always opposing the fire, as Lilith did in her own way.
Be happy, Olivia!
Bravissimi, author extraordinaire!
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Thank you! 🙂
And Olivia is Seth’s great granddaughter and Emma’s granddaughter for real – check her hair color. Same as Seth’s.
I wanted to show that life continued, that the waterfall lot and thus Sunset Valley as a whole had been cleansed of Seth’s darkness. Good to know I did that. 🙂
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Thank you, so much for a delightful story, it was breath taking, each chapter made my heart skip a beat. I loved every minute of reading it, and I wish you all the best with your future writings. This was a wonderful ending to a wonderful story.
Thank you, again.
Ben.
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Thank you! I have always enjoyed your comments and they’ve been hugely inspiring to me. I am very happy that you liked the story. 🙂 *hugs*
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Awesome =D
I looked forward to seeing a new chapter in my RSS reader, and while I’m sorry it’s over, I really enjoyed the whole thing! I can only hope this means we’ll have more stories to read from you…=D
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Thank you!
I am not sure what I am going to do at the moment. I will write. I must write. I’m just not sure what it’s going to be.
I do imagine that even if I choose to do a non-Sims version of Valley or continue with Ten, I will still post about it on here – excerpts and scenes and things.
Hmm – I might do Ten in a sort of a serial scene way like I did Valley and publish the whole thing here. We will see.
Thank you so much for reading and commenting and staying with me until the end. I truly appreciate it.
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The ending was amazing, this whole story was. It was definetly worth the wait. 😦 I’m sad it’s over, I hope you will write more stories on here soon. I know I’ll come back and re-read the whole thing sometime. 😀 It was good to see Emma again.
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Thank you so much for all of your comments and for staying for the whole thing. 🙂 I really don’t have the words to express how I feel about you guys.
I am going to write more stories, and I will publish them on here – maybe scenes from a full text non-Sims Valley, maybe all of Ten, maybe new Sims stories, maybe that zombie apoc I thought about. We will see. For now though – I need to relax a bit, I think. 🙂 It’s been a very intense eight months.
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Wow. At the end of this story, I cannot believe that the only thing I am finding to say is ‘wow’. It feels lame and unjustified by the absoluteness of your piece, but yet it describes exactly what I felt as I read it, from start to finish.
So, I just want to let you know that I have faith. I have faith that you will write this story and you will publish it, and one day, late at night, I will sit in my bed, along with hundreds of others, and I will read it.
Maybe I won’t know who you are by the name printed under the title, but maybe I will recognize the plotline be amazed. I will say, “I knew her; sort of. She wrote Sims stories…” and everyone will just roll their eyes. But I will know, and you will know.
Thanks. Thanks a million times over. Thanks.
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Thank you! Your comments have always touched me and have been a light in the darkness of recent weeks. You are a lovely kind and caring person.
I actually haven’t cried yet, but I might now. *hugs* I will do my best to live up to your faith.
And I am going to keep blogging on here about Valley – should I finish the full text version I’ll definitely post here about trying to publish it and if one day it’s accepted I’ll definitely post that here.
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*does not want it to end*
At least you had the strength to get through to the end.
❤ you, Mysty *and I'll be stalking simsecrets for 'Thank god its over' secrets and blatantly kill the offenders*
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I don’t want it to end either. I kind of don’t know what to do with myself now.
Eh – they can make all the secrets they want. I finished it. 🙂
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I’m completely speechless after reading the ending. I love it. Congrats on finishing. Its epic.
I’d love to read a non-Sims version, even after knowing the ending.
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Thank you! 🙂
And I imagine that the plot of a non-Sims version would be somewhat different, since so much of this story came from the game. I’ve seriously thought about letting Lilith survive the non-Sims version, even. 😉
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Congrats on a story well ended. I know its always bittersweet to end a story you loved to write, but it also feels fulfilling. So congratulations on seeing it to the door.
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Thank you! 🙂
And yeah, I do seem to be going between those two feelings. On one hand it’s like yay I did it, on the other it’s like – what do I do now? My mind has been focused on Valley for eight months. All of my music, all of my bookmarks, everything I’m reading – it’s all related to Valley.
I imagine that after a break I’ll get right back into it with Ten or the zombie apoc with Sarah as the main character or the non-Sims Valley.
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Okay so I did not know you had posted this.
Well, Seth ended up with a partner for life in Lilith and it looks as though she will perhaps torment someone too just as Seth tormented her.
I kind of see Seth as an eater of souls, growing stronger with each soul that he sucks into himself and Lilith was his latest victim. Perhaps because she was so vulnerable when he attacked and perhaps because deep down, she too was lonely, she understood Seth better than anyone else and maybe that’s why she ended up going with him.
I want to say that I am so glad that you saw this through to the end, through all of it, you still managed to reach the finish line and I commend you on that and I want to say thank you for sharing your story with us and to say all the best for what you decide to do after this.
Remember, believe in yourself and the story you have to tell. The rest will just fall into place.
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I just posted it Sunday night. No worries. 🙂
That’s a neat interpretation. I hadn’t thought of it that way. I mean, Seth did live on the lives of others and I definitely saw Lilith as understanding him at the end, but I saw her more as understanding him and loving him and accepting him and ending his rage and his pain. Lilith’s theme song has been Angry Johnny for a while now. 🙂 “I can do it like an angel, to quiet down your rage.”
To me, water came to represent – well – everything. Like in Daydream, where she saw herself as one droplet among many. And I think that in Flood, she experienced a sort of ego death and her boundaries dissolved and she became the water. She became everyone, including Seth.
The text that I deleted went into this a bit more and was more specific about the seed and sapling and dead tree metaphor – like she saw Seth at every point of his being. She saw him as a child, as the teen in Ten, as a young adult with Sarah before the fire in the lab. She saw who he really was and accepted him and I think that he knew that in the minutes before the end.
My husband and sister-in-law mentioned the misogyny in a couple of Seth songs while I was working on this and I was like “Well yeah, Seth has completely shut off and denied his feminine side. But it’s okay, because he’s going to accept it and integrate it. Right before Lilith kills him in a fire.” Which is when my husband would laugh about me and my tendency to kill my characters. 🙂
Thank you so much for being there and for being supportive. I really do appreciate it, and I know I still owe you a PM on VSS. I just haven’t felt up to being very social lately, but hey – not in Valley focus mode anymore.
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This is why I loved reading and experiencing this story. You’ve taken a concept, ran with it and explored it in an unexpected and thoroughly thought provoking way. The themes, the characters and their connection with the symbolism of the elements that crop up are completely and utterly intriguing.
I will miss this story but all good things must come to an end and I will say that I enjoyed reading it and you know, I can always come back an reread it again 🙂
And don’t worry about the social thing. I haven’t been very social either lately. We all get like that every now and then, particularly online. Just take it easy and enjoy the much deserved rest!
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All I can saw is WOW! Well done!!!
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Thank you! 🙂 Yay I’m glad you stayed for the whole thing. 🙂
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Awwww, I’m sad as well. It’s over. 😦 I can hardly believe it.
Shall we break out the cake and drinks in celebration of your awesome story? …going to go do that…
8)
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Thank you! *hugs*
I have almost cried once today. I listened to the full Seth Experience CD in the truck today at work. It was…nice and weird at the same time.
Cake sounds good. 🙂
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Interesting scene with Emma’s granddaughter (!)
But wow. So Lilith did join Seth. Honestly I didn’t expect that… Even though all the signs were pointing to it I suppose.
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Hmm – I think of it more as Seth joining Lilith, if there was joining involved. The waterfall lot is bright and happy again and the darkness has been cleansed. Lilith won, I think. She had to sacrifice herself to do it, but then Seth – I think of him more as the final boss in the most hardcore endgame raid as opposed to, say, the first boss in an entry level dungeon. Overcoming him could not be easy and had to have a steep price.
And as much as my husband likes to joke about how everyone dies – life continues with Emma and her granddaughter.
Thank you!
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When I checked here for the next post a month ago I was deeply saddened that I wasnt able to access your page. I thought that was it. That we were supposed to picture our own ending. As I was just about to remove it from my favorites, I couldn’t. Maybe it was a sign or something but I could not get rid of Valley. I dont know what made me check out your page today but whatever it was I’m glad I did. The ending was, once again, marvelous. Every time I would read the next post it seemed better than the last. In a way, waiting this month for the ending has made it that much better. This is something that I will miss for a very long time and I am soooo glad that you finished it with an amazing ending. You always have done an outstanding job and this final post has lived up to all expectations. Way to go. And please do continue to write in some form. You are truly a spectacular writer. 🙂
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I do regret hiding it for a couple of days. I was very emotional and followed the chemicals zooming through my brain as opposed to any sort of logic or sense.
I am very very happy and grateful that you checked again.
Thank you so very very much for all of your comments. And hearing that the ending is decent and lives up to the rest of it is definitely something that I needed to hear.
I have cried a bit now, actually, and I think I might be about to cry again. Thank you, truly.
And I have found the last few days that I can’t stop – I’ve tried playing other games and just hanging out and it’s like, no – I still think about Valley all day and listen to Valley music at work and all of my peeps are still very much alive in my head. And I am rather addicted to the joy and the angst of sitting here wringing words from my fingers and then deleting 90% of them and editing what’s left to within an inch of its life.
So – I have the Ten draft open now. And at the moment I’m planning on doing some reorganizing here and putting Ten in its own category and perhaps updating it scene by scene the way I did Valley. Only it will continue to not have pics – I had a thought today that it could be a bridge between the Sims Valley and the non-Sims version. It could be my training wheels for writing without pics.
And again – thank you so very very much. I don’t think I can express how much I appreciate your comments and how glad I am that you decided to check again.
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A little belated but,
Thankyou very much for sharing this story with us.
It sounds like the journey was sometimes difficult for you, but you made it, and I know I, for one, appreciate it.
Tamlyn
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Thank you! And it’s not belated at all – I haven’t been this obsessed with my stats page and comments in quite some time, lol.
The story was always good and right and fun. It was more the extraneous stuff that was upsetting. But I made it. 🙂 I am very happy that you enjoyed it and I feel much better about sharing it now. I will never hide it again, promise. 🙂
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Completely amazing. Stunning. I can’t believe it’s over, though. 😦
It was a great, amazing, and awesome story! One of the best I’d ever read! I hope you make another one soon.
🙂
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Thank you so incredibly much. *hugs*
Oh, I spent today at work listening to the CD my husband made for me last night – The EmoTeen!Seth Experience. 🙂 Haha – when I handed him the list of songs I wanted he commented on how he immediately recognized all of them as songs I like and also how it was the perfect list for an emo male teen – in the 90s. But hey, that was when I was a teen and so the music I listened to back then helps me remember what it was like.
Here’s the playlist on YouTube – which hey, we bought all these songs last night so it’s cool. 🙂
EmoTeen!Seth playlist
We’ll probably go out tonight but I expect to get up tomorrow and have breakfast and then get to work on the first chapter of Ten. Which I actually already know how Ten ends. 🙂 We’re going to try some of this knowing the basic plot before I get started.
Thank you so much for your wonderful comments and for reading my little story.
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Congratulations on a job very well done! I’m glad you didn’t let a bunch of jerks stop you, you forged ahead and the result was amazing as it always is. You have a remarkable talent for writing, and I’m glad I got to come along for the journey, even though I’m sad to see it end. I hope you’ll do more, I love reading what you write.
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Thank you! 🙂 *hugs* I always loved your comments and they have been a great support in getting past the bunch of jerks. 🙂
First chapter of 10 is up now. Just really felt it today, and it came pretty easily. Updates on it might be slower than Valley updates, though – 1163 words take longer than 100-500 words and some pictures, lol. 🙂
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Just finished reading, and all I can say is… Wow.
Awesome story, excellent pictures, twisted vision. In the Sims world this is what’s commonly known as a masterpiece.
Absolutely loved it, look forward to seeing what you come up with in the future 😉
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OMG, thank you! 🙂 I love your story, so that does mean quite a bit.
I may write with the game again in the future, but at the moment I’m learning how to write without pics with 10. Which I am going to get to work on the draft of the second chapter here in a bit. 🙂
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Innocence is enough. Enough for now. Finishing with water, which has been a constant presence throughout your work, was so perfect. Let Olivia have her innocence for now.
Wonderful journey! Thank you for bringing us along with you!
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Thank you! 🙂 And yes, I do think that was a general idea of the ending – the waterfall lot is clean and happy again and yes, innocence.
Now to continue work on destroying Seth’s innocence in 10, lol. 🙂
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You are really good at this, and I enjoyed it but I just…didn’t get it at all lol. I’m so confused ^_^
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Lilith started a fire like Seth did and they both died in it. Emma, who ran away to Riverview shortly after the fire that killed Sarah (yeah, it’s not really talked about in the story but it’s in my head, lol) brought her granddaughter back for one last visit to the waterfall lot, which has been cleansed of Seth’s darkness. 🙂
Thank you!
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This was so… OMG i took a long time to get the courage to read it and get to the ending and I’m oh so glad i did! :]
You’re an awesome writer and photo manipulator…and also, i was listening to the opening/theme song of Kingdom Hearts 2 and it fitted perfectly…in a sort of creepy way……..anyways…it was awesome! I hope you have some other project after this one, don’t you? :]
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Thank you! Yay I’m glad you liked it! 🙂
I’ve played the first Kingdom Hearts a bit but not the second one. Hmm.
My current project is 10, a full text no pics story of Seth as a teen. It’s been put on hold for now, though – earlier this week the loss of Valley finally hit me and it hurts and I occasionally break into tears and I miss it so much and I think I need to recover from that before I can really work on 10. I need to get over my first love – at least to the point where I don’t break down and sob my guts out when I think about it – before I can move on and give 10 the attention and love that it deserves.
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We have all, in some way or another felt attached to Seth, and the not-seeing him again is the most hurtfull part…. at least i’m glad he lives on in my TS3 bringing even more meaning, depth and…fire to my game
Seth shall be missed – even tough 10 will “continue” his existence…… Be stong! :]
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I just got caught up. I am glad you finished it. And I agree, you should try to get published. Great ending to a breathtaking story.
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Thank you! 🙂 That is certainly some light in the current darkness. I can already feel the sun starting to show itself again. 😉
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Simply amazing! That is all I need to say.
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Awww, thank you! 🙂 I so very much enjoyed writing it and sharing it with people, and I’m glad that other people are still enjoying it.
I will write again. I just need some time off to refill the well first. 🙂
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I was simply stunned by the serious amount of craftsmanship and artistry in this piece.
While watching and reading the slow transition from the normal everyday world into Seth’s nightmare world, I was seriously bowled over by how the photoshopped screenshots supported and complimented the poetic and stylish prose.
For example, when Lilith was hearing about Shannon’s murder second-hand from Jason, and Lilith is acting cold and distant to Jason, I loved how we were shown the murder second-hand on sterile and distant security-tape footage.
This was done well in other places too, such as the newsprint screenshots when learning about Seth and the fire, or the fuzzy and bright screenshots when Bella Goth recounts her memories, or the blurred and distorted screenshots during dreams and hallucinations.
In the beginning, I thought I was just reading a well-written sims story. By the end I had almost forgetten entirely about the sims. Instead, I felt like I had read the graphic novelization of a gothic horror story, that was storyboarded by David Lynch.
Truly scrumptious!
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Oh wow – this certainly helps me feel better. 🙂
I find myself rereading your first sentence a lot – I poured my heart and my soul and my life into Valley for eight months. I still haven’t recovered, really. 10 is getting there, but it’s not quite the same level of love and devotion yet.
Dude – I never even thought about Static that way. I always just sort of thought of it as a let-down after Nightmare and a bridge from one plot point to the next. Yay, now it has meaning and things! 🙂
*googles David Lynch* Hmm. I’ve never seen any of his movies. Maybe I should.
During Valley’s run I took a pretty good beating in SimSecrets, and one of the few that I actually saw took the headshot of Lilith from Alone and applied a filter to it and the text said something about filters and things not making Valley good. My response was pretty much what you said – I know I’m just applying filters and effects and I know it’s not leet editing skillz. But the point was how the effects worked with the text and showed the psychological landscape. Every edited pic is edited that way for a story-related reason.
I think I remember something about repeating words too, but again – story-related reason. I did what Valley wanted. I didn’t consciously plan a thing in Valley. Like actually the transition from normal every day stuff to Seth’s…nightmare world, as you say – I didn’t even see that until someone else pointed it out after rereading it. I just started and then wrote like a madwoman, every update following from the one before with no real thought given to the next one. And a great deal of it just poured from my fingers without input from my conscious brain although I did start taking some time and editing around Alive, because once Seth showed up I felt like I had to really do my best.
Anyway – thank you so very very very much and I really appreciate it and I will treasure your comment. 🙂 And I am glad and honored that you came to check it out and read it all the way through.
Now off to work and hopefully I’ll get some serious work done on 10.03 tonight.
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Hey! My name is Olivia. Name stealer! Just kidding.
This is a wonderful story. And I love how you switched views so we could see how the other person was feeling. You showed exactly how everyone felt, and I could feel like I was in the shoes of that character.
Basically, your freaking brillant.
KEEP WRITING! AND I MEAN IT!
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Thank you! 🙂 And it’s a great name that I think symbolizes life, whereas I found Seth and Lilith by searching behindthename for names with death in the meaning. 😉
I like your username too.
I am indeed keeping writing. 🙂 I may update I Am Not Goopy!!! in the relatively near future, I’m working on 10 – the full text story of Seth as a 15 year old in high school – and I am planning on starting a new series of full text stories about Farmer Brown. 🙂 And then one day, when I think I’m ready – Valley the novel.
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Wow, wow, wow!
I have just spent all day reading your amazing story. Seriously, it was so, sooo good!! You have such talent, it’s pure brilliance!
It has the quality of a bestselling novel, and I was so entrapped by the story the whole way through!
I know I’m writing this a long while after you finished it, but I really think you have a great mind for storytelling!
Excellent,
R
xx
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Thank you! *hugs*
I certainly don’t mind new readers commenting on Valley. I still love it. I still think about it a lot. I’m still planning on writing a novel version. 🙂
Really though – this means an incredible lot and I am very grateful. I’ve been feeling kind of down and unmotivated lately and your comment is a huge mood booster. I am glad that you came to check it out and enjoyed it and that it’s still entertaining people. 🙂
Thank you, again.
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I have just sat here this morning and read the whole story in its entirety – beginning to end – I haven’t had breakfast, haven’t gotten out of my pyjamas, only intended to read a chapter or two before my day got started but i was so totally completely and utterly hooked from the very start that I couldn’t do anything but hit the link to the next page.
It was page turning, kept me guessing, had me screaming NOOOOOO when I reached the end and there were still questions I wanted answered. Thank you, I loved every chilling minute of it!
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Oh my gosh, thank you so much! I was so excited when I saw the email – it’s not often that I get to see the little red number next to the comments tab, which means a comment from someone who hasn’t commented before.
Yay! I’m glad that you liked it! 🙂 *does a happy dance* Thank you, again, for checking it out and for commenting. Can’t express my appreciation enough.
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creepiest story eveeeeeeeeeeeeeer
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LOL! Thank you! 🙂 I will take that as a great compliment.
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That was the best story I have ever read.
Your writting is amazing.
I kinda want the story to go on…but in the back of my mind, I know it’s over. It’s sad that it took lilieth(not sure if thats spelled right) To set things right. I also agree that its the creepiest story i’ve ever read. I could takes some tips from you 😉
Plus, how did you edit the images? That was a big part of the story. You did a really great job. If you want to write a novel version, I say go for it!
I can’t say it enough, BRILLIANT!!!!!
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OMG! 🙂 I don’t even know you, but I love you. So freaking much. Thank you for this comment – like, you don’t even know how much it means to me.
You can come hang out and read lots of other great Sims stories at Valley Sun Sims if you want. 🙂 Link is on the side under Forums. And we talk a lot about writing and I love encouraging and helping other writers. 🙂
Oh, I wanted it to go on too. After finishing it – I would double over and cry my guts out when I thought about it. And I wasn’t ready to leave the characters or the world – thus why I’m writing a story about Seth now.
Awww – thank you for the bit about the creepiness. I try. 😉
As for the images – I used GIMP. I just played around with stuff in the program, really – had no idea what I was doing, except that I was having fun. 🙂
I am going to write a novel version – I’m writing 10 now to learn about full text and writing without pictures, and then when it’s done I’m going to start Valley the novel. 🙂
Thank you so much!!! Oh – *hugs* 🙂
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Lovely. One of the best Sims stories I’ve read. ❤ There's so much I want to say and ask about the ending, but I think I need to mull it over for awhile first.
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I sprained my right wrist Thursday and I can’t type very much, and that’s why I haven’t been replying. I have been reading and appreciating your comments, though, and I will reply when I can type two handed for extended periods without pain.
Thank you so much for reading and for commenting and for the wonderful compliment! *hugs*
I do hope you’ll check out 10 – it’s not a Sims story but the main character is Seth as a 15 year old. 🙂
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That was utterly depressing… I don’t mean to upset you in anyway but I was hoping for something much different than that. I absolutely, positively adored the beginning of this story but then I became so depressed. Your stories would have been my favorite sims stories EVER, if you would have added some light and happiness into the story! This is not at all the happy story I was imagining and hoping for. Seth is awful and insane. So is Lilith. But Bella, Shannon, and JUSTIN are most definitely not. I loved your stories up until the day Justin died. After that everything was “Fire… Death… Alone… Sadness… I hate my life” Like no joke, I seriously became depressed after this story! It makes me even more terrified and upset about death now. I’m really, really sorry I just didn’t like how it got all twisted up in the end. What happened to love? What happened to happiness? What happened to light? Isn’t that what she was looking for? Eternal life, no that’s not happiness, not at all. This story is sick and twisted and insane! Ughhh… I just have to leave now. SORRY!
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*hugs*
You did not upset me. I was out and saw this on my phone and couldn’t reply, and I have been excited and jumping around and talking about it ever since and really upset that I couldn’t reply.
I loved your passion and your honesty! Seriously – honesty and non-personal criticism is extremely hard to come by in the Sims community, and I truly value it. You saw my story, not me or my reputation or any of that, and you responded to my story. I could…I could kiss you, really.
I do think the ending is too abstract. Maybe I shouldn’t have deleted so much of the text in the original draft of Firewater.
My idea of the ending is that Seth finds redemption and Lilith finds herself.
I am extremely sleep deprived, but I’ll try this anyway.
My interpretation is that at the end Lilith finds love and light, in the memory of Jason and Bella and Shannon, and she extends that love and light to Seth. Yes, she burns his house down and kills both of them, but – but at the end, Seth knew she loved him and understood him and forgave him. He faced death with courage and was redeemed. And Lilith – you see, in Ending her face is over the waterfall because she joined the waterfall. She joined Jason and Bella and Shannon – and everyone and everything else. She became one with the stream of being.
Your comment about the light struck me, because just yesterday I posted on my LJ about how the main theme of Valley is light taking the dark into itself. Lilith’s light turning Seth’s darkness into light. She gave him grace and sacrificed herself to cleanse Sunset Valley of his darkness, and oh goodness you would never know that I haven’t really been exposed much to Christianity, would you?
This is getting long, so I’ll finish in reply to the other comment. 🙂
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About the last comment, please don’t take it harshly. Maybe just as constructive criticism? I dunno maybe I have a bad opinion though because everyone else seemed to love it. And maybe I’m just too young to actually understand your story. I was lost for quite a bit of it. All I know is that I was feeling a passionate love for your story in the beginning but then that was yanked away as I learned more and more about Seth. And maybe it’s just because this is my first sims story that was creepy. I’m all for romances and happy ending and this definitely wasn’t that! (I thought it was going to be though, I mean what about JUSTIN!!! WHY?!?!? I loved him!)
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I’m not taking it harshly. 🙂 Actually I think your comments are my most favorite comments ever. 🙂 Also, you caught me at a good time. I’ve learned and changed and grown a lot recently.
Hopefully my interpretation can help you feel better and see it in a happier way, but if not – it’s just my interpretation. I think yours is totally valid too. That’s something I’m proud of actually – that Valley can be interpreted in different ways and appears differently to different people.
And the Fire Death Alone thing – I did overdo that a bit. And yeah – I did get too abstract there at the end. Oh well – everything is for learning, and Valley has actually been finished for almost a year and I’ve improved a lot in that year, I think. 10 is better – but Seth as a teenager is the main character of 10. So it will not have a happy ending, obviously, and might not be to your tastes. Which that’s cool – everyone has different tastes.
Sorry, I am so sleep deprived right now – just registered the bit about it being your first creepy Sims story. 🙂 So who knows – maybe you’ll develop a taste for horror in the future. 😉 I am so happy that you gave me a chance, and really overjoyed actually that you felt so strongly about it. I just…man, I’m serious, if we met IRL I’d give you a huge hug. I’ve been asking my husband if he thinks you would think it was creepy if I emailed you.
I just…thank you. So much. Thank you.
I don’t think you have a bad opinion at all! Part of it – most of the commenters here were with me through the whole thing while I was working on it. A lot of them read my LJ posts and forum posts and knew me as a friend, so I’m sure that colored their experience of it and maybe slanted their interpretation more towards my vision of it, because they saw a fair bit of my creative process and knew my thoughts on the story.
As for killing Jason – it had to be done. Lilith had to face Seth alone. But yeah – he grew on me a lot too and I didn’t like doing it and I was actually quite upset with Seth about it for a while. But the story came first.
I really need to go to bed, lol. So to sum up – thank you so much for reading and commenting, with such lovely honest passionate real comments. I hope that maybe you’ll see the story in a new light with my explanation of my ideas, but if not – at least you saw it. You really did – you saw the story and you judged it for itself. I can never thank you enough for that.
Your words really meant a lot to me. I appreciate them, and I appreciate you. Feel free to drop by and give me criticism on anything any time. 🙂
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Well I’m glad you took that in the right way. I wasn’t sure how that would end up, with you being upset or not. And definitely, you were not upset! I’m glad. And you did open up my eyes to your story a bit after that post and well I still don’t love the story but like I said, that’s just my taste. I understand it a lot more too now after your first comment. I just felt that Seth was soooo sick and twisted and how in the world does he end up being the good guy, I dunno. Now that I look at your story from a different point of view, it had a good storyline. VERY good storyline. But just not my taste in writing. I mean you had me hooked the WHOLE time. I never stopped reading, even when I was about to cry! And I have to say, for someone writing creepy stories, you did a good job. I read the stories while I was in a dark room, late at night, home alone and I almost ran around screaming at some parts… I’m also a bit of a coward, having that I’ve never seen a horror movie in my life and if I would I’d have nightmares for the rest of my life. Your story had a big affect on me in that way. Still a bit too much for me to handle, and not the happy, sane ending that I was hoping for but nice work. Keep on writing, keep my thoughts in mind, I’m sure there are a bunch of freaks out there who enjoy your insane stories! 😀
Oh and I didn’t find it creepy that you emailed me because I probably wouldn’t have came back here to check for comments from you. I’m happy I got to see what you thought of my comment.
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Oh that was brilliant Stacey. Absolutly loved it. Sad to see it end, but it’s good that Emma lived and had a normal life after it all somehow.
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Yay thank you! 🙂
I may write Emma’s story one day still, who knows. Show how she lived and got away and everything. I imagine she had a lot of issues to deal with, but yeah – she came out okay in the end. 🙂
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Page turner. OMG IT’s so beautiful. I love it. VERY MUCH. >.< Thank you for sharing with us your masterpiece.
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Thank you! 🙂 You’re awesome, and that really does mean a lot. Like, really a lot. It’s comforting and inspiring and a reason to return when I’m ready.
I’m on a bit of a hiatus at the moment but I do have plans to return to writing fiction in the relatively near future – I love Seth and my other Valley people too much to ever completely give them up. So there is more where this came from. 🙂
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Amazing! I just read through your whole story. Its absolutely stunning how you made this story just through one simulation game. I am of course a Simmer myself but could never live up to this work of art. I quite enjoy writing and am good at it, but I never seem to have the patience to write this sort of story and take many pictures on top of it. I always have trouble getting Sims to stay in the same place for a while so I can get the whole picture perfect. But once again, Amazing!
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Thank you! 🙂 Yay I’m glad you read it and liked it and commented! 🙂
I don’t usually have the patience either, honestly – Valley is the only story I ever finished. It just took on a life of its own and I came to love it much more than any of my previous work.
And yeah, posing can be hard – Nightmare was terrible to shoot because Lilith kept moving her head.
Yay thank you again! And I do feel inspired to carry on with 10 soon, so I’m very grateful for the comment.
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Wow. Very well written!! ♥ How did you get the Sims to be so clear? My sims are blurry.. 😦
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Thank you!
My graphics card is fairly old and shows its age with Rift, but with Sims 3 it’s still capable of playing the game on fairly high settings. Also I edited the pics in GIMP a fair bit and lightened them and used unsharp mask.
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Wow. This was utterly amazing. I can’t even think of anything more to say, I am too…in awe.
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I’m sorry it took a few days to reply – I was in the hospital. I’m out now, and feeling better than I have in months. And like I said – your comments mean a lot because your legacy is quite good and I respect you as a fellow writer and storyteller, and I am looking forward to getting caught up on your legacy now that I’m home and out of work for the rest of the week. 🙂 Thank you so much! *hugs*
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Thank you!! I’m glad you are feeling so much better! It sucks to be in pain all the time.
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Wow… just wow….
I wasn’t expecting this ending at all 🙂 I thought Jason would come back or Lilith would do something to Seth 😛 I found myself grinning ear to ear after every single post (and shaking, literally shaking !)
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My reply didn’t show up.
Anyway – I’m sorry it took so long to reply. I was in the hospital. I just got home this afternoon and am feeling much much better now though. 🙂
Thank you! I very much appreciated the comment – was something to help cheer me up while I was ill. And I did love Valley, so it’s good to know people are still enjoying it – well, I am too, since after all I am still writing Seth in 10. 🙂
Really though – thank you a lot. *hugs*
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Amazing ending. Life most certainly does go on, doesn’t it?
(And Lilith had a part in saving some lives from her sacrifice!)
I’m so glad I met you and could go through this “journey” with you through your story. I only wish I could have been around while you were posting and creating it. I hope to be around more in the future though. 🙂
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YAY! I’m glad you liked it, and you gave such wonderful comments all the way through!
It got pretty rough sometimes while I was writing it, with trolls and bullies and things. But yeah – it was definitely an experience.
Hey – I’ve only gotten two updates into the new story, Howling at the Moon. Which is a sequel to Valley. So there you go. 🙂 I’m all excited about it. It’s in second person point of view and has reader participation, where the readers can suggest things for Lilith to do every once in a while. I’ve been thinking about the plot, and OMG it’s going to be so epic!
And yes, it will be explained how there can be a sequel with the same main four characters to a story where rocks fell and everyone died. 😉
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Haha I don’t mind resurrecting old characters. It’s nice to see familiar faces. In fact, when I start working on my next story, I plan to make cameo appearances from my three main characters of my recent story. It won’t be in any relation to their actual story but they’ll just be in there for maybe a quick passing by or just one chapter.
And I’m so sorry to hear that you had a rough time while writing the story. That’s the danger of putting yourself out there on the internet and sharing your work but you definitely don’t deserve it. I can tell that no matter what had happened, you’re still very proud of Valley and I hope that’s what you remember most from the experience.
Oh and just to mention, I’ll be following your new story! I know it’ll be just as amazing as Valley!
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This is awesome. It’s sad that it’s over but it had to end sometime. I love your writing, also could you please upload the house by the waterfall, the one the morrigans live in, to The Sims 3 website?
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Awww, thank you!
Actually, I have started a sequel. I’m kind of struggling with it at the moment, but I have three updates up so far – https://medleymisty.wordpress.com/howling-at-the-moon/
Their house is an EA house and it’s in the bin already. 🙂 I forget its name, though. It came with the base game, if that helps – I started Valley before there were any expansions packs.
Yay thanks! 🙂
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Phew! I have read it all…And it was awesome stunning, exciting. I can still feel the shivers…and the fire and Seth in her mind…
This was pure enjoy to read♥
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*hugs* Yay I’m glad you liked it! It was so fun, and it was and is still so important to me and it’s the foundation of a lot of my current work. 🙂
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Whoa.
This story rocks on half a dozen levels. Brilliant.
Looking forward to reading more. 🙂 🙂 🙂
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YAAAAYYYY!!!! 🙂 *gives you lots and lots and lots and lots of hugs*
Valley was my LIFE back then, lol. And if you looked at the comments as you went along, you probably noticed that it was quite popular in its day. It will always have a place in my heart. 🙂
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That was a very nice ending to an awesome story. I loved this (as you can probably already tell)!
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*hugs you a lot forever* Thank you so much! I am all happy that people are still enjoying Valley all these years later. I really really loved writing it.
*sighs with nostalgia*
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Woah just like… woah! Amaaaaaazing story, for real! So engaging and the visuals… I can’t even. It was so good!
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Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!!!! *jumps around*
Thank you!!!! Yay, I’m glad you liked it! I loved Valley so much back when I was writing it. It’s always nice to hear that other people enjoy it too.
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This story has a H.P. Lovecraft’s work feel to it. Thanks to the imagery. It also brought back memories of an old game called Alone in the dark (also based on H.P. Lovecraft’s workings) and it’s ancient graphics and sound that scared the hell out of me. I was wondering if you hadn’t been inspired by it.
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Oh no, I haven’t read a whole lot of Lovecraft and I’ve never heard of that game. I’ll check it out though – sounds relevant to my interests. 🙂
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What? That’s how it ends?! Okay, I have so many questions. Maybe they are answered in your other stories. Emma went off to Riverview then? She escaped from Seth after the fire, survived, and went to Riverview and had a family since she has a granddaughter? What happened to Seth? What happened to Lilith? Did Lilith actually exist? I mean, her face is in the rock above in a picture so I’m guessing she died too? Did she set a fire and kill Seth? His memory? His ghost? Did she sacrifice herself to save Sarah and Emma? Or just Emma? Like in a temporal mechanics kind-of way, alternate reality? If so, how? Why did Lilith just let Seth kill her?
What did Sarah know? Why did Seth kill her? What made him change and lose all touch with reality and want to kill someone? Why did he try to kill his own daughter? Or was it an accident? Did he kill Bella and Shannon and Jason too? Did someone else? What about the corruption in Sunset Valley? What did Sam Sekemoto know and how did he know? What about Bella’s brother, Michael? Did he ever say anything?
Oh you wrote a fantastic story, but it left me wanting more and with so many questions. Sorry if I’m obnoxiously overwhelming.
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Yeah, that’s what I think happened to Emma. I might write that story one day if I feel like it, although I don’t know when I’ll be back in Valley headspace.
Yep, the fire that Lilith set killed both her and Seth. I wrote this thing up about it and how it was all about the waterfall and accepting death and becoming enlightened, but basically, Lilith sacrificed herself to cleanse Sunset Valley of Seth’s darkness. In my mind at least he was a pretty formidable foe, and her own life seemed like a reasonable cost for taking out someone so strong and able to do so much damage.
Sarah died in the fire. Although an AU Sarah is the POV character of Moonfall, which I may go back to one day when I can handle it mentally and emotionally, and I had plans for that Sarah to eventually make her way to Sunset Valley and see what happened in Valley.
Sarah knew how to make ambrosia, and Seth killed her because the dude is not very attached to reality and he is very very very self-absorbed and he stopped seeing other people as real a long time ago.
I don’t think he meant to try to kill Emma. In my mind he just kind of blanked out with the fire, and then when he finally could take notice of reality again, Emma was gone and he assumed she died, and he would never admit it consciously but subconsciously he felt incredible guilt about that. Thus her appearances as a child in Nightmare and Daydream. I think of those chapters as Seth’s subconscious invading Lilith’s, and his guilt about Emma torments him, although he can’t admit it to himself.
Yes, he killed Bella and Shannon and Jason. He needed life fruit to make ambrosia, and he wanted to make a little web for Lilith to walk into. I think that he’d been watching Lilith for a while, and he’d decided that she would be the one to finally understand him, and subconsciously I think he wanted to kill her and bring her back with the ambrosia to somehow make up for Sarah and Emma.
I don’t think Michael ever said anything, no.
As for Sam Sekemoto – I think that plenty of people in Sunset Valley knew that Seth was pulling everyone’s strings. Well, they might not have known that it was Seth, but they knew that someone in power was controlling the police department and collecting all those reports the police wrote after going through people’s trash, and using those reports for nefarious purposes.
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I’m pleased you didn’t get irritated with my incessant questions and my insatiable curiosity. 🙂
Thanks for clearing some things up. I can see how emotionally, intellectually, and psychologically invested you were in this story and I appreciate it. I understand needing time before revisiting the characters and world.
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