The Broke Legacy: Generation 1.2.

[simgaroop]

Now that I was a "bad boy", I had to do "bad things" to impress Lucy, right?
And my first idea was to get some alcohol.
Sure, I was a minor, but that'd make it more hardcore. More bad ass!




Only problem was that I had no idea how was I going to buy some beers without being asked for my I.D.
Hey, I was new at this stuff!




That's when a familiar voice said,
"Aren't you a little young for alcohol?"
Surprised, I muttered- "H...how did you know I was... Angela?!"




"Close. I'm Lilith Pleasant, Angela's twin sister."
"I didn't know she had a twin!"
"Surprise, surprise. She likes to pretend I don't exist, but I don't care anymore."
"Oh..."
"Anyway, kid. I don't know why you want to buy some alcohol, but that's a bad idea.
You look what... thirteen?"
"I'm fourteen!"
"Same difference. Say, why you don’t spend that alcohol money in something better like... sausages!
I'm hungry, so why don't we grill some hot-dogs outside?"




Mom was gonna be so pissed at me for expending part of my savings in sausages.
But on the other hand, she'd be even angrier if I had bought those beers.
Lilith was a very... special girl. Not as sweet as her sister, but very intelligent.
I'll never forget what she told me that night.




"So you are Dustin's little brother, huh? And you are in love with my little cousin, Lucy, right? How cute!"
"Cute? Aren't you against our friendship like the rest of Lucy's family?"
"Because of your suicidal father; your easy mother who had an affair with an unknown, married man and procreated a illegitimate child; and your criminal, good-for-nothing brothers?"




I felt so bad in that moment-"You didn't have to say it like that... and that's not completely true..."
"Sure it isn't. That's why I'm talking with you. You are a nice guy, Beau. And I'm sure so is the rest of your family. It's this town the one who is trash."
"Really?"
"Sure! Everybody here has dark secrets, but are always too busy trying to hide them in their closets. Appearances are everything in Pleasantview. Starting with my own family!"




"Take my parents for example: Mom is addicted to her job and barely pays attention to us. Dad cheats like crazy and it's well-known his affair with the maid. They don't love each other anymore, but in order to appear as a "nice, traditional and decent family", they pretend to love each other and kiss in front of everyone else, including their daughters"




"It's disgusting. So many lies, so much pretending. That's why I decided to be the family's "black sheep", to show everyone in town that the Pleasants’ aren't as perfect as they seem!"




"Of course, that brought me a lot of trouble with my family, especially my sister. I'm hoping that her relationship with Dustin, something my parents hate, will finally open her eyes."




"But in the end, I realized that I was doing exactly what my parents were doing: Pretending to be something I wasn't. So I decided to just... be myself!"
"So what if this town thinks I'm a whore? A bitch? I don't care! I'm happy being who I am! This town loves to label people in order to feel better themselves. That's why they label your family like that! But don't ever let them believe you are a bad guy, just as I'm sure Dustin thinks he is. You are good people, don't forget about it.
If you want to impress my little cousin, just be yourself."




"Thank you, Lilith. Now I know what I should do!"




From that day, Lilith and I became good friends.




She often visited us (well, when Angela wasn't home, for their relationship still was pretty bad) and became my confident. It was cool to have an older friend to talk to!




Soon winter arrived and covered our backyard with snow. It was freezing inside our house, but I didn't mind, for this was my favorite season!




The perfect time to play with my brother...




And to finally make a move with Lucy...




I used that very old trick... "What is it, Lucy? Are you cold?"




"I know the perfect way to keep you warm!"




Yeah, I admit it was pretty lame trick, product of all those hours I spent as a child watching chick flicks with my Mom. But it worked!




David was still a perfect student. His grades were even better than Dustin and mine's.




We were all so proud of him.




But Dustin... wasn't right.
Since the day he discovered our father's sacrifice, he became obsessed.
He still felt guilty. And wanted to make up with Dad in some way.
He wanted to give us everything Dad couldn't. He wanted us to go to college, to have toys.
But of course, he was just 17. And with the bad fame he had due to our family's reputation and his job, he couldn't afford a second job as he wanted.
We had no idea he felt this way.




Just as Lilith said, her family opposed his relationship with Angela.
So much that they forbid her to leave the house.
So they often saw each other in the middle of the night for a couple of hours.
Lilith said she was proud of her sister, because she had finally grown a backbone.




Dustin couldn't handle all that pressure.
And one day, he snapped.
We were getting ready for school when he suddenly attacked me.
"It's your entire fault! You and your stupid crib!"- he screamed.




I was shocked, of course.
But I still had to defend myself.




David tried to separate us, but the harm was already done.




I was so angry at Dustin that I confronted him later that day.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Dustin?"




"Everything is wrong, Beau! We are a bunch of losers and we are never going to move away from this horrible house! Everybody thinks we are trash! Everything goes wrong with us! It's as if... we were cursed!"




It hurt so much to listen to his words. To have him so mad at me for something I couldn't understand (at that moment). Dustin and I were so close, so it hurt like hell to think that we were turning into Lilith and Angela in that sense.




Some months passed by and things were still pretty bad between Dustin and I.
Mom started a very small business. She earned just enough to eat.




And Angela went away. Her parents sent her and Lilith to a relative's house in order to "get ready for college".
"Please, promise you'll wait for me."- she said that day.
Of course. I'll look for you at College! I'll be there!"




"It's a promise!"




But Dustin knew that Angela would forget him at College. So he had to get there as soon as possible!




He was so desperate that he tried to rob a store... and was caught.




He spent a couple of months in jail. But the harm was already done: No one would ever give him a job again. His reputation was completely ruined and not only that, but he was also kicked out of school.
Dustin felt so ashamed.




I saw him cry outside our house the night he was released.
I finally understood the guilt he felt.
And I felt so bad for him...




"I'm sorry, Dustin. I didn't notice how you felt!"




"You don't have to do everything alone! You've got Mom and me! I'm gonna help you get to College!"
"Don't be stupid, Beau, there's no way I'm ever gonna go to College. And I'm afraid neither will you. But we can work together for David."




And that's how my long, long odyssey to find a decent part-time job for David's college fund began.




"What are you gonna do now, Dustin?"
"I'm gonna work hard, Beau. This town and its prejudices have forced me to become a criminal. But I won't get caught ever again."




And for the next couple of years he studied for hours...




And worked out.




Until he reached adulthood.




Things between my brothers and I were normal again. We still were closer than before, for we now had a goal in mind.




Dustin worked hard everyday. He soon began to make himself a name in the crime scene.




With the bit of extra money he earned, he bought David an easel for his 11th birthday. Our little brother was a brilliant artist.




Mom still worked with her flowers. She sold them to restaurants and small gift stores.




Lilith wrote every week. She was having a nice time at College. But Angela didn't. She missed Dustin badly.




I still looked for a good part-time job...




But the sole mention of my last name was enough to get me rejected from most places.




So maybe I wasn't doing OK in the work scene. But the romantic one was good.




Very good.




Very, very good.




Uh... you get the point.




Things between Lucy and I were going so fine that when I asked her to become my girlfriend...




She accepted!




A year went by, and soon it was time for David to enter his teenage years.




He became a shy young man, always dressed with a long, black coat.
He hardly spoke and spent all his time painting or reading.
He wasn't interested in parties or girlfriends.
For him, the quest for knowledge was the most important one.




But he knew that his College fund was still very small.
"You should stop worrying so much about me. I'm aware that the only way we're ever gonna make it to College is if we suddenly discovered that our house is made of gold. It's OK."




As for Dustin, one day there was someone waiting for him when he arrived from work.




It was Angela! Against her family's wishes, she had dropped out of College and looked for Dustin.
"I couldn't stand another day without you. I don't care what my family thinks! I love you! That's the most important thing!"




I've never seen my brother happier than that day. He asked her to marry him right then and there.




Dustin and Angela got married two months later in the very same spot where my parents had gotten married 25 years before.




We were there, of course. As so were Lucy and Lilith. The rest of the Pleasant family and the most important people from this town (who knew Angela since she was a baby) were absent. They couldn't afford to set a foot in our trashy home, it seems.




But Angela didn't care. She knew what she was giving up to be with my brother.
She knew that life would be pretty hard, but she didn't mind.




Dustin being... well Dustin, couldn't help it but stuff his bride's face with cake.




There wasn't enough money for the party, so Lilith rented a karaoke system. Mom and David sang for us the whole day.




Of course, I asked Lucy to dance with me. She'd been quiet the whole ceremony, so I hoped that little movement would cheer her up.




Seeing my brother and Angela so happy together, made me imagine of how nice our life together would be.




"I can't wait for our own wedding! I hope it's as nice as this one!"




Lucy pushed me away.




"Lucy? What's going on?"
"Do you think this is nice?! This... lousy wedding! Without Angela's family and friends?! Angela always dreamed of a huge wedding! How can you tell me this is nice?!"
"But Lucy..."




"This is not right, Beau. This is not what I want for my life! I don't want to be rejected by my family! You know what they think of you!"




"Your family's cursed! You are poor and uneducated. Your brother's a criminal! I don't want my children to live in a house like this, without school, without friends, without anything!"




"You know that's not true, Lucy! How can you talk like that about my family? You've known them since you were 6! And as if you were something to talk like that! Everybody knows that your Mom won't give your Dad the children he always dreamed of! That's why he looked for another woman and has another family on the other side of..."




I guess I kind of deserved that slap. But no one can talk like that about my family!




"I loved you, Beau. But things are different now. I have to think about my future... and by your side there isn't one. Good-bye..."







And right then and there, Lucy Burb broke my heart.




"Lucy has a lot of growing up to do, Beau. If she isn't able to accept and love you just the way you are... then I'm afraid she's not the right girl for you."




"Remember what I told you all those years ago: You are a good person. Don't ever forget that."




Life without Dustin in the house was pretty dull, despite he was now living in a small trailer across the street.
Life in general became dull for me. I missed Lucy badly.




And one day, after yet another job rejection, I made an important decision.




...suicidal father; easy mother who had an affair with an unknown, married man and procreated a illegitimate child; and criminal, good-for-nothing brothers...?




Everything is wrong, Beau! We are a bunch of losers and we are never going to move away from this horrible house! Everybody thinks we are trash! Everything goes wrong with us! It's as if... we were cursed!




Your family's cursed! You are poor and uneducated. Your brother's a criminal! I don't want my children to live in a house like this, without school, without friends, without anything!"




That's it! I was tired of being rejected! Of being a loser just because of my family's unfair reputation.
We Brokes weren't cursed! It's this town the one that put that "curse" on us!
I decided that my life needed a change.
I was going to prove everybody what we Broke's were made of!




"I'm going away.
To a place where people won't reject me because of my last name.
I'll get a good job and help you with your college studies, David. I promise.
But I can't do it in Pleasantview.
This is not my home anymore."




Of course, I was afraid.
I hadn't finished high school yet.
But I had to do this.
And after I made that phone call for the taxi that would take me away from the life I always had,
I felt... strangely happy.







Mom and David trusted me.
They both wished me luck as I left my home.
I even felt something else wishing me luck...




"Good bye, Lucy..."




For the next few years, I lived in the streets.
I moved to some place called Veronaville and worked as a cook at Academié Le Tour.
It was a wonderful place to study Arts.
I hoped I'd someday be able to send David to this place.
I studied in my free time and passed my high school exams later that year.
And as I watched the students there... I also decided that someday, somehow I'd return to this place.

One day, as I worked as a barman.
I ended telling a stranger the story of my life.
He told me of a place where I would find the future I was searching for.
A place surrounded by mystery.
And where no one would care where I came from.




That place was Strangeville.
A small town in the middle of the desert.
The land was cheap, so I bought a small lot there with all my savings.




And as I watched the empty land around me,
And counted the few coins left in my pocket,
I felt happy.
Because maybe I had nothing. And life would be hard here.
But there was something in this empty land that I wouldn't ever find in Pleasantview.
My future.


And just to make it official:




________________________________________
Notes:
- Next update will be the beginning of this Legacy! (Finally!)
- To send Beau to Strangeville, I cloned him with SimPe and edited him so he'd have the same personality points and interests as the original Beau. But because this is a Legacy, I didn't keep the creativity points he earned as a toddler, so he's starting from zero.
- I love Lucy Burb. It's a shame I can keep her as a legacy spouse because she's not a "townie". Well, I can make her make up with the original Beau :).
- I'm not keeping a score with the Legacy. Just follow most of it's rules until I get to Gen 10 (I hope so!).
- I chose Strangeville as my Legacy neighborhood because I NEVER play it :P. I wanted something new for the Legacy,
- The part where Dustin attacks Beau came out of nowhere. They were doing fine (no furious and 100/100 relationship) and suddenly it happened. I was keeping Dustin with a red aspiration meter, so maybe he really became crazy enough to attack his brother!
- Thanks so much for your tips and help! ^_^