The Monster and the Maiden: Ch. 03, Part I
February 4th, 2008
Edmond had only lived in this house for a little over a year, but he knew from his regular visits to the downtown clubs that rumors were circulating about the strange recluse that had leased the haunted house. It was annoying because paranormal fanatics seemed to gravitate to his home. They were always ringing the bell and asking for a tour or an introduction to the ghosts. A few even tried to break in.
At the end of his patience, Edmond spent an entire weekend a few months ago setting up wards around his entire property. And they seemed to have worked. Oh, people still tried to get past the gate, but the wards soon discouraged them and the repeat visits had dwindled to almost nothing.
"Anyway," continued the girl as she rolled her eyes, "he thought I'd be too scared 'cause I'm a girl."
"I see." His lips trembled with the need to smile. "Did he double-dog dare you?"
Her brows furrowed in confusion for a moment and then smoothed again as understanding seemed to dawn on her. "No, he triple-dog dared me."
Delighted that she had caught onto his reference, he continued, "Ah, the coup de grace of all dares. Of course, you had to accept the challenge."
She nodded in excitement and broke into a relieved smile. "So, you'll let me come in?"
The girl was audacious, that was for certain. But Edmond shook his head as his stomach growled again and reminded him that he would have to drink his potion soon before its effectiveness expired. "Non, I do not think so," he said in answer to her question.
Emily's smile turned into a pout as she stuck out her lower lip and looked dejectedly at the sidewalk.
Ready to end this little, if amusing, distraction from his studies, he said, "Okay. Listen, Emily, I really—"
"Wait!" she interrupted as her head shot up. In a breathless voice, she rushed on, "Is it true that your house is haunted?"
"Non," he said simply and then added "No, it is not true" when her brows again bunched in confusion.
"Oh," she said with a sigh.
"You seem disappointed."
She hugged her arms around her and danced in place. "I want to be a ghost hunter when I grow up."
"UhΓ’β¬Β¦"
"Like those people on TV."
"I see," he said, because she seemed to expect him to say something although he had no idea what she was talking about.
23 Responses to “The Monster and the Maiden: Ch. 03, Part I”
February 4th, 2008 at 6:10 am
I love Emily! She's so cheeky. And Edmond is more patient with her than I would have expected. Especially since he considers himself a monster.
February 4th, 2008 at 6:16 am
You're right, Emily wasn't the kind of maiden I was expecting! I think she took Edmond by surprise as well π She's very persistant isn't she, and not really all that she seems methinks (because of the way the wards reacted)? I wonder how Edmond will reply to her question ….? I'm loving the direction this is moving in, especially with Edmond's attempts to put off his feeding for as long as he can π
*finds parachute and sits on the edge of the cliff again*
P.S. I hadn't realised that the gate had changed! And if it's any consolation it takes ages for BV to load on my computer as well – I guess that's the price we have to pay for animations and lovely trees π
February 4th, 2008 at 7:53 am
February 4th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Ahhh, I'm not so surprised! I remember the first time I saw Brandee, she was a little girl, and then there was Tahlvin… π
I really loved their dialogue. Edmond does his part well, but Emily isn't having any of it. She's a persistent child, and not afraid of vampires? This will be interesting. I wonder what he'll say.
As for BV, I couldn't say if it loads slower. Too much CC. It takes 15 minutes to load the game regardless of how much RAM I have or what EPs I have, lol. I've noticed the door problem, too… but it seemed to fix itself? I dunno, I need to pay more attention to this stuff.
February 4th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
So much for EdmondΓ’β¬β’s Γ’β¬Εget away from my house kidΓ’β¬Β rant, Emily was not having any of it. Big A for effort on her part, she did try just about every tactic possible to get through that gate. They are both so incredibly resolute, that even though she was not what I anticipated would be his maiden, they are made for each other.
February 4th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
wow, that was a surprise! but I loved it, love her persoanlity and she is a cutie-patootie as well…great update Kara:)
February 5th, 2008 at 8:25 am
AHAHA, the maiden! (here's me thinking of a tall brunette woman who'll tickle Edmonds fancy π )Emilys just awesome, her character reminds me of me sort of, a very curious little-un π
I hope her and Edmond become friends, it'll make a really good but wierd relationship. π This story gets more and more interesting!
p.s The outfit Emily's wearing, if you can, could you tell me where you found it please? It is really cute
February 5th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Another great chapter. Emily is so cute and I love her interactions with Edmond.
February 5th, 2008 at 8:59 am
February 5th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
The conversation between Emily and Edmond was very well written. The characters particularly play off each other really well and I can already sense that Emily will perhaps teach Edmond something he is lacking in character.
BV does do an awful lot of weird things I've noticed. The walk through doors and floors and other sims is pretty common, at least in my game.
Great update. Already, Emily enchants me, completely and utterly. She's brave and she's stubborn.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:37 am
February 8th, 2008 at 7:29 am
I don't exactly know what Emily's role is in this….what exactly is a maiden again? Haha, sorry, but I don't think I've ever come across the term in a story. I could look it up, but only you know the real meaning of the term in context of this story. Um…I do love Emily. She reminds me of myself. Our mannerisms are so identical, I would guess that you were spying on me to create her.
February 8th, 2008 at 7:56 am
February 9th, 2008 at 12:25 am
Eek, I don't remember getting the email for this although I probably did and was so busy I forgot. I'm glad I checked your site just in case. I was right about the female part but completely off the mark about about it being Emily. I really like her- she's so zesty like girls should be. π I can imagine that she'll be a very interesting 'alterego' (or whatever her role will be) to the monster.
I didn't notice at all about the gate. I know what you mean about making small decisions like that- we writers/directors agonize over the tiniest of details but I think for the most part, the audience doesn't notice the things we worry about. Sorry BV is an irritant. I ended up reverting all the way back to OFB for my computer. I really want Seasons installed but hey, we have to perserve our current projects.
February 9th, 2008 at 9:06 am
February 10th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
I am loving the maiden! Although she wasn't what I expected! Kind of headstrong and precocious!
Note: I have found that ending all the processes running in the background except explorer.exe and taskmgr.exe have sped up the process of loading my 7 GB of CC!
February 11th, 2008 at 8:12 am
February 17th, 2008 at 10:50 am
This is a great story, especially the last part, the contrast of the vibrant Emily and Edmund is really interesting. I was a little worried the story would become a just a tedious romance, but you have a few aces up your sleeve it seems, nice.
About BV and the doors, if you decide to install BV again, sometimes when I get doors or windows that look like the wall's going through them it helps just to add a wall right next to it straight out (then you can delete the wall again) usually works on single doors and windows for me.
February 17th, 2008 at 11:19 am
February 17th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
I was scrolling down to see what other people had written, and realized that we had the same name. (Well, Kara is quite a good name, if I do say so myself) ^^
Anyways, I wanted to tell you that I love your story so far; Emily isn't the typical "Mary Sue" character–she definitely has a mind of her own. And I really adore the settings that you have created…
arrrgh, the cliffhanger! Alright, you've got me hooked. Now I'll never be able to stop reading >.<
February 18th, 2008 at 9:31 am
February 18th, 2008 at 11:02 am
lol I'm a "care-ah", too… leads to interesting nicknames, doesn't it? (Care-bear, haha)
errr… former is the first one, isn't it?
Yeah I really like it… but I was reading the extra boys story now, and I'm really loving that one. ;D
February 18th, 2008 at 11:15 am