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Welcome back, simmers. Let's waste no time and get you straight into the story. I turn you over to Haley, blog keeper and narrator.
Hello everyone. This is Haley. Weeks went by before I received a call from Malina to get over to Nouvelle Manor. She wouldn't answer any of my probing questions about how she looked. I was so excited when I pulled into the driveway. Cireking said the final procedure would make her stunning. There was a sleek Hunka 711 in the driveway. I wondered if Malina was finally having friends and family visit her. As Sabrina walked out of the manor, I knew right away that the car belonged to her. It suits her style. I asked her how did Malina look, but she hadn't seen Malina yet. She couldn't stay for the unveiling and seemed a little annoyed that she couldn't get Cireking out of the manor to go downtown. "You need a crowbar to get him away from his projects," she said.
She quickly changed the topic to the last installment of the Visual Blog. "From what you wrote, I suppose there is some tension between us. I really don't want that. I'm just trying to restart my career and the public relations position with Sim-Century was a great joy. Frankly, this Visual Blog concept is a little strange to me and I'm trying to find a role to play in it. I don't want to take it over."
From her point of view, I could understand this. I thought about all the notes, lists, and ideas that Cireking had stored away. Surely there was a promotional vehicle for Sabrina to handle. Cireking was just talking about a project the other day. "That movie tour for this manor will most likely happen. I saw the storyboard and it should be entertaining. I also saw your name scribbled on the side. I'm sure you're going to be in it," I said. Sabrina looked a little shocked. "Really? I wonder why he hasn't told me anything about it yet."
"That is odd", I said. "But he does get easily distracted. He probably wants to finalize a few things before he's ready to announce it." "That's his way!" said Sabrina. "I'm so excited--my second film."
"I can't wait to see it myself. I liked Dangerous Rendezvous," I said. She left in a pretty good mood. I like making people happy. I was surprised when Cireking told me he didn't know what Malina looked like.
"I have an idea of what she looks like, but I haven't seen her since the swelling has gone down and she wouldn't let me perform the final unwrapping. I also suggested she get a new hairstyle--get the hair away from her face so it looks narrower. She snuck out to the beauty parlor for a makeover then locked herself in the room again. I'm beginning to get a little worried here." "I should also mention that I couldn't do much about the scar tissue on her arms. She must have been in a lot of emotional pain to cut herself like that."
I didn't comment on Malina's arms. I had noticed it before, but it didn't seem proper for me to bring it up. I changed the subject to Sabrina and our conversation outside. Cireking was not pleased. Apparently he had other plans for the Nouvelle Manor tour.
"You told her what?" "I changed the lead role in the movie tour from female to male. The female is now the supportive role and I promised it to Malina," he said.
I hadn't noticed Malina had entered the foyer as I thought about the mess I had just created here. "Sabrina is going to be really disappointed. She was really excited about the movie. I'm sorry," I told Cireking. Cireking thought for a moment. "I'm going to have to give her a special project. I've been working on the Tower House II. She could introduce it like the original Tower House. She would love that."
Malina interrupted our conversation with a simple "Ahem!" It took a moment for me to register who I was looking at. "..."
Yep, that's all that came out of my mouth--nothing. I sat there with my mouth open, starring at Cireking. I was stunned. I had given Malina my favorite outfit after that Maple Springs Pool and Spa incident. She never got a chance to buy any clothes. It was kind of surreal approaching her in my clothes...and my hairstyle. "You are so beautiful." She looked at me strangely before answering. "Thank you," she said. "It been so long since I've heard those words." Cireking walked up and she hugged him before he could speak.
"Thank you so much! I should have believed what you said about the fourth surgery." "Despite my work, it's those eyes of yours that are the true work of art. You've always had those." At this moment, the doorbell rang. Malina said that it was probably her friends, so I went to see who was at the door while she and Cireking talked. A woman stood on the front porch in what looked like her pajamas. At first glance, I thought she might be mental or a panhandler until I saw the rest of the group. I must say that they were a unique assortment of people. "Hi," I said. "Malina is waiting for you. Come on in." They looked around the room with polite smiles for moment and after a long awkward silence, Benjamin, the blonde one asked, "So...where is Malina?" Malina was dismayed. "You guys don't recognize me? Not at all?" Their reaction was one of astonishment, to say the least. Gimpy, the one in the baseball cap was awestruck. "Malina...you are a pure exquisiteness that delights the senses. You are beauty in abundance. You are the image of..."
"Just say she's pretty, Gimpy," said Tanya, the one in the striped top. They stood around with big grins and said "wow".
Look at me! I'm doing the "shimmy shake". I wasn't aware I had done that. I must have been really happy for Malina. "I owe it to the man standing next to me...and Shishie10 who found him in the first place. He performed the surgery." "He sculpted you into this delightful form?" asked Gimpy.
Malina laughed. "More like sliced, stretched, and stapled," she replied I was amused at the way the three women were starring at Cireking. My guess is that they were thinking "make me over next." Well, I'm not sure about the one in pink, Marisa. Is she drooling? "This is a definite cause for celebration. Not only do we finally get our friend back, but we get her back just as beautiful on the outside as she is on the inside. Are you ready? Were taking you to the Sublime Restaurant and Art Gallery for dinner," said Benjamin.
Malina acknowledge that she was more than ready and was so happy to be with her friends again. "You are joining us aren't you, Haley?"
"Sure!" I said to Malina.
Benjamin was pleased. "Excellent! The more, the merrier, we have room for you in the van." "How about you, Cireking?"
'You guys go enjoy yourselves. I'm afraid I have some work that I need to get done."
"Ok. Don't work too hard." Malina walked off to the van. Cireking told me that if I got in really late, I was welcome to stay at the Manor. Which meant I could have as much fun as I wanted. Heh! "Where is Shishie10, Gimpy?" I heard Maina ask.
"She said she will meet us at Sublime," he answered. As I walked by the van, Emmy and Benjamin were talking. "I still don't believe it. It's incredible. The only way she can fit in with us freaks and geeks now is to tattoo 'freak' on her forehead," said Emmy.
"Malina is a perfect fit with us; she has heart," said Benjamin.
Emmy didn't seem convinced. "That's all going to change," she said. We backed out of the driveway, through the security gate, and were on our way. "Emmy, I thought you were going to wear something decent tonight," said Benjamin.
"I was decent until I stopped in Red's 50's Diner for a snack. I had a sloppy Joe."
"Oh good grief!"
"I was hungry!" We arrived at Sublime and took in the art as we made our way to the back. The host was taking a table reservation. "Yes Co-Co, you will have a reservation for tomorrow. Another 'ladies night out'? .... Good, we're glad to have you all again. So that will be a table for four? Five?.... A friend is coming from Europe? Excellent! We love international travelers here. I'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye." The host looked up from her reservation book and her eyes locked on Emmy. She casually approached Emmy, but she wore a facial expression of someone who had seen a cockroach skitter across the floor. "Hello miss...can I help you...in any way?" she said.
Malina seemed to know what was going on. "She's with us and we would like to have a table please."
The host looked at Malina and smiled. "Very well! We are glad to have you my dear. Welcome to Sublime." She then went back to her podium to look at her reservation book. Emmy laughed out loud and bowed to Malina. "Oh thank you great goddess, protector of vagabonds from snooty restaurant hosts." "I must look like a homeless person when standing next to you."
Malina looked annoyed. "Enough, Emmy," she said. "It's just a joke," said Emmy. She elbowed Malina.
"Your table is ready," said the host. Malina turned to follow her. "What? Do I offend?" said Emmy. She proceeded to scratch her armpit.
Benjamin laughed. "It's after seven o'clock, so the answer would be yes, you do." Sublime may be a little snooty, but they can afford to be. The food was delicious. I liked Malina's friends. They are a down-to-earth group of people and very funny too. I found it interesting that Malina didn't sit at the head of the table. The server came around to see if we were enjoying our meals and if we needed anything. Everything was wonderful. She walked toward Malina. "On behalf of Sublime Art Gallery and Restaurant I would like to present to you a special gift coupon for your next visit. You'll get fifty percent off your next bill."
"How nice," said Malina. "Yes, it's a special gift not handed out often. Management loves having beautiful people such as yourself as part of their regular clientele." The server laughed. "I'm not supposed to tell you that, but you are strikingly beautiful."
Malina seemed unsure of how to respond. Emmy broke the silence. "This is how it starts. The world loves beauty. It's very greedy for it and needs to have it near. It won't be long before you're snatched away from us."
"What are you talking about, Emmy? You guys are the best friends I've ever had. I'm not going anywhere. Emmy began to gobble her food. Benjamin looked around the table at everyone. "Emmy, you're doing to Malina what we despise people doing to us. You're judging her by her appearance and assigning a personality to her. It's not fair."
"It's the reality of this world, Benjamin. Everything is driven by it," she mumbled between bites. That put a damper on the conversation. The server came by to pick up Emmy's plate. "I forgot to mention that the discount covers your entire party if they want to visit us again."
Emmy swallowed a gulp of water before piping in, "Not to worry, honey. We're a forgettable group. We're used to it." The server frowned and walked off with the plate. I could see that Benjamin was getting agitated. "That wasn't fair to the server, Emmy. She's just doing her job and Sublime gave Malina a nice compliment. What's with this notion that Malina will be taken from us?"
"Did they give the rest of us coupons? No. This is how the world is. They will open doors that will be hard to resist and with each door she will walk further away."
Malina flashed me look of despair and tried to stop this debate between Benjamin and Emmy. "Hellooooo...would you guys like my opinion on..."
"This is ridiculous," continued Benjamin. "Malina will always be one of us". Marisa started chanting: "We accept her, one of us. We accept her, one of us." Gimpy joined in: "Gooble gobble, Gooble gobble. We accept her, we accept her, one of us, one of us." And so did Tanya. "We accept her, we accept her. Gooble gobble, gooble gobble..." "One of us, one of us." Joined in Benjamin, before everyone finally gave way to laughter. I couldn't help but laugh at the silly song. I was also relieved that the tension was broken. "What was that all about?" I asked Gimpy. "It's from an old movie called 'Freaks'," said Malina. "I think we should get real here folks", said Emmy. "Malina isn't one of us anymore; she's one of them--the beautiful people."
"That's not true. You're acting like you're jealous."
"And you're acting like you're suddenly in love. You weren't before her surgery. Maybe you're the one judging her by her appearance." "I think you better stop right there."
"Oooh...I touched a nerve even Cupid's arrow couldn't hit. Benji boy gettin' mad." "Stop it! Both of you!" Malina had had enough. She pushed away from table. "I didn't do this because I wanted attention. I did it because I didn't want attention. I was tired of people treating me like a freak and I wanted to stop the stares. I wanted to be invisible. Nothing has changed because people are still staring at me. They are nicer about it about it now, but it's still superficial. I think I took this too far." "What I didn't expect was to be treated like this by you guys. I'm still me"
The table fell silent for a moment, until Emmy spoke. "Power, wealth, ...beauty, newly acquired--it changes people--always has, always will."
The scar tissue on Malina's arms flushed scarlet with her emotion.
"What's with you, Emmy? I'm your friend. Stop treating me like a stranger!" "I thought this was supposed to be a celebration," said a woman dressed in black. Shishie10 had arrived. "Now this is the face that I saw every time I looked at you. I knew Cireking could find it,"
"I'm not sure that I want it." said Malina. "Enter the sledge hammer, the breaker of the circle," said Emmy. Right away I knew that ShiShie wasn't considered part of the group, not by Emmy anyway.
"What's the problem?" asked ShiShie.
"We seem to be having adjustment problems," replied Malina.
ShiShie shrugged it off. "Adjustment periods are short. They'll get over it. It's time to turn this group around. Take a seat."
"Remember when you told me how you wished you could go out to dance clubs?"
"Yeah, but..."
"Well tonight's your night. We're going to P.U.R.E. West!" Emmy sneered. "You've got to be kidding. We don't go to dance clubs--especially P.U.R.E West. It's a meat market."
"Oh, lighten up Emmy. We never went because Malina couldn't. Now she can. Let's do it for her," said Benjamin.
"I really want to go, Emmy. We don't have to mix with anyone you don't like. It's just our little group." Emmy stood up. "You all can go without me. I'm taking a cab home." Cries went up pleading Emmy not to leave, but she was obstinate. "I'm sorry, Malina. I'm not a club girl either," said Tanya getting up to leave. "Are you coming, Marisa, Gimpy?"
Marisa looked down at the table. "I want to go to the club too. I haven't been to one in a long time."
"Suit yourself." I had about enough of these women. What kind of friends were they? Marisa stood up too. "I'm sorry everyone, I'd better go with them."
"I'm staying with Malina, and tell Tanya that I'm really disappointed in her," said Gimpy.
"Ok, have fun for me." Malina looked heart broken. "Cheer up, hon'. It's times like this when you discover who your true friends are. Now let's get out there and rescue the rest of your evening, said Shishie10. It was a somber start, but I hoped we could make the rest of the evening fun for Malina. And this, Simmers, is where we depart until another update of this visual blog. I hope you are enjoying story time here and please check in for the next part of this Sim documentary.
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62 Comment(s) posted so far
On Nov 21, 2006 mintyfreshness21 wrote:
On Nov 21, 2006 wrote:
Great story! 0-0 please write a new blog quick!
It was a treat for my eyes!
On Nov 21, 2006 Tiger Lily 1963 wrote:
Very interesting indeed! Kept me glued to the screen to see how the story developed, and now I want to know the rest!
Please continue! 
On Nov 21, 2006 Jubilant wrote:
I really like your visual blogs. looking forward to how the night club goes.
On Nov 21, 2006 GFitz wrote:
You really capture the best shots from your game and the dialogue is so fitting. I can't wait for the next installment.
On Nov 22, 2006 lollipop6969 wrote:
Good story! I can't wait for the rest! Keep'em coming!
On Nov 22, 2006 TheaDidia wrote:
Great, as always! It is very well written and the pictures are fantastic! I'm looking forward to the next part.
On Nov 22, 2006 theheatmiserette wrote:
Oh, I loved this! And it's true. Your dialog is always so natural. Loved the allusion to the Four Penny Curse!
And hey, why don't you submit some of your lots over here at TSR?
And where can we find your movies?
On Nov 22, 2006 haesle wrote:
great story...can't wait to see what happens...
On Nov 22, 2006 haesle wrote:
On Nov 22, 2006 Jasmine206 wrote:
I just love the cover page! And you really grabbed me into the story, even though I had to finish my ancient Greece report on Alexander the Great, I couldn't stop reading this!
On Nov 22, 2006 kbradley03 wrote:
Good job
On Nov 22, 2006 lilsapphire79 wrote:
On Nov 22, 2006 wrote:
great story and wonderful pics
On Nov 22, 2006 Mystrelia wrote:
What a great story series! I look forward to more!
On Nov 22, 2006 xkikkokry wrote:
On Nov 22, 2006 simslover4life86 wrote:
nice story
On Nov 22, 2006 DrakenARTZ wrote:
Nice work! ^_^
On Nov 22, 2006 caclark wrote:
good story
On Nov 22, 2006 vanessa190371 wrote:
good story
On Nov 22, 2006 vkd wrote:
Don't you hate the way people judge you by your looks?? Your story is great and you captured the emotions perfectly. Well done and thanks!
On Nov 22, 2006 wrote:
On Nov 22, 2006 Rawnlissa wrote:
I enjoyed reading this
On Nov 22, 2006 DEBS-DELITE wrote:
On Nov 22, 2006 rchris_ness wrote:
Can't wait for the next part!
On Nov 22, 2006 MoriaG wrote:
Poor Malina, she has gone from one extreme to the other. but now her friends are treating her differently along with everyone else. too bad. emily is truthful and everyone is getting mad at her. Great story, great picture. i love the one where her friends see her for the first time, the guys are shocked and the girls face is priceless!!
On Nov 22, 2006 TyffanyRotten wrote:
Nice work
On Nov 22, 2006 kaytaa wrote:
I was so excited to see that the new installment was up! I hope things improve for Malina!
On Nov 22, 2006 Small Town Sim wrote:
seldom a five out of me... but you got it!
its was great!!
different, creative, the pics where excellent, no negative comments.
way to go
On Nov 22, 2006 SimanthaRat wrote:
Count me in for the next installment!
On Nov 23, 2006 HBallisonM wrote:
great job!
On Nov 23, 2006 wrote:
I'm sooo reading the next part!
On Nov 23, 2006 Meemo wrote:
On Nov 23, 2006 Kismyname wrote:
I hope the evening gets better for Malina!
On Nov 23, 2006 Linasmultrollet wrote:
On Nov 23, 2006 lilias522 wrote:
brilliant
On Nov 24, 2006 joxanth wrote:
Thanks for sharing. When is next installment?
On Nov 24, 2006 wrote:
great job! can't wait for more
On Nov 24, 2006 tonnie16 wrote:
I loved Emmy's part. There's one in every bunch.
On Nov 24, 2006 kshneider wrote:
Wow, great visual blog!
On Nov 24, 2006 crayanne wrote:
Nice story!!!
congratulations!!!!
On Nov 24, 2006 wrote:
On Nov 24, 2006 Anastars wrote:
Great story!
good story
On Nov 24, 2006 maurie wrote:
Good job.
On Nov 24, 2006 jenncarr wrote:
Very interesting story concept.
On Nov 24, 2006 Awol_dk wrote:
On Nov 24, 2006 Alexiel87 wrote:
good
On Nov 24, 2006 LIUBlueJeans wrote:
On Nov 25, 2006 Penguina wrote:
On Nov 25, 2006 AshleyBlack wrote:
Interesting story
On Nov 25, 2006 DIDA wrote:
On Nov 25, 2006 canned_pears wrote:
cool story
On Nov 25, 2006 filizk wrote:
The story is great and the pictures are amazing. Great job.
On Nov 27, 2006 wrote:
love it!
On Dec 1, 2006 Lidia wrote:
On Dec 2, 2006 SimsBarbie wrote:
Malina is beautiful!!! Well I hope her personality or attitude doesn't change like Emmy thinks. I can't wait to read the next one.
On Jan 7, 2007 shady411 wrote:
good job
On Jan 9, 2007 Olga2102 wrote:
Awesome job!!!
On Jan 29, 2007 civetinja wrote:
Great story ! Thanks !
On Feb 20, 2007 bshfsmt wrote:
good story.enjoyed reading
On Jun 22, 2007 Llyriel wrote:
I think it's great how the personalities are depicted here. It's sad but true, a lot of people stop liking their "ugly" friends if they become beautiful. Apparently, some women like "ugly" friends because they feel more beautiful in comparison, which makes them the better catch when they go out. I hope Malina can get used to being beautiful. By the way, Malina means Raspberry in Russian. I like!
On Jun 22, 2007 daydream5212 wrote:
very nice story