Ah, such a beautiful early morning by the lake.. The snow had been falling down heavily all through the night and the town lay silent while everyone was sleeping.. almost everyone, because every now and then this silence would be interrupted by a plow truck or two, doing their best to shuffle the snow off the roads to keep them from snowing in...
Nobody is awake in the De Anda Hall at this point, but over at the girls sorority Samantha is an early bird and has gotten out of bed to have breakfast. She is accompanied by Paris Vanderbuilt a little later, still wanting to chill for some time in her nightwear..
Everyone is finished with their exams now, and the tempo is slow and relaxed...
Well, for most.. the first sign of life emerges at the De Anda
Hall this morning in Liz Tarry.. She was just given another
new data set to go through for her master thesis earlier this month,
and has now become stuck on where to go next..
Oliver Freddy and Inge are still sleeping, free of worry..
Skip Taylor is downstairs having breakfast with Cody Eisenberg. Both of them are single, but keep telling each other that "they have something going on", but from there the conversation gets a little vague... Neither of them want to reveal what excactly they're talking about, and it makes it look like they're really only telling lies to each other...
Samantha has gone out to try her luck with the ice now that the smaller lakes have begun to freeze over, but somehow this is much more difficult when you're in the human form... She almost falls backwards into the snow, but manages with some frantic waving of arms and feet to somehow miraculously regain balance to keep on with her attempt to traverse the ice.. slowly, step by step, ears listening intensely for any creaking sound that shouldn't be there..
--------------
It's way past noon when Oliver Freddy and Inge finally wake up to check their exam results.. After several semester and rounds of doing this, I'm not feeling their anxiety anymore. I know they're going to do great. Oliver Freddy has pretty much been getting straight As since he came here, and Inge has been doing good too. She's had the occasional B and C during her first semesters, but lately she has put in more effort, so it's not very surprising that they both got an A on their exam this semester.
She still looks at it in disbelief, though..
After cheering for their results, Inge called up Samantha to have her come over before they would head over to The Forest Cot restaurant to gather and have a meal to mark the end of this semester.. before the students from elsewhere would return to their hometowns for the holidays...
-- Meeting outside --
Samantha was, as always,
quick to come over. Since Inge was still inside getting dressed she
walked over to say hi to Walter Fullman, who was outside pondering
whether he should or shouldn't practice the gnubb game in the
snow..
When Inge finally makes it out the door, the friends are happy to meet each other. ;)
Then Samantha does what only Samantha can do, amusing Inge by telling a joke at her own expense.
"What's the best thing about being a werewolf and a painter?
You'll never run out of brushes...."
It's ok, they're good
friends, and Samantha would be a little disappointed if Inge didn't
laugh at her jokes...
After some more friendly chatter and jokes, Inge was getting really hungry and thought it was time for them to head over to the restaraunt. Since Walter Fullman was already there, she invited him to join the group, as she wouldn't leave anyone feeling like they were left out. She knows that feeling and wouldn't want to be the one to inflict it upon someone else.
Walter was happy to join them, he was in the same boat as them, not having to many plans now that the semester was finished. Samantha did send a few thoughts to Liz Taylor though, still sitting there inside the dorm struggling with her master thesis... now they just had to wait for Oliver Freddy who insisted on taking a shower before going and for the car to warm up they would be...
..all set and ready to go!
It was a pretty chilly day because it didn't take long for the car to cool down again and for rime ice to begin to deposit on it once it was parked outside the restaurant. Moisture from the nearby lake that was big enough to not freeze over completely probably helped a lot with that process too. ;) Best to run inside fast, before they got to cold...
-- The Forest Cot Restaurant --
The restaurant had just opened it's doors when they entered, and the only guest so far was a paparazzi. She wasn't there to order anything, only to hang around of course, hoping for some celebrities to enter.
Inge was a little surprised
to find that the cashier was Nicole Lawry. This was her first shift
at the restaurant where she would work during the holidays to get
some extra cash to spend during her semesters. Bills still need to
payed as a student, so the money would sure come in handy. Realizing
that soon the restaurant would probably be filled with people, she
went over to light the fireplace that was at the centre of the
restaurant. It was a little chilly inside too, but soon the fire
would get going and the place would warm up to a comfortable
temperature.
Todays speciality was
reindeer burgers, locally produced of course. Service was pretty good
and it didn't take long for the food to arrive. Unfortunately though,
the restaurant only had three chairs per table, so one of them had to
volunteer to sit by themselves. Oliver Freddy said it was alright, he
could do it, as he went to sit down on the table right behind them.
Some of the burgers were a little dry, but overall they found the meal to be enjoyable. Samantha had eaten this many times before, but it wasn't often that Inge and Oliver Freddy got to sink their teeth into reindeer meat so they weren't complaining. Also, the way Inge looked at Samantha once she had finished her burger is really cute. ;)
-- Fire, friendship and love --
After their meal, Inge and Oliver Freddy stood side by side to enjoy the warmth from the fire. There was something about it – the smell, the crackling sounds and the smoke that would sometimes come into your eyes...
That's the excuse she used when she covered her face...."Oh, that smoke.."
She had always struggled to fit in when she was younger, and her parents had literally tried everything. They even had her signed up for the local girl scouts once, but even among an organization meant to promote sisterhood and friendship among children did she end up being an outcast...
She knew now how to create
a fire, but back then collecting tinder was all she was ever good
enough for to the other girls... It didn't bother her so much that
the bag of marshmallows was somehow always empty before it got to
her, she couldn't care less about the marshamllows.... It was more
the constant feeling of being excluded and considered worthless by
her peers that she so desperately wanted to make friends with that
sometimes got to her..
She was ashamed of this, there was no reason for her to feel this way now. Everything was as perfect as it could be... she had a supportive boyfriend, a good friend in Samantha, and her popularity had really taken off for the past year.. finally...
Oliver Freddy knew there was no smoke getting into her eyes.. The restaurant had both a big chimney in the middle, right above the fireplace, as well as a powerful ventilation system to both keep the air free of smoke for the comfort of the guests and to make sure the fire had enough oxygen to keep going..
...and this is when he realized how silly it was of him to fall victim to Skips words earlier.. He could not picture his girl being as vulnerable in front of Jonathan as she could be to him.. when it was just them, and them alone.. There were still people around that would think of her as a loser, but to him she was the bravest woman alive.. well, right next to his mom, of course..
**********************
On the other side of the
fireplace, Samantha and the paparazzi had been busy entertaining
Walter, seemingly competing to get his attention..
If there was any rivalry
between them, they kept it low key, doing their best to appear
cheerful and supportive of each others actions...
...but really... they were not, it was all on the surface... had Samantha pulled the longest straw by taking out the flowers out from her arsenal?
The paparazzi clearly
wasn't satisfied as her next move was to weird Samantha out by
showing her an apparently humorous, but really very gross video on
her phone..
That move didn't sit well
with Matthew, which may have just added another point in favour of
Samantha..
It was clear that Matthew found someone in the room attractive. A little less clear who it was...
---- The night is coming to an end.. ----
After this maybe the
paparazzi had accepted defeat as she appeared to remember what she
came there for. Oliver Freddy isn't really a celebrity, and clearly
he was finding being suddenly taken pictures of like that to be
uncomfortable, but somehow still perhaps the word had gotten around
town about his idea to make plantsims.. quite revolutionary. Or maybe
this is the best she got, and she just decided to take pictures and
jot down some words on her notepad to atleast not leave empty
handed...
While the paparazzi
desperately writes something down, Samantha wants to rant about being
confused about things.. anything that is confusing..
Walter Fullman appears to
be enthusiastic about having babies, or something. Maybe he's
thinking that the prospects there look very good, seeing as how he
just had two different women competing for his attention.. Maybe he's
attracted to them both.. well, that can certainly be.. confusing..
can it not? :P
Inge notices Samanthas
ranting (how can she not, using a megaphone indoors can be pretty
loud..), and wants to support her by taking out her own megaphone and
deliver a rant about how wrong some people are about their judgements
of the werewolves..
Werewolves are not bad
people, they're just like everyone else!
After they're done ranting, Samantha sits down to practice drawing a sketch, while Inge is observant and notices that Anooki Moon, who just entered the restaurant, is feeling upset about something. She walks over to him, and does her best to calm him down. Bless her that kind hearted soul, she doesn't want anyone to feel bad or upset. ;)
Of course, this results in Anooki feeling attracted to her.. so Inge really is popular with the guys, as he is now the fourth guy being attracted to her. The other three being Jonathan, Skip and of course.. her boyfriend Oliver Freddy.
Time flies when you're having a good time.. the sun has already set outside, which means that the semester is drawing to a close, and it's time to say goodbye to Samantha one last time, before heading back to the dorm to pack their bags.. Samantha is one of a kind, a real unicorn, and she means that in the best possible way..
Just one picture before we
have to leave..
Best friends for life.. Maybe one day when they're done with their degrees and all settled down, Samantha will come and visit them in Sunset Valley.. or vice versa. They should definately do that..also, not showing the image of Samantha letting one rip just before they hugged! Not that anyone would notice.. it was pretty smelly in there already, due to the repeated throwing of test tubes into the fire..
--- Departure ---
Time to head back to the
dorm and say goodbye. Just gotta heat up that car again before
going..
After all the bags were
packed, there was still some time to watch tv with the others, before
the van would arrive.. and Liz does have a point there, about
travelling by plane, but somehow going to and from university in a
van has just become the thing to do...
Then shortly the van is
here and it's time to go.... bye, bye... see you again next year.. as
always. ;)
Bye again Liz, Jonathan and
even Skip..
...bye snow and university, bye bye resturaunt, bye Nicole,. and bye Samantha.. It's been a good year, see you in the next one..
Previous | Next (Sunset Valley)
Bonus maps:
Made a couple of maps to show some more or less relevant lots around town. The lots pointed out are either lots that are most relevant for Oliver Freddy and Inge, or lots that are unique for this story. Unique lots are listed in cursive.
Map 1: Lower part of the town.
1 - De Anda Hall - Where Inge and Oliver Freddy lives.
2 - Bergeron Laundromat
3 - Findeisen Laundromat
4 - The Forest Cot Restaurant
5 - Tattoo Shop
6 - Lake Onebega Police Station
7 - Lake Onebega Fire Station
8 - Lake Onebega Town Hall
9 - Lake Onebega Hospital
10 - Urele-Oresha-Cham Fraternity. Jefferey Dean and Miles Forthright lives here.
11 - Tri-Fruhm Sorority - Samantha Grey lives here.
12 - The Icelandic Home - (Student housing) - Karoliiná Onebegajávrre lives here.
--------
A - Institute of Arts (Inge studies here).
B - Student Union
C - Institute of Science and Medicine (Oliver Freddy studies here.)
***********
Map 2: Upper part of the town.
13 - Grey Junior House. Samanthas siblings Ulrikke and Alexander lives here.
14 - Square Blocks Student Housing.
15 - Alrekstadir Student Hosing
16 - Lake Onebega Graveyard
17 - Grey Senior Lair - Samanthas parents Susie and Amarok lives here.
Previous | Next (Sunset Valley) | Next (Lake Onebega)
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