A/N: Greetings! Petrichor is back from its short hiatus with one singular reader as far as I know (hey how ya doing?) seeing as everyone else isn't feeling very good.
I hope they get better very soon (you know who you are. If you're reading this you're obviously feeling a bit better... so, uh... hi)
Ahchhc I don't have anything else to say ;-;

-Whisker

The Blue Velvet Nightclub had turned up no results in Phil and Dan's search for Erica Pendleton, and the gym seemed too threatening to enter, so a quick snoop through every window available would have to suffice. Of course, the Willow Creek Commercial District wasn't the only place that it was possible for Pendleton to be, but it was a good start. There was still Magnolia Promenade and the whole of Oasis Springs, but searching far and wide might seem a little bit stalker-ish, so Willow Creek would have to do.

It was a small world, and that wasn't just a saying: the Sims universe was, of course, a lot smaller than the 'real' one. Even if Willow Creek turned up no results at all, Erica was bound to run into them some day before they left.

In any case, at this current moment, Howell and Lester were stood in the Municipal Muses Museum and remembering last time they were here back in February.

Dil had taken them upstairs then to see a canvas painting of a teapot and some apples that he had named. It was whilst they were admiring the art that Erica and Summer had appeared to complain at them because Dil hadn't invited Erica to the house party. That had been an awkward conversation. Promptly afterwards, they had all headed outside with Tabitha and Dab to sit under the cherry blossoms and watch the stars as they appeared. That was probably the most relaxing thing that had happened on that February trip, which wasn't saying much.

This time, though, it was mid-day and there would be no stars to watch; only paintings and sculptures to admire. Even if they didn't find Erica, visiting the museum was a nice thing to do.

Decorations and exhibits inside were… minimal… to say the least. A bit bare and a bit under-whelming, maybe, but what they did have was just about worth looking at: there was even a suit of armour and some decorated shields. Last time, nobody had really taken the time to stop and look around apart from Tabitha and Dab, so Dan decided that it would be pleasant to take that time now.

Museums were places where you were supposed to be quiet and silent, so he and Phil were, but that didn't mean that they weren't both 'talking': sharing feelings – or rather thoughts – between them. About Erica, mostly. There wasn't much to say. Neither had a plan of what to say if or when they did see her next, so the 'plan' was just to go along with it. Neither of them would remember the script if they had made one, anyway.

Dan inspected the brush strokes on the paining on the wall in front of him, looking as if he was really appreciating the fine art, when in fact he was just thinking and keeping an ear out for any sound of Erica, though he could hear none. The museum was completely empty downstairs today.

Dan turned to his friend beside him – whose line of sight had drifted over along the wall to the shields and a strange porcelain dog thing – and gently tapped him on the shoulder.

"Phil," he whispered, not taking his hand away until his friend looked back up at him, "I'm going upstairs. I'll have a quick look around for Erica, too. Are you coming?"

Phil looked thoughtful for a while, chewing his lip. He flashed a glance to the doors for a split second before replying, "I think I'll stay down here a bit."

"Gotcha," Dan smiled, ruffling his hair a bit for some reason he himself didn't even know, and stuffed his hands in his pockets as he strolled upstairs.

Phil fixed his hair as he watched him go, thoughtfully, and walked away from the painting he had been standing at. Staring at art wasn't really his thing and there were no dog paintings in this museum and no Dan to play the game with anyway. The one thing he did want to do was look outside and remember February when he and Dan sat on the dewy grass and just kind-of… looked at the sky… which sounded a lot less interesting in theory but it had actually been quite nice at the time.

Phil stepped out of the doors at the back of the building and onto the porch where there was a white piano and a drinks bar. He wished he'd dragged Dan out here – maybe he could have sipped a cocktail as Dan played a beautiful melody. Alas, no. Phil realised he didn't really know how to make cocktails anyway, so he looked to his right to see some park benches and one of the three cherry blossom trees. He was about to step down from the porch onto the grass, but before he could, he heard the front door to the museum opening, loudly. The curiosity was killing him, so he couldn't help but peek around the corner to see who had entered.

He couldn't decide if he was surprised or not.

After all, every time he'd been here, so had she.

"Hello."

Erica turned her head sharply to look to him with a very surprised expression on her face.

"Phil, isn't it?" She frowned, but she didn't seem angry.

"Y- yes," Phil stammered, whishing he'd waited until Dan had come back downstairs, yet here he was, once again finding himself the one who had to deal with talking to people.

"Where's Dan?" Erica asked.

"Upstairs."

"And you're..?"

"Loitering," Phil put in, swiftly, stepping back inside, "Sorry. I… We? Do I mean we? I… was kind-of hoping you'd turn up. We're heading home soon. You know who Dan and I are, don't you? What we do?"

"Entertainers?" Erica suggested, appearing to be a tad confused at this question. Who they are? What they do? Why was this relevant?

Phil shook his head and waved his hands around, frantically, as if he was trying to swat away hundreds of invisible moths.

"No, no, no; that's not what I meant," he corrected himself with a sigh as the invisible moths stopped bothering him, "I meant… more what we are to Dil. If you know, you'll understand."

Erica thought for a bit.

"Puppeteers," she decided, and saw Phil's eyes widen in some sort of indescribable emotion that was a mix of about 4: surprise, affirmation, thought and something else like he'd seen a ghost or maybe the latest internet drama.

"You could put it that way," he nodded, "Yes. Creators."

He was still stood quite far away so he walked a bit closer, moving to stand in front of the staircase.

"Who told you?" He asked.

"Nobody. You if anyone. I heard your conversation in Chez Llama on Friday."

Phil cleared his throat. He'd known all along that she had been watching. Explains why she had seemed so fascinated with him when he had met her on Magnolia Promenade.

"I thought it was about time we apologise, so on behalf of Dan, the whole Howlter family and myself… we're very sorry. We're problematic and Dil hasn't a clue how to express common decency and Dan and I are usually the ones controlling him, so I suppose we're responsible for a lot of the things he's done… I don't know what gets into us because I know that we ought to be more responsible, but this? This isn't us. That isn't who we are," Phil said, and put his index fingers to his temples with a sigh, "I just thought it was time we ought to start over, you know? Introduce ourselves as our own people. Seeing as we're going home soon, I thought it was about time we try to make up," he explained, dropping his arms to his sides and looking hopeful, his eyes glimmering.

Erica stared back at him. She was either shocked by the huge amount of dialogue, which was probably the longest lot of words that Phil had ever said to her, or by the actual content of the exchange of ideas. Maybe she'd never been truthfully apologised to before.

"Hello," she said, holding out her hand, "I'm Erica and I'm sorry, too."

"For what? I've never met you before!" Phil laughed, taking her hand in his and shaking it, "I'm Phil, but sometimes I go by 'Stop Eating my Cereal' or something along those lines."

Erica seemed to laugh a bit at this as she let go of Phil's hand and for once it seemed like she wasn't going to let her 'evil' trait show.

"Oh! And this'll be my housemate…" Phil hummed, hearing shy footsteps coming down the wooden steps behind him. Sure enough, when he looked out of the corner of his eye, it was Dan, "Come introduce yourself!"

Dan was a little bit bewildered at why on Earth he would have to introduce himself, but he supposed he trusted Phil enough to go along with whatever scheme this turned out to be.

"Dan," he said, shaking Erica's hand quickly, "Phil's best friend," he added, unreasonably proudly.

"I'm Erica; nice to meet you," Pendleton replied.

"What's going on here, then, Philly?" Dan enquired, gazing down slightly at his housemate.

"Oh, I was just introducing myself. Should we be leaving?"

"N- not really. We might need to have a talk – do you want to step outside."

Phil nodded, seriously, and tilted his head toward the door to indicate that he'd be out soon. As Dan walked away, he looked back to Erica and smiled.

"Feel free to come around for tea sometime," he offered, "Potter's Splay, Courtyard Lane, Willow Creek."

"I'll be sure to pop round," Erica smiled back, and gave a wave as Phil hurried to catch up with his best friend.

"How did you do that?" Dan hissed, amazed, as they neared the back door.

Phil grinned, closing his eyes, contently.

"I think maybe it is the eyes."