Bella started the kettle for tea and watched her sister root around cupboards and fridge like a pig. "Well, Mom forgot to go shopping. Again." She announced at last, sounding put out.
"Do we have anything?"
"Besides your everlasting tea? Some moldy bread. Yuck. Moldy brown stuff. Double yuck. There is a can of stew. Not enough. My stash of Twinkies. Some chips and that veggie crap Mom drinks."
And the beer. But neither of them mention it. They never mention the beer that is always there.
"Well," Bella said thoughtfully, as she automatically began to load the dishwasher from a sink that overflowed. "We can either run to the grocery store, make do, or order something."
"Order something." Ella answered instantly.
"Agreed. After all, it's Friday." Bella made excuse. "The stores would be crazy. The busses even more so."
"Maybe we can watch the movie while we eat."
"Which one?"
"Little Women, duh."
"Yeah, which one? Bella asked again patiently. "There is at least five."
"Really? Crazy. I meant the latest one, with Rider."
"I never liked that one much."
"Why not?" Ella asked, settled firmly on the counter as she flipped through the phonebook. "Chinese okay?"
"Hmm…Not really. Japanese takeout?"
"We got twenty bucks, sis."
"Oooh. Right. Pizza?"
"Had it for lunch."
"Oh, right." Bella repeated. Dishes done, she leaned on the counter and stared at her sister. "Fine then. Chinese. Though I don't like it much you know."
"Chicken and rice for you then." Ella shrugged. "Egg roll too?"
"Two of them." Bella grinned sheepishly.
"No drink for you. But…no, none for me too. Found the coffee, yay!"
She ran to the hall to place the order. Bella wondered around the kitchen. She started the coffee pot, watered the flowers at the window and thought about the next step in their project. Maybe they can read a page each while they eat.
Ella came sauntering back into the kitchen, looking really pleased with herself. "Got a sweet deal." She boasted. "Restaurant's having some kind of celebration. So I was able to get two meals for one, and, like a dozen egg rolls?"
"That really is good news!"
"Oh, you got the coffee going? Thanks!" Ella added, grinning appreciatively. "I'm going back to the game."
"Don't play yet."
"I'm not. I'm just going to save, and get the neighborhood booted up."
That sounded like playing to Bella. But she is the first to admit she knew next to nothing about the game, so she made no comment as her sister drifted out of the kitchen again. She was deep in planning again, trying to figure in some time to visit the Victorian festival sometime that weekend when Ella's shrill voice cut through her thoughts. "Bella! Get up here now!"
Bella raced to her sister's room, her favorite teacup still in her hand. "What is it? Are you okay?" She asked breathlessly.
"No, I am not. But you will be." Ella glared. "How dare you!"
"How dare I what?" Bella demanded, looking startled.
"Oh, don't play me. You were on my computer while I was taking that order. On my computer without my leave. Admit it!"
Bella's jaw dropped. "What are you talking about? I was downstairs the whole time."
"then explain that!" Ella demanded, pointing at the screen.
Still feeling confused and hurt at the accusation that made no sense to her, she sat down and looked at the screen. Then she frowned darkly. "I didn't do that. This is not funny, El. Not funny at all."
"What? Now you're blaming me?" Ella demanded hotly. "I was downstairs!"
"So was I. Remember? Besides, I never played before."
"So what?"
"So I couldn't make a sim on a bet."
"It's not that hard." But Ella's anger seemed to be fading into confusion. Bella's own anger faded. "Swear you didn't do it?"
"Duh. You swear?"
"Of course. I swear."
"Then…who did?"
Falling silent, two sets of brown eyes stared at the screen where a new sim was. Ella March, wearing a Victorian grey dress, her hair falling in a brown wash down her back. Ella touched the screen with a hand that shook. "That's…is that me? That's me."
Bella took the mouse and clicked the section that shown favorites. And bit back a grin in sudden amusement. Favorite color was black, favorite food was eggrolls, favorite music was rave. However it happened, that was her sister so far.
"Give me that!" Ella yelped. She got control of the mouse, and clicked where traits were shown. A second later, she screamed, causing Bella to cover her ears with her hands. "I am not brooding!"
Ella
"I am not brooding!"
"Oh, yes you are." Bella said, taking her hands off her ears. Ella hated the smugness in her voice. "You brood all the time."
"Oh, shut it." Ella sulked, looking like a thundercloud and not caring a bit. She stared at the other traits. Slob, dramatic and artistic. Hmm, whoever created her Sims made her into some kind of messy diva! It's nothing like her!
"This is so you, isn't it." Bella said from where she stood behind. Ella heard the amusement in her voice. She hated it completely. Then her eyes lit up with malicious glee. "Looks like you are here too." She said, pointing at the screen.
"What?"
Bella leaned closer as her twin brought up another sim on the computer. Ella smirked as she watched Bella's face scrunch up with the intentness of her stare. Then her own eyes wandered to the screen. Despite herself, she almost sighed she had designed this sim. It looked just like Bella, only more so. The sim had the same face, built, and hair color as Ella, of course, but the hair style was a long braid instead of flowing, and the dress was golden brown.
Curiosity got the better of her and she quickly clicked favorites. Huh, no real surprises. Favorite is sushi, favorite music was classical, geesh! And favorite color was purple.
Bella nodded slightly beside her. Slightly irked, and not sure why, Ella clicked traits. She really was hoping that there was something really embarrassing there. The first trait made her smile in satisfaction. "They gave me perfectionistic?" Bella asked, sounding confused. "That's not me."
"Are you kidding, Miss Perfect?"
"I am not perfect. I'm not even close.
"Yeah right."
"I'm not! I." She sighed and shook her head with a hooded expression that made Ella feel a slight pang of guilt. "I'm not going to talk about this. The other traits don't look so bad, I guess."
Ella nodded, forced to agree. The other traits were very…Bella. Virtuoso like Beth, Marmee and Meg. Bookworm, and neat. She was very Bella, and very boring. And yet more proof that Bella had nothing to do with creating the Sims. She would have put a great sense of humor, even though she couldn't tell a joke if her life depended on it.
"I do wish my dress was a different color, though." Bella said pensively. "Like the hair, though."
"Hey, we can change it!" Ella exclaimed quickly, joy bubbling up inside at the thought. "We can change all of it if we want! It's our computer. Me first!"
She quickly clicked back to her own sim self before Bella could object, and started working. She soon became frustrated. Her traits would not be changed. They refused to be budged.
"Stop, work on something else." Bella snapped at last, tired of seeing her waste time.
"Fine, whatever." Ella snapped back waspishly.
She had much better luck with her favorites. She only changed the food, to apple pie. It seemed more Victorian to her. But to be safe, she did ask Bella, who agreed. Then she went to work on her clothes. Changed the everyday where to a darker grey. Black seemed too much. It had a softer grey trim. Then she started changing the rest. Formal, she did change to black but otherwise left the dress alone. She loved the dress, simple yet perfect. She skipped over the rest, as too dull for words. She preferred the stories of the Sims over the clothes they wore. But why couldn't she change her traits?
Reluctantly, she let Bella have a chance to work on her sim self. Now, she liked Sims. She loved Sims. But she was not particularly picky about how the Sims she created looked. She should have realized that she shouldn't have expected Bella to be that way. Bella had her go over every scrap of cloth that covered BellaSim, even her undergarments. "It pays to be precise." Was all she would tell her by expression? She finally decided on a dark blue dress with a full apron that Ella proclaimed as retardedly stupid. It was finished off with a locket on a brighter blue ribbon. Ella protested against the plainness of it, but Bella reminded her primly that the Marches were poor. Ribbon is cheap. Ella snorted, but went back and changed her own necklace.
Bella's formal outfit was really nice, even Ella was impressed in the end. A soft purple color, with a darker purple sash.
Then the swimwear. Then the underwear. Then sleepwear. Outerwear. Ella felt herself slowly sliding into a coma. Only her fingers were still awake. Geesh! The only thing that woke her up was the active ware. The sim was wearing some crazy pants that Bella called bloomers. She changed it to something called a walking dress. Ella sneered. Don't you always walk in any dress? Still she went back to her own and made sure hers wasn't wearing one of those awful bloomer things.
Bella
Bella frowned at the clock as Ella impatiently altered a last thing that Bella had insisted she add on their outerwear. Really, Bella thought she should be grateful for her to point out that Victorian women do not usually sport leather jackets. Not pout. "Delivery should have come by now. What's the delay?"
"Traffic, I guess..." Ella shrugged dismissively.
A crash of thunder made two heads jerk to the window. "That nasty storm might do it too." Ella muttered darkly after a full minute of watching rain pound on the glass.
"We should probably turn the computer off." Bella frowned, as the skies lit up. "I don't like the look of that lightening."
"I got the a great surge protector." Ella started to protest but a loud crash of thunder made her hasten to add. "But let's not be reckless."
Ella leaned over to shut the game down in order to turn the computer off. Bella turned to the window as a particularly bright flash of lightning lit up the outside in blue-white radiance. Then a sudden brilliant flash, and the room plunged into inky darkness. There was a single strained scream, a bitten-off explained cry. Then all was silence. The light came back on to show an empty room. From downstairs came the sound of knocking. A voice drifted up from the front doors. "Hello? Delivery from Fo Cho's? Hello?"
The computer flickered back on. Before it was in the build-a-sim mode. Now it was on game mode, showing a neighborhood that was blanketed in snow. Slowly, it zoomed on its own to a single lot in the neighborhood. It drew closer, to show a house. In the living room was six Sims, four teens, and two children. In the kitchen a woman worked busily. Snow fell about outside. The game ran on unobserved, controlled by nobody.