#twst: vidcund curious

[pixeldolly]

SWAT - Round 1 - Curious

Vidcund: “...all that work, the resources, the money - completely wasted!”

Pascal: “They returned your rocket, at least.”

Vidcund’s rocket appeared in the sky one morning, trudging along on autopilot, following its pre-programmed route back home.

Vidcund: “The databanks were wiped clean!”

Pascal did not say “I told you so”.

Although, as it turned out, the Sixamese had given Vidcund a “parting gift” after all. 

The word that the Curious clan was about to welcome a new member spread quickly.

Chloe: “Congrats, bro!”

Vidcund nodded silently.

Chloe: “So, I guess the experiment was successful?”

The experiment had been a complete failure: he was no closer than before to understanding the elusive Sixamese. He hadn’t been able to retrieve any advanced technology to share with humanity, and cement his place in the scientific hall of fame. Even his memories of the journey were a confusing blur.

What he did have was a tiny being growing inside him. 

[pixeldolly]

SWAT - Round 1 - Curious

Vidcund Curious was fascinated by the Sixamese (their species in general, their technology in particular) and would have given almost anything for the opportunity to converse with them or tour one of their ships.

He knew, however, that even the lucky few who came into contact with them, rarely remembered much of the experience.

The Sixamese guarded their secrets jealously, and it seemed that their interest in Simkind was largely...reproductive. 

Of course, there had been treaties, trade agreements, all those things that maintained the fragile peace between the two species.

That didn’t change the fact that Simkind had had to contend themselves with the scraps the much more technologically-advanced aliens deigned to offer them, while serving as vessels for their dying race.

Vidcund had decided to take a more direct approach.

 He wouldn’t keep flashing a light through his telescope and hoping to be chosen (”abducted” was a term used by anti-xenian types).

He would deal with them on his own terms.

[pixeldolly]

Round 1 - Curious

Pascal Curious

Friendly, sociable, and always ready to lend a hand, the eldest Curious brother is well-liked by the community...his one fault, perhaps, being his complete lack of humor.

About 9 months ago, Pascal embarked on the greatest adventure of his life - and meeting beings from beyond the stars was only the beginning. Now, his son Tycho is his main focus.

Vidcund Curious

Vidcund has all of his older brother’s smarts and scientific acumen, without any of his social skills. He is fascinated by the elusive Sixamese, but doesn’t much like the idea of placing himself at their mercy. 

As far as Vidcund is concerned, Sim scientists aren’t being proactive enough in their approach - they should be striving to level the galactic playing field, not maintaining the status quo.

Lazlo Curious

Lazlo is no less brilliant than his brothers, but he lacks their focus. He always has several projects ongoing, most of which he abandons when something shinier catches his eye - and, on the rare occasions he does manage to finish something, the result is either a scientific breakthrough or an unmitigated disaster.

In his spare time, he plays professional e-sports.  

[pixeldolly]

SWAT - Round 1 - Curious

Vidcund wasn’t the only intrepid explorer in the family. Pascal’s ambitions may have been more...down-to-earth, but the thrill of discovery drove him as much as it drove his younger brother.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the Curiouses were destined for disappointment. At least he wasn’t hurt.

Pascal had just finished showering and was about to check on Tycho when he heard Vidcund groaning in pain. He raced downstairs, where his brother stood clutching his enormous belly, an expression of horror and agony on his face. 

Pascal froze: the baby! It was coming!

Vidcund: “Call...a taxi...Hurry!”

They drove Vidcund to the nearest hospital, where he was delivered of his hybrid baby by a team of surgeons familiar with the process.

It was, after all, Strangetown. Alien pregnancies were more common in the area than virtually anywhere else.

Two days later, Vidcund was discharged from hospital, together with his infant daughter.

He named her Luna.

[pixeldolly]

SWAT - Round 1 - Curious

Vidcund slowly climbed through the atmosphere in his makeshift rocket which had taken him years to build.

His brothers disapproved. They claimed it was too dangerous, that the rickety contraption might not even clear Earth’s gravity and instead just come apart in a shower of flaming debris, incinerating Vidcund along with it.

Vidcund knew that no great scientific discovery had come without risk.

Hours later, just before dawn, a smaller, round craft spun into view over Strangetown, trailing blue exhaust. 

It hovered a few metres above ground, buzzing like an angry insect. A hatch opened, and out flew Vidcund Curious, who landed, quite unceremoniously, face-down on the pavement.

He gingerly got to his feet, shaking, and had time to cast one last wild-eyed glance at the alien shuttle craft before it lifted off and disappeared into the clouds.

Of his rocket, there was no sign. 

[pixeldolly]

SWAT - Round 1 - Curious

While Pascal nursed his broken heart, Lazlo was more than happy to lend a hand taking care of little Tycho.

His big bro had gone to bed early and the rest of them pretended they couldn’t hear him crying into his pillow. They hoped he’d feel better in the morning.

Lazlo: “You’re a pretty cute little dude, aren’t you?”

Tycho: *gurgle*

Lazlo: “C’mon, let’s get you a fresh diaper and a bottle before bed.”

Life went on. 

Pascal buried himself in work, earning a promotion, but somehow it didn’t give him the satisfaction it ought to have done.

Vidcund was promoted too, which he took as a matter of course.

They decided to order Chinese food to celebrate, joined by a colleague from the lab.

Pascal: “You have two perfectly good chopsticks - why aren’t you using them, like a civilized person?”

Lazlo: “Nah, man, I want to experience the full range of flavors at once!”

Pascal: “There are bits of noodle in your hair...”

[pixeldolly]

SWAT - Round 1 - Smith

I wish...to be a Pollination Technician and travel the galaxy in my own space ship...

[pixeldolly]

SWAT - Round 1 - Smith

When the entire Curious-Smith clan got together, it made for a lively gathering.

Pascal enjoyed it, and was glad that his baby would grow up surrounded by a large, supportive family.

Sure, they disagreed, they even bickered sometimes, but at the end of the day, they had each other’s backs.

Jenny was responsible for providing refreshments, which included some Santa cookies - since, as fate would have it, Jill’s birthday coincided with Winterfest!

Strangetown’s first white Winterfest in living memory, and the entire house had been decorated to mark the occasion.

As the sun dipped beyond the cliffs, the whole family gathered around the table where Jill’s birthday cake waited, 13 lit candles arrayed in the middle.

The whole family except Johnny. 

Jill told herself she didn’t care that her brother had decided to skip her birthday to go to prom with his girlfriend, whom he’d made up with after their argument. Clearly, Ophelia Nigmos was more important than his sister!

But she did care, and it slightly soured her otherwise great mood.

[pixeldolly]

SWAT - Round 1 - Smith

Months passed.

One day, Johnny went out to check the mail while his parents were busy getting things ready for Jill’s birthday party, and had the displeasure of running into Tank Grunt.

Johnny: “What are you doing skulking around my house, Grunt?”

Tank was not easily intimidated, and sniffed derisively.

Tank: “The sidewalk doesn’t belong to you, Green-skin. Gotta say, I’m surprised you’re home. Shouldn’t you be out there abducting innocent people or something?”

Angered by the slur, Johnny took a couple of menacing steps towards his rival. Tank was big and muscular like his father, but Johnny was no weakling either.

Johnny: “You’d better watch your mouth, Grunt!”

Tank: “Or what?”

Johnny: “Or we might pay you a visit soon.”

Tank looked defiant, but Johnny could see fear glinting in his eyes.

Tank: “I’m not afraid of you, Smith. Nice job telling on yourself though!”

And with a final hateful glare, Tank Grunt marched off down the street back towards his own home. Johnny regretted his idle threat; the last thing he should do was give the Grunts more ammo to use against his family. 

Meanwhile, Jill was showing off her latest A+ report card and was rewarded with praise from her father. 

She was pumped for the upcoming party, and the presents of course!

Jenny: “Happy birthday, hon!”

Jill: “What is it?!”

Jenny: “Open it and see.”

It was a new dollhouse; didn’t her mother know those were for kids? She was turning thirteen!

The guests began to arrive around 3 PM - the whole Curious clan had come bearing gifts for the birthday girl.

Jill: “A chemistry set? Thanks, aunt Lola!”

That was more like it.

[pixeldolly]

SWAT - Round 1 - Singles

The Curious siblings didn’t often all see each other anymore, except during the holidays and other regular family get-togethers. Jenny suggested to invite the boys over for dinner; it had been so long since she’d seen Pascal, who was due to give birth to his alien child in a couple of months.

Chloe: “Nice to see you, big bros!”

Lazlo: “You too, Chloe. Thanks for having us over.”

Chloe: “I’m surprised you managed to tear yourselves away from your experiments or whatever it is that you do long enough to join us!”

Pascal: “Convincing Vidcund to come was a challenge.”

Vidcund: “I was in the middle of running a simulation!”

The prospect of fresh, home-made food had clinched the deal, though. The boys were brilliant scientists but complete disasters in the kitchen, subsisting mostly on pizza and Chinese food.

Lola: “So: what do you make of this strange weather we’ve been getting?”

Vidcund chewed thoughtfully.

Vidcund: “It’s not natural, if that’s what you mean.”

Lola: “Yeah, I gathered that much. Any ideas what’s causing it?”

Vidcund: “Several, actually. Government weather satellite test? Extraterrestrial interference? Some guy with a jury-rigged weather machine gone amok? Impossible to say for sure without more information.”

Lola: “I was actually wondering whether some invention of yours may have malfunctioned -”

Vidcund: “You suspect us? What about the Beakers?”

Lola: “Them too.”

Vidcund: “It wasn’t us.”

Pascal: “By the way, Kirsten, congratulations on last week’s win!”

Kristen: “Thanks! Although I wouldn’t have taken you for a football fan, Pascal.”

Pascal: “Why, because nerds can’t like sports? I do enjoy a good game now and again.”

Kristen smiled. She wished she’d been more involved, but returning the brace had been the right thing to do. Sports injuries were no joke. 

Although the crisis was averted, the parent of the frightened child was none too pleased with her making their precious baby cry in the first place, and called the event organizers to complain.

After a brisk talk (during which Lola was praised for her ability to defuse the situation) she was offered a different position, one in which speaking was not the main focus of her performance.

Lola couldn’t help but feel they were trying to get rid of her, but as it came with a raise and a bonus, she said yes.

Lazlo: “How’s work, Lola?”

Lola: “Mmm.”

Lazlo: “That bad, huh?”

Lola: “On the contrary, what I do is a form of art going back to ancient times, very prestigious.”

Lazlo: “Wait, really? Congrats!”

Lola: “Thank you.”

Lazlo: “So...what exactly do you do?”

Lola gave her brother a challenging stare.

Lola: “I’m a mime.”

Lazlo wisely kept his mouth shut.

[pixeldolly]

SWAT - Round 1 - Curious

(Let’s hope this actually shows up... 😐 previous post is here, if you missed it due to Tumblr shenanigans)

[pixeldolly]

SWAT - Round 1 - Curious

Chloe was going stir-crazy, staring out the window at the snow falling from the sky in thick flurries over the frozen waste which Strangetown had become. She barely remembered what the sun looked like, not to mention going out without being all bundled up in several thick layers of clothing.

She needed to change the scenery, even if that only meant going downtown for an outing with some family and friends. At least, it was still warm there - for the moment.

When the group got out of the taxi, however, they noticed that it was cooler than it had been the last time they visited.

The cold front was advancing.

Jenny: “Lazlo, hon, so good to see you! How are you?”

Lazlo: “I’m good - what about you? And Petey, the kids?”

Jenny: “We’re all doing just fine. A little fed up with the cold, but who isn’t?! The twins are growing up so fast though, I expect they’ll start crawling around the house any day now.”

Vidcund: “I thought this was a family outing, Chloe - who are all these people?”

Chloe: “Just some friends; the more, the merrier, I thought!”

Vidcund: “Thinking isn’t your strong suit, sister.”

Chloe rolled her eyes; her brother could be such a stick-in-the-mud! 

Chloe: “Come on, it won’t kill you to meet some new people, Vid!”

Vidcund: “It might.”

Townie: “Hi there! Come here often?”

Vidcund: “I do not; in fact, I am only here at my sister’s request, which she has made under false pretenses. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t be here at all, so I’d appreciate it if we skipped the small-talk and just played the game.”

Townie: “Um. Right. Okay...”