#Mikel Helios

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"Are you sure I look okay? I want her to like me. She usually just ignores me when she's over."

"Trust me, you look amazing. I'm a makeover genius."

Elaine hovered by her friend, admiring her efforts. Their exact relationship was complicated to figure out, so Juliet and Elaina just agreed to be friends. Was the daughter of a robot butler who had once dated Juliet's mom family? Not really. Elaina and her brother lived under the same roof as Juliet, so they felt like siblings at least. Their home situation could only be described as complicated at best.

Ironman and Nikolai had found their way back to each other after Ironman's run from the altar, though not immediately. Nikolai had had a few angry flings and Ironman had spent nearly a year "reprogramming" himself with both a therapist and Orianna's technical know-how. When their parents reunited, Elaina, Nick and the son Nikolai had had with a one night stand all moved back in at the Helios manor. Elaine, Launce, Benvolio and Oriana had welcomed them all back, as had the shy Juliet. Because she was created with undead, mutated genes, Juilet wasn't conventionally attractive and had definitely noticed the difference in how others treated her and her friends. Most people shuddered when she arrived on a lot, some even wondering if she'd somehow escaped Wanda's Zombie Relocation program. The world was a cruel place, especially when her own mother saw Juliet as a failed project or at best, the first draft in an experiment she couldn’t see to completion. 

Because Oriana had tied her life force to Benvolio, they were living on borrowed time together and unable to produce a natural child. Oriana had refused to listen to the demons who had explained this and had tried several different methods of procreation, all of them failures. Her life force had dimmed to the point that she couldn't even get an embryo to form in a laboratory. Every cell in her body was dying slowly and there was nothing science could do to fix that.

And so she had settled for Juliet, the daughter made with cloned cells of zombified Benvolio. Juliet the prototype. Juliet the failure. 

Elaine was still the mistress of the manor, and the Helios heir in control of the estate. She was kind to Juliet and the other children, especially with Launce by her side. She told everyone in the house that they were welcome to live at the manor even when she passed on the ownership to her heir, which was a relief. No one wanted to deal with the whims of Elaine's heir, especially now. 

Lucy Helios was something of a legend in Arkhelios, in the same manner that her nephew was. She was infamous worldwide and larger than life whenever someone had the bad luck to encounter her. Juliet was terrified of her, but her kids seemed nice enough. It was Noelle who she was psyching herself up to greet that night.

Noelle was the queen bee of the lower grades at the Pleasantview Academy of Magic and getting on her good side was the only way someone like Juliet would find acceptance in the world. Noelle had the same domineering, confident personality of her mother, with none of the playfulness. She wasn't even that talented of a witch, but her stepmother had pulled enough strings to get Noelle admitted, and Noelle had done the rest. Juliet looked at a guy like Theo, who attended the school because of his immense raw talent and a girl like Noelle, whose powers seemed to be more oriented to social manipulation and wondered who was more powerful in the end. It would be Noelle who inherited Juliet's house one day, so it never hurt to try to be friendly.

"She's here! Get ready!"

Elaina's brother ran down the hall, calling out to the girls. 

Well, ready or not, here she is.

Noelle glared at the car that had deposited her and her little brother on the driveway of her grandmother's house.

"I don't see why we couldn't have teleported here," she grumbled, holding her little brother's hand so that he wouldn't run out on the street. "Mom's so desperate to look good for this boring place, even though she never comes here."

It had been a turbulent few years for Noelle, with her mother's breaking up with Mikel's father and moving full time to Pleasantview to live with her new wife. Lucy hadn't told anyone yet, but Noelle could see clear as day that she was going to be getting a new sibling soon, which meant that she moved even further down the list of her mother's priorities. 

"Come on, Mikel. The faster we get inside, the faster this will be over with and we can go home." 

"Noelle! You're here! Hi!"

Noelle glanced at the house where three kids, all dressed in purple dresses waved like they were in some sort of cringe parade. Great.

"Hey. Where's Grandma? I think Mikel is hungry or something."

The trio of kids tried to hide their disappointment at her words but kept smiling.

"Mikel! Who's my favourite yellow eyed demon? Who's going to be a great lawyer some day unlike his degenerate parents?"

Noelle stared at her grandmother with disgust. Her grandmother barely tolerated half of her grandkids, but she'd been reading up about the hierarchies of demons lately and discovered that her grandson had potential because of his father. While Elaine had sneered at her daughter’s child with her boss initially, further research had indicated that Mikel would be respected by other demons despite being half-human and that was enough for Elaine. If her daughter insisted on bringing home demons, then Elaine would at least make sure that they were high quality demons.

"You're supporting a biological hierarchy that's just a construct of demon society, Elaine," Noelle sneered, looking bored after being in her grandmother's company for several minutes. "Theo is more powerful than Mikel will ever be and yet you aren't praising him for his genetic potential. You're racist."

Elaine shot her granddaughter a tired look.

"Noelle, honey, why don't you go play upstairs with the other children?" she sighed. "You can all talk about how horrible I am while I get your brother a snack. Ironman will bring something up for you guys too."

"Bitch. You only care about him and Saturnia, your precious favourites," Noelle muttered under her breath as she walked past her grandmother. “They're not the ones who will own all your stuff when you finally die."

"What?"

Elaine glared at her granddaughter, assuming correctly that all of the girl's murmuring was directed at her.

"Nothing, god. I'm going upstairs you stupid cow."

"Noelle, I think we should probably just go play cards or something. Elaine looked kinda mad."

Elaina fidgeted nervously as Noelle continued belting out a song on the karaoke machine. Elaine hadn't forbidden them from using the machine, but the kids assumed that she'd be angry all the same.

"I'm not done," Noelle insisted. "I'm having fun in this dump while I'm stuck here. I don't care what Elaine or my mom wants. I'm only stuck here because my mom wants 'alone time' with my dumb stepmom and school wouldn't keep us over the weekend. At least your parents want you guys around here."

Juliet beamed, finally having an in with the popular girl.

"My mom hates me," she said proudly. "She wishes that she could ship me off to school, but Dad won't let her. So we're the same, kinda."

Noelle blinked slowly, taking this information in. Her face didn't change at all, but her eyes stared at the girl, sizing her up.

"Hmm, you know what's more fun than karaoke?"

"Chess?"

"Darts?"

Noelle smiled, ignoring both girls' suggestions. 

"Come on, we'll have some real fun tonight. Let's go hang out in the basement." 

"I don't think we should be down here," Nick said worriedly, looking at their surroundings in fear. 

No one was supposed to go in the basement. Elaine had forbidden it long ago. Only terrible, dangerous things happened down there. None of the kids could even imagine the horrors that dwelt there despite having vivid imaginations. The basement was a dark place with interdimensional portals leading to even darker places and only the demonic beings in their family were qualified to step foot there. Why did Noelle want to go there? No sane person should.

"Relax," Noelle laughed. "I know what I'm doing. It's the only place where I can call her. Her parents took away her phone for an…incident at school."

Those words were hardly reassuring to the group of children, but none of them spoke out against whatever Noelle had planned. 

"Here, hold this," she said, shoving a candle from behind the stairs into Juliet's hands. "I left some here last time."

With a snap of her fingers, the candle wick burst into a brilliant flame and Juliet tried not to gasp in shock. Behind her, Elaina and Nick were already starting to tremble. What dark magic was about to erupt from the shadows of this horrible place?

Noelle bent down near the remains of a magic circle and removed one of her mother's lipstick tubes from her pocket, dragging it along the stone, reigniting the magic within it.

All of the kids held their breath, hoping against hope that they would survive this supernatural encounter. Would it be a blood thirsty vampire that appeared? Maybe a violent werewolf? Could it be the same monstrous demons who had come for Roman and Theo in the past? 

Noelle cleared her throat and the other children braced themselves for the dark Latin incantations they would surely hear.

"Hey, Destiny! I'm bored and stuck in stupid Arkhelios. Come hang out with me and my lame…cousins? I don't know what they are, but I'm stuck with them."

All the children stared at the glowing circle in confusion. This wasn't what they'd been expecting. Where was the blood or the Latin chanting? Things never looked like this in the movies. 

"Is she calling out to her destiny like a Ouija board or tarot cards?" Elaina whispered. "Is this a fortune telling spell? Can it tell the future?"

Beside her, Juliet shook her head, utterly baffled at how this night was turning out. She'd gone from wanting to impress Noelle to fearing for her life. Would her parents find her body? Would they be mad at her for dying before they did? Juliet prayed that her death would at least be quick.

"Ugh, Arkhelios? It's so dry there and it smells like demons. Can't you meet me in Crystal Cove? My mom's out drinking with their stupid brother again and Dad is going to find out if I keep breaking the house sigils to leave."

The children's fear slowly turned to awe as they realized that they weren't actually about to die or have their fatal fortunes read.

"So walk down the road and teleport from there," Noelle groaned. "It's not hard, you're not bound to it like a demon. Your parents are too lame to notice anyway and if they do, blame Davis."

A groan came from the the circle and then a grudging sigh.

"Fine. But you're buying lunch this week."

After almost three minutes had passed, the circle began to shimmer and a teenage girl with long black hair appeared before their eyes. Noelle looked happy to see this girl, while the other children just stared, their eyes as big as saucers.

"Hey guys, this is my friend Destiny," Noelle informed the shocked children. "She's in an older class, but she goes to my school. She's really powerful, so don't piss her off."

"Noelle!"

Noelle shrugged, ignoring her friend's outburst as if she were the older girl.

"Well you are. They don't need a novel about you, they only need to know that you're cool. Much cooler than them."  Her eyes gleamed with teenage rebellion. "Let's steal Grandma's wine and hang out at the pool! She's such an alcoholic that she won't notice some bottles missing."

Juliet stared at the girl she had hoped to impress in astonishment. She'd always known that Lucy was an unpredictable loose cannon, and apparently some of that attitude had transferred to her daughter. Did Noelle frequently steal from her grandmother or was this just an idea to impress her older friend? 

Destiny snapped her fingers and in an instant, a bottle of red wine appeared in her hands. 

"Piece of cake," she boasted. "Easier than my mom's wine rack and they keep that thing well stocked."

"I…I don't think I'm thirsty," Juliet stammered. Beside her, Nick and Elaina nodded solemnly. Their parents would kill them if they caught the kids drinking with a teenager who came from a magic circle in their creepy basement. 

"Babies," Noelle muttered, taking a swig from the bottle and passing it back to her friend. 

"Lay off them, they're just kids," Destiny laughed. "Their parents actually care where they are, unlike yours." 

"Right, just like Death himself wouldn’t ground you if he knew where you were?” Noelle teased. “You’re like a demi-god, aren’t you? Go have fun.”

“Not really and you know that,” Destiny replied, ignoring the quizzical looks from the other children. “I’m much closer to your powers than I am my parents’. Don’t start with the demi-god thing or I’ll have lines of people lining up at the school asking me to sign things and heal people. There’s no way I’m going through that again.”

“So what’s it like having gods for parents?” Elaina asked, looking at the night sky.

The group had retired outside to drink and stargaze, which had seemed less nerve wracking than anything else Noelle had suggested so the other children had quickly agreed to it. Noelle seemed to be smiling and relaxed, which put Juliet at ease. Noelle was probably settled in for the night and didn’t have more plans that would get them in trouble.

“Kinda fun some days,” Destiny replied, staring at the stars intently. “Less fun other days. A lot of people have an idea of who you’re supposed to be and don’t want to let you be yourself.”

Juliet nodded beside her, feeling a new sense of camaraderie with the teen.

“I get that completely. Lots of people have plans about what I should be too.”

“Me too.”

Noelle’s whispered reply had been barely audible, but Juliet had heard it all the same. Her heart twinged at the tone of it and the hidden sorrow the girl surely felt spilled out in those words. Underneath the callous attitude, it was beginning to look like Noelle had a vulnerable side, one that had been wounded long past healing. Maybe it was because of the alcohol or just the company, but deep down, Juliet could see the girl Noelle wanted to be. Call it supernatural intuition or just being a good judge of character, but Juliet could see the hidden Noelle screaming to be seen and helped. Clearly Lucy’s parenting left a lot to be desired, and no one knew who Noelle’s other parent could be.

“There’s two moons out tonight!” Elaina gasped, pointing at the sky. “Is that even possible?”

“Anything is possible,” Destiny laughed. “Don’t you believe in other universes? Other planes of existence besides our own? Who’s to say that that’s not a natural phenomenon of the barriers between the demonic void and here? Maybe it’s the afterlife accepting lost wayward souls. You never know.”

“Do you know?” Elaina demanded. “What is it?”

“A sign that I have to go back home now. Dad is probably pissed off that I left.”

“What? Your dad uses a second moon to get your attention? Why not just call?”

Destiny just laughed and started gathering her things.

“I never said that he did. Just keep an open mind about things and maybe one day you’ll know what it means. Anyway, it’s been fun. Noelle, I was serious about buying lunch this week.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll get some money from my mom,” Noelle replied. “See you then.”

As the mysterious girl faded from view, Juliet looked up at the sky and the mysterious moons. Was it really an overlap of dimensions or just something Destiny had made up? One day when her parents eventually died, would she be able to see them cross into the afterlife in the sky above her? Would they be able to tell her that they were okay and not to worry about never seeing them again? It was a pleasant thought at least which she hoped was true.

“Noelle! Why am I missing two wine bottles? I’m calling your mother about this!”

Noelle laughed as her grandmother continued shouting at her from the window.

“Go ahead!” she called out. “She doesn't care! Mom lets me do whatever I want.”

#sims 2 #arkhelios #arkhelios adventures #Mikel Helios #Juliet fontana #Nick Helios #Elaina Helios #destiny lane #elaine helios #noelle helios #sim: noelle helios

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"Luci, come hang out with me. I'm stuck in stupid Arkhelios and if I have to spend another minute listening to Grandma go on about planning for retirement, I just might snap."

Noelle looked pleadingly at her cousin, trying to look as sad as she possibly could. It had been effortless escaping the Helios lot that she would one day own, but escaping Arkhelios was another matter altogether. At least Luci lived in Arkhelios part time and had access to her computer, bedroom and makeup. While Noelle was stuck at her grandmother's house, she had access to none of those things and she was going stir crazy. Noelle was turning twelve soon and she begged her mother to let her stay home alone, but her mother wouldn't hear of it. Someone had to look after Mikel and Noelle wasn't responsible enough to watch him. Things would probably only worsen once her newest sibling was born. There was no way that Noelle was going to watch her half-demon siblings alone. As a human in a heavily demonic family, she had to look out for herself. 

"I can't, I have to practice," Luci replied. "The track meet is next month and the skating competition is two weeks away. If I don't practice now, I'll blow my chances for nationals this year."

Noelle scoffed. Luci was constantly on the move, running from sport to sport and competition to competition. There wasn't a weekend that she wasn't involved with at least one sport. It was a good thing that her father had money; Noelle knew from experience how expensive extracurriculars were and how hard it was to get a parent to pay for them.

"Get your dad to rig whatever event you're stressing over," Noelle suggested, earning a dirty look from her cousin. "Come hang out with me instead. We can flush Grandma's jewellery until the toilet breaks, she just got it fixed from last time. Or, even better, we could put sugar in the gas tank of her sports car! I'd love to see the look on that cow's face."

Luci laughed, rolling her eyes as she did.

"You're the worst, Nol. There's no way my dad could afford to fix the competition and there's no need. If I practice, first place is practically guaranteed, no money needed. It's what I like, just like senseless destruction seems to be your thing."

"There's nothing wrong with making things interesting," Noelle countered. "Things are interesting in Pleasantview and I manage just fine. It's just stupid Arkhelios and Grandma's dumb house. Why can't my mom leave us with someone in Pleasantview when she has to work? She's only married to the freaking devil, you'd think she would have money to pay someone else to look after her kids."

"I think things are interesting here," Luci protested. "I mean, my dad and Evren's house is nicer and on the beach, but there's still plenty to do in Arkhelios. There's the soccer team you could join if you want. Osbert is a really good coach and we usually win."

"Bleh, no thanks," Noelle scoffed, looking horrified at the idea. "I don't run unless I have to. My make up might get ruined."

"Well, we could see what Rien's up to," Luci suggested. "I'm sure she's helping Dad in the kitchen. You know how he gets this time of year."

Noelle's face immediately brightened at the thought.

"Is it maniacal baking day already? What do you think he's making? Cake? Cookies?"

Luci frowned.

"You shouldn't say things like that," she scolded. "It's not nice."

"It doesn't have to be nice if it's true. We all know why your dad freaks out and turns the house into a bakery this time of year."

Luciana frowned.

"If Ulyssa wasn't such a bitch, she would at least let him meet Georgiana. I mean we all know about her anyway. Why else would he be obsessively making birthday cakes on her birthday and dropping them off at the Durant house?"

"So there is cake?" Noelle asked. "Arkhelios isn't all that bad when it has gourmet cakes to eat."

"Oh my god, Nol. No wonder your mom abandons you here, you're feral. At least try to not upset my dad while you're here. You're too much like your mom sometimes. Maybe if you were nicer, your other mom or dad would have stuck around to raise you. Leave my dad alone and eat some cake before you scare off Aunt Lucy too."

With that, Luciana turned her back to her cousin and headed towards the rink in the yard to practice. Noelle stood stunned in silence. Luciana's words were harsh, but Theo was hardly the only Bellamy to say mean spirited things when provoked. Luciana was far more direct with her anger; it was something that Noelle respected her for. She could handle any anger directed at her and give it right back to her cousin. Luciana was just the kind of girl that Noelle could handle. The two could say horrible things to each other, spend ten minutes cooling down and then hang out happily together.

"This one's ready to go! Come box this up for me, Abe."

Roman admired his work. The Durants were going to love this year's offerings. Every year, Jorah donated Roman's baked goods to charitable causes. He did keep some items for his own family, but the vast majority went to fundraise for the orphans in Strangetown. On this day every year, Jorah would accept the baked goods, separate a cake or two for his family to share over dinner that night and send the rest off. It was sheer coincidence that this day also marked the occasion of Princess Georgiana's birthday and the annual gathering of the entire Durant family to celebrate. Whatever Jorah kept from the baked goods would grace the plate of Princess Georgiana herself and so Roman laboured to make his deserts high quality to satisfy her royal taste buds while also encouraging sales for the needy.

Roman frowned as he cracked another egg on the side of his new bowl.

"This could be the year you change things, Dad. There's an opportunity opening, one that could shift the family dynamics."

Roman jolted out of his focus on a bowl of flour to see his daughter watching him intently.

"Rien! You startled me. Hand me that hand towel, some vanilla spilled over here."

Out of all of his children, Adrienne was by far the quietest. No one saw her coming, or noticed her lurking in the shadows of the house, watching her family. She was quieter than even Too, an actual cat. Roman found the behaviour unsettling, but there was no correcting it. Adrienne was simply a quiet child, unlike most of her siblings. Nothing escaped her watchful eyes, and more often than not, Roman caught his daughter murmuring quietly to herself. She was his grandmother's spitting image behaviourally, though he never quite remembered Malika being quite as socially odd. Maybe his daughter would one day gain the social skills of his grandmother, but until then, Roman had resigned himself to being startled when Adrienne revealed herself.

"Rien, you really can't say things like that," he sighed. "It's a complicated situation, things aren't as easy as they seem to someone your age."

"The spirits wish you were more observant, Dad. There's so much that they want you to know. They want to get to know you, the same way they've gotten to know me."

"Honey, I don't understand all of that and I don't think I'd be any good at it," he replied with a small sigh. "My grandmother was the only one in our family with a connection to these spirits and sometimes I wonder if they really have your best interests at heart when they tell you things. Maybe you should talk with Aunt Wanda if she has the time. She might know more about the occult than I would. Or ask Adam's father the next time he comes to pick up Adam. Please? Just get a second opinion, that's all I ask."

Roman couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw his daughter give him the same horrifying look that Theo usually gave him on weekends home from school. The infamous "I know so much more than you and you don't even realize it" look. Adrienne didn't hold the glare for nearly as long as her brother did, but it felt just as patronizing.

"Sure," she agreed. "I'll do that, Dad. But if I do ask someone for their opinion, then it's only fair that you do the same. You ask someone you think would know about the spirit world and see what they say. Or better yet, why don't you try contacting the spirits themselves? You could borrow my tarot deck."

It was a fair idea, and one that Roman couldn't think of a way of refusing. It wouldn't hurt anything to take out his grandmother's tarot cards and see what happened. Probably nothing, knowing his luck, but if it was that important to his daughter, then Roman would give it a chance.

"Okay, we have a deal," he declared, stirring ingredients in his pot as he spoke. "Now why don't you come help me grease this pan so we can get these cookies in the oven?"

#sims 2 #arkhelios #roman bellamy #adrienne Bellamy #sim: adrienne Bellamy #luciana bellamy #noelle helios #sims 2 pictures #sim: noelle helios #arkhelios adventures