The Littlest Witch

My first memory is of an invisible hand taking my bear from me. We only have one, after all. I don't know why, there's a lot of things I don't know. ... I guess I should start by telling you who I am. My name is Blake. I like to paint. Mom made sure I got all the paints I could ever want. She's dead now. Nobody will tell me why. But it's okay. I can still hear her voice, if I listen. So I'm not sad anymore. I was, for a long time, but now I'm not. I still get my paints, and everybody else does ... the stuff that everybody else does. I don't pay much attention. Pretty much they just play chess or work out. There's not a lot to do around here until you're old enough and They tell you what to do. They're bad people, Mom says. We're going to kill them all. One day. But not today, because I'm still little and nobody is ready. Mom says I'm special. I'm important. I'm supposed to help the old people remember who they were. Help them remember that there was a time before the Coven. She says we need old people.

So then we move on to our heir. It was a few dicey days with no teens and no controllable grown-ups about, but rotten food and begging for food saw us through - barely. I'll be honest. I've never done anything with a male heir before - I find the concept of having to move in a prospective baby-momma to be frustrating, since - for example this generation - you can't guarantee your luck in love. It wasn't very long before Amanthea made her LTW of Renaissance Sim - while being an elder. I was able to purchase two "Inheritance" rewards, setting the family in the black for the foreseeable future. Then I starved her to death. Can't be anything but practical during the end of the world, after all. One less mouth to feed, nobody scolding the teens - good for everyone, with a measly two-day debuff for the mourning. I'm shooting for Artist on Blake, since he rolled into Artistic and that makes it ridiculously easy to complete, especially with Business cleared. Two adults in the household and three teens, now, here's hoping for good jobs.

Dying Alone

I'm going to die alone.

I don't know why that's such a depressing thought, but it is. As the fog closes in on my mind, that's my one regret

I've had children, yes, but ... It would be nice to have a mate to see me off into oblivion.

I worry. When I'm gone, who will take care of my children?

I haven't given them the attention I should have, but ... none of them bear the spark of magic, save my youngest, a boy named Blake.

I don't have a choice - he'll have to suffice.

When oblivion comes ... well. Blood is the currency of the soul, and with a gifted child of my blood - I will live on.

Our New Hero

 I have never had such a difficult time keeping a boyfriend. After the first - who I discarded for his age - and the collegiate - who I discarded because he would never show up when I asked him to visit - NONE of the other three would even contemplate being her boyfriend. Sure, they'd break up with their girlfriends, fiancees, even wives, but the second she tried to put the moves on any of them, Amanthea got to taste the sting of rejection.

So much hate.

So Amanthea grows old a spinster, and nearly fails to crank out a suitable heir. I think I would've thrown my computer out the window, if not for little Blake here.

I'll be honest; I've never done anything with a male heir. I guess there's no time like the present to start.

The Power Broker

That was ... exceptionally satisfying.

It took a long time to get the supply chains working again. I had to make a number of calls, and even put in a bit of heavy lifting myself.

But it's done. I hired a team to build my home into something respectable for the rightful ruler of the world - as I (privately) think of myself. Delusions of grandeur? Perhaps, but I seem to be the only one who can get anything done around here.

I've noticed something, in the time it took to reach the top. Nobody - and I do mean nobody - has nice things. Even the thugs the Coven sends to collect their tribute (which I pay, I'm not stupid) are dressed shabbily, and all of them look ten times their age.

The things we used to take for granted are a lifetime away - there are children who have been born since the apocalypse who will never know the simple ease of looking something up on the internet. So much knowledge has been lost ... so much will need to be reclaimed.

If I can succeed ... I have a plan.

When the time comes, I will sacrifice this mortal life, for an immortality through my bloodline.

Of course, that means I need to have a bloodline.

The man I had conned into being my fiancee turned out to be a poor choice - too old, and gone mad with the dementia that strikes all the elderly these days.

But I have an old friend from the Facility ... I wonder where he is now ...

 With Business cleared, I immediately remodeled the 'house' part of the houseboat into something that could stand the test of a few generations. I'm particularly pleased with the main level, though I'm sure I'll be able to cram more junk in once everything is unlocked and all. 

Ironically, NRAAS informs me that the fish I threw back became a World Renowned Surgeon. I'm going to not act on that information as it feels like a cheat to have even obtained it.

Also, I'd already had a graduation gnome from college, but then I got an Evil Mr. Gnome from - apparently - being a home-wrecker. Who knew?

Catch a Fish, Throw it Back

I filled his head with romantic nonsense. Men are so easy to manipulate that way. His fiancee didn't have a chance - I'm just that charming.

I've still got time to go before I'll be entirely ready for marriage, but ... well.

Let me back up a bit.

When it became obvious that my boss - and his boss - and his boss's boss - were all entirely useless lumps of flesh - puppets, mind-slaves with no thoughts of their own, I decided to take over.

I have to be subtle, but decisive - I have to strike when the time is right, and take over the corporation from the inside. No one will be harmed by the process, but if I want to cut through the red tape and reestablish supply lines - so that I can get some luxuries around here - then I'll have to do it myself.

I've already laid the groundwork, I'm just hammering out the details now.

A man struck my fancy - he claims to be in a position of power. I caught him bragging. Sure, he was engaged to another woman. I could care less.

It took almost no effort at all to wrap him around my little finger, and break his ties to his - now - ex.

I don't want any part of the factions in place already - the Resistance is no better than the Coven, and I'm not one to blindly follow anyone.

So what if I create my own? A dynasty, perhaps - a faction that belongs to me, alone.

Of course I'll grow old one day, that's to be expected. But if I set my heirs up right - they'll be in a position to crush the world under their boot. We'll own the world - we'll destroy the Coven and throw the Resistance to the four winds.

I'll start by ensuring that our finances are secure, stable. We'll buy the world, if nothing else.

That sounds good.

Humans are stupid, cowardly, and fragile. It will be the work of a few generations - at most - before my family dominates the world.

Only females should inherit, and only witches at that. I'll not have a human at the head of my household - and I won't let a man follow his penis to ruin, thank you very much.

 Moving on up in the world, Amanthea is now rank 6 with a full green bar for tomorrow. Houseboats are ridiculously cheap for the mob payments - we're talking $639 a week. Not bad at all, though that might be the spartan furnishings talking.

I picked a person based on the concept that they looked like a good catch. Looks can be deceiving, however - the very day after I had Amanthea get engaged to him, he turned old. Well'p, always more fish in the sea - gonna have to toss this one back.

Semester Four and Building a Boat

Ugh. I swear, the instructors were trying to keep me from succeeding.

At least I got to clean up for graduation. I got a B for my overall grade, because the teachers were being absolutely unreasonable. I did all the class work, I did all the labs, and I did the tests - what more could they possibly want?

I heard some of them making sidelong comments about me, and I'm certain they were singling me out.

Just because I don't share everyone's enthusiasm for taking on the Coven ...

It's over though, I'm out, I got their little certification paper saying that I could go out and be a productive citizen again.

They set me up with a house-boat off the coast of Lucky Palms, a city that had once been a bustling economical hub, and told me to report to the Sahara Corporate Headquarters. I'm supposed to process reports or something.

I don't even have a sink. The mini-fridge on the boat is stocked with nothing but canned soup - I'll need to ration it out.

So then the last semester did not go according to plan.

When she returned to college, Amanthea was cleaned up and no longer singed - hooray.

So, because I have no sense of self-preservation, I had her finish up charisma with the brain enhancer. 

But that was the worst move I could have made, since there was literally no other way to build academic progress. For whatever reason, building social networking - through the book, of course - doesn't do a single thing toward a business degree.

Amanthea's overall grade landed at a B, which could have been much worse, really. It could also have been better, but you know, can't always pick your wins.

She has 10 Athletic and 10 Charisma, 4 Handiness, 4 Logic, and 2 Social Networking.

Her traits are now:

Childish, Evil, Workaholic, Slob, Ambitious, Charismatic, Genius

Cash on hand is $5398.

Brought home Gardening 2 and 3, as well as college diploma.

I spent a good chunk of my remaining money buying books - Gardening 1, Cooking 2 and 3, and the 3 cheapest children's books.

The houseboat consists of a basement level with the most basic amenities as possible. The bed - not pictured - is a sleeping bag Amanthea will be keeping on her person.

College Through Semester Three

If you want to survive in the world, you need friends. I spend a lot of time right now making people like me, trust me.

College is easy enough for me - I'm more intelligent than most. Magic makes its wielder just - better - than mundane humans.

Fortunately they don't have a test to screen for magic - they can check blood tests and physical attributes for werewolves and vampires, and the wings are obvious for faeries, but all I have to do to hide my nature is just not carry a wand. I didn't have one in the first place - that's easy enough.

They burn witches, you know.

The facility really looks and feels more like a prison than a dwelling - maybe that's the point.

I was rated favorably by the instructors, such that they are allowing me to continue my education in peace.

Those who failed, they said, would be assigned to menial tasks for the rest of their life, to pay back their debt to the Resistance - not something I'm interested in! I want nothing to do with either faction, thank you very much.

On my very first day of the next semester, I managed to get electrocuted by their brain-enhancing technology. I begged for the opportunity to clean the burns, but no. I guess I'll just let myself slowly rot.

Merciful Goddess, but I hate everything right now.

At least the magic will keep me from succumbing to lethal illnesses ... I hope.

   So the first semester went well enough. I managed to scrape together a few points of charisma, athletics, and handiness (the brain enhancer in the dorm broke, and I'm not touching it with a ten-foot pole made of rubber until Amanthea has a high enough handiness skill).

And, of course, I maintained an A average. It's pretty easy when there's nothing to do but skill up and make friends. Amanthea sits at level 4 nerd, level 3 rebel, and level 1 jock, talking to people around her dorm incessantly as she does.

Then semester two starts. The first thing - literally one of the first things that happens - is that Amanthea gets electrocuted by the  (magically repaired) Brain Enhancer while trying, ironically enough, to boost her handiness.

So that's great. Oh, and I'm trying out a proposed rule where no snow angels are permitted. For a bit of challenge.

That's going fantastic.

Other events of note:

Semester three: Got rank 9 athletic and rank 8 charisma, also achieved rank 8 nerd through conversation alone.

I was hoping, desperately, to random into Inappropriate. Instead? She's now an evil witch.

So that's nice. At least she's still got an A ....

The Set Up - Into the Facility

My name is Amanthea Silverleaf. I was born an elf, and twisted through magic to be something ... more. Unfortunately, the Masters who gave me this second life were slain. I wasn't able to do anything about it - and looking back, I don't know that I would have done anything.

I only tell you this for context, diary.

The end of the world has come and gone, brought about by a meteor the size of Sim City crashing into the far side of the world. There was some - far-fetched plan to plant bombs on the meteor and detonate them before it landed, hopefully atomizing the chunks of space debris into something that would burn up in our atmosphere.

That ... didn't happen. The nuclear payload made it to the meteor, but ... well. Things didn't go to plan, apparently. The impact of the meteor, they say, was doubled or even tripled by this last-ditch effort to save humanity.

But humanity is a little bit like a colony of cockroaches - they refuse to be put down by the end of the world. It's inspiring, really. Even with the sun blotted out by toxic clouds, even with the air filled with poison and the plant and animal life dying out, humanity still clings to life.

Society, however, fell to pieces in the wake of the meteor.

A coven of witches now rules most of the known world. It wouldn't be possible, but for their control of the risen dead. Some stories claim that the dead rose because of the meteor. Others say that, because of the way magic has changed since the destruction, they were able to raise legions under their own power. That seems a little bit ... ridiculous.

They're partnered with faeries and vampires, or so the story goes - nobody knows for certain.

All I know for sure is, one day I go to sleep in an abandoned house. The next? I wake up in a prison.

Well. It's called a 'training facility' - meant to prepare the best and brightest of the world for a rebellion against the Coven and everything they stand for.

I'm fairly non-confrontational, though. As long as they stay out of my hair, I fully intend to give the Coven as wide a berth as possible.

I have to complete their training regimen in order to escape the humans' facility, however, so I chose something completely harmless for my major: I will be a businesswoman. That doesn't hurt anyone, and I might not get skinned alive for defying the Coven.

I think the humans are on to me, though. They insist that all students obtain perfect physical fitness, even those of us whose majors have nothing to do with combat.

   Hm. Blue suits me, I think, yes. I'm going to try this on for size, another in-character/out-of-character bloggery for the apocalypse. I've got so many half-finished and it's frustrating to me, so I'm gonna try to fix it.

Being honest then: I rolled a 3 and I hated it. Business is the choice I made for that, though I was strongly tempted to reroll and not tell anybody.

But I'm honest, like. That's always been a character ... flaw?

So business. Not ideal, but I'll live.

I picked up Lucky Palms recently and I just HAD to try it out. The only way I really play is Apocalypse, so I rolled out the dice, set up the town, and settled in to creating a character.

And then the game crashed as I placed her, and I gave up for the night.

I decided on a houseboat because I haven't done that before and it fits the style of the other "Boats" on the pier. So I made my own pier, and stuck a houseboat on it.

It's pretty cool, in my humble opinion.

I decided to roll into a prestige start because if I play easy start, it tends to be so easy it's painful. I end up with everything maxed and more friends than God. 

And it gets boring.

So Business. I'd made Amanthea with a pretty standard loadout for traits:

Slob, Workaholic, Genius, Charismatic, Ambitious.

The strategy, obviously, is to spend as little money at college as possible. Since she got credits towards a business scholarship, I enrolled Amanthea for a single term for six credits. Free time, yay.

After the opportunities and tuition, I have a bit more than the starting 8308 - specifically, after I added doors to the dormitory (Whoops) I sit at 8548.