Fortune’s fancy chapter 1-6

A Legacy by Nicbemused and simselfNicki Bemused with possible

commentary by Other Characters

Fortune’s Fancy-Chapter 1 part 6

Hey, lady? Why is this lot all empty?

My girlfriend is not looking at my brother

Ick, I think there are bugs.

Everything disgusts me.

Fortunately for Bastien, he didn’t need to worry about anyone at the housing office losing his suitcase or placing him in the wrong residence. Brenda and Bryan delivered him right to the dorm.

Bastien thought it looked like a pretty cool place to be, and Chloe had already called to say that she’d be there the next day. She hadn’t been able to leave with them and had had to take the bus.

Fortunately Chloe hadn’t had any luggage or placement issues either. She had only arrived just in time to rush off to class, though, so Bastien didn’t get to welcome her until they all got back.

Even then, they both felt like they needed to get started on their term papers immediately. Who knew that college would be so much work?

“Hey, Bastien?

“Yeah?”

“Legs or Breasts?”

“What are you writing?!”

“Paper on eating habits of the typical Freshman Male for my Frosh Studies class.”

“Hey Bryan?”

“Yeah?”

“Legs or Breasts?”

“What are you reading?!”

“Anatomy, Psychology, and Art in the Early Simtalian Renaissance.”

“Go ask one of your Floosers.”

Of course, none of them did tooooooo much studying. Brenda indulged a bit of giddy with the bubble blower.

While Bryan picked his nightly observances back up.

“Hey, Perv, point that thing at the sky!”

“Sorry Professor DeCoucher, it, er, um… the telescope… is pointed toward the sky.”

Bastien and Chloe, of course, preferred to relax together.

“It’s so nice to have a door with a lock on it. Now we don’t have to worry about your parents walking in.”

“Choe? Not the time to discuss my parent.”

Chloe only theoretically had a room anyway. In truth, they never spent a night apart.

“You know, I learned a lot about metaphors in my Freshman Lit class last year. Like, food can be a good metaphor. I could say, ‘Boy, Chloe, you and Bastien sure have been making a lot of mac-n-cheese together and he’d be really devastated if you decided to make mac-n-cheese with Bryan again.’ and you’d totally know what I meant. And then I could say, ‘I heard that if a person were to fall into a vat of mac-n-cheese while it was cooking that they’d be instantly burned over 90% of their body and probably die a long painful death. And you’d understand that too.”

“If you want to throw Bryan in to test that theory, I’ll help. Otherwise I’m not interested.”

When not threatening her brother’s girlfriend with Cheesy Death, Brenda was enjoying every bit of her sophomore year. She’d found that Pete was a great dancer, in more ways than one.

Not that that stopped her from “dancing” with any of the other dormies.

On the whole, she was quite pleased with her entire social life. Contrary to her brother’s opinion, they weren’t Floosers, they just found her attractive and what was more natural than that?

After all, the dormies chased Bryan out of the dorm just to say hi to him when he was on his way to class, so it isn’t like the people he attracted were pillars of intellect.

“Didja know there was a girl behind you waving?”

“Whatever, she’ll wait. Dime a dozen, those girls.”

“I cannot believe I went out with him. Was I on drugs?”

“All right, Bastien, we ‘hoo’d in the photobooth. Satisfied?”

“I think I like our bed better.”

“Good. I banged my knees to Strangetown and back and I think we hit the pic button because there’s a picture of my back in the pic slot.”

Chloe, of course, remained conscious of her scholarship and made sure she kept her grades up. At least she enjoyed all the studying.

Brenda, on the other hand, did not and soon realized that she’d fallen behind on her grades again.

“Lady! Time for finals already?”

While she studied, the other three, who were well up to speed in their classes, spent time playing pool.

“Babe, you can handle my stick any time.”

“I’ve already handled your stick. I found it skinny and likely to be used by anyone who wanted to sink balls into pockets.”

“Guys? In the room here. Can we not have this conversation?”

By the time exams rolled around, Brenda was ready, but some of the poor dormies weren’t. Poor things.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get another chance!”

“That’s what I’m worried about. I’ll have another chance, and another and another for ever and ever and ever.”

Some of the dormies dealt with their feelings of eternal fatalism by indulging in gladiatorial combat.

“Hah! You whiner. If you die, you’ll never have to take another exam! And I’ll never have to listen to you whine about it ever again! Take that!” They were not good at handling their emotions.

Brenda had had enough.

“That’s it. When we get back from Blake’s party we are going to sit down and have a discussion. I am fed up with dealing with all their bad vibes! All this negative energy is unbalancing my chi!”

“Everyone ready?”

“Yep, mom, we’re all ready to watch.”

“All right, Leif, help him blow out his candles. All together now!”

“Happy Birthhhhhhdayyyyyyyy dear Blakey! Happy Birttttdayyyy to…”

“Cake?”

“No Cake for Blake. Tickles instead.”

“Otay.”

You could certainly see the family resemblance.

True to her word, Brenda gathered them all together after they got back.

“So. We’ve had a fun time, and made lots of friends, but I’m kind of getting sick of the fighting all the time and I find dormie stasis to be depressing. I think we should move.”

“It’s too loud to study sometimes, too.”

“I’ll do whatever Chloe wants.”

“Bry?”

“Lets move. We can get a place on Greek row and build a legacy Greek house that will carry our names forever.”

So they called up student housing and canceled their reservations for next year.

And at the start of the next year, Beta Beta Beta Chi was born. The property was situated on the edge of the current Greek Row, but Brenda knew that eventually the area would develop and they’d be in a prime spot next to the other two foundational Greek houses.

When asked by the student paper what made their house so special, Brenda answered, “It’s coed!”

While Bastien and Chloe celebrated their new Greek house, the newest, bestest, brightest campus fixture (or, well, it would be someday). Brenda went inside.

“Could you please get a room? Or find a room? Or something?”

“Hi Papa! No, the house is great. It’s a little older than I expected, and it’ll take some time to furnish, but it’s got great potential for expansion later. The upstairs is pretty bare, but we don’t need it for right now, so there’s nothing to worry about. Yeah, Bastien and Chloe are already feeling the love. I’ll send some pics, and some sketches of the inside! Bye Papa!”

Dear Papa,Here are the pictures I promised. This is the ground floor with three bedrooms, one bathroom, the living room, and the kitchen. That’s us on the deck, posing for you.

This is the second floor. I told you it was bare, but there are doors out to the front balcony, which is nice, and some day maybe the house committee can add walls and stuff for more rooms. There is also a very nice back porch that you can’t see in this picture, and a nice lot that is great for doing yoga!

Here is a picture of all of us on the front porch. Ignore Bastien and Chloe. They would not stop it long enough for me to set the timer on the camera and then get back to the porch and take the picture. They have no sense of propriety. Bryan was being all standoffish, so I just took the pic.

Here is the main living area. I know it seems sparse, but it is better for moving around. That way we can have several friends over without there being a problem. The fridge is kind of old, but it still works great! I promise we won’t party too much and will study hard!Love,Brenda and Bryan, Bastien, and Chloe

Of course, the definitions of partying too much and “studying hard” are different for everyone.

And the exact topics of study may be left up to one’s imagination and interpretation. Besides all work and no play makes Brenda a dull girl.

Soon their toga parties were the talk of the campus! They were well known for always having never ending “punch” tons of pizza, and good music. And nobody was particular uptight about PDAs or what was going on where and they all liked a good joke. Everyone wanted an invitation.

Some people, of course, got more private sorts of invitations.

When Brenda realized, half way through her Junior year, that one of those more private invitations had left her a very special sort of date gift, she was very surprised. She hadn’t been sick or anything and she’d always been so careful to use protection. Apparently nothing was 100%. Oh dear.

“Hey Papa.”

“Uh huh. I’m glad you and mom are having a good time teaching Blake how to walk and talk. I’m sure he’s brilliant.”

“Oh. Nothing much. But I have something to tell you.”

“Well it’s kind of big news. Nothing really bad though, don’t worry.”

“Well, you see, um, you know how you always wanted grandkids someday? Well, I think you are going to get them sooner than you thought.”

“Um, no, I’m not engaged.”

“No, Bastien and Chloe aren’t engaged either.”

“No, neither is Bryan.”

“I’m pregnant.”

“Well, you know how sometimes a man and a woman don’t really love eachother they still might find one another attractive?”

“No, Papa, I’m sorry, I’m not being sarcastic.”

“I’m going to stay here and finish. The baby is due part way through my senior year and Chloe and Bastien said they’d help out so I can graduate on time. I’ll just have to work a little harder.”

Despite her pregnancy, Brenda remained popular with the boys on campus. The flirting was fun and it helped her feel attractive, despite the belly she was now toting, and the weight gain, and stretch marks, but she didn’t have the time to devote to it that she used to have. She consoled herself by reasoning that nesting was natural and the baby needed her to feel balanced and full of good energy.

The other three were not quite as understanding as they had promised, though, and the parties continued. Brenda sometimes had trouble getting to sleep at night because of the noise and she wished she could be out there with them, but she was too tired.

Truth be told the partying was taking it’s toll on Chloe as well. She didn’t want to say anything to Bastien or Bryan because she was afraid they would think she was a party pooper, but the late nights were really making her exhausted.

And she was worried she might have picked up some kind of frat-plague from moldy pizzas and bad pineapple juice. She couldn’t wait for the year to be over so she could sleep.

Brenda was glad when exams came as well. Finally she had a few moments to stand outside and enjoy the damp night air without worrying about keeping up and keeping healthy at the same time. Pregnancy seemed so long!

“Oh!” Brenda suddenly realized that it had been a long time. She was in her third trimester!

Now that her exams were over, Brenda even had enough time and energy to have a date or two.

Chloe had taken the long way home from her junior year classes that night. She really was worried that she had something horrible and even her professor had commented that she was looking pale and asked if she was taking care of herself. When she sat back down, one of her classmates had snickered and said it looked like she had been well taken care of instead and looked at her stomach. Why would he… “Oh! Oh, Lady! What will Bastiensay? What if he hates me?”

“I don’t know, Bastien. I don’t think I want to go. Too many people there. I’d rather we just be by ourselves right now.”

Bastien was starting to worry. Chloe had been feeling tired and sick for weeks and she’d been very very quiet all week and hadn’t wanted to ‘hoo. She’d even waited to change until he left the room or changed in the bathroom. What was wrong with her? She should know he wouldn’t push if she didn’t want it, even if he saw her naked body and wanted her badly. Hmmmm, her body…. Sooo hot… Such nice abs... But. Oh. He thought back. Ohhhhhhhh.

“Dude. Bro. High Five! Congrats on the superswimmers! When do you want us to vote her out?”

“Thanks. Wait. What?”

“Well, it’ll be kind of awkward for you to bring other chicks around if she’s still living here, and you won’t want to tell her, so Brenda or I should.”

“I’m not going to bring other chicks around. I’m going to marry Chloe.”

“So, this is nice. I didn’t know you could cook like this.”

“Uh huh. Listen, Chloe.”

“Oh, Lady.”

“No. Like, I really love you and I like going out with you, but…”

“Bastien.” Chloe tried not to cry. “If you are going to break up with me, would you please hurry so I can leave with dignity?”

“No! That isn’t it at all. I knew I was going to mess this up. Here give me a second. OK.” Bastien finally wiggled around enough to get the ring out of his pocket.

“Chloe, I love you and I like going out with you, but I think I’d love being married to you. Will you marry me?”

Chloe couldn’t believe he was asking her! She hadn’t even said anything, so he must just love her and want to marry her! “Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you! I love you so much! There’s something you should know, though. I’m pregnant.”

“I guess it’ll be a short engagement, then. I’ll have to call my parents so we can get things set up quickly.”

There was a slight delay in Bastien’s plans to call his parents, but later that night he was on the phone with Leif.

“So, Papa, how would you like to come down for the weekend?”

“Well, yes, there’s kind of a particular event that you would be attending.”

“Good. Tell mom to bring her best dress. Chloe and I are getting married!”

“We got engaged tonight, but I’d always planned on marrying her, and we might as well do it sooner rather than later, right? And she agrees, so we’re going to do it this weekend. Oh, and she’s pregnant. Bye Papa. See you Friday!”

And so Bastien’s parents rushed around, hired a last minute babysitter for Blake, and flew down.

“Oh, I can’t believe my babies are old enough to get married and old enough to have babies themselves!. I feel so old.” Alex was not taking it well.

But Bastien and Chloe were clearly overjoyed, so caught up in each-other that the barely noticed their surroundings as they made their vows and became husband and wife.

In fact, they became so caught up in each-other that they kept kissing far longer than necessary and the beautiful sunset turned to purple night skies.

“Bastien, perhaps you should retire to your chamber if you have such need of your bride.”

“They already did that, Papa, it’s why they had to get married.”

Bastien stopped kissing his wife and glared his brother to silence. “We did not ‘have’ to get married! We wanted to get married, we just had a short engagement because of the baby. Now, lets go eat cake.”

Alex had managed to acquire a wedding cake for her son and his wife, despite the short notice, but it was so pretty Bastien was almost afraid to cut it.

“Do you think it’s edible?”

“You can help me taste it and we’ll see.”

Bastien fed his new wife a small bite of cake, making sure he didn’t drop any on her dress or get any on her face. “Well?”

“Yum. Perfectly edible. Delicious in fact.”

“All right! Everyone dig in!”

And so they did. The entire family stayed up late catching up on everyone’s lives and talking about their current plans and their plans for the future. Alex and Leif had paid the sitter to stay overnight and for the next day as well so that they could stay at a hotel and not make the long drive back late at night. They had time to talk and laugh and eat with their older children.

My risky odds? 5%

TFB? Not allowed.

Sigh.

Next up:

Mysterious man.

Unforeseen plot developments.

Married college students.

Babies at Uni. Oh my.