juushika: Screen capture of the Farplane from Final Fantasy X: a surreal landscape of waterfalls and flowers. (Anime/Game)
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Ghost and Aaron: Master List | Next Update

Just an average morning in this house
I love what counts as a totally normal morning in this house.
(Ghost has been waking up earlier to catch a few extra moments with Aaron—and the dead.)

You know, Aaron, if you feel the need to complain about your boyfriend
You know, Aaron, if you feel so strong an urge to bitch about Ghost...
You could at least wait until he's out of hearing.
(Luckily, Ghost is both tolerant and forgiving.)

So Ghost and ghosts and Aaron's rudeness—life continues apace for the boys.

The boys have been all over each other
But what's hard to evidence in pictures without boring everyone is: the boys are all over each other.

Constantly, continually—I don't know that they had this much sex even when they were in their early, new-relationship honeymood period. They have sex in the evenings, and Aaron runs off to work hungry and almost late, but Ghost sleeps better. They have sex in the mornings when Aaron gets off work, even if Gertrude is watching TV just on the other side of the wall. Whenever they can grab more than a few moments together they're at it again, and frankly its impressive. And while I could load up a hundred pictures of them making out, that much is actually easier to say than it is to show.

Ghost, content
And it seems to work out for Ghost.

For a while I thought I was seeing things
On a completely unrelated note: so for a few days I thought I was seeing things, but I checked and I was right:
Aaron's put on a bit of bulk from all that swimming. Not a lot, but just enough to notice.

Even the boys noticed it before me
(Though even the boys noticed it before me.)
It suits him, though, I think.

(These two started the same weight and muscle in game, but in, er, "reality," Aaron's always had a few pounds and a few inches on Ghost. Ghost as a slight, slimly muscled build while Aaron is a more in the way of average, but their heights and builds are fairly comparable. Yes, I do know everything about these boys.)

Anyhow! The next day Ghost wanted to go catch an insect, and while I usually don't bother blogging every random place the boys run off to, this update is largely plotless anyhow and oh, it was a cute visit to the park...

Just Ghost
Just Ghost, in just a picture.

Ghost wanted to catch an insect, so he made a trip to the park
But: See? Cute!
(Meet Zeldia. Ghost put her in a terrarium—but they're not really bonding, so he may release her.)

Ghost tells Clementine about his new capture
Then he went and told Clementine about his new capture. Adorable!
(Clementine is part of Tomi's household which means that unlike most adult sims, she's addicted to swings.)

Clementine is double jointed
Although it seems Clementine is double-jointed. Not ... not so adorable, actually. A bit ew and ow.

It was a great evening for game bugs, though, and this must be my favorite:

Riley drops his burger
It looks an awful lot like Riley dropped his burger right as he went to take a bite.
He didn't, of course, it was floating like that on his plate through the whole meal.
But Ghost glancing back to laugh along just makes the moment.

But back to Ghost and Aaron proper. Aaron's job is going well—he worked his way up to another promotion and they're sitting on about three months's worth of funds, which isn't a ton but is still a comfortable safety net. Aaron's been running into fewer and fewer roadblocks—he's become friends with his boss, is having fewer problems with his coworkers, and he's managing to avoid the cops for a change. Keeping up on exercise is his only difficulty, because there's never enough time for it...

The boys have been all over each other
If only exercise in the bedroom did a bit more to improve his fitness, because he's getting plenty of that.

Ghost meanwhile is working hard to be better. He's sleeping better now—he's restless still, but going to bed satiated he sleeps longer and heavier and sometimes even wakes feeling rested. The rest of the time he spends painting:

Ghost has been painting like a man possessed
He paints like a man possessed, sometimes staying up late into the night, sometimes forgetting to eat.

Painting rows of faceless figures totally isn't creepy, right?
And he's moved from lighthouses to vague, faceless figures.
So that's not creepy, right? He's still exploring the images in his dreams.

Gertrude reads the only book left on the bookshelf
Gertrude meanwhile has been keeping herself busy reading every book in the house...
Including Adapting to the Wallet Environment, which Aaron had to read for work.
So if she picks your pocket, well now you know why.

Ghost burns lunch
The danger of skipping meals to paint is that you may open the fridge to find all the leftovers spoiled...
and then burn your lunch. Nice work, Ghost. (He ate it anyway.)

Emily notices that the house is a leeeettle messy
Emily visits and politely lets Ghost know that the place is a little bit dirty.

Ghost realizes he lives in a cesspool
She's understating matters. The house is such a cesspool right now.

This just in:
As usual, the only person that doesn't care is Aaron...
But wait! It seems that Aaron has finally developed tastebuds (and a decent respect for overwhelming filth)!

Nevermind, false alarm.
Never mind, false alarm.
That boy has an iron-clad stomach, let me tell you. I, however, do not. *gags*

Just a picture
Er, this one is just a pretty picture.

I am getting so sick of this sight
Everything I said about avoiding the cops? Turns out to be a big fat lie.
I am getting so sick of this sight.

(And given that Aaron keeps forging dinner for sex and they don't offer meals during his short stays in the holding cells, I think I'm not the only one.)

Ghost told you so, Aaron
Ghost tried to warn you, Aaron: That "food" is rancid.

The boys go out to dinner
To escape more spoiled food and a messy house, the boys go out to dinner as soon as Aaron had a night off.
They can afford it for a change, and they have a lovely evening out...

The boys go out to dinner, part two
Even if they ignored almost everything in the world but one another. They stayed out late into the night.
(And they certainly found a quiet, isolated bathroom or backseat once the place began to clear out.)

Another irrelevant detail: Ghost borrowed the shirt from Aaron, so it doesn't quite fit him. Aaron's just a little bigger than him, remember? The closest that Ghost has ever owned to a dress shirt is a shirt that he just washed—his mother was never one for formal occasions. Aaron has a number of formal outfits (which his mother packed in his luggage for college, "just in case") that he has sworn, after leaving his parents, never to wear again. (I know so many pointless details about them that it just gets silly.)

Ghost's usual bedtime is around 10pm—at almost 2am he finally calls it quits and goes home to crash.

Aaron stayed out on the town
Aaron stays out for a bit longer and gets some reading done for work—all on his own, because he's wonderful.

And only stopped working to practice what the book preaches
And when he got bored of reading, he takes a break to practice what the book doth preach.

And he stole a garbage can from in front of the grocery store the next night. It's good to see the klepto treasure trove getting some use again—er, good in a way that stealing things is ever good. For a long time weeds were growing back there and Aaron wasn't touching it. Whatever energies he channels into thievery he was redirecting into his job and Ghost, and even if one is illicit they were still probably better outlets. But for better or worse, healthy or not, petty theft is what Aaron does. If he didn't steal, it would be a sign that something were really wrong. Current klepto treasure trove tally: two chairs and a chesstable, one armchair, two park benches (would be three, but one was repossessed due to late bills), two sinks, four lights (three overhead, one ground), two headstones, one coffee table, one vase, one clock, one statue, a folding chair, a trash can, a television, and a car.

The next evening, Aaron watches TV with Gertrude while Ghost (whose sleeps schedule is a bit wonky after his late evening out) cooks dinner.

While Aaron and Gertrude watch TV
And aw, how sweet, Aaron keeps an eye on Ghost while watching TV.

But as it turns out
But as it turns out it was mostly a precaution in case Ghost tries to burn down the kitchen again. Which he does.
He was cooking carbonara and you think if there's one thing he can't mess up, it'd be that...

(I love the stove giving itself one last clean before it's destroyed forever. And while the stove had threw death throes, the TV broke. Good times, good times.)

All together now
Altogether now...
The OMG a fire! dance.

The damage
So, yes, well done Ghost. Replacing everything cuts almost 1500 out of their finances.
(And you should see the garage, now. One more dead stove and they'll have no more room for foosball.)

Gertrude knows just how to make a good day even better
Gertrude knows how to make a good day just that little bit better.

Cornelius picks up "Make 'Em Pay"
Meanwhile Cornelius is reading another of Aaron's books for work...
But if anyone shouldn't be learning how to Make 'Em Pay I'm thinking it's this guy. He's scary enough as he is.

Aaron shares news of his recent promotion
Despite cop troubles (he was arrested again), Aaron earns another promotion.
Ghost says, "That's nice dear, but the house is still a mess." At least the promotion bonus helps repair their safety net.

So the next day Ghost finally goes on a cleaning spree which was a long time coming.

When Ghost goes on cleaning sprees...
And he goes a little overboard. Dishes puddles leftovers sinks tubs soot...
And god forfend the flamingo should still be lying on the floor.

Fire or no, however, I think Ghost is much improved.

Ghost paints a colorstudy
He's started painting color studies (or else he's channeling Georgia O'Keeffe).

His sleep has been steadily improving but the change of pace in his painting is the greatest indicator. His painting has turned more experimental and more playful, and so while the images that haunt him may not yet have left, he's expressed them as best he can and now he's trying to move on. Ghost does this, gets worse and forces himself to get better. It's been happening more lately than he likes, more than it has in a few years, but he's still an old hand at surviving the cycle. And this time—unlike the worst of it, when he was in high school—he has Aaron there to help him.

Yeah, they're adorable
For the boys are still adorable and in love.

And they're still all over one another
And they're still all over each other.
(Is it just me or is the woohoo icon a little ... freaky, close up?)

In the same vein, the writing for this time is about how Aaron helped Ghost though his last bit of sleep troubles. Aaron doesn't really know that he helped—but even if he's no good at reaching out, his concern is visible in all that he does.

Storybit 05: Aaron picks Ghost up from work.
900 words
Takes place at the same time as this picture from this update.
Resolves Storybit 02: Ghost dreams of death from this update.
Contains swearing and allusions to sex.

* * * * *

It's been a foul day. Ghost is as patient and as forgiving as anyone like Aaron could wish for, but even he has his limits and that toilet breaking finally reached them. And patient and forgiving are not Aaron's strong points, so when Ghost loses his temper Aaron does too. The whole morning went to shit that way, and now as Aaron sits in the graveyard his throat is still sore from shouting. To be fair, arguing with that fellow Asher didn't do his voice any favors—but Aaron feels calm now, so it helped. He's almost too calm, drowsy in the dark. The full moon glints uncertain light over the headstones, wavers across the pond, and Aaron zips up his hoodie up and shivers.

He hears the sound of scraping stone and jumps up from the park bench. Ghost is closing the mausoleum door behind him, his mouth a thin line; when he turns, he looks at Aaron with pale confusion.

"I was in the neighborhood," Aaron says.

"Oh," says Ghost, and god he looks tired. Skin pale by moonlight, eyes shadowed by night, he almost looks ill. Aaron walks towards him and Ghost meets him halfway, the two of them standing near the pond that catches and recasts their reflection, blurred and reversed. Ghost's coworker and boss pass by them, brief images in the pond, but neither Ghost nor Aaron look over.

"I brought the car," Aaron says. "Figured it would be better than the carpool."

Ghost nods and says, "Thanks." And as if he's heard, Ghost's coworker doesn't even pound the horn before driving off.

"Yeah, no problem." Aaron is silent for a moment, thinking that this would be a good time to apologize for this morning—but apologies aren't his strong point either. Instead he shrugs, pushing his hoodie up on his shoulders, and says, "Aren't you cold?"

Ghost glances down at his arms as if he'd not noticed they were bare. "Not really," he says, never mind that his tank is so worn it's threadbare at the hem.

Aaron nods but he hugs Ghost anyway, wrapping all that bare flesh up in his two arms. Ghost rests his cheek on Aaron's shoulder and sighs, and Aaron nudges Ghost's head with his own.

"You're really okay?" Aaron whispers. The graveyard is eerie in its silence. That's silly, maybe—they're used to having Gertrude walking around the house, but cold and quiet like this, the graveyard is still a little creepy. Perhaps it's the absence of all life: no haunting spirits, no gravediggers, just marble, iron, and the wind through dry brambles.

Ghost pulls back, but his touch lingers. His hand on Aaron's shoulder, his eyes downcast, he shrugs. "I'm fine. I'm just really tired." His touch trails down Aaron's arm, reluctant to part, and so Aaron captures his hand and holds it, making Ghost smile even though he's still looking somewhere in the direction of his toes. "It was a long shift. A long day. I didn't get a lot of sleep."

"Seems like you never do."

"Yeah, but..." Ghost trails off and looks up, his eyes hollow and pale. "Do you ever have that feeling where you're driving real fast and imagine what it would be like to jump out of the car, or where you're standing somewhere high and think about what it would be like to jump off?"

"All the time, man," Aaron says.

"I've been having dreams like that. Not so much now, but a few weeks back they were every single night. It's just been getting to me. It's exhausting."

"Scary?"

"Only in that I'm not scared when I jump."

Aaron squeezes Ghost's hand and kisses him, briefly, gently. "You can always wake me up," he says. "If it would help."

"I don't think it would," says Ghost. "But thanks."

"Well, even then." And Aaron realizes that that isn't what he wants. He doesn't want to try and give Ghost help after the fact, help that Ghost will never ask for anyway. He wants to go to bed with Ghost at night, to curl around him and try to fight off Ghost's dreams that way. It might be a little awkward, though, when Ghost awakes to feel Aaron's morning wood pressed against his ass. Aaron figures that's the reason most folk don't sleep together until they've already slept together—fucked, he tells himself, might as well be blunt—and he and Ghost seem a long way away from that. Not that Aaron doesn't want to—he sure as shit wants to—but there's always something in the way.

Right now, though, Aaron isn't interested in sex. He just wishes that their sorry little house had only one bedroom and that they had to share it, curled together in his bed under the brown quilt, and that he could hold Ghost against him through the night. Instead, Aaron hugs Ghost again, pulls him tight and buries his face in the crook of Ghost's neck, and kisses that tender skin.

"You okay?" Ghost asks after a minute passes and Aaron still hasn't released him.

"Yeah," Aaron mumbles into Ghost's skin. He nips the side of Ghost's neck, flicks his tongue against the same patch of skin, and Ghost makes a soft noise into Aaron's hair. "Yeah, sorry," says Aaron again, pulling away. "I'm just tired too, I guess. Let's head home."

* * * * *


So. I'm planning to take a short break from Ghost and Aaron to play with an overstuffed household and potentially some more genetics. As with Nika's household, there'll probably be less blogging and less story as that goes, but I'm so addicted to picspams that I expect there shall still be some. I'm confident that I'll return to Ghost and Aaron before long—they're just too precious to leave.

Before that, though, some truly random Ghost and Aaron humor. I am (no surprise, after Second Life) addicted to custom content; as such I spend plentiful time demoing new items. I stumbled across a (shiny!) skin which I had not tried before and thought I'd check it out, so I installed it and had the boys strip down and was playing Barbie—er, Ken doll. Meanwhile I'd forgotten that Emily was in the house but, oh, not the boys! As soon as they were free they both made nakey beelines across the house to go chat with her.

If it looks like Aaron is insulting Emily's family in the nude...
So if it looks like Aaron is insulting Emily's family in the nude...
...well, it's because he is.

Emily demands an explanation from her creator
Emily demands an explanation of her creator and tries not to look down.

It's the flamingo that kills me
But with Ghost, it's the flamingo that kills me.

Everyone has lost all memory of these events, as they do of most of my CC demos, and obviously I have scrapped the (shiny!) skins, but yeps, it amused me.

Ghost and Aaron: Master List | Next Update

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juushika

May 2025

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