Chapter 1.1 - A New Beginning

Ophelia Peregrine, like so many other young Sims, had come to a new town with only a few simoleons and a dream. Unfortunately, her endeavor hadn't gone quite the way she'd expected so far. Her simoleons had gone far enough to buy a cute little house, which she'd purchased before she even moved to town.

However, the realtor had failed to mention that she'd be sharing her property with a ghost.

Actually, scratch that: several ghosts. Several ghosts who apparently no longer had to adhere to public indecency laws.

"Ghosts," Ophelia grumbled. "I moved to Riverview because it's supposed to be a bucolic small town. Nobody ever mentioned ghosts!"

If she'd had any other kind of infestation, Ophelia would have been able to call someone to deal with it. But since (in her opinion) no sensible person foresaw the need to have the Ghostbusters on speed dial, she had no idea what to do about this particular issue. Therefore, she went to her default coping mechanism: avoidance. She decided that maybe, just maybe, if she left the house for a little while, the ghosts would be gone when she got back. Or, alternatively, she'd be able to find some way to get rid of them.

The first thing she did was head over to the police department to pursue her dream of becoming a quirky small town forensic scientist, who would inevitably be called upon to solve crimes that stumped even the greatest of detectives (Ophelia was a big fan of both mystery novels and police procedurals).

That, too, didn't go quite as expected. When she asked how she would go about becoming a forensic scientist, the sim at the front desk told her that unless she had a fancy degree (she didn't), she was going to have to work her way up from the bottom. So now she had a job that seemed to mostly consist of getting coffee and occasionally filling out paperwork. She guessed it was a paying job, but it was so far below what she'd hoped to be doing that she couldn't be happy about it.

Ophelia wanted to go home now, but she was in no mood to have to face the ghosts, so instead she went to the library. She resolved to bury herself in a book for a few hours. That always made her feel better. But she was still trying to find a book when she heard a voice.

"What's a girl like you doing in a place like this?"

She turned around, ready to give him a piece of her mind, then saw the smile on his face that made it clear he was joking.

He held out his hand. "Jon Lessen. Nice to meet you."

She shook it. "Ophelia Peregrine. Likewise."

"So what does bring you here? Just wanting to read is an entirely valid answer."

Ophelia hesitated, but she honestly really just needed to vent. "Do you know if Riverview has a ghost problem? Because I just got to town, and there are three ghosts in my house! They won't go away! I refuse to share my house with the long-dead ghosts of random strangers." She shook her head. "We never had to deal with ghosts in Starlight Shores."

Jon nodded. "I wouldn't call it a ghost problem, exactly, but we certainly have a few haunted houses. Everyone knows the Jones place is haunted, and I'm assuming you moved in to the old house on Ely Court. It's a cute place, but everyone around here knows about the ghosts. I think the city's been trying to work up some way to get rid of ghosts. I can make some calls..."

"I'd really appreciate if you could."

He grinned at her. "Anything for a pretty girl." 

And sure enough, after about half an hour, Ophelia got a phone call.

"Hello?"

"Ophelia Peregrine? This is Job Lankste from the Riverview Repo Department. I hear you have a ghost problem?"

"Yes! If you could deal with it, that would be great. Just send me the bill or whatever, I want those ghosts out of my house."

After she hung up, Ophelia thought briefly about Jon. He really had lived up to his promise to get the ghosts out of her house. She would have to thank him.

Ophelia knew that she could go home now... but she didn't.

She told herself that she wanted to play chess. There wasn't a chessboard at her house, so she had to go to the park to play. That made sense... right? She absolutely wasn't playing chess with herself for two hours just to make sure the ghosts were gone by the time she got back. That would be ridiculous.

After the chess, a couple invited her to share their picnic dinner, and she joined them. Because she wanted company, not because she didn't want to go home. Not that they were great company. They fought the whole time she sat there, not seeming to pay much attention to her. She tried to tune them out, but certain phrases jumped out...

"If you have it your way, I'll be sleeping on a bench at the park soon! Do you want your husband sleeping out here like a hobo?"

"Better than not knowing whose bed you're in!"

"I already told you, I was out fishing!"

"I bet you were, out all night like that!"

Ophelia ate as quickly as possible.

Eventually, though, she was very tired and knew she had to go home. She, like the man she'd eaten dinner with, had no desire to sleep on a park bench tonight.

When she got there, though, she was extremely displeased.

The ghosts still hadn't been disposed of.

Ophelia was angrier than she'd been in a long time when the phone rang as soon as she got inside.

"What is it now?"

"Well, it turns out legal technicalities mean I have to be home while he takes care of the ghosts. What's that about? They kick you out of your house while you have an insect infestation, why not do the same with ghosts?"

"Oh, so all emergency services around here are terrible? That's very encouraging."

"Yeah, other than the ghosts, the house is nice. It's a little brightly colored for my taste, but I bought it furnished, so I can't complain."

"It looks like he's done now, actually. It was nice of you to check on me, though."

"Oh, and Jon? Thanks for helping me out. It really means a lot."

And so Ophelia Peregrine managed to go to sleep on her first night in Riverview untroubled by ghosts.

Author's Note: This was the easiest chapter I've written in ages. I can't even remember the last time I got a whole chapter done in a day. It was probably never. 

I've decided that while I'm gonna do some plot for this legacy (without spoilers, it's kind of necessary for the rolls I got), it will not be as intensive or pose-reliant as the plots I've written previously, and I'll adapt it to suit whatever happens in my game.

Ophelia Peregrine is a good, grumpy, ambitious, dramatic genius. I'm probably gonna make a rolls and traits page for this legacy, but not until I reveal the first generation rolls, which probably won't be for a little while.