Then It Was Love Wallpaper Trioscopic (Fullscreen)

Scene from: "Sodality"
Made with: "The Sims 3: Pets"

BACKGROUND
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In 2018, the US has gone over the fiscal cliff, and splintered into four nations. Some have chosen to remain in Ameristan, the eastern US as now ruled by a Jihadist faction, believing no harm will come to them. Others have registered to be citizens of the newly-formed Toklisana. However, not everyone is able to leave right away.

Of those on the waiting list, only a few suspect the betrayal that is soon to come. While alone and at a conference with her godfather Imaki in Evansville, young Candi Flippo, the Hebbleskin launched a raid. A fight soon broke out at the convention center, and Candi was nearly dealt a serious blow by a mantis-themed monstrosity. She was spared, however, by a boy who flew in and fought the monster head-on.

Just as that boy was about to be trapped in a Marlquaanite prison, Candi fought off its wielder, giving the boy a chance to save himself.

Things continued to get out of hand. The boy turned out to have a mentor: Rev. Clarence Wimmentel. Alas, Wimmentel got into the line of fire right as the boy had been rescued from what would have been his doom. He was shot down by a Meethlite holding a revolver, much to the boy's horror. For all that the boy could do, he couldn't save his mentor. That boy soon found himself fleeing the scene with the help of Candi and Imaki.

The new regime showed up with tanks, and made quick work of most of those who were still there. The conference was supposed to be about finding one's peace via healthy relationship with God; but ended in war. The Hebbleskins wanted to stamp out all such things; and a convention center event dedicated to such a thing was a perfect target for Duke Arfaas' army to gain some experience.

As the boy made it back to Candi and Imaki's hotel, he revealed he was not technically a boy at all. He was Donte McArthur, a man five years older than Candi. Even so, the two of them got to talking.

As they continued talking, Imaki knew to not speak up too much. He knew that Candi's older sister Erin, who was also Candi's legal guardian, would not approve. Erin, who was becoming ill, was extremely paranoid about her younger sisters dating. Even so; Imaki knew right away that there was something about Donte that was different from the men Candi usually dated. Something...VERY different.

He eventually got Donte to confess to Candi the secret that Imaki did some research to cover up: Donte was also Evansville's green-suited defender: Emeraldon!

Candi revealed that Imaki wanted her to take a similar road as Donte, stating that the regime changes might create for them a world where Candi would have little choice.

As they met again numerous times; they grew more confident opening up more and more. Candi confessed to being raped by Don the Psycho, and how she was never the same afterward. Donte confessed that when his power first manifested, he couldn't resist the urge to take revenge on the men who murdered his father. He may not have killed them per se; but he left them wishing they were dead.

When they saw how religious each other was as well, that made the appeal even stronger.

By the time of the above image, the two had been friends for almost a month and a half. Candi knows the trouble she'll get in. But just this once; she doesn't care. She drops hints; and Donte understands them.

He shows up out of the blue at Gerosha High one evening in late October, as the football season is wrapping up. Candi is in her senior year. Her encounter with Don was at the age of 12, when she was in sixth grade. Since then, rumors have flown around Gerosha about her and her sisters. Any even remotely flirty look in her eyes towards anyone would result in rumors about how she allegedly really gets around.

As the school's enrollment becomes increasingly obsessed with sex every month, Candi begins to realize that she should forgo any real effort at making friends. None of the pickings are worth her while. But when she sees Donte, she seizes her moment to hide under the bleachers during the game and share a few kind words with him.

She knows it won't take long before word gets out that she has a boyfriend. But she doesn't care. She knows that Donte will ignore all the slander they launch against her. He knows her true character.

She eagerly awaits it: the moment that he'll actually say what she was hoping he would. But he doesn't say he loves her simply. He instead states this:

"With or without a helper, I've got a rough road ahead. If you don't mind the rough part; then I don't imagine meeting a more suitable..."

She interrupts him with: "Shhh! I don't either!"

They soon kissed. And then it was love. Yes, she did have a lustful side to her nature as well. But she wouldn't have to worry about it this evening. This evening, love and infatuation battled for which was more dominant in her mind. And for once; she didn't care that she'd be labeled a skank if seen kissing a man.

If anything, she feared more for Donte's reputation. Even though they were both well of legal age; he was old enough to be in college. She was still technically in high school. And she was more than happy to know that the nonsense of high school was about to be behind her.

Little did she know, however, that the regime's betrayal would put her life - and everyone else's - tremendously at stake! As the stress of battling to survive closed in, her and Donte would find reason to form stronger and more meaningful bonds than ever before!

Those bonds would have to be much stronger than the puppy love that began on this fateful evening; one where the only noise present to ruin her romantic moment, was the occasional whistle of referee, calling a bad play.

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Note 1: The reason this is a 1280x1024 wallpaper is because the widescreen 3D didn't work.

Note 2: This is the fifth different version of how they met. In the original "Vigilante Centipede" script, Candi and Donte first met in Stratford, Canada. (A reference to my high school class in the fall of 2000 making a similar trip.) The new continuity discusses the US disintegrating in 2018, which would have made it near-impossible for Gerosha High to secure a field trip to Canada. Both versions of how they met are more exciting than the explanation given in the 2007 webcomic; where they met battling an invisible man in an abandoned warehouse. Before that, the 2006 version offered very little explanation for how they met. And in the 2005 version, they met when Candi was looking for a job.