Name: Passunder
Story: Crimes Against Romance (Alternative title: Be Gay, Do Crime)
Colors: Light Black #13: Rotate
Styles and Supplies: Life Drawing, Gesso, Gift Wrap, Thread, Portrait, Graffiti (May-June Parents Challenge), Oils (your character is gay and loves their life), Acrylic (June 16 2025: "Your character finds a journal or a letter that explains or reveals something important that they would never have known otherwise.")
Word Count: 6030
Rating: Technically G, but there are hints of non-G-rated stuff happening off-screen
Warnings: Introduction of 15 different on-screen characters, and a couple off-screen characters who are haunting the narrative
Characters and Established Relationships: (deep breath) Aubrey Bren/Irfan Pai, River Bren/Tabitha Bren, Gail Bren, Jeanine Bren, Anne Bren/Gavin Newson Bren, Benjamin Bren, Daniel Bren, Noah Bren, Andrew Bren Goss/Vamsi Goss, Sadie Gregory, Bess Gregory
Dates: March and April of 1996 (but see the Gesso Notes about the passage of time)
Summary: Aubrey discovers secrets in his grandmother's house during a Passover seder.
Notes: This is my tawdry gay Sims telenovela a story I came up with for some sims in an ancient Sims 2 neighborhood about organized crime and crooked lawyers that I never got to realize because the neighborhood got deleted in 2013, but this story has never been deleted from my brain. Silvercat said on the Discord that this kind of Sims story about original characters counts as original and counts as Gesso for Rainbowfic purposes, so I figured I would actually write it up and post it. There should be 33 more installments, but most of the rest of this won't come until after I've finished the Fulcrum, because I want to use a completely different set of lists for it. I technically could have waited to post this, too, since I'll be using Light Black for a long time still to come, but this particular scene was burning a hole in my brain and I had to write it now. I've added notes about the Gesso borrowings, since I don't expect people to actually be familiar with 20-year-old video games, and also included the in-game portraits of all of the sims, since I do actually still have them.

As was hopefully communicated by the telenovela title, this story runs on high octane interpersonal drama and really tropey romance, which is kind of par for the course for stories I come up with for my sims, really, although this specific piece of it is uncharacteristically normal. This is also very much a grey-versus-black morality story - the protagonists are not really good guys, and don't have a lot of illusions about that, but they should at least be significantly more sympathetic than the antagonists.

( Passunder )

( Gesso Notes (1499 words) )

( Sim Pictures and Notes (2698 words) )

Name: A Final Return
Story: The Fulcrum
Colors: Ecru #8: Judge, Techelet #6: Olam Haba'a (the world to come)
Styles and Supplies: Panorama, Glue (June 12 2025: "It's a good day to express your thoughts and feelings, Gemini. Whether it's a loved one who'd appreciate affectionate words or a colleague who requires instruction, communication will come more easily than usual. You have a practical nature. Often you say what you think is required and not much else. Yet others may need you to say a lot more. Consider this as you go about your day."), Brushes (June 12 2025: Impute)
Word Count: 2625
Rating: PG
Warnings: Discussion of Slavery
Characters: Setsiana, Qhoroali
In-Universe Date: 1912.1.1.2
Summary: Setsiana talks to Qhoroali while they return to Nwórza.
Notes: This is the last post of Part 1 of the Fulcrum (and the last Ecru prompt, as well). In terms of Rainbowfic posts, this is almost exactly 1/3 of the way through the full story. Thank you guys for reading! There will be a short break where I post two non-Fulcrum-related things, and then I will be back with the beginning of Part 2.

( A Final Return )