The Bradford Legacy: The War Years Part 3 - Alice & Nick

[silverbellelj]

At long last, the penultimate chapter of my war saga is finished! Click on the picture to read Alice & Nick's portion of the War Years Chapter.  Comments can be left here or on the thread at Boolprop.  I hope you enjoy!

Comments

[leilia.livejournal.com]

I've been kind of crap for leaving comments lately. But I feel I need to here. Loved the chapter I like Alice's take on being the "Greatest Generation" I mean who decides that and aren't all generations great in their own way.



It would have been interesting if Nick had been the one to die and he came close. I know you would have done well with it. Still it's sad about Dotty. I got a "League of their own" vibe from the scene where Dotty got her letter.

My brain is kind of fried, but good chapter and I'm glad to see Nick makes it home.

And Steven is cute!

[joandsarah.livejournal.com]

I haven't had to reach for my tissues so much during a sim story before. It felt very realistic and I wasn't at all sure who was going to get that telegram. It was very well done. I'm glad I had the time this afternoon to read through properly. Looking forward to seeing more.

[ms-norrington.livejournal.com]

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

OMG! What a great way to start my day! First off awesome job with this. it read like a compelling short story. Very well done. I've spent the last hour reading and hosing down my keyboard. I swear it'll never be the same. *shakes head in shame* You turned me into a blubbering wreck this time around. Where do I even start?


I cried at steven's birth, at nicky's imagining christmas at home, at D-Day, at every surrender, at Dotty's husband's death (didn't even know the guy but cried like a baby), Gilbert's death and poor Taddy's breakdown, at nicky's homecoming... it'd prob'ly be easier to list all the things that didn't make me cry. It'd be a shorter list, that's for sure *rolls eyes*

And despite all the spoilers and knowing Nick was coming home didn't lesson the tension in the air or the ache and worry for his safety. I was with the family experiencing their emotions and suffering their sorrows as well as celebrating their joys :)

There's such a balance of emotions during this period of time. I'd always felt like alice when it came to the dropping of atomic bombs on a civilian population. I never thought it was something to celebrate or be proud of and yet, by that time in the story I could understand where James was coming from too. I mean, the war had to end. the Japanese government took a gamble with their own people's lives and it's such a shame it came to that.

This whole thing was just so beautifully handled and touching. I've told you before that the Bradfords don't feel like pixels to me, they're like a family whose tale I've been following through history and I genuinely love them :)

Anyway, I loved this and you totally made my day. I've only one question though, why doesn't anyone seem to like Rosalie? I used to think it was just Shirley who couldn't stand her but now it seems that even Alice doesn't like her childhood friend. Rosalie doesn't seem too bad. A little pompous at times but she came across as someone with some endearing qualities, at least to me.


Oh and it was fun to see Asher's cameo. Weird, even with the different defaults I recognized him right away. Boy is he ugly with the regular sims 2 skin lol. Awesome poetic use of Zane and Quinn.

[katee412.livejournal.com]

I felt so many emotions in this chapter, and when that first letter arrived, I was actually on the edge of my seat.

Once again I find myself in awe of how you have managed to tackle such a tumultuous subject with such grace through your characters and their story.

And Steven is adorable :D

[tatdatcm.livejournal.com]

Loved this chapter. It was filled with emotion and you did it all so well. I felt like I was riding the ups and downs right along with the family.

I like how you touched on some of the more horrific parts of the war. They were important enough that they had to be mentioned, but they would have been really, really difficult to set up and film.

I'm so glad that Nick survived! It was so hard to guess from the other (cryptic) drabbles you've done whether he was going to make it or not. Steven is adorable too.

I read it late last night - just before bed - and it made such an impression that it got incorporated into my dreams!

[missblain.livejournal.com]

Hi again!


Loved your update! I agree with all the comments above. I'll try not to repeat all of them. :)
So glad Nick survived, I was really worried! You're right when you say that it would be a really great point of view to write from. But I like Nick and Alice just too much to have wanted him to die.(And secretly I'm very happy he didn't die in the 'simdennes', I would have probably wanted to pack my bags and move to another country.)

I really enjoyed the medical part. The moment when Nick's patient dies was really moving, you captured Nick's emotions beautifully.

I'm also glad Danny is still alive, loved the bickering between him and Nick about who had to salute who.

Steve is just too cute!

[smoothiesims.livejournal.com]

This was a really great update, Heidi!

I was seriously scared for Nick for a while there precisely because I knew Alice was pregnant when he left, but I am glad he made it and that he and Steven get the chance to really know each other. Poor Dotty, though. I do hope she will get to make that grand tour and maybe find someone else if she wants! And I'm glad Danny's all right, too. Rosalie continues to be insufferable, ugh.

You also had some really excellent pictures this chapter. Mad props to you for putting all that effort in.

Can't wait to see how Danny did!

[penguingirl03.livejournal.com]

OMG!
*breaths HUGE sigh of relief* Holy Cow Heidi this was an awesome chapter! You took me through the roller coaster of emotions (and you still made me tear up even though Nick made it).

I loved all of the letters between Nick and his family and how you dealt with the passage of time.

I am completely heartbroken for Dotty but utterly relieved that it was her husband and not Nick. Now we know whose grave she'll be visiting in Europe. I was definitely holding my breath in that scene though I thought it wasn't Nick since we hadn't seen him get injured yet.

I definitely teared up at Nick's homecoming. It was nice to see everyone have a reason to celebrate and it is good to see Dotty starting to recover. I'm glad James was able to help Nick on his way to healing as well.

Oh man he rolled #3? Wow that was close wasn't it?

Brilliant job! Can't wait for the last two installments!

[docnerd.livejournal.com]

I'm happy that Nick made it out alive. I know how tempting it can be to kill them for maximum emotional impact! Although I must admit, however grudgingly, that I do occasionally like a happy ending too.

Also, is there ever a time where Zane doesn't kill Quinn (or just about)?

[rosefyre.livejournal.com]

Ugh, a month late. At least it's a comment?

Yeah, Nick shouldn't worry about short letters - I think they're happy just to know he's alive and doing well! Besides, he's still writing, which is one up on various people I knew at sleepaway camp - one wrote all of his letters BEFORE he even left for camp, then just stuck them in envelopes and sent them off once he was there, and another would write a big M on a piece of paper to let her parents know she was alive and safe but not in the mood to write to them. Nick is positively verbose in comparison.

You know, one of these days someone needs to write a story where a woman feeling sick and everyone thinking she's pregnant...isn't her being pregnant. I think we're all guilty of that sin. :P

I love how vain James and Cindy are - well, not vain, but very attached to how their hair looks. It's amusing.

Smart of Nick to amend his will, no matter how much it sucks that he had to. He's right to do so, though, and probably right not to tell Cindy about it - she's very...well, I think she's refusing to think about the possibility that her children might not come home because it freaks her out. Poor her. Of course, then James ends up telling her anyway...I guess she handled it fine, probably by concentrating on how Alice would feel. Definitely poor Alice.

I am highly amused at all the ways you find to tell us where sims are while "not alerting the censors." :P

War does offer opportunities, doesn't it? People learn so much so fast, things are invented and improved very quickly...but the price that's paid for all those improvements is so high, I guess it's a debate on how much it's worth it.

Heh. James is becoming all law-abiding in his old age. :P

As I said before, I'm glad you mentioned the Holocaust (as it was such a major part of the war) but at the same time that you didn't go super in depth with it. It would be hell to film, and even though we don't rate our sims stories...there are topics that do deserve warnings, and showing sims in those conditions would be one of them. Also, I'm glad for Nick's sake that he didn't have to experience it much more first-hand than hearing about it, because it is something that probably affected him for the rest of his life even more than the war alone did - and I'm glad James helped him work through it once he was home.

Nick's reaction to Dotty's beau = highly amusing.

Yay baby! :D

Neither Nick nor Danny ever got to meet Dotty's husband, did they? I suppose that happens in war, but...ouch. I guess all I can say is, at least Nick got to meet his KID.

...I have forgotten a lot of the more distant cousins. Which one is Edith again?

I really do want to see where you take Rosalie, because NO ONE is totally happy with her right now, which...says something about her.

I have to admit I wasn't worried at the telegram: I knew it was Dotty's husband and not Nick. You weren't going to kill Nick less than halfway through the chapter, you weren't going to kill Nick without at least one more letter from him or one more scene with him in battle, and you weren't going to kill Nick without that scene you'd written for...myshuno, I think, happening. It was just too early for it to be Nick, and you'd already stated he basically wasn't in danger.

I am curious about what you're going to do with Dotty's chapter, since you've already covered so much of what she went through in this one. I mean, you kind of had to - anything that happened to her husband was going to affect James and Cindy, and therefore Alice - but now we know that her husband already dies. So where will you go? I'm curious.

(To be Continued.)