Vaughn comes back to their table, drinks in hand. Hex hopes he doesn’t notice her nervousness. He was standing so close to Gabriella Avila, the sim who passes orders between Hex and the head of the Llama Gang. Hex kept a close eye on them, as Gabriella kept trying to talk to him.

Hex: “Everything okay? I saw someone uhh…chatting to you.”

Vaughn raises an eyebrow as he sets their drinks down on the table. Hex senses a curious thought pass through his mind. He’s wondering if she’s acting jealous about him talking to another sim. His mind is influenced by his voodoo doll-induced flirtiness. He likes it. He hopes Hex likes him as much as he likes her.

Vaughn: “Yeah. She said I was cute, but I told her I wasn’t interested. I was buying a drink for my adorable date.”

Hex blushes involuntarily as she looks away. She’s not used to Vaughn being this forward. She doesn’t want to come across as possessive or controlling, even though he’s under the influence of her voodoo doll.

Hex: “Well, your adorable date thanks her adorable date for the drink.”

Vaughn laughs and sits down opposite her. An awkward silence builds as they sip their drinks, gathering themselves after more obvious flirting.

Hex approaches Vaughn cautiously, trying not to show her trepidation in her stance. She doesn’t know how he will react whilst under the influence of her voodoo doll. He seems to be back to normal, but she can sense his heavily flirty mood. He will hang off of her every word!

The pair chat for a while at the corner of the bar, lightly catching up as they haven’t seen each other for a while. Their conversation is pleasant, but Hex notices Vaughn leaning closer than usual. His shy advances are very welcome!

Vaughn: “My turn to get the drinks. What do you want?”

Hex: “A rootbeer, please. It’s a childhood and family favourite.”

Vaughn: “Adorable! I’ll be right back!”

Hex can’t help but giggle as Vaughn saunters away from her. His confidence under the influence of her voodoo doll is infectious! Her gaze follows him as he heads to the bar. Once he joins the queue, her heart skips a beat.

Is that Gabriella? One of her work colleagues from the Llama Gang? Is she spying on her?! Plumbobs, Hex needs to keep Vaughn away from her!

Hex finishes the spell just in time as Vaughn turns around to face her.

For a moment, her breath hitches as her heart rate slows. She freezes on the spot, gazing into the glazed over eyes of her potential date. He stares back at her, completely expressionless. Has she done something wrong? What if the spell failed and instead it sucked out his soul, rather than drawing his to hers?

Hesitating for a moment longer, Hex slips the voodoo doll back into her inventory. She waits impatiently for the colour to return to his cheeks. The glazed over look in his eyes fades away, revealing the light blue of a clear blue sky.

Vaughn: “Hex?”

Hex feels her stomach swoop when she sees Vaughn’s cheeks darken as he blushes. He looks like a lovesick teenager as he catches her gaze, coming out of the voodoo doll daze. The spell worked! Hex can sense his emotional state shift from tense orange to flirty pink!

Hex must act quickly whilst Vaughn’s back is turned!

Standing in the middle of the full bar, Hex pulls her voodoo doll out of her inventory. A wave of guilt washes over her as she stares down into its button eyes. She fell in love with her ex boyfriend, Weatherly, so naturally. She knows it’s wrong to influence the feelings of another sim, but she does it all the time with her alien abilities. Why is it any different with a voodoo doll?

Hex holds the doll between her palms, closing her eyes as she concentrates. She reaches her mind out to Vaughn’s, seeing him tense up. A purple glow twists around her hands as she waves them like a spellcaster. The voodoo doll wriggles as it gains a life of its own.

Hex: “Voodoo Doll, I can’t do this any more. I need cuddles and someone to adore!”

With the words muttered under her breath, the voodoo doll swivels in her hands towards Vaughn. It playfully waves at him as the bond forms, connecting the two!

For the first time in weeks, Hex gets all dressed up ready for a night out! She used to go out a lot when she was at university, but she had someone to celebrate with back then. Only at the end of her studies did nights out with her ex boyfriend, Weatherly, sour.

On her last night out at university, Hex met a kind and shy sim named Vaughn. They kept in contact via Hex’s second Social Bunny page, the one under her human form. They then bumped into each other by coincidence at a makerspace in Evergreen Harbour. Fate keeps pulling them together. Is this where Hex’s story is headed?

There was an instant attraction between the two when they first met. They casually flirted, as Hex was in a relationship at the time. Since then, she hasn’t been ready for a relationship. Maybe dipping her toes into the waters of dating will heal the holes in her heart?

Hex feels a flurry of butterflies in her stomach as she sees Vaughn waiting for her at the bar. He’s attracted to her, but she needs something sooner. She’s desperate for companionship. She needs to strengthen his feelings for her, so she can develop hers too…

Evergreen Harbour, Port Promise ~

Full of thoughts, Hex wanders around her home, contemplating her life.

There’s so much of her personality throughout the home that no one can see. Photographs of her loved ones, those she sees and those she doesn’t. Various objects that mean something from her past rest on bookshelves, only reminding her of those she misses.

Stopping before a small table next to her front door, Hex’s gaze roams over a collection of oddities, one of her most recent purchases. She picked up the alien dolls in Strangerville when she purchased a load of bugs to spy on and blackmail sims. The MySims doll was purchased at a flea market, as it embodies her human form.

The best yet most dangerous object is a voodoo doll. She doesn’t remember where it came from, but she’s had it for years. Once bound to a sim, Hex can bend them to her will, making them do whatever she needs. It feels so cruel, but she could use the doll to help her find her true love…

Hex knows there is a sim who’s already attracted to her. She’d feel less guilty by enhancing the feelings of a sim who already likes her.

Pulling out her phone, Hex sends a text and asks a special someone if they’d like to meet up…

Life rolls on. Days pass by. Nothing changes.

Hex’s loneliness hits harder every day. Living with her cat, Diesel, only fills some of the holes in her heart. She throws herself into work, but even her job doesn’t satisfy her anymore. She gets a small boost of happiness from decorating her home, but that’s it.

By living two different lives, Hex thought her life would be full of sims. New faces, new personalities. Instead, she can’t fully trust a single person she works with, as they’re all criminals with their own agendas. Her personal life isn’t going great either.

Looking around her home, Hex realises that the bright colours don’t cheer her up like they used to. She needs more, she just doesn’t know where to find it.

Hex forces herself to get out more, rather than staying at home and chatting to her cat, Diesel. She became a recluse after adopting her fur son. He always looks at her like she’s his whole world. He’s there when she’s had a bad day. He sleeps next to her or pressed up against her in bed. He’s her child and her best friend.

But, Hex needs conversation sometimes. Diesel is a talkative cat, but she can’t understand his advice. If only she could communicate with felines!

The sky is clouded over. It could rain at any moment. Although she wants to stay indoors, Hex changes into her athletic wear and goes for a jog. She needs to stay in physical shape. Her narrow escape from her heist a few days ago showed her she’s not on top form.

Once she gets a fair distance from her home, the skies open up. Torrential rain hammers down around her, soaking her to the skin. A huge sigh escapes Hex as she slows to a walk, not wanting to skid on the puddles forming before her feet.

As she trudges home, feeling miserable, Hex gets a notification from Social Bunny. She pulls out her phone and clicks on the post, seeing that her big sister, Ashe, has uploaded something. Hex feels a wave of loneliness wash over her with the rain. Ashe’s long term partner, Iosphena, has moved in!

Hex likes the post, but tucks her phone away before despair grabs hold of her heart.

Hex’s ill-gotten gains finance a huge expansion of her home!

After selling the piano and some other stolen objects, Hex commissions some of her colleagues in the Llama Gang to add another container onto the side of her home. She gets more space for a spare bedroom, which should be for guests but really becomes her fur son’s room. Diesel loves snoozing away in the sunny spot on the bed whilst Hex runs around causing chaos. There’s another empty room which will become a second bedroom at a later date.

Best of all, Hex has enough money to sink another container beneath the foundations of her home. A ladder around the back of her kitchen connects everything up, forming a secret lair underneath her house.

Hex sets up a couple of chairs and some couches around a huge screen that can be used to plan heists or shipping routes for the gang’s stolen goods. Her listening station moves down here, as well as a computer and research machine. She can even afford a robotics bench, a long term plan to create the perfect partner in crime.

Hex refers to her new routine as dastardly domestic. Even an evil lair needs vacuuming!

Hex closes the door quietly, making sure to lock it back up. She lets out a sigh of relief when no alarms trigger. Her intelligence from her criminal organisation was so wrong. The family isn’t rich. There isn’t a huge security presence.

Suddenly, Hex hears movement from inside the house. A spotlight triggers at the front of the house, scanning the manicured gardens. A second later, burglar alarms ring out around the property. Hex feels a pang of panic as she stuffs her tools into her inventory, then takes off running!

How did they catch her?! She hasn’t triggered any alarms! There’s no way the family could know she was sneaking around their property, stealing simoleons and expensive items. It’s a good thing that she decided not to stay and wait out her moodlets so she could steal more things!

With no regard for being cautious, Hex sprints down the large driveway, heading to the main gate. She hears dogs barking in the distance. At any moment, the security could be on her! What went wrong? Her plan was meticulous!

Hex scales the gate just as hears footsteps and snarling dogs running towards her. She doesn’t notice another shadowy figure at the end of the property, a being who triggered the alarms and alerted everyone to her presence…

Jackpot!

Stalking through the house as silent as a shadow, Hex comes across a hobby room. An expensive easel with an artist’s set up props up in one corner. The creative corner draws the eye towards a huge, expensive piano at the centre of the room.

Hex has a bad history with music. Her parents abandoned her and her siblings for a music career. Her mother, Reed’s, main instrument was the piano. It feels right to steal something and sell it off, having no appreciation for the piano itself.

The piano slips straight into Hex’s inventory. With her stolen simoleons from the vault, her haul is closer to §10000. That figure is worth the danger of getting caught mid-heist!

Not wanting to push it any further, Hex starts creeping back towards the back door of the property. Any minute now, the alarm system could trigger and send security running her way!

Filled with anger, Hex breaks her subtle stalking around the property and runs towards the main house.

How was her intelligence so inaccurate? She was told by a member of her criminal organisation that there were riches locked away in a safe on this huge property. Instead, the vault contained only a few thousand simoleons buried amongst fake notes. Either, the family aren’t as rich as they claim, or their real simoleons are locked away somewhere safe. The vault and the fake notes could be a distraction.

Once Hex reaches the main house, she takes a deep breath to control her temper. She pulls out her lock pick kit and quietly unlocks the door, slipping into a sunroom at the back of the home. She gently pushes the door open, seeing light filtering in from a corridor connecting to the rest of the house.

Her heart starts to race. Everyone must be awake. It’s the middle of the night and they haven’t noticed that their vault has been broken into. If she lurks around long enough without them spotting her, she can wait out her kleptomaniac moodlets. She can steal more from the ‘rich’ family and earn some hard earned simoleons that she should have gotten from the vault!

In under a minute, Hex shuts down the cameras to the vault. She’s tempted to lock the outermost door behind her, sealing her inside. If she moves fast enough, she should collect her loot and be out before the alarm system notices the disconnected cameras.

Next, Hex tackles the vault door. Her information stated that the code was simply “1234”. How pompous and rich can a family be that they don’t need a complicated system to guard their simoleons? She taps in the code and half gasps, half laughs, when the vault door rolls up in front of her.

A huge pile of simoleons, gold bars and diamonds glisten in the bright lights as Hex gazes in awe at the treasure trove. She pulls a handful of simoleons up to inspect them, her brow furrowing as she turns one note over in her hands.

Hex: “N…no way! That’s a fake note!”

Throwing her handful of simoleons aside, Hex loses her composure as she rifled through the huge heap of money. Among some of the fake notes are some real simoleons. This was supposed to be a gold mine, but the rich family makes themselves look wealthier than they actually are!

Hex can’t wait around for long. She recovers a few thousand simoleons in real notes, then locks the vault up before leaving the way she came!

Hex: “This is it…”

Hex can’t contain her excitement, letting out an exhale just above a whisper. She can’t wait to break in and see what she can find. A member of her snuggling team gave her a tip on where to find the plans for this home. She wonders who sold out the family who own the property, and what they got in exchange for revealing the location of the huge vault filled with treasures.

Pulling out her lock pick tools, Hex gets to work on the outermost door of the vault. It’s a regular door! She expected lasers and guards armed with freeze rays to be guarding a vault of this size. Perhaps, the family don’t care about this part of their wealth, or they’re trying to disguise their vault location in an ordinary looking shed?

The door softly clicks open. Hex pockets her tools, gently guiding the door open. The vault looks more secure inside, with cameras in every corner pointed towards the door she’s hiding behind. Hex has to make this quick!

She pushes the door open fully, tiptoeing into the room as she pulls out her phone, trying to disconnect the cameras.