Lakeside Heights, aliens, and the year 2082

Okay, so since there were at least a couple people wondering about this, I figured I'd do a little Q&A/ cheat sheet about the Deppiesse family's alien heritage. I know if there are two people wondering out loud, there must be more not asking questions, and I don't want anyone to be confused since aliens have become a sort of integral part of the storyline. Though, Orion's family was one of the first families I ever wrote about on this blog, so I guess aliens have always been a part of the storyline...

Anyway, first let's understand that there are two things at work here. There are my Sims, the game I'm using to tell this story, with their pixelated 3-dimensional personas (or would it be 2-D?), their personality points and wants panels, who live inside the game and are really just as Sim-like as anybody else's Sims are.

Then, there are my characters in this story, who are inspired by these very ordinary Sims, who have been granted human emotions and depth by their creator (=me, lol!), and who are living in a realistic human world, somewhere off the coast of Lake Michigan in the year 2082. This is a future not very much unlike the present we are living in now - there are no flying cars and people don't walk around in metallic silver suits.

Do you remember seeing Back to the Future II when we were younger, back in the '80's, where they imagined the human race of 2015 or so to have flying cars, hover-scooters, and everyone dressed up like tin foil? That doesn't look very likely to happen, does it? ;)

So anyway, Orion Deppiesse was born in the year 2033. At the time of his birth, doctors could find nothing medically different about him except for his unusual skin color and eyes, so they dismissed his father as a nut-job and just labeled his condition a "pigmentation disorder." Orion then spent his youth trying to deal with the difference between his father's fantastical story versus the rest of the world who said he was "just a freak."

I have never mentioned the exact point at which the human race "discovered" for public knowledge the existence of other life in the universe. So let's imagine it was around the 2040's or so, since that was when Orion would have been in college, and went through extensive measures to alter his appearance to look more human. This was also the point he began wearing contacts to cover his eyes, and did so all the way until lightning destroyed them and he decided not to find replacements but wear sunglasses instead.

I have hinted throughout this story that the Deppiesse family tries to keep their heritage a secret. Mostly because they don't feel anyone would believe it (and why should they?), but now especially because of the alien war going on. For a short time, before this alien conflict came to light, Orion began to go without wearing his contacts or sunglasses. He did so for about a year and a half before this discussion with his brother prompted him to start wearing the glasses again.

Keep in mind, Orion is a very shy man (0 outgoing points), and if I remember correctly, he does not have ANY friends except for immediate family. He works as a game designer, which I imagine to be a pretty secluded job, and he runs a robot shop (which I haven't really shown much of yet), but he has his girls run the shop floor for him. So if Orion is the most alien-looking of this family, he is also largely unseen by most people.

Violet also shared some of her thoughts on her family's public image recently. And since this is the town Orion grew up in, if he looks different, it is old town knowledge/rumor that it is because of a genetic condition. Maybe some people might have their suspicions, but nobody really knows the honest truth of Orion's heritage except for Kent Deppiesse, who is long since dead. Orion believes the story, and Cabe being a high-level military man, privy to the intelligence he has, also believes. Very few other people outside of family actually know about this - maybe just one person actually, Dallas told Lucy.

And now Mariah knows as well, though she doesn't exactly believe it. She just figures a mostly normal-looking twelve year-old girl imagined up some story from the news headlines, and as is her job, she is only interested in why Dakota might make up such a story. Maybe at some point, Mariah might find reason to change her mind.

Some further "future history" (what do you call this, the history of a made-up future?) was also discussed here.

I know this story is long, and I like to drop subtle hints or clues throughout the story, rather than dropping huge chunks of history or technicalities all at once, and I know sometimes that might be easily read over. But I don't want anyone to be confused. A lot of this will probably be relevant to future stories, so if you have any questions, ask away! :)

***

ETA: There's also quite a bit more back story about Orion here, pertaining mostly to his meeting and falling in love with Violet.

ETA1.5: For reference, a copy/paste of the Deppiesse family tree:

The Deppiesse/McCullough Family:

• 
  
  Kent Deppiesse, (M/D) Eliza (Brant) Anderson, (M) Felicia Deppiesse
  
  • 
    
    (by E.) Claire (Depiesse) Bradshaw, (M) Andy Bradshaw
    • 
      
      Amelia Bradshaw
  • 
    
    (abduction) Orion Deppiesse, (M) Violet Deppiesse
    
    • 
      
      Dallas Deppiesse
    • 
      
      Delphie Deppiesse
    • 
      
      Dakota Deppiesse
  • 
    
    (by F.) Brooke (Deppiesse) McCullough , (M) Phoenix McCullough
    • 
      
      Fiona McCullough
    • 
      
      Robert "Robbie" McCullough
    • 
      
      Connor McCullough
  • 
    
    (by F.) Cabe Deppiesse, (M) Ashlee (Wolonsko) Deppiesse
    • 
      
      Natalia Deppiesse

ETA2: Pictures!!!

Kent and Felicia. Felicia was quite pretty, and it must be from her where Fiona gets her nose, because she doesn't have the typical Deppiesse honker the rest of them have. This would be after Orion was born, and they seem happy enough, so we'll consider this evidence that Felicia was participating in the illusion of this very complicated family, and that they both tried to cover up Orion's true origins as best they could.

Here they are at Orion's birthday party. Claire's mother, Eliza, is in the purple. They might look like a happy blended family, but Eliza hated Felicia. In fact, I'm not really sure why she was at the party, lol! Claire is there in the middle.

Here is Brooke and Cabe being born. It was soon after this point that Kent went to jail.

Brooke visiting with her father in his old age. He was so proud of all his children (for not being criminals, we suppose), though they hardly knew him.

And his big send-off. Apparently he did well for himself, because he went out with the hula girls and everything. Long live the Deppiesse nose, lol!

And I stumbled upon this while I was looking - Brooke and Maxwell Shaw!?! OMG, I'm glad this didn't work out!